Wednesday, November 14, 2012

2 prison officers interdicted for passing information to media – prison employees for trade union action on 19th

(Lanka-e-News -13.Nov.2012, 11.50PM) Two prison officers had been interdicted on the ground that they revealed to the media the genocide committed at the Welikade prison on the illegal instructions of Gotabaya.The Prison administrators who believe that only the lies what the Rajapakised police say should be reported to the media had taken this unjust and unreasonable step .

The two interdicted prison employees are Madhushanka and Ratnayake. The employees’ welfare Association is to have a discussion tomorrow with the Prisons Commissioner P D Kodipily in regard to these unjust interdictions. In the event of they not receiving a favorable response , they will be resorting to trade union action on the 19th , the Association added.

In all prisons hand-outs have been distributed against the interdictions. It is well to recall that Lanka e news already reported that the STF officers who entered the prison , examined first the prison officers, and there had arisen a dispute between the prison officers and the STF.

The Rajapakse regime changed the system that was followed in the appointment of Prison Commissioner hitherto , and appointed a retired Major General .Meanwhile , of the prisoners who made good their escape during the prison riot, five prisoners and four firearms are still missing. About 40 prisoners escaped ,but with the security beef up they surrendered to the police. One of the Welikade prison escapees, Hebawattage Thushan Saradha alias Channa was arrested by the Ruwanwella police when he was hiding in a house in Kanangama , Dehiowita. He is a resident of Madiwala , Kotte.

15 individuals who sustained injuries in the prison riot and hospitalized are continuing to get indoor treatment at the Colombo National Hospital . 11 of them are prisoners, three are police STF officers and one is an army soldier.

Welikada Massacre Began With The Entry Of The Para Military STF, Appoint An Independent Commission – LfD

By Colombo Telegraph -November 13, 2012

“The LfD urges the government to appoint an independent commission consisting of retired Supreme Court or Court of Appeal Judges to inquire into these bizarre extra-judicial killings” says Lawyers for Democracy.

Lal Wijenayaka

“It is alleged that the whole incident leading to the massacre began with the entry of the para military Special Task Force (STF) into the prison compound to search the cells of the death row prisoners having taken them out in hand cuffs and brutally assaulted them.” issueing a satement its convener Lal Wijenayake further says.

We publish LfD statement in full;

Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) learns with horror, shock and disgust the allegation of extra-judicial killing of nearly 26 inmates of the Welikada Prison. It is alleged that the whole incident leading to the massacre began with the entry of the para military Special Task Force (STF) into the prison compound to search the cells of the death row prisoners having taken them out in hand cuffs and brutally assaulted them. It is alleged that when the other prisoners shouted in protest against the assault of the helpless prisoners STF personnel had tear gassed the entire prison compound including cells which had compelled the prisoners to run for cover and safety. There are conflicting reports about what happened after that but it is alleged that some other officials who entered the prison premises had been looking for some prisoners according to a list they had.

It is seen that many of these extra-judicial killing had been perpetrated according to a premeditated plan to assassinate some selected prisoners.

The LfD wishes to remind the authorities that the essence of imprisonment is only deprivation of liberty and that the right forfeited by prisoners are those that are taken away expressly or by necessary implication by the fact of this deprivation of liberty and they are entitled to all other rights including right of life, dignity, freedom from torture and inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment at all times in their period of imprisonment or detention.

The LfD states further that imprisonment is a part of the criminal justice process and in a democratic society like Sri Lanka people are sent to prison by independent judges appointed by the state. Therefore prison administration should always be directly in the hand of the prison authorities who are not either under military or police authorities and that there should be a clear organizational separation between the police and the prison administration. The police must be strictly separate from the prison system. This begs an answer to the question as to who authorized the entry of the STF personnel in to the prison to carry out the so called search.

In conclusion the LfD states that those authorities who called in STF personnel into the prison are directly answerable to the massacre of these prisoners. This is seen to be a repetition of what happened in 1983 where 53 Tamil political prisoners kept in maximum security detention at the same prison were massacred in batches within three days. The government has to take the responsibility for the lives of prisoners.

The LfD urges the government to appoint an independent commission consisting of retired Supreme Court or Court of Appeal Judges to inquire into these bizarre extra-judicial killings.

*‘Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) is a representative body of legal practitioners throughtout the island. Conveners include Lal Wijenayake, Chandrapala Kumarage, J. C. Weliamuna, K. S. Ratnavale, Sudath Netthisinghe, Sudarshana Gunawardana. It was established on 10^th December 2009’.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Sri Lanka package holidays 'unethical', claims campaign group

Tour operators have been accused of offering unethical package holidays to Sri Lanka by a human rights pressure group.

Telegraph.co.uk

Tourists are being asked to make an "informed choice"

Sri Lanka package holidays 'unethical' claims campaign group

By Natalie Paris-09 Nov 2012

The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice claims certain hotels, airlines and attractions around the country - including a number of wildlife sanctuaries - have political or financial links to the alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses.

It has launched a campaign called “Think Again” which warns tourists of a “culture of impunity” in Sri Lanka, a country in which "continued abuses thrive”.

The non-profit group listed a number of tour operators on its website who it said were currently offering holiday packages through businesses that “are of concern” and suggested alternatives for travellers to try.

Fred Carver, from Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, said he wanted the tourist industry to, “open its eyes to what is going on in Sri Lanka and to realise that it is being used in the government's scheme to disguise militarisation as development.”

The campaign has found support from the charity Tourism Concern which said the claims highlighted “the need for tour operators to take a rights-based approach, which means conducting human rights due diligence on the destinations and packages they offer, in order to identify where these may be linked to rights abuses or abusers.”

Tourism Concern said the solution was not for tourists to avoid Sri Lanka, however, as many locals are highly dependent upon tourism for jobs and livelihoods. “Tourists could seek out smaller family-run hotels or guesthouses, or community-based tourism schemes,” a spokeswoman suggested, “such as those featured in Tourism Concern’s Ethical Travel Guide.”

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) and tour operators contacted by Telegraph Travel said they took the allegations seriously.

Speaking on behalf of the tour operators, Nikki White, ABTA’s Head of Destinations and Sustainability, said: “ABTA and its members take our responsibilities with regards to human rights very seriously and we work with a number of organisations, including Tourism Concern, to monitor, identify and address any issues in travel destinations.”

She added that ABTA had no experience of the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice but said it would “look more closely into this organisation and the points that have been raised.”

Virgin Holidays, one of the operators listed on the campaign website as using businesses that “are of concern”, said: “We encourage all of the hoteliers we work with to join the Travelife certification scheme – run by ABTA – which helps them to manage their environmental and social responsibilities.”

A spokesman for Kuoni, another operator listed, said it has started conducting a "human rights impact assessment" in partnership with Tourism Concern, which it plans to standardise and roll out to various destinations.

Greenpeace records illegal fishing

13 Nov 2012

Greenpeace has found illegal fishing operations in the Indian Ocean. © Paul Hilton/Greenpeace

Greenpeace has found illegal fishing operations in the Indian Ocean, and the organisation says that the monitoring of tuna fisheries must be strengthened and transfers of fish at sea banned to end the overfishing crisis.

Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior recorded illegal fishing activities by two Sri Lankan tuna and shark boats in the Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the adjacent high seas last Friday (9 November) before arriving in Colombo over the weekend to end a two-month expedition in the Indian Ocean.

"Fisheries in the Indian Ocean are being massively overexploited. Our oceans and the billions of people around the world dependent on them need better control and enforcement of fishing regulations. If we don't act now, there may be no tuna left for future generations," said Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace International campaigner aboard the Rainbow Warrior.

"Transshipments of fish at sea are allowing illegal fishing to go undetected. These transfers of fish at sea must be eliminated and the number of fishing vessels in the region cut to end the overfishing crisis."

Greenpeace International had earlier found two illegal Sri Lankan fishing boats in the Chagos marine reserve and has called on the UK government, which established the reserve in 2010, to enforce protection of the area. It has also urged Sri Lanka to take control of its sprawling fishing fleet.

The Rainbow Warrior set sail from Durban, South Africa, in early September to Mozambique, Mauritius, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Greenpeace says that the lack of proper management and pirate fishing in the region is contributing to the demise of albacore and bigeye tuna and sharks that are targeted for the lucrative sashimi and shark fin trade.

Greenpeace is campaigning for responsible fishery management to end overfishing and to support a global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the world’s oceans.

UN 'failed SL civilians'-probe

WEDNESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2012

The United Nations failed in its mandate to protect civilians in the last months of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war, a leaked draft of a highly critical internal UN report says.

The United Nations failed in its mandate to protect civilians in the last months of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war, a leaked draft of a highly critical internal UN report says.

"Events in Sri Lanka mark a grave failure of the UN," it concludes.

The government and Tamil rebels are accused of war crimes in the brutal conflict which ended in May 2009.

The UN does not comment on leaked reports and says it will publish the final version.

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle. An earlier UN investigation said it was possible up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months alone. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher.
Continue reading the main story

Former senior UN official Charles Petrie, who headed the internal review panel, told the BBC the "penultimate" draft the BBC has seen "very much reflects the findings of the panel". He is now in New York to present the report to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Sources say a brief executive summary, which sets out the panel's conclusions in stark terms, has been removed in a final report which will number about 30 pages, with additional detailed annexes.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told the BBC the UN does not comment on leaked reports. He said a final version would be published once the secretary general had received and read it.

Senior UN sources say Ban Ki-moon is determined to act on its wide-ranging recommendations in order to "learn lessons" and respond more effectively to major new crises such as Syria now confronting the international community.The UN's investigation into its own conduct during the last months of the conflict says the organisation should in future "be able to meet a much higher standard in fulfilling its protection and humanitarian responsibilities".

It points to a "systemic failure".

The panel questions decisions such as the withdrawal of UN staff from the war zone in September 2008 after the Sri Lankan government warned it could no longer guarantee their safety.

Benjamin Dix, who was part of the UN team that left, says he disagreed with the pullout.

"I believe we should have gone further north, not evacuate south, and basically abandon the civilian population with no protection or witness," Mr Dix told the BBC.

"As a humanitarian worker, questions were running through my mind 'what is this all about? Isn't this what we signed up to do?'"

Hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians remained in the war zone, exploited by both sides: forcibly recruited by Tamil Tigers or used as human shields; or under indiscriminate government fire.

"We begged them, we pleaded with them not to leave the area. They did not listen to us," said a Tamil school teacher now seeking asylum in Britain, who did not want to be named. "If they had stayed there, and listened to us, many more people would be alive today."

Despite a "catastrophic" situation on the ground, this report bluntly points out that in the capital Colombo "many senior UN staff did not perceive the prevention of killing of civilians as their responsibility - and agency and department heads at UNHQ were not instructing them otherwise".

It says there was "a sustained and institutionalised reluctance" among UN personnel in Sri Lanka "to stand up for the rights of people they were mandated to assist".

Citing detailed records of meetings and reports, the review highlights how the UN did not publish mounting civilian casualty figures even though a detailed annex makes clear there was a "rigorous methodology."

Under intense pressure from the Sri Lankan government, it also did not make public that "a large majority" of deaths were caused by government shelling. The government repeatedly denied it shelled civilian areas.

How did the UN failure happen? The report explores at length how senior staff in Colombo "had insufficient political expertise and experience in armed conflicts and in human rights... to deal with the challenge that Sri Lanka presented", and were not given "sufficient policy and political support" from headquarters. It also points to the Sri Lankan government's "stratagem of intimidation", including "control of visas to sanction staff critical of the state".

The result was a UN system dominated by "a culture of trade-offs" - UN staff chose not to speak out against the government in an effort to try to improve humanitarian access.

Edward Mortimer, a former senior UN official who now chairs the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, says UN staff left when the population needed them more than ever.

"I fear this report will show the UN has not lived up to the standards we expect of it and has not behaved as the moral conscience of the world," Mr Mortimer said.

"There was a responsibility to protect in Sri Lanka but unfortunately it didn't get publicity like in Libya. The north of Sri Lanka was destroyed field by field, street by street, hospital by hospital but we didn't get that kind of reaction - Sri Lanka doesn't have much oil and isn't situated on the Mediterranean."
Continue reading the main story

The executive summary of the draft highlights how "the UN struggled to exert influence on the government which, with the effective acquiescence of a post 9/11 world order, was determined to defeat militarily an organisation designated as terrorist". The separatist Tamil Tigers, or LTTE, are a proscribed terrorist organisation in many capitals.

There were no UN peacekeepers in Sri Lanka but this report says the UN should have told the world what was happening, and done more to try to stop it.

In New York, "engagement with member states regarding Sri Lanka was heavily influenced by what it perceived member states wanted to hear, rather than by what member states needed to know if they were to respond".

During the last months of war, there was not a single formal meeting of the Security Council or other top UN bodies.

Frances Harrison, author of the book Still Counting the Dead on the last months of the war, told the BBC "the only way now for Ban Ki-moon to restore the UN's tattered credibility on Sri Lanka is to call an independent international investigation into the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians in 2009".

"The UN chose to remain silent about potential war crimes," says the former BBC Sri Lanka correspondent.

A former UN official said the establishment of a panel, headed by Mr Petrie who is known for his outspoken views, is a sign "at least part of the UN is very serious about dealing with its failure in Sri Lanka". (BBC)

Impeachment And Corruption: Why Is The Non Executive Chairman The Only Accused?

By Charitha Ratwatte -November 13, 2012

Charitha Ratwatte

An ogre is a monster in a fairy tale or popular legend, usually represented as a hideous monster who feeds on human flesh. Recently in a number of Asian countries, the ogre of corruption has manifested itself, among the political class and their acolytes.

Normally it is the political class which alleges corruption and related misbehaviour among bureaucrats, public officers and business persons who do not tow their political line and carry out their illegal or unethical orders.

But just now, ironically, this ogre has flown back home to roost. Remember, it was the famous American author Mark Twain, who in his infinite wisdom, once declared the only criminal class in the United States of America is in Congress!

Let’s take Sri Lanka first. Corruption of the political class has a long history. The Thalgodapitiya Commission was appointed in the late 1950s to inquire into allegations of corruption among some politicians. A Department and then a Commission to eradicate and inquire into Bribery and Corruption was created. In its present incarnation, the Commission can only act on a complaint.

Readers would recall the infamous attempt to unload some shares of a finance company, on to a State bank, in the recent past. The putative buyer was a State bank, regarding which there is Government guarantee on deposits. The shares purchased – 7,863,362 in number – were overvalued, the purchase price too high. Purchased with depositors’ funds, over which there was a Government guarantee.

The bank attempted to justify the purchase, by a convoluted claim that the purchase would allow the bank, through the finance company, to get into the provision of profitable financial services which the bank’s enabling law did not permit it to indulge in! The creators of the State bank, advisedly, prohibited that bank from getting into that kind of speculative, high risk financial services, for good reason. Because this was depositors’ money, over which there was a Government guarantee.

The ethics of the bank trying to do, through an underhand transactional device, something its own enabling law did not explicitly allow it to do, is beyond belief and itself highly questionable. That, if anything, amounts to corruption. The public outcry against the transaction was so outraged that the Government was forced to cover its tracks and order the sale cancelled. The Securities and Exchange Commission had to give a special dispensation for the bank to resell the shares in the finance company bought and paid for by the State bank to the sellers, who themselves, it is rumoured, are political acolytes of the highest order

Former shotgun terrorist appointed to the PSC to impeach Chief Justice

( November 11, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)The government announced on the 8th the members appointed to the Parliamentary Select Committee to probe the impeachment motion against Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice Mrs. Shirani Bandranaike.

All the ministers appointed are known cronies of the government, who lacks broader perspectives or have any credibility to reflect beyond their prejudices. They are the Ministers Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Nimal Siripala De Silva, Susil Premajayantha, Dr, Rajitha Senaratne, Wimal Weerawansa, Dilan Perera and Deputy Minister Neomal Perera appointed to the PSC.

Most of the Ministers and parliamentarians are part of an embodiment of corruption and have become mega rich at the expense of the very same people who have elected them to power.

By appointing the former shotgun terrorist Wimal Weerawanse, who had not gone through a much needed rehabilitation process (or even a thorough psychiatric treatment) accorded to the government branded LTTE terrorists, the government has jettisoned the very independence and legal maturity needed for appointments to such an important PSC.

Wimal Weerawanse’s political life since the end of JVP terrorism in the late 1990’s is riddled with eccentric discharge of venom, hatred and embodied in corruption. His anti Tamil - anti India - anti UN - anti US stance of setting free his hatred publicly are his only special qualifications to his failed shotgun terrorism during JVP rebellions.

The Rajapakse & Co, will not appoint Ministers with professorial standing, knowing very well the outcome of the PSC will not be favourable to extend their family agenda. The well known professors in the parliament like Prof. G L Peiris, Prof. Tissa Vitharane and Prof Rajiva Wijesinghe are sidelined to get an outcome with the unconventional persons like the potty Wimal Weerawanse. The government knows the professors will support the inexorable decision of the mavericks outright as they too have lost their scruples in their compromising deals with the Rajapalse & Co.

The state of governance in Sri Lanka is progressively eroding as the President thinks his power base is embedded in the lumpan lot who are there to scream and shout for him at grass root level. These elements are plentiful in the Sri Lanka parliament.

There are many more cheeps in the parliament. They are Champika Ranawake, Udaya Gamanpillai, Mervin Silva, Douglas Devananda, Raul Hakeem and LTTE’s Col Karuna who will wash the dirty linen for Mahinda & Co., in public at any cost.

The lines have been drawn and if the judiciary become affirmative on the abuse of power of the Executive and Legislature, any case involving the government on violence, corruption and governance issues will have serious consequences for the confrontational politics of Rajapakse & Co.

There was only one newspaper - the ‘Sunday Leader’ that exposed the inherent corruption of the successive governments. The Editor in Chief Lasantha Wikramasinghe was sent to heaven in the broad day light in the heart of Colombo and his successor Fredrika Janz sent to exile for good recently and the only hurdle government faces now is the judiciary. It has decided to give a hammer blow to its head, the Chief Justice, so that the other judges will tow its line in the judicial decision making.

It is the Sunday Leader under the able Chief Editorship of Lasantha Wickramatunga that exposed the massive fraud of house building of the shotgun terrorist Wimal Weerawanse. The paper also revealed how the shot gun terrorist village manike (wife) was becoming posh! posh!! attending beauty parlours to compete with the other minister’s wives.

If Lasantha is alive, he would have fearlessly dissected the Kommission Kaakas of the government including Rajapakse & Co., who are involved in crude money laundering activities and cashing in on ever escalating percentage terms and how they are hiding their ill gotten money in the Chinese banks for their use in the rainy days when politics turn adverse for them.

There is no doubt the white vans and gun totters will go on their rounds against any judges crossing the lines of Mahinda & Co., once the impeachment process is over and the path is clearly set for the family cronyism and mega corruption deals to continue unchecked if the judiciary succumb to the well planned hammer blow of Mahinda & Co.

Weerawansa baulks at moving SC against 13-A

By Shamindra Ferdinando-November 12, 2012

UPFA constituent, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Minister Wimal Weerawansa would not move the Supreme Court against the 13th Amendment as he was a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) appointed to investigate allegations directed against Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, NFF spokesman Anuruddha Bandara told The Island yesterday.

Colombo District MP Weerawansa on Saturday (10) declared that he would file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking the abolition of the 13th Amendment. The petition was in line with the one filed before the then Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva for the de-merger of the Eastern Province from the Northern Province.

Asked whether the NFF had consulted the UPFA as regards its move, Bandara said that his party had made that decision on its own. Bandara quoted senior lawyers as having told Minister Weerawansa to put off planned action. "They are of the opinion Minister Weerawansa shouldn’t go before the Supreme Court until the conclusion of the PSC inquiry," Bandara said. The spokesman dismissed assertion that they had been forced to back down due to the NFF plan not being compatible with the overall UPFA strategy.

Minister Weerawansa’s is the only political party accommodated among the six-member UPFA group in the PSC headed by Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa. Except Weerawansa all others are SLFP representatives, namely Nimal Siripala De Silva, Rajitha Senaratne, Dilan Perera and Neomal Perera.

The NFF was joined by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka (JHU) in calling on the government to do away with the 13th Amendment.

JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe told The Island that the NFF hadn’t discussed its plan, to move the Supreme Court, with the JHU, though they had called a joint media briefing to explain their position as regards the 13th Amendment. Warnasinghe said that they hadn’t agreed on a particular strategy, though both parties strongly felt the urgent need to abolish the 13th Amendment.

Responding to a query by The Island, CPSL Secretary General Minister DEW Gunasekera said that his party opposed moves to link three critical issues, namely Divineguma Bill, impeachment of the Chief Justice and ongoing moves to do away with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Senior Minister Gunasekera declined to comment on the impeachment motion and the PSC process. "All I can tell you is that I declined to join the PSC on the CJ," National List MP Gunasekera said.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa called for the abolition of the 13th Amendment on October 14.

Political sources said that the government was of the view that the 13th Amendment shouldn’t be repealed without reaching an agreement on a mechanism to replace Provincial Councils set up under the 13th Amendment. Sources said that the government was exploring the possibility of initiating a fresh round of dialogue with UPFA constituents as well as Opposition parties to reach an agreement on an alternative system.

The Official Languages Commissioner J.D.C.Jayasinghe is a Rapist

by Darshani Wimalasuriya

( November 12, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) J.D.C Jayasinghe alias Javigodage Don Charles Jayasinghe also known as Muddaragama Kukul Charlie was accused of raping a young woman named Maldeniyage Priyadharshani from Minuwangoda in 1999.Maldeniyage Priyadarshani was a young girl who worked in a garment factory in Katunayaka. She was young, attractive and naive. She was struggling to overcome the poverty and dreamed of having a better life for her and for her family. When she met J.D.C. Jayasinghe a senior officer attached to the Ministry of Health in 1999 Jayasinghe promised her to find a government job in the Minuwangoda Hospital. She was overjoyed and highly enthusiastic about the new job in a government hospital -working as a female sanitary laborer. J.D.C. Jayasinghe boasted his contacts at the Health Ministry and promised Priyadarshani that she would be getting the job soon. Maldeniyage Priyadarshani was convinced that this kind gentleman, a fatherly figure was going to help her and find a pensionable government job. One day he asked her to come for a job interview and took her to a hotel room and then forcibly raped her. Her world fell apart and she could not face neither the family nor the society. Her dream of becoming a bride and to have a loving family , a good job was destroyed by a sexual predator.

After the rape J.D.C. Jayasinghe avoided Priyadarshani and even threatened her. The girl took a bold decision to go to his native village Muddaragama - Mirigama and meet the Garama Niladhari Mr S. A Jayathissa. She told her everything and made a complaint against the rapist J.D.C. Jayasinghe. According to some eye witnesses she had given him a written statement about the incident. The Garama Niladhari was not helpful. He was indifferent and asking her to drop the charges against Jayasinghe. Some of the Muddaragama villagers who were present at the occasion say that the Grama Niladhari even told Priyadarshani Kalu Gala Oluvaghaganna Eppa – do not smash your head against a rock.

Priyadarshani was disappointed and realized that the Garama Niladhari Mr S. A Jayathissa was not going to help her, then she decided to go even further . She wanted to lodge a complaint at the Mirigama Police Station. Miss Maldeniyage Priyadarshani did not know that the Garama Niladhari Mr S. A Jayathissa was a close associate of the rapist. The Grama Niladhari constantly discouraged her going to the Mirigama Police Station. But she was determined to press charges. While she went to the Police Garama Niladhari Mr S. A Jayathissa contacted J.D.C. Jayasinghe and told him about the girl and her intentions. The perpetrator immediately used his civil and political contacts. When the girl went to the Mirigama Police the The officers were harsh to her and did not want to write her complaint. She had no alternative and she left the Police Station with utter humiliation.

After this incident J.D.C. Jayasinghe constantly threatened her and she could not even go to work. She was cheated and raped by J.D.C. Jayasinghe and he was intimidating her. She had no option and she decided to commit suicide. On the 2nd of November 1999 Maldeniyage Priyadarshani consumed pesticides and died at the Gampaha Hospital. Her life was savagely consumed by a monstrous man who showed a decent face to the society. After her death J.D.C. Jayasinghe took extreme actions to neutralize the witnesses and erased every trace of the rape.

Some witnesses who knew the incident and the complaint that she made to the Garama Niladhari -Mr S. A Jayathissa urged him to come forward and do the justice for the late Maldeniyage Priyadarshani. But the Grama Niladhari was supporting the rapist throughout. When J.D.C. Jayasinghe came to know that a few villagers of Muddaragama tried to go against him he severely warned them not to get involved or give evidence against him. He even told them – Vadiya dangaluvoth Kassipu case ekkakata patalavala umbalava rimand karavanava – I will fix you people for an illicit liquor charge and remand all of you.

Mr P. Pathiranage and Mrs Kamalini Wijthilaka of the Centre for Women’s Research (CENWOR) took effort to bring this case to justice but the Grama Niladhari S.A Jayatrhissa refused to give evidence against the rapist or submit the written complaint of Priyadarshani. Hence the case was closed. The rapist went free.

Our investigations revel many facts about JDC Jayasinghe. The Muddaragama villagers call him Kukul Charli for his notorious drinking habits and sexual predation. There were many complaints against him and recently the Principal of Gampaha Rathnavali Balika Vidyalaya Mrs Hema Jayawardane informed us that she had to confront with Mr JDC Jayasinghe when he inappropriately touched a young school girl at the college premises. The Principal Mrs Hema Jayawardane had warned Jayasinghe for touching a school girl with sexual intentions and reprimanded him. This incident was reported by the Ravaya newspaper. But a Politian from Gampaha district intervened on Jayasinghe’s behalf and no action was taken against JDC Jayasinghe.

In addition to these allegations Mr JDC Jayasinghe was charged with financial fraud when he was attached to the Ministry of Environment says Mr Rathnadasa Millawitiya – a former senior office of the Ministry of Environment. According to Mr Rathnadasa Millawitiya following these financial irregularities and drinking alcohol in official hours the Minister Mahinda Wijesekara disgracefully removed JDC Jayasinghe from his ministry. Mr Millawitiya further says that regardless of these wrongdoings JDC Jayasinghe was able to survive in the Public Administration following the political backing. Recently J.D.C.Jayasinghe has been appointed as the Official Languages Commissioner.

Sri Lanka: Ethical Tourism Campaign

Writer and critic

Lucy Popescu-12/11/2012

This week, the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice (of which I am a co-director) launches a campaign aimed at promoting ethical tourism in Sri Lanka. The lobby group has recently uncovered evidence that a range of British tour operators are offering holiday packages that commercially benefit alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses.

The campaign is timely. Wednesday was Responsible Tourism Day at the London World Travel Market 2012 and, astonishingly, Lonely Planet recently listed Sri Lanka as its number one holiday destination in 2013.

A tropical island off the coast of India, Sri Lanka is a popular tourist destination with its stunning beaches, lush forests, tea-growing hills and many sites of historic and cultural interest. It was wracked by a bloody civil war for almost three decades. During the final stages of the conflict in 2009 an estimated 40,000 civilians were killed.

What many tourists do not know is that the new peace in Sri Lanka has come at a high cost to freedom of expression and the human rights of its citizens. The country is now rated the fourth most dangerous place in the world for journalists, higher even than Afghanistan. More than fifteen journalists are believed to have been killed since 2006.

At the end of the war 300,000 civilians were illegally detained in inhumane conditions likened to concentration camps. There were credible reports of coercive interrogation, torture, rape and extra-judicial killings. According to a United Nations panel: "The Government subjected victims and survivors of the conflict to further deprivation... some of those who were separated were summarily executed, and some of the women may have been raped... Some persons in the camps were interrogated and subjected to torture"

In the rush to smooth the way for tourism, the government started to bulldoze various Tamil Tiger landmark sites including cemeteries and the homes of Velupillai Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders. The Thileepan memorial near the Nallur temple was also defaced apparently with the collusion of the Sri Lankan army. Enflaming local tensions, the authorities have proposed replacing the homes of LTTE leaders with hotels and resorts.

The presence of troops in the north and east, once Tamil dominated regions, has increased, with the military monitoring civilians and controlling many aspects of their lives. Non Sinhala communities are treated with distrust and civilians have to seek permission even to hold gatherings, including traditional religious events, sometimes resulting in the military attending private functions and taking pictures. Many of those released from camps have not been allowed to return home because land remains under military control.

The government has initiated land registration in the north and east, while prohibiting many Tamils from returning to their homes and thus making a legitimate claim. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre's most recent estimate is that around 125,000 civilians are still living in temporary accommodation. They live in tents surrounded by landmines and without access to basic services, food, jobs and money. Meanwhile, the military continue to confiscate private land and designate it part of a High Security Zone (HSZ) in order to build their own houses, farms and facilities - including tourist hotels - with impunity.

Last year, Tourism Concern reported that the government and large tourism developers had forcibly displaced fishermen from the waters around the 14 islands of Kalpitiya, destroying livelihoods, threatening food security, and wreaking havoc on the environment. Some were evenforced off their land, and had to go to court to get it back. The fishing community, as well as farmers, small-scale tourism enterprises and traders, claim they were not sufficiently consulted about the Kalpitiya Integrated Tourism Resort Project - Sri Lanka's largest tourism development to date.

Many tourists never leave their hotel and most Sri Lankans are too frightened to speak about what is going on in the country. So visitors are unaware of a very different world outside the resorts where ordinary people continue to have their basic human rights trampled upon, sometimes involving violence and torture.

To find out more about Sri Lanka and how you can help go to: http://www.srilankacampaign.org/tourismdilemma.htm

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