Legality Of Government Actions Rendered Politically Irrelevant

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

December 2, 2012 

This week, a committed New Delhi based civil rights advocate and incidentally a good friend, observed in a dispassionate aside to an otherwise entirely different conversation in that country that ‘this situation that Sri Lankans are facing regarding the political impeachment of the Chief Justice is quite alien for us to grasp here, even in the abstract. How could checks and balances in your constitutional and legal system break down to that terrible extent? Even with the war and all its consequences, how could the centre of judicial authority implode with such astounding force?’

A juggernaut government brushing aside protests

In retrospect, these questions assume great significance. Sri Lankan newspapers are now gloriously resplendent with opinions of all shades and colours on the propriety or otherwise of the impeachment process. The airing of these opinions and the filing of court cases calling Parliament to order for a politically targeted impeachment of the Chief Justice are certainly necessary. However, these frantic actions remain ostrich-like in the ignoring of certain truths. Foremost is that questioning the legality of particular actions by this government has now been rendered politically irrelevant. Perhaps at some point in the past, these interventions may have had some impact. But this logic does not hold true any longer, no matter how many learned discussions are conducted on the law and on the Constitution.

In particular, the laborious posturing by members of the Bar, many of whom appear to have only now belatedly realized the nature of the crisis that confronts us, are destined to be futile if that is all that we see. In the absence of popular collective protests reaching the streets which target the protection of the law and the judiciary at its core, this government will press on in its juggernaut way, brushing aside civil protests couched in the carefully deliberate language of the law, as much as one swats tiresome mosquitoes with a careless wave of the hand.

Three wheeler drivers marching before the Supreme Court

This immense contempt shown by those in power for the law was very well seen recently when news outlets reported a government orchestrated procession of three wheeler drivers chanting slogans in support of the impeachment and marching before the courts complex housing the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.

This stark fact, by itself, demonstrates the degeneration of the esteem in which the judiciary was once held. Such an event would have been unthinkable in the past, even taking into account the much quoted abusing of judges and the stoning of their houses during a different political era. There is a huge difference between the two situations. In the past, the intimidation of judges was carried out in the twilight of the underworld even though the threatening message that this conveyed to the judiciary was unmistakable. Now, political goons threatening judges parade in the harsh glare of daylight with total impunity and total contempt.

To what extent is a judicial officer from a magistrate to a Supreme Court judge including the Chief Justice able to now assert the authority of the law in his or her courthouse when such open contempt is shown for the judiciary with the backing of the government?

Not simply harping on the past

But as this column has repeatedly emphasized, this degeneration did not come with this government alone though it may suit many to think so. Rather, those who expound long and laboriously now on the value of an independent judiciary for Sri Lanka including jurists as well as former Presidents, given that the latest to join this chorus is former President Chandrika Kumaratunga should, if they possess the necessary courage, examine their own actions or omissions in that regard.

As history has shown us, whether in the case of the genocide of the Jewish people by the Third Reich, the horrific apartheid policies of the old South Africa or indeed in many such countless examples around the world, a country cannot heal unless it honestly acknowledges its own past with genuine intent not to travel down that same path once again. It is not simply a question of harping on the past though again, it may suit some to say so. Indeed, the entire transitional justice experience for South Africans, even though it did not work as well in other countries in the African continent, was based on that same premise. It was honest at its core and was led by a visionary called Mandela. This was why it worked (with all its lack of perfection) for that country but did not work for others. Those who unthinkingly parrot the need for similar experiences for Sri Lanka should perhaps realize that fundamental difference.

Reclaiming a discarded sense of legal propriety

But there are many among us who still believe that, magically as it were, matters would right themselves and we would be able to reclaim our discarded sense of legal propriety. Unfortunately however this is day dreaming of the highest magnitude. What we have lost, particularly through the past decade and culminating in the present where reason and commonsense has been thrown to the winds in this ruinous clash between the judiciary and the executive, will take generations to recover, if ever it will.

As Otto Rene Castillo, the famed Guatemalan revolutionary, guerilla fighter and poet most hauntingly captured in his seminal poem ‘the apolitical intellectuals’, someday, those whom the country looked upon to provide intellectual leadership will be asked as to what they did, when their nation died out, slowly, like a sweet fire, small and alone.’

Castillo’s admonition about ‘absurd justifications, born in the shadow of the total lie’ applies intoto to this morass in which Sri Lankans find themselves in. We flounder in the mire of the arrogance of politicians who do not care tuppence for the law but still we cling desperately to our familiar belief of the authority of the law though this belief has been reduced to a phantasma. It is only when that ‘total lie’ is dissected remorselessly by ourselves and in relation to our own actions that we can begin to hope for the return of justice to this land.

That day, it seems however, is still wreathed in impossibility and uncertainty. Hence my Indian friend’s probing though casual questions a few days ago remain hanging in the air. Undoubtedly the answers to those questions lie not in blaming the politicians but in confronting far more uncomfortable truths about ourselves as a nation and as a people.

Speaker rules against the Supreme Court, Court proceeds with hearing on petitions

The least dangerous branch in some real danger:

December 1, 2012, 7:11 pm 

Rajan Philips

More than two hundred years ago, Alexander Hamilton considered the judiciary with "no influence over either the sword or the purse", as the "least dangerous" of the three branches of state power to the protection of "the political rights of the constitution." One of the founding fathers of the United States of America and one of the three contributors to the Federalist Papers, Hamilton (in Paper #78) went on to say that the judiciary has "neither Force nor Will, but merely judgment, and must ultimately depend on the executive arm even for the efficacy of its judgments." But the thrust of Hamilton’s argument is that being the ‘least dangerous’, the judiciary must also be the ‘most independent’ to offer judgment according to the Constitution and ensure the protection of the political rights of the people from the actions of the other two branches. Put another away, the judiciary needs the protection of the other two branches for it to be independent and its judgment must be respected by the legislature and the executive for the whole system to work.And in the area of political rights, the ultimate frame of reference is the prevailing Constitution, regardless of its merits and demerits, and the final authority in interpreting the Constitution is the Supreme Court.

In our time and here at home, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva restated these old truths with inimitable eloquence and authority: "In the field of independence of the judiciary and of judicial independence, it is the upper echelons of the judiciary that most matter, being the final guardians against executive intermeddling and even legislative invasion." As is well known, Colvin R. de Silva identified the incorporation of entrenched clauses and judicial review of legislation as two of the five major defects of the Soulbury Constitution and did away with both in the 1972 Constitution of which he was the principal author. Instead, the 1972 Constitution provided for a Constitutional Court to preview legislation for constitutional consistency before becoming law through passage in parliament.

We could endlessly debate the wisdom of the1972 transformation and decry its deformation in the 1978 Constitution, but suffice it to say that just as much as he challenged the use of unalterably entrenched clauses and the concept of allowing the judiciary to review legislation, Dr. Colvin never questioned the authority of the Courts to interpret the Constitution and legislation and never underestimated the importance of judicial independence in the performance of that interpretive function. And there can be neither debate nor disagreement that right now in Sri Lanka the interpretive authority of the courts and judicial independence are both in peril. The least dangerous branch is in some real danger.

Impeachment, the price of

judicial independence

The unfolding saga of the impeachment of the Chief Justice is an attack on the independence of the judiciary. That is the substance of the petitions by public-interest citizens and the Bar Association that are now being argued before the Supreme Court. That is also the sentiment across the entire social spectrum - from the Mahanayakes to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Equally, the Speaker’s ruling in parliament, based on an apparent cross-floor consensus of views, while affirming the privileged authority of parliament is tantamount to undermining the interpretive responsibility of the Supreme Court.

The issue is at hand is over the manifest contradiction between two articles of the Constitution – Article 4 (c) dealing with the exercise of judicial powers and Article 107 (3) dealing with the process for investigating superior court judges. The question relating to their interpretation first arose in 1984 during the aborted impeachment of the then Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon. But the matter was not referred to the Supreme Court for determination and it went into abeyance until the current investigation by a Parliamentary Select Committee of the allegations against the present Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake, and the petitions challenging the investigation that are now before the Supreme Court.

For the first time the Supreme Court has the opportunity to determine the interpretation of Articles 4 (c)and Article 107 (3), and the Court has made a recommendation, rather than deliver an order, that the Parliamentary Select Committee delay its proceedings until the Court determined the question of interpretation. This would be in keeping with Article 125 of the Constitution that empowers the Supreme Court to "have the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution."

But as Hamilton noted, the Court cannot perform this function and deliver its judgment without the support and protection from the two branches of state power. Denying that support and protection will tantamount to what Colvin R. de Silva warned as "executive intermeddling and … legislative invasion." The assertions in parliament that no intervention by an external agency is consistent with the established principles of law, unfortunately beg the question because intervention by the Court is necessary to clarify the constitutional principle in this instance. The Court’s intervention is all the more important because we are dealing with an ill-drafted and internally inconsistent constitution.

For its part, the Supreme Court has fixed the hearing for December 13 and 14 and directed that the respondents in parliament be notified of the hearing. The Supreme Court can only deliver judgment, beyond that it is helpless to enforce or execute its judgment. At the same time, the Supreme Court cannot abdicate its responsibility to hear the petitions and deliver judgment without risking the credibility of the entire judicial process.

Those who are seeking protection of their political rights through their petitions deserve an answer from the court. Thankfully it has not been suggested so far by anyone from the government side that the petitioners have gone to the wrong place for remedy, and that they should have gone not to the courts but to the presidential palace. Not to mention that it was the failure of the Chief Justice to accept the presidential invitation to discuss ‘purse’ strings that brought on her the executive ‘sword’. The price of independence is impeachment.

Slide to stone-age in constitutional governance

The government and parliament have a number of options to avoid the impending constitutional deadlock. They could simply withdraw the impeachment motion. Or, they could be prudent and defer the PSC sittings until the Supreme Court rules on the petitions before it, and abide by the decision of the Court. Or, they could persist in bulldozing ahead and impeach the Chief Justice using the majority in parliament followed by presidential order, and leave it to the Mervyn Brigade to execute the order.

Another way that has been alluded to is to find some eminent people to broker a face saving compromise between the beleaguered Chief Justice and her powerful detractors. The golden compromise would have the impeachment process withdrawn and the Chief Justice agreeing to retire. Given the way things work in Sri Lanka, the Chief Justice could go back to teaching, even as Dean of Law, or may be offered a post overseas. There is nothing golden about such a compromise and there will be no eminence attributable to those who will venture to broker such a compromise. For, in fact, there cannot be a worse death blow to the independence of the judiciary than brokering such a compromise.

After initial indifference, there has been a groundswell of opposition to the impeachment process against the Chief Justice. The few people outside the government who are not opposed to the impeachment process are Ranil Wickremesinghe and his handful of hangers on. There are growing misgivings about the impeachment even within the UPFA. Perhaps to capitalize on these concerns in the UPFA, especially among the main SLFP MPs, that former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga denounced the impeachment move in a timely and powerful article in The Island, Tuesday, 27 November. Almost brilliant, one might say. She could not have had a better occasion to take her political nemeses to task. Who, if any, from the brotherhood will respond to Kumaratunga’s cogent arguments?

By extension, Ms. Kumaratunga’s denunciation also exposed the shamefulness of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who as the Leader of the Opposition should be leading the charge against the impeachment process but instead he is daydreaming that he has convinced everyone that he and his Party would protect the independence of the judiciary without protecting its chief justice. But Kumaratunga’s main message is to the SLFPers, challenging them to take a stand on principle in regard to the 1978 Constitution, in general, and the Judiciary in particular. Equally, principled UNPers should tell their Leader to stop dithering and take a stand for once before his political career is over.

The Federalist Papers were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, in the formative days of the American Constitution more than two hundred years ago. The three men went on to serve the new union respectively as its first Secretary of Treasury, its fourth President and the first Chief Justice. It was the time of swords and pistols and horses and darkness with no electricity, or running water, or the internet. It was also the time of the nascent nation state and national isolation. Despite the relative primitiveness and isolation of their times, the American founding fathers laid down the parameters of constitutional governance in exemplary detail for all time and for those interested in constitutional governance in every country.

Two hundred years later, a little republic like Sri Lanka with the benefit of global wisdom and modern technology need not find itself sliding back to the stone-age in constitutional governance. But that is where the country will be heading if parliament were to succeed in impeaching the Chief Justice and in the process irreparably undermine the independence of the judiciary and the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution.

- rajanphilips@rogers.com

Ex policeman Speaker’s decision treated contemptuously by SC like a dirty khaki rag –notice issued again (Lanka-e-News -01.Dec.2012, 11.00PM) Despite the ex policeman who is now speaker of Parliament roaring like a lion in its death throe yesterday and declaring that the notice issued by the appeal court to the members of the select Committee inquiring into the impeachment motion as invalid , the supreme court (SC) disregarding his announcement and discarding it like a dirty khaki rag , again issued notice on all the respondents to appear in court yesterday. The SC made it abundantly clear yesterday (30) that it is fully aware of the powers vested in it within the framework of the constitution , and is therefore acting within those powers . This decision was taken by the panel of judges comprising Justices , Gamini Amaratunge, K Sripavan and Prasad Dep. when the petition filed by the SL Bar Association and other Organizations against the select Committee of inquiry on the impeachment motion was examined again by the courts yesterday . When three of these petitions were examined earlier , notices were issued on the respondents. In this connection , Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva the Govt. chief whip stated yesterday in Parliament that notices were issued on the impeachment Select Committee members and the Speaker . However when this case was taken up today , neither the respondents nor their Lawyers were present in court. The Lawyers for the petitioners informed court of the stance announced by the speaker day before yesterday.The ex policeman speaker stated yesterday that no external parties can issue orders in respect of the Parliament. In any case the SC today gave 14 days time from the 26th of this month to the Attorney General (AG) who was present in court to forward written submissions. The case was postponed until the 13th and 14th of December and the courts instructed the Registrar of the courts to issue summons on the respondents to be present on those days.

Removing A Nail In The Tiger’s Coffin, On VP’s Birthday

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -December 1, 2012

“…..to not to be a fanatic means to be, to some extent and in some way, a traitor in the eyes of the fanatic”. Amos Oz (How to cure a fanatic)

What if after the defeat of the JVP insurgency, the Premadasa administration prevented Sinhala families from mourning their JVP-dead? What if every commemorative activity from the political to the religious was banned? What ifBuddhists monks were told to stop preaching sermons (bana) and accepting alms (dane) on behalf of dead JVPers?

Would such measures have caused reconciliation or a renewal of hatred?

By turning mourning into a crime, are the Rajapaksas building-peace or seeding another conflict?

The Tigers were many things, intransigent and efficient, disciplined and intolerant, hardworking and maximalist. They were also, like fanatics everywhere, stupid, blindingly, self-destructively stupid.

That was one of the key lessons of Nandikadal.

The Rajapaksas, who defeated the Tigers, seem to be made of some of the same political genes and psychological memes as their vanquished opponents, including suicidal inanity.

How else can one explain the dangerously destabilising impeachment? Or the bottomless financial quagmire that is Mihin Air? Or the inanely brutal military crackdown inJaffna, on the Birth Anniversary of Vellupillai Pirapaharan and the Tiger’s Great Heroes Day?

According to media reports, on November 26^th, some students of the University of Jaffna had commemorated the Great Heroes Day. In an ideal world, no Tamil would have reason to remember the Tigers with nostalgia, just as no Sinhalese would feel like commemorating the murderous Second Insurgency of the JVP (which targeted anti-racist Sinhalese under cover of fighting the IPKF). But we do not live in ideal worlds. Moreover,Jaffna students engaged in their commemorative activities peacefully and quietly. They did not have meetings or hold parades; they reportedly lit some lamps inside a dorm.

It would have made sense, from a political point of view, to ignore that secret deed. Had the regime allowed it to pass, the commemoration would have come and gone without creating any waves, nationally or internationally.

But the Rajapaksas are maximalists, as much as the Tigers were. And such people do not believe in compromise. They want everything their way, at any cost. Their obduracy and tunnel vision prevent them from seeing or understanding how self-destructive their maximalism can be.

Criminalising Mourning

During the Second Insurgency, the JVP imposed strict rules and regulations on how a ‘traitor’ killed by the “patriotic forces” (i.e. the JVP in its DJV guise) should be given his/her last rites. These included a ban on public mourning such as flags, gathering of mourners, funeral processions and graveside speeches; the JVP even decreed that the coffin of the ‘traitor’ should be carried below knee-level. These ‘rules’ were obeyed to the letter, outside cities, especially when the victims were ordinary people who had incurred the wrath of the JVP by violating its confusing array of dos and don’ts, from arbitrary curfews to selling Indian products, from voting to participating in ‘patriotic’ strikes.

Perhaps Mahinda Rajapaksa, who backed the JVP during its most racist and murderous phase, internalised some of those uncivil notions and indecent habits.

The Tigers too often denied those they labelled ‘traitors’ and murdered the right to a decent funeral and their families the right to mourn. Today the Rajapaksas are taking the same path.

The day after the ‘Great Heroes Day’, the military forcibly entered the hostels of the JaffnaUniversity, both male and female. “The army had entered the hostel through the water tank, broken open the doors of the girl’s hostel and put out the lamps. They had also frightened the girls by putting guns to their heads, threatening to shoot them. Some girls had fainted out of fear and shock” (The Death of Freedom of Assembly, Expression and Religion in the North of Sri Lanka – Watchdog – Groundviews – 1.12.2012) The similarity between the military’s modus operandi and that of the STF at Welikada is obvious; both were illegal searches conducted with brute force and both created more problems than they solved. They are also deadly precedents, which will be used against every real or imaginary opponent of Rajapaksa rule, irrespective ethnicity, creed or class.

The story did not end there. The following day, students held a demonstration to protest against the violently illegal conduct of the army. The riot police attacked the peaceful demonstrators. And, in gross violation of parliamentary privileges, the military prevented a TNA parliamentarian from entering the consequent scene of mayhem. This at a time when the parliament is battling the courts, allegedly in the name of legislative supremacy! In reality, in Rajapaksa Sri Lanka legislative supremacy depends on the political position of the legislator. Those legislators who support the Rajapaksas (plus their kin) are superior to the police, the military and the courts (as evidenced by the impunity of Duminda Silva and Rishad Bathiudeen vis-à-vis the judiciary and Malaka Siva vis-à-vis the military); those legislators who are opposed to the Rajapaksas do not enjoy any kind of superiority; in fact they can be as powerless as any ordinary Lankan.

That was not all. Hindu Kovils were banned from holding pujas, even though the ‘Festival of Lights’ was on the 27^th of November. Churches were reportedly surrounded and demanded by masses were being held. The house of the Chairman of the Karainagar Pradesheeya Sabha was set on fire and a Killinochchi businessman threatened. The police also arrested three Jaffna University student leaders including the Secretary of the Students Union.

This year, the lighting of a commemorative lamp was turned into a crime. What will the Rajapaksas do next year? Punish mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, wives and siblings for weeping for their dead? What will the Rajapaksas ban the year after? Grief? Memory? Longing?

Mourning is a basic ingredient of closure. When the Rajapaksas criminalised mourning, they ensured that the wounds of the Eelam War would remain unhealed. Had the people been allowed express their sense of grief and loss in public, they might have been able to put the past behind them and look to the future. Since that natural human impulse was forbidden, the people’s sense of grief and loss, driven inward, festered. The end result of this abnormal process cannot but be something unhealthy to the nation.

For the Sinhalese, peace has been mostly good, even in the absence of the peace-dividend. For the Tamils, the time since Nandikadal has been far less salubrious. The absence of shelling, bombing, forced recruitment, child proscription and relentless fighting (in which neither side cared a tuppence about civilian safety) would be welcome. But the absence of war has been almost the sole positive development for most Tamils. The non-appearance of the promised political solution and the uncertainty regarding even the system of provincial devolution may not concern all Tamils, but the overbearing (and often persecuting) presence of the military and the absence of basic facilities, plus the regime’s inane prioritisation (according to which highways are more important than houses and international sports stadia are more important than schools) cannot but have an adverse effect on almost every Tamil. For Tamils the absence of normalcy and the rule of law is not an exception but a fact of everyday life.

This context of searing absences and asphyxiating presences is bound to create the conditions for the resurgence of separatism, perhaps even a Tiger-reborn.

Rajapaksas’ Selective Patriotism

For Sinhala supremacists, Nandikadal opened a door to 1956, 1971 (Standardization) and, if necessary, 1983. For the Rajapaksas, Nandikadal opened a door to a more ancient past, to a pre-modern, pre-democratic time of absolute monarchies when potent kings ruled over powerless subjects.

Sinhala supremacists think that they can use the Rajapaksas to achieve their racist utopia. The Rajapaksas, knowing that, are using Sinhala supremacists as shock-troops in their offensive against democracy.

The Rajapaksas are Sinhala supremacist – but only as long as Sinhala supremacism serves their purpose. This utilitarian attitude is evidenced by the manner in which the Rajapaksas respond to advice from the Buddhist clergy. In public Mahinda Rajapaksa calls any monk ‘Ape Hamuduruwo’ and imply that he is willing to do follow every request of any of these many ‘Ape Hamuduruwos’, unquestioningly. In reality, the Rajapaksas follow advice from the clergy only when doing so suits, aids and abets their own purposes. So if the clergy asks the President to abolish the 13^th Amendment, he will follow it to the letter. But when the four chief prelates of the four main chapters request the withdrawal of the impeachment motion, their request will be ignored. (It is no secret that the Rajapaksa underlings threatened the Third Gem of the Triple Gems, in order to prevent the holding of a Sangha-conclave on the Fonseka issue).

Patriotism for the Rajapaksas is a means to an end, a weapon, an instrument, a banner and a mantle; nothing less, nothing more. They will use patriotism to build their familial state just as Vellupillai Pirapaharan used Tamil nationalism/separatism to win himself a country.

University students' federation Secretary arrested at midnight


Saturday , 01 December 2012
Jaffna university students' union Secretary P.Tharshananth aged 24 years was arrested by Kopay police from his residence was the statement made by his mother to "Udayan" newspaper.

She further said, “at about 1.00 a.m during midnight hours, four persons attired in civil clothes knocked their home door. After examining the identity card of Tharshananth, they informed that they need to take him to the Kopay police station to take a statement. I yelled and cried it is not proper to take him, but ignoring my pleas, they took away Tharshananth. I saw them taking Tharshananth, in a vehicle which was parked outside”.

Mother of Tharshanth with tears informed that the police did not submit any documents for his arrest.

Regarding this complaint, when contacted the Kopay police station over the phone to confirm the information, a reply was in half Tamil, and the caller informed there is none who is conversant in English or Tamil available in the police station.

Meanwhile Deputy Vice Chancellor Siriyar Velnambi informed that two students from the Jaffna University were taken for police investigation.

Regarding a complaint made to the Kopay police, two students’ names were sent to the University Vice Chancellor.

Vice Channellor said, “I took them to the police station, and after investigation they were proved innocent, and were released today”.

K.Jenamenon the leader of the arts faculty students’ union and science faculty student S.Solaman were under police investigation.

Two days back a petrol bomb was flung at a party office located at Thirunelveli area, and after a complaint made, these two students was arrested was mentioned by the police.

Photographs of S.Solaman who was trapped in the midst of police baton charge at the protest held on last Wednesday at the Jaffna university on, was published in all medias. Hence this may be the reason for his arrest, is speculated by the students.

Jaffna uni teachers protest in solidarity

Tamil Guardian 30 November 2012

Teachers at the University of Jaffna, held a protest on Friday, to exhibit their solidarity with the students of the university, who were attacked by the Sri Lankan security forces for trying to commemorate Maaveerar Naal. Holding placards, the teachers questioned why the military was allowed to set foot within university grounds.

Jaffna Students attacked by Sri Lankan military during peaceful protest

Global coalition of Tamil youth groups in solidarity with Jaffna uni students

Global coalition of Tamil youth groups in solidarity with Jaffna uni studentsFacebook logo

by Global Tamil Youth League on Thursday, November 29, 2012

November 29, 2012

For Immediate Release

Students from Jaffna University were attacked by the Sri Lankan military as they were peacefully protesting outside their university campus. The peaceful protest by the students was a display against Tuesday’s intimidation and harassment by the Sri Lankan military inside the Jaffna campus during Tamil Remembrance Day, preparations and proceedings.

The peaceful rally outside the university was conducted with banners and slogans expressing the student’s aversion against military presence within campus grounds. Along with many other valid statements, the banners read; ‘Military personal! Who allowed you within our campus?’, 'You may suppress us using your weapons, but you cannot suppress our emotions’, ‘Does reconciliation mean that you suppress our emotions?’ , and ‘Do I not have the right to freely express my emotions in a democratic state?’.

The Global Tamil Youth League (T-League) strongly condemns this act of violence against the Jaffna University student’s freedom to protest and demonstrate, as well as their right to freely commemorate Tamil Remembrance Day. As fellow students and youth, we support and stand with our brothers and sisters in Jaffna in demanding that their rights be respected and their safety is ensured and accounted for. This attack follows other similar attacks by the Sri Lankan Military including the attack on Paramalingam Tharsananth, the Student Union Secretary of Jaffna University during the May Massacre Remembrance event, and the recent Trincomalee attack against students at the Eastern University of Sri Lanka.

These attacks and acts of violence are clear indications that the “democratic state” of Sri Lanka is only democratic on paper, and has failed to allow for genuine freedom of expression. The Sri Lankan military and government personal have proven to meet such expressions with violence and punitive actions over and over again.

Tamils have always valued and honoured the sacrifices of heroes. Soldiers are held in high regard and their sacrifices are respected through commemorative ceremonies worldwide. The Sri-Lankan Government’s attempt to destroy and destruct the memory of such highly esteemed individuals through intimidation and violent measures is shameful, and shows immense disrespect for the sacrifice soldiers make for their country in any state.

The violations of Tamils’ right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly further validate Tamils aspirations for self-determination and the failure of the Sri-Lankan state. The Global Tamil Youth League (T-League) advocates that Tamil self-determination is the only permanent resolve to the systemic cultural and physical genocide of the Tamils in Sri-Lanka.

T-League’s member organizations include: Voice of Tamils, Australia (VOT); Canadian Tamil Youth Alliance (CTYA); Tamil Youth Network, Germany (TYN); Giovani Tamil, Italy; Tamil Youth Organisation, Norway (TYO-Norge); Tamil Youth Organisation, Switzerland (TYO-Swiss); Tamil Youth Organisation, UK (TYO-UK); Tamil Youth Organisation, New Zealand (TYO-NZ); Tamil Youth Organization, USA (TYO-USA).

Kurdish party conveys solidarity message on Tamil Eelam Heroes Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2012, 06:59 GMT]
“History of the world has been full of clashes between the occupiers and the occupied. As a result of struggles, resistances and sacrifices more of the occupied people have been liberated and the fascist and chauvinist occupiers are being destroyed successively,” writes Mr. Rehman Haci Ehmedi, the Secretary General of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), in a solidarity message sent to the Eezham Tamil nation on the occasion of Heroes Day. In a note sent to TamilNet via Rojhelat.info on Thursday, Mr. Ehmedi, who is the highest authority in the PJAK, drawing parallels between the struggle of the Kurds and the Tamils, urged the Eezham Tamil nation to continue the struggle, “In the hope of revitalization of the heroic nation of Tamil Eelam, in the hope of triumphant and freedom for the resolute and revolutionary nation of Tamil Eelam; never rest unless triumphing!” 

On 27 November, the PJAK had also commemorated the 34th anniversary of the establishment of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and greeting “the whole Kurdish people, the families of the martyrs of the PKK in East Kurdistan as well as the Leader Apo (Abdullah Ocalan).”

The PKK, which was formed on 27 November 1978, has been waging an armed struggle for autonomy in East Kurdistan against an oppressive Turkish government which denies the Kurdish nation basic political, economic and cultural rights. 

The PJAK, based in Northern Iraq, is constituent of the Koma Civaken Kurdistan (KCK), of which the PKK is also a member. A Kurdish nationalist organization which also aims at the creation of an economically egalitarian and gender-just society, the PJAK’s long term goals is to establish an autonomous secular Kurdish region within the Iranian state. 

The full text of Mr. Ehmedi’s solidarity message to the Eezham Tamil nation follows:

Happy Tamil Eelam Heroes’ Day to Tamil Nation
Revolutionary greetings for the heroic and steadfast nation of Tamil

Dedicating campaigners and activists of Tamil’s freedom path; our pains and sufferings, our hopes and aspirations are the same. Not we do only share them together, but with all the oppressed peoples in the world who are struggling to attain freedom. In the same manner; all the inhumane fascists and chauvinists in the world share their way of thinking, ideology and paradigm.

History of the world has been full of clashes between the occupiers and the occupied. As a result of struggles, resistances and sacrifices more of the occupied people have been liberated and the fascist and chauvinist occupiers are being destroyed successively.

In the last century more than 122 nations have been liberated and achieved their rights. Many more are leading liberation struggles and the bodies of their daughters and sons are becoming the fuelling logs of revolution blazes while their villages and cities are being destroyed; the Tamil and Kurdish nations are just samples of those peoples.

History and the philosophy of those liberated nations give us a lesson as the campaigners of liberation. The lesson is that campaign for freedom means; struggle, devastation, resoluteness and resurrection; struggle again, devastation, resoluteness and resurrection; once more struggle, devastation, resoluteness and resurrection; and ultimately triumphant and freedom will prevail.

Each damage and devastation would push us a step forward once we stand up, this is the dialectic of struggle for freedom and liberation. We have also experienced damages and devastations, but we never gave in and stood up again. Any nation who is scared of damage and devastation will never triumph. We should learn how to stand up from the way we get damaged and are devastated, any nation who learns how to stand up, will triumph.

In the hope of revitalization of the heroic nation of Tamil Eelam, in the hope of triumphant and freedom for the resolute and revolutionary nation of Tamil Eelam; never rest unless triumphing!

The Secretary General of Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK)
Rehman Haci Ehmedi 29-11-2012

Greens Reflect 'Grief and Courage of Tamils'-Disturbing images tell the story of ethnic cleansing.

Speech: November 27 - Maaveerar Naal-LeeRhiannon-See here for full address

Human Rights-28 Nov 2012

Lee Rhiannon addresses a Tamil rights rally.

(SYDNEY) - Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon spoke in parliament on November 27 to mark the the Tamil day, “Maaveerar Naal”, and detail the ongoing struggles of Tamil people to achieve justice and equality.

Her full speech is published below:

November 27 marks a very important and hauntingly sad day for Tamils all around the world including in Sri Lanka.

In Tamil the day is known as “Maaveerar Naal”. Veerar means “warrior or hero”. Maa means “great”. Naal means ”day”.

It is a day on which millions of Tamils will remember the hundreds and thousands of brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children and the elderly who sacrificed their life in the 26-year long struggle for their freedom.

Last year on this day I joined around 2000 Tamils in Sydney’s west to pay respect to the courage, strength and sacrifice of the Tamil people. The overwhelming distress and pain of the Tamil community as they stood in line to lay down a flower in respect for the fallen was a piercing emotional experience for me. I am in parliament today so I will not be able to join the community. But I still stand beside them as their friend on this significant day.

I have come to know the Tamil community in Sydney very intimately and I know that their grief and feeling of betrayal by the international community, world leaders and the United Nations is still very raw.

These emotions are perpetuated by the discrimination and brutality the Tamils continue to face at the hands of the Sri Lankan government, including the sexual abuse and exploitation of women, imprisonment, land grabs, torture, assassinations and kidnappings.

Australia’s continuing “friendly” relations with Sri Lanka, in order to stop Tamils from fleeing their country, is a matter of despair. The Australian government and Opposition’s discriminatory views and actions towards Tamil asylum seekers who do manage to make the dangerous journey here is shameful.

The recent assassination in France of a French Tamil community leader is an example of the ongoing challenges that the diaspora Tamils face.

Over the weekend, thousands of Tamils across France and Europe gathered in Paris to pay their respects to Mr Nadarajah also known as Parithi who was murdered on November 8.

It is alleged that his killing was orchestrated by Sri Lankan government officials. When investigating these crimes I trust that the French authorities will be very thorough and transparent with any information that may indicate it was a political assassination.

At the service, there were community representatives from Australia, Canada and New Zealand. French politicians were reportedly present.

The mass attendance and the state like ceremony that was performed reflects the commitment and resolve of the Tamils. Amidst their show of communal grief, they have once again sent a powerful message to the international community that they will not be silenced in their work to achieve a war crimes investigation and justice for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

A few weeks ago the UN made international headlines when a leaked internal UN report prepared by Charles Petrie concluded that various UN agencies had failed to meet their responsibilities in the last months of the civil war in Sri Lanka.

“Events in Sri Lanka mark a grave failure of the UN,” the report concludes.

Writing for Canada’s The Globe and Mail on November 19, Frances Harrison, a former BBC correspondent in Sri Lanka and author of Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War states: “The latest UN report documents how UN staff members were in possession of reliable information that showed that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for the majority of deaths.

“And that two-thirds of the killings were inside safe zones unilaterally declared by the Sri Lankan government purportedly to protect civilians. This was information senior UN managers decided not to share with diplomats when they briefed them.”

The BBC has reported that the Petrie report points out that in 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” and there was “a continued reluctance” among UN personnel in Sri Lanka “to stand up for the rights of people they were mandated to assist”.

The report also talks about the UN’s reluctance to publish casualty figures.

During the war, the UN maintained a figure of about 8000 Tamil deaths. After the war, a former UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka Gordon Weiss, put this figure as high as 40,000.

The Petrie report says that “credible information” indicates “that over 70,000 people are unaccounted for”. Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Congress, says Tamil church leaders and civil society, using census statistics, have calculated the death toll to be 146,679.

Against this figure of 146,679 Tamil deaths, the UN estimation of 8000 is an insult. Even a possible 70,000 figure is hard to trust. So three years on, we still have no agreed figure of how many men, women, children and elderly were killed in the first five months of 2009.

What this internal review has revealed is nothing new. All throughout the final months of the war, Tamils all over the world pleaded with international leaders to take notice of the massacre taking place in Sri Lanka.

Thousands of Tamils continuously took to the streets in India, Australia, Canada, US, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany and France. In the UK, an unprecedented 300,000 Tamils closed off Parliament Square crying out for a ceasefire.

Numerous young Tamils were on hunger strikes, and in India young men burnt themselves alive unable to bear the news of what was happening to their brothers and sisters.

Former UN spokesperson Gordon Weiss said in a blog post on November 15:

“Sri Lanka pulled off one of the nastiest episodes of mass killing since the Rwandan genocide – and got away with it.”

He went on to say that: “despite a clear advantage over the near-vanquished rebels, the army bombed packed hospitals, used starvation tactics, executed civilian captives, raped and killed female guerillas and corralled women and children into “safe zones” before shelling them. When that was done, it interrogated and then killed the Tamil Tiger political and military leadership, along with their families.”

I find it hard to believe that Western governments didn’t know what was going on. It has been confirmed that the UN certainly did know. While there were diplomatic efforts by some European leaders, their efforts were minimal.

I congratulate the aid workers, Tamil doctors, priests, Tamilnet journalists and diaspora Tamils who stayed in the conflict zone and did everything they could to make the world listen. Many died.

Today, I will remember them on Maaveerar Naal.

In responding to the leaked UN internal review, UN [secretary-general] Ban Ki-Moon said in a statement: “I am determined that the United Nations draws the appropriate lessons and does its utmost to earn the confidence of the world's people, especially those caught in conflict who look to the organisation for help.”

I welcome Mr Moon’s statement. It is important to hear that the UN is “determined” to draw the “appropriate lessons”. Mr Moon has said he will organise a senior-level team to give him careful consideration to the recommendations and advise on a way forward.

It is a step in the right direction but we have to acknowledge it is a very small step and for the Tamil community it is too late. My concern with Mr Moon’s statement is what he omitted. Will anyone in the UN be held responsible?

In his blog, Gordon Weiss speaks about an incident during the war — when Australian UN humanitarian worker James Elder warned that children were being killed and a Sri Lankan government official accused him of supporting terrorists.

The government expelled Elder. That government official, Palitha Kohona, is now Sri Lanka’s representative at the UN. His deputy is a former general accused of mass killing during the war. Is Palitha Kohona going to be held accountable?

And what about Vijay Nambiar, who was Mr. Moon’s then chef de cabinet? Writing for The Huffington Post on November 16, Frances Harrison says Mr Nambiar implored the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to dilute her statement when she wanted to speak about potential war crimes by the Sri Lankan government. Will Mr Moon do anything about him?

And what about a war crimes investigation? Will Mr Moon make attempts to appoint an international war crimes investigation to set the record straight? And will member states give him the backing that he needs?

The Australian government has maintained a complicit silence regarding the Rajapakse regime and the allegations of war crimes against it, and it continues to give a former Navy official during the war — Thisara Samarasinghe — diplomatic immunity in Canberra.

I note here a sentence from page 28 of the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka.

“From as early as 6 February 2009, the SLA [Sri Lankan Army] continuously shelled within the area that became the second NFZ [No Fire Zone], from all directions, including land, air and sea.”

The failure of the Australian government and other western governments to take decisive actions, such as adding their support to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's call to boycott CHOGM if held in Sri Lanka in 2013, adds to the pain and anguish that so many Tamils and their supporters feel, particularly on a day as important as today.

I congratulate all those who are working to ensure that there will be a war crimes investigation.

As November 27 dawns around the world I acknowledge the grief and courage of Tamils who gather together to remember and reflect on the enormity of the lives lost.

I repeat the call that crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Sri Lanka must be investigated.

Speech: November 27 - Maaveerar Naal-LeeRhiannon-See here for full address

Human Rights

28 Nov 2012

Adjournment speech, Tuesday 27 November 2012