�Send us to our native place; we do not need any assistance�. Waligamam north people notify to Japanese representatives

Friday , 22 February 2013

“We do not want any assistance. It is adequate if we are settled in our native soil. We will protect our living hoods. Hence leave us to return to our native place”.

Such statement was made yesterday Thursday by the displaced people from Waligamam north, sheltered in welfare centers to Japanese representatives.

Political unit Officer in Charge of Japanese Embassy Nalodukaro Romonji headed panel visited Jaffna district yesterday.

They personally visited the Mallakam, Konapulam camps where people are sheltered displaced from Waligamam north and had discussions. During the discussions, the people made the above statements.

23 years have gone after we left from our native lands. Still our areas are in the custody of military. If we ask us to resettle, they are pointing out landmine.

If the military do cultivation in our soil, where did all the landmines get vanished? 

“We do not need any help.  It is ample if we are resettled in our native lands. We will look after our living hoods.  Our areas are fertile earth, kindly take action to release them, it is enough”.

'No Fire Zone' screens in India today against Sri Lanka

[ Friday, 22 February 2013, 03:24.07 PM GMT +05:30 ]

'No Fire Zone' a documentary produced by UK's Channel 4 is due to begin its screening in India today.

According to Indian Media the screening is due to commence at the New Delhi Head Quarters of the Constitutional Council in New Delhi for a period of 20 minutes. 'No Fire Zone' will be screened before an audience consisting of Indian Mp's, journalists & human rights activists. The screening is due to be followed by a discussion where the documentaries director Callum Macrae is also due to participate. According to Indian media reports the screening of the documentary ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council Session in Geneiva is an attempt to daunt the island. However against this backdrop Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Kurshid added that the authenticity of the photographs contained in the documentary could not be verified. Moreover Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha has requested of the Indian Centre to impose sanctions against the island whilst gaining impetus from Channel-4's latest documentary into alleged war atrocities. Expressing his views during yesterday's cabinet decision media briefing, Cabinet Media Spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella noted that the country was victimised in such diabolical attempts since the period of the war.

Some households paying world’s highest electricity rate

*  Energy expert urges fairness & transparency, reform plans & pricing
formula already in place waiting for implementation

February 21, 2013, 9:02 pm 

By Ifham Nizam

Sri Lankan households which consume more than 300 units of electricity a month pay the highest rate per unit in the world, despite an average unit cost of Rs. 22.00 to produce a unit of electricity in the country, a renowned energy expert says, urging the government to be more fair and transparent with pricing policy while implementing reforms and a pricing formula already in place, ‘they do have to be reinvented’.

The breakeven of the CEB and CPC via cost recovery pricing formulae and reforms was one reason why a follow up programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) fell apart after the government said it was not ready for these (and other) reforms.

Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya on his presentation titled "Five Year Road Map for the Revival of the Electricity Industry in the country" organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) on Wednesday (20) said a Sri Lankan consumer under the large household sector pays a staggering Rs. 33.00 per unit; even a consumer of a developed nation like the US or United Kingdom don’t pay that much.

He said that when it comes to other categories –small and medium- local prices cannot be classified as either the cheapest nor expensive despite a unit being provided at Rs. 4.75 for users of less than 30 units and Rs. 8.09 for users of less than 90 units.

Dr. Siyambalapitiya strongly believes that allocation of costs to each customer category must be done accurately. He pointed out that transparency within the sector is of utmost importance.

He said that the private sector should lobby the government to be more transparent in the power sector.

He points out that Sri Lanka’s price structure is complicated and even some engineers find it difficult to understand the price structure.

He said that determining the type of customer is a nightmare which should be decided by the engineers.

He warned that the society would be deprived of the benefits of transition if the window of opportunities during 2011- 2017 were missed. 

He also said that 2016-17 was very crucial as the Sampur coal power plant in Trincomalee was to be operational by that year.

He added that if the negotiations with India are not going to be successful, Sri Lanka would still have time to finance and implement this US$ 500 million power plant using other investors.

The power sector can rise from two decades of miserable financial losses by 2017, only if the Trincomalee power project is implemented on time, and until then and thereafter, the customers must be told the truth about electricity costs and prices, he added.

He also said that the implementation of large power plants, cheaper to operate such as Puttalam and Trincomalee, does bring a reduction in costs, and such benefits should be partly used to settle the debts of the sector, and partly to bring relief to electricity consumers who have been unfairly treated for nearly two decades of experiment with oil-fired power generation.

He said plans for reforms and the pricing formula are already in place, there is nothing the politicians need to rediscover. Professionals and the regulatory commission need to implement them, he said.

Dr. Siyabalapitiya also explained how the limited authority offered to the new business units of generation, transmission and distribution through the Electricity Act of 2009 and regulatory commission, being used by key institutions -policy regulatory and utility- could bring relief such as lower electricity prices in real terms, higher reliability and better customer service and how the industry could plan their future projects with the expected improvement in the power sector.

He is a graduate in power engineering from University of Moratuwa, is a  PhD holder from Cambridge University. He has worked in the Ministry of Power & Energy, Ceylon Electricity Board and also in Saudi Arabia on power sector planning and policy.

He is currently an international energy consultant, working in a number of countries in Asia and Africa. He is also the Past President of Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association.

Report: Sri Lankan forces raped Tamils to teach lessons

New Delhi, Feb 22: After photographs of brutal killing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's son Balachandran surfaced, report suggests that Sri Lankan security forces raped and sexually assaulted Tamil women to teach lessons. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) 140-page report, "‘We Will Teach You a Lesson': Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces," states horrific incidents of sexual violence, rape, and third degree torture unleased on Tamil women and men by Sri Lankan forces. The HRW report will be released on Monday. The report chronicles 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse that occurred from 2006 to 2012 in Sri Lanka. HRW, a global human rights organisation, has demanded a thorough and high level international investigation into the matter. "HRW found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present, " said HRW Asia Director Brad Adams. "The Sri Lankan security forces have committed untold numbers of rapes of Tamil men and women in custody. These are not just wartime atrocities but continue to the present, putting every Tamil man/woman arrested for suspected LTTE involvement at serious risk." "I was taken to the fourth floor of the CID office in Colombo. I was not given any food or water. The next day, the officials, who included a uniformed armed official, photographed me, took my fingerprints, and made me sign on a blank sheet of paper. They told me that they had all my husband's details and kept asking me to disclose his whereabouts. When I told them my husband was abroad, they continued to accuse him of supporting the LTTE. I was beaten with many objects. I was burned with a cigarette during questioning. I was slapped around and beaten with a sand-filled pipe. Throughout the beatings, they asked me for my husband's details. I was raped one night. Two men came to my room in civilian clothes. They ripped my clothes and both raped me. They spoke Sinhala so I could not understand anything. It was dark so I couldn't see their faces clearly,"says an account of a 31-year-old Tamil woman in HRW. The woman was said to be picked up from her Colombo house by CID personnel in November 2011. OneIndia News

Read more at: http://news.oneindia.in/2013/02/22/report-sri-lankan-forces-raped-tamils-to-teach-lessons-1156228.html#cmntForm

Canada overtakes GTF in anti-Lanka offensive

By Shamindra Ferdinando-February 21, 2013,

Although the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) was pushing extremely hard for an international war crimes probe into the alleged accountability issues in Sri Lanka, with a major conference in the UK parliament scheduled for Feb. 27, the Canadian government had emerged as the leading campaigner against Colombo, ministerial sources told The Island.

The target of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s campaign was the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in November this year, Foreign Service sources said last night. Responding to a query, they said that unlike the GTF campaign, the Canadian action had brought tremendous pressure on member states of the Commonwealth and the CMAG (Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group) to deprive Sri Lanka of an opportunity to host the CHOGM 2013.

In spite of Sri Lanka’s strong objections, Canada has called on CMAG to take up Sri Lanka at its next meeting in London.

The Tamil Diaspora of Sri Lankan origin is exerting heavy pressure on Canadian political parties at times of major elections, a Foreign Ministry official said, noting that Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent had had to eat humble pie in the run-up to last general election in early 2011, after having criticized his own party (Conservative) for deciding to field Ragavan Paranchothy, widely believed to be a pro-LTTE activist on the Conservative party ticket. Minister Kent had to withdraw his criticism and apologize to Premier Harper, who publicly defended Paranchothy.

LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s successor, Kumaran Pathmanathan better known as KP after his arrest in Malaysia in Aug 2009 said that at the time of his arrest he was on a call to Paranchothy.

Indian PM pressured to act against SL

2013-02-22  Seeking to exert pressure on the Centre, Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that India join western countries like the US in bringing a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC over the alleged human rights violations during the war. The MPs said India should join hands with the United States in bringing out a resolution against Sri Lanka asking it to categorically implement the recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC). Sri Lanka has not implemented the recommendations of the LLRC despite India and other countries voting in favour of a resolution censuring the island's government last year at the UNHRC. "We feel that India should join hands with the United States in bringing out a Resolution against Sri Lanka to categorically implement the Recommendations of its own LLRC. "This will certainly help in rendering justice to the Tamils of Sri Lanka, in addition to delegation of power in Government, conduct of free and fair elections in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, and rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced persons," the MPs said in a memorandum. The MPs, who met Singh are NSV Chitthan, M Krishnaswamy, KS Alagiri, JM Haroon, SS Ramasubbu, P Viswanathan and Manickam Tagore. They also said India should continuously support and work towards the welfare of the Tamils of Sri Lanka, so that they get equal opportunities and a safe and sound environment for a peaceful living. They also thanked the Centre for notifying the Cauvery Waters Dispute Tribunal's final Award in the official Gazette of India. "We are quite sure, the publication of this notification in the Gazette would indeed bring in some respite to the people of the southern states of Kerala, Puducherry in general and Tamil Nadu in particular," they said. (PTI)

How to make a killing

Business has much to learn from the armed forces-Feb 16th 2013

Feb 16th 2013

IT IS not one of London’s grander clubs. The furniture is dowdy, the carpet threadbare.. But who needs grandeur when you have heroism? The Special Forces Club was founded in 1945 by former members of the Special Operations Executive, an organisation that wrought havoc behind enemy lines during the second world war. Today it draws its members from the special forces, the intelligence services and the anti-terrorism police. The walls are lined with photographs of former members. Black frames identify those who were killed in action.The club is a reminder that some things are more important than money. But the world of money is hard to ignore. Harrods, a posh department store, is just around the corner. A Russian oligarch is noisily building a palace across the road. Many members have to think about making a living now that the army is shrinking. They wonder: are the skills that are celebrated inside the club useful in the world outside its windows?

This argument provokes derision in the Special Forces Club. Sir Michael Rose, a retired general who spent part of his career with Britain’s SAS (Special Air Service), points out that the special forces have always embraced currently trendy management nostrums such as “empowerment” and “high-performance teams”. People who are dropped behind enemy lines have no choice but to rely on their own wits and make the most of limited resources. Sir Michael also points out that the regular forces have followed the special forces in introducing a “mission-command approach”—that is, a commander defines the overall mission but then leaves the officers on the ground to decide how to execute it.Once upon a time business could not get enough of the smell of cordite. Tycoons referred to themselves as “captains of industry” and crafted “strategies” (from the Greek word for “general”) for their troops. They talked of waging “war” on their rivals. They relaxed by reading Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. But more recently attitudes have changed. Businesspeople argue that military-style command-and-control systems are out of date in a world of knowledge workers and fluid alliances.

Plenty of retired officers argue that businesspeople have much to learn from the armed services. For example, business theorists increasingly emphasise the importance of corporate culture, yet many new businesses do a dismal job of nurturing it. The military services, by contrast, have been adept at preserving their culture at a time of social turmoil. Granted, they have sometimes been slow to change. America only lifted the ban on openly gay troops in 2011, and on women in combat last month. But still, armies are much better than other institutions at building a lifelong esprit de corps. Military mottoes make strong men cry: (“The few, the proud”; “Who dares wins”). Most corporate mission statements make desk warriors cringe with embarrassment.

The armed forces are also good at cultivating soft skills. Andrew St George of Aberystwyth University points out that Britain’s Royal Navy prepares people well to spend long periods in cramped quarters. It urges seamen to be cheerful in all circumstances. It fills dead time with contests—known as Dogwatch Sports—such as passing a stick across an ever-widening divide. The navy’s emphasis on telling jokes and stories over long dinners probably makes no sense to a cost-obsessed management consultant. But it has helped sailors to deal with naval warfare’s awful combination of tedium and danger.

The army has done a fine job of training more generally. It has always grappled with one of the most difficult jobs imaginable: training people to kill and risk being killed. Today, in the West at least, it has to do this in a looking-glass world where teenagers know their “rights”, health-and-safety officials inspect shooting ranges and politicians are constantly squeezing resources. Yet still it turns out soldiers who can handle technology, who work well in teams and who never quit to join a competitor.

Damian McKinney, a former Royal Marine, argues that today’s armed services have more to teach the private sector than ever. For example, how to build a ladder of training rather than just prepare people for the next job: armies routinely think in terms of “two rungs up”. And how to learn from experience: armies routinely conduct post-mortems on their missions.

From foxhole to corner office

Some businesspeople are eager to learn from the men and women in uniform. Mr McKinney recently created a “leadership academy” for Walmart, a supermarket chain, modelled on a military staff-training college. He and Sir Michael Rose both pontificate for military-flavoured management consultancies (McKinney Rogers and Skarbek Associates, respectively). Michael Useem of Wharton Business School incorporates visits to battlefields and lectures from military leaders into his courses.

Coping with risks and making decisions quickly under pressure are useful skills for entrepreneurs, which is perhaps why the Israeli army sires so many high-tech start-ups. And the army trains good managers, too. An officer must never issue an order that will not be obeyed, so he must learn to gauge the mood of his men. As the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down, more veterans will be looking for second careers. Some have fought for longer than the generation that defeated Hitler. Many have international experience. Oil and mining firms that operate in the rough parts of Africa and the Middle East are eager to hire them. So are firms in other industries. Amazon brags about its military-friendliness. Walmart vowed last month to hire any veteran who applied for a job within a year of being honourably discharged. Companies that complain that they cannot find people with the right mixture of drive and experience have only themselves to blame if they miss this arsenal of talent.

Dal Khalsa condemns Sri Lanka for Balachandran’s murder

Supports demand that Rajapaksa must stand trial for war crimes

CHANDIGARH, February 22, 2013

Dal Khalsa, the radical Sikh organisation, on Thursday condemned the Sri Lankan government for its “cold-blooded murder” of Balachandran, the minor son of the slain LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran.

The organisation’s head, H.S. Dhami, in a statement said the Dal Khalsa supported the demand that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa must stand trial for war crimes. The organisation would approach the United Nations for an international investigation into human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the civil war there.

“The pictures of the 12-year-old boy murdered in cold blood, published in newspapers, are evidence of the human rights violations in Sri Lanka. This is not a question of Tamil people but a question of a human being,” Mr. Dhami said.

Mr. Dhami said that while the western countries were ready to support the U.S.-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC to be tabled next month, New Delhi has maintained stoic silence on the issue. “India’s silence is not new. It has always maintained double standards on contentious issues and many times it had done somersaults.”

Mr. Dhami said India’s ‘inert reaction’ should be viewed in the backdrop of its own record of ‘gross human rights violations’ meted out to the Sikhs.

Hails Jayalalithaa

The Dal Khalsa chief hailed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for refusing to host the 20th Asian Athletics Championships in July, as participation by Sri Lankan players would hurt the feelings of Tamils.

“She is a bold lady, who had risen to the occasion earlier too, when under her leadership, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution seeking commutation of death sentence to a life term for the assassins of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi,” the statement concluded.

Cruel Face Of Sri Lankan Establishment Exposed

By Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran -February 22, 2013

PM - TGTE - Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Cruel face of Sri Lankan establishment exposed with release of brutal trophy photos of 12 year old child’s execution 

Britain’s Channel 4 and the international media outlets have recently published reports and pictures of the execution style assassination of 12-year old Balachandran Pirabaharan. These recently published accounts add to the mounting evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed against the Tamil people in the Vanni region in the island of Sri Lanka during and after the war in 2009.

The death of Balachandran Pirabaharan by the Sri Lankan armed forces candidly exposes the brutal events occurring at the end of the war. This conduct, which constitutes war crimes and violations of international law, must be investigated by a credible, independent international Commission of Inquiry to determine the facts behind these horrendous acts. Civilized governments do not execute innocent children in cold blood and then display trophy photos of the murder. The recently surfaced picture of the young boy’s innocent face raises the question: how can a human pull the trigger on a 12 year old child? The new pictures demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that Balachandran Pirabaharan was not killed in crossfire as the Government of Sri Lanka alleges.

The international community must not view the fate of Balachandran Pirabaharan as an isolated incident. In reality, thousands of Tamil children were murdered in 2009 and more thousands are today enduring a servile existence under the same military that killed their relatives and friends in the Tamil areas. Up to one hundred and fifty thousand Tamil civilians have met their death during that period at the hands of the forces of the state, comprising almost exclusively by the Sinhalese. Anti-Tamil racism manifested by the Sinhala Politico-Military Establishment allowed barbarism and unimaginable cruelty on a vast scale to be perpetrated on the Tamils in the worst atrocity so far of the 21rst century.
We urge the international community to take into account the unadulterated and demonstrated hatred towards Tamils by the Sinhala Politico-Military Establishment in fashioning the form of remedial justice to the Tamils.

The interests of justice, institutional integrity and international security demand that the Security Council must seize itself with this matter and refer the case to the International Criminal Court. Alternatively, the Human Rights Council in the upcoming session in March must pass a resolution empowering an international investigation of the war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and bestow justice to Tamils. In addition, we urge all countries in tolerant of genocide to invoke universal jurisdiction and open its tribunals to preside over civil and criminal prosecutions against the leaders of the Sinhala political military establishment who led during that period of cruel barbarity. Both the 2010 UN Expert Panel Report and the 2012 UN Internal Review Report noted that there is no political and judicial environment for domestic recourse to justice in Sri Lanka. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Major General Kamal Gunaratne had murdered Balachandran on Gotabhaya’s order

Thursday, 14 June 2012

LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s 14 year old son Balachnadran Prabhakaran had been killed after surrendering to the army on a direct order of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Lanka News Web learns that Balachandran had been killed under the supervision of the Commander of the 53rd Brigade Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne.

Balachandran had surrendered to the army near the Nadikadal Lagoon at 7.30 a.m. on May 19, 2009. He had surrendered to a group of eight soldiers led Sergeant Mutubanda from the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment.

Balachandran had said his father, Velupillai Prabhakaran had been shot dead the previous night and that his body was hidden in a shrub near the Nandikadal Lagoon. Mutubanda had then informed the detail to Lieutenant Nalaka from the C Group of the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment.

Nalaka together with another officer named Kirinda and Sergeant Wijesinghe were engaged in a search operation in the Nandikadal Lagoon at the time.

Nalaka had informed the Commanding Officer of the 4th Vijayaba Infantry Regiment Lieutenant Colonel Rohitha Aluvihare that a boy claiming to be Prabhakaran’s son along with two security personnel had surrendered to the army. He had then informed the head of the 53rd Brigade, Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne about the matter through head of the 681 platoon, Lieutenant Colonel Lalntha Gamage.

Following orders, Brigadier Gunaratne together with Lieutenant Nalaka and Balachnadran had gone to the shrub in the Nandikadal Lagoon and shown Prabhakaran’s body to the army.

Lalantha Gamage had then personally taken charge of Balachandran and taken him to Gunaratne.

Gunaratne had then personally interrogated Balachandran.

During the interrogation Balachandran had said his father was killed the previous night when he was caught in the crossfire between the LTTE and security forces.

He had said that his father’s body was hidden and two of his security personnel who had survived the battle the previous night had then surrendered to the army with him.

Balachandran had said that he was with his father in one boat trying to escape the gunfire while his mother and sister were in another. However, he had said his father was shot during the battle and that he was unaware of what had become of his mother and sister.

Balachandran had also revealed that his father and his few remaining security personnel had fought back, but excluding two members of the security detail, everyone had been killed in the gun battle.

Gunaratne had informed all the details he had learnt from Balachandran to the Defence Secretary on his mobile phone. The Defence Secretary had informed all the details to Karuna Amman.

Karuna Amman had told the Defence Secretary that Balachandran should be killed since there was a possibility that he would become the next LTTE leader if he survived and because he would be released from courts since he was under age.

The Defence Secretary had then ordered Gunaratne to personally supervise Balachandran’s killing and to destroy his body.

These details have been revealed by an army officer to a foreign government since he is now being accused over the telecast of footage of Balachandran’s murder in a Channel 4 film. The army officer had said that he did not want to be held accountable for sins committed by others.

Military Spokesperson was nowhere near the war – senior army officers

Thursday, 21 February 2013

Senior army officers who were actively involved in the forces during the war say that Military Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya, who claims that the report that LTTE Leader Prabhakaran’s 12 year old son Balachandran was killed by the army was aimed at tarnishing the image of the military, was nowhere near the operation areas during the final stages of the war. They observed that it was the likes of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Deputy Minister Karuna Amman, Major General Kamal Gunaratne, Colonel Lalantha Gamage, Colonel Rohitha Aluvihare, Sergeant Mutubanda and Sergeant Kirinde who were privy to what exactly happened during the final stages of the war. The senior army officers say that the army should hold a legal investigation into the incident and punish the wrong doers in order to save the good name of the army.

These army officers revealed to us how the 12 year old Balachandran Prabhakaran surrendered to the army, the place where he surrendered and the time of his killing.

We published a detailed account of the incident on June 14, 2012. (Major General Kamal Gunaratne had murdered Balachandran on Gotabhaya’s order )

These army officers say that while 99% of the army personnel acted according to the military laws, a few senior army officers amounting to around 1% of the entire force had worked in connivance with the Defence Secretary and committed war crimes. They claim that the world has heard only a few war crimes that had taken place in the country.

They note that apart from the claim that the army did not have any information of the whereabouts of Prabhakaran’s wife, Madhivadhini and daughter Dvarakha, the rest of the statements made about the incident even by former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka are false.

According to the senior army officers, while Fonseka was not responsible for the war crimes committed during the war, the reason for his protection of the personnel who carried out such crimes is unfathomable.

On Photographs Showing Prabhakaran’s Son’s Death

By R Hariharan -February 22, 2013 

Col. (retd) R.Hariharan

On the eve of the release of a full length film on Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes, the British daily the Independent carried an article along with two photographs showing Prabhakaran’s son eating a snack before his Sri Lankan captors allegedly shot him dead in cold blood. This serious allegation pertaining to a war India supported. It is about a brutal and heinous act by a state with very friendly to India. So apart from humanitarian concerns, India in its own interest, needs to get the allegations investigated impartially. If proved true it will undoubtedly be considered a war crime committed by Sri Lanka.

It is important not because the boy was the son of Prabhakaran, but because he was an innocent boy – not a LTTE cadre – who was killed in captivity either during or after the war, like thousands of others who are alleged to have faced the same fate. It further reinforces allegations beamed earlier by Channel 4 that included custodial killings of LTTE prisoners carried out by Sri Lankan soldiers and strengthens the allegation.

For the last four years these allegations have been coming up in public domain one after the other. Undoubtedly, it is a part of a global campaign by Tamils and international civil society groups to bring to book the alleged perpetrators of war crimes during the Eelam War in which thousands of civilians died. But there is nothing wrong in it because that in no way lessens the seriousness of the allegations or the magnitude of the crimes. So they cannot be ignored on this count.

The UN after a preliminary examination of the allegations discussed the subject with the Sri Lanka government both on one to one basis as well as in UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). As a result of these efforts Sri Lanka President appointed the Lessons Learnt and Recommendations Commission (LLRC) and assured its recommendations would be implemented. However, the promised implementation of the LLRC recommendations is unsatisfactory and incomplete. So the UNHRC last year passed a U.S. sponsored resolution seeking accountability from Sri Lanka in implementing the recommendations. And India for the first time supported the U.S. move and voted for the resolution. Sri Lanka’s progress on the subject is due for review at the UNHRC meeting in March 2013.

To summarise, during the last three years the UN and international community particularly India and the U.S. had given enough opportunity for Sri Lanka to investigate and take follow up actions on these serious allegations through a transparent process. Sri Lanka has not only not implemented LLRC recommendation but maintains it is purely an internal matter. It is steadfast in saying these false allegations are part of an international conspiracy to denigrate Sri Lanka and downgrade the achievement of Sri Lanka army in defeating the LTTE. Time has come for carrying out an international inquiry under UN auspices to establish the veracity of the allegations.

On Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s response

The lack of positive response from Sri Lanka to Tamil concerns in the post war period has distressed Tamils everywhere. This turned to anger when increasing number allegations of atrocities against Tamil prisoners and population with telling visuals started surfacing one after the other.

Tamil Nadu political leaders have been expressing their views on these issues reflecting popular sentiments in their political statements. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Ms J Jayalalithaa during and after her AIADMK party’s thumping victory in the state elections had been demanding that India pressurize Sri Lanka by applying trade sanctions and initiate international action to bring to book those Sri Lankans including President Rajapaksafor involvement in heinous crimes including mass killing of Tamils. The governor’s address in Tamil Nadu Assembly specifically reiterated the demand for trade sanction.

The pictures of Prabhakaran’s son Balachandran’s brutal killing in Sri Lankan custody has turned the simmering anger to rage in Tamil Nadu and triggered a wave of protests. Ms Jayalalithaa has reiterated that New Delhi must tackle this with the seriousness it deserves and wanted India to join hands with the U.S. to initiate action to bring the culprits of Sri Lanka before international criminal court. She has also announced that Tamil Nadu will not be able to host the 20th Asian Athletic Championships (20th AAC) scheduled to be held in July 2013 as “there was no place for Sri Lankan athletes in the State.”

Her actions and requests to New Delhi for specific actions like trade ban which fall in the central domain should not be trivialized because they reflect the feelings of most of the people of the state. Her decision not to host 20th AAC in a way regrettable because athletics has no borders and it promotes goodwill. In spite of this, I welcome her action because it sends a strong message to the people of India and Sri Lanka that Tamil Nadu’s serious concerns on the handling of Tamil concerns by both India and Sri Lanka.

However, I have my reservations on implementing other actions. India enjoys very close relations with Sri Lanka. So far India had brought its concerns to Sri Lanka’s attention at the highest levels on one to one basis. These efforts have been put paid because President Rajapaksa has political reservations about implementing his promises to India on devolution of powers to Tamils. In fact there had been little progress on many other issues relating to Tamils.

So time has come for Indian Prime Minister to publicly announce India’s unhappiness over the way Sri Lanka has conducted itself in the post war period. And specifically it should speed up devolution of powers to Tamils, investigate all allegations of war crimes and human rights violations by cleaning up issues of governance, and implement all the recommendations of the LLRC. Otherwise India will be constrained to take action both at the national and international level. This can include bringing up the issue at the UNHRC and participation in the next Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to be hosted by Sri Lanka. This will make it clear to the Sri Lanka government and people as well as people of India including Tamil Nadu, that India is contemplating a series of actions if Sri Lanka ignores its concerns.

After that India’s approach should be to progressively bring pressure on Sri Lanka rather than taking drastic actions like imposing trade sanctions which would harm India and specifically Tamil Nadu more than Sri Lanka. For initiating action in the International Criminal Court, a lot of preliminary action will be required like collection of evidence, establishing identity of victims and witnesses and recording statements, to establish prima facie case on involvement of specific persons. It can take years. This is not practicable as Sri Lanka’s cooperation at certain level is essential.

So India should join Britain, Canada and the EU in supporting the suggestion of Mrs Navi Pillay for an international inquiry under UN auspices to look into allegations of Sri Lanka war crimes and human rights violations. This will require Sri Lanka’s cooperation for its successful conduct.

It should not be forgotten that Sri Lanka has an elected government which has Tamil members in bureaucracy and parliament. So it is important that India joins international community in addressing Sri Lanka polity to support their moves and that it was not intended at penalizing the people of Sri Lanka. For the same reason, Tamil Nadu should not ban or cause any harm to visiting pilgrims and ordinary people of Sri Lanka; in fact they should briefed of the concerns of Tamil Nadu through appropriate means.

On LTTE also committing such crimes

This is not the issue relating to allegations of war crimes by Sri Lanka. Yes; LTTE had also committed such heinous crimes. But LTTE has been eliminated and Sri Lanka is planning to prosecute LTTE cadres short listed in its custody for perpetrating heinous crimes. Secondly, this is not a zero sum game; it relates to a state violating its own laws on issues of international concern. On the other hand LTTE was a terrorist organization operating outside the norms of an organized state. So there is no comparison between the two entities.

On Indian action impacting its strategic interests

It is true that China and Sri Lanka enjoy close, multifaceted relations. However, this cannot be the sole consideration for our Sri Lanka foreign policy formulation. On the other hand, India and China also are fairly successful in building a win-win relationship. And Sri Lanka knows it; it also knows that it is in its own interest that India-China relations are smooth and not jeopardized. So even if Sri Lankan politicians talk of playing the China card, there are practical limitations in implementing it due to India’s strategic domination of Sri Lanka. Probably China also knows this.

[This is a summary of the comments made by Col Hariharan in TV discussions and to print media on February 20 to 22, 2013.]

*Col R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served with the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka as Head of Intelligence. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group. E-Mail: colhari@yahoo.com

Ban wants accountability in Sri Lanka

February 21, 2013

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wants accountability in Sri Lanka through a genuine and comprehensive national process.

Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said that the UN Chief was aware of the new video footage released on the war in Sri Lanka and the reports about that video footage.

He was referring to the video allegedly showing the youngest son of LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabakaran having snacks in an army bunker before being shot dead.

Nesirsky however said that the UN did not have any comments at this moment directly related to the controversial video.

“The Secretary-General has consistently underlined the critical importance of addressing accountability in Sri Lanka through a genuine and comprehensive national process and achieving national reconciliation.  We are obviously aware of the video footage and the reports about that video footage, but I don’t have any specific comment on that,” he said.

Meanwhile, in response to a question, the UN spokesman said that the last panel appointed by Ban ki-moon to look into addressing failures of the UN during the war in Sri Lanka is not investigating the incidents in Sri Lanka related to the war.

“This is an internal task force looking at how recommendations will be carried out within the UN.  It’s not to do with looking into the actual events that took place in Sri Lanka.  It is learning the lessons from them, which is what the second report was about,” he said. (Colombo Gazette)

Probe sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka [ Friday, 22 February 2013, 06:23.19 AM GMT +05:30 ] The Human Rights Watch (HRW), a global human rights organisation, has sought an international investigation into reports of sexual violence, rape, third degree torture against Tamil women and men carried out by the Sri Lankan security forces to get confessions from those suspected to have links with the then Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The HRW, which has prepared a 140-page report, “‘We Will Teach You a Lesson’: Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces,” which is to be released on Monday, provides detailed accounts of 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse that occurred from 2006 to 2012 in both official and secret detention centres throughout Sri Lanka. While widespread rape in custody occurred during the armed conflict (with LTTE) that ended in May 2009, “HRW found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present.” HRW Asia Director Brad Adams claimed: “The Sri Lankan security forces have committed untold numbers of rapes of Tamil men and women in custody. These are not just wartime atrocities but continue to the present, putting every Tamil man/woman arrested for suspected LTTE involvement at serious risk.” Mr. Adams said the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) should direct the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent international investigation. “The government’s response to allegations of sexual violence by its security forces has been dismissive, deeming them ‘fake’ or ‘pro-LTTE propaganda.’ It’s not clear who in the government knew about these horrific crimes. But the government’s failure to take action against these ongoing abuses is further evidence of the need for an international investigation,” he said. Victims’ accounts Quoting from the accounts of a 31-year-old Tamil woman who was picked up from her Colombo house by CID personnel in November 2011, the HRW said: “I was taken to the fourth floor of the CID office in Colombo. I was not given any food or water. The next day, the officials, who included a uniformed armed official, photographed me, took my fingerprints, and made me sign on a blank sheet of paper. They told me that they had all my husband’s details and kept asking me to disclose his whereabouts. When I told them my husband was abroad, they continued to accuse him of supporting the LTTE. I was beaten with many objects. I was burned with a cigarette during questioning. I was slapped around and beaten with a sand-filled pipe. Throughout the beatings, they asked me for my husband’s details. I was raped one night. Two men came to my room in civilian clothes. They ripped my clothes and both raped me. They spoke Sinhala so I could not understand anything. It was dark so I couldn’t see their faces clearly.” Another 23-year-old male youth, caught in August 2012, said: “They removed my blindfold [and] I found myself in a room where four other men were present. I was tied to a chair and questioned about my links to the LTTE and the reason for my recent travel abroad. They stripped me and started beating me. I was beaten with electric wires, burned with cigarettes and suffocated with a petrol-infused polythene bag. Later that night, I was left in a smaller room. I was raped on three consecutive days. The first night, one man came alone and anally raped me. The second and third night, two men came to my room. They anally raped me and also forced me to have oral sex with them. I signed a confession admitting my links with the LTTE after the rapes.” Yet another youth, who surrendered before the security forces in May 2009, said: “Two officials held my arms back [while] a third official held my penis and inserted a metal rod inside. They inserted small metal balls inside my penis. These had to be surgically removed after I escaped from the country.” A medical report corroborates his account, said HRW. The rights body alleged that the victims also described being beaten, hung by their arms, partially asphyxiated and burned with cigarettes. None of those who spoke to HRW had access to legal counsel, family members, or doctors while they were detained. Most said that they signed a confession in the hope that the abuse would stop, though the torture, including rape, often continued. The individuals interviewed were not formally released but rather allowed to “escape” after a relative paid the authorities a bribe.