Sri Lanka 'disappeared': Families stage Colombo protest

Distressed parents held up photos of their missing children at the protest

Continue reading the main story

6 March 2013

The families of people who disappeared in Sri Lanka during and after the country's long civil war have staged a demonstration in the capital Colombo.

The rally was mostly on behalf of Tamil people.

Many protesters were prevented by the authorities from attending, but a big pro-government demonstration was allowed to go ahead.

Tamil Tiger rebels fought a 26-year war for a separate state in the north and east before they were defeated in 2009.

Rights activists say that some of those who disappeared were fighting for the Tamil Tigers, some fought for the government and some were civilians.

They say that many Tamils remain in the hands of the security forces.

They want a UN-led international probe into alleged human rights abuses during the war, but the government has rejected the demand and denies being responsible for most of the disappearances.

Continue reading the main storyOpposition politician and anti-disappearances campaigner Mano Ganeshan told the AP news agency that buses packed with about 1,000 Tamils were prevented from leaving the northern town of Vavuniya on Tuesday to make the 210km (130-mile) journey to Colombo for Wednesday's protest.

He said that government forces and police had intimidated the bus drivers, warning them not to proceed with the journey.

However, military spokesman Brig Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that police had stopped the buses to prevent possible clashes in Vavuniya.

He said complaints were made to police earlier on Tuesday that people had thrown stones at the buses.

The US embassy in Colombo has expressed concern about the Vavuniya reports. It has called on the Sri Lankan government to allow free movement of its citizens "calling for information about their missing loved ones".

One of those attending the Colombo protest, Perinparani, told the BBC's Charles Haviland that her son Pradeepan, 20, was taken from her in the northern town of Jaffna in 2008.

"The army officers came in four field motorbikes," she said.

"There were about eight army officers, with beards. These people came and took him. They had no letter, they didn't tell me why they were taking my son away."

Her son was a labourer with no connection to the rebels, she said.

Her repeated visits to prisons have yielded little information. At the rally in Colombo, she and other distressed parents held up photos of their missing children.

Meanwhile the government organised a big rally, also in the middle of the capital, at which demonstrators accused Tamil MPs of never having criticised the Tigers for perpetrating atrocities.

Rajapaksa Samagama And The Removal Of The Chief Justice

By Nihal Jayawickrama -March 7, 2013 

Dr.Nihal Jayawickrama

HThe removal from office of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka was an unprecedented act in the  judicial history of the country. I have been requested to examine the constitutionality of that act. In fact, that was the single issue on which the proceedings leading to the removal of the Chief Justice were questioned and challenged from the outset. Except in the government-owned media, there was hardly any reference to the alleged acts of misbehaviour. It was evident, from the beginning, that the objective of the exercise was to remove an inconvenient Chief Justice, and replace her with one more amenable to the government. It was candidly and authoritatively admitted by a political columnist close to the government that the resolution for her removal was motivated “for political reasons”.

Even the President reportedly complained to a former Chief Justice that “she has got too big for her boots”. The only member of the government parliamentary group who declined to sign the resolution for her removal publicly declared that one reason for his refusal to do so was that he was presented with a blank sheet of paper that contained no charges.The Constitution is the “supreme law”

In Sri Lanka, unlike in the United Kingdom, the written Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic. It is from the Constitution that the three principal branches of government derive their powers. Legislative power is exercised by Parliament and by the People at a Referendum. Executive power is exercised by the President elected by the People. Judicial power is exercised through courts, tribunals and institutions, created and established by the Constitution or by law”. The only exception is in respect of the privileges, immunities and powers of Parliament and of its Members, where “judicial power may be exercised directly by Parliament according to law”. That law, which Parliament has enacted, is the Parliament (Powers and Privileges) Act.

Impeachment                                                             Read More

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US resolution will be debated on 21st

UN Human Rights Council's 22nd session is held in Geneva and the resolution brought by US against Sri Lanka will be taken for debating on the forthcoming 21st.

It is understood that the resolution will be submitted on 14th by US ambassador for Human Rights Commission Warren Tichenor

The copies of the resolution were distributed by US to the delegate’s in Geneva one week back. 

Meanwhile Latin America and European countries have pointed out that some vital proposals should be included in the document.

Hence with new amendments with more vital issues included resolution would be submitted at the council is according to high level diplomatic circles.

Meanwhile reports states Sri Lanka government is also processing diplomatic activities to avoid strong recommendations to pertain in the resolution submitted by US.

In the meantime Delhi Medias have published information that India would support and vote the resolution against Sri lanka brought by US at the UN Human Rights Council sessions.

At a state, Indian Central government is trapped in severe pressure regarding Sri Lanka issue, a short-time debate concerning Sri Lanka Tamils issue will be conducted today at the Indian parliament.

During this debate, Indian government's stance concerning the Geneva resolution may be revealed is according to Delhi information.

Thursday , 07 March 2013

Police detains families of disappeared from Northern Sri Lanka and prevents peaceful protest and petition to the UN

Police detains families of disappeared from Northern Sri Lanka and prevents peaceful protest and petition to the UN

THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2013

On March 5th, 2013, at about 8.30pm, the Police blocked about 600 persons, comprising families of the disappeared and civil society activists from the North

 WATCHDOG
Editors note: See our earlier report, Police impeding the movement of Tamils.]

March 5^th, 2013, Vavuniya 
On March 5^th, 2013, at about 8.30pm, the Police blocked about 600 persons, comprising families of the disappeared and civil society activists from the North, from traveling from Vavuniya to Colombo to attend a protest organized by the ‘Association of the Families Searching for the Disappeared Relatives’ the following day (6^th). Following the protest at Viharamaha Devi Park, in Colombo, the families had planned to march to the UN office in Colombo and hand over a petition.
This protest was meant to be part of a larger campaign organized by the families of the disappeared to know the truth about their loved ones, and to lobby the international community to intervene on their behalf by calling on the Sri Lankan Government to provide them with truth, justice and accountability. As a result of this obstruction however, the planned protest could not be held.

People had begun assembling at the Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) Grounds (the designated assembly point) from morning, and when the organizers arrived, men in civil (suspected to be intelligence officers) were questioning the people, asking them questions such as where they were from, why they had come, where they were going to, who the organizers were, where the funding was coming from etc., Thereafter, they had told the people that it was better if they could return to their homes.

The families of the disappeared (about 75% of whom were women), who were obstructed in Vavuniya yesterday, were from all parts of the North, such as Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu, and Vavuniya districts. The Police had approached the 11 buses parked outside the UC Grounds in the evening at about 5.30pm, and registered details pertaining to the buses, drivers and conductors. Thereafter, the Police had permitted them to proceed as planned, later that day. No such registration or permission is needed for buses and private vehicles to travel from Vavuniya towards Colombo or any other destination, by law or even by practice. However, when at 8.30pm, the buses, loaded with people, started out from the UC Grounds, they were promptly stopped by the Police and told that they could not proceed, as the Police had received some news that a bus had been stoned between Vavuniya and Anuradhapura, and that therefore, they would not be able to ensure the safety of the passengers, if permitted to proceed. There is no independent information that such an incident had happened. This information had been confirmed by the Superintendent of Police, the Senior Superintendent of Police and Headquarters Inspector (HQI) of the Vavuniya Police, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, E. Saravanabhavan. The Police had then proceeded to block the path in front of the buses, with their trucks. The military too had been standing by.
On hearing this, the people had become agitated and demanded that they be allowed to proceed to Colombo. Then the people had even begun to get out of the bus, with candles in their hands, hoping to convince the Police to allow them to proceed. This was followed by calls from political party leaders from the South, who intervened with the

Police on behalf of the people. The Police had given an assurance to permit travel to Colombo the following morning (6^th) after 4.30am. As it was raining heavily, many of the people who were seated on the road and on culverts, awaiting a decision to be taken, were drenched. It was not until between 12.30 and 1am that the families were taken to the UC Hall for the night. As there were only 4-5 toilets, and the Hall could not accommodate all the people, Christian clergy who had arrived from Mannar by about 9.30pm had negotiated with the Police, to move some of the people to a nearby church. Having agreed, the Police had instructed the priests to take the people to the church by foot, as they were not willing to permit buses to be moved. The priests had responded that the people were tired and therefore, could not walk, and as a last resort, even suggested to transport the people in a Police bus, if they were unwilling to release the buses that transported the people from the North. Having refused that too, the Police finally agreed to release one of the buses, with Police personnel on board to transport the people. The bus had to make two trips to and from the Grounds, as it needed to transport almost 100 people to the church.

March 6^th, 2013, Vavuniya
Thereafter, the priests had negotiated with the Police to have the 11 buses park inside the UC premises. However, once inside, from about 1am onwards, each of the drivers had been called out by men in civil clothes to remove the buses from inside the compound. They had been threatened that if they do not leave, they would find it difficult to work in Vavuniya in the future. As a result, 9 of the 11 bus drivers moved their buses from inside the compound, outside. Thereafter, following more threats, such as the possibility of losing their Route Passes (which enables them to travel in the North) and of being harassed when running their normal routes, the 9 bus drivers drove their buses home, by 3.30am.

At about 2am, when the remaining two bus drivers were faced with intimidation by a person in civil, the priests from Mannar had questioned them as to who they were and what right they had to ask the buses to be removed from the premises, especially since the Police had already agreed for the buses to be parked inside the premises. When asked by the priests if they were Police, they had denied it. Then the priests had said that if they were not part of the Police to please leave the premises and not disturb the drivers. Yet another person in civil came later on and asked that the buses be moved out, and again, the priests had to intervene and get rid of them.

Meanwhile the two buses parked in Pampaimadu, close to Vavuniya town, which had transported the people from Mannar to Vavuniya too, had received similar threats via phone calls, and had also left for Mannar at about 1am. These two buses had been stopped at the Thalladi Army Camp (near the entrance to Mannar town) on their way back, and only released later in the morning.
A further 30 passenger buses (not related to the protest), traveling from the North to Colombo, had also been stopped at Omanthai last night (5^th), and only permitted to proceed to Colombo this morning.
Although the Police had told the organizers that they could leave for Colombo by 4.30am, when the organizers went to meet the Police HQI at 5am, he said that they could only leave after 5.30am. However, the Police had instructed all bus drivers in Vavuniya not to take this crowd to Colombo, threatening them that if they did, they would get into trouble. Even the Private Bus Owners Association was afraid of transporting the group. Left with only 2 of the 13 buses, to transport more than 750 (inclusive of those from Mannar) people to Colombo, the organizers abandoned the idea of attending the protest in Colombo.
Instead, the organizers met with the people at the UC Grounds and at about 10am and decided to carry out a silent march to the Government Agent’s (GA) office to hand over a Memorandum to the GA. “Heavily armed security forces in riot gear and Police with water cannons were stationed in the Vavuniya town to prevent these people from going in procession to the office of the Government Agent (GA), to hand over a memo,” stated Mano Ganesan, Convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission and leader of the Democratic People’s Front.
Having left the Grounds at about 12pm, the people were stopped by the Police at the office entrance and not permitted to enter. They were told that a maximum of 8 persons could enter the premises to meet with the GA. The people however, wanted to either enter the premises or have the GA to come out and meet them in person. Initially, TNA MP Saravanabhavan first went inside the GA’s office to convince the GA to come outside and meet the people. As the GA still refused to come outside, TNA Parliamentarians, Saravanabavan and Sivasakthi Aananthan, a Christian Priest and a representative of the Mannar Citizen’s Committee went once again to meet the GA and convince him to come outside and accept the Memorandum. The GA had responded by saying that his doors were always open for anyone to meet with him, and that representatives from the protestors outside could come and meet him, and hand over the Memorandum, but that he would not come outside.
When they returned and told the people what the GA had said, the crowd started shouting in protest, and sat down across the main A9 road in protest. Finally, at approximately 1.45pm, the Additional Government Agent (AGA) came outside and accepted the Memorandum from the people. The people then moved off the main road and allowed for the normal flow of traffic. The Memorandum was addressed to the President of Sri Lanka and called for (amongst other things,) the release or disclosure of names of those abducted and detained. Having got no response from the GA as at 4pm today, the crowd finally dispersed and left for their homes.
March 6^th, 2013, Colombo
According those who had gone to Viharamaha Devi Park in Colombo (the original venue for the protest), there had been a crowd of people comprising, the media, embassy representatives, members of the civil society, political leaders, clergy and families of the disappeared persons assembled in front of the Town Hall, Colombo 7 (opposite Viharamaha Devi Park) at about 9.45am this morning. A few civil society activists, politicians and members of the clergy addressed the crowd, and said that the planned protest (Sathyagraha) could not be held due to the deliberate obstruction by the Government of hundreds of people in Vavuniya. and as such, they were assembling to protest the obstruction to these families’ freedom of assembly, movement, expression and to engage in peaceful activities to find their relatives and hand over a petition to the UN. Activists had also appealed to the media to support their “struggle” to bring about justice and accountability to the families of the disappeared and call for the freedom of assembly in Sri Lanka. Police personnel were deployed at the venue throughout the protest.

When contacted, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Deputy Inspector of General (DIG) said that they had no knowledge of these incidents.

A delegation, comprising Opposition Party members and civil society activists met with the IGP at 2pm today, to report this incident and find out more about what caused this obstruction.

Separately, about one thousand five hundred (1500) members of the ‘Dead and Missing Person’s Parents Front’, a group comprising family members of disappeared Sri Lankan armed forces and of those forcibly recruited by the LTTE, were however allowed to stage a protest in Colombo today, and hand over a letter allegedly with over 3000 disappeared persons names, to the UN office without any obstruction or disturbance. The letter was calling for the UN Human Rights Council to investigate into the activities conducted by the LTTE and the TNA in providing justice to missing family members.

The US embassy in Colombo said they were alarmed and concerned about reports of the detention of peaceful protesters and that hundreds of Sri Lankan family members of the disappeared were blocked in Vavuniya by Sri Lankan authorities while traveling to Colombo and called on the Sri Lankan government to allow free movement of these citizens^[1].

In the meantime, Network for Rights (NfR) issued a Press Release calling on members of the UN Human Rights Council to consider this undemocratic behavior of the Sri Lankan Government as a direct challenge to the Council and to act accordingly.^[2] NfR also called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to take up this issue of blocking the family members of the disappeared coming to the UN office in Sri Lanka expecting some kind of redress – with all relevant authorities, including the representatives of the Sri Lankan government, and for the international human rights community to show their solidarity with these families of the disappeared and to make a representation to the Government of Sri Lanka in the strongest possible terms.
* This report is based on testimonies of those who were stopped by the Police, participated in the protests in Vavuniya and Colombo and those who tried to intervene to resolve the problems, i.e. priests, human rights activists and politicians. Photographs were taken by participants at the protest.

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^[1] The US Embassy, U.S. Alarmed by Peaceful Protestors’ Detention – http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/pr-6march2013.html

^[2] Network for Rights (NfR) Sri Lanka, Press Release/05 March 2013 Sri Lanka: Police and Military Block Family Members of Disappeared Heading to UN inColombo: UN should act – http://www.nfrsrilanka.org/?p=2418

Midweek Politics: Foot Soldiers Of The Empire

By Dharisha Bastians -March 6, 2013

Dharisha Bastians

Hard-line Sinhala groups like the Bodu Bala Sena essentially have a singular objective. They aim to spread fear and suspicion about communities and people whose customs and way of life are alien to most. Once upon a time, before a separatist struggle tore the country apart, it was the Tamils. Post-war, their rage has been directed at the Muslim community.

The Bodu Bala Sena now has a Special Investigations Unit and two emergency hotlines for the public to call in order to spur the unit into action.

Less than one month after the Sinhala hardline group commandeered a ‘civilian’ police force at a major rally in Maharagama, at least two major raids have taken place under its watch.
Both times, the country’s lawful police have followed meekly in the wake of the monks leading the charge against a Colombo Municipal Council run abattoir in Dematagoda and then a citizen’s arrested of an allegedly rogue Buddhist priest at the Maligawatte flats. Both times, the group conducted the raids with media personnel and television crews in tow, as if eager to showcase the impunity with which they operate.

Raiding the ‘abattoir’

In Dematagoda, the Bodu Bala Sena ‘officers’ led by the group’s General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero shut the gates to the slaughter-house –– and prevented meat trucks from entering. They interrogated drivers and CMC officials on site, demanded to see receipts and licenses and inspected storage facilities. The Dematagoda Police, summoned to the site at a few minutes’ notice, indulged and facilitated the BBS “raid” despite admitting later that the monks appeared to have been misguided about the activities at the premises.

While the building that dates back to 1865 is known as the Dematagoda Slaughter House, the premises actually serve as a meat distribution point. Cattle slaughter is prohibited within the Colombo city limits. The meat is transported to the site from other areas of the island, for approvals by the CMC Veterinary unit that declares it fit for consumption before it is distributed to meat markets and hotels and restaurants throughout the city.

The Bodu Bala Sena troops initially stormed the premises under the erroneous assumption that calf-slaughter was taking place inside. They changed tack upon realisation that they had been misinformed. Suddenly, the raid became about improperly stored meat products that were reaching the urban consumer. A CMC Veterinarian quipped that in 25 years of service with the Council, he was yet to receive a complaint of rotten meat traced back to the Dematagoda distribution site. The official also said that while the BBS monks were quizzing the mostly Muslim meat truck drivers, what had perhaps escaped their notice was that ironically most of the meat was arriving in Dematagoda from Sinhalese cattle farmers in Anuradhapura and elsewhere.

But in the Bodu Bala Sena world, such considerations are immaterial. The fact that meat truck drivers were mostly Muslims and the CMC is run by a Muslim Mayor would be proof enough that something ominous was happening at the Dematagoda premises. The group’s post-raid posters show images of a Muslim man juxtaposed with an Arabic script and pictures of the Dematagoda premises.
The very next day, television crews were provided front seat viewing for the Bodu Bala Sena led invasion into a home at the Maligawatte flats. The televised raid involved an interrogation by the group and the monk being handed over to the Maligawatte Police on allegations that he had committed financial fraud and sexual abuse. The priest has since been released on bail since, but the BBS is threatening similar action against marauding monks in the name of protecting Buddhism.
The group is mobilising frantically, with rallies in major cities across the country, the setting up of task forces and membership drives. Last week an anti-Halal demonstration took place in Weeraketiya, in Hambantota, the heartland of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s support. Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil reacted angrily to news of the protest, saying it effectively provided the green lights for anti-Muslim protests all over the country.

BBS goes door-to-door

A promised door-to-door campaign appears to have already begun, with a group of clergy and laymen, claiming to be from the Bodu Bala Sena, visiting homes in the Mount Lavinia area last weekend, to inform Sinhalese residents that it was their duty to have as many children as possible to counter the explosion of the Muslim population in the country.

The group walked around with what appeared to be a Grama Sevaka list, residents said, using which they were able to identify Sinhalese homes. In one such residence, having realised the family was Sinhalese Christian, the BBS team still urged the homeowner to have more children. The bizarre request left some residents stumbling for answers, having to explain to the strangers in their home that it was not economically feasible for them to have more children.

Amidst the noise and fury of BBS antics, more incidents against Muslim businesses and places of worship were reported last week. A mosque in Kegalle was stoned in the wee hours of the morning last Friday (1). The 60-year-old Mahara mosque was defaced with images of pigs and distasteful slogans. The Asian Tribune website contains a list of incidents against members of the Muslim community and mosques and enterprises since the beginning of the year. In cases where individuals have been assaulted, the website claims the victims have chosen not to report the incidents for fear of reprisal.

Connecting dots

And even as the BBS madness crescendos and speculation grows about the group operating with at least tacit State sanction, the announcement came by the group’s senior officials that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa would declare open the new Buddhist Leadership Academy in Galle on Saturday (9). The Academy will be run under the twin auspices of the Buddhist Cultural Centre run by Bodu Bala Sena President Kirama Wimalajothi Thero and the Bodu Bala Sena. The academy aims to provide ‘leadership’ training to Buddhist clergy, laymen and youth activists and inculcate knowledge of history and Buddhism through its curriculum.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry last week announced the ban on the LRT contraceptive method and vasectomies for men – the former being agenda item seven on the Bodu Bala Sena’s Maharagama Declaration unveiled on 17 February.

Following discussions with the Government and senior Defence officials, the All Ceylon Jamaiythul Ulama has offered not one but two compromises in the past two weeks, on the Halal issue, all the while claiming that they were not doing so under duress from the Government but to ensure harmony between religions. Tomorrow, the ACJU will meet private sector stakeholders to attempt to reach a compromise on the Halal certification issue. Despite a request by the ACJU that the Government take over the Halal certification process, the Administration has so far declined the offer, perhaps in the knowledge that the wrath of the BBS and its splinter groups will turn on the regime in such an eventuality. All the while, the BBS’ 31 March deadline for a total ban on the Halal certification draws closer.

As the Halal debate wears on, the ACJU is finding itself in a remarkably isolated place, politically. Having backed the Rajapaksa regime unreservedly in the past, it is now finding that because of the ethno-religious dimensions of this crisis, the Government’s sympathies must remain with the Bodu Bala Sena, which shares a support base with the regime. An ACJU delegation accompanied Government officials to Geneva last year, when the first US-backed resolution against Sri Lanka was adopted and repeatedly affirmed the Rajapaksa regime’s commitment to peace, reconciliation and minority rights at various side events during the UN Human Rights Council session.
This year, the UNHRC Session unfolds even as a very different scenario plays out in Sri Lanka.

Lack of progress

One year after the Council adopted a resolution against Sri Lanka, the international community is making it clear that the country has shown an appalling lack of progress in addressing lingering reconciliation and rights abuses issues in the aftermath of the war. Reports by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights watch repeatedly critique Sri Lanka for a lack of progress in investigating alleged war crimes allegations and continued minority and opposition suppression in the country.

The US has called Sri Lanka out at the Council this year, as showing a lack of genuine action on issues highlighted last year by the international community, even as the Sri Lankan delegation took pains to repeat to the Council many of the statistics and action plans it had heard before.

To make matters worse, the Sri Lankan Head of Delegation Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe was also the only speaker at the UNHRC 22’s High Level Segment to launch such a brutal tirade on High Commissioner Pillay’s credentials, alleging that she was biased against Sri Lanka and had fallen prey to LTTE propagandists. The Sri Lankan Minister’s remark drew immediate sympathy for the High Commissioner from the German Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, who felt Pillay required a defence against “unjustified and personal” criticism from certain quarters, and called out Minister Samarasinghe by name.

It was nothing if not a testament to the diplomacy Sri Lanka has grown accustomed to practice of late, in which vilification and belligerence constantly triumphs reason and common sense. One has come to expect a certain comprehension on the part of officials of Samarasinghe’s ilk, who must realise that Navi Pillay is not merely an individual that must be taken on, but the present holder of high office within the UN system. Denigration of Pillay only singles Sri Lanka out for further criticism, as a country that consistently and vehemently lashes out at its critics instead of seeking to silence them with quiet and affirmative action.

And so it is in this muddled backdrop in Geneva, with Channel 4 and the Tamil lobby charging, that the Sri Lankan State continues to suppress and discriminate against the Tamil people, that the Leader of the Muslim Tamil National Alliance Azath Sally on Tuesday (5) wrote to UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon, in attempt to draw the UN Chief’s attention to the present plight of Muslims in Sri Lanka.

UN Chief alerted about Muslim situation

In his letter, copied to High Commissioner Pillay, Sally tells the UN Secretary General that the Sri Lankan Government was “pushing the country towards another holocaust”. Alleging that the violation of the rights of Muslims living in Sri Lanka were tantamount to a violation of the UN Charter, Sally said that radical members of the Buddhist clergy were being allowed to take the law into their hands, with the enforcers of the law watching from the sidelines, and publicity given to these events by organs of the State.

The MTNA Leader cites the 1992 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities that requires states to “take measures were required to ensure that persons belonging to minorities may exercise fully and effectively all their human rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination and in full equality before the law”.
The impunity with which the BBS operates and the climate of insecurity it is creating for the Muslim community has not gone unnoticed by the diplomatic community. That the Government is permitting the BBS antics to go unchecked, especially when it is under serious international scrutiny at the UNHRC session in Geneva, is if anything, ample proof that it is no longer concerned about censure from that forum.

This notion was further reinforced when 11 busloads of civilians from the north, families of the disappeared who were travelling to Colombo to attend a rally yesterday to highlight their cases during the UNHRC sessions, were detained in Vavuniya by the Police. The Police warned the civilians that the buses may come under attack on the way to Colombo, Tamil politician and Democratic People’s Front Leader, Mano Ganesan said.

Strong US reaction

The detention drew a sharp response from the US Government last night. Issuing a statement, the US Embassy in Colombo charged that Sri Lanka has been “backsliding” on important areas of fundamental democratic rights, since the adoption of the UNHRC resolution last year.

“The LLRC recommends thorough investigations into disappearances as well an establishment of a mechanism to address cases of the missing and detained. Since last year’s UNHRC resolution the United States has grown increasingly concerned by the lack of progress on these issues,” the Embassy said in a hard-hitting statement that urged the Government to allow freedom of movement to the protestors from the north. The US expressed “alarm” at the detention of the peaceful protestors and said “the right to freely express opinions is universal and protected under Sri Lankan and international law”.

The statement comes in the wake of New Delhi and other ‘friends’ of Sri Lanka urging the Government to engage diplomatically to soften the language of the second US-backed resolution due to be tabled at the UNHRC in the next few days. With the Government intent to regress and show its hand even while the sessions are in play, the prospect of that dilution is beginning to look very remote.

Looking away from Geneva

Determinedly looking away from Geneva, the Rajapaksa administration is instead focusing all its energies on ensuring that the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting goes through in Colombo in November. The summit has been cast into shadow due the Government’s vehement decision to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in violation of international standards for the removal of judges and rulings by its two highest courts and its apparent lack of progress in improving its human rights situation.

Minister of External Affairs G.L. Peiris told Parliament on Tuesday that it was ‘crystal clear’ that the summit would go ahead in Colombo come November and asserted that there was no grounds for Sri Lanka to be inserted into the agenda of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

The core grouping is mandated to determine whether Commonwealth member states are adhering to the organisation’s core principles and has the power to suspend states seen to be in violation. An international drive is underway to have Sri Lanka placed on the agenda for the group’s meeting in April that comes soon after the UNHRC 22nd Session closes at the end of March. If Sri Lanka enters the agenda, the skies will darken ominously over the prospect of the major summit being held in Colombo as scheduled, Minister Peiris’ proclamations in Parliament notwithstanding.

Unnoticed by its citizenry, Sri Lanka has taken a dangerous turn towards autocracy and ethno-religious fascism that places the country precariously on the edge of international pariah status. Neither phenomenon screams to announce its presence, but creeps up slowly on a politically naive and disengaged populace. The citizens of post-war Sri Lanka, intoxicated with its hyper-development drive and superficial stability, are sufficiently apathetic to the real dangers posed by the BBS and its powerful sponsors. Blinded by rage against the ‘other,’ the Bodu Bala Sena and its affiliate groups are engaged in a campaign to spread fear and mistrust about the Muslims of Sri Lanka. The trajectory of fear is abundantly clear and its seeds are already sown. Unless arrested now, political apathy and patronage could allow an already disturbing situation to spiral swiftly – and violently – out of control.

Courtesy Daily FT

A message to Colombo

James Manor : Thu Mar 07 2013,

India will soon be blamed — unjustly — for an international catastrophe. Since 1991, the Commonwealth has been a potent force behind the scenes for democracy, rights and human dignity. For example, it has persuaded the leaders of several one-party states to adopt open multi-party systems and it has ensured that leaders who have lost elections do not cling onto power. This admirable record is about to be squandered.

The next Commonwealth heads of government meeting in November is scheduled for Sri Lanka where an abusive government has committed multiple outrages. If that meeting is not moved elsewhere, the Commonwealth will abandon its enlightened commitments. Its irresolute secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, has blocked a change of venue. Because he is a former Indian diplomat, New Delhi will be blamed.

This is already beginning to happen. Some commentators are saying that India urged Sharma to avoid offending Sri Lanka's leaders because it is anxious about China's growing influence there. It is true that China has invested massively in the island and that in 2011, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a threatening telephone call to a newspaper editor in an unsuccessful attempt to suppress a report that the Chinese had given him $9 million to be used at his discretion. But India has not tried to restrain the secretary general.

Senior figures in the foreign policy establishment in New Delhi and in Commonwealth circles in London plainly state that India's leaders are exasperated with Sri Lanka's leaders and their brutish actions. India has privately urged the Commonwealth to take a tough line. The timid secretary general has rejected that advice.

New Delhi is especially unhappy about a decision last month by Rajapaksa to break an assurance to Indian leaders to transfer significant powers to elected regional councils, to give the island's Tamil minority some autonomy. Instead, he announced that power would be radically centralised. After that snub to India, when Rajapaksa visited Bodh Gaya and Tirupati last month, no Central government minister met him.

Indian leaders are also well aware of the brutal approach to Tamil non-combatants in the final phase of the civil war in 2009. An investigation by a panel appointed by the UN secretary general described the actions of Sri Lanka's army as "appalling". More recently, an Indian TV channel aired telling evidence from Britain's Channel Four that the 12-year-old son of LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran was shot dead at close range while in the custody of the Sri Lankan army.

The Commonwealth secretary general has meekly expressed hope that the behaviour of the island's leaders will improve, but their actions since the civil war ended have continued to cause grave concern. In response, US President Barack Obama's assistant secretary of state has warned them to take note of the warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Muammar Gaddafi's son for flouting international humanitarian law.

Recently, the chief justice of Sri Lanka's Supreme Court was impeached after rulings that were inconvenient to the executive. This violated Commonwealth commitments to judicial independence. When the International Bar Association protested and tried to send the former chief justice of India, J.S. Verma, to Colombo for discussions, he was denied a visa.

Shadowy groups of armed men continue to abduct, wound and murder opponents of the government. Journalists have frequently been targets. The Sri Lankan ruling party's chief whip told parliament in 2009 that "nine journalists have been killed since 2006, some 27 attacked while five were reported abducted". In 2010, a government minister who had once physically attacked a BBC correspondent said at a public function that "journalists should not write in ways which would ultimately force them to be hanged". Two weeks ago, gunmen burst into the home of a Colombo journalist who had criticised the government and shot him several times, leaving him for dead.

The president of the Commonwealth Journalists Association has stated that "any government that subjects its independent news media to such violent and arbitrary actions has no right to call itself democratic. Sri Lanka doesn't even come close to adhering to the basic principles of the Commonwealth". But it is not only scribes who have suffered. The secretary of the island's Judicial Services Commission was stabbed after alleging that the government was seeking to destroy judicial independence.

Concerns expressed by many international agencies have been dismissed by Sri Lanka's leaders as a concerted effort to spread falsehoods. But this is difficult to believe when we see how many respected institutions are supposedly involved: the Red Cross, the UN, the European Union, the US state department, the US Senate, the Australian and British parliaments, the Commonwealth Journalists Association, BBC World Service, the International Bar Association, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and several other human rights organisations.

To understand the mentality of the island's leaders, consider the statements made by Sri Lanka's defence minister, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (the president's brother) in July 2012 on the telephone to a journalist from the Sunday Leader, an independent newspaper. When the journalist asked if the minister had threatened her, he replied "Yes I threatened you. Your type of journalists are pigs who eat sh*t... You are a sh*t sh*t journalist. A f***ing sh*t... I will put you in jail... People will kill you..." There was much more of this. Foul words were used 22 times in two telephone conversations.

One further, hair-raising prospect should be noted. If the Commonwealth holds its heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka, the island's leaders will coordinate the work of Commonwealth agencies for the next two years — including those that concern themselves with human rights and democracy.

The venue must be changed if the Commonwealth is to retain its well-earned reputation as a force for human decency. If it is not changed, the responsibility will lie with the secretary general and not India's government, even though he is an Indian.

The writer is professor emeritus of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK

Caste And Exclusion In Sinhala Buddhism

By Punya Perera -March 7, 2013 

The “caste” talk is getting embarrassing. Caste is never spoken about in the open in Sri Lanka but is always present. There is no caste census or reservation. It is never mentioned in newspapers except in the marriage classifieds. But it most certainly determines who we marry, who we vote for and in which Buddhist temple we worship. In this essay I would like to highlight an alternate glimpse of hierarchy, caste and exclusion in Sri Lankan Buddhism.

Buddhism arose in the 5th century BC North India. It adapted to caste. Modern Buddhist scholarship indicates that 80% of the Buddhist Sangha or clergy in the time of the Buddha hailed from the Brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes. 40% of the Sangha at that time belonged to the Brahmana caste. The Buddhavamsa, a Pali language scripture part of the Theravada or Hinayana tradition, indicates that Gautama, the Buddha was born into the Kshatriya caste. The future Buddha, Maitreya will be born into the Brahmana caste. The three Buddhas prior to Gautama were Kakusanda, Konagamana and Kassapa, all of whom belonged to the Brahmana caste. The Lalitavistara, a 3rd century Buddhist scripture, explicitly mentions that a Buddha can only be born a Brahmana or Kshatriya and can never come from any of the “lower castes”. There was little room for those of humble birth, low origin and without lineage to be a Buddha.

Old Sinhala language religious documents such as the Pujavaliya, the Saddharmaratnavaliya, the Kadayimpoth, and the Niti Nighanduwa refer to an elaborately ordered caste hierarchy in Buddhist Sri Lanka. In the 2nd century BC, the famed Sinhala king Dutugemenu had a son by the name of Saliya. Saliya was exiled because he had married the outcaste girl Asokamala. In the 11th century AD, King Vijaybahu denied access to the lower Sinhala castes to venerate Buddha’s foot print at the summit of Sri Pada in central Sri Lanka. The lower castes were confined to a terrace much further down. King Nissanka Malla in the 12 century felt threatened by the dominant Sinhala caste, the Govigama. He warned them in stone inscriptions to never aspire to high office. Much later, the Siam Nikaya, the Buddhist Sangha in Sri Lanka, denied membership to those who were not of the Govigama caste. This forced the Karava, the Salagama and Durava castes to seek ordination in Myanmar. Many others converted to Christianity in protest.

The Practical Sinhala Dictionary published as late as 1983 by the Government of Sri Lanka referred to the caste divisions in Sinhala society where the Govi were declared high caste and others denied that characterization. This forced the Karava, Salagama and Durave caste petitioners to appeal to the Supreme Court to have the caste references deleted by judicial order, a ruling that was subsequently granted.

So what is caste in Sinhala Buddhism At the apex, one has the Govigama or agriculturalist land owning castes who account for roughly 50% of the Sinhalese population. All Sri Lankan Presidents and Prime Ministers with the exception of Ranasinghe Premadasa, belonged to this caste. Many had Anglican Christian antecedents like Bandaranaike, the founder of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party. He was born and buried an Anglican although he espoused a Buddhism and Sinhala nationalism to win the polls in 1956 even if his shrill demagoguery triggered a Tamil separatist response. Sri Lanka’s current President Mahinda Rajapakse is also from a prominent Govigama family. Sri Lanka’s elite families hail from this caste. They include the low-country Goonetillekes, the Jayewardenes, the Bandaranaikes, the Senanayakes, the Kotelawalas, the de Sarams, the de Liveras, the de-Tisseras, the Wijewardenes and so on. Then there were the up-country Kandyan Ratwattes (Sirimavo was one), the Meedeniyas, the Eknoligodas, the Dunuwilles, the Tennekoons, the Moonemalles, the Nugawelas, the Panabokkes and the Kobbekaduwas.

Many of the low-country Govigama elite embraced Anglicanism and rose the ranks of the colonial bureaucracy. They were the favoured and trusted lieutenants of English rule. With independence and the emergence of political Buddhism, many returned to Buddhism. Jayewardene, Kotelawala, Bandaranaike andWickremasinghe were examples. The Govigama elite had collaborated with the colonial masters benefiting in terms of employment, education and land ownership. The Maha Mudaliyar Christofel de Saram and his son Johannes Hendrick were examples of the deracinated and Anglicized Govigama elite in the early 1800s. The de Sarams were the forebearers of the Jayewardenes.

Just below are the Karava or fishermen caste who dominate the maritime districts. The Karava account for roughly 10% of the Sinhala population. The Karava challenged Govigama power in the two Sinhala youth revolts of 1971 and 1987 led by the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP). The JVP was led by Rohana Wijeweera. The JVP appealed to the dispossessed and poor. While it did not articulate its ideology in terms of caste, its caste base was exclusively non Govigama. General Sarath Fonseka, who led the war successfully against the Tamil Tigers, was also of the Karava caste and ran for the position of President against Mahinda Rajapakse. He was jailed soon thereafter.

While many of the low country Govigama had become Anglican during colonial rule, about half of the Karave Sinhala population converted to Roman Catholicism. The Sinhala Karava western maritime belt of Puttalam, Chilaw, Wennapuwa, Negombo, Ja-Ela, Wattala, North Colombo, Moratuwa and to a lesser extent Panadura had become Catholic.The Sri Lankan navy has traditionally been a Karave preserve. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith is of the Sinhala Karava caste. Reports suggest that he is a strong contender for the papacy. He is seen as Asia’s candidate for that position next month.

The third caste of consequence was the Salagama or Cinnamon Peeler who accounted for roughly 5% of the Sinhala population. The veteran Sri Lankan politician C.P. de Silva belonged to his caste. He was denied the Prime Ministership in the 1960s. This forced him to abandon the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Nimal Siripala de Silva, another prominant Sinhala politician, also belongs to this caste.

The Durave or toddy tapper castes are related to the Ezhavas of Kerala or the Nadar or Tamil Nadu. Mangala Samaraweera, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, one time member of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party and fired by President Rajapakse belongs to the Durave caste.

Other significant castes includes the Wahumpura or jaggery makers, the Padu or palanquin bearers and the Beravas or drummers (from the South Indian root – parai). There were two Sinhala outcastes, the Rodiya and the Kinnaras or mat weavers. The Wahumpura, the Padu, the Berava and the Rodi joined the JVP youth revolt in large numbers. Wimal Weerawansa, staunch anti Tamil, belongs to the Berava caste.

The Portuguese arrived on our shores in 1505 AD. We were ruled by the Europeans for approximately 450 years. This dented the caste divisions in Sinhala society as did the left movement that was intellectually dominant between the 1930s and the 1950s prior to the emergence of a Buddhist nationalism.

However, caste remains a factor in marriage, in the nomination of party candidates for elections, and in the Buddhist Sangha. If any one were to read the marriage classifieds in the Sri Lankan media, one will be immediately struck by the caste requirements for a prospective Sinhala Buddhist bride or groom. In elections likewise, the caste composition of electorates is factored in by all major parties before a candidate is identified. Salagama candidates get appointed to seats in Balapitiya, Boosa and Rathgama while Karave candidates are nominated for Karave constituencies. But it is the Buddhist Sangha or clergy which traditionally had been most divided by caste.

The dominant Siam Nikaya was once exclusively confined to the Govigama caste and remains overwhelmingly Govigama. The Karava, Salagama and Durava castes obtained ordination in Myanmar setting up the Amarapura Nikaya. The Amarapura Nikaya is subdivided into 21 sub sects defined on caste lines. The Buddhist modernist Ramanya Nikaya sect rejected caste as a qualification for entry into the Sangha. Each of the three sects run their own temples. Karave Buddhists tend to patronize Buddhist temples belonging to their sub-sect of the Amarapura Nikaya. Buddhists belonging to other castes do likewise. In short, Sinhala Buddhism was ordered on the basis of caste.

Elections were held in 1911 for the Educated Ceylonese Seat in the colonial legislature. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, a Tamil, ran against Sir Marcus Fernando, a Karava Sinhalese. The Govigama Sinhalese voted enmasse for Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan in order to deny Marcus Fernando a seat. They succeeded! But not all Sinhala Buddhists accepted the subjugation they had to endure as witnessed in the recent bloody JVP insurrections. It is estimated that 20,000 Sinhala youth were killed in 1971 and 60,000 were killed in 1989 as the military crushed the youth insurgencies. Most of the dead belonged to the non-Govigama castes.

A quote from the Mahavibhasa, a 2nd century Buddhist text would be appropriate. It mentions

‘What the Aryans say is the truth, what others say is not true. And why is this? The Aryan ones understand things as they are. The common folk do not understand. Furthermore, they are called Aryan truths because they are possessed by those who are conceived in the womb of an Aryan woman’.

This elitism is still present, although never articulated, amongst several Buddhists in Sri Lanka today.

*Punya Perera is a graduate in Political Science from the University of Peradeniya. She currently studies at the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine