Delhi, Geneva And The Hambantota Commonwealth

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -March 10, 2013 

“Whatever is that distant rumble that I dimly hear?” Christopher Hitchens (Arguably: Essays)

It is now a virtual certainty. Barring some last-second, utterly unforeseeable, development,India will vote for the new US resolution on Sri Lanka. The original resolution has been amended to take on board Indian concerns. Indian worries would range from a reactive lurch by Colombo in Beijing’s direction to the impact an intrusive resolution might have on Delhi’s own ‘freedom of action’ in Kashmira nd elsewhere.

The Indian input ensures that any international investigation into alleged human rights violations by theRajapaksa administration will happen “only in consultation with and with the concurrence of Colombo…. The provision for taking the Lankan government into confidence was part of the US resolution of March 2012 as well. It had been included at India’s insistence….” (The New Indian Express – 9.3.2013). Though the 2013 resolution is far more critical of Colombo than the 2012 resolution, it is equally toothless; just a slightly harder tap on the knuckles, nothing more.

The Rajapaksas will be irked if India votes for theUS resolution, however watered-down. Tamil Nadu would be irked that an international investigation into war crime allegations was rendered effectively impossible by India’s input.Delhi, in its desperate efforts to satisfy both Colombo and Tamil Nadu, may end up by satisfying neither.

India’s capacity to compel the Rajapaksas to do anything they do not want to died in Nandikadal, withVellupillai Pirapaharan. Though the possibility of another Indian intervention to save the LTTE a la 1987 ended when a Black Tigress garlanded Rajiv Gandhi with death, the fear that Delhi would renew its patronage of the LTTE (indirectly or surreptitiously) never stopped haunting Colombo. During the Fourth Eelam War, the Rajapaksas took infinite care to anticipate Delhi’s reactions and to prevent any Indian response which would tilt the politico-military balance in the LTTE’s favour. Presidential Sibling Basil Rajapaksa was tasked with neutralising India, and did so, to perfection.

Whenever Delhi pressured about a political solution,Colombo pretended to succumb. Extravagant promises were made and specific deadlines given, with seeming solemnity and sincerity. They would be forgotten the moment Delhi’s eyes moved elsewhere. The APC was a masterstroke which allayed Indian (and Western) anxieties, at a critical time, and camouflaged anti-devolution actions on the ground. A series of few well-placed, but not overgenerous, economic concessions were made to compensate for the continued absence of a political solution.

After the annihilation of the Tiger, whatever tactical influences India had vis-à-vis the Rajapaksas waned into near nothingness. Post-war, the Rajapaksas can afford to ignore Indian concerns because they believe that India has no aces left, while they have two: China andPakistan.

So India is in a bind, caught between an unresponsive Colombo and a churning Tamil Nadu. Last week, Delhi increased its financial aid to Colombo, probably to compensate for the coming Geneva vote. India might announce its decision to back the US resolution early, in order to ward off or tone down the general strike in Tamil Nadu, planned for March 12^th by the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO). The strike has already drawn significant support from across the political spectrum, including from Congress-ally, DMK (Mr. Karunanidhi wants the day to be declared a holiday).

But moderation and vacillation are not the same.Delhi’s pendulum-swings are likely to antagonise Colombo and radicalise Tamil Nadu. While the Congress administration would be concerned about the electoral fallout, Indian state would be worried that a seething Tamil Nadu might become a fertile breeding ground for a reactivation of Tamil separatism in the sub-continent.

With every road is fraught with danger,Delhi may opt to do as little as possible, for as long as it is politically tenable.

The Spectre of Impeachment

Given India’s unwillingness/inability to do anything other than play a reactive role, the future trajectory of the ‘Lankan issue’ will be determined in Washington,London,Brussels and Beijing.

Whatever noises they might make for public consumption, the Rajapaksas would know that they cannot come to grief in Geneva. The real danger is in New York, and, there, the Siblings are assured of two Security Council vetoes, at least for the time being.

The outcome in Geneva is important, not in and of itself, but because of its potential impact on the Hambantota Commonwealth.

Currently, the greatest of all the Rajapaksas desiderata is a star-studded Hambantota Summit. President Rajapaksa must be counting the days until he can welcome the British Queen.

He may have his Summit but it might be a far dimmer affair than he hopes for. And if his Commonwealth Dream is killed, it may not be by war crimes allegations (British establishment, given its past and its present, is unlikely to harp too much on that), but by the litany of anti-democratic deeds the Siblings committed, post-war.

The ghost of the unjust impeachment is haunting both Geneva and London. The Bar Human Rights Committee (the international human rights arm of the Bar of England andWales) has lent the calls for a Hambantoa-boycott an unprecedented gravitas by adding its influential voice to it. It did so, subsequent to the Report on the impeachment prepared by Geoffrey Robertson QC, at its request. In his Report Mr. Robertson argues that if Queen Elizabeth/any member of the British Royal Family attends the Hambantota Commonwealth it will strengthen the Rajapaksa Siblings by providing them with useful photo-opportunities: “Royal seals of approval serve the propaganda interests of people like this, and no-shows by powerful nations would signal the unacceptability of their behaviour”.

The Khuram Shaikh case is the other ghost haunting the Hambantota Commonwealth. 15 months after Mr. Shaikh was murdered (and his Russian companion was allegedly gang-raped), the case is languishing in a legal-wilderness. The main suspect, Rajapaksa acolyte and the Chairman of the Tangalle PS, Sampath Chandrapushpa, is out on bail and back at his job. Ironically, if the Hambantota Commonwealth happens, the alleged murderer of Mr. Shaikh will be a special invitee to it, in his official capacity.

Last week Mr. Shaikh’s brother and the Shaikh-family MP Simon Danczuk were in Colombo seeking to jolt into action the unmoving wheels of justice. By all accounts they failed. “Mr. Danczuk said…that senior Sri Lankan ministers had refused to meet him…. The British MP also expressed concern over the political interference in the case…. ‘The case is moving slowly not because the country’s justice system is slow but there is political patronage in this case… There is concern that one of the suspects is alleged to be close to the President of the country….’ the British politician complained” (Daily Mirror – 8.3.2013). Mr. Danczuck said that he will lobby the British government and the British Queen to boycott the Commonwealth Summit.

If the Rajapaksas are compelled to make some behavioural modifications to save the Hambantota Summit, we, ordinary Lankans, will benefit from it. Since the financial burden (and the public-inconvenience) of the Summit will far outweigh its niggardly national benefits, a venue-change/boycott too will not hurt us.

For Lankans, caught in a debilitating losing-streak, a tussle over Hambantota will constitute a rare – and welcome – win-win moment.

*A clarification: I am not back with the Sunday Leader. The paper is carrying already published material, with strategic cuts. 

Economic Sanctions and War Crimes Tribunals against SL

March 9, 2013, 7:32 pm 

As the UNHRC sessions heats up, one of the questions in the minds of most members of the public is whether the UNHRC can initiate a war crimes probe against Sri Lanka. There are only two ways in which a war crimes trial can take place. One would be for the Security Council of the UN to institute a war crimes tribunal as had been done in the case of the special Tribunal on Yugoslavia (ICTY) or the Special tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR). The other way is for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate proceedings against Sri Lanka. There are three ways in which the ICC can commence a probe against a country. The first way is for the UN Security Council to refer a matter to the ICC in which case, the ICC will have the authority to act even if the country concerned is not a signatory to the  Rome Statute which set up the ICC. The other methods by which the ICC can initiate a probe is if any member of the ICC moves a motion calling for a probe against any other member state. The Prosecutor of the ICC can also recommend that a probe be initiated against a country if he is satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for doing so.

 But in both these latter instances, the country concerned should be a signatory to the Rome Statute – Sri Lanka is not a signatory - so no war crimes probe can be initiated against SL without the sanction of the UN Security Council. The likelihood of the UN Security Council sanctioning a war crimes probe against Sri Lanka is quite remote because both China and Russia will use their veto power to block it. So a war crimes probe will never see the light of day through Geneva. What can emanate from Geneva will at the most be a Commission of Inquiry (COI) like the one they appointed on Syria in 2011 mandate ‘to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law’. Such a commission will only be able to carry out an exercise like that which has already been done by the advisory panel appointed by Ban Ki-moon which produced its report in April 2011.

 Ban’s advisory committee was appointed outside the normal procedure of the UN using the authority that any institutional head has to seek advice on a matter before him. Usually, when the UN Secretary General appoints an Expert Panel (a real one) this can be done only at the request of the Security Council. However the committee of inquiry that Ban appointed did not have the sanction of the Security Council but was appointed only to give advice to him. This advisory committee produced a report which is called an ‘Expert Panel Report’ without actually being a Expert Panel Report as per the operating procedures of the UN. Usually such a report is a game changing document which results in a complete change in the history of the country that was thus investigated because it has the weight of the entire Security Council behind it. But the Ban report had no such weight behind it. On the contrary it came up for derision even in the British parliament with one Conservative MP pointing out during a debate on Sri Lankan asylum seekers that clause 153 of that report says that nothing in the report should be taken as proven fact!  

 Now if the UNHRC appoints another Commission of Inquiry to do exactly what the Ban advisory committee has done, it will be an official commission sanctioned by a properly constituted UN body - the HRC. It will not be a pretence and a back door operation like the Ban report. But the Ban report has been used against Sri Lanka for the past two years as if it was an official UN document even though it was not.  A UNHRC Commission of Inquiry will turn Ban’s report into a joke. These things should have been done in the reverse order.  The UNHRC should have had the COI first and based on that report, recommended to the Security Council that action be taken and the Security Council should in turn (if it thought fit) have instructed the Secretary General to appoint an Expert Panel to go into the matter and recommend measures to be taken which the Security Council will then carry out.

 But in SL’s case everything is turned on its head. Any moral pressure that the UNHRC could have exerted on SL by instituting a COI has now been vitiated because the Western powers jumped the gun and got the UN Secretary General to publish that advisory committee report. A similar report with much the same allegations will not necessarily sway Sri Lanka one whit. Ironically, if the Ban advisory panel report had not been published, a COI appointed by the UNHRC would have had a much greater impact on Sri Lanka, because it would have been sanctioned by a properly constituted UN body. But at this stage, even if a properly constituted body carries out another investigation, they will basically repeat what was said earlier in Ban’s report and since the world has already heard the story, it will not have the desired impact.

 Then we come to the question of economic sanctions. The UNHRC does not have the power or the authority to impose economic sanctions. All they can do is to perhaps recommend to the Security Council that such action be taken against a particular country but the Security Council is not going to take any action against Sri Lanka because of the veto power of China and the Russia. What the Western powers can do however is to impose unilateral sanctions against Sri Lanka. But the UNHRC is already considering a resolution No: A/HRC/21/L.18 against the imposition of unilateral sanctions against countries. This is an ongoing subject of discussion and is due to come up again in 2014. If the western powers try to impose unilateral sanctions on Sri Lanka, in the middle of this very discussion against unilateral sanctions, what is that going to make the UNHRC look like?

Tamil journalist attacked in Jaffna

Tamil Guardian 08 March 2013 Photograph TamilWin

A Tamil journalist from the newspaper, Valampuri, was attacked in Jaffna on Friday, reports JDS and TamilWin.

The victim, twenty-four year old Stalin, was by Neeravi Street on his way to the Valampuri's office, when a gang of 6 men carrying 'mannvettis' (heavy metal hoes), surrounded him and attacked him.

Stalin, who was left by his attackers on the roadside, was found by passers-by and taken to Jaffna General Hospital, where he is currently admitted with internal injuries.

The attackers are believed to be Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives, reports TamilWin.

Stalin, who used to be a student union leader at Kokuvil Hindu College, has been arrested on previous occasions by Sri Lankan security forces. In 2007, he was arrested alongside other student union leaders from both Kokuvil Hindu College and Jaffna Hindu College. Recently, he has received anonymous threats and was reportedly attacked during protests in Jaffna.

Hope and reconciliation: Healing Sri Lanka’s wounds of conflict

Mar 11, 2013, 12.00AM IST [ DESMOND TUTU & MARY ROBINSON ]

Mary Robinson with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who she and the rest of Nelson Mandela's Elders group refer to as 'the Arch'. Attila Photograph:Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images

Absence of war is not peace: the saying is true of Sri Lanka today.

While the country's civil war ended four years ago, and roads have been rebuilt, human rights protections are getting weaker. The personal tragedies of the conflict's victims have yet to be acknowledged and accounted for. The climate required for reconciliation does not yet exist.

The UN Human Rights Council, whose new session has just begun in Geneva, has a unique opportunity to pressure Sri Lanka's authorities into meaningful action. In doing so, it would preserve the hope for accountability and reconciliation harboured by all Sri Lankans. The present culture of impunity must end.

Last year, the Council passed a landmark resolution calling on Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations identified by its own government, in a report of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The Elders, a group of independent leaders committed to peace and human rights, to which we belong, fully supported the resolution at the time. It was a decisive step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, too little has happened since. Lasting reconciliation; upholding the rule of law; protection of human rights: it is difficult to feel positive about any of these essential objectives today.

On February 16, Faraz Shauketaly, a prominent investigative journalist, was shot in his home - only the latest incident in a worrying trend of attacks against critics of the government. In January, the impeachment of the Supreme Court's chief justice, Shirani Bandaranayake (the first woman to hold this role), was a blatant disregard for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.

There has, furthermore, been almost no meaningful action to implement the LLRC's recommendations. Deadlines have been pushed back, and parts of the government are threatening to renege on, or weaken, previous pledges.

We also support calls by Sri Lankan civil society, and by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of human rights and international humanitarian law perpetrated by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and other rebel factions in the final months of the civil war. According to the UN, as many as 40,000 civilians were killed.

How the Council chooses to act at this time will have a profound impact on Sri Lanka's standing in the international community. In this regard, we urge the Commonwealth to seriously reconsider appointing Sri Lanka as its chair for 2013-15, as it currently plans to do. In this role, Sri Lanka would host the biennial meeting of Commonwealth heads of government in November this year.

The prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has already threatened to boycott the summit if the situation does not improve. The UK Parliament has called on its prime minister, David Cameron, to do the same.

As Elders, we welcome this forthright stance and recall the Commonwealth's founding commitments to democracy, freedom, peace and the rule of law.

The Human Rights Council - still a relatively young institution, created by the UN in 2006 - must show that it can build on its successes from one session to the next: if last year's resolution gave Sri Lankans hope, this year's session must go further to keep their hope alive.

Other crises have flared in the past year. Syria and Mali, to take two obvious examples, rightly figure high on the Council's agenda. The case of Sri Lanka offers a different test: of the Council's ability to hold governments accountable even when global attention has turned elsewhere.

Desmond Tutu is a Nobel peace laureate. Mary Robinson is former president of Ireland. Both are members of The Elders, a group of independent leaders working for peace, justice and human rights.

Sinhala media (translated here) in #srilanka threatens 2 arrest TNA #Tamil MPs on return from #hrc22 in Geneva #unlk #lka

TwitLonger

Frances Harrison (@francesharris0n)

Posted Sunday 10th March 2013 from Twitlong

Sinhala media (translated here) in #srilanka threatens 2 arrest TNA #Tamil MPs on return from #hrc22 in Geneva #unlk #lka

Traitors to be arrested

by Nihal Jagathchandra

The government internal sources revealed that a secret plan is in place to arrest the five members of the Tamil National Alliance and the NGO activists who have gone to Geneva to help the American and the European countries against Sri Lanka. They will be arrested at the Katunayake air port on their return from Geneva, if they have made statements detrimental to the unitary character of the state. 

The arrests will be made according to the law of the land, since aiding and abetting as well as financially assisting any attempt to form a separate state is considered as a punishable offense under the sixth amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. If such a charge is proved against an MP, his or her parliament membership can be suspended at least for seven years under the existing legal provisions. The government is seeking legal advise on the matter, revealed the sources.

Speaking to 'Lakbima', a prominent government minister clarified that even though the country's constitution upholds the right to travel to any part of the world and the right to free speech, no one holds any legal power or a right to make any statements considered detrimental to the unitary state. Therefore, he said, the country's intelligence agencies are keeping a close watch on all the statements made by the TNA members as well as other activists who are now in Geneva. 

Source: 'Lakbima' Sinhala daily | 09.03.2013
URL: http://www.lakbima.lk/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7853:2013-03-09-02-30-12&catid=34:news&Itemid=62

දේශද්‍රෝහීන් අත්අඩංගුවට

2013 මාර්තු 09  07:40  a.m

මේ වනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව ඇමෙරිකාව ඇතුළු යුරෝපා සංගමයේ රටවලට උදව් කිරීම සඳහා ජිනීවා නුවරට ගොස් සිටින දෙමළ සන්ධාන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් පස්දෙනා ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරිකයන් පිරිස එහිදී රටේ ඒකීයත්වයට හානිකර  අන්දමේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කර ඇත්නම් ඔවුන් ආපසු එන විට කටුනායක ගුවන් තොටු‍පොළේදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ රහසිගත සූදානමක් ඇතැයි රජයේ අභ්‍යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි. එසේ වන්නේ 6 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යටතේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ වෙනම රාජ්‍යයක් පිහිටුවීමට අදාළව මෙරටදී හෝ විදේශයකදී ආධාර කිරීම, අනුබල දැක්වීම මුදල් යෙදවීම, ධෛර්ය දීම හෝ දේශනා කිරීම නීතියෙන් දඬුවම් ලැබිය හැකි වරදක් ලෙස සැලකෙන බැවිනි. එවැනි චෝදනාවක්  අධිකරණයක් හමුවේ ඔප්පු වුවහොත් ඔහු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු නම් ඔහුගේ මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයද වසර 7ක් නොඉක්මවන  කාලයකට අත්හිටුවීමට ද නීතියෙන් ප්‍රතිපාදන සැලසී ඇත. රජය මේ පිළිබඳව නීතිමය උපදෙස් ලබා ගනිමින් සිටින බවද එම ආරංචි මාර්ග වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.
 මේ  ප්‍රශ්නය පිළිබඳව රජයේ ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ ඇමැතිවරයෙකුගෙන් “ලක්බිම” කළ විමසීමකදී ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ කෙනෙකුට ඕනෑම රටකට යාමට හා නිදහස්ව කතා කිරීමට ඇති අයිතිය මෙරට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන්ම තහවුරු කර ඇතත් රටේ ඒකීයත්වයට හානිකර කිසිදු, ප්‍රකාශයක් කිරීමට නීතිමය බලයක් හෝ අයිතියක් කිසිම පුද්ගලයෙකුට නොමැති බවය. එහෙයින් දැනටමත් ජිනීවා නුවරට ගොස් සිටින දෙමළ සන්ධාන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් පිරිස ඇතුළු ක්‍රියාකාරිකයන් එතෙරදී කරනු ලබන සියලුම ප්‍රකාශ පිළිබඳව රජයේ බුද්ධි අංශ දැඩි අවධානයක් යොමුකර තිබෙන බවද හෙතෙම පැවැසීය.

 නිහාල් ජගත්චන්ද්‍ර

Arrest ‘traitors’ who went to Geneva - Lakbima

Published on Sunday, 10 March 2013 09:05

Mirror
(Mirror) – The Lakbima Newspaper quoting internal government sources reports that there is an attempt to arrest the five TNA MP’s including  NGO activists currently in Geneva assisting USA and European Union countries against Sri Lanka by making public statements harming the unitary state of the country. 

The report further states ‘according to the Sixth Amendment of the constitution, No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka, and is considered a crime.

If such an accusation is proved in Court, if the person is an MP, his term of office will cease for a period not exceeding seven years according to the law. 

The Government is obtaining legal advice on this matter, the sources reveal. 

When a front- line Minister was queried on this issue, he said that although the right for a person to go to any country and speak freely has been guaranteed by the constitution no individual has the legal power or right to make any statement which would harm the unitary state of the country. 

Accordingly, all the statements by the TNA MP’s, including the activists who have gone to Geneva are being subject to the intense scrutiny of the Governments intelligence section.’

Conference on Tamil People’s Right ended up successful manner in Geneva

[ Sunday, 10 March 2013, 04:22.02 PM GMT +05:30 ]

Conference on Tamil People’s Right organised by the of ICET ended up successful manner in Geneva. Conference began on March 1st and continued till March 3rd.

Politicians from motherland, Politicians from international community, journalists, diplomats, nationalists from Germany, Canada, Mauritius, South Africa, France, Norway, Australia, Newzeland, Denmark, Italy, Netherland, Britain, Belgium and Malaysia were also present in this historic conference. The delegates promised help to establish freedom and implement law and order for Tamils in SriLanka. Addressing the conference Canadian parliamentarian Hon. Jim Carrey stress about the genocide attack in SriLanka and also promised to support for the freedom struggle of Tamil community. Professor Youtson coordinated the first two days of the conference and remembered the people sacrifices their lives for freedom struggle in the motherland. Second day of the conference included three sessions. First session discuss about the importance of independent investigations on Lankan war crimes, during the second session delegates of international community paid special attention on genocide various genocide attacks carried out against Tamil people since 2009. Officials also expressed various and different comments on this issue. On the second day session officials agreed to make pressure on United Nation to hold independent investigations against Lankan war crime allegations. On the third day of the conference delegates discuss about the “International politics and Lankan solution“. Decisions taken at the conference would be translated to Tamil language and several other languages, sources said. Members of the International Council of Eelam Tamils from eleven nations, Tamil parliamentarians, representatives of GTF, BTF, USTPAC,ATC, Mauritius Tamil Temple Federation (MTTF) and Tamil Relief Malaysia were also present at this discussion.

Whether development is ornamentation panoramas and decorations? Sara MP query at Women's day celebration

Mothers are desperately in  search of their children and wives are  determined in finding their husbands who had gone missing after surrendering to the forces during war, and if statements are made that none had got lost, then  are mothers and women query their missing beloveds  are psychologically affected?

Are those gave witness with evidences in front of Reconciliation Commission, are liars?

Are the processions and hunger protests held appealing the details of those gone missing are done as hobby? 

Is only Gottabaya Rajapakse who is directing the Sinhala force is only speaking the truth?

If the affected women and mothers are speaking lies, will this world accept it?

Today the suppression against women is a part of ethnic oppression. In this state, if succeed liberation in politics, women's liberation will be feasible.

In this circumstance, women should join the protest demanding rights,   and by acquiring political liberation, could achieve women’s liberation. Towards this, women should gather enormously.

Jaffna district parliament member E.Saravanabawan gave this invitation.

The women's movement under the Waligamam west divisional council, organized a women's day celebration at Walagambarai and parliament member was the Chief Guest.

He said, international wide, women day is celebrated. Women's voices in many angles are raised in processions, debates and exhibitions. But suppressions and persecution against the women has not got eradicated so far.

This has been converted in many images like the magician jumping from cage to cage.

More than these oppressions, the government has instigated violence against the Sri Lanka women and their throats are getting throttled. Our women's bodies are getting ruined. Minds are getting crumpled.

Women are facing tremendous depressions as none has come forward to question on behalf of them.

According to our traditions, family is similar to a temple. The head of the temple is husband. In the leadership of husband, the family blooms wonderfully. A family without a leader is like a plant does not have its roots, getting faded. It is also similar to a  boat unsteady without a paddle. Women are in a severe condition, forced in burdening with all the   responsibilities.

State forces by reasoning out war, hunted hardheartedly, and the husbands of our women were snatched. Dads were lost. Brothers went missing.

 Today thousands of our Tamil sisters have become widows, living like orphans, as none is there to care them. They lead their lives in utter poverty and loneliness. The rulers who pushed them to this catastrophe did not care to guide them to get some deliverance.  

They did not raise their hands for compassion. Contrarily they are burden with more and more agonies.

Sri Lanka forces carried out sexual abuse as a war weapon. This is the allegation made by the human rights watch.

How many of our women were the prey for the forces sexual abuses and were killed?

Many underwent torture, and lost their lives. This figures of the exact women got affected are not still finalized.  But government is attempting to conceal by its reports denying.

Meanwhile women still exist with life are facing immense adversities, and the Channel 4 video scenes are the unshakeable witness which has got emerged.

None got lost during war, was said by none other than the brother of Country's President and responsible officer for Sri Lanka defense, and Defense Secretary Gottabaya Rajapakse.

Not only this he said north and east is not for Tamils which is a total lie was said by him  as a fact.

Our women are living in poverty, loneliness as their children, husband and fathers are detained in prison and leading miseries for ten and fifteen years.  The protest held to produce them in courts and to release is like blowing the trumpet in a deaf ear.

If they are not offenders, why government is refusing to face investigation for justice?

  We will do like this, that, but the assurances given, are flying on air?

Massacre, sexual abuse, missing persons, detention for a long time in prison has affected mostly the women and women have become the suffering end.  

The oppressions against the women by the government, economy, sexual oppression, psychology-based repression, oppression of freedom of movement are in many ways the persecutions are getting expanded.

Women's every foot step against the state oppression, it is the every step journeying towards women's liberation. 

In this manner our Tamil society is suppressed, and the accomplices of this oppression activity, is howling that we should join with the government.

By agreeing to this suppressions and carrying out politics,  they have become the partners of oppression, is  alleging us,  that we have not agreed. But this compromised politics is a betrayal politics in the case of Tamil people. This had got expanded from the history as a merciless politics, and a politics supporting the oppressions.

With Sinhala rulers, Sir Pon Ramanathan executed an agreed politics. But due to the deceitful act of giving the western provincial representation, Tamil people were compelled to boycott the Legislative Council election.

Late G.G.Ponnambalam and Dudley Senanayake conducted compliance politics and became a minister. His equal status demand did not turn to be successful. Alternatively the people’s civic rights stripped. Sinhala colonization was advanced in the east.

Tamil Arasu party conducted compliance politics with United National party and late Thiruchelvam was appointed as minister.  Voted for district council but was not granted.  Trincomalee Koneswara zone was not declared as a sacred region.

Alfred Thuraiyappa, Arulampalam and Thiyagaraja conducted negotiation politics with Srimavo Bandaranayake .

Tamil people did not get any compassion. Contrary through the new constitution act, Tamil people became the second class citizens.  Through standardization, Tamil students’ rights were grabbed,

Minister Douglas Devananda is today conducting compromise politics.  He is raising his voice for us also to compromise in politics and to be assistance for the suppressions carried out against the Tamil people.

 According to 13th amendment to the constitution, the powers given to police, civil and administration coming under the provincial councils were seized, and Minister Douglas compromise politics got praised by supporting the 18th amendment.

Through the "Divineguma" act, the provincial council lost 13 powers. Ministers negotiation politics, divided the north and east.  Is it necessary, the compromise politics to assist petty actions of taking the roots of Tamil people?

Due to war, the Waligamam north people who were displaced are still facing hardships in refugee camps. Waligamam north consist all resources for cultivations.  This soil gave resource to the Sri Lanka economy in the cultivations of chilies, plantain, and other. This soil which gave ample resources, is now has got trapped in the seizure of military. 

Those days, the Colombo market awaits the arrival of Mylitti fish. The coastal area of that region is now ruined by the feet of those grabbers.  23 years have gone; but still people are not permitted for resettlement.

 Violence’s are advanced against the people's protest demanding their native lands which they grew, did cultivations. Attempts are done for disorder.

Did Minister Douglas Devananda at least once even voice for this people? Did he even move his finger in support them? Did he submit a request in the cabinet?

Today Sinhala colonization is in Nawatkuli. Sinhala settlements are in Kilinochchi, Manalaru.

Tamil people were living in Mulliyavalai from year 1972, Iyanapuram, and now it has become Muslim colonization. Totally Tamil people’s ancestry motherland has altered in the ethnic percentage, and Tamil people has been converted as minority. They are destabilized for which a conspiracy is getting staged.

Is it compromise politics or betraying politics?

This comprise politics is essential to push all the Tamil people in the ditch by grabbing everything from them. Is it called the compromise politics or betraying politics? 

Minister Basil Rajapakse recently inaugurated the drinking water system in Mannar Adampan queried, whether Tamil National Alliance at least had  pelted a stone in development?

Those in power are rulers, they impose tax from people. They obtain loan from foreign countries. They have the responsibility to advance developments. Tamil National Alliance which does not have any powers, how could it process activities for developments?

Tamil National Alliance was not invited for district divisional development meeting. Even then, if they attend, their demands are not accepted. President recently attended the Development Review meeting in Jaffna, but none of the members from the Tamil National Alliance was invited.

In this manner a systemized discrimination exists, hence Tamil National Alliance not a stone, but not even a cord it could put it in development. 

Tamil people elected the Tamil National Alliance are not to execute politics in the name of development.  It voted to regain back the lost rights and to obstruct the confiscation in the mother soil.

Broad roads, sky scrapping buildings cannot be judged as development. Does development mean ornamentation panoramas and decorations?

When people’s rights gets reachable, and when livelihoods get developed people could journey in broad roadways. They could fulfill their requirements from high buildings.

A person who is not permitted to get  his own land, what is the use of broad roads. A person who is not permitted to do his own trade, the high-rise buildings will not be any use to him.

Oppression against women today has become a part of ethnic suppression. Hence when politics get completely liberated, there would be possibilities for women liberation.

Saravanabavan said, women should join in thousands in our endeavors in the protest for the rights, and through this, politics can be liberated and could achieve women liberation, for which women presence should be massive. We invite all the female folks heart fully to join in our struggles for rights.

US Resolution on Sri Lanka “Welcomes” Calls for Independent International Investigation into War Crimes

Sunday, 10 March 2013 

In a move that would embarrass the Government of Sri Lanka, the second draft of the US-sponsored Human Rights Resolution on Sri Lanka has welcomed calls by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay for an independent international investigation into war crimes, while also ‘reiterating’ that the government initiate an independent investigation into alleged violations of international law.

The second draft, which is currently being circulated among UNHCR members, has also welcomed the report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which has been highly critical of the government for the slow pace in the implementation of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The draft resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Ceylon Today, also noted the LLRC report and National Action Plan on implementation of LLRC recommendations ‘do not adequately address serious allegations of violations of international law.’

It also noted the ‘failure’ of the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its public commitments, including the devolution of powers.

The draft resolution also urged the government to implement the recommendations in the OHCHR report and reiterated its calls to expedite implementation of the LLRC recommendations.

It also called on the government to provide unfettered access to the special rapporteurs on independence of judges and lawyers, human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly, extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, minority issues and so forth.

Sri Lankan Government has repeatedly turned down requests made by the OHCHR for permission to those visits, termed special procedure visits in UN parlance.

The resolution also granted mandate to the OHCHR to present an interim report, with the input from the special procedure visits, to the 24th session of the UNHRC and also a report to the 25th session.

Trivialisation Of Law And Justice

By Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena -March 9, 2013 

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena

In a piquantly provoking postscript to months of tumultuous conflict between the government and Sri Lanka’s legal community over the clearly arbitrary impeachment of the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, legal practitioners were advised by her successor during the opening of two rural circuit courts this week, to protect the trust that the public had reposed in them.

Cooperation between judges, lawyers and public

The public, on the other hand, was advised to respect the judiciary which ‘protects their rights.’ Interestingly however, judging by news reports (see Daily Mirror, March 6th and March 8th), similar injunctions appear not to have been issued against the government which, in the current politico-legal context, exercises all powers in respect of the unfortunate citizenry, North, South and East, made helpless at its command.

Further observing that Sri Lanka could teach human rights to its Western critics, given the country’s 2500 year old tradition of human rights protections’ the 44th Chief Justice categorized judges, lawyers and clients as the ‘three pillars of the judiciary’ and warned that if cooperation was not evidenced between all three, the system would collapse.

Meanwhile, individuals were invited to address a post card to the Chief Justice in regard to grievances though it was stated that fundamental rights protections should not be invoked for ‘trivial matters’ such as for example, when ‘a teacher twisted a boy’s ear’ or when boys quarrel.

It is the government that does not respect the judiciary

Notwithstanding the zeal displayed to protect peoples’ rights, it is necessary to examine crucial aspects of these public assurances. Certainly, it is the duty of not only the people but also the government to respect the judiciary. For example, it goes without saying that a government which is seen as mocking the judgments of the superior courts would be infringing this very salutary dictum.

But as we saw, the Rajapaksa government did exactly that some months ago when it proceeded with the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s 43rd Chief Justice despite two judgments of the superior courts advising the Parliament to refrain from proceeding with the impeachment process in the context of basic rights to a fair trial being denied to that Chief Justice.

To show respect to the judiciary is a duty predominantly of the executive which controls all power in Sri Lanka. And is it not high time that time that we stopped talking of our two thousand five hundred years of history and looked at what we are now. Are we a nation that respects the Rule of Law? Do our politicians respect the law, judgments and indeed judges? Was it respect that was displayed when a female Chief Justice was brought before a parliamentary select committee and grossly humiliated? These are questions that are paramount in the minds of Sri Lankan citizens.

Carefully developed judicial norms

And at a different level, as much as the public itself must refrain from being unduly litigious, the trivialization of justice must be guarded against. The question is therefore not whether a citizen has the right to go before the Supreme Court when a teacher twists the ear of a child but whether a constitutional right has been violated which would involve an assessment of the degree of the hurt caused as well as the severity of the physical and psychological impact of such actions.

In jurisprudence carefully developed by the Supreme Court throughout the nineties, we have seen the Court sensitively responding to a child being slapped by teachers or to situations where indeed no physical action is caused at all but grave psychological harm is willfully inflicted.

As has been said with exemplary gravitas, “the test which has been applied by our Courts is that whether the attack on the victim is physical or psychological, irrespective of [that] fact, a violation of Article 11 (torture) would depend on the circumstances of each case.’(Adhikary and another v. Amarasinghe and others [2003] 1 SLR, 270). Here a husband and wife, both lawyers, were arbitrarily stopped by ministerial security on a busy Colombo road, forced to get out of their vehicle and abused while the wife was carrying their 18-month-old child.

Similarly when boys quarrel, the issue is not the quarrel itself but the equal operation of the law which needs to be ensured. The collapse of the system occurs when public confidence in equality guarantees break down. Lawyers and litigants cannot be expected to repose trust and confidence in a system which is fundamentally farcical.

No hope for justice for ordinary citizens

The trivialization of law and justice in Sri Lanka is indeed what has resulted in intensified international scrutiny. This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) was informed by government representatives that no formal complaints had been lodged with government agencies in respect of over 60 percent of appeals of disappearances forwarded independently by complainants to the United Nations Working Group (UNWG) on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, (see Colombo Gazette, March 6th 2013).

The implication therefore was that these complaints sent to the UNWG were not authentic. This is much in the same manner as when the incumbent Chief Justice in his previous avatar of legal advisor to the Cabinet stated before the UN Committee against Torture some years ago that disappeared web journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda was living in an overseas country. He then confessed later before a local judicial body that he had, in fact, no idea as to Ekneligoda’s whereabouts.

In a beautiful irony however, around about that same time that this claim was made in Geneva to the UNWG, law enforcement agencies prevented thousands of Northern based parents from travelling to Colombo to protest in respect of the unresolved disappearances of their children, in disregard of the constitutionally guaranteed right to movement.

So when the Government submits to the UNHRC that no significant proportion of the Northern disappearances had been formally reported to its agencies, it must recognize the fact that its actions leave absolutely no room for victims locally to complain and obtain redress. The question is simple; can an ordinary Tamil villager record the disappearance of his or her child at any police station in the north and east and expect to have it inquired into?

This Government must realise that its bluffing must stop, at least now.