IFJ Condemns Attack on Tamil Newspaper Office in Sri Lanka

Media release: Sri Lanka                                                                                  

April 5, 2013

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns the attack on the office of the Tamil newspaper Uthayan in Sri Lanka’s northern provincial town of Kilinochhi on April 3.

According to information received from IFJ partners and affiliates in Sri Lanka, six masked men forced their way into the office premises of the newspaper as the day’s edition was being prepared for distribution. They carried cricket stumps which they used to beat up newspaper staff and damage office property, including a vehicle that had just brought the day’s edition from the northern provincial capital of Jaffna.

Uthayan is the leading Tamil language newspaper in the Northern Province, with an editorial stance that is strongly supportive of the opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA). 

The TNA has been leading national reconciliation efforts since a quarter-century long civil war between government forces and the Tamil separatist guerrillas based in the north ended in 2009. In national and local bodies elections, it has demonstrated strong support among the people in the Northern Province.

Uthayan has been attacked a number of times during the civil war and since. In May 2011, one of its staff reporters, S. Kavitharan, was beaten up in Jaffna city by unidentified assailants. In July 2011, shortly after a strong showing by the TNA in local bodies elections in the north, the Uthayan news editor, G. Kuhanathan, was beaten with iron rods and left with near fatal injuries in a Jaffna street.

Kavitharan and Kuhanathan have since been granted political asylum abroad.

Sunil Jeyasekara of the Free Media Movement (FMM), a Sri Lankan affiliate of the IFJ, has called the attack on Uthayan, not just a “threat to media freedom”, but a “threat to the whole country”.

The IFJ considers this attack and the continuing impunity for past assaults on journalists and the media, to be demonstrations of a lack of good faith on the part of the Sri Lankan authorities, who are formally committed to a process of national reconciliation, in line with the recommendations of a high-powered body – the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission – which submitted its report in November 2011.

The IFJ calls for an unequivocal condemnation of the latest attack from the Sri Lankan government and the launch of a thorough investigation which swiftly brings the culprits to book.

JVP condemns attack on Uthayan news paper office

[ Friday, 05 April 2013, 06:51.01 AM GMT +05:30 ]

The JVP has condemned the attack on 'Uthayan' newspaper office in Killinochchi and states the attack is not only a mere attack on a media office and an attempt to sabotage the distribution of its newspaper but it is a deplorable attempt to grab the right of the masses for information.

The JVP press release: We vehemently condemn attack on 'Uthayan' newspaper It is a deplorable attempt to grab the right of the masses for information. Only the police book is not aware that these atrocities are committed by groups of government's security sections at the behest of the government. We firmly emphasize to the government that legal action should be taken against those who are responsible for the attack on 'Uthayan' newspaper office

Chinese subs in Indian waters sends jitters – report

2013-04-05 For the first time, the Indian Navy has strong indications that a fleet of Chinese nuclear submarines is making frequent forays into the Indian Ocean. 22 such Chinese operations have been recorded, one as recently as February, 2013. One submarine was spotted near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Headlines Today has exclusive access to a report from the Indian Navy to the Defence Ministry that says 22 unknown submarine contacts were detected by Indian and U.S sonar in the Indian Ocean. The assessment is that China is the only other navy capable of operating in the area. The assessment has been confirmed by U.S. and Indian intelligence inputs. The extent of Chinese submarines’ unchallenged forays into the Indian Ocean can be deeply troubling for the Indian Navy. Sources tell Headlines Today that one contact with a suspected Chinese submarine took place just 90 km from Indian soil in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Six contacts took place north-west of the Straits of Malacca, 13 south of Sri Lanka and two as far as the Arabian Sea. The first such Chinese submarine was spotted on sonar in August 2012 during a patrol of Indian and U.S. navy ships, confident that they are the only two navies operating in the southern part of the Indian Ocean. According to the report, the People’s Liberation Army’s naval wing is deploying the state-of-the art nuclear submarines on a 10,000-mile deepwater run. The launch location is Sanya in the South China Sea. Official sources say the Chinese submariners could be preparing to sneak into India’s backyard, test Indian Navy’s conviction in keeping them out and probably pioneer a permanent presence in the Indian Ocean region. (India Today)

A suspicion about the sudden fire at ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya

April 4, 2013

A suspicion about  the sudden fire at Pottuwil’s ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya?

The sudden fire which had broken out at the ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya may be the work of saboteurs and not a natural fire has added the Jathika Hela Urumaya.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya’s media spokesman Nishantha Warnasinghe had issued a notice in this regard under his signature.

There is a certain amount of doubt about the fire that had broken out at the historical Potuwil ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya it has been emphasised. The suspicion has been because that the Muslim principles had been focussing attention on the historical ancient ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya for quite some time.

It had also been found that certain constructions of high archaeological value had been removed from the premises of the ‘Muhudu Maha, while some have been damaged. Some of the lands owned by the Viharaya premises have been acquired by force. In addition the Bikkhus who were living in the ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya had been harmed and even devotees who visit the Viharaya also had been harassed.

Owing to the above reasons there is sufficient doubt that Muslims may have made this fire at the ‘Muhudu Maha’ Viharaya the media spokesman of the Jathika Hela Urumaya had disclosed.

It is also learnt that the rock posts and moonstones have been removed and they had been used for their domestic purposes like washing clothes. Hence was the fire a natural one or  was it burnt.

Politics and cricket: stepping up to the crease on Sri Lanka

Editorial Tamil Guardian 05 April 2013

With protests demanding stern Indian action Sri Lanka continuing across the country, Delhi’s relationship with its unruly neighbour has come under intensifying criticism. India’s policy of meek diplomacy and appeasement has only fuelled Sri Lanka’s brazen defiance. In this context the Tamil Nadu state government has responded to the growing public mood by announcing a state wide ban on Sri Lankan players participating in the Indian Premier League. This step has highlighted an avenue for more concerted and co-ordinated international action.

A resolute sporting boycott can be utilised as a powerful tool to demonstrate that the international community will no longer tolerate Sri Lanka’s obstinate disrespect for human rights and international values. A clear, moral and principled message must be sent, that Sri Lanka cannot use its cricket team as ambassadors working to conceal the state’s on-going systematic violence against the Tamil people. It is only with such determined international action that calls for accountability and justice, become more than just empty rhetoric.

Sport and politics are inseparable. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated in his 2008 ‘Spirit of Cricket’ lecture, “politics impinges on sport as much as on any other aspect of life”. From controversies over race and debates over democracy, to all the other facets of politics, sport is constantly exposed to political bearings, invariably shaping it into a reflection of the environment in which it is fostered. The very nature of sport itself, based on core values such as fair play and respect for others, illustrate the depth with which it is intrinsically linked to international mores. These values are universal and resonate just as much on the international stage, as they do on the cricket ground, helping to maintain the integrity of sports. It was because of these fundamental tenets, that Tutu hailed the sports boycott of apartheid South Africa as embodying the ‘Spirit of Cricket’, acknowledging that it “played a crucial part in our liberation”.

Nowhere is this link between sports and politics more evident than in Sri Lanka. The government’s chauvinistic politics have infiltrated all aspects of life, including sports, at almost every level. From manipulating elections of the cricket board to a Member of Parliament being cynically called up to play for the team, and even last week’s announcement that a Minister’s son was to be selected to the squad, the overt politicisation of the sport in the cause of Sinhala chauvinism is undeniable.
Sri Lanka has furthermore actively used cricket as a vehicle of political legitimacy. The President has closely associated himself with the sport. The 2011 and 2012 World Cups were hosted at the self–named Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium in the President’s hometown. Rajapakse sat grinning from the stands as play continued; a miserable and sardonic attempt to normalise himself and his government. With the ‘ethnically pure’ war crimes-accused Sinhala military running the island’s cricket stadiums, the creeping sinister side of Sri Lankan cricket has become impossible to ignore.

Sport has a long history of men and women who have courageously stood up and taken stands against similar injustice. In Sri Lanka however, the cricketers have been eager ambassadors for the Sinhala regime. Whilst Tamils newspapers and MPs are singled out for attack and ordinary Tamils routinely subject to abduction, disappearance and detention without charge, Muralitharan - arguably Sri Lanka’s most famous cricket player - stated he“did not have any problems as a Tamil”. Kumar Sangakarra, the team’s silver-tongued star player, earlier praised the island’s war crimes-accused military and their “large, pivotal role” in the Tamil homeland, stating that Tamil civilians appreciated the army’s “guidance and understanding”. All while rampant militarisation of the North-East and rape and torture of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces continue to take place.

A sporting boycott is not about ethnic affinities, but a vehicle through which moral and principled stands can be taken. Blocking players from participating in sport on the basis of nationality or ethnicity is wrong. It is when players step forward as representatives of a murderous regime that continues to disregard international norms, that conscientious and bold steps must be taken. In Sri Lanka, the cricketers have openly become ambassadors of the state’s repression and have been willing participants in the politicisation of cricket. As a consequence, it is hardly surprising that their presence provokes political opposition from those committed to securing justice and accountability in Sri Lanka.

Given Colombo’s virulent rhetoric and on-going repression of Tamils, international sporting isolation would send a clear and distinct signal that this can no longer continue. Following on from the events of Geneva determined and decisive action must be taken. If not, no matter how many resolutions are passed, all calls for action will simply continue to ring hollow.

Fashion Bug Attack: A Nation On The Edge, It Is A Moment Of Truth

By Malinda Seneviratne -April 5, 2013

Malinda Seneviratne

The nation is on edge.  There is a sense of foreboding.  There are fears of a July 1983 repeat.  Indeed there are even those who are eagerly waiting for such an eventuality.  And there is no shortage of people and organizations that feed these fears, knowingly or unknowingly contributing to tensions.

In the aftermath of the violent incident in Pepiliyana where a Muslim-owned business, Fashion Bug, was attacked by mobs, the Bodu Bala Senacategorically denied involvement and condemned the attack. Indeed, the organization went as far as to state, a) that the Police should arrest all those responsible, even if they happened to be bikkhus, b) that the organization has neither called for a Buddhist boycott of Muslim shops nor threatened with physical harm those who patronized them.

This is a welcome move, especially since the rhetoric of the organization has not exactly championed co-existence and tolerance.  It appears that the rhetoric has given rise to forces that the organization cannot control and which, ironically, operate in the name of the Bodu Bala Sena, setting up Twitter, Facebook and other accounts in the domain of social media.  Bodu Bala Sena cannot claim innocence in the groundwork that has been laid for intolerance and violence to prosper.

On the other hand, vilifying the Bodu Bala Sena has led to a blanket dismissal and vilification of Buddhists.  This too does nothing to ease tensions.  The Bodu Bala Sena statement, in this context, must be applauded, but with a certain degree of caution. The organization could do more if it clearly stated that as per the teachings of the Buddha, it will support authorities responsible for law and order to ensure that Muslims and Muslim businesses and other properties are protected.

It is also heartening that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has announced that he is not the President of the Sinhalese and Buddhists but is the President of all communities and people of all religious faiths.  He has clearly signaled that the Government will not turn a blind eye to religious intolerance in whatever form.  It is a good sign that three persons have already been arrested over the incident, but peace requires swift and decisive action to prevent incidents as much as bringing to book those who violate the law.

If things get better from now on, much of the accolades should go to the Muslim community which has shown remarkable restraint and good sense.  This should not be reason for complacency or for assumption of ‘weakness’ or ‘impotence’, though.  All it takes is for one individual to lose control for an entire nation to be engulfed in flames we can very well do without.  The only way that the Bodu Bala Sena can stop this from happening is by actively reaching out to their Muslim brethren, to take whatever grievances they may have to the relevant authorities and these authorities dealing with issues as per constitutional provision.

Any attack on any Muslim individual (or any individual for that matter, regardless of religious persuasion) is not in keeping with Buddhism.  Indeed any attack is a blemish on the overall cultural ethos of Sri Lanka which undoubtedly has been wrought of Buddhism more than any other doctrine, religious or otherwise.  If a Muslim is attack, then, it is an affront to Buddhism and the attacker can at best claim to be Buddhist only by name.

Buddhists have not given any organization the authority to speak on their behalf. Only the bikkhus of their respective temples and the Mahanayakas of the three nikayas have that authority.  These authorities have not endorsed the Bodu Bala Sena.  Neither have they actively intervened to urge Buddhists to adhere to the teachings of the Buddha, especially those tenets pertaining to compassion and tolerance.  Clearly, a lot more needs to be done.

The Government has a responsibility.  Religious leaders too.  The general citizenry needs to be alert and exercise utmost caution and tolerance. Anyone taking the law into his/her hands is not affirming his/her faith but in fact denouncing it by that very act.

The nation is on the edge.  It is a moment of truth.  A political chasm beckons.  All the more reason to take a step back.

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of ‘The Nation’, this is his last Sunday Editorial and the original title was  ”The nation is on the edge”. His articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com

Kalmunai MC passes anti-BBS resolution

 April 5, 2013  

A resolution was submitted and adopted at the Kalmunai Municipal Council yesterday against hard-line groups including the Bodu Bala Sena.
The resolution also calls for the support of efforts being taken by Minister of National Language and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakara to crackdown on extremist groups.

Speaking during the Council session today chaired by Kalumunai Mayor Dr. Shiraz Mirashib, several Council members spoke against the Bodu Bala Sena and the hate campaigns targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka.
Secretary-General of the All Ceylon Muslim Congress Y.L.S. Hameed was among the politicians who extended support for the resolution and the efforts of Minister Nanayakkara, sources at the session told the Colombo Gazette.
Nanayakkara had recently accused the Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balaya and Sinhala Ravaya of spreading hatred and disharmony among religions and other communities.
He also accused the Police of failing to take action against such groups despite them openly advocating hatred.
Nanayakkara also said that he had written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa regarding the hate campaigns targeting Muslims in the country.
(Colombo Gazette)

Anti-Muslim Leaflets Circulated Widely in Weligama as Bodhu Bala Sena Stages Rally

SRI LANKAS MUSLIM JUSTICE MINISTER NOT CONVINCED WITH FASHION BUG SETTLEMENT

LANKA ON GLOBE

April 5, 2013

The leader of the Muslim Congress and Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said that the Fashion Bug settlement was something forced upon the owner and the rule of the law had been challenged.

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) high command has agreed to stay on the government but the minister said that if the government does not take adequate steps to stop the anti muslim campaign they would have to consider other options.,

Last week Hakeem had requested President Mahinda Rajapakse to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss the rising religious unrest and civil disturbance in the country,but no emergency meeting was convened.

Mean while the Colombo Gazzate  reported that  -A resolution was submitted and adopted at the Kalmunai Municipal Council this morning against extremists groups including the Bodu Bala Sena.

The resolution also calls for the support of efforts being taken by Minister of National Language and Social Integration Vasudeva Nanayakara to crackdown on extremist groups.

Speaking during the Council session today chaired by Kalumunai Mayor Dr. Shiraz Mirashib, several Council members spoke against the Bodu Bala Sena and the hate campaigns targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka.

Secretary-General of the All Ceylon Muslim Congress Y. L. S. Hameed was among the politicians who extended support for the resolution and the efforts of Minister Nanayakkara, sources at the session told the Colombo Gazette.

Nanayakkara had recently accused the Bodu Bala Sena, Ravana Balaya and Sinhala Ravaya of spreading hatred and disharmony among religions and other communities.

He also accused the police of failing to take action against such groups despite them openly advocating hatred.

Anti-Muslim Leaflets Circulated Widely in Weligama as Bodhu Bala Sena Stages Rally

D.B.S.JEYARAJ-Friday, April 5, 2013
Weligama in Matara District of the Southern Province has become the latest venue of anti –Muslim activity in Sri Lanka.Weligama meaning “Sandy Village”in Sinhala is situated 144 Km from and is a well-known tourist destination in the Island.Although Sinhalese are the preponderant majority in the area the population of Weligama is diverse with Muslims,Tamils,Burghers and Malays living in amity there.

The controversial Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS)organization that has been conducting an on-going campaign against the Sri Lankan Muslims has now entered Weligama and is staging a public rally at 2.00 pm on April 3rd near the Pradeshiya Sabha office.

The walls in Weligama and its environs are plastered with red and white posters announcing the BBS rally.
 Meetings conducted by the Bodhu Bala Sena in different parts of the country have seen much hatred and venom against Muslims being expressed on such occasions.

In a bid to avert unnecessary friction Islamic theologians attached to the local Mosques have advised Muslims to avoid the Pradeshiya Sabha office area as far as possible when the BBS rally is held.

Apart from anxiety over the BBS rally what has upset Muslims more in Weligama is the widespread distribution of a leaflet in Sinhala targeting the community.

The leaflet appeals to the Sinhala people not to purchase any products or items from Muslim owned businesses in the area.

The leaflet specifically mentions the names of certain businesses run by Muslims and exhorts the people not to patronise these establishments.

The leaflet then gives out a list of Businesses run by Sinhalese and requests people to buy from these stores.

What the leaflet does is to discourage people from buying products at Muslim businesses and encourage purchasing from Sinhala businesses by showing that the same item could be bought from a Sinhala owned business and not only from a Muslim owned business.

It also does the same regarding Muslim run restaurants and Sinhala run restaurants.

Furthermore the leaflet also calls upon Sinhalese not to work in Muslim owned business establishments.

It accuses Muslims of appropriating through their commercial establishments the hard earned money of the Sinhalese and then use it to destroy Buddhist places of worship and construct Mosques in their places.

It is suspected that some Sinhala businessmen from Weligama are linked to the Bodhu Bala Sena and are trying to use the BBS to whip up a campaign against competing Muslim businessmen of the area.

In a separate development the Bodhu Bala Sena is once again targeting a Muslim “Madrassah” in Anuradhapura. The BBS has re-commenced a campaign demanding that the Islamic religious school situated at Dixon lane in Malwatu Oya should stop functioning.It warns that if it does not cease functioning steps would be taken to eradicate the school from the area.

Questions the public must ask in Sri Lanka

Questions the public must ask in Sri Lanka

Photo courtesy BBC

Groundviews

Dr. Vinoth Ramachandra-4 Apr, 2013

In the few days following the UNHRC meetings in Geneva, we have witnessed several act of blatant criminality by mobs on people and property- in greater Colombo, Killinochchi and elsewhere.

A common factor has been the passivity of the Police. They have looked the other way (reminiscent of July ’83) and suppressed video evidence of the culprits responsible for such violence.

We have also witnessed, in a single day, the Attorney General interfering in court cases involving politicians and their family members.

The justifiable outrage over groups like Bodu Bala Sena  must not distract us from asking fundamental questions such as:

1. Whom does the Police come under, and who has the power to silence them?
2. Who has the power to use the Attorney General to overturn due process and the rule of law?
3. Why does the Bodu Bala Sena only protest about animal slaughter and not about anti-Buddhist practices like casinos and the money-laundering, prostitution and human trafficking that always comes with casinos? Could this be a clue as to who is actually behind them?

The public must keep raising these questions- in the independent media, schools and universities, civil society associations, and- above all- in Parliament through their elected representatives.

I disagree with most Groundviews commentators who have described these acts of mob violence as manifestations of “religious extremism”. They are more plausibly acts of political manipulation. Those who claim to have liberated Tamils from “terrorism” (a terrorism which they had helped inflame) are now waiting to liberate Muslims, Christians and perhaps Buddhists themselves from the  forces of “religious extremism”. A grateful public will welcome the liberators with open arms.

Petitions to the President to ban BBS and Sinhala Ravaya not only threaten freedom of speech, they further undermine the institutions such as Parliament and the Judiciary which need to be restored to their proper functioning.  All criminal activity, from wherever it stems, has to be summarily punished under due process. That is what the public should be demanding.

The public must also draw the obvious connections between these recent acts of violence and what was debated in Geneva. The rule of law has collapsed in Sri Lanka. So we can never expect any impartial investigation into human rights abuses and war crimes. When even the Chairman of the local Human Rights Commission protests that the UNHRC Resolution violates “national sovereignty”, he shows his ignorance of the idea of human rights. How did such a man ever get into such a position?

Ever since the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials that followed the Second World War, international law has recognized that the plea “I was just following orders” does not protect policemen, civil servants or soldiers from prosecution. They are culpable, along with those politicians and army commanders who issued the orders.

The public must also draw the obvious connections between recent controversial parliamentary resolutions and the rampant lawlessness witnessed today. All those who supported the 18^thAmendment, which handed absolute power into the hands of one man, share in the culpable inaction of the Police and will be judged one day for their folly.

Sri Lanka needs foreign help to establish war death toll – military spokesman

April 4, 2013, 10:41 pm 

by Shamindra Ferdinando

Ongoing efforts to ascertain the number of persons, including LTTE cadres, killed during eelam war IV (July 2006-May 2009)and deaths caused due to natural causes as well as accidents, had been hampered by the reluctance on the part of countries accommodating those making accusations to share information with the Sri Lanka government, government sources said.

Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya told The Island that an accurate assessment of the number of Sri Lankan migrants was prerequisite for a methodical inquiry. He said that some of those categorized as dead and missing since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, were now overseas.

The official alleged that some of those who had fled the country included LTTE cadres; though their families continued to insist they were civilians.

During a visit to Colombo last January Canadian Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney revealed that over the past six years 25,000 Sri Lankans had been accepted as permanent residents.

Minister Kenney estimated the number of Sri Lankans domiciled in Canada at over 300,000.

Addressing a seminar in Colombo in August last year Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa revealed that after the conclusion of the conflict some of those accommodated at welfare camps escaped and their whereabouts remained unknown. The Defence Secretary said that 7,185 persons, who had left IDP camps on various grounds hadn’t come back and 1,380 fled from hospitals where they were receiving treatment. Some of them are believed to have fled the country.

Addressing a group of journalists at the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Brigadier Wanigasuriya alleged that the country was under constant attack since the conclusion of the conflict, in May 2009, over accountability issues.

The US moved a second resolution targeting Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions last month over accountability issues.

The military spokesman pointed out that Gordon Weiss, the then UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka during the final phase of the conflict, accused the military of killing 40,000 persons. The then BBC correspondent in Colombo Frances Harrison, too, alleged mass killings during the final phase of fighting on the Vanni front, Brigadier Wanigasuriya said, recalling the circumstances under which the UN overlooked one of its own reports, which dealt with the number of deaths in the Northern Province. The official alleged that the UN conveniently had forgotten about its own report as it had estimated the number of deaths, including those of the LTTE at over 7,000, hence clashed with various figures quoted by other interested parties.

A section of the Colombo-based international press had been trying to influence the local media over accountability and media issues, the Brigadier alleged. He urged the media not to be a destabilizing factor and engage in actions inimical to national interests, though the military wouldn’t dispute the right of the media to report whatever incidents.

Although the LTTE no longer posed a conventional military threat, some elements still remained committed to creating a separate state in the northern and east provinces of Sri Lanka, Brigadier Wanigasuriya said. While estimating the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora at around one million persons, the military official said that only a minute section of them were pursuing a hostile campaign. In spite of them being small in number, they were influential and extremely powerful, he said.

The Brigadier said that if those organizations representing the Diaspora were genuinely interested in establishing the number of dead and whereabouts of those currently listed missing, they should cooperate with the government.

AU appallingly provides platform to oppressive regime

Sri Lankan ambassador to speak in SIS on April 6

Correction appended-April 4, 2013

By Valli Sanmugalingam and Ali Beydoun

In Sept. 2007, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the authoritarian and oppressive Iranian regime, gave a speech at Columbia University, claiming that “women in Iran enjoy the highest levels of freedom” and denying that the Holocaust occurred.

The speech was met with uproar and protests from within Columbia University as well as from the media and general public, claiming that the University was providing a platform for Ahmedinaejad to promote his controversial ideas.

This Saturday, AU will be repeating history on our own Quad. The South Asian Arts Festival, sponsored by the School of International Service, will be presenting Jaliya Wickramasuriya, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, as its keynote speaker.

Wickramasuriya is the official representative of another authoritarian and oppressive regime, and AU is disturbingly allowing him a platform to deny Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils on the island.

Sri Lanka endured a bloody half-century long ethnic conflict in which credible estimates from the ground cite 146,000 Tamil civilians killed at the hands of Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

Since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny from the U.S. government, the United Nations and all major human rights groups for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Tamil civilians in the final stages of the war. There is overwhelming evidence revealing the intentional shelling of civilian safe zones and hospitals by the Sri Lanka Army and countless testimonies of gang rapes and gender-based violence during and after the peak of the fighting.

Two weeks ago, the U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling on Sri Lanka to “credibly investigate widespread allegations of extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearance, [and] demilitarize the north of Sri Lanka.” This comes two years after Sri Lanka established a domestic “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” as a feckless front to circumvent the establishment of an international investigation into abuses committed.

In the meantime, the human rights situation on the ground has only deteriorated, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently reported increasing “disappearances” or state-sponsored extrajudicial killings, assaults on journalists and free speech throughout the island, and escalating attacks on Christian churches, Muslim mosques and Hindu temples by Buddhist priests essentially endorsed by a nationalist Buddhist government.

Even more troubling is the increasing ratio of one Sri Lankan army solider for every four civilians in what the Sri Lankan government claims is a time of peace, prosperity and growth for Sri Lanka.

It is clear that Wickramasuriya unabashedly supports the Sri Lankan government that committed illegal war against Tamils. As you can see in dozens of his televised interviews and public statements, he categorically rejects any allegations that Sri Lanka’s soldiers committed atrocities against Tamils, paradoxically characterizing the war as a “humanitarian rescue mission” despite accounts of the widespread and systematic nature of attacks against Tamil civilians and society.

Unsurprisingly, Wickramasuriya has wholeheartedly opposed the call for an independent international investigation.

How can the SIS, an institution which carries the AU banner and mission, give him the opportunity to broadcast his regime’s propaganda? The answer: it cannot and must not sponsor the keynote address of the ambassador.

As an alum and a professor at AU, we know firsthand of SIS and the University’s efforts to instill a strong commitment to justice and human rights, in holding all governments—- including our own—- accountable for the treatment and protection of their citizens.

Inviting the Sri Lankan ambassador to speak this weekend is completely contradictory to the value system that is so actively inculcated in AU students.

It is appalling that AU has agreed to provide a platform for Sri Lanka’s oppressive regime to promote its false narrative of a peaceful and democratic Sri Lanka.

Ali Beydoun is the director of AU Washington College of Law’s UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic.

Valli Sanmugalingam is an alum from the AU class of 2012 and advocacy director for People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL).

Correction: This article previously inaccurately described Wickramasuriya as the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka. He is the Sri Lankan ambassador to the United States. This article also previously misspelled Ahmadinejad’s name.

An Open Letter From A Tamil To The Media Swamis

By Anonymous -April 5, 2013 |

Dear Editors,

The media is awash with a plethora of views on the recent developments in Tamil Nadu – the students’ upheaval, the DMK’s pullout from the UPA and the state Assembly passing a resolution seeking a referendum on Tamil Eelam.

However, the ‘erudite’ edit and op-ed page writers of English papers and ‘informed’ talk show specialists chattering on national news television channels have just one thing to say: Tamilians are on the wrong.

The student uprising in Tamil Nadu on the Eelam issue has been a great success

Be it caustic or sarcastic, the remarks suggest or bluntly say that the people and politicians of Tamil Nadu cannot influence foreign policy or that the development in the state is tantamount to secessionist politics.

Such irresponsible and ill-informed remarks only indicate that the self-styled experts care two hoots about the sentiments of the people at the grassroots or, for the matter, at level of Tamil society.

That the latest churning – on the streets, the political party conclaves and Assembly – was triggered by the people’s aspirations is something the ‘experts’ do not want to acknowledge. Whether they are informed enough to fathom it is also not known.

It is in this context it becomes clear that the English media has not yet found a single ‘expert’ to put forward the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan imbroglio in its right perspective.

Is it because those who own and run the English media organisations are not Tamilians? Or is it because there is no Tamilian worthy of writing on the issue?

Or is it because the English media is in cahoots with the decision makers at the highest levels – be they politicians, bureaucrats or from the diplomatic corps – and hence does not want to find any merit to the arguments put forth against certain government decisions? Yes, people of Tamil Nadu ask such questions, though no one wants to answer them.

Even without naming the media organisations and the ‘experts’, one can prove that the commentaries and analysis have been consistently anti-Tamils and the authors seemingly have a pathological hatred for Tamils.

The ‘specialists’ are cherry picked – they either live outside Tamil Nadu with no understanding of the local social dynamics or they belong to the elite group in the state that demands superiority on the basis of birth.

But what the media does not realise is that the commentaries and views cannot change the opinion of the Tamil people in any way.

All that it has done is to create anger and disrespect for the English media, which is seen more as ignorant. That those newspapers are read or channels watched in Tamil territory is no indication of the acceptability of the English media among the people (excluding that elite class that I mentioned earlier) as a dependable disseminator of facts.

Yet, if the shows go on and the newspapers continued to roll out of gargantuan printing machines, it is because the Tamilians can take criticism and believe in democracy, not like some newspapers and channels that try to define democracy in their own way.

Even when a politician, who cannot win an election to a panchayat ward on his own strength, threatens Tamilians with his plan to form his own army to counter the protestors in the state, they do not ask him as to why he gets worked up when they demand action against the Sri Lankan president. Does he have any personal link with such mass killers? Tamilians never ask.

For, they know that their strength lies in the collective aspiration of the people: To get justice for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.

But the chattering talk show specialists and rambling writers feel that the Tamil people have no right to have an aspiration that they do not share. And with media organisations prodding them to express their flawed views, they go berserk, be it on print or TV.

But, no media house, however powerful it is in terms of financial and other powers, can change the basic desire of people.

Even after the English media ignored the many Tamil groups that were organising different forms of protests on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue for many years without giving any coverage for their activities and treating them with utter contempt, the message they wanted to send across to the people reached them effectively.

It was those sustained campaigns on various issues relating to Sri Lanka that led to the students upheaval, which spread throughout the state, making the two major Dravidian parties in the state to sit up and take note.

Despite the outsiders and elite insiders sitting together on television channels and predicting the failure of the students’ agitation, it triumphed.

The decision of the DMK to pull out of the UPA and the AIADMK government’s resolution in the Assembly in favour of a separate Tamil Eelam were landmark decisions made only after the students’ unity had sent shivers down the spine of the political class.

Even the Congressmen have woken up, rather late, to the reality of the people’s mood and are telling their party to boycott CHOGM.

So, the blabber of the chattering and rambling experts have lost their relevance in the socio-political landscape of Tamil Nadu, though they linger around pronouncing unsolicited verdicts, questioning the patriotism of the Tamil people.

In democracy, questioning a government’s action or decision is not anti-national. But the English media gives self-appointed guardians of national interest unfettered freedom to run down anyone whom they perceive as inferior or who do not share their views.

What happened to the watchdog bodies that should be monitoring the media’s prejudices and excesses? Well, the heads of such bodies go around seeking pardon for convicts.

Does that imply that Tamilians do not come into the radar of most of the powerful people – those from the judiciary, bureaucracy, diplomacy, central government and national media in particular?

Should Tamilians just nod in agreement to whatever the north Indians have to dictate to them? Including how the Tamilians should look at people who speak Tamil?

Does the English media honchos and their chosen experts have any inkling as to why the people of Tamil Nadu sympathise with the people of Tamils Sri Lanka? Apart from sharing a language, culture and lineage, Tamil Nadu has been hosting refugees since the early 1980s.

It exposed the people to the real travails of their brethren back in their homeland. There cannot be a Tamilian who has not heard a first-hand story of discrimination in Sri Lanka, where it is a well-known fact that Buddhist monks have brought shame to Gautama Buddha through their violence – one of them killed Solomon Bandaranaike in cold blood after getting access to his palace without being frisked just because he was in the saffron robes.

When one such monk was just pushed around, the media went to town as though it was a case of massacre.

Tamilians knew that Kenneth Lane in Egmore is a place where you can pick on at least a dozen Sinhalese people any time. But no one has ever done any harm to them.

When some emotional youth wants to express his token protest to the Sinhalese for their inhuman treatment of the Tamils back home, the English media sees it as genocide.

When a real genocide happened it kept quiet. When a demand was made to charge those responsible for the genocide, it calls its experts to discuss and decide that there is no need for that.

When students of Tamil Nadu hit the streets to press for the demand on genocide charges, it lets random self-centered people make denigrating statements.

When the students force political parties to take a firm stand on the genocide question, it says India should not be guided by Tamil Nadu.

Whom should India be guided by then? Not by its own citizens? Only by a few citizens who appear on TV screens and write for English newspapers?

It is time rest of India does some introspection. Are not the Tamilians Indians too? If so, why are their aspirations being mocked at on TV shows and newspaper editorials?

Yours truly,

(The writer wishes to remain anonymous)