Hold The Sri Lankan Regime Accountable

By Bob Rae -April 20, 2013 

Bob Rae

The reports of recent attacks at the Uthayan newspaper and on-going violence in Sri Lanka are deeply concerning.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has not matched his rhetoric on Sri Lanka with concrete, strong actions. He must work to persuade members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to take collective action against the Rajapaksa regime’s continued violation of Commonwealth values and principles.

The Liberal Party of Canada is urging Minister Baird to engage with his counterparts at the upcoming CMAG meeting on Friday, April 26, to hold the Sri Lankan regime accountable for the impeachment of its Chief Justice, the absolute deterioration of democracy and rule of law, and the violent attacks on minorities. The Minister must additionally use this occasion to push for the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be moved from Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, we are calling on the Government of Canada to formally request that the Commonwealth Secretary General seek an independent legal opinion as to whether the Sri Lankan regime has violated the Commonwealth’s Charter; should this be the case, then the Commonwealth must rightfully suspend Sri Lanka’s membership from the association.

*Canadian Liberal party communique – Issued April 20, 2013

Joint Opposition slams Govt.’s New Year ‘power shock’

  April 20, 2013 

• Opposition reps slam massive electricity tariff hike
• Call on SLMC, CWC and Old Left Parties to quit the Govt. and fight for the people
• Claim Govt. ministers and MPs enjoy subsidised electricity at Rs. 2,000 per month despite high usage
• Mangala calls for accountability for energy wastage for night races; says CEB losses due to extravagance and inefficiency

By Dharisha Bastians
Issuing a clarion call against what it called the Government’s ‘economic thuggery’ and ‘power shocks’ for the New Year, the Joint Opposition yesterday urged political parties, media personnel and ordinary people to unite in a fight to defeat a ruling party it said had no business being in power.

a blazing critique of the electricity tariff hikes commencing retroactively from 12 April, Vipakshaye Virodhaya representatives told a news conference in Colombo that the ruling regime was making ordinary Sri Lankans pay the price for its bad energy policies and the massive losses incurred by the Ceylon Electricity Board exacerbated by State sector extravagance and wastage.
UNP Communications Director and Parlia-mentarian Mangala Samaraweera told journalists that the Government was perpetrating ‘economic thuggery’ on the citizens. He said CEB losses had increased by 217% in a single year, from Rs. 19.3 billion in 2011 to Rs. 61.2 billion in 2012.
“CEB losses now amount to 1% of this country’s GDP,” the UNP MP said. “The common people are not responsible for this sorry situation with the CEB. If the people don’t pay their bills, their electricity supply is suspended immediately. Who pays the bills for the Colombo night races? How much did it cost to light up Colombo Fort for one night of those races in December last year?” Samaraweera charged.
He said it was ironic that the poor man would have to pay exponentially higher electricity bills starting this month, while massive ministerial residences with search-lights and other energy draining equipment paid a subsidised rate of Rs. 2,000 for electricity, irrespective of usage.  “The Government has given the people a power shock as a New Year gift,” he charged.
Seeking the recommendations of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) on the tariff hike had been an eyewash the UNP MP claimed, saying the Ministry of Finance had already decided on the new pricing formula when the matter was referred to the Commission.

“The new Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi has reneged on the promise she made when she took office in January, that she would not permit the increase of electricity prices,” Samaraweera charged. “We cannot allow the Rajapaksa Government to run this country any longer.”
Mawbima People’s Party Leader and former Government Minister Hemakumara Nanayakkara called on the UPFA constituent parties to leave their ministerial perks and quit the Government if they truly represented the people who voted them into office.
“I say to those parties of the Left, if you have any pride remaining, to Rauff Hakeem and his SLMC if they believe in the words of the Holy Koran, and to Thondaman and his CWC if they truly represent the working class, to leave this Government and join the people’s fight against this Government – have the backbone to do this,” he said.
Nanayakkara said he had quit the perks of Government and set up his own party because it was not possible to be part of a regime that victimised the people. “This is the only government in the world that has sought the views of the public and increased electricity prices,” Nanayakkara said.
Making a reference to the recent twin attacks on the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, Nanayakkara said the newspaper was repeatedly attacked because it had refused to bend to the will of the ruling regime. “Sirasa, which has also been attacked twice before, is now being warned of another attack against them in the near future,” he said, calling on the media to join the Opposition’s fight against the Government.
“Use your pens to save this country, don’t be stakeholders in this great national tragedy that is about to befall us,” Nanayakkara appealed.
Nanayakkara said the Vipakshaye Virodhaya will commence a massive campaign against the Government with its May Day Rally in Kurunegala.
“The situation in this country has reached a stage where we have only two choices before us as citizens – either we commit collective suicide or we band together to fight this regime. Enough talking, the time has come to get out on the streets,” he said.
Meanwhile, Muslim Tamil National Alliance Leader Azath Sally who also addressed the press briefing said that the Government needed a problem between communities to keep its grip on power. “What started out as a witch hunt against the Tamils has now been turned against the Muslims,” he said.

Much Ado About Nothing

By Kumaravadivel Guruparan -April 21, 2013 

Kumaravadivel Guruparan

Much Ado About Nothing: The Northern Provincial Councils, 13^thAmendment and the rationale for demanding a Transitional Administration

The country and particularly the Tamils are obsessed with the prospects of aNorthern Provincial Council election. The key question that is debated, though some what laid to rest by the reference to it in the UNHRC Resolutionof 2013, was as to whether the elections will be held or not. The debate now in Tamil circles is about who should be the Chief Ministerial candidate. That an election for a constitutional body is something that has to be struggled and fought for only indicates the sorry state of affairs of post-war politics in this country. So much for the argument that LTTE was the only obstacle for the Sinhala polity to positively consider ‘state transformation’.

The Government has made the holding of the Northern Provincial Council elections a ‘high value commodity’ for the Tamils. By promising and breaching the promise and re-promising to hold it, the Government has made the Tamil community yearn for it.  The strategy seems to be to get the Tamils to ask, demand, struggle, fight for something so minimalistic; to get them to feel and identify with the Provincial Council as an institution that will solve their problems. The political leadership of the Tamils – particularly the Tamil National Alliance has fallen for this trap. It has become very difficult to get the Tamil polity to debate and discuss about what contesting in these elections might mean for the Tamil struggle for self determination and meaningful self-government. Most Tamils want to vote, purely to show their displeasure with the Government. No one wants to risk the possibility of a Government backed party winning the Northern Provincial Council election. Many Tamils actually think, quite mistakenly, that an elected TNA Chief Minister will be able to reign in the unruly Governor of the Northern Province. The defeatist mentality stemming from Mullivaaykkal reigns supreme and many actors are making convenient use of this collective despair of the Tamil people.

What does the 13^th amendment have to offer to the Tamils?

A dispassionate but critical analysis of the content and form of the 13^th amendment is generally lacking in our deliberations about the importance of the Northern Province Elections. The 13^th amendment was drafted in a hurry and some suggest that it was drafted deliberately with internal contradictions leading to any  ‘inconsistencies’ and ‘contradictions’ being interpreted in favour of the central government.

Here is a short list of what I think are the main flaws of the 13^th amendment:

a)     The 13^th amendment sits within a unitary state framework which provides the background for interpretations regarding the working of the 13^th amendment being tilted in favour of the Centre.

b)     The Governor, an appointee of the President, has to provide consent for any bill that has financial consequences, before it can be tabled before the Provincial Council. He also can delay any legislation brought before the Provincial Council in the name of purported unconstitutionality. This can only mean that the Governor has ultimate control over the whole of the legislative agenda of a Provincial Council.

c)       The Governor of the Province has plenary powers (appointment, dismissal and transfer powers) over the Provincial Public Service and exercises un-curtailed discretion over the Provincial Executive. (The Constitution in fact says that the Governor has the discretion to decide what is in his discretion). The Transfer of Powers Act of 1992 brought in by President Premadasa transferred all executive power of the Province to centrally controlled Divisional Secretaries to whom the Governor can give directions.

d)     The Provincial List, which contains a list of subjects devolved to the provinces, has lengthy descriptions of the subjects, in order to restrain the scope and extent of the actual devolution. The three appendices to the provincial council list contain in eight pages restrictions on three most important subjects of devolution: law and order, education and land. These appendices take away most of what appears in first reading to have been devolved as a subject under the list. Experience has shown that on all these three issues the provinces have very little or no powers.

e)     The Central executive can in the name of formulating ‘national policy’ make decrees on any subject ‘devolved’ to the provinces.

f)       State Land alienation, prime among Tamil concerns, continues to be vested with the Centre more particularly the President, vide Article 33 (d) of the Constitution[1].

g)     Police powers though appearing to be devolved remain with the Centre with most policing powers retained for the National Police and appointments to the Provincial Police Service being strictly controlled by the Central Government. Even the appointment of the DIG, where the Chief Minister and the IGP don’t agree, is a matter for the President.

h)     Subjects relating to the developmental and livelihood needs of the Tamil people are not ‘devolved’ to the Provincial Councils. For example. Planning is mentioned in the provincial council list but is also a subject in the concurrent list, which includes the ‘formulation and appraisal of plan implementation strategies at the provincial council level’.  The concurrent list has everything else that is important for the immediate reconstruction of the livelihood of the war-affected population – fisheries, agriculture, social services, employment planning at provincial level etc – the list is quite long. The concurrent list for all practical purposes is an appendix to the reserved list (which details the powers of the centre). On top of all this there is the unconstitutional, illegal Presidential Task Force, which has to approve every single developmental programme carried out in the North.

The particular political role given to the Governors in the provincial administration in the North and East adds to the agony and pain of the experience of the 13^th amendment in the North and East. In the South the Governors are dormant. (The image that should come to your mind are retired politicians like an Alavi Moulana or a WJM Lokubandara) They do not interfere with the Provincial Council administrations. However in the North and East, wherein the Governor’s chair is occupied by two retired army personnel, the Governors make maximum use of their constitutionally granted power. The 13^th amendment gives the Governor a choice as to whether s/he wants to be active or not. In the North and East the Governors act like Viceroys from an alien land. But the hard truth is that the Governors are constitutionally empowered to act like the colonial Viceroys.

Here is what M.H.M Hisbullah, then a Minister in Chief Minister Pillayan’s Eastern Provincial Board of Ministers, had to say in 2009 about the functioning of the EPC:

“I have spoken to Chief Minister from other provinces as well. The bitter truth for us is that they don’t face any of the problems that we face [with the Governor] in their provinces. They should at least give us the powers that the other provinces are allowed to enjoy. The Governor of the Eastern Province summons Provincial Ministry Secretaries and speaks to them and issues orders. He calls and conducts his own meetings. He has declared that he is fully in control of the subject of finance. He says that appointing power of even a health labourer is with him. Therefore even the little powers that have been devolved to us we have not been in a position to exercise because of the Governor’s intrusion in our work[2]”

And guess what, Pillayan and Hisbullah were part of a UPFA coalition in the East. What are TNA’s chances then of running a Northern Provincial Council as per their people’s mandate? The Provincial Councils cannot impeach the Governor. They can only pass a resolution recommending to the President his removal.

The above should make it clear that the Provincial Councils are mere appendages to the Centre. As Prof Ranjith Amerasinghe has observed the relationship between the Centre and the Provincial Council is a principal – agent relationship[3]. The Provincial Council or the Board of Ministers have no self-agency.

Given the above, are the Tamils not entitled to ask the logical question, as to what we the Tamils stand to gain from the 13^th amendment? Or what we stand to gain from an elected Northern Provincial Council? Can an elected Northern Provincial Council help the war-affected with livelihood support?, stop the land grab?, leave alone do anything about the release political prisoners lingering in prisons in the south? To articulate this sounds ‘moronic’ and ‘ultra nationalistic’[4] and worse sounds like ‘Kaluthaihal’ (donkeys)[5] for some pundits. Purely from a realist, pragmatist framework, I beg to ask the question, why is what we are saying irrational or illogical?

I do not understand why some people waste so much energy pressing for a ‘full implementation of the 13^thamendment’, except of course in adherence to the liberal democratic principle that the constitution in a constitutional democracy needs to be given full force. (Extra-constitutionalism has become part and parcel of Sri Lanka’s constitutional culture and hence, sadly, the need for liberals to spend a lot of time developing a ‘serious discouse’ about the need to implement the constitution in full).  It is true that certain portions of the 13^th amendment such as the establishment of a National Land Commission and a Provincial Police Division have not been given heed to, both of which have anyway been designed to ensure the dominance of the centre. But nothing changes in terms of the provincial council’s capacity to respond to the problems faced by the Tamil people. Even with ‘full implemetation of the 13^th amendment the design related flaws of the 13^thamendment that I have referred to earlier very much remain.

I also do not understand the talk about a ‘13 +’ or ‘beyond the 13^th amendment’ or ‘building upon the 13^thamendment’[6]. In addition to the point about the many minuses that have already been deducted from the 13^th amendment (including the North East merger), 13 + is constitutionally unfeasible. The Supreme Court in its determination on the constitutionality of the 13^th amendment clearly said that the 13th amendment was the maximum that one could do in terms of devolution within the confines of the 1978 unitary constitution. So any more pluses, the Supreme Court is likely to hold, will violate the entrenched unitary character of the constitution which cannot be amended without its being sanctioned by the people at a referendum. In short then, is impossible to add more things to the 13^th amendment within the confines of the present constitution.

So who wants the 13^th amendment?

The US Government thinks it can be a starting point. Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake said so in a press conference in Colombo in September 2011[7]. Ambassador Michelle Sison in her confirmation hearings said that holding elections for the NPC will be one among three steps that Sri Lanka can take towards reconciliation[8]. The US Resolution at UNHRC of March 2013 also makes a reference to the Northern Provincial Council Elections.  That India is pushing for an implementation of the 13^th amendment and for 13+ is well known and documented. US and India are only asking the Government of Sri Lanka to deliver on something as minimalistic as the 13^th amendment because they don’t want to push Sri Lanka too much. Fear that Sri Lanka will get further entrenched with the Chinese is one reason why US and India may be playing slow ball. India has also got the TNA to exhibit willingness to consider 13^th amendment as a starting point or a reference point to a solution. (For example see Mr. Sambanthan’s ITAK National Convention Presidential address (May 2012) where he said that the TNA is willing to consider ‘a point above the 13^th amendment’ as a starting point for a solution)

Dayan Jayatilleke understands the geopolitics and sees an instrumental purpose for the Sri Lankan state in calling for an implementation of the 13^th amendment. In 2009 he wrote,  “The full, if reasonably graduated implementation of the 13^th amendment is the cornerstone of our postwar relationship with India, the relationship with which is the cornerstone of our international relations”[9]. Nirupama Subramaniam of the Hindu seems to agree with Dayan’s assessment when she wrote for the Hindu soon after the Geneva 2012 vote that, ‘had Sri Lanka taken steps to implement the 13th amendment, India may never have associated itself with the UNHCR resolution.[10]

The important point to note is that Dayan is not really saying implementing the 13^th amendment will benefit the Tamil people in the short or the long term. He is saying it will release Sri Lanka from international pressure or at least ease that pressure.

The Tamil Civil Society’s position on the 13^th amendment

Since the provincial council system does not offer any solution to the immediate problems of the Tamil people, the Tamil Civil Society has taken the position to reject the 13^th amendment as a starting point or even a reference point to a political solution. We see any promise of incrementalism as an empty promise. We also see any engagement with the elections as being a stumbling block towards finding a political solution. The Tamil Civil Society’s rejection of the 13^th amendment, I would emphasize, is is not a reflection of ideological intransigence but is a reflection steeped in experience and reality.

No doubt, the Sinhala Buddhist establishment also would like to get rid of the 13^th amendment. By rejecting the 13^th amendment, the pundits say we are sending ‘gifts to the hawks’. But surely whatever the Sinhalese reject cannot be what the Tamils desire? Shouldn’t we be making our own assessments? One cannot, like Dayan again, hold the Tamil people to ransom by keeping on repeating that we have to adhere to the ‘democratic principle of deriving legitimacy from the consent of the majority of one’s fellow citizens’. When the Tamils feel that the State itself has lost legitimacy, invocation of the democratic principle within that state apparatus makes no sense.

As for provincial elections our stance in December 2011 was that the TNA should not directly take part, but at the same time work out strategies where by they make sure that the Provincial Councils in the North and East do not fall into the hands of pro-Government forces[11]. In July 2012 before the Eastern Provincial Council elections we requested the TNA to contest the elections based on a manifesto rejecting the 13^th amendment and seeking a mandate from the Eastern Tamil Community for rejecting a demerged North and East[12]. The TNA responded by not issuing a manifesto.

It is in the above circumstances that the Tamil Civil Society has come out with the position that the North and East of Sri Lanka, needs a transitional administration. To call for a transitional administration should not be interpreted as a call for a separate state. The social and political transition of the Tamil people from an environment of war and oppression to an environment of peace and justice cannot be achieved under the present framework of governance with or without the 13^th amendment. Given that the Government of Sri Lanka in particular and the Sinhala Buddhist polity in general, is reluctant to seriously engage with the political solution question, the Tamil people cannot be asked to wait, and hence an interim arrangement is of urgent necessity. Hence the call for a transitional administration.

Many ask as to whether the Tamil Civil Society’s position is pragmatic. As for our assessment of the 13^thamendment – our assessment is one based on a realist analysis of the state of affairs. As to what we prescribe, if we are thinking of what is only possible, the options are very limited within the status quo. To be pragmatic should not be a call to learn to live with the oppression. To be pragmatic should not be a call to accept minimalistic solutions, which do us no good.

“Nothing in my view is more reprehensible than those habits of mind in the intellectual that induce avoidance, that characteristic turning away from a difficult and principled position which you know to be the right one, but which you decide not to take. You do not want to appear too political; you are afraid of seeming controversial; you need the approval of a boss or an authority figure; you want to keep a reputation for being balanced, objective, moderate; your hope is to be asked back, to consult, to be on a board or prestigious committee, and so, to remain within the responsible mainstream… For an intellectual these habits of mind are corrupting par excellence. If anything can denature, neutralise and finally kill a passionate intellectual life, it is those considerations, internalised and so to speak in the driver’s seat”.   –  Edward Said, ‘Representations of an Intellectual’, BBC Reith Lectures (1993)

*Kumaravadivel Guruparan is a Lecturer attached to the Department of Law, University of Jaffna and an Attorney-at-Law practicing in Jaffna. He is an active member of the Tamil Civil Society.

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[1] The President, the 13^th amendment says, has to do exercise this power on the ‘advice’ of the Provincial Council. Former CJ Sarath N Silva in a judgment claimed that the 13^th amendment has created an ‘interactive’ regime with regard to state land alienation. But to put it quite bluntly the President doesn’t have to act on the interaction/ advice of the Provincial Council. The President can ask for the advice for constitutional sake, but then reject or ignore it completely. Nobody can question him for ignoring advice. For example what is the chance that President Rajapaksha will accept the advice of a TNA Chief Minister with regard to state land alienation in the Vanni?

[2] A.N. Siddic Kariapper (in Tamil), ‘The Governor intervenes to the detriment of the functioning of the Eastern Provincial Council’, Interview with MHM Hisbullah, Virakesari, 12 July 2009, ‘Samakala Arasiyal’, p. 5

[3] Ranjith Amerasinghe, ‘Provincial Councils Under the 13^th Amendment – Centres of Power or Agencies of the Centre’? in Lakshman Marasinghe (ed), ‘13^th Amendment: Theory and Practice’, (Stamford Lake, 2010), pp 106-132.

[4] Dayan Jayatilleke, “TNA President’s Avurudu gift to the hawks’ http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/28144-tna-presidents-av urudu-gift-to-the-hawks.html

[5] Kumar David, ‘The Irrelevance of India in Geneva’, http://www.eurasiareview.com/11032012-sri-lanka-the-irrelevance-of-india-in-geneva-oped/ (11 March 2012)

[6] Shri SM Krishna, the then External Affairs Minister in a Suo Moto statement that he made to both Houses of the Indian Parliament on 04 August 2011. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=73900

[7] US Embassy, Colombo, http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/tr-14-2sept11.html (September 2011)

[8] US Embassy, Colombo, http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/st-6june12.html (June 2012)

[9]Dayan Jayatilleke, – ‘13th Amendment: Why non-implementation is a non-option’ (13.06.2009) http://groundviews.org/2009/06/13/13th-amendment-why-non-implementation-is-a-non-option/

[10] Nirupama Subramaniam, ‘Lessons to Learn From Geneva’, The Hindu,  April 07, 2012. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/lessons-to-learn-from geneva/article3288136.ece

[11] Available on Groundviews: http://groundviews.org/2011/12/15/a-public-memo-to-members-of-parliament-representing-the-tamil-national-alliance-from-the-tamil-civil-society/

[12] Available on Groundviews: http://groundviews.org/2012/07/29/tamil-civil-society-memo-to-the-tna-regarding-the-eastern-provincial-council-elections/

Run up to the Northern Elections Attack on Udayan: Creation of fear psychosis among residents
30 April 2013

Campaign For Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) express deep concern over the continuous attacks on media in the North and the creation of a fear psychosis among the residents of the area in the run up to the Northern Provincial Council Elections. Uthayan newspaper infrastructure was attacked once again last Saturday (April 13,) the 30th attack on the paper since 1985, the second attack on the paper in the last fortnight. The attacks on independent publications in the North have increased this year, earlier in February a newspaper distributor for Thinakural newspaper was assaulted while another Uthayan journalist was assaulted in January. These continuous assaults on the media industry have caused great harm to the country’s international image.

Although we cannot fathom the reasons for these attacks with certainty the impact these attacks have made internationally is quite visible. The international media and human rights/press freedom NGOs have picked up the attack adding to the international civil society’s pressure on their governments to take action against Sri Lanka. While the attacks on media was not directly motioned by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA,) Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA,) and Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA,) who passed a resolution against Sri Lanka yesterday (April 18,) they have mentioned serious breaches in the rule of law in the country. In addition the suppression of media and , restricting the activities of civil society groups in the North has acted as a main barrier for normalization and lead to a distrust of the state. The Sri Lankan government so far has acted with great nonchalance about these attacks ignoring repeated warnings from many sectors that these attacks do strengthen the call for an international inquiry against Sri Lanka. We urge the government to take immediate steps to assure the safety of media workers in the North and in Sri Lanka which will contribute to the strengthening of democracy. Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon Executive Director/CaFFE Tel. 0777 791225 April 19th, 2013

CPA Policy Briefing: The Constitutional Crisis That Emerged Has Not Been Resolved

FRIDAY, 19 APRIL 2013 

The impeachment of Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake was the single most contentious political issue in Sri Lanka in late 2012 and early 2013. Four months since her removal from office in violation of decisions by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the issue appears to have receded from the public square.

Asanga Welikala

While the government may appear to have resolved the political crisis occasioned by the impeachment, the constitutional crisis that emerged has not been resolved, leaving a number of troubling questions for the future of the rule of law unanswered. Can a decision of a court of law be considered binding if the executive opposes and disregards it? What is the role of the judiciary vis-à-vis the virtually unchecked power of the executive presidency? Is the judiciary independent of the President and Parliament? How does the claim to legal supremacy by Parliament affect the way in which it relates to the judiciary?

This Policy Brief seeks to address these issues and outline the urgent reforms needed to arrest the serious erosion of public confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law that has resulted from the impeachment. Section 2 outlines the political context and sequence of events relating to the impeachment. Section 3 examines the structural defects of the Sri Lankan constitution, which enabled the successful ouster of Chief Justice Bandaranayake, notwithstanding rulings by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to the effect that the process adopted was unlawful. The two main constitutional claims enabling the impeachment – presidential immunity and parliamentary supremacy – are examined, in the context of how they have developed throughout Sri Lanka’s recent constitutional history. The conclusions from this analysis reveal the need for a range of constitutional and legal reforms, from legislative measures needed to restore a more credible framework for judicial independence and impartiality, to other more fundamental reforms to the Sri Lankan constitution itself.

Read the Centre for Policy Alternatives report here

Attack on Tamil Daily in Sri Lanka. UN Urged to Intervene: TGTE

Apr-18-2013 

Tamil daily newspaper journalists, printing press and offices were repeatedly attacked by armed groups to intimidate and to silence Tamil newspapers.

(LONDON) - Armed men stormed a Sri Lanka newspaper office and opened fire, they also set the printing press on fire. Tamil journalists were repeatedly attacked and killed. As a result, Tamil areas are saturated with Sri Lankan Military; the ratio is one soldier for every four civilians, the highest in the world.

Executions, rape and abductions continue.

There were series of attacks against Tamil media and the latest attack took place against the main Tamil daily Uthayan, in the northern town of Jaffna on 13th. In a pre – dawn arson attack, armed men stormed the newspaper office and opened fire and set the printing press on fire.

The TGTE’s Minister for media, Mr. Suthan Raj urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to urgently convene a meeting to discuss the plight of Tamil journalists in that island and to take specific steps to protect the journalists, media workers, printing facilities and offices.

“Sri Lankan Government is continuing its attack and intimidation of Tamil media, despite condemnation from world leaders and the UN. That is why a meeting to address the critical situation of Tamil journalists should be convened.” Continued Mr. Suthan Raj.

Tamil areas in that island are saturated with Sri Lankan military personal and the ratio is one soldier for every four civilians, the highest in the world. Tamils face numerous human rights abuses including abductions, executions and rape. 90,000 Tamil war widows face sexual abuses by the security forces.

Tamil daily newspaper journalists, printing press and offices were repeatedly attacked by armed groups to intimidate and to silence Tamil newspapers. Even those distribute newspapers were not spared.

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) today urged the UN to urgently intervene to protect Tamil journalists in the island of Sri Lanka.

Source: Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE):

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a new political concept. It is a new political formation based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination. The raison dâetre for the TGTE is lack of political space inside the island of Sri Lanka for the Tamils to articulate and realize their political aspirations fully due to Constitutional impediments, racist political environment and military strangulation; and the coordination of diaspora political activities based on democratic principles and the rule of law.

TGTE held internationally supervised elections in 12 countries. These elections were held to ensure that core believe of democracy be upheld within the TGTE and to demonstrate TGTE’s belief and reliance upon democratic ideals. TGTE has a bicameral legislature and a Cabinet. Although an elected body, TGTE does not claim to be a government in exile. The Constitution of the TGTE mandates that it should realize its political objective only through peaceful means.
Presently, in addition to the campaign for an international investigation, the TGTE is also campaigning for an International Protection Mechanism and the release of documents pertaining to Tamils prepared by the Office of the Special Advisor of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide. TGTE is also in the process of preparing the Freedom Charter incorporating the “freedom demands” of Tamils across the globe.
TGTE believes that the referendum among the Tamils inside the island of Sri Lanka and the Tamil diaspora will contribute to the political resolution of the Tamil national conflict. So far, the human cost has reached 100,000 as it grows. There are also 90,000 Tamil war widows, facing sexual abuse by the Sri Lankan security forces.

Does BBS Suffer From Islamophobic Dreads?

By Rifai Naleemi -April 21, 2013 

Dr. Rifai Naleemi

It is obvious that in many parts of Western world people suffer fromIslamophobia. Since 9/11 attacks on innocent Muslims increased dramatically in these countries. Muslim properties are vandalised, mosques are attacked, Muslim cultural heritages are mocked and damaged, Muslim religious symbols are destroyed in some places and ladies with Islamic attires are attacked. All these happened in post and pre-9/11 periods in some western countries. This new social phenomenon originated and developed out of fear of Islam and Muslims. Sometimes this emerged out of hatred towards Islam and Muslim.

One could say that there are some historical, theological and political reasons for this growing hatred campaign between Muslim and Christian communities and yet, how does this phobia creep into the minds of some BBS members today and why do they fear Islam and Muslims in Sri Lanka? Is such fear justifiable? Do they need to fear Islam and Muslims in this Buddhist country? Do they need to create this deliberate and unnecessary phobia in the minds and hearts of innocent Sinhalese people? Can such fear rationally, logically, psychologically, morally justifiable at all? Let us now look into the real meaning and context of this Islamophobia

Definition of Islamophobia

Like many other terms such as terrorism, fundamentalism, radicalism, fanaticism and extremism, the term Islamophobia has not been yet, defined with definite terms or concepts. Even UN nation has not defined the expression of terrorism strictly in any definite term. The Term Islamophobia has been used loosely in recent time by journalist and academics in their writings. Yet, this term has been used to refer to the fear and phobia of Muslim and Islam in recent writing. It could be said that this term is relatively new term and yet, the content of this term had been used in Muslim-Christian relationship since the time of crusades: This fear has its historical origin in the history of Islam and Christianity but yet, this term was not a familiar term in Sri Lankan history. Because, both Muslim and Sinhalese communities have been living as one family in Sri Lanka. Muslims did not have the fear of Sinhalese neither Sinhalese had the fear of Muslims and Islam in Sri Lanka. This is a new terminology in Sri Lankan history itself.

Christians had feared Muslims since the time of crusade and Muslim have feared Christian missionaries since the time of crusades. Hence it can be said that conceptual meaning of this term had been in practice since the crusade and it continued for more than 8 hundreds years in Muslim and Christian history. Yet, this historical fear and enmity has been reappeared and manifested in the modern term Islamophobia. Psychologically speaking the term phobia refers to fear of some of something or some one.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, Phobia is an irrational and excessive fear of an object or situation. In most cases, the phobia involves a sense of endangerment or a fear of harm. For example, those suffering from acrophobia fear being trapped in an inescapable place or situation. This could be likeness of someone being trapped in mines or lifts. Hence it could be said that Islamophobia is unfounded or irrational fear of Muslims and Islam: This is similar to the term as anti-Semitism that referred to fear of Jewish communities. Still anti-Semitism is regarded as a form of racism. The British Runnymede trust defines it as “The term Islamophobia refers to unfounded hostility towards Islam. It refers also to the practical consequences of such hostility in unfair discrimination against Muslim individuals and communities and to the exclusion of Muslims from the mainstream political and asocial affair. (Islamophobia. P. 1).
This is exactly what is happening in Srilanka. BBS has been creating unnecessary fear about Islam and Muslims. This fear is not a real one rather it is an illusive fear that was created with false propaganda machinery. This fear is not based on any logical or rational foundation rather it is based on emotional and immoral foundation. This is what has been going on in Srilanka for the last one year or more. It is well known fact that the majority of Singhalese do not have such fear or such Islamophobia panic at all. They have been interacting peacefully and happily with Muslims. It is handful BBS members have been creating this fear and yet, today Singhalese people are clever enough to know the truth from falsehood.

It is argued that after the dawn falls of communism Islam will be a threat for the Western capitalistic domination in the world and some predicated that there would be a clash of civilizations and such clash will be between Islam and West. This theory of was predicted by Samuel Huntington. Since this false prophecy was made by Huntington some politicians, journalist and writers created a fearful atmosphere by their writing: The former advisor to Jacques Chirac Pierre Lelouche one remarked that; “We run the risk of becoming like the Roman people, invaded by barbarian people such as the Arabs, Moroccans, Yugoslavs and Turks ( Keane: 1993). This was further exaggerated by George Bush after 9/11 by his war on terror and wars of crusades. Since these incidents the fear of Muslim and Islam increased dramatically in the western countries and public heard Islam and Muslims as hundred of anti-Muslim incidents are reported in the western countries and in some case some Muslim people were killed because of this fear. Yet, the most of innocent people in the world know that these are political slogans. We Sri Lankans do not need to follow these political philosophies in our country and we have been living peacefully and we have a history of more than one thousand year of co-existence. We do not have to get guidelines from any other nations how to live in Sri Lanka. We all communities could live peacefully and we could resolve our problems within ourselves without any external intrusion.

Manifestation of Islamophobia in Western nations

This phobia about Islam and Muslim is manifested in different ways in private and public life in many countries in Europe. It was exposed by individuals and by institutions as well those countries openly. The hundred of incidents of hatred towards Islam and Muslims are reported in these countries since 9/11.

The visual summary of this Islamophobia was illustrated by The Runnymede trust in the following diagram: This fear is manifested and exposed in four ways in public and private life. The following diagram illustrates how Islamophobia explodes in different ways.

Exclusion
+
Discrimination + Islamophobia + violence
+
Prejudice

This show how this islamophobia is reflected in mindsets and behaviour of people. It manifested in racial discrimination and racial prejudice, in some cases in physical abuse and attacks. According to this research report as a result of this phobia Muslims are excluded from employment, management and responsibilities in some case and in some places in some Eurocent countries. Even they are excluded in some cases, from politics and government according to the Runnemede commission. Moreover, Muslim people have been discriminated in employment, and provision of service such as health and education. It further notes that prejudice against Muslims is exposed in the media and every conversation. This fear led to some physical violence and aggression against Muslim in physical assault, vandalising properties and verbal abuse ;( Islamophobia. P. 11)

This fear of Islam and Muslim manifested in numerous attacks on mosques, Islamic centres, Muslim schools, Muslim houses and business places. It was reported that seven pig heads were impaled on spikes outside of a mosques and big blood was smeared over its outside and entrance (Christopher Allen, P.4). Physical attacks on vulnerable Muslim people increased 18 years of old Muslim woman in Slough was beaten by men wielding baseball bats for no reason other than being known as a Muslim lady. Isamophobic incidents were reported in many countries in Europe soon after 9/11. In Denmark a Muslim woman was thrown from a moving taxi, in Germany a bus driver repeatedly shut the bus doors on a Muslim woman and many incidents occurred like this in many part of Europe.

Why all these happened. It is mere fear of Islam and Muslims. This fear is exaggerated in the media and in some political circles. The bias and subjective reporting and portrayal of Muslims and Islam created this fear in the minds and hearts of some these people. It should be noted here that not each and every European has got this fear of Islam and Muslims. It is a handful of people have this fear and yet, it is exposed in the media.

This theory of Islamophobic manifestation has been vividly illustrated in the mentality, mindsets, philosophy, ideologies, behaviours, psycho, activities, actions and missionary works of Budu Bala Sena in Sri Lanka. It is pathetic that BBS members do not show any remorse or sympathy towards minorities in their campaign and show pone hatred to minorities’ people. They openly encourage hatred towards all minorities in the country and they argue that they have begun with Muslims now and it will be extended to all other communities. This is what happened to Jewish communities in Europe before holocaust. BBS in its hundreds of speech and demonstration have called upon public to boycott Muslim business and yet, Sinhalese public are cleverer than these monks and more sympathetic towards minorities and for that reason BBS hatred campaign beyond the two Poya days as predicted by one of venerable professors of Sri-Jayewardene University.

It appears that BBS is copying all these tactics against Muslims in Srilanka from their masters and agents in Europe: They may have learned all these tactics from sheikh Google and its cohorts. or from YouTube clips. BBS is not only defaming peace loving Buddhist communities all over the world by these tactics they also defame the good name of Lord Buddha who proclaimed openly communal harmony.

Muslims have been living peacefully in Sri Lanka with Sinhalese for many centuries and indeed, it was Sinhalese people and Sinhalese kings sheltered and protected Muslims in Sri Lankan in the past. Why do they have to fear Islam and Muslims today for no apparent reasons? Is it because BBS thinks that Sri Lanka will become a Muslim country in 2050? Such a wrong assumption is an illogical mystery. No sound person will believe in that nonsense. If someone believes in that such nonsense, such conjecture can not creep into minds of people except through psychological fear and panic.
Or is it because of communal jealousy that BBS has got this Isamophobia in their minds. There is no need to have any communal jealously over Muslim community in Sri Lanka. Today, Muslim community is one of the poorest of all other communities today. More than 60% Muslim today live below poverty line today and less than 2% of Muslims are employed in public sectors proportionately. Ironically it is generally believed that Muslim community is a business community and it may have been true in the past and not any more. Or is it because of religious hatred that BBS has got this phobia against Islam and Muslims in Srilanka. If they have such hatred in their minds and hearts it is against very teaching of Buddhism. Buddhism never taught hared and will ever and never teach hatred and resentment among people.

Oil tanks in Hambantota Port sinking

Saturday, 20 April 2013 

A senior official at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said that the newly built oil tanks at the Hambantota Magampura Port have started to sink. The oil tanks are sinking because the ground beneath them is weak. He added that cracks have also started to appear on the tanks.

Although a feasibility study was conducted prior to the construction of the tanks, the report had been ignored due to Presidential intervention. The official said that plans of off shore bunkering would now have to be put aside.

It was initially decided to provide aviation fuel required by the Mattala Airport from the Hambantota Magampura Port. However, due to the issue with the oil tanks at the port, fuel to the Mattala Airport would have to be transported by bowsers. Although a ship calling at a port is not a great news story, the state media has made stories out of any ship that calls at the Hambantota Magampura Port since it was built out of public funds to satisfy the President. The port was in fact built by digging a land mass. In a similar manner, the President is now engaged in personally meeting with visitors to the Mattala Airport to encourage them to use it more. Senior government ministers say that the best way to meet the President these days is to visit the Mattala Airport.