Daya Master may contest polls

April 21, 2013

Former LTTE media coordinator Daya Master may contest elections for the Northern Province in September.

When contacted, Daya Master, who is heading the news division of Dan TV in Jaffna, refused to comment but said he will respond in a few days time.

He said that he has not been approached by any political party to contest for the elections.

However he did not deny rumors that he will run for the elections, which will make him the third  most prominent former LTTE official to enter politics.

Earlier Karuna Amman and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, both former LTTE officials from the East, contested elections under the government ticket.

Daya Master surrendered to the army during the final stages of the war and flayed LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabakaran in media interviews given since then.

Velayutham Dayanidhi, better known as Daya Master, speaking to the BBC in 2010  said the Tamil people had not liked the war and that the conflict was a waste of lives.

In recent interview to the Indian media Daya Master said that Tamil Nadu is trying to develop a conflict in between Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka.

He had said that Tamil Nadu had not done any service for the Sri Lankan Tamils while the Dellhi Government had contributed to the development of the North.

He also said that the LTTE fabricated video footage to demonise the Sri Lanka army and distributed them among the international media to gain propaganda advantage.

“The footage used by Channel 4 are those fabricated footage issued by the LTTE,” Daya Master had claimed.

During the war Daya Master coordinated media visits for the Colombo media and international media to LTTE controlled areas and at times acted as the spokesman for the rebels.

He was also given medical attention in Colombo by the government during the conflict on humanitarian grounds and was most often seen as a non-combatant. (Colombo Gazette)

Sauce for the goose.....?

By Shamindra Ferdinando-April 20, 2013

Major General Shavendra Silva yesterday said that a recent statement attributed to top United National Human Rights Council (UNHRC) official Ben Ammerson, QC, that America’s covert drone programme risked legitimizing al-Qaeda terrorism meant that those using the global rights body to undermine post-war Sri Lanka could be at the receiving end of the same apparatus.

British lawyer Ammerson’s statement was given wide international media coverage after bomb attacks on the Boston marathon killed three spectators, including a child and caused injuries to over 150 men, women and children, though the original announcement was made in Islamabad on Mar. 11.

The first General Officer Commanding (GoC) of 58 Division, Maj. Gen. Silva, now Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative in New York, pointed out that Ammerson made the declaration in his capacity as UN Special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights.

Since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, Channel 4 and Channel 4 News of the United Kingdom have been alleging the Sri Lankan military committed atrocities during the final phase of the conflict. Based on the allegations propagated by the British media and recommendations made by a three-member panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UNHRC is pursuing an external inquiry into alleged accountability issues in Sri Lanka.

Responding to a query, Maj. Gen. Silva emphasized that those using various statements attributed to different UNHRC officials as well as government representatives would conveniently turn a blind eye to Ammerson’s statement. Silva, who now holds the ambassadorial rank, said that the UNHRC parley had become the venue for an all out attack on Sri Lanka, with various interested parties using it as a tool to belittle the country.

The UNHRC quoted Ammerson as having said at the end of a three-day visit to Pakistan this month: "The position of the Government of Pakistan is quite clear. It does not consent to the use of drones by the United States on its territory and it considers this to be a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

``As a matter of international law the US drone campaign in Pakistan is therefore being conducted without the consent of the elected representatives of the people, or the legitimate Government of the State. It involves the use of force on the territory of another State without its consent and is therefore a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.

``Pakistan has also been quite clear that it considers the drone campaign to be counter-productive and to be radicalizing a whole new generation, and thereby perpetuating the problem of terrorism in the region. Pakistan has called on the US to cease its campaign immediately. In a direct challenge to the suggested legal justification for these strikes, the Government of Pakistan has also made it quite clear during these discussions that any suggestion that it is `unwilling or unable’ to combat terrorism on its own territory is not only wrong, but is an affront to the many Pakistani victims of terrorism who have lost their lives.

``Based on its direct knowledge of local conditions, Pakistan aims to a sustainable counter-terrorism strategy that involves dialogue and development in this complex region and that tackles not only the manifestations of terrorism but also its root causes. The people of Pakistan need to be given room to develop this strategy.

``The Pashtun tribes of the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) area have suffered enormously under the drone campaign. These proud and independent people have been self-governing for generations, and have a rich tribal history that has been too little understood in the West. Their tribal structures have been broken down by the military campaign in FATA and by the use of drones in particular. It is time for the international community to heed the concerns of Pakistan, and give the next democratically elected government of Pakistan the space, support and assistance it needs to deliver a lasting peace on its own territory without forcible military interference by other States."

In an interview with the CNN, Ben Emmerson declared: "If it is lawful for the US to drone al-Qaeda associates wherever they find them, then it is also lawful for al Qaeda to target US military or infrastructure wherever al-Qaeda find them."

Another senior GoSL official pointed out that the QC had quite clearly ignored the fact that the British government, too, had been accused of complicity in the drone project as well as the controversial extraordinary rendition program implemented after 9/11 attacks. Sri Lanka had been accused by an international NGO of supporting the extraordinary rendition project. The government had acknowledged the arrest and transfer of a person to the US in the presence of a top New Delhi based CIA official a few years ago.

MANO PELTED WITH STONES IN KOTAGALA

April 21, 2013 
Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader, Mano Ganesan and his supporters were attacked with stones during a protest in Kotagala this morning demanding a wage hike for plantation workers.

The Up Country Trade Union Alliance (UTUA) had staged a protest in the Kotagala Town demanding a wage increase of Rs 520 per estate worker.

However, a group suspected to be supporters of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) pelted stones at us during the protest, Mr Ganesan told Ada Derana.

He stated that one of the stones was directed at his head but he was able to block it with his hand, which was injured by the stone. Ganesan said he had received treatment at the Kotagala Hospital afterwards.

Mano Ganesan, President of the Democratic Workers’ Congress (DWS), a constituent of the UTUA, claimed that a large number of workers who had arrived from Hatton and Thalawakele were obstructed and prevented from taking part in the protest by police and CWC supporters.

He stated that this had hindered the planned protest, which will be staged at the Dimbulapathana Junction instead.

Could arrest if information given only. Senior Superintendent of Police

Saturday , 20 April 2013

 “I am not aware where armed groups are operating in Jaffna. We could only arrest if we get information”, said Jaffna regional Senior Police Superintendent M.M.Jiffry to the journalists yesterday.

Night petrol

The weekly media briefing was held yesterday at the Jaffna police station and he made the above statement. 

“Police high officials say, patrolling in the night is carried out by police. Now war is not in existence. Rifles are utilized only by police and forces. None could possess weapons now. In this situation, last Saturday, armed personnel intruded the "Udayan" press and carried out shooting, scorched the printing machine and very easily escaped”

How this was possible?  queried by Journalists together from Senior Police Superintendent. In reply SSP Jeffry said, give us information. I am not aware where armed groups in Jaffna are operating. We could only arrest if we get information where they are located.

Investigations are processed concerning the attack against "Udayan" head office was the reply given by SSP Jeffry.

Can you apprehend those attack Medias?

Saturday , 20 April 2013

Many times Medias and journalists are getting attacked in north, but so far police had not arrested those attackers and why? was queried together by a  group of reporters from Senior Police Superintendent.

SSP was uneasy to the queries and said,  we are advancing investigation.

He responded to the reporters said, information was not received. At a state we have not got any information, whom to arrest?

This incident occurred yesterday at the weekly media briefing.  Police in the past week has arrested 124 suspected persons connected with variety of crime activities in the Jaffna district. SSP Jeffry said, they were produced in Jaffna district courts.

SSP Jeffry further said, 82 persons from Jaffna Police Superintendent Division, 42 persons from Kankesanthurai Police Superintendent Division were arrested.

26 persons in connection with the incidents of beating and causing injuries  was arrested in the  Jaffna Police Superintendent unit, 4 persons arrested from road accidents, 11 persons being hindrance to public after consumption of liquor, 9 persons arrested of summons issued, 2 persons for driving vehicles consuming liquor, 2 persons for cycling inattentively and due to environment security reasons, 2 persons for looting, 2 persons for stealing ,2 persons for illegally intruding homes, 6 persons for security reasons and 4 persons on suspicion and for  three for other crimes were arrested.

Three persons for selling liquor illegally in the Kankesanthurai Police Superintendent unit, 2 persons arrested for on issue of summons, on suspicion 3 persons,  two persons for driving vehicle under consumption of liquor and 32 persons in connection with other accusations are arrested, was said.

The weekly discussion amongst the Jaffna journalists and Jaffna district police high officials was held and it was chaired by Jaffna Senior Police Superintendent M.M.Jiffry and these issues were notified.  

Premachandran questioned by CID

By Ananth Palakidnar The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesperson, and Jaffna District MP, Suresh K. Premachandran was questioned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Friday (19), over a recent comment he made to an Indian newspaper over the military's presence in Jaffna. Premachandran told Ceylon Today he was informed by the CID through the Kopay Police in Jaffna to be present at the CID Headquarters in Colombo on 12 April. However, he had informed the CID of his inability to be in Colombo on 12 April, and had therefore been asked to be present on 19 April (Friday) to face an inquiry. "I was asked whether I had given an interview to the Times of India on 4 April, over the military's presence in the North and East. I was told by the CID officials that I am supposed to have told the newspaper that there are 150,000 Army personnel in the North and 20,000 Army personnel in the East, out of the total strength of 200, 000 Army personnel in the country. "Responding to the CID officials, I said that that it was an interview over the phone, and I had given the details I had gathered from newspaper reports and various other sources. I was again told by the CID officers that my comment was more of a revelation of military secrets. I am a parliamentarian. I have spoken about the military's presence in Jaffna. Not only I, but from our Leader, R. Sampanthan, and almost all TNA Parliamentarians have pointed out the military's presence in the North and East. I told the CID officers that I am a Parliamentarian and not a defence official to reveal any secrets. The heavy military presence in Jaffna is not a military secret and everyone knows about it," Premachandran said. Elaborating further on the inquiry, he said the CID officers had also asked him on the comments he had made on the resettlement activities in the North. According to Premachandran, the entire inquiry at the 4th floor of the CID had lasted for two hours, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, during which his statement had been recorded. Premachandran also said the officials had been very courteous. He however added that he felt the questions put to him by the officers, were in the manner, advising him to be cautious on military issues. Meanwhile, Acting Police Spokesperson, Prishantha Jayakody, commenting on the CID inquiry on the TNA Parliamentarian, said he cannot comment on the inquiry, and that sleuths will not reveal anything of what they inquire into. Premachandran is the second TNA Parliamentarian to be questioned by the CID in recent months, and follows an inquiry carried out on another TNA Parliamentarian, S. Sritharan.

2013-04-21

Toronto conference discusses international injustice on Tamil PoWs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 April 2013, 06:09 GMT]
The illegal confinement and brutal treatment of Tamil prisoners of war by the Sri Lankan state and the injustice by the International Community of Establishments (ICE) in facilitating this was elucidated by youth activist Krisna Saravanamuttu at the event ‘Criminalization of Dissent’ on the occasion of Palestine Political Prisoners’ Day held at the University of Toronto on Wednesday. Mr Saravanamuttu also gave examples of how former PoWs with legitimate claims to asylum were rejected by Western governments, noting that this put them at further risk from genocidal Sri Lanka. Activists from other communities also shared their opinions and experiences on other cases of incarceration for political reasons. Speaking to TamilNet, Issam Alyamani, veteran Palestinian activist, urged Eelam Tamils in the diaspora to make the release of Tamil prisoners of war and political prisoners as a priority. 

Issam Alyamani, the executive director of Palestine House

Krisna Saravanamuttu from Coalition for Tamil Rights

Jaroslava Avila from Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu

Perry Sorio from Migrante Canada

Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub

“The Government of Sri Lanka was more brutal than the Israeli government in its attack against the Tamil population in 2009,” Mr Alyamani, Executive Director of Palestine House, a Palestinian cultural organization based in Canada said. 

“As an appeal to the Eelam Tamils, specifically in the Diaspora, I urge you to make the freedom of Tamil prisoners of war and political prisoners one of your main priorities because their release will help unify your people and propel your liberation struggle forward,” he added. 

Speaking at the event, Mr Alayamani commemorated ‘Palestinian Prisoners Day’ by describing the unifying force of Palestinian political prisoners that provide inspiration to the Palestinian Liberation Struggle from jail cells. Mr. Alyamani went onto say the political prisoners have not only been influenced by the Palestinian struggle but “our political prisoners are our heroes and they are the ones inspiring us to continue”.

Speaking on behalf of the Coalition for Tamil Rights, Mr Saravanamuttu discussed the routine rape and sexual abuse of former LTTE cadres as a tactic of state terror to continue the dehumanization of Tamils. 

Referring to the Geneva resolution in March, he argued that the ICE’s insistence on an LLRC based solution gave confined the very idea of justice within the parameters of a genocidal Sri Lankan state, which only legitimized the torture and rape of Tamil PoWs in and outside of detention. 

He told the audience that some western governments are favorable only to asylum seekers who are willing to provide testimony against the LTTE on alleged human rights violations, yet reject those asylum seekers who do not meet their agenda of selective evidence, giving an example of an ex-LTTE cadre and rape survivor whose asylum plea was rejected by the Swiss government. 

“The global proscription regime against the LTTE perpetuates the physical and psychological torture experienced by ex-LTTE cadres seeking asylum. In fact, rejected asylum seekers who were former LTTE members face increased risk of arrest, torture, sexual assault and even death at the hands of the Sri Lankan state,” he said. 

Placing the responsibility for the predicament of the Tamil PoWs on the co-chairs and their mismanagement of the peace process leading to the genocide in 2009, Mr Saravanamuttu added “We are not calling for the release of Tamil prisoners of war on abstract humanitarian grounds. We are doing so strictly on political grounds. The former LTTE members were freedom fighters that most Tamils supported and are a key stakeholder in building a just political solution”. 

Political activists from other communities also shared their experiences on the topic.

Identifying the usage of arbitrary arrests by Canada, Mohammed Zeki Mahjoub, an Egyptian born Canadian, spoke about his arrest on a Canadian Security Certificate. In June 2000 Mr. Mahjoub was arrested in Toronto, Canada, without being charged or accused of having committed a crime. Canadian officicals had deemed Mr. Mahjoub a potential danger based on inaccurate information provided by the Egyptian Hosni Mubarak regime. 

A Canadian Security Certificate allows for arbitrary arrest and detention based on the suspicion of a national security threat. The Canadian Supreme Court has declared security Certificates illegal and Mr. Mahjoub discussed in detail how he experienced torture, sexual assault, and the denial of medical treatment while being detained by the Security Certificate. 

Perry Sorio an activist from Migrante Canada - a pan-Canadian alliance of Filipino migrant and immigrant organizations - described the torture he faced as a political prisoner under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos. 
Mr. Sorio discussed the current government of Benigno Aquino’s attempts to pay restitution to political prisoners under the Marcos regime, but stressed restitution does not address the plight of over 300 political prisoners still held in the Philippines. 

Jaroslave Avilia, spoke on behalf of the Women’s Coordinating Committee for a Free Wallmapu, a Toronto based indigenous Mapuche organization, which links the Mapuche struggle for indigenous sovereignty with other anti-colonial, and community based indigenous struggles. Ms. Avilia described current indigenous struggles taking place in order to reclaim traditional indigenous lands and reiterated that colonial institutions on indigenous lands is an illegitimate imposition on her peoples sovereignty. 

The event was co-organized by the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid, the Coalition for Tamil Rights, the Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network and the Philippine Solidarity Network. 

The event was endorsed by: Canadian Union of Public Employees - International Solidarity Committee, Bayan-Toronto, Greater Toronto Workers Assembly, Canadian Arab Federation, National Council of Canadian Tamils, Centre for Social Justice, Migrante-Canada, Socialist Project, Palestine House, No One is Illegal, Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Students Against Israeli Apartheid (York University), Students Against Israeli Apartheid (University of Toronto), Two Row Society, and the International Peoples Struggle.

Strategy of Tension versus National Unity

Strategy of Tension versus National Unity

Groundviews

Riza Yehiya-21 Apr, 2013

Photo via The Globe and Mail, by Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press

The power system in modern societies is polycentric and therefore there are innumerable movers and shakers that influence society either in conflict or conciliation. Compared with olden societies, relying on a few powerful stakeholders does not lead to quick fix of problems due to its multi-polar nature. Therefore the advocates of social harmony and peace should understand the real nature of the problems at hand and understand how they should be addressed. They require a nuanced understanding of the contemporary society and its nature of power structure. Absence of this sense would lead to responding to the fringe than the core of the problem.

The emergence of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and their associates threatening the Muslim community and other minorities in a post war society at a time when communities are clamouring for peace, unity and reconciliation is intriguing. In the post war Sri Lankan society, after the decimation of the LTTE by our armed forces, no communities either the majority or the minorities have an appetite for new conflicts. They are indeed for reconstructing their lives towards a more homogenous egalitarian Sri Lankan society that guarantees peaceful co-existence and guarantees a peaceful future to their children and their children’s children. This brings to question why all of a sudden, Sri Lankan society is pushed to the brink of another conflict? How is it possible for the society to be gripped by tension instantaneously?

Strategy of Tension

Strategy of Tension comes from the armoury of those who control people. To control people in the way that the powers wish them to behave. It is a tool that divides, manipulates and controls people. It incites violence for crowds to react to enable the police or military force to move in and take control of peaceful societies. It leads to provocation, violence and intimidation. This as a strategy increases the level of tension in society and makes people suspicious of each other and in return makes them to places their trust on the central power that controls them. This leads to destabilization of public order to stabilize the political order. Encapsulating this theorem, James Jesus Angleton (Head of CIA 1954-1974) said “Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the state”. This clearly gives an idea as to where the roots of many tensions can possibly be.

Pondering over this issue seriously also shows that inspite of complacency of some, that it is indicative that the political order in such a society is unstable hence strategy of tension is exerted upon people to garner political control of society.

Sri Lankan society today is polarising like in mathematical permutations. Our people are stereotyped now as traditional Muslims, Muslim fundamentalists, Nightclub Buddhists, NGO Mercenaries and the list keeps on expanding. These are clear divisions in society deliberately created to weaken concentration of peoples’ power from becoming a challenge to political powers. Division of people based on their race, class, religious variants and idiosyncrasies and stereotyping to form hierarchical order of master race dictating the rest is not democracy but racism. This with the admixture of violence and intimidation is commonly considered to be fascism. Deplorably, the posture taken by BBS and their followers and those directing them are putting Sri Lanka on the thresholds of such political ideologies.  This is the death knell to democracy and democratic aspirations of the people. Sri Lanka, inspite of some misgivings in the past, is yet a vibrant democracy, not to mention the oldest democracy in Asia. Its three decade war against separatism and other similar challenges from the south did not dent its democratic fundamentals. This is because the people were politically divided as is natural in any democratic society but not divided as people on racial, religious or ethnic basis. The new challenges posed to Sri Lanka with the advent of BBS and their cohorts is a deliberate division of people based on marginal differences of race, culture and religion as opposed to uniting them as Sri Lankans based on fundamental similarities to strengthen the foundation of the nation state. This is alarming; this does not threaten purely the interest of the Muslim community or the other minorities but also the interest of the Sinhala Buddhist community and the nation as a whole. Leaving this untrammelled would destroy peace and co-existence in this country and lead to new cycles of violence and conflict benefitting only those who wish to live on the misery of mother Lanka.

Commendably, the Muslim community bore the brunt of the attack on their values, cultures and businesses by BBS and their cohorts with equanimity and tolerance, because they are prepared to make further sacrifices for the sake of the country to prevent new conflicts from emerging. In the lifecycle of the Sri Lankan Muslim community this is one of the most testing periods it has ever encountered, as Sinhala Buddhist – Muslim relationship has rarely been put to test like this before. The time tested Sinhala Buddhist – Muslim relationship is resilient enough to withstand this test unless a fool or a political adventurist torches the light of destruction that would consume everyone for the ensuing decades and send Sri Lanka back to the stone ages.

Muslim’s equanimity and tolerance is important and it is equally important that other communities especially the Sinhala Buddhist community is fully appraised of this threat to the nation. To fight such a threat, the majority Sinhala Buddhist community must also be made to understand the gravity of the emerging threat to the nation that polarization along racial, religious and cultural differences that BBS and their followers trying to impose on society threatens the vital interests of the Sinhala Buddhist community as well. And this threat that divides Sri Lankans to groups and sects and set one against the other is not in anyone’s interest.

Challenge to National Unity

National unity in Sri Lanka should be priority number one. Post war Sri Lanka has more causes to be united than to divide and perish. The problems confronting us are many and indigenous. The problems of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, corruption, rising suicide rates, the state of war widows, rising rates of incest and rape, failure of politicians to deliver their promises, insecurity, failing education and health, lack of opportunities, brain drain, environmental pollutions and emerging environmental issues calls for a more united response than by  divisions. These aforesaid problems threaten the very sustainability of the nation and none of these problems have bearings upon race, religion or culture. Visibly, by their divisive stance, BBS and their associates are bent on fighting national unity. It is almost as if they have been contracted to create new issues to conceal the major problems that the country is suffering from and to deliberately make issues out of non issues by using race, religion and culture as deceptive tools to misguide people from reality, similar to the French priestly class that colluded with King Louis XVI in cheating the people that caused the  French Revolution

This is the moment of truth for all Sri Lankans, their unity across religious, cultural, racial and political barriers are important to address the pressing problems that confront every citizen. They must unite against corruption, mis-management and racism and must unite to make the life of every citizen safe, comfortable and productive to build a nation that uphold religious and cultural values of all its citizens as a sign of living civilization than living on the glory of  an obscure past.

The Trouble With Mr Guruparan’s ‘Tamil Civil Society’ View

By Dayan Jayatilleka -April 21, 2013 

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

Oh dear, oh dear, here we go again.

Early in his article Mr Guruparan writes “So much for the argument that LTTE was the only obstacle for the Sinhala polity to positively consider ‘state transformation’.” That is known as setting up a straw man and beating it. Who in the Sinhala polity wanted state transformation as distinct from state reform? Those who did, such as the Sudu Nelum supporters of CBK’s ‘union of regions’ packages of ’95 and ’97 (different from the more modest Aug 2000 draft Constitution) and those who agreed to the PTOMS, did not consider the LTTE as ‘the only obstacle’, and for the most part hardly seemed to consider the LTTE as an obstacle at all. Those in the Sinhala polity who did consider the LTTE the sole obstacle to anything and everything did not stand for state transformation or even state reform. In contradistinction to both positions, those of us who stood for structural reform of the state (‘state reform’) never held that the LTTE was the sole obstacle, but regarded it as the main, primary and principal obstacle at that stage of Sri Lanka’s history, and our contention was proven by the LTTE’s war against the IPKF and its post-Accord conduct as a whole. This third view held that prevailing over the LTTE was a necessary but insufficient condition of a lasting and fair peace.

Guruparan then writes that “the 13th amendment was drafted in a hurry”, which displays ignorance of the fact that most of its contents had been hammered out in deliberations from at least December 1985, through December 19th 1986 and early ’87. He should read some good books, such as those by KM de Silva, which track these negotiations.

Mr Guruparan’s would have been a fair critique had it concluded with a recognition of the 13th amendment as the start line for negotiations and took a strong stand for the re-allocation of the powers contained in the concurrent list so as to make devolution more meaningful. That however, is not his stand or the paradigm he is operating within. Thus he states approvingly, if a little grandiosely, that “the Tamil Civil Society has taken the position to reject the 13th amendment as a starting point or even a reference point to a political solution. We see any promise of incrementalism as an empty promise.”

According to Mr Guruparan, the first of the main flaws is that “the 13th amendment sits within a unitary state framework which provides the background for interpretations regarding the working of the 13th amendment being tilted in favour of the Centre.”

So, by this logic, any amendment which sits within a unitary state framework is irreparably flawed beyond acceptability. Thus his problem is not with the 13th amendment but with the unitary state framework which ‘provides the background’.

Logically he therefore wishes a reform which goes beyond the unitary state framework itself. That is a fundamental transformation which goes well beyond what the Catholics of Northern Ireland, led by the Sinn Fein/IRA as accepted in the Good Friday accords. But he is unwilling to submit it for the consent of his fellow citizens.

Mr Guruparan deliberately confuses the issue of seeking the democratic consent of the majority of one’s fellow citizens, with the question of the legitimacy of the state. The issue is that of the sovereignty of the citizens; popular sovereignty. No one is asking him to secure to consent of the state, but of his fellow Sri Lankan citizens, since any change such as that which he proposes, impinges on them.

Guruparan’s argument is that “when the Tamils feel that the State itself has lost legitimacy, invocation of the democratic principle within that state apparatus makes no sense.” Lenin has classically summed up what the state apparatus means: the bureaucracy, the armed forces, the police, the judiciary and the prison system. Althusser went further with his iteration of the Ideological State Apparatuses (schools, religious institutions etc). An ‘apparatus’ means precisely that. So Guruparan is either guilty of conceptual unclarity or deliberate sleight of hand in that he conflates ‘the state apparatus’ with the state formation; the state as a political unit, a political community with definite territorial contours, i.e. outer boundaries, borders.

One wonders which aspects of the state’s legitimacy Mr Guruparan rejects, because the relevant aspect here is that of the state as single territorial unit whose borders are co-extensive with its natural ones: i.e. a state that covers the whole island. The issue is not one of governance, where a great many questions of legitimacy may arise. Does Mr Guruparan recognize the legitimacy of the territorial unit and the resultant political community that is the Sri Lankan state? If not, then the matter is worse than one thought and as bad as one had feared: Mr Guruparan and ‘ Tamil civil society’ have a problem not merely with the unitary form of the state but with a single, indissoluble, united state of Sri Lanka.

Justifying his call for a transitional administration Mr Guruparan writes that “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 13th amendment.” Here he shifts from ‘state to ‘framework of governance’, which is not quite the same thing. No matter. How would he define the ‘present framework of governance’? More importantly, under – or due to– which aspect or aspects of that ‘framework of governance’, is the transition to an environment of peace and justice ‘not possible’? Is his problem the style or political culture of governance or its framework, and if the latter, as seems to be the case, how far does it have to be changed BEYOND the 13th amendment, for peace and justice to be possible? What, in short, is the ‘transitional administration’ transitional to –in transition to—precisely in terms of, and as, a ‘framework of governance’?

On a personal note, Mr Guruparan uses a single quote of mine from 2009 to assert that “The important point to note is that Dayan is not really saying implementing the 13th 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.”

Now that hardly explains my consistent public advocacy of and support for provincial level autonomy at least from 1983 as demonstrated by my chapter in the volume of the Committee for Rational Development (Navrang publishers), followed more explicitly in 1984 as a participant in and signatory to the deliberations and declaration of the United Nations University-Lanka Guardian (UNU-LG) South Asia Perspectives Project, which made the case for and laid out a scheme of provincial devolution. This was followed by my public support (including in print, in four cover stories for the LG) for Vijaya Kumaratunga who advocated provincial devolution (without permanent merger) in ’1985-’88. Certainly in ’84-’86 none of this had anything to do with India or geopolitics.

None of this was without cost, either. It cost those of us on the Left who stood for autonomy, the support of a majority of Sinhalese; it made us vulnerable to the JVP’s attacks. Daya Pathirana was murdered BEFORE the Indo-Lanka Accord. 117 members of the SLMP were murdered by the JVP for their support of provincial devolution. I was an Asst Secretary of that party during much of that time and attended more funerals, heavy metal in or at hand, than I care to recall.

Video: “Religion, Reconciliation And Future” – Malinda Seneviratne

April 19, 2013 |

Editor in Chief – The Nation, Malinda Seneviratne’s presentation at the panel discussion on “Religion, Reconciliation and Future” organised by Sri Lanka Young Journalists Movement.

Sri Lanka Press Institute Auditorium 96, Kirula Rd, Colombo – 05 on Monday, 8th April, 2013.

On Dayan’s ‘Logic’, Mildly

Malinda Seneviratne

The Lankan Monks That Believe In Violence

SUBHA WIJESIRIWARDENA

2013-04-27 , Issue 17 Volume 10

Peace remains elusive as Muslims become the target of Sinhala-Buddhist extremism

Monk power An ingrained culture of blind respect for Buddhist monks gives the Bodu Bala Sena a shield of protection, Photo: AFP

IT IS a regular humid, traffic-jampacked weekday evening in Colombo on 12 April. At one of the busiest intersections in the city, a group of people gather. They light some candles and, slowly but surely, gentle voices begin to fill the air. They are reciting, if you listen closely, a combination of excerpts from the Subhasitajaya Sutta (where the Buddha teaches the importance of “well-spoken” words) and a line from the Sri Lankan national anthem that, roughly translated, means “We are all children of the same mother”. However, this quiet little vigil doesn’t last long. Soon a number of Buddhist monks, flanked by civilian supporters and policemen, emerge from the gigantic building on the opposite side of the road. They abuse, manhandle and harass the candle-lighters, demanding they end the vigil and disperse, and ask the police to arrest them, calling them “traitors”. The police take some demonstrators to the nearest police station. No formal arrests are made, but they are allowed to leave only after giving statements.

The aggressors were from the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) — an extremist Sinhala- Buddhist organisation that has been fuelling an anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka recently and is a neo-fascist hate-group of sorts led by some Buddhist monks. Self-proclaimed defenders of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and protectors of the majority Sinhala-Buddhist community, they are not unlike what the Shiv Sena is for Hindus in India.

Frighteningly, they have many supporters who believe their claim that Sri Lanka is under threat, naturally, from the minorities. While hundreds of people attend their rallies, they have also acquired a significant following online — their Facebook page has over 8,000 ‘likes’ and their brand-new Twitter account is gathering momentum. The BBS has gained renown for a unique brand of hate-speech, which twists ‘morality’ to suit their cause and instills in their supporters the kind of paranoia typical of racism, endowing them with a sense of moral righteousness. In short, the BBS claims that Muslims, Christians and certainly the Tamils have no real place in Sri Lanka, a “Sinhala-Buddhist nation”. They can live there if they want, but only as second-class citizens, under the rule of the ‘superior’ Sinhala-Buddhists.

The rise in religious extremism and a renewed vigour in anti-minority sentiments come four years after the Sri Lankan government defeated the separatist Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE), ostensibly ending nearly 30 years of civil war. Many Sri Lankans had hoped it would mean lasting peace and stability, but that was not to be. It is in the prevailing atmosphere of despair and frustration, amid flagrant corruption and the crippling cost of living, that fundamentalism has taken root. The general feeling of anger and anxiety has been channelled by hardliners into a campaign of hatred against ‘the other’. The Sri Lankan Muslim community has not provoked this attack in any way. Instead, it is the BBS’ cleverly timed propaganda that appeals to the Sinhala-Buddhist’s fears in a powerful way.

In fact, the trajectory of the BBS has been chillingly familiar, resonant of well-known fascist movements in history. First, they systematically demonise the minority community they wish to target. The BBS leads a campaign of vicious lies and rumours about the Muslims through their rallies, online forums and text messages. These statements are as absurd as they are untrue: there was once a text message in circulation saying that a particular brand of sanitary napkin in the local market, manufactured by a Muslim-owned company, was using a ‘poison’ that would render Sinhala-Buddhist women infertile. At their meetings, they rage about the rapid growth of the Muslim community, claiming they are ‘breeding’ to ‘overtake’ the Sinhalese, although the Sinhalese make up 74.9 percent of the nation’s population and the Buddhists, 65 percent — a majority of them Sinhalese. Muslims form only 9.7 percent of the population.

Second, they attack the target community’s religious beliefs, rituals and places of worship. In April 2012, a 2,000- strong mob led by monks raided a mosque in a town in central Sri Lanka during prayers. Just a month later, another mob attacked a mosque in a Colombo suburb, throwing rocks and rotten meat. About five such incidents have been reported over the last year, while organisations like the BBS have put immense pressure on certain mosques to shut down. In some cases, they were successful. More recently, the BBS managed to halt the Halal certification on animal-based products in Sri Lanka. This campaign was carried out unabated, publicly supported by government officials at the very top, particularly Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is also the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Third, they shut down businesses owned by members of the target community. On 28 March, there was an attack on a Muslim-owned apparel business, Fashion Bug. Later, video evidence showed the mob being led by a robed monk. Chillingly, the crowd, standing among the debris, cheers as the monk flings a rock and shatters one of the windowpanes of the building. Policemen stand around, seemingly there to protect the attackers from harm, not to stop the mindless attack. That perhaps is the final step, or something all fascists do quietly along the way: they get the powerful behind them.

How and why the government sees this as being in line with its own agenda is a mystery. A common belief among moderates is that for the government, it helps to have a ‘new enemy’. After the defeat of the LTTE and suppression of the Tamils in the north, perhaps targeting a new minority secures their place as the protector of the people.

THE BBS and its actions clearly violate the law; they should be condemned by those in power and stopped for engaging in and inciting communal violence. Instead, the Sri Lankan government has maintained a stoic silence. No condemnation, no legal action, no serious investigation. Large sections of the citizens, therefore, feel comfortable aligning themselves with the BBS and its ideology.

Moreover, the deeply ingrained culture of blind respect and reverence for Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka gives the BBS a shield of protection, a sense of invincibility. The support of the masses comes easily after that. Anyone who publicly criticises the monks or questions their agenda is branded a traitor to the nation. On their virtual forums and at their rallies, they discredit any critics, labelling them everything from “enemies of the state” to “bastards” to “sexual deviants”.

Not surprisingly then, the peaceful, moderate segments of Sri Lankan society have not been quick to organise resistance against the BBS. Where, then, can the resistance to this mindless campaign of hate come from?

The vigil organised on 12 April was the one of the first public civil actions against the BBS. It will not be the last time that critics are intimidated and forced to shut up, however. Yet, for a vigil attended by a relatively small group of people, the disproportionately aggressive response they were met with from the BBS and the police was telling.

The vigil was organised by a group calling itself ‘Buddhists Questioning Bodu Bala Sena’. They were clear that they did not want an “anti-BBS protest”, opting instead to carry out a peaceful demonstration where the non-violent philosophy of Buddhism was highlighted. Joined by others, including non- Buddhists, the group chanted verses about the Buddha’s teachings on “well-spoken words”, the antithesis to hate speech, and sang a few lines from the Sri Lankan national anthem about national unity. The agenda of the vigil was clearly non-political; rather, it attempted to show from a Buddhist perspective that the BBS could not call itself a Buddhist organisation as long as it engaged in hateful violence.

While solid political resistance may be necessary in the face of this new aggressor, the most effective kind of resistance may just need to come from within the Buddhist community itself.

Most progressive Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka shy away from the public eye; but this situation requires them to step forward to galvanise and lead both Buddhists and non-Buddhists to stand against the BBS and its false ideology. Intellectuals and scholars need to write and speak about the core values of Buddhism, thereby shattering the power of the BBS’s rhetoric. Sinhala-Buddhists need to do their part in ending this violence, which is being carried out in their name. Sri Lankans need to rally around a singular objective: we have a common enemy, but it’s not the minorities as we have been told.

letters@tehelka.com

Sexual harassment of tourists in the south continues unabated

By Nadia Fazlulhaq-Sunday, April 21, 2013

Police are recording frequent complaints of sexual harassment of tourists in the South, with the latest report of sexual harassment of an Israeli female tourist by a local. On Sinhala and Tamil New Year’s day, a 32-year-old Israeli tourist was sexually harassed while on the beach, when her husband had gone to the nearby beach resort in Mirissa, where they were staying.�

Coming to Sri Lanka in search of the sun and the beach: Foreign tourists down south.

According to police, a local man had inappropriately touched her and pinched her buttocks. The woman had shouted and later lodged a complaint at the Weligama police. �Earlier this month, a group of three men in a van had snatched the bag of a 38-year-old Czech tourist who was holidaying in Weligama with his girlfriend.

Weligama police said that the tourist had lost 500 euros, credit cards, driving licence and insurance documents. A suspect has been arrested while police are looking for the other two. �Several incidents of break-ins into hotel rooms and theft of cash, valuable cameras and communication equipment have been reported from this area.

In Mirissa, A group of tourists staying in two hotel rooms, were robbed of ipads, laptops, cameras and cash to the value of Rs. 3.5 million, while they were on the beach. �In another hotel room in Mirissa, a 32-year-old Italian policewoman was robbed of her ipad, 200 euros and travel documents while she was asleep.

In a more serious vein, a hotel employee attempted to rape a 35-year-old female tourist while she was asleep in her room, in this area. �“Such acts definitely put the safety of tourists in jeopardy. Therefore we are accelerating the process of putting up a tourist police division in Unawatuna, which will also cover Mirissa and surrounding areas,” said Acting Director of Tourist Police Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Maxie Procter.

He said that the tourist police division will be established in the second quarter of this year, and in the second phase more tourist police officers will be deployed in Mirissa area.�

“The police officers attached to local police stations will be trained to handle tourist complaints and investigate them. Their language proficiency will be improved. We will toughen action against those committing crimes against tourists,” SSP Procter said.

Meanwhile, police sources said most of the robberies are taking place with the support of certain local politicians from the area. The sources also said that tourists in the area are more exposed to crimes as they stay in houses or small cabanas for Rs. 200-300 per night.

Police recently arrested locals and foreigners attempting to sell and purchase narcotics such as hashish and heroin.