Govt Unyielding In Reconciliation Issues 

By Jehan Perera-Sunday, April 21, 2013

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was among the first in the international community to respond to the bombing of the Boston Marathon. In a message to the US President he condemned the Boston bomb attack while conveying condolences over loss of lives. Other government leaders and commentators took the opportunity to remind the world of the sufferings that Sri Lanka underwent for three decades due to terrorism. They also highlighted the irony of Sri Lanka’s leaders being forced to defend themselves for having eliminated terrorism.

The government’s Information Department stated that the Sri Lankan President was “the only leader in the world to eradicate the scourge of terrorism from Sri Lanka completely, has also called on all the countries to get together to eliminate the scourge of terrorism.” The underlying message of the government was clear. It is that the world should be looking to the Sri Lankan model of eliminating terrorism, rather than finding fault with it for having done so.

The government continues to be unyielding in its approach to governance and reconciliation issues. It has hired public relations companies in the United States to get its message across. This action gives an indication of the government’s approach. PR firms are known to give a positive spin to their client’s activities. The hiring of PR firms for lobbying in the United States suggests that the Sri Lankan government is not thinking of changing its own policies. Instead it is thinking it can change the US government by projecting a positive image of developments in the country. However, one part of the picture does not represent the full picture and there will be others, including the Tamil Diaspora, which will present the other part.

The government strategy is to change the messenger and not the message necessarily. Addressing Parliament, External Affairs Minister Prof GL Peiris said that the government was not going to yield on substance. He said “there is no change of government policy towards the United States. We do not concur with their resolution and our representative in Geneva distanced Sri Lanka very clearly from its contents.” The centre piece of the Geneva resolutions has been implementation of the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. The main thrust of this report is the achievement of good governance and reconciliation. The non-implementation of the LLRC will be to the country’s detriment.

Lost Years

The past two years have been galling ones for the government and its leadership. It has seen Sri Lanka’s war-time conduct and post-war performance being critically scrutinized by the international community. The majority of countries in the UN Human Rights Council have voted in opposition to the Sri Lanka to pass resolutions calling on the Sri Lankan government to probe alleged human rights violations and war crimes. The United States gave leadership to both resolutions, which were passed in 2012 and again in 2013 with an increased majority. Even countries that were sympathetic to the logic of government actions during times of war, are not equally sympathetic to it in the context of post-war.

It is unfortunate that in responding to this changed international climate, that the government is choosing a strategy of insecurity as the way forward. In the case of the majority Sinhalese, the government is coming forward as the protector vis-a-vis perceived and projected threats, such as from the international community and Tamil Diaspora. The government would do well to consider that when communities feel that they have no protection from the state, they will turn elsewhere for security. Government thinking has to undergo a paradigm shift from being focused on physical unity to a workable hearts and minds operation, based on the real responses to the insecurities and issues of other communities. It is tragic that having united the country physically, the government is failing to unite it ethnically.

Partial picture

What most Sri Lankans see is only a part of the picture. They have accepted the government position that the Geneva resolutions are motivated by a desire to punish the government for having crushed the LTTE in war. It means there is no internal pressure coming from the electorate that prompts the government to change and adapt to the post-war situation. This is a weakness that needs to be addressed by the political opposition and by civil society. Sri Lanka’s war ended in May 2009. The first resolution on the Sri Lankan war that was passed in the UN Human Rights Council a few weeks later in 2009 was actually one that was proposed by Sri Lanka itself. It commended the government for having ended the war and looked forward to the post-war reconciliation process that the government was promising to take forward.

At the end of May 2009, the UN Human Rights Council dropped a draft resolution calling for an investigation into possible war crimes during Sri Lanka’s recently-concluded war on terrorism and adopted Sri Lanka’s counter resolution with some of the proposals in the Swiss-EU document incorporated into it. Of the 47-member Council, 29 voted for Sri Lanka’s resolution, 12 against and 6 abstained. The resolution condemned the LTTE and welcomed “the liberation by the government of Sri Lanka of tens of thousands of its citizens that were kept by the LTTE against their will as hostages.”

The problem that arose thereafter is the one that Sri Lanka now faces. The promises the government made to the international community did not materialize. Instead of dealing with the issues of emotional trauma and political rights that has arisen due to the war, the government has focused on material development. Government leaders have grown in confidence about the changes they are making to the country’s infrastructure. They see the road network and reconstructed towns that have arisen like the phoenix from the ashes of war. They are now issuing invitations to the international community to come and see for themselves. Those who do come are impressed. They see a geographically united country that is being visibly transformed.

Reuniting country

But reuniting a divided country is not only a matter of what is visible. An unknown number of thousands, or is it tens of thousands, of families of those who went missing in the war, continue to be left in the dark about what happened to them. Many of them continue to hope that their loved ones are still alive, captive in some army camp or prison, and await their reappearance. Despite the large proportion of displaced persons who have been resettled, the quality of their resettlement, and human rights problems, do not yet qualify the Sri Lankan experience to be cited as a model for international emulation. Post war reconciliation also continues to be at a low ebb with no political solution in sight, and with the military still playing a dominant role in the civil administration of the North.
The government is continuing with the logic that meeting development imperatives will erase ethnic cleavages and the need for improved governance. While this may be desired, it will not yield the desired end of negating governance and reconciliation issues. In addition, the demand in time to come will be more general as the populace suffers the burden of economic problems. The public too will necessarily see a disjunction between the professed development of the government and the lack of benefits to them. If good governance requirements continue to be ignored issues of corruption and accountability will arise with greater force, and threaten the government’s continued popularity. The country’s need for good governance does not merely arise from international resolutions. The government cannot ignore governance and reconciliation imperatives. They will not recede from the landscape.

Political Machinations: Destroying Defences Internationally

By Rajiva Wijesinha -April 22, 2013

Prof Rajiva Wijesinha MP

I referred previously to machinations essentially by the opposition to create uncertainty and confusion within government. Trying to advance the date of the Presidential election, or suggesting deep divisions with regard to the position of Prime Minister, are intended to provoke reactions and sometimes precipitate crises that would not otherwise occur.

But there are also intrigues by those within government, and sometimes by elements in the administration who wish to promote their own agendas, regardless of the damage this might do to government – or perhaps to inflict this. One such incident occurred about a year ago, when an Indian Parliamentary delegation visited Sri Lanka, shortly after the resolution in Geneva which India unfortunately supported.

I was reminded of this when there was another Parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka this month, this time organized by a Chamber of Commerce. There had been efforts in India to prevent it coming, and naturally one of the Sri Lankan papers opposed to government declared triumphantly that the pressures exercised had succeeded. Fortunately the presence of the delegation in Sri Lanka at the time the report was published enabled swift refutation.

But it is not only elements in India that wish to harm relations between the two countries. Last year it was an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs who had told the President that the Indian Opposition Leader, Sushma Swaraj, had criticized him, as being the principal impediment to reconciliation, and had added that she had been supported in this view by a leading member of the Cabinet.

The story was all nonsense, and there is no doubt that Sushma Swaraj has a very positive approach to Sri Lanka, as is the case with the delegates who came to Sri Lanka this year. Of course they have their questions, and we should acknowledge and address their concerns in a positive spirit, since it is also clear that they understand the constraints under which we operate. But unlike those Members of Parliament in India and in Sri Lanka who seek to enhance their own prestige by attacking the other country, those who have come to us despite pressures not to do so are essentially friends with whom we should work to enhance relations further.

The President however had been startled by the story the Additional Secretary had told him, and was not inclined to meet the delegation. Fortunately the Secretary to the President, supported by a couple of the Cabinet Ministers who had been at the dinner at which the offensive remarks were supposed to have been made, had shown him that nothing of the sort had been said. The President had then met the delegation and all had been well.

I should note that the Minister of External Affairs had not been responsible for the untoward incident, and had indeed been one of those who reassured the President. Unfortunately what neither he nor his colleagues did was to follow up on what had happened, and inquire into how and why the President had been misled. Typically, the matter was forgotten, in line with the fact that we prefer not to rock boats, even when they are sinking, and getting up and getting out is necessary, except that that seems too complicated when we can sit tight and go down quietly.

Assuming the story was true, and this seems to be the case since the Secretary to the President had to work overtime to avert a diplomatic disaster, we should surely have found out the reasons for this extraordinary lie. Since it was perpetrated by the same person who had been responsible for the disaster that occurred in 2010, when the President went to Britain to deliver an address at the Oxford Union, contrary to the advice of our High Commission in London, logic would suggest that there is a deliberate effort to deceive him, and make the country suffer.

One explanation is that this is part of an agenda set by those elements in the diaspora that are still keen on separatism. Evidence for this is supposed to exist in the violations of tender procedure that took place in Geneva, to give a contract to repair the residence of the ambassador to elements sympathetic to the LTTE. Unfortunately the investigation into that particular violation was stymied, even though at the same time Ambassdor Dayan Jayatilleka was being persecuted for far less grave matters in Paris. When however the Ministry is controlled not by the Minister, nor by the Secretary, administrative norms are set at nought, with kissing and all else going by favour rather than principle.

There may however be a less sinister explanation, which has to do with the deeply anti-Indian feelings of some elements in the Ministry following the events of the eighties. Foreign Minister Hameed, who was responsible for recruiting this particular deceitful character into the Ministry through the back door, presided over a dispensation that thought India was an enemy, in line with the Cold War predilections of PresidentJayewardene. And even though the President learnt his lesson, and decided to compromise with India in 1987, the Cold Warriors in the Foreign Ministry still see India as the enemy.

Thus, after the resolution in Geneva last year, the claims that emanated from those elements that we should now go back to total reliance on the West, combined with continuing animosity towards India for having voted with the West. In effect, we are being dragooned into a position where we cut our ties with India, which should be our strongest ally in opposing country specific resolutions and the creeping domination of the United Nations by a single perspective. The idea that we should be working together to restoring the multilateral approach which was what the UN initially was about is anathema to such elements.

Poisoning the President’s mind about India is one element in this game, a game the country will lose, given the failure to investigate the reasons for that poisoning.

Military acquires more lands in Vavuniya

Monday, 22 April 2013 

The government continues to acquire land belonging to civilians in the North. This time around, the government has set its sight on acquiring a large area of land in Vavuniya to build a permanent military camp.

According to the Land and Land Development Ministry, the civilian owners of the land located close to the A9 highway have already been informed of this move.

The Ministry has said the land acquisition was carried out legally and the owners will be compensated.

Tamil political parties have continuously raised objections to the presence of army camps in the North following the end of the war.

The army has said that the military did not have the mandate to acquire lands and that any land requirement of the military is informed to the Lands Ministry.

Sri Lanka guilty of major human rights violations in 2012: US report

File Photo: Protests in India against human rights violation in Sri Lanka.-PTI  Colombo, April 21, 2013 

The US has said that Sri Lanka's rights record in 2012 was tainted by "major human rights problems" including "involuntary disappearances" and "unlawful killings" by security forces and pro-government military groups.

"The major human rights problems were attacks on and harassment of civil society activists, persons viewed as LTTE sympathisers, and journalists by persons allegedly tied to the government, creating an environment of fear and self censorship, involuntary disappearances as well as lack of accountability," the US State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 said.

It added that other serious problems included unlawful killings both by security forces and government-allied para military groups.

"The government prosecuted a very small number of officials implicated in human rights abuses but is yet to hold anyone accountable," it added.

Although the number of killings associated with government para military groups had declined from 2011, the report charged government-allied Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda, of engaging in intimidation, extortion, corruption and violence against civilians in Jaffna.

The other issues listed in the country report include enforced and involuntary disappearances and widespread impunity with the government failing to solve attacks on journalists.

The US report follows the British government's 2012 report released earlier in the week, where the former too had expressed concern over the rights situation in Sri Lanka.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/sri-lanka-tainted-by-major-human-rights-problems-2012-us-report-india-today/1/266931.html

Bishop of Mannar, Most Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph said he never stood for the separation of the country nor rejected any viable political solution to the national question. The Bishop made this statement in response to the lead story published in The Nation last week titled “Mannar Bishop, TNA Resurrect LTTE’s ISGA Demand”.Following is the full text of his response.My attention has been drawn to the news headline captioned “Mannar Bishop, TNA Resurrect LTTE’s ISGA Demand” on the front page of “The Nation” of Sunday 14th April 2013, Your report states that the Bishop of Mannar, along with a group op of Tamil MPs and civil society representatives, has urged the visiting Indian Parliamentarians to press the Sri Lankan Government towards establishing a self governing mechanism for Tamils in the .North and East. Your report also claims that this group told the Indian visitors that they reject any solution that is based on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution or one that went beyond it.

Mannar Bishop denies ‘separation’ seeks ‘viable political solution’

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Bishop of Mannar, Most Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph said he never stood for the separation of the country nor rejected any viable political solution to the national question. The Bishop made this statement in response to the lead story published in The Nation last week titled “Mannar Bishop, TNA Resurrect LTTE’s ISGA Demand”.
Following is the full text of his response.
My attention has been drawn to the news headline captioned “Mannar Bishop, TNA Resurrect LTTE’s ISGA Demand” on the front page of “The Nation” of Sunday 14th April 2013, Your report states that the Bishop of Mannar, along with a group op of Tamil MPs and civil society representatives, has urged the visiting Indian Parliamentarians to press the Sri Lankan Government towards establishing a self governing mechanism for Tamils in the .North and East. Your report also claims that this group told the Indian visitors that they reject any solution that is based on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution or one that went beyond it.

Further, your report is accompanied by a separate story, also on the front page, titled “Perceptions or Bishop Rayappu Joseph”, in which views purportedly expressed many years ago about Bishop Rayappu Joseph by certain selected persons have been reproduced.

In this context, I have neither stood for the separation of the country nor at any time rejected any viable political solution to the national question. Therefore, your report is totally Inaccurate and misleading. 
Secondly, your portrayal of the so-called “perceptions of Bishop Rayappu Joseph” speaks of an unmistakable bias and has to be construed as having a mischievous intent. Clearly also, it is an attempt to bring me into disrepute and tarnish my image.

I wish to reiterate that as a Catholic Church leader who has always had the welfare of my people at heart, I never hesitated to voice for their rights and well-being. This is clearly borne out by my submissions to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission which I would urge you to study in detail.

Finally, since you have chosen to give front-page publicity to the reports in question. I would ask to give equal prominence also to my response.  

Most Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph
Bishop of Mannar

Run up to the Northern Provincial Elections - 2

Self-censorship & Restrictions on media, the serious issuesFree flow of information must insure before the Election

Campaign for Free and fair Elections (CaFFE) expresses its grave concern over the media culture of self censorship developing in the North due to continuous attacks. This self censorship, especially in regarding human rights, rule of law and democracy, in the run up to the Northern Provincial Council Election is unacceptable.

CaFFE along with many civil society organizations had expressed dismay at the attacks/ attempts to intimidate journalists and newspaper distributors Uthayan, Yaal Thinakural, and Weerakesari in recent times. In the face of growing suppression media ownership has also begun to pressurize journalists to avoid writing on certain issues. “Walampuri” the other independent Tamail daily had soften its content on sensitive issues during last 10 - 12 months. CaFFE’s claims can be verified by any individual who does a content analysis of the above-mentioned newspapers. However “Thanamurasu,” the pro EPDP daily, seems to be the only paper that has been spared of any intimidation.

This limitation of information has been further augmented by BBC world service terminating its contract with Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) due to the manipulation and censorship of its Tamil service. BBC Tamil service was the preferred source of information by moderate community leaders in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulativu, Mannaher and Vavuniya who wanted access to balanced information.

This is not the only time that SLBC ran into problems with the BBC. In 2009 BBC suspended its agreement with SLBC due to its selective censoring of radio programming. However once again in 2013 SLBC interfered with the BBC Tamil service programs on 16-18 March. Further disruption occurred on March 25, despite the objections by the BBC, which made the BBC to suspend the service immediate effect.

In addition most of the popular Tamil news web sites, most of them were critical to the Government has been blocked in Sri Lanka through service providers.

These restrictions on media is taking place on the run up to the Northern Provincial Elections which is due by next September. The free flow of information is highly restricted through out the Province.

It must be noted that the freedom of association and political freedom is also restricted in North. The Military and other officials are continuously harassing university students.

CaFFE Executive Director, Keerthi Tennakoon calls the government to ensure the free flow of information leading to the Northern Provincial Council, which is a vital component of a free and fair election.

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon April 22nd, 2013
Executive Director/CaFFE

What Do The Communal Riots In Myanmar Indicate?

By R Hariharan -April 22, 2013 |

Col. (retd) R.Hariharan

Myanmar’s fledgling democracy faced yet another obstacle to its progress when anti-Muslim violence flared up in Central Myanmar town of Meiktila in March 2013. It quickly spread to six other smaller townships in Thayawady district in Bago Region in Lower Myanmar. According to Human Rights Watch, it also spread to 11 townships in Mandalay and Pegu divisions, where Muslim neighborhoods were ransacked.

According to the government a total of 43 people were killed and 93 were injured in the riots, most of them in Meikhtila; 1,227 homes, 77 shops and 37 mosques were destroyed. Police said 68 detainees were being charged for their role in the acts of violence.

Close on its heels a fire in a Muslim boarding school in Yangon on April 2 left 13 Muslim teenagers dead. Though the police have identified electrical short circuiting as the cause of fire, some Muslim community leaders suspect it could be a case of arson. If this is established after the enquiry, it would indicate the virus of communal violence has arrived in Myanmar’s premier city.

These riots have unnerved Muslim community which had been watching with unease when Rohingya Muslims became the target of ethno-religious violence in Rakhine State in November 2012. Their sentiments were echoed by the HRW report on Meikhtila violence. It said “The destruction [in Meikhtila] appears similar to satellite imagery of towns affected by sectarian violence in Arakan [Rakhine] State in 2012, in which arson attacks left large, clearly defined residential areas in ashes.”

The anti-Rohingya Muslim riots left about 140 killed and rendered 100,000 homeless. They became the latest boat people fleeing Myanmar to find refuge wherever they can as neighbouring Bangladesh refused to accept any more of them to the 110,000 Rohingya refugees already there. Police present on the location initially did not react at all. It took action only after much of the damage had been done. Rohingyas had alleged that the local border militia and police colluded in perpetrating the violence. This would indicate local authorities tend to condone such communal acts rather than act quickly to defuse the situation.

Muslims in Myanmar

Muslims in Myanmar have a history of over a thousand years. Islam came with Mughal invaders from India and Sultan Suleiman of Yunnan. Anti-Muslim sentiments among Burmese Buddhists have their roots in the persecutions and forced conversions carried out among Buddhists during the Mughal rule. Though Buddhists consider Muslims as a single entity, there are distinct Muslim communities with their own ethnic linkages and cultural history. The distinct groups include descendants of Burmese converts to Islam, Muslims of Indian descent who have settled in Myanmar, Muslims who had migrated from East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Zarbari Muslims who are children of South Asian Muslim fathers and Burmese mothers, Panthay Muslims of Hui Chinese origin fromYunnan settled in border areas of Myanmar and Rohingya Muslims inhabiting Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh.

During the British colonial rule in the first half of 20th century, anti-Indian sentiments started rising among local people when Indians started dominating business and bureaucracy, Chettiar money lenders seized control of lands, and cheap Indian labour deprived the ordinary Burmese opportunities to earn a living.

In that period, nearly half the Indians in Myanmar were Muslims. As a result of this, anti-Indian sentiments had anti-Muslim sentiment as an inevitable part. So when anti-Indian riots broke out in Yangon in 1930 killing hundreds of Indians, Muslims also suffered. On the other hand, Muslims were also seen as symbols of British colonial rule; according to historians the nationalist-inspired anti-Muslim riot of 1938 was actually against the British rulers.

In the run up to independence, the Burma Muslim Congress (BMC), the nodal organization of Burmese Muslims, fully supported General Aung San-led Anti-Fascist Peoples’ Freedom Party’s (AFPFL) national struggle. Though Muslim leaders were included in the post-independence cabinet, a few months later Prime Minister U Nu’s attitude towards Muslims underwent a change. The BMC was asked to leave the AFPFL. Subsequently when U Nu made Buddhism the state religion, it was much against the wishes of Muslims and other ethnic and religious minority communities. Restrictions were imposed on Halal slaughtering of cattle.

When General Ne Win seized power the attitude towards Muslims further hardened. He expelled Muslims from the army. Islamist violence perpetrated in Indonesia and their anti-Buddhist actions like the destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan is also said to have touched off anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar.

As anti-Muslim sentiments among sections of population have a long history in Myanmar, it remains a potential destabilizing force of democracy. This is yet another issue that could provide a level of legitimacy for the army to take charge of the situation reminiscent of its foray to capture power in 1962.

What do the riots indicate?

Both the anti-Rohingya violence and anti-Muslim riots in Meikhtila were triggered by minor incidents involving individuals from the two communities. Such incidents were quickly exploited by fringe elements to whip up anti-Muslim sentiments among the Buddhist majority resulting in well organized acts of violence.

In Rakhine and Meikhtila Buddhist mobs led by some monks spearheaded the anti-Muslims violence. The destruction was systematic and well planned. As violence spread quickly in different regions, a level of networking and coordination probably exists between Buddhist fringe elements in different parts of the country.

In the case of Rohingya violence, a number of sporadic incidents preceded the outburst of violence. These incidents were ignored by the authorities presumably because officially, Rohingya’s are not recognized as Myanmar citizens. Though they have been living in the region since pre independence days, Myanmar’s discriminatory citizenship laws are weighted heavily against people of foreign origin. This would indicate xenophobic tendencies continue to influence official thinking.

Local political leaders including those of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were either helpless or ineffective in taking any action to curb the violence. Unless political constituency and democratic government show themselves capable of handling such critical situations, they provide an opening for military to prove themselves as an essential component of “democratic rule.” This is what happened during the anti-Muslim riots when the army had to step in to control the situation.

Even Ms Aung San Suu Kyi who commands wide popularity across the board, disappointed many with her inability to handle the issue when ethnic question got mixed up with religious extremism. Coming in the wake of her demonstrated reluctance to take positive action during anti-Rohingiya riots, it showed lack of self-confidence in taking action on issues affecting the majority community.

This could have far reaching impact not only on her leadership credibility but also in NLD’s political credibility particularly when vested interests kindle divisive elements for gaining political advantage in times of election.

The sooner the democratic elements organize themselves to prevent such communal flare ups, the better it is for democracy. This is more so when Myanmar is coming out of the shell and needs the goodwill of international community for its peaceful development.

In the context of Myanmar, anti-Muslim violence has two international dimensions. The first is it could antagonize a prosperous segment of Asian investors among the Gulf countries from investing in Myanmar’s development. Secondly, Islamic extremism which is staging a last ditch fight in neighbouring Bangladesh and in some of the ASEAN countries, might find a potential opportunity in Myanmar to spread its tentacles.

*Col R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia and its neighbourhood, is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group. E-Mail: colhari@yahoo.com Blog: www.colhariharan.org

Tangalle Rape Victim Has Spoken For The First Time

April 22, 2013 

A student has spoken for the first time of her ordeal at a Sri Lankan resort and tells David James Smith she will fight on for justice

Victoria Tkacheva was attacked at a hotel party on Christmas Eve 2011

A woman raped at a hotel in Sri Lanka has spoken for the first time of the attack in which she was badly beaten and her British boyfriend was killed.

Victoria Tkacheva, 24, a Russian languages graduate, fears that the men responsible for her rape and the murder of Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross worker from Rochdale, will not be brought to justice.

One of the eight suspects who were arrested but later released is a local politician whose family have close ties to the Sri Lankanpresident.

There is currently no prospect of a trial, but Tkacheva insists she will not rest until justice is done. “I know if Khuram was in my place he would go on to the end,” she said. “That’s what I must do too.”

The couple had met in 2009 in North Korea where he was working as a prosthetics expert for the Red Cross, fitting artificial limbs to adults and children. Tkacheva was in Pyongyang, the capital, to study the Korean language. The relationship continued when Shaikh was posted to Gaza.

They were enjoying a holiday in December 2011 at the Nature Resort in Tangalle, 100 miles south of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, when a group of men arrived at a hotel party on Christmas Eve.

After a minor tiff with Shaikh during the party, Tkacheva was sitting alone on the beach at midnight to cool down when she was approached by a man and asked whether anything was wrong.

She became anxious and ran back towards the hotel but was set upon by a number of men. She does not know how many.

“I couldn’t even see them. They started beating me. I fell to the ground — I was covering my head with my arms so I couldn’t see anybody,” she said. “It was next to the pool. It was so sudden, they were kicking and punching.”

Her assailants pushed her into the swimming pool. “I was trying to escape from the pool but they were not letting me.”

Tkacheva, who had suffered a fractured skull, eventually managed to get away.

“I got out from another side of the pool and in a few steps I found Khuram lying on the ground. I ran to him and started to call his name but he wasn’t responding.

“I tried to make him conscious, trying mouth-to- mouth, but there was nothing I could do to make him conscious,” she said.

Tkacheva saw cuts on Shaikh’s face but did not notice the stab or bullet wounds that killed him. “When I couldn’t bring him round I screamed very loud from helplessness and then I think I lost consciousness because I don’t remember anything else.”

It appears that at this point she was raped. Her next memory is waking up in hospital wearing a T-shirt that she did not recognise and finding that her dress was blood-splattered and her underwear had gone. Her face was badly swollen and her body was covered in bruises.

Witnesses said Tkacheva had been found naked and unconscious in a room at the hotel on Christmas morning. She had been raped or sexually assaulted and had suffered vaginal injuries, according to a Sri Lankan police report.

Tkacheva does not recall when or where she was found. “You try not to think that could have happened but it’s disgusting because they killed Khuram and sexually assaulted me,” she said.

To the best of Tkacheva’s knowledge, her missing underwear has never been found and her dress was thrown away. Both could have provided police with DNA evidence.

The eight suspects were identified through witness accounts. They include Sampath Chandra Pushpa Vidanapathirana, the head of the local council in Tangalle, one of the largest towns in Sri Lanka’s southern province. His family have links to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

While there is no suggestion that Rajapaksa or members of Vidanapathirana’s family have intervened in the case, the relatives of Tkacheva and Shaikh believe there has been a lack of urgency during the investigation. All the suspects were released on bail without charge last November.

Tkacheva, who has waived her anonymity as a rape victim, is ready to give evidence at any trial. “I was devastated when the men were freed on bail,” she said.

Last month the Sri Lankan government said it was awaiting a report on DNA evidence and had made every effort to find those involved.

Courtesy Sunday Times UK

Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross worker

No tourist arrivals?

Missing or delay in release of statistics for February and March causes industry concern

By Cheranka Mendis-April 22, 2013 
Despite two-thirds of April being gone, Sri Lanka Tourism has failed to release data of tourist arrivals for the months of February and March, raising concerns in the industry.
Only January tourism statistics have been published so far, listing arrivals of 97,411 tourists in the country, a 13.4% increase from January last year.

Given the fact that questions over accuracy have been raised with regard to the arrival of one million tourists last year, the delay in February and March data has prompted the leisure industry to wonder whether “data is being cooked”.
When contacted Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) officials told the Daily FT that the data was in the process of being released and could be expected sometime this week. “The data has not been finalised yet. It is being analysed at the moment,” officials added. When questioned on the delay, they expressed that the data had to be processed manually by collecting and going through the Disembarkation Cards handed over to travellers at the airport.  “We have also been understaffed this year,” officials noted. “We hope to release the data sometime next month for February and the March stats will be released by the end of this month.”
However, the data of the previous month has always been released by mid next month so far until this year.
Last year, the February figures were released on 15 March, showcasing 83,549 arrivals for the month. The March figures along with Q1 details were published closer to 17 April.
First quarter 2012 showcased 260,525 arrivals in total, a 21% increase over the same period the year before. The end-March performance accounted for 25% of the one million arrivals target last year.

What Is ‘Bodu (Buddhist)’ In The ‘Bodu Bala Sena’?

By Malinda Seneviratne -April 22, 2013 

Malinda Seneviratne

Way back in the year 2004, when the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) was formed to contest the April elections, I objected on grounds that the political/historical role of the Bikkhu was advisory. The mayor, I wrote to the Sunday Island (February 15, 2004) has to get the drains cleaned, but is not required to cover himself in muck. For all this, the key figures of the JHU conducted themselves with decorum; they made their points lucidly and treated critic with respect, opting to deploy word to counter word. That the JHU became something else later on is a different matter. The point here is that the JHU of April 2004 is a stark contrast to the BBS of April 2013.

Let’s consider the BBS. Their statements, at media conferences and public gatherings, as well as their actions describe them well. It is apparent in tone and facial expression, in word and deed. It is also apparent in the organization’s silence on or responses to actions done in its name. If there is one thing absent in all of this it is equanimity. Emotion has ruled reason. Attachment overrides all else. There is clear inciting to violence. There is fear-mongering and playing to the baser instincts of a community, a tickling of human frailty.
‘Buddhist’ is an identity tag as much as it denotes preference for a particular teaching. But if teaching is important (and it certainly is), then any organization containing the word or a derivative must be guided by that doctrine, in both word and deed. The BBS is at odds with the fundamental tenets of the Dhamma.

The most recent example is how BBS representatives behaved in Thunmulla when confronting a set of individuals who had organized an event tagged ‘Buddhists Question Bodu Bala Sena’. That particular event was either organized or hijacked by people whose political agendas are anything but innocent. On the other hand, they were not violent. They came to light a candle, recite some lines in Pali (printed for the benefit of those unfamiliar, Buddhists and non-Buddhists) and take a stand. The BBS representatives present were abusive. In word, gesture and tone, they were in clear violation of ways of conduct prescribed by the Buddha. They could have, for example, spoken to those present cordially, even while recognizing pernicious intent and mischief-maker, and invited them to chant the thun-sutra together.

That particular incident was rather mild, compared to the foul and violence-inciting language and rhetoric indulged in by the BBS leadership. The BBS can claim they had no hand in the attack on Fashion Bug, for example, but they are certainly guilty of whipping anti-Muslim sentiment and ‘Muslimphobia’ among Buddhists. The stone-thrower is guilty, so too are those who planted ‘stone-throwing’ in his mind, directly or otherwise. The BBS has deliberately distorted statistics gathered by the Department of Census and Statistics to buttress arguments about ‘Muslim Expansion’. If, as the BBS claims, Muslims are in ‘expansion-mode’ and if whatever they find objectionable is illegal, then the BBS must take to the courts.

If there’s nothing illegal but it still offends, hurts and threatens, then the BBS (or anyone else) must seek answers in the Dhamma, which prescribes as fundamental engagement factors, pragna (wisdom) and maithree (compassion). There’s a palpable absence of intelligence and absolutely no compassion in the way the BBS has conducted itself. They could find answers in the Kalama Sutra (the Buddhist Charter on Free Inquiry), use the Sapta Aparihani Dharma (Seven principles of indestructability) etc. They could find in the notion of sanvaraya (decorum) associated with the figure of the bikkhu a useful ally in conduct. They have not.

Buddhists are not Arahats and there is political dishonesty in demanding that kind of enlightenment from Buddhists in the face of aggression (real or perceived), but an organization that purports to uphold Buddhist doctrine, culture and values must consciously and actively strive to adhere to basic doctrinal tenets. The BBS is so far away from that point to justify using ‘Bodu’ in its name. If Buddhists find the BBS to be a slur on their identity and belief system, then they too should respond with the compassion, wisdom, moderation and other concepts that guide action embedded in the Buddha Vacana. This would include circumspect in who to stand with of course.

What non-BBS Buddhists and other non-Buddhists of whatever political persuasion do is their business. The BBS cannot play mirror-politics if they hope to achieve anything close to moral high ground. As of now (and perhaps for all time, given the arrogance and invective that they’ve adorned themselves with), ‘Buddhist’ is not a tag they can wear without insulting all Buddhists and Buddhism.

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of ‘The Nation’ and his articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com