Civil Society Condemns Azath Salley Arrest And Detention Under PTA

May 7, 2013

“We also note the speed with which the Government and State actors acted on the arrest of Mr. Salley based on a misquoted interview. This is in a context of an increasing number of instances of hate speech and violence in Sri Lanka, with evidence publicly available identifying the perpetrators. Unfortunately, such incidents have not been independently investigated and perpetrators brought to account. Sadly, this incident is yet another reminder that the Government has resorted to strong-arm tactics to silence and harass critics, while turning a blind eye when actual incidents of violence occur. It is of serious concern as to the reasons for this unlawful arrest and the detention of Mr. Salley, and it sends a chilling reminder to all critics of the Government of reprisals.” issuing a statement say the members of Sri Lankan civil society.

“We the undersigned, vehemently condemn the arrest and detention of Former Deputy Mayor and General Secretary of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), Azath Salley, by a team of officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), on Thursday, 2 May 2013 morning, and call for his immediate release in the absence of any demonstrable evidence.

We publish below the statement in full;

We the undersigned, vehemently condemn the arrest and detention of Former Deputy Mayor and General Secretary of the National Unity Alliance (NUA), Azath Salley, by a team of officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), on Thursday, 2 May 2013 morning, and call for his immediate release in the absence of any demonstrable evidence.

Mr. Salley was arrested under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and he has been placed under detention for further interrogation by the CID for 3 months under Section 2(1)(h) of the PTA. Section 2(1)(h) states that a person who has committed an offence under the PTA “….by words either spoken or intended to be read or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise causes or intends to cause commission of acts of violence or religious, racial or communal disharmony or feelings of ill-will or hostility between different communities or racial or religious groups…”

The unlawful arrest and detention of Mr. Salley is in a context where there have been increasing attacks and threats against minorities, a growing spate of incidents of religious intolerance, and clamping down of critics of the Government and dissent on the whole. Mr. Salley has been a vocal critic of the extremist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and the anti–Muslim activities of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), and has been actively involved in efforts to initiate legal action against both groups. He has also promoted minorities to unite against the racist rhetoric and actions of such groups. In addition, Mr. Salley has been publicly critical of the indirect support given to these elements by the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

On 24 April 2013, in an interview to the Tamil Nadu bi-weekly magazine “Junior Vikatan”, Mr. Salley is alleged to have said that “the Muslims too should launch an armed struggle against the state in the same manner in which Tamils conducted a campaign earlier…(and) that such a struggle would commence once necessary arms are procured.” Mr. Salley has later written to the magazine stating that he was misquoted. The magazine published a correction on 4 May 2013.

Mr. Salley has been on a fast since his arrest on 2 May in protest against his unjust arrest, and demanding his release. Since his arrest, he has been moved from the 4th Floor of the CID to the National Hospital as he had collapsed due to lack of food, water and medication. There are concerns his condition can deteriorate if not urgently addressed, as he is a diabetic and in need of medication. He was initially refused visitors, including visits from his immediate family and lawyers, and was placed under heavy police guard. On 5 May, regardless of medical concerns, Mr. Salley had been moved back to the 4th Floor of the CID.

Mr. Salley’s had to be carried to the meeting room on the 4th Floor to meet with his lawyer yesterday (6). On seeing the deterioration in his condition, his lawyer had insisted that authorities re-hospitalize him immediately.

We may not agree with all of Mr. Salley’s political positions, however we are deeply concerned with the treatment meted towards him which seems to be a result of his position against hate propaganda and opposition to extremist groups. Whilst we recognize the responsibility of the State to investigate hate speech and other actions aimed at inciting communal disharmony, we wish to highlight the lack of fair and due process on the part of the State in the unlawful arrest and detention of Mr. Salley. Given the context and the charges, it would seem that Mr. Salley’s charges are politically motivated.

We also note the speed with which the Government and State actors acted on the arrest of Mr. Salley based on a misquoted interview. This is in a context of an increasing number of instances of hate speech and violence in Sri Lanka, with evidence publicly available identifying the perpetrators. Unfortunately, such incidents have not been independently investigated and perpetrators brought to account. Sadly, this incident is yet another reminder that the Government has resorted to strong-arm tactics to silence and harass critics, while turning a blind eye when actual incidents of violence occur. It is of serious concern as to the reasons for this unlawful arrest and the detention of Mr. Salley, and it sends a chilling reminder to all critics of the Government of reprisals.

We, the undersigned call for his immediate release.

Signed by:

Clergy

1. Rt. Rev. Kumara Illangasinghe – Bishop Emeritus of Kurunagala, Anglican Church
2. Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris
3. Rev. Fr. Jeyabalan Croos
4. Rev. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando
5. Rev. Fr. Samuel J. Ponniah
6. Rev. Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda
7. Rev. Fr. Sherard Jayawardane
8. Rev. Fr. Terrence Fernando
9. Rev. Jason J. Selvaraja – Senior Pastor, Assembly of God – Chavakachcheri
10. Rev. Sr. Deepa Fernando

Organizations

11. Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
12. Interfaith Cooperation Forum
13. Women’s Action Network

Individuals

14. A. Theva Rajan QSM – President, New Zealand Tamil Senior Citizens Association 15. Aaranya Rajasingam 16. Ahilan Kadirgamar 17. Aingkaran Kugathasan 18. Ainslie Joseph – Convenor, Christian Alliance for Social Action (CASA) 19. Amal de Chickera 20. Ameena Hussein 21. Ameer M Faaiz – Attorney-at-law 22. Anberiya Haniffa 23. Anushya Coomaraswamy 24. B. Gowthaman – Attorney-at-law 25. Balasingham Skanthakumar 26. Bhavani Fonseka 27. Bruce Van Voorhis 28. Chamindra Chathurinee 29. Chandra Jayaratne – Former Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce 30. Chandraguptha Thenuwara – Artist 31. Deanne Uyangoda 32. Deshini Liyanaarachchi33. Dinidu de Alwis 34. Dilshy Banu 35. Dinesh D. Dodamgoda 36. Dr. Anita Nesiah 37. Dr. Lionel Bopage 38. Dr. P. Setunga 39. Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu 40. Emil van der Poorten – Retiree & Community Activist 41. Faiz-ur Rahman 42. Farzana Haniffa 43. Farzath Faiz 44. Fawwazah Muhammad 45. Mohamed Raffai Mohamed Fouzi 46. Hans Billimoria 47. Hameed Abdul Karim 48. Imran Mohamed Ali 49. Infiyaz Mohamed Ali 50. Iromi Perera 51. Jayanthi Gunewardena 52. Jehan Perera 53. Jensila Majeed 54. Juwairiya Mohideen 55. K.J. Brito Fernando – President, Families of the Disappeared 56. K.S. Ratnavale 57. Kumaravadivel Guruparan 58. Kumari Kumaragamage 59. Kumi Samuel 60. Kusal Perera 61. Lal Wijenayake – Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) 62. Lasantha Rahunuge – Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association 63. Latheef Farook 64. Mahaluxumy Kurushanthan 65. Manjula Gajanayake 66. Marisa de Silva 67. Mano Ganesan – Leader, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) 68. Mathuri Thamilmaran 69. Megara Tegal 70. Melani Manel Perera – Journalist 71. Melisha Yapa 72. Mirak Raheem 73. Mohamed Hisham 74. Mohamed Shammas 75. Muhammad Nasir 76. Nazli Mohamed Ali 77. Nicola Perera 78. Nigel V. Nugawela 79. Nirmanusan Balasundaram – Independent Journalist/Human Rights Advocate 80. Nishan de Mel – Economist 81. Niyanthini Kadirgamar – Researcher 82. Nooranie Muthaliph 83. P.N. Singham 84. Paba Deshapriya 85. Prabu Deepan 86. Priya Thangarajah 87. Prof. Jayantha Seneviratne – University of Kelaniya 88. Prof. Kumar David 89. R. Cheran 90. R.M.B. Senanayake 91. Rajani Chandra 92. Rohan Salgadoe 93. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera 94. Ruki Fernando – Human Rights Activist 95. Sabra Zahid 96. Sampath Samarakoon 97. Sanjaya Senanayake 98. Sanoon Mohideen 99. Sarala Emmanuel 100. Selvi Sachithanandam – Chairperson, Poornam Foundation 101. Selvy Thiruchandran 102. Shamala Kumar – University of Peradeniya 103. Shanthi Sachithanandam 104. Shehan de Alwis 105. Shehan Shakoor 106. Shreen Saroor 107. Siritunga Jayasuriya – United Socialist Party 108. Srinath Perera – Attorney-at-law 109. Sumathy Sivamohan 110. Sunanda Deshapriya 111. Sunil Jayasekera – Free Media Movement 112. Sunil Wijesiriwardena 113. Suren D. Perera – Activist & Attorney-at-law 114. Thiruni Kelegama 115. Udaya Kalupathirana – INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre 116. Uvais Mohamed Ali 117. Visaka Dharmadasa.118.DBS Jeyaraj-Journalist

Read the full statement here

Gota resurrects three files of rape and bribery charges against Hakeem to arrest him if he leaves govt.
(Lanka-e-News-07.May.2013, 2.30PM) The Rajapakse regime has planned to arrest Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem by indicting him on charges of rape and bribery if he resigns from the government, according to LeN inside information division

It is learnt that defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse has called for and collected via the government sleuths’ service one file relating to bribe taking and two files pertaining to rape charges.

The bribery charges against Hakeem is , that through his coordinating secretary a sum of Rs. 10 lakhs had been collected by him to admit students to Law college. In this connection a file comprising 9 pages with typewritten statements of witnesses had been prepared. In addition to this , the two files of rape against Hakeem relate to his past rape charges .

In those files are statements recorded from time to time of Kumari Cooray (daughter of Mervyn Cooray M P who committed suicide ) over an illicit love affair with Rauff Hakeem. 16 statements had been recorded against Rauff Hakeem in those files. The relevant video footage is with the Rajapakses , and that footage had been made available to the Rajapakses by Kili Maharaja , LeN inside information division discloses.

However as the prime witness who mounted charges is no longer living , difficulties have sprung in the filing of charges. Hitheto Hakeem had been controlled and curbed by the Rajapakses by showing the files containing the charges, according to LeN inside information division.

No matter what, the decision making council of the SLMC is to meet today (7) evening to take a decision regarding their resigning from the government. Hakeem is trying to put off the decision of the Council for three months in order to escape the blackmailing tactics of the Rajapakses without indicating that , SLMC inside sources revealed.

Activists opposed to Devananda attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 May 2013, 14:14 GMT]
A 12-member squad that came in 4 motorbikes attacked 48-year-old V. Sahadevan, the president of a newly formed group named War Affected Peoples' Movement (WAPM) and 35-year-old Puvilan Pushparaja, the treasurer of the group near Jaffna District Secretariat around 2:30 p.m. Monday. Mr Sahadevan and Mr Puvilan have been distributing leaflets against EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, who is a minister in SL President Mahinda Rajapksa's cabinet. The attack comes a few minutes after Mr Devandanda spotted the two persons distributing leaflets against him. Sahadevan blames that the attackers were the ones who were escorting Mr Devananda. 

The WAPM group has been distributing leaflets against Douglas Devananda since Sunday. 

The attack on Monday comes after the two have been distributing leaflets in front of the District Secretariat in Jaffna for more than 4 hours. 

Both the victims of the assault have been admitted at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

The Azad Salley Affair

By Dayan Jayatilleka -May 6, 2013 

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

If Azad Salley is a terrorist in the making, a terrorist who has to be pre-empted by recourse to detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, or a promoter of fanatical, fundamentalist ethno-religious hatred, he comes with the strangest of profiles.

Far from being born into and raised in anything like a backward, fundamentalist, religiously fanatical background, his father was a Communist (as comrade DEW Gunasekara could confirm) who later became a Maoist (or ‘Marxist-Leninist’). ‘Communist Salley’ as he was known, didn’t seem to have an ethno-religious bone in his body.

Azad’s father wasn’t only a communist, he was a journalist; and he wasn’t a journalist for a Saudi fundamentalist Wahhabi newssheet. He was a long time employee of Reuters. I was introduced to the slim, be-spectacled ‘Communist Salley’ by Mervyn de Silva, my father, at the tele-printer at the Reuters office.

My father had also introduced me to George Rajapaksa, his classmate and Cabinet Minister of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike administration, at the latter’s house down Flower Road. George Rajapaksa was of course the uncle of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers.

It is a tale so redolent of Sri Lanka’s ironic, often absurdist trajectory and travails, that the son of one of those (leftwing) personalities introduced to me by my father, has been detained under the administration of the nephew of another albeit better known (progressive) personality, doubtless by yet another nephew of that personality.

When Azad and I ran into each other, it was at former Mayor Sirisena Cooray’s house. Azad was a vibrant, jocular, spirited young UNP politician who attended every Premadasa commemoration that I was at (the last being 1999). We lost track of each other since, but I was not surprised that he had joined Mahinda Rajapaksa. I was even less surprised to hear that he had debated the BBS spokesperson on television in Sinhala, and from what I gathered, got the better of the polemical exchange.

Of course Azad is something of a firebrand, just as Mahinda Rajapaksa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Dinesh Gunawardena and Mavai Senadirajah were at the same age (and stage of their politics). His rhetoric was certainly no more militant than that of Cabinet Ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Champika Ranawaka.

Azad did punch back rhetorically when Islamophobia was recently unleashed in our public domain. He was a spirited young man and may have felt compelled to speak out by the conspicuous silence and pusillanimity of more established Muslim politicians. Never has the absence of Ashraff been felt more acutely. Salley may also have spotted a political opening. Since when is that a crime?

If Azad had to be arrested for incitement, what of the far more explicitly hostile, antagonistic and hateful speech at public rallies and street agitations by allegedly Buddhist organisations, all of which have gone global on YouTube? Who is investigating the leaflets bearing violent , threatening graphics of swords and leaping swordsmen, and which advertise events explicitly as ‘rebellions’ or ‘uprisings’?

Surely, even-handedness requires a crackdown on fundamentalist incitement of a majoritarian variety, just as on those emanating from minority sources? In the absence of such balance, even-handedness and natural justice, what does the arrest of Azad Salley and the conditions of his detention make this government and more importantly the Sri Lankan state look like in the eyes of the world?

Was Azad arrested because he dared to talk back, to debate? Is it that he was an uppity nigger who needed to be taught a lesson; an articulate and upfront young Muslim who had to be locked up as an example to the minorities and as a sacrifice at the altar of Sinhala supremacism; a sop to a Sinhala Cerberus?

If I were a human rights activist or diplomat campaigning in Geneva on Sri Lanka, the arrest of Azad Salley would make my day. Conversely, if I were still the Sri Lankan Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, I would face an acute diplomatic and moral-ethical difficulty.

Of the 13 member states that voted for us in Geneva this year, 7 were from the OIC. It was the Muslim (maybe I should say ‘halal’) Bala Sena that saved Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese and the Sinhalese Buddhists from a humiliating defeat in Geneva this time. We would have been down to 6 votes without that support; fewer than the votes obtained by Syria at the UNHRC, and even Libya before the intervention. While it voted in our favour, the OIC has also made a demarche in Jeddah about anti-Muslim coercion and threats in Sri Lanka, while the OIC Ambassadors based in Colombo have met the President. How will the OIC vote go in March 2014?

So, here, in the meanwhile, is Salley, a mainstream politician, a former Deputy Mayor of Colombo, a man whose photograph with President Rajapaksa shows great mutual cordiality and warmth, who has been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, without a single weapon or bullet found anywhere near him or a solitary act of violence being associated with him.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act is meant precisely for what it says: the prevention precisely of terrorism. Was Azad Salley a founder, leader, member, supporter or sympathizer of an armed terrorist group? There are no unarmed terrorist groups, it must be said. If they are unarmed, they are not or not yet, terrorist. Was he verifiably planning to organize one? If so which, when and where?

Has any act of violence resulted from anything that Azad Salley has said or done? If so which, what, when and where?

If any offense has been committed by Salley, why has it not been placed in the public domain? Why is it shrouded in secrecy? Why has Salley not been charged under the normal laws of the land? Why has he not been granted unfettered access to counsel, family and visitors?

If this is the treatment meted out in peacetime to an unarmed electoral politician, what might have happened in Welikada? What must have happened in wartime to countless others? What might be happening now, outside of Colombo, in the former conflict zones, to Tamils?

These are the questions that would logically occur to anyone and could be legitimately raised in Geneva and elsewhere.

Let us assume that Azad Salley made some imprudent, even intemperate remarks to a publication and even an audience of activists, in Chennai. The periodical in question, Junior Vikatan, it must be noted, is edited by Cho Ramaswamy, a courageous lonely crusader against the Tigers since the 1980s. Neither he nor the journal can be remotely characterised as subversive or secessionist. Something can be lost in translation though.

No matter. Whatever Azad may have said, it could have been countered by accurate revelation in the mass media, and subsequent critique and open debate. An idea, however erroneous or indefensible, must and can only be countered by another idea, not by arrest and detention for 90 days. That is if you are committed to normal democratic values and practices though.

If however, a government or a state chooses to use the strongest legislation in its armoury to punish the expression or exchange of ideas, however erroneous, that government or state runs the risk of revealing itself or having itself depicted by critics, as undemocratic and authoritarian. Thus it is the repressive action of the regime rather than anything that Azad Salley may have said that brings discredit to Sri Lanka and provides ammunition to those who seek international investigation.

Does the detention of Azad Salley help prevent terrorism or does it contribute to the opposite outcome of radicalisation?

The answer to that question lies in our experience as a society. In 1972, a few dozen young Tamils were detained because they had hoisted black flags in protest against the promulgation of the Republication Constitution, ignoring the written entreaties of the Tamil parliamentary political leadership headed by SJV Chelvanayakam. These young men had not engaged in any violent activities. They were held in detention for five years.

At the time of their arrest there was no armed movement in Jaffna. By the time of their release in 1977, the Tigers had commenced armed operations, while the EROS/GUES had been formed in London and obtained weapons training in Lebanon. Those in doubt may check with Karuna, KP, Suresh, Siddarthan and Douglas.

It was obviously not those in detention who initiated this armed movement, because they couldn’t while behind bars. However, their very presence behind bars for non-violent activism mightily strengthened the argument of those shadowy figures like the teenaged Velupillai Prabhakaran, that there was no space for and no point in anything but armed actions.

Thus, the detention by the state of unarmed political activists in no way acted as a deterrent to armed violence and terrorism, but actually radicalized the tactics and later the strategy itself of the politics of the Tamil minority.

What is the signal that Azad’s treatment sends out to the disaffected youth and the shadowy groups that may exist in the Eastern province? As with Tamils, so also perhaps with Muslims, but is that the insidious intent?

Despite reforms, Myanmar's ethnic violence continues By Matthew Smith , for CNN updated 10:58 PM EDT, Mon May 6, 2013 A Muslim Rohingya man sits at his burnt home at a villaged in Minpyar in Rakhine state in October.

CNN.com

Editor's note: Matthew Smith is a researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the organization's report, "All You Can Do is Pray": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State.
.

(CNN) -- When the European Union recently lifted economic sanctions on Myanmar, it closed a decades-long chapter designed to encourage democratic reform in the country.

Although an arms embargo remains in place, the action will send an unequivocal message of "mission accomplished."

But while the EU is celebrating the "new Myanmar," Rohingya Muslims in the western part of the country are targets in what appears to be an ongoing campaign of government-supported crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Killings and arson attacks between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims first erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine State in June 2012, and were followed in October by well-coordinated attacks on Rohingya populations. More than 125,000 Rohingya were forced into dozens of internally displaced camps while tens of thousands of others fled the country, launching Southeast Asia's newest refugee crisis.

READ: Myanmar accused of 'ethnic cleansing'

Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch from just five of the 13 townships that experienced violence since June show 27 unique zones of destruction, including the destruction of 4,862 structures covering 348 acres of mostly Muslim-owned residential property.

Myanmar's government has repeatedly characterized what happened as "inter-communal violence" between bitter enemies -- Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims -- denying any involvement of the state or abuses by state security officials.

Since June, I visited several sites of attacks and every major camp for the displaced, interviewing more than 100 victims and witnesses of abuse, as well as some perpetrators of violence. There is extensive evidence of complicity of the state in ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar's minorities fight for survival

Myanmar's displaced detail violence

Behind the violence in Myanmar

READ: What's behind ethnic violence?

Following the first wave of violence and without setting foot in Rakhine State, the EU and others were quick to welcome the Myanmar authorities' "measured response" to the crisis. A spokesperson for the EU's high representative on foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, said on June 11, "We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult inter-communal violence in an appropriate way."

The reality on the ground was very different. Rohingya survivors alleged how in June soldiers not only failed to protect them from arsonist mobs, but opened fire when they attempted to extinguish the fires, killing scores. Government authorities in Arakan State were busy bulldozing mosques, blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya populations, conducting violent mass arrests of Muslim men and boys, and digging mass graves, impeding accountability. Human Rights Watch located the existence of at least four such grave sites.

IN PICTURES: Myanmar's sectarian crisis

Two days after the EU's June statement, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a camp for displaced Rohingya, according to Human Rights Watch. Some of the victims had been "hogtied" with string or plastic strips before being executed. The move sent a strong message, consistent with a policy of ethnic cleansing, that the Rohingya should leave Myanmar permanently.

"They dropped the bodies right here," a Rohingya man told me on a visit to the grave site. "Three bodies had gunshot wounds. Some had burns, some had stab wounds."

After the smoke cleared in June, the Arakanese Buddhist monkhood (or the sangha), political operatives, and local government officials allegedly held public meetings in Rakhine State, plotting to drive Rohingya Muslims from their homes. They seized on President Thein Sein's remarks on July 12 that "illegal" Rohingya should be sent to "third countries," and they actively worked to isolate Muslim communities from daily necessities and income. Influential groups released public statements calling explicitly for "ethnic cleansing" and forced population transfer -- the government took no action to stop them.

READ: Terrorized, starving and homeless

The planned second wave of violence began on October 22. Thousands of Arakanese reportedly descended by foot and boat on Muslim villages in nine townships, carrying machetes, swords, spears, homemade guns, Molotov cocktails, and other weapons. Plumes of smoke dotted the sky along the fertile patchwork of Arakan State's intra-coastal waterways as entire villages were razed. State security forces once again either failed to provide protection, or actively participated in attacks.

On October 23 in Yan Thei, Mrauk-U Township, security forces took away sticks and other rudimentary weapons from Rohingya and enabled an Arakanese mob to kill about 70 villagers, including 28 children, 13 of whom were under age five.

Today, tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya are being denied access to humanitarian aid, have their movements restricted, and are unable to return home. They live in segregated, squalid camps without adequate food and health services. In just weeks the monsoon season will flood several IDP sites, intensifying the humanitarian emergency.

At the root of the persecution is the question of citizenship. The Myanmar government considers all Rohingya to be immigrants from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship under discriminatory national legislation from 1982, although many families have resided in Myanmar for generations. Official government statements reject their very existence and refer to them as "Bengali," "so-called Rohingya," or the pejorative "kalar."

The world should not be blinded by the excitement of Myanmar's political opening. Rohingya are paying for that approach with their lives.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Matthew Smith.

End of an era

The photos, verified to be authentic photos taken after government action at Shapla Chattar last night, shows the demise of the chances of a peaceful and democratic transition of power in Bangladesh. You will see most of the dead were simply hiding or running away and shot while trying to run. These photos herald the end of a democratic era of non-bloody power transfer that started with the election of 1991. After doing these, no one in sane mind will leave power willingly.

Courtesy - ALAL O DULAL

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Security forces personnel assigned to kill birds in Mattala

Tuesday, 07 May 2013

Air Force personnel from the Weeraketiya Air Force Base and other security forces personnel in the Hambantota District have been assigned to stand around the Mattala Tank on a daily basis.

The task assigned to them is to shoot down any bird who tries to take off from the Mattala tank area, which is a watering hole for many birds.

A large number of migrant birds usually take refuge around the Mattala tank.

However, the threat posed by the birds in the sanctuary to the aircrafts that land and take off from the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport that has been constructed in the middle of the sanctuary has resulted in government and airport authorities assigning security forces personnel to stand guard with their guns around the Mattala tank.

Sources from the area said that a large number of birds have been shot down by these security forces personnel so far.

The Rajapaksas they said are engaged in their usual practice of encroaching on others’ lands and threatening its original inhabitants.

Freedom of expression and the PTA in Sri Lanka

by Robinhood-

( May 6, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Robinhood raises concern over the recent arrest of Azad Sally by the CID. This evil act characterizes the Rajapaksa regimes witch-hunt against opposition politicos. Azad Salley was arrested by the CID on the 2nd of May 2013 morning under the prevention of terrorism act (PTA). Government Media spokesperson Lakshman Hulugalle stated that Mr. Sally was taken into custody for making provocative statement and instigating communal hatred among ethnicities.

Since the day he was arrested he has been kept in detention in the CID for 72 hours without being produced to the courts. Later the CID has increased the detention without producing the accused to the courts under the PTA. It was reported that Mr. Sally was on a hunger strike while in detention demanding to produce him to a magistrate. Due to his weak health condition he was admitted at the national hospital. He was taken into custody for issuing a false statement criticizing the government. Later Mr. Sally said the magazine which published the news has false written his statement and he has informed the magazine regarding the error and to correct it and waiting for an extract. 

Azad Sally is the one of the person who publicly criticized the government for instigating communal hatred. He condemned the government’s undemocratic ways suppressing the political opponents. He openly criticized the government’s sponsorship of Bodu Bala Sena (Ideological Bhuddist Group) for creating hatred among Bhuddist against Muslims. He criticized the government for not enforcing the law against Bodu Bala Sena for attacking a cloth stores belonging to a Muslim in Pepiliyana.

It is very evident the government is selective when enforcing the law against the rule. The rule of law is dominated by an authoritarian power not equitable for its citizens. The present law of the country is becoming the desire of the government. If the government wishes to take anybody into custody it takes them by using the PTA. If the government wishes to release anybody convicted of crimes it does it overnight by influencing the police, Attorney General and the Judiciary? It does all these by influencing the police not properly raising a charge sheet against the criminal by exercising a casual investigation process into critical crimes leaving criminal free. Recently we witnessed local government ministers are convicted for child rapes and murders are taken into custody by great difficulty and released in bail without proper charge sheet due to political interference. But whoever has an anti opinion against the government is taken into custody overnight by using the PTA. The government has descended its policies into suppression for any anti government political voices by taking them into custody.

The prevention of Terrorism act exceeds all other natural justice which is unethical in an environment where there is no terrorism. The PTA is used as an instrument to oppress anti political views of the opposition members. The government has used the same law to take Azad Sally into custody. From this PTA the CID has the right to keep the accused in detention for an indefinite period until it fulfills its ulterior motives. The PTA cannot be exercised in a situation where there is no terrorism in the country, if any accused has involved in any complicity he should be taken into custody by enforcing the ordinary law of the country. By using the PTA an accused can be kept in detention as long as it can, by preventing him bail. By using this act the government can take any ordinary citizens who have an anti political opinion into custody and torture him and forced confession for crimes inside detention. This is a very serious and despotic situation violating the public and political parties from engaging in civil and political rights harming the rule of law and the democracy in the country. Such arrests, prevents the freedom of expression of anybody raising any alternative political views and criticize the government for its undemocratic conduct.

The PTA was enacted in 1979 at a situation where there was terrorism in the country. Due to violation of human rights the law was amended for a temporary period. Under this act if anybody is accused of complicity for terrorist activities there is no provision to obtain bail. The detention and the release order can be granted only by the Defense Secretary exceeding any court of law. Further in this law there no necessity for the police to produce evidence of the accused involvement of terrorist activities but only to charge of any terrorist involvement which is very unfair. Under this draconian act if anybody has an enmity towards somebody, anybody can use political or any other influence to detain and take into custody,

The inequity of enforcing the law in the Rajapaksa regime.

• 1. A UPFA local government chairman of the Tangalle pradeshiya sabha was granted bail for killing a foreigner and raping of his fiancée.
• 2. A UPFA local government member of the Tangalle pradeshiya sabha was granted bail for raping a 14 year old girl.
• 3. A UPFA local government chairmen of the Akuressa Pradeshiya sabha was granted bail for raping an underage girl
• 4. A UPFA parliament minister Duminda Silva was accused for the murder of presidential advisor Bharatha Luxhman was granted bail.
• 5. Former LTTE member K. Pathmanathan alias KP accused of providing arms to the LTTE is kept under state patronage and security without enforcing the PTA

Freedom of expression is a citizen’s fundamental rights in a democratic country. The accountability of governance is confirmed by allowing the people to express their independent views without constraints. By allowing freedom of expression the citizens has the right to prevent any abuse or misuse of power and to minimize corruption. In Sri Lanka the freedom of expression is curtailed in two ways. Earlier media institutions were either sealed or burnt; journalists were terrified, attacked, abducted, missing or killed. In any of the situations no culprits were apprehended and produced before the law. The present trend of suppressing the media is by taming the journalists by providing perks and privileges.

PCCSL in Jaffna to serve aggrieved Northern Province readers

JAFFNA – Friday, May 3-
The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL), the self-regulatory body of the newspaper industry, opened an office in Jaffna on Friday, May 3, at 2.30 pm at 117, Station Road, Jaffna, to coincide with the United Nation’s World Press Freedom Day.
This comes in the wake of a series of physical attacks on Jaffna-based newspapers, blamed on pro-government ‘elements’, an accusation hotly denied by the authorities.
A representative gathering of the clergy, government and military officials, publishers, editors, and journalists from the Jaffna-based media were present at the opening, where PCCSL officials spoke of their efforts to bring about amicable settlements between aggrieved readers and the media over published news items, by way of conciliation, mediation and arbitration to the satisfaction of all parties.

The Jaffna branch of the PCCSL is aimed at serving the needs of the Northern Province newspaper readers, including government authorities who may have a complaint against an inaccurate publication and facilitate their complaint reaching the PCCSL’s main office in Colombo.

The complaints will be inquired into by the PCCSL Secretariat in Colombo and the Commission’s 11-member Dispute Resolution Council chaired by former Secretary General of Parliament and the country’s first Ombudsman, Sam Wijesinha.

The branch office was declared open by the founder of the Thinakurral newspaper, S.P. Samy who is also Chairman of the Northern Central Hospital in Jaffna, the biggest private hospital in the Northern Province, with the participation of the Jaffna Archdeacon Rev. S.J. Jeyaveerasingan, the Jaffna Brigade Commander, Brigadier Chandana Gunawardene, Lake House Jaffna Branch Manager, J. Sudaharan, Jaffna College Principal,, Vaddukoddai Noel Vimalendran and District Child Protection Officer, District Secretariat, Jaffna Ms. S. Kothai among others.

This is the 20th Anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, since it was announced by UNESCO, and also the 10th anniversary of the PCCSL.

The PCCSL is supported by the Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ), Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (STMA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF), Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU) and South Asia Free Media Association (Sri Lanka Chapter).

A media statement by the PCCSL announced that their Jaffna Office will be open from Monday to Friday from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (For more information call 0214 927 000 – Jaffna or 011-53 53 635 -Colombo).

In The North, The Government Is Setting A Vicious Cycle In Motion Again

By Jehan Perera -May 6, 2013 

Jehan Perera

The government has given notice of its plans to acquire lands belonging to private citizens in the North for public purposes that involve national security. The pasting of notices on trees in Valikamam North under section 2 of the Land Acquisition Act coincides with preparations for the Northern Provincial Council elections in September this year. There is concern in the Northern polity that the purpose of this land acquisition is to change the demographic composition with settlers from outside being registered on the Northern electoral lists.  There are media reports of 3000 families being settled in different parts of the North with more to follow.   One of the recommendations of the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was that land settlement policy should not be used to artificially change the demographic composition of the war affected areas.

It is also important to note that the recommendations of the LLRC are in complete contradiction to the course of action that the government has embarked upon.  The LLRC specifically stated that government policy was not a substitute to recourse to courts of law and highlighted the need for a strong and impartial civil administration in relation to the land issue.  The LLRC also recommended that the government should de-militarize the administration of the North as soon as possible and release private lands taken over by the security forces to the people.  From a larger Sri Lankan point of view the more important issue would be addressing the root cause of the war and issues of good governance, which is where the LLRC report is uniquely valuable.

It is also significant that the government’s decision to acquire this large extent of land has been taken prior to the establishment of a legitimate and popularly elected civilian administration for the formerly war-stricken Northern Province.  Those decisions that severely affects the lives of large numbers of people would more appropriately be taken in consultation with the elected Provincial Council after it is constituted.   The general practice in the country has been that when the government wishes to take over large tracts of land for a public purpose it discusses this matter with the affected population and with their political representatives, and gives the necessary time for legal objections to be made through the judiciary.

Government’s Claim 

The LLRC continues to be very important in Sri Lanka’s relationship with the international community.  In March of this year the majority of countries in the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution that repeated the call for the government to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.   But while the website of the Presidential Secretariat shows an impressive set of statistics and targets set and met by the government, a question mark hangs over the government’s claim that these statistics represent progress in the implementation of the LLRC and its recommendations.  Over a year and a half has passed since the release of the LLRC report in the English language, but no printed copies of that report have been made available to the general public.  It is only available on the government’s website.  Nor is the report available in printed form in the Sinhala and Tamil languages.

Reconciliation is the healing of wounded hearts and minds and bringing people together as equal citizens.  Where people are unaware of what the government is doing in terms of reconciliation and do not see themselves as participants in the process of reconciliation, there is unlikely to be reconciliation.  The contrast with what took place in the United Kingdom with the signing of the Good Friday agreement that ended the long militant campaign of the IRA cannot be greater. There the British government ensured that the text of the agreement was made available to every household in Northern Ireland. There was also a massive educational campaign that preceded the referendum to ratify that agreement.  Unfortunately in Sri Lanka, there is no such government-led educational campaign on the LLRC and its recommendations.

An intellectual exchange at a recent seminar organized by a religious institution between a representative of the government and of the TNA summarized the problems of human rights in Sri Lanka in relation to post-war reconciliation.  This arose during a seminar on the contribution of the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to ethnic equality and reconciliation in the country.  One particular issue that generated a strong reaction was the government’s decision to acquire land in the Jaffna peninsula for security purposes.  There were also many other issues relating to the human rights of the people that came up for discussion.  These included the fate of the missing persons and the reasons why some of those in government custody remained incommunicado.  The government representative urged the TNA to dialogue with the government.  He said that the government looked forward to such negotiations.

Core Problem 

The notion that there should always be engagement between parties who have a problem is etched in practitioners of conflict resolution.   The question is whether there can and should be negotiations on matters that are non-negotiable.  The position of the government and most of the people of Sri Lanka would be that the unity of the country is non-negotiable.  Even when the LTTE was at its strongest, there was a never a possibility of any government negotiating the division of the country.  Similarly the human rights of people are non-negotiable.  There are certain things that no government or majority can do even if they have the power to do so.  The referendum of 1982, at which then government sought and obtained the postponement of general elections is an example.  Not even a 2/3 majority in Parliament or a majority of people can take away the right of people to vote at general elections.

In recent years, human rights documents and peace agreements contain paragraphs on housing and property restitution and the right of displaced persons to return to their homes of origin.  The UN has also recognized the right of those who are internally displaced to go to courts to establish their right to restitution of their property.  The TNA representative’s position at the seminar was that the acquisition of a large extent of land amounting to over 6300 acres and covering 24 villages with a population of nearly 30,000 was not negotiable.  This position is given further strength by the promises made by the government to the international community that land designated as high security zones during the war would be returned to their original inhabitants.  In addition, there is a Supreme Court decision that such land should be returned to their rightful owners.

The most likely rationale for the government’s takeover of the land in the North and East is to ensure national security.  But there is a lack of clarity with regard to the need for such a large extent of land at such great cost to the affected population.  The government’s actions create the very problem it is meant to address.  The high security zones were acquired during the time of war. They were meant to put a stop to the LTTE infiltrating into civilian areas with their artillery guns and then firing into military bases.  Every time the LTTE acquired more powerful guns, the perimeter of the high security zones was expanded.  But today without the LTTE and without war there is no need for large protective spaces to guard against attack.  In the absence of government explanations as to the purpose of the land takeover the people are left to speculate as to its true purpose and whether it includes changing the demographic composition of the Northern areas to their further detriment.

It is a tragedy that a mere four years after the end of the war the vicious cycle of potential militancy born of injustice is being put into motion again.