Navi Pillay to meet ousted CJ  Monday, 19 Aug 2013
In a development that would likely to embarrass the government, the visiting UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay, will meet former Chief Justice, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake.
Earlier, the government denied visa to a delegation by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, which was expected to visit the island in a fact-finding mission on the impeachment of the former Chief Justice.
Pillay would be the first senior international official that former Chief Justice would meet, since she was controversially removed from her post.
|
Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sunday, August 18, 2013
SRI LANKA: Lawyers make recommendations for the improvement of judicial proceedings
August 17, 2013
At a recently held seminar, a group of 20 lawyers made the following recommendations for the improvement of court proceedings, particularly on human rights matters.
COLOMBO MAYOR ORDERS PROBE INTO ‘BURNT’ DOCUMENTS
August 18, 2013
Mayor of Colombo A.J.M. Muzammil has instructed the Internal Auditor of the Colombo Municipal Council to conduct an immediate investigation into the suspicious torching of a large number of important documents of the CMC. 
http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?mode=head&nid=1627Around 6,000 documents belonging to dates between the years 2008-2013 were reportedly taken to the Borella cemetery and set ablaze last evening. Upon being notified of this several CMC members, both from the ruling party and opposition, had immediately visited the location and managed to save a portion of the documents.
They had handed over these partially burned documents to the Mayor this morning.
Documents pertaining to recruitments from 2010-2011 and municipal assets were among them, Colombo Mayor Muzammil told Ada Derana.
He stated that the officials responsible had strayed from the usual procedure of destroying documents and that an investigation is being carried out into this.
The recruitment officer of the CMC’s Urban Department, Shelton Perera and Colombo Municipal Secretary H.D.C. Janaki are being investigated over their alleged involvement in the incident, he said.
Shelton Perera is also currently holding the post of Acting Head of the now dissolved emergency raid unit.
It is said that various irregularities had taken place during the recruitment of security officers for the Municipal Council.
However, the Mayor said that they had been instructed to destroy the documents using the proper procedures by the Municipal Commissioner Bhadrani Jayawardena.
Muzammil said he had inspected the order paper for destroying the relevant documents and that it had also contained document which should not have been destroyed.
He state that the documents they had managed to save are being analyzed and that several important documents are among them.
40,000 killed in last phase of war? Gota challenges UN to produce evidence
Issues to be raised with Navi Pillay
By Shamindra Ferdinando-August 17, 2013
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday challenged the UN to furnish evidence relating to the main war crimes allegation that 40,000 persons allegedly disappeared during the final phase of the war in early 2009. He emphasized that none of those propagating war crimes allegations, including the UN, had so far revealed the basis of their accusations.
In a brief interview with The Sunday Island, Rajapaksa said the government intended to take up the issue with United Nations Human Rights Commissioner (UNHRC) Navanethem Pillay scheduled to visit Sri Lanka later this month. The UN should without further delay divulge data to justify the ‘Report of the Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka’, the Defence Secretary said.
The Defence Secretary asked whether any country accused of disappearances in such a scale would accept the Panel of Experts’ recommendation that its ‘sources’ would remain classified for 20 years since the release of the report on March 31, 2011.
According to the report, the three panelists, Marzuki Darusman (Indonesia), Steven R. Ratner (US) and Yasmin Sooka (South Africa) had received over 4,000 submissions from 2,300 persons in response to a notice posted on the UN website on Oct 27, 2010.
The Defence Secretary said that the refusal to name sources on the basis of confidentiality of the Panel of Experts’ records meant such a report/evidence couldn’t be acceptable in any court of law or special investigative mechanism. He pointed out that disclosure of credible sources would strengthen ongoing efforts to haul Sri Lanka before an international war crimes inquiry. Hence the UN shouldn’t hesitate to do away with confidentiality clause.
Rajapaksa said that a comprehensive survey conducted by the government in the Northern region at the conclusion of the conflict placed the number of dead and missing during the final phase at 7,400 and 2,600, respectively. The 7,400 dead included those who died fighting for the LTTE, he said.
Responding to a query, the outspoken official said of the 2,600 missing, 1,600 had been with the LTTE, whereas only 438 disappeared in areas under military control. The Defence Secretary insisted that there had been only in 28 cases in which security forces were directly blamed for the disappearances.
The death toll figure as reported by the government is consistent with an early UN estimate. Rajapaksa made the point that Tamils carried out the Northern survey hence there couldn’t be any allegations that it was manipulated by the government.
Asked whether the survey carried out by the Department of Census and Statistics could be substantiated, the Secretary said that every case could be verified. He said: "The UN can furnish data to disapprove our findings. It can lift the embargo on oral and written submissions received by the Panel of Experts to coincide with Ms Pillay’s visit. There cannot be a better time to humiliate Sri Lanka."
He pointed out that the Amnesty International in a special report titled ‘When will they get justice? Failures of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ published in 2011 estimated the number of civilians killed at 10,000.
The Defence Secretary said that a debate on human rights in the Indian subcontinent in September last year in the House of Commons highlighted the irresponsibility of those making war crimes accusations.
Long standing LTTE supporter Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Labour) told the House of Commons on Sept. 15 that Sri Lanka’s war, in its last five months alone, had claimed the lives of 100,000 people, 40,000 of them civilians.
Rajapaksa said that a section of the international community was engaged in a numbers game targeting Sri Lanka. In fact, the UN mission in Colombo had been fully aware what was going on in the Vanni region, he said.
Those running the UN mission here at that time went to the extent of conducting secret negotiations with the LTTE when Tamil UN workers were detained at the behest of Prabhakaran for helping Tamil civilians to escape the fighting.
"This was in early 2007. The UN can easily examine those who played ball with the LTTE at that time. The detention of UN workers by the LTTE was raised in New York," he pointed out.
The UN never revealed who authorized secret contact with the LTTE to secure the release of workers, the Defence Secretary said, claiming that the war would have ended years ago if the UN ensured the LTTE adhered with an agreement not to recruit children.
The Defence Secretary recalled the finalization of the tripartite agreement among the GoSL, UN and the LTTE way back in 1998 with the then UN Special Envoy Olara Otunu playing a major role. The global community should examine UN operations here during the conflict to ensure that such grave errors wouldn’t be repeated elsewhere, he said.
Grandpass And The Tolerance Of Religious Intolerance
Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
At a recent press briefing the new Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya reportedly warned of attempts by the Tamil diaspora to tarnish the country’s image ahead of several important events — the impending visit of Human Rights chief Navi Pillay, the upcoming Northern PC elections, the UNHRC session and CHOGM.
In view of recent developments, however, it’s hard not to conclude that the Tamil diaspora (and for that matter the NGOs, the Opposition, the human rights crowd and all the usual suspects) won’t have to work very hard at their usual pastime of tarnishing Sri Lanka’s reputation. Perhaps they can all take a rest, seeing that the Government of Sri Lanka is doing such a good job of it itself.
The tensions whipped up at the Grandpass mosque over the last weekend have thankfully been defused peacefully, through a rational discussion among community leaders, members of the clergy and political representatives. The old mosque that had been marked for demolition was restored to the Muslim community for their religious activities.
The removal of the bo-tree that was obstructing any expansion the mosque began with the blessings of the Buddhist clergy in the area. They even went so far as to invite the Muslims to use the temple’s ‘dharma salaawa’ in case they ran short of space to conduct their prayers. This generous gesture of the monks is symbolic of the reserve of goodwill at the people-to-people level that enables communities to live together for generations, in central Colombo as in other parts of this multi-ethnic, multi-religious country.
As far as the ‘country’s image’ was concerned, the damage was already done. The agency reports, the TV news flashes, the online videoclips of CCTV footage showing a stone-throwing Buddhist mob attacking a mosque in Sri Lanka had circled the globe. Where did that mob come from? Who led them? Why were they not apprehended, in spite of the police having been at the site? Were they politically affiliated, and politically protected? What has happened to the country’s law enforcement apparatus, that such acts of impunity take place unchecked, with such monotonous regularity? If the GoSL is not responsible for this state of affairs, then who is?
HRC Probe On Weliweriya
By Easwaran Rutnam and Indika Sri Aravinda-Sunday, August 18, 2013
The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has launched an investigation into the Weliweriya incident, HRC Commissioner Dr Prathiba Mahanamahewa said.
He said that a special five-member team had been sent to the area on Friday to carry out preliminary inquiries into the incident.
Dr Mahanamahewa said that the five-member team had recorded statements from the police, the public, a church in the area and from others involved in the incident.
He said that a discussion will take place tomorrow (Monday) between the Human Rights Commission, 26 government institutions and others based on the statements recorded.
“Following the discussion we hope to issue some recommendations,” he said.
Meanwhile a report is to be compiled by a government and opposition committee on the incidents which took place in Weliweriya last week.
Gampaha District Parliamentarian and Government Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna said that the committee includes Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, other government and opposition parliamentarians including UNP MP Ruwan Wijeywardena and the District Secretary.
Alagiyawanna said that the committee met on Friday and discussed the situation and will have further discussions to decide on the next course of action after clashes left one person dead and at least 23 injured.
He said that the committee also discussed providing compensation to the families of the victims and those injured in the clash.
The army has also launched an investigation into the clashes at Weliweriya amidst allegations that soldiers mishandled the situation.
Army Commander Lieutenant General Daya Ratnayake on Friday appointed a special board of inquiry headed by Major General Jagath Dias to investigate the army role in the clashes.
Meanwhile army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said that most soldiers placed at Weliweriya have been withdrawn and only a few still remain there.
“They are there to assist the police and we expect them to be removed from there soon. While assisting the police in its investigations the army is conducting it own internal investigation,” he said.
The army spokesman however noted that the soldiers never directly attacked the protesters and only defended themselves against a group who had attacked the police and army using petrol bombs.
Television footage showed soldiers firing in the air and at times directing their guns at the protesters who pelted stones and other objects at the troops during the violence earlier in the evening.
Meanwhile the President of the Bar Association (BASL) Upul Jayasuriya said the BASL is ready to assist the public who want to seek legal assistance over the Weliweriya incident.
He said that several people had already contacted the BASL saying they are looking for their loved once alleged to have gone missing after the incident and the BASL will provide the legal assistance to those people.
Political Violence in Sri Lanka
- - on 08/18/2013 -
An introduction
Prosterman in 1976 estimated that some 68 million people have perished from all forms of deliberate human violence from 1820 to 1970. Zimmerman in 2013 found that if the victims of state violence suffering from pogroms, brutal repression, and other forms of state coercion were added, the figure would be more than double this.
The discussion herein is limited to socio-structural conditions of political violence, their impact on society and the ideological tendencies such an impact compelled the Sri Lankan youth into. The short nature of this paper does not allow me to discuss the relevant historical international contexts.
Political violence – pre-colonial and colonial days
Political violence in Sri Lanka can be traced back to feudalism, as manifested in regular invasions by South Indian rulers, wars to expand feudal territories, and assassinations for the transfer of royal power, and aggression and terror colonialists committed against indigenous people. De Zoysa and Fernando (2007) refer to 32 types of torture practised in ancient Sri Lanka. As taught in history lessons, these torture methods included being trampled by an elephant, being impaled on a pointed iron pole, or being torn apart by letting loose two tensioned trees onto which victims were tightly bound. Obviously, such cruel techniques would have been ‘lawfully’ inflicted by kings’ armed forces on political opponents. Torture was perceived as a legitimate means of obtaining confessions from political prisoners for convicting, banishing or executing them. Continue Reading →
NOT ONLY TAMILS AND MUSLIMS, EVEN SINHALESE HAVE PROBLEMS – RANIL
August 18, 2013
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe today said that not only the Tamils and Muslims but even the majority Sinhalese people are now facing various problems in Sri Lanka, under the present regime.
“This is why we are running a campaign that we want a national election in 2014,” he told reporters in Chennai.
The Leader of the United National Party (UNP) is currently on a visit to India and is expected to hold talks with several political leaders in New Delhi during the three-day tour.
Asked about the highly anticipated polls in the Northern Province in September, Wickramasinghe said all opposition parties in the Sri Lanka, including the UNP, have insisted that they want a “good election,” however expressed disappointment over the absence of international observers.
“We are disappointed that the election observers have not been called from the very beginning,” he said.
He stressed that all opposition parties had insisted that they wanted foreign election observers called the very day that nominations were handed in for the Provincial Council polls. “That has not happened,” he said.
“This is why we are running a campaign that we want a national election in 2014,” he told reporters in Chennai.
The Leader of the United National Party (UNP) is currently on a visit to India and is expected to hold talks with several political leaders in New Delhi during the three-day tour.
Asked about the highly anticipated polls in the Northern Province in September, Wickramasinghe said all opposition parties in the Sri Lanka, including the UNP, have insisted that they want a “good election,” however expressed disappointment over the absence of international observers.
“We are disappointed that the election observers have not been called from the very beginning,” he said.
He stressed that all opposition parties had insisted that they wanted foreign election observers called the very day that nominations were handed in for the Provincial Council polls. “That has not happened,” he said.
TWO DEAD, CORPORAL CRITICAL IN SLAF RESORT SHOOTING
August 18, 2013
An airman and airwoman of the Air Force have died following the shooting at the reception of the Marble Beach SLAF Resort in Trincomalee today. The Air Force Corporal who had shot himself after carrying out the shooting is in critical condition, SLAF said.
The Corporal had shot dead the airwoman, who is a receptionist and at the resort, and the airman before turning the gun on himself.
The shooting is believed to have been carried out over a love affair, Air Force Media spokesman Air Commodore Andrew Wijesuriya said.
The Air Force Corporal who carried out the shooting and then proceeded to turn the gun on himself is in critical condition and receiving treatment at the Trincomalee Hospital.
Extremist Reactions To Condemnation Of The Killings At Weliveriya
Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP
The various reactions to the statement issued by Tamara Kunanayagam and several others about the Weliweriya incident indicate why Reconciliation in Sri Lanka is such an uphill task. One extreme is represented by Kumar Davidwho claimed the statement was hypocritical because it ignored what he described as the tens of thousands of Tamils killed during the war. The other extreme was the view that the statement represented a break with the current government by rats leaving a sinking ship, who will end up with Ranil Wickremesinghe. Meanwhile the email address to which responses were originally requested, weliweriya@gmail.com, was blocked, and it seemed that most Sri Lankan newspapers were wary of carrying the statement.
It is a continuing comfort to be attacked by both sides, since I believe the statement represents the Middle Way. In political terms that is what the Liberal Party as well asBandaranaike’s original SLFP stood for. It is on the basis of such moderation that the statement was made, and it is in line with the general positions on the national question of Dayan Jayatilleka and Tamara and me, who have unfortunately if perhaps understandably been given prominence together in one website which carried the statement.
With regard to the conflict, we have consistently defended the conduct of our armed forces, while we have also made it clear, most compellingly by Dayan in his book which incorporates the idea in its title, that the Sri Lankan government fought a Just War. Though we have all noted that there were civilian casualties, we have, with evidence, noted that charges of indiscriminate firing etc were absurd.
At the same time we have made it clear that there are some allegations, relating to the period after the conflict, which should be investigated. This is now the position also of the Sri Lankan government, following the Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, and the Action Plan to implement these recommendations which has been adopted by Cabinet. Read More
By Binoy Suriyaarachchi-Sunday, 18 Aug 2013The committee appointed by the Sri Lanka Army has decided to obtain statements from the general public in connection with the incident transpired in Weliweriya, during which three people were killed earlier this month.
However, it was reported the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (SLHRC) has intervened and stopped an attempt made by the military to summon people to army camps to record statements in this regard.
Accordingly, the army is now inviting the people to record their statements at the Weliweriya Police Station.
Military Spokesperson, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya told Ceylon Today the committee will obtain statements only from the people who volunteer to comment on the incident.
Brigadier Wanigasooriya also said a few people, who voluntarily stepped forward, had given their statements in connection with the incident, by approaching the Ganemulla Army Camp.
"Though some groups attempted to vilify our image, the people still have a faith in us," the Brigadier said.
He also said, "We found that it is required to take statements from the general public as well. Accordingly, the committee has instructed the Weliweriya Police to inform us, if there are any people who would like to comment in this regard. If so, the members of the committee will record statements at the police station," he said.
It was reported that a committee appointed by the army has thus far recorded statements from each and every solders, including tip-officers who were deployed in Weliweriya.
Brigadier Wanigasooriya said the statements from the police officers who were present at the protest will be recorded as well and that the investigations by the army would exclusively focus on identifying and observing the activities of the soldiers during the incident.
Ranil 'disappointed' over poll process  SUNDAY, 18 AUGUST 2013
Leader of Opposition in Sri Lankan Parliament Ranil Wickramasinghe said today that he was disappointed over the election process to the Northern Provincial Council polls in his country.
"We are disappointed," Wickramasinghe told reporters at the airport, adding, the demand of the opposition parties to post election observers for the provincial elections has not been met. "Also, we are disappointed as a civilian has not been made the Governor. We did not expect a person from military background," he said. In reply to a question, the Sri Lankan leader said not only Tamils, but other sections of the Lankan society like Muslims and Sinhalese faced problems and "that is why we are campaigning for National Elections next year," he said. According to Sri Lankan media reports, Wickramasinghe, who is on a three-day tour of India, will hold talks with Congress and opposition BJP leaders besides top government officials in New Delhi. An elected council for the Northern Province in Sri Lanka was among the measures for devolution of power contemplated under the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution. The amendment was introduced after the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord. The ruling United People's Freedom Alliance, the main opposition United National Party and the Tamil National Alliance are the major contestants in the elections to the Northern Provincial Council. (PTI) |
Seven Media Organizations condemn summoning of journalists to a military camp
(Lanka-e-News-18.Aug.2013, 4.00PM) We at the Seven Media Organizations are disturbed by the recent summoning of journalists by the Army to a military camp in Ganemulla, purportedly to obtain their statements over the Weliweriya incident, where security force went berserk, killing three civilians and wounding several dozen others. Summons signed by Major General N.J.C.Dias and delivered to several media organizations have instructed several of our media colleagues to be present at a military camp in order to obtain their statements by a military panel which is conducting an internal military investigation.
There is no gainsaying that the military has no legal authority to summon civilians and general public for a military inquiry. Nonetheless, the recent conduct by the military is further proof of the increasing militarization of the society.
We have reasons to believe the recent move is part of a witch-hunt. Journalists who had been critical of the military conduct and reported the mayhem in Weliweriya have been at the receiving end of threats issued by the defence officials recently.
We at the Seven Media Organizations, strongly demand that the government put an end to the unsavory methods that it has resorted to- including the recent summoning of media personnel- and initiate an independent investigation into the Weliweriya incident. In order to move ahead from the tragedy that befell in Weliweriya, it is important that the government owns up the killings committed by its security apparatus. A white wash of the incident or a witch-hunt of the critics of the government would not serve the interests of the public
Signed By
SL WJA - Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association
FMETU - Federation Of Media Employees Trade Unions
SLMMF - Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum
SLTJA - Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Association
SAFMA - South Asia Free Media Association
FMM - Free Media Movement
MMD - Movement for Media democracy
(Lanka-e-News-18.Aug.2013, 4.00PM) We at the Seven Media Organizations are disturbed by the recent summoning of journalists by the Army to a military camp in Ganemulla, purportedly to obtain their statements over the Weliweriya incident, where security force went berserk, killing three civilians and wounding several dozen others. Summons signed by Major General N.J.C.Dias and delivered to several media organizations have instructed several of our media colleagues to be present at a military camp in order to obtain their statements by a military panel which is conducting an internal military investigation. There is no gainsaying that the military has no legal authority to summon civilians and general public for a military inquiry. Nonetheless, the recent conduct by the military is further proof of the increasing militarization of the society.
We have reasons to believe the recent move is part of a witch-hunt. Journalists who had been critical of the military conduct and reported the mayhem in Weliweriya have been at the receiving end of threats issued by the defence officials recently.
We at the Seven Media Organizations, strongly demand that the government put an end to the unsavory methods that it has resorted to- including the recent summoning of media personnel- and initiate an independent investigation into the Weliweriya incident. In order to move ahead from the tragedy that befell in Weliweriya, it is important that the government owns up the killings committed by its security apparatus. A white wash of the incident or a witch-hunt of the critics of the government would not serve the interests of the public
Signed By
SL WJA - Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association
FMETU - Federation Of Media Employees Trade Unions
SLMMF - Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum
SLTJA - Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Association
SAFMA - South Asia Free Media Association
FMM - Free Media Movement
MMD - Movement for Media democracy
UNESCO Warning »
By Indika Sri Aravinda-Sunday, August 18, 2013
UNESCO has warned that the Galle Fort may lose its world heritage status owing to illegal constructions within the Fort.
The National Heritage Ministry has received a letter in this regard, Minister of National Heritage Dr Jagath Balasuriya said.
The Galle Fort was recognized as a cultural heritage site for its unique exposition of an urban ensemble which illustrates the interaction of European architecture and South Asian traditions from the 16th to the 19th centuries.
Dr Balasuriya said that among the concerns raised by UNESCO is the new pavilion constructed at the Galle cricket ground near the Fort, the Galle port expansion which has an impact on the Fort and new houses and shops constructed inside the Fort premises.
He also said that villas in the Galle Fort have been modified as a result of which some of them have lost their colonial look.
“Some villas have been purchased by millionaires and architects who have changed the interior of those villas, and as a result of which they have lost that colonial look. We are investigating the fact that some of these houses and shops have been purchased outright by foreigners,” he said.
He said that the government is mindful of the concerns raised by UNESCO and takes it seriously and will respond accordingly.
He said that the government is mindful of the concerns raised by UNESCO and takes it seriously and will respond accordingly.
The Minister said that he is in the process of discussing the concerns with the Urban Development Authority and other relevant officials and hopes to have it resolved soon.
Meanwhile the President of the Galle Heritage Fund, Parakrama Dahanayake said that they have not been informed about the concerns raised by UNESCO.
Meanwhile the President of the Galle Heritage Fund, Parakrama Dahanayake said that they have not been informed about the concerns raised by UNESCO.
He however said that tenders were issued for two government institutions to occupy two locations within the Fort.
In Honour Of ‘Shanie’: Rethinking Patriotism; Re-Imaging The Patriot
“There can be no patriotism without justice… As soon as the right of one individual is violated, the right of everyone is jeopardised”. - Georges Clemenceau[i]
In the morning of January 13th 1948, Mahatma Gandhi began the final fast of his life.
The target of Gandhi’s last fast was not the Colonial rulers but the government and people of newly independent India. His demands were equally unusual. Gandhi wanted Hindu refugees to vacate the Muslim homes/mosques they had seized, even if it meant returning to the wretched refugee camps, in the bitter cold of Delhi-winter. He also wanted Indian government pay Rs.550 million it owed to Pakistan. Nehru and Patel were withholding the payment because they knew that some of the money would be used by Jinnah to buy weapons to be used against India; they also feared Hindu/Sikh fury.
Shanie - Lankanesan Nesiah
Gandhi’s conditions caused consternation; many of his followers (in the polity and in society) believed they were anti-Hindu and anti-Indian. But the Mahatma understood that he was fighting for the honour of India and the moral integrity of her Hindus. And as the fast continued, the political/public mood started changing. “The loss of Mahatma Gandhi’s life would mean the loss of India’s soul”[ii] Nehru told his people, and they began to agree.
The fast ended successfully. Indian government released the payment to Pakistan. Hindu refugees gave up Moslem dwellings/mosques voluntarily. A political-civic agreement was reached to end the boycott of Muslim shops and to guarantee the safety of Delhi’s Muslims.Read More
No, You Can’t Have Jam Yet Professor Sitrampalam!
By Darshanie Ratnawalli -August 18, 2013 |
Darshanie Ratnawalli
Professor S.K Sitrampalam is the former professor of history in the University of Jaffna, a vice president of ITAK (euphemistically known as the Federal Party) and a specialist in South Asian history and Archaeology. He can be relied on… To take your breath away by bizarre displays of ignorance that is hard to explain away even with the excuse; ‘nationalist historian’. Unless ‘nationalist historian’ is a polite euphemism that really means ‘unsound operative’. Here is a demonstration from his “Tamils of Sri Lanka: Historical Roots of Tamil identity” (2003).
“At this juncture it is pertinent to quote Geiger who studied the Sinhala language in depth. He has divided its development into three phases. They are: Sinhalese Prakrit (3rd century B.C – 4th century AD), proto–Sinhalese (4th century AD – 8th century A.D) Sinhalese proper (after 8th century A.D). Elu, is the original language from which the later Sinhalese developed. However, data from the Brahmi inscriptions show that the Elu would have been either old Tamil or a dialect of Tamil. In the light of the evidence from the Brahmi inscriptions it is now evident that the proto–Sinhalese speakers, namely the Elu speakers came into contact with Prakrit, the language of Buddhism.”
The only appropriate way to respond to this is to imagine that one is a pre-school teacher and Professor Sitrampalam a tiny tot. “Oh honey” one would say “Come here. Sit. Wait let me wipe that jam off. You want to know what Elu is? You know ‘Dharma’? It’s Sanskrit. ‘dhamma’ is the Pali form. Dam and daham are the Elu forms. Shall we see what the Old Sinhala or Sinhalese Prakrit form is? Here, this is the glossary of Inscriptions of Ceylon Vol. 1[i]. Page 110. It’s ‘dama’- truth, law, religion, virtue, etc. It can be seen in inscription number 923 as ‘dama-katika’- the expounder or preacher of religion. Shall we see the actual inscription? Here let me…there’s jam on your fingers. ‘Damakatika Tisa….Pusaha (Tisaha lene)’.
Shall we move on to another book[ii]? Turn to “Works and Persons in Sinhala Literary Culture” by Charles Hallisey. “Sinhala literary culture during these centuries (he means between 10th and 15th centuries AD honey. It’s in the previous paragraph) was internally diglossic, employing one “alphabet” for writing Sinhala poetry and one for Sinhala prose. The script was the same for both; the difference between the two was the number of permitted letters (aksaras), prose, having fifty seven, against thirty-six for poetry. The alphabet for poetic Sinhala (elu) prevented the use of many Sanskrit loanwords (tatsamas) because it lacked letters for the aspirated consonants of Sanskrit, although Sanskrit loanwords became as common in Sinhala prose as they later were in the literatures of other local languages else-where in South Asia. Sanskrit loanwords apparently became common in spoken Sinhala too, as well as in Sinhala Buddhist discourse: the Sanskritic dharmaya(Truth, the Buddha’s Teaching) is far more common than daham or dähäm, found in elu, whereas there is notatsama in Sinhala from the Pali equivalent, dhamma.” Read More
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)