SL military aims to mar Ananthi meeting Navi Pillay

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 August 2013, 23:43 GMT]
Sri Lankan military intelligence in Jaffna on Wednesday staged a ‘protest’ against Ms Ananthi Sasitharan, the representative of thousands of Eezham Tamil women, who are demanding the Sri Lankan State to reveal the whereabouts of their husbands who were filtered away from the civilians in the final hours of the Vanni war by the SL military that had announced ‘general amnesty’ through the loudspeakers. Sinhala workers, intelligence operatives and some ex-LTTE members brought from elsewhere, were holding placards written in broken Tamil against Ananthi Sasitharan in front of the Jaffna Bus Stand. In the meantime, informed sources in Colombo said that the SL State was seeking to ‘influence’ certain foreign missions in Colombo to avoid UN Human Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay meeting Ananthi, who is also contesting in the Provincial Council election on behalf of the TNA. 

Informed sources further said that the Embassy of Switzerland, actively involved in shaping the programme of the visiting UN Human Rights Commissioner is under pressure not to schedule a meeting between Ms Ananthi and Ms Navi Pillay.

They also don't want Navi Pillai to meet war-widows in Jaffna.

Instead, those who schedule the programme want the war-widows to come to Colombo to meet Navi Pillay, the sources further said.

Many war-widows would find it extremely difficult to travel beyond Oamanthai to present their case to the visiting UN Commissioner for Human Rights. 

The SL military intelligence has a track record in sabotaging crucial eyewitnesses reaching Colombo by buses. 

At Mu'l'livaaykkaal, the SL military is busily engaged in removing the remaining evidence material such as the abandoned vehicles of civilians before the arrival of Ms Navi Pillay. 

More than 10 dump trucks and cranes are being used both day and night to complete the mission. The people who witnessed the ‘project’ by the SL military said that the destroyed vehicles were being relocated to a remote jungle site far away from Mu’l’livaaykkaal. 

On Tuesday’s protest, the SL military deployed a section of former LTTE members, who were brought to Jaffna and kept at a military base in Ariyaalai. 

The ‘participants’ were not aware of the motive of the SL military intelligence till the last moment when they were forced to participate in a protest against Ananthi. 

The families of some of the former LTTE members were also instructed to appear at the SL military camps and were brought to the protest. 

The SL military blocked Tamil journalists from taking close-up photos of the ‘protesters’ as it feared that the identity of the ‘participants’ would be exposed. 

The SL military intelligence has brought in another war-widow, Ms Sarala Jeyaratnam, the wife of a Tamil SL ‘Police Intelligence Specialist’ operative at the notorious TID in Colombo, Inspector T. Jeyaratnam, who was abducted in 2005 at the height of the shadow war allegedly by the LTTE intelligence wing. 

Ms Sarala was earlier under pressure from the SL military intelligence and was living for a long time under the protection of the Christian mission in Jaffna. After using some former LTTE cadres to ‘convince’ her, the SL military intelligence has brought her into the scene to act against the voices of thousands of war widows in the Tamil homeland. 

A sophisticated shadow war was initiated under the former SL president Chandrika Kumaratunga by the SL military intelligence chief Kapila Hendewitarana, who later masterminded several crimes in the war against Tamils with the abetment of Indian and Western intelligence outfits. 

Sarala’s husband was reported missing in Colombo on 20 April 2005, a few days after a leading LTTE intelligence chief, Newton, was allegedly abducted by the SL military intelligence in Colombo. 

A series of killings by both the SL military intelligence and the LTTE intelligence followed and the West backed the Sri Lankan State by its biased ‘punitive’ measures only against the LTTE, enabling the SL State to wage a genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils. 

The intelligence outfit shaped by Major General (retd) Kapila Hendewitarana is still a key player in shaping Colombo’s shadow war against the Tamil diaspora in addition to sophisticating the SL military to take forward the structural genocide on the ground. 

Deploying some ex-LTTE members, who have been converted as SL military agents, and making use of Western trained Muslim operatives, the SL intelligence system is seeking to manage the structural genocidal project while offering ‘Lascarine’ intelligence services to the external Establishments. 

This intelligence outfit also functions as the coordinating agency of extremist Buddhist forces such as the JHU, the SL ‘defence’ system and the SL department of archaeology, informed sources in Colombo said. 

The extremist ‘Bodu Bala Sena’ is an example of the Intelligence's latest ‘creativity’ in its attempt to make the JHU, the ‘mainstream’ Sinhala Buddhist extremist force, to appear as a ‘moderate’ in the eyes of some Sinhalese, Muslims and the gagged Tamils, the sources in Colombo further said.

Sri Lanka’s Army Of Buddhist Power

By Eric Ellis -August 22, 2013 

Eric Ellis

A founder of Sri Lanka’s Army of Buddhist Power tries to explain his militant views on Muslims, and how they fit with the government’s triumphant story of post-war reconciliation

Sri Lanka’s raffish capital, where we begin our series, is in economic catch-up mode. Colombo is replacing the colonial-era roads and railways built when Churchill was a boy and ‘Ceylon’ was a languid tropical afterthought for the British who ruled the plantation island.

Though it took its time – 10 years – to be completed, a sparkling new tollway to the beachy Rajapaksa heartland in the south has cut the journey from Colombo from a congested three-to-six hours to just one.

In the conflict-ravaged Tamil north, Indian engineers are re-connecting the war-severed train line that once carried passengers from Colombo to Jaffna.

In the mostly Sinhalese ‘deep south’ of the island, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home region of Hambantota is being lavished with the country’s biggest infrastructural project, a US$1.5 billion stampede of white elephants that’s giving the town a new port, international airport and cricket stadium – all named after President Rajapaksa – and a convention centre and even an alternative Bollywood complex.

Read more in the The Globalmail

*Eric Ellis is an award-winning journalist who writes about the politics, economics and societies of South and South-East Asia. He has written for a range of international journals; Fortune Magazine, Forbes, the Financial Times, Time Magazine, The Times, The Bulletin/Newsweek, The Spectator,Institutional Investor, Euromoney, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review and the International Herald Tribune.

THE MONKS’ ARMY

A founder of Sri Lanka’s Army of Buddhist Power tries to explain his militant views on Muslims, and how they fit with the government’s triumphant story of post-war reconciliation.

WORDS BY ERIC ELLIS · IMAGES BY PAULA BRONSTEIN

The Next Pandora’s Box

 by Tisaranee Gunasekara-Thursday, August 22, 2013

“Lies are believed amongst every race;

And was any race ever the sole possessor of Truth?”

Abdallah al-Mar’arri (973-1057)1

( August 22, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When Martin Wickremesinghe’s Bhavatharanaya was first published, some Sinhala-Buddhists (lay and ordained) wanted it banned for ‘insulting’ the Buddha.

There are American Evangelicals who think that Harry Potter books should be prohibited for promoting anti-Christian values.

The Next Pandora’s Box by nelvely

Buddhism And The Politics Of Homosexuality

By Thrishantha Nanayakkara -August 22, 2013 

Thrishantha Nanayakkara

Last weekend, I enjoyed some time with the kids and my wife in the beach. As always, it was so relaxing to watch how the waves arose, broke down on sand, and receded back to the sea. Walking along, we were paying attention to the sound of waves impounding on sand. Every wave had a sound track with its own subtle uniqueness that sent waves of unique feelings inside me. At some point, I closed my eyes, and started to watch these waves of feelings triggered by every new wave that broke on the beach. It re-confirmed me that I had no control over the waves of feelings being propagated in my mind – ear (rupa) comes into contact with sound (rupa), a vinyana or the discriminative awareness arises (vi-for vibhedana or splitting, and nyana-for knowing that splits a “me” here vs a “wave” out there), detailed sensations (vedana) of the sound comes under discriminative awareness, and perceptions and judgments arise (sanya). When I closed one ear (augmented the physical organization of the process of hearing or kaya sankara), the way I felt the sound of waves changed. So my feelings and perceptions depended on kaya sankara too (sankara in general refers to any thing with a structure in body, mind, or language).

What was striking is that this whole internal wave starting from the contact of a sound wave on the ear all the way to perceptions was so self-driven. I had no control over the process, and the end effect depended on so many laws of nature (dharmatha) of which I was only a manifestation, than a controlling authority. This notion is explained in Buddhism in one word called anatta (the non-self nature).  When we are unaware of this process, somebody who goes to the beach will enjoy the feelings for sometime, but get bored of it over time, or find some fault there, like the chill in the air. This non-satisfactory nature of being unaware of sensations is called the quality of dukka (du- for weak, akka-for axis), or in other words the compulsion to move away seeking a more pleasurable thing out there. It works like a wheel mounted on a weak axis – hence it is calleddu-akka or dukka. Moreover, the variation of the sound track of every new breaking wave, and the variability of resulting perceptions is called the quality of anicca or anithya every present in nature. Buddha explained that all five aggregates – rupa, vedana, sanya, sankara, and vinyana – that underpin compounded objects and mind, possess the three qualities – unaware clinging leads to unsatisfactoriness (dukka), the aggregates are subject to change (anithya), and there is no superseding owner of the five aggregates but they are self driven, conditioned, and transient phenomena (anatta).                        Read More

Orientalists’ Perspective On Sri Lankan Moors

By Aboobacker Rameez -August 22, 2013

Aboobacker Rameez

This is in response to the recent article titled Moors of Sri Lanka are not perfectlypeaceful appeared at Colombo Telegraph by Dr Imthiyaz, on whom, I have a great respect as an academic who largely deals with issues concerning ethnic conflicts and minority issues in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world.

However, I beg to disagree with his latest article in which he seriously lambasted the Muslims as being not a peaceful community in Sri Lanka. At the outset, let me stress that the Moors (also known as Muslims) have never joined with the separatist movement in Sri Lanka that fought against the government forces for many decades. Many people concede that had Muslims joined hands with the rebels fighting for the Ealam project in North East, things would have been different. The government at the early stages of the war was ill equipped to deal with the separatists. Muslims due to their refusal to ally with the paid dearly in terms of life and wealth, even this author has lost one of his close relatives in the attack of the separatists in 90s. It is also to be noted that the Southern Sinhalese also had two insurgencies in 70s and 80s with the frustrated youth as a result of mass unemployment and poverty gripping the country at that time.

Muslims, unlike their Tamil and Sinhalese counterparts, have never been involved in any insurgencies. The Muslims have always remained as a peaceful and harmonious community with a great deal of integration with other communities such as Sinhelese and Tamils in the Island.                Read More  

FURIOUS BUDDHISTS ARE MAKING LIFE HELL FOR SRI LANKA'S MUSLIMS

By Joseph Cox

Muslims are under attack in Sri Lanka. Recent reports indicate that gangs of Buddhists have been roaming the streets, administering bloody mob beatings, and attacking places where Muslims work and worship. Raw pork has been thrown into mosques, the Halal logo has been banned, and the prominent Muslim government critic Azad Sally has been arrested. One dramatic incident ended with government commandos being deployed to maintain law and order after a gang of Buddhistsinjured four people at a mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka's largest city, forcing it to close and a curfew to be put in place.

Furious Buddhists Are Making Life Hell for Sri Lanka's Muslims by nelvely

UN finds Australia violates international law by detaining refugees

BY JDS-

22 AUGUST 2013

The UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva , on Thusrday (22), found that Australia has committed 143 serious violations of international law by indefinitely detaining 46 refugees for four years, on the basis of their ‘adverse security assessments’ issued by ASIO. The JDS has reliably learnt that most of them are Tamil asylum seekers who fled Sri Lanka's bloody civil war.Australia breached its obligations under a binding treaty accepted by Australia, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Specifically the UN found:

UN Finds Australia Violates International Law by Detaining Refugees by nelvely

POLLS DEPT SEIZES 24 MINISTERIAL VEHICLES

POLLS DEPT SEIZES 24 MINISTERIAL VEHICLES

2013-08-19

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Department of Elections has seized 24 ministerial vehicles engaging in polls malpractices and violations in the run-up to the 2013 Provincial Council polls.

“The majority of them have been in the North-Western Province and a few in the Central Province with no complaints from the Northern Province,” Deputy Elections Commissioner, M.M. Mohamed, told Ceylon Today.

He also explained there were 110 complaints lodged with Elections Department with 24 of them being in relation to the misuse of ministerial vehicles, 40 others in relation to
posters and cutouts. He stressed all complaints were made by the ruling party members and bordered on intra-party squabbles in their quest for preferential votes.

However, there have been no instances of killings and physical assaults, he said.

He also said Section 66 of the Provincial Council Act No. 2 of 1988 clearly explains what constituted as election malpractices and that Section 91(1) says the punishment of the violations could also see litigation and if proved, the candidatures of the violaters could also be annulled.  “We are not the police or the Army, but all we are mandated to do is to refer the instances to the police and the relevant State institutions and the respective Ministry Secretaries. Candidates, who violate the laws can face deterrent punishment and what we want is to prevent that,” he said.

Deputy Officer of the Elections Department’s Complaints Receiving Centre, Sunil Hettiarachchi, said letters have been sent to the respective secretaries of the ministries, to which the vehicles used for the malpractices belong and the Department has also directed the police to remove the cutouts and posters of the candidates. “We are implementing the laws to the hilt,” he said.  There have also been instances where public servants have been detected engaged in election malpractices, he said. Complaints can be made orally to the Desk on 0112- 877612 and /or written complaints on telefax- 0112-877613.

ELECTIONS OFFICIALS SCAN LAGGALA IN SEARCH OF FISHERIES MINISTRY VEHICLES 3 VEHICLES AND CIRCUIT BUNGALOW MISUSED, TWO OTHER VEHICLES NARROWLY ESCAPES

2013-08-21

Matale Election officials conducted an inspection tour in Laggla after they received information that around six vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Fisheries are being used for electioneering in the area. They inspected vehicle, 251-0527, belonging to the Ministry of Fisheries at the Irrigation Department’s Circuit Bungalow in Vilgamuwa. It was also revealed that this circuit bungalow was being used for campaigning.
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) had previously complained to the Commissioner of Elections that vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Fisheries were being misused for election campaigning in Matale District. However officials attached to the Ministry denied CaFFE’s allegations.

The vehicle (251-0527 ) was driven by an individual named Rathnapala. He had arrived in Laggala three days ago with two other officials from NARA. However when Elections officials raided the Circuit Bungalow the lead field officer had disappeared. CaFFE observers had reported that this vehicle was being used for electioneering earlier in the day.

The driver told Elections officials that they had arrived in the area for a three-day inspection tour to observe four tanks in the area to remove sediment. However CaFFE observed that they had brought mattresses, a gas cylinder, pillows, knives and other utilities with them, this is an indication that they had arrived to spend a significant amount of time in the area.
A temporary labourer named, Sarath Weerawardane, had been attached to be in charge of the Circuit Bungalow from July 21, 2013. He was responsible for providing food for those who arrived at the bungalow. He said that other individuals arrive and stay in the bungalow, instead of those who make the bookings. Among those are candidates who contest for the Central Provincial Council. In addition state vehicles bearing the numbers PA 5262, PC 4035, PB 8393, 252-6565 are also being used for electioneering.
CaFFE reiterates that public property has been massively misused in Matale District. These vehicles belong to the Ministries of Higher Education, Lands, Fisheries, Irrigation and Transport. The manner in which state property is subtly misused could be seen by how resources of the Ministry of Fisheries and the Circuit Bungalow of the Ministry of Irrigation are been used in Laggala, Ahmed Manas, National Organizer of CaFFE said.

Photo caption – Photo number 1 shows the NARA vehicle (251-0527,)
2nd photo captures Elections Department officials conducting their investigation while the 3rd photo is of the Irrigation Department Circuit Bungalow.

CaFFE Media Unit

Moors Of Sri Lanka Are Not Perfectly Peaceful

By Imtiyaz Razak -

Dr.Imtiyaz Razak

Muslims display the victory symbol as they hold a picture of Osama bin Laden during an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. protest demonstration after Friday prayers in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, July 21, 2006.

August 22, 2013 

Well, much has been said and written about the Bodu Bala Sena with regard their attack and violence on Moors of Sri lanka [also known as Muslims] and their symbols such as mosques. What the BBS did should not be encouraged, but need to be condemned to build more inclusive society in the island of Sri Lanka.

Having that said I would not think Moors of Sri Lanka are perfectly peaceful nor all of their actions contribute to peace and harmony. The recent trend and development among Moors of Sri Lanka are not very conducive to build peace and trust with non-Muslims.

The growth of Wahabists and Wahabist movements generously backed by the Middle Eastern countries and local agents, rise of Madrasas in the major corners of areas where Muslims pose predominancy, the growth of Muslim mosques on major roads and localities, steady rise of hijabis [muslim women wearing حجاب-a veil that covers the head and chest] are a few that contribute to the BBS actions and politics.

 Read More

Pulmoaddai Muslims protest against Colombo's land survey

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2013, 22:30 GMT]
Stating that 500 acres of lands were being taken over for archaeological research, the lands were being seized from Muslims at 14th Mile Post in Pulmoaddai in Kuchchave'li division in Trincomalee district, said protesting Muslims who opposed the move by the Sri Lankan government on Monday. The residents of predominantly Muslim village took to the streets when SL survey department officials attempted to survey the lands despite repeated objections by the Muslims. 

150 houses that had been given to Tsunami affected civilians at Ponmalaik-kudaa were also being appropriated within the said 500 acres of lands. 

Muslim residents have land deeds for several lands that were being surveyed for seizure under the cover of so-called archaeological research. 

Following the protest by Muslims, the surveying has been put off, civil officials in Pulmoaddai told media.

For Sri Lanka, Commonwealth Turns Enabler In Run Up to CHOGM

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 17 -- With Sri Lanka, when does so-called "constructive engagement" as claimed by the Commonwealth become collusion in cover-up?

  During on of the cynical Twitter Q&A's that Inner City Press has yet seen -- click here for review of US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power's August 15 town hall, here for UN in Sri Lanka and here for one by UK- now UN-diplomat Nicholas Kay on Somalia -- Commonwealth spokesperson Richard Uku tweeted along with the CHOGM on Saturday, ignoring questions about attacks on Tamils and Muslim and the impeachment of the Chief Justice.

The Commonwealth's pitch seems to be "wait and see" at the Commonweath Heads of Government Meeting in November. But much as already been seen -- and not seen.

  The Sri Lankan government's film "Lies Agreed To," purported to rebut Callum Macray's documentary "Killing Fields of Sri Lanka," for example, was screened inside the UN by the UN Correspondents Association. 

  When Inner City Press, then an elected member of the UNCA Executive Committee, reported that no vote had been taken on the screening, and that the decision-maker had a previous financial relationship, as landlord, with Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN, a process seeking to expel Inner City Press began. Click here for the Sri Lanka Campaign's summary halfway through that story.

  On Saturday, the Sri Lanka Campaign posed a number of questions to the Commonwealth spokesperson. These were answered with post-event spin. For example:

To be clear, our joint Twitter session with @CHOGMSriLanka this pm was part of our constructive engagement with Sri Lanka.

Engagement, yes. But constructive for whom? Watch this site.

From the UN's August 2 noon briefing transcript:

Inner City Press: In Sri Lanka, there has been live fire by the army at a protest.... It’s been filmed. It’s given rise to a lot of concern there and some countries have spoken. I wanted to know if the UN has, either the country team or here, has any response to that? And also that report, the one that was completed by the DSG [Deputy Secretary-General], Jan Eliasson. Is it going to be made public? Do you have any comment or summary of what’s in it? And then the third, is in the run-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting coming up in Colombo, there’s been a lot of controversy about freedom of the press. There’s been some death threats made to journalists that seek to cover the meeting, and I wanted to know whether the UN is aware of that and has anything to say about it.

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: On the first, your reference to apparent incidents involving live fire in Sri Lanka, I’ll have to look into that. I don’t have anything. On the second, the Deputy Secretary-General recently presented recommendations to the Secretary-General and the Secretary-General is now studying those recommendations and I would anticipate that the Secretary-General would have more to say on this subject next month. In the meantime, as the Deputy Secretary-General told you when you asked him about this at his press conference last month, we need to be better prepared for action when we see, at an early stage, human rights violations. But as I say, I would anticipate the Secretary-General would have more to say on this subject next month. And with regard to the third part of your question about freedom of the media, that is something that the Secretary-General firmly believes is hugely important. It’s important that journalists should be able to carry out their work unencumbered and free of intimidation.

23 resettled Tamils slain in Batticaloa since 2009 by wild elephants

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2013, 17:43 GMT]
At least 23 resettled Tamils have been killed in Batticaloa district by wild elephants that have been brought into the jungles close to Tamil villages by genocidal Colombo's Forest Department after 2009. Disregarding the repeated objections of the people, the SL Forest Department has brought in more wild elephants from Hambantota where Rajapaksa government recently launched ‘Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport’. The resettled people have been complaining to the SL Police and civil officials each time a person is slain by the wild elephants brought in from the South. 

Three more wild elephants, brought in on 05th August, have gone amok on the huts and properties of the resettled Tamils at 5th Mile Post area, the villagers say.

Wild elephant attacks have been reported in Eaa'raavoor-pattu (Chengkaladi) and Koa'ralaip-pattu South divisions. Kudumpi-malai, 5th Mile Post, Eera'lak-ku'lam, Chiththaa'ndi, Chinna-ve'li and Chinnaa'lan-ve'li. 

The wild elephants often visit the agricultural sites seeking water in ponds and tanks. The elephants also destroy paddy and stores where harvested rice and harvested crops are stored. 

The resettled people depend on agriculture and freshwater fishing are severely affected by the wild elephants.

The resettled Tamils also complain that wild elephants are deployed to force them away from their villages. 

The people of Paduvaankarai complain that the SL authorities have systematically failed to act on their complaints. 

In the meantime, Colombo is transferring 12 Divisional Secretaries in the Batticaloa district next month. 

Divisional Secretaries in Paduvaan-karai region of the Batticaloa district, who have only completed one-year service in their divisions, are also being subjected to the internal transfer scheme. Civil sources said the transfer scheme is planned to appoint Divisional Secretaries whom Colombo considers as “loyal” to its genocidal land appropriation policy.

US rejects top SL officers over ‘accountability issues’

GoSL alleges decision unfair

By Shamindra Ferdinando-August 20, 2013

The US has refused to include Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias and Military Secretary Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe in a military programme, scheduled to be held in Auckland, New Zealand during the second week of September, citing accountability issues.

They were among three Majors General nominated by army headquarters for ‘Pacific Army Management seminar’ scheduled to begin on Sept. 9. The US accepted the nomination of Boniface Perera, current Security Forces Commander, Vanni.

Veteran Gajaba Regiment officer Dias commanded the 57 Division which fought on the Central front during eelam war IV. Government sources told The Island that the 57 Division hadn’t been accused of any specific atrocities during the Vanni campaign, whereas Ranasinghe wasn’t involved in the campaign at all. At the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, Ranasinghe as the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation played a pivotal role in reintegration of ex-LTTE personnel to civil society.

The US on Monday informed army headquarters of its decision. Maj. Gen. Ranasinghe’s nomination for another US sponsored project was rejected several months ago on the basis he commanded the 53 Division involved in operations in the Jaffna and Vanni theatres. Subsequently, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa brought to the notice of the US Embassy that Ranasinghe was in command of the division during peace time.

Sources pointed out that the US Defence Attaché in Colombo went to the extent of assuring Maj. Gen. Ranasinghe that he would be picked up for the following programme as he had been deprived of a visit without reason. The US Defence Attaché visited army headquarters on the invitation, of former army commander the then Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, who took up the issue.

Sources said that former US Ambassador Patricia Butenis had been the Guest of Honour at an art exhibition organized by the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation at the art gallery to give an opportunity for the ex-LTTE cadres to display their talents.

Asked whether the government would take it up with the US, sources said that since the conclusion of the conflict Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) the celebrated 58 Division, Maj. Gen Prasanna Silva, the war time GOC of the 55 Division as well as Jaffna Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe had not been allowed to join US programmes. In the case of Maj. Gen. Silva, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative in New York was denied entry into War College.

US, Switzerland Reject Jagath Dias As Probable War Criminal; Govt. Appoints Dias To Head Weliweriya Military Probe

August 22, 2013 

The Army’s Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias who was put in charge of the army inquiry into a violent military crackdown against civilian demonstrators in Weliweriya on August 1 has been rejected by the United States for training programme on account of his implication in alleged war crimes during the final days of the war.

Jagath Dias - Subjected to scrutiny

The military inquiry into Weliweriya was handed over to the Army Chief late last evening after the initial two weeks deadline lapsed and the special board of inquiry said it required more time.

Major Generals Dias and Sudantha Ranasinghe were turned down for US training because of alleged complicity in certain human rights violations during the Wanni battles. The Government has reacted strongly to the move denying the allegations against Dias and Ranasinghe. Chief of Defence Staff General Jagath Jayasuriya who addressed a media conference yesterday said that Ranasinghe had initially been cleared for a US training after he was rejected on a previous occasion. “It is not clear why he was rejected again,” Gen. Jayasuriya said adding that in the case of Dias, he had been refused a training at the National Defence College as well because of his involvement in the 57 Division. “I think until that issue is cleared, that problem for him will keep resurfacing,” the former Army Commander admitted. “With regard to Maj. Gen. Dias a decision has to come from the top,” Jayasuriya added.

Gen. Jayasuriya said that in the case of Maj. Gen. Ranasinghe, he had raised the issue with the US Defence Attache during his tenure as Commander. “There is a problem with his Division – the 53 Division. But he was appointed to head that division very recently, not during the war, but in the case of certain divisions the whole unit is affected” he explained.                          Read More