Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Sri Lanka: Stop Harassing Victims, Activists
Security Forces ‘Visit’ People Who Met UN Rights Chief-SEPTEMBER 3, 2013
“It’s outrageous for a government that is hosting the UN human rights chief to have their security forces harass the people who met with her. The Sri Lankan government should announce that ‘visits’ or other forms of harassment of those who spoke to the high commissioner will be punished. And the government should make sure they punish officials who’ve already done so.”
Brad Adams, Asia director
HRW(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should promptly investigate allegations that security forces harassed people who met with the visiting United Nations human rights chief, Navi Pillay, during her recent trip to the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, expressed concerns at the end of her week-long visit on August 31, 2013, that victims of abuses and their family members, activists, and journalists had received visits and other harassment and threats from the authorities after meeting with her and other UN officials. She said that reprisals against people who talk to the UN were an extremely serious matter and that she would report it to the UN Human Rights Council.

“It’s outrageous for a government that is hosting the UN human rights chief to have their security forces harass the people who met with her,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “The Sri Lankan government should announce that ‘visits’ or other forms of harassment of those who spoke to the high commissioner will be punished. And the government should make sure they punish officials who’ve already done so.”

When in Sri Lanka, Pillay held extensive meetings with people in the formerly embattled north and east of the country, as well as with government officials, politicians, and activists. The Centre for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, based in Trincomalee in eastern Sri Lanka, reported being harassed by military personnel a few hours after its staff met with Pillay. Father Yogeswaran, who runs the center, said that they had been visited at midnight and in the early morning, and was aware that others who had met with Pillay were similarly approached. Several other victims, witnesses, and rights activists told a leading Colombo-based organization that they were visited by military personnel following meetings with Pillay.

Pillay herself, in her statement, said that she had received disturbing reports about “the harassment and intimidation of a number of human rights defenders, at least two priests, journalists, and many ordinary citizens who met with me, or planned to meet with me. I have received reports that people in villages and settlements in the Mullaitivu area were visited by police or military officers both before and after I arrived there in Trincomalee, several people I met were subsequently questioned about the content of our conversation.”

Human Rights Watch called on the authorities to take all necessary measures to end the harassment of all those who met with Pillay and ensure their security. Human Rights Watch reiterated its call, also made by Pillay, for a strong and effective victim and witness protection program in Sri Lanka.

Pillay is due to deliver an oral report on her trip to the UN Human Rights Council later in September.

Sri Lanka has a long history of silencing critics of the government. Members of activist, religious, and human rights groups as well as media workers have faced reprisals for reporting critically on government abuses. Risks are greatest for those working in former contested areas in the north and east or away from major urban areas such as Colombo.

“Despite promises to Pillay of unfettered access, Sri Lankan authorities have gone about business as usual in harassing those courageous enough to come forward to talk about the country’s many human rights problems,” Adams said. “A government that doesn’t care enough to call off its security forces for a few days while the UN’s rights chief is visiting is a government that plainly doesn’t care about respecting basic human rights.”
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Events Of 24th July – The Eve Of The Holocaust: Who Wanted A Military Funeral?


Colombo Telegraph
By Rajan Hoole -September 4, 2013
Rajan Hoole
Sri Lanka’s Black July – Part 20
The violence which erupted in Colombo on 25th July had already a trial run two months earlier at the University of Peradeniya (Sect. 4.7) and in Trincomalee the previous month (Chapter 5). In the outlying areas of the latter district Tamils were attacked, killed and chased away from their homes by hoodlums with Government patronage. The notice for this had been implicit in the press items of 28th November 1982 cited in Sect. 8.2. In Trincomalee town itself, the security forces went into Tamil areas to neutralise all possibility of self-defence before the hoodlums went in. In connection with the planning and the deployment of ruffians in Trincomalee, the names of Cyril Mathew and members of his coterie have transpired (p.86 of Piyadasa’s book). Just before the July violence a ministerial team led by Gamini Dissanayake had given notice of strong measures against Tamil refugees of 1977 settled in the area, many of whom were forcibly transported to the Hill Country under cover of the Black July violence (Sect. 5.6).
To be continued..
*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  - Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued..
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TNA manifesto calls for North-East merger

WEDNESDAY, 04 SEPTEMBER 2013 
The TNA has called for the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces in its manifesto presented yesterday for the Northern Provincial Council election.

The manifesto also states that devolution of power should be on the basis of shared sovereignty, necessarily over land, law and order, socio-economic development including health and education, resources and fiscal powers

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Is Navi Pillay biased?
Wednesday, 04 Sep 2013
Reading between the lines of several media statements issued by the government, consequent to Navi Pillay's audience with the President, it appears that the government is leaving no stone unturned to paint the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Pillay, as biased against Sri Lanka. The accusation against her first surfaced at the last UNHRC sessions when Minister Samarasinghe, shouldering the burden of defending the government on human rights issues, remarked that she was prejudiced against Sri Lanka. Until the time her visit to the country became a reality, she drew flak from government apologists who critiqued her bona fides as the UN HR Chief.
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Prevail upon Sri Lanka to enforce UNHRC resolution: CPI(M)

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT-September 4, 2013
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The State committee of the CPI(M) on Tuesday urged the Union government to prevail upon Sri Lanka to implement the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council urging the country to investigate alleged abuses during the final phase of war with Tamil rebels.
A resolution adopted at the meeting said that in the last 50 years, the Sri Lankan government had not made any effort to find a political solution to the ethnic crisis and was now seeking to dilute the 13th amendment to its Constitution.
Taking note of UNHRC commissioner Navaneetham Pillay’s observation that Sri Lanka was becoming increasingly authoritarian and that since the end of the civil war four years ago, democracy had been undermined and the rule of law eroded, the CPI (M) said her remarks were clear proof that Sri Lanka was not interested in implementing the UNHRC resolution.
Another resolution wanted the State government to lift prohibitory orders under Section144 of Cr.P.C. in Cuddalore, Villupuram and Tirunelveli districts, saying it was against democratic norms to keep in force the provision more than four months.

Pillay keen to entangle us in an Int’l net: NFF

WEDNESDAY, 04 SEPTEMBER 2013 
National Freedom Front (NFF) spokesman Mohammed Muzammil said today UNHRC Chief Navi Pillay made a visit to the country not to address issues of minorities but to entangle us in an international net.

“We strongly object to the moves taken by the Muslim Congress to present more suggestions to Pillay knowing that she would compile a false report. She will compile a report detrimental to the country using those suggestions as well,” he said.

Mr. Muzammil told a news conference that Ms. Pillay’s impartiality was questionable and said she would not accept an independent investigation carried out by the Army.

“Even though we carried out an independent investigation into the alleged war crimes, she will anyhow carry out an international investigation. She said the investigation carried out by the Army was not impartial. We need to question her impartiality. Ms. Pillay is someone who draws a salary from US. So how can she be considered impartial? Someone who draws a salary from those who bring out the proposals cannot be impartial,” he questioned.

He said some of the actions of Ms. Pillay were backing separatism in the country.  

“Ms. Pillay did not even visit the war memorial at the Parliament but she wanted to go to the place where Prabhakaran was killed. This gives a message to the separatists that she was ready to support and commemorate separatists and to carry out war crimes and human right violation investigations against them. It is since then Suresh Premachandran and Wigneswaram have begun to inculcate racism and Eelam again in the North.

What Pillay was symbolically conveying was that “you get political power in the North we will give the international support”, he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Sanath Desmond)
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Editorial-September 3, 2013, 8:50 pm 


The government may have thought UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay was beating a retreat vis-à-vis its propaganda onslaught. But, shortly before her departure on Sunday she caught the government unawares; she turned back like an ancient Parthian archer on horseback and started shooting poison-tipped arrows at the government leaders.

By the time the government figured out what had hit it, Pillay was gone, having brilliantly executed a well planned human rights surgical strike in time for the CHOGM here and the UNHRC summits in Geneva.

The Opposition is cock-a-hoop while the government leaders are licking their wounds. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is apparently still smarting from Pillay’s Parthian Shot which came in the form of a nasty barb that Sri Lanka was becoming increasingly authoritarian.

President Rajapaksa is taking great pains to debunk Pillay’s assertion that Sri Lanka is drifting towards a dictatorship. Addressing the SLFP’s 62nd Convention in Kurunegala on Monday, a visibly agitated President asked how anyone could claim that the country was becoming a dictatorship when there were regular elections.

True, this country has so many elections that the people are fed up with them. However, electoral contests are not the sole yardstick of a country’s democratic wellbeing.

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, Plato tells us in The Republic. The Constitution calls this country a democratic, socialist republic, whatever that means. But, it has in reality facilitated the concentration of state power in one institution, to wit, the executive presidency so much so that the head of state could usurp the powers of the other two branches of government with impunity. He or she becomes powerless only when his or her party loses power in Parliament. Politicians by nature thirst for power and it is only natural that every executive president tends to run a one-man or one-woman show. One should not dupe oneself into believing that those in the political wilderness at present campaigning for democracy would act differently if they were to be in a position to exercise executive powers. Their love for democracy like the fidelity of a lecher boils down to lack of opportunity!

All executive presidents have used and abused the Constitution to the fullest for self-aggrandizement and the incumbent is no exception. He has surpassed others by abolishing the presidential term limit besides doing away with the fetters which the 17th Amendment imposed on his powers. What more he has up his sleeve is anybody’s guess.

So, the threat of Sri Lanka becoming a dictatorship has always been there. It does not go away simply because elections are held. We will have to live with it so long as the current basic law which former President Chandrika Kumaratunga chose to call Bahubutha Viyavasthawa, is there. The only way out is to curtail the executive powers of the head of state. But, the problem is that no president, ensconced in power, wants to abolish the executive presidency; he or she only makes promises to do so for the public consumption while enjoying all the powers.

Meanwhile, one should not be so naïve as to think that the western powers and the UN officials are overly concerned about the situation here as they are great lovers of democracy and human rights. They would not have cared a damn about what is happening in this country if the Rajapaksa government had toed their line. They have a history of backing criminals like Shah, Papa Doc and Pinochet to further their interests in spite of people’s suffering, don’t they? They even backed Saddam Hussein to the hilt while he was carrying out the Anfal campaign by using chemical weapons against Kurds. So much for their concern about democracy and human rights!

If President Rajapaksa were to switch his allegiance to the western bloc today Navi Pillay would have to recant all her anti-Sri Lankan statements tomorrow the way she had to eat humble pie, having condemned human rights violations in pro-western Bahrain. This is the sad truth about human rights crusaders and ‘exporters’ of democracy.
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Current government provided ammunition to Navi Pillai.

Details
 
Created On Wednesday, 04 September 2013 15:41
Category: General
karu jayasuriyaCurrent government provided ammunition  to Navi Pillai said by  Hon. Karu Jayasuriya UNP M.P. today(04) on the Press Conference.
It is obvious that the government is engaging the state administrative machinery to their advantage during this election.
Samurdhi Officers are being used openly for election work.  Some of the officers told us that they have been pressurized by the top to engage in election work.

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Ms. Pillai, Don’t Scroll Down Your Website, Just Know What You Are Not Doing

Colombo TelegraphSeptember 4, 2013 
By Rajpal Abeynayake - The state run Daily News Editorial – On Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Rajpal Abeynayake
The events that are taking place in Syria now show abundantly clearly that the world’s powers that be — and that includes the top civil servants of the U.N — do adopt double standards when it come to human rights issues, and that’s despite the denial by Ms. Navinathem Pillai the U.N High Commissioner for Human Rights at her closing press conference in Colombo, that there is no such thing as ‘oversight by favour.’
She said that if we’d scroll down on her Office’s website highlighting U.N’s human rights enforcement work, we would find that the U.N has initiated investigations into U.S drone attacks — the inference being that the organization is even handed and rigorous in its work!
It does seem odd that there were no resolutions passed against the United States on the UNHRC floor, when the violations by that country have been by any yardstick glaring, compared to alleged rights violations by any other country on earth. Suffice to say that we in this newspaper that asked her the question at the press conference on U.S drone attacks were not in any position to enter into a debate with Ms. Navi Pillai on this issue, and that she had the last word by having a monopoly over the microphone.
Scroll Down Your Website: A free Laptop from President to Daily News Editor Rajpal Abeynayake
Else, we would have had the opportunity to tell Ms. Pillai that the U.S had invaded many countries on the pretext of looking for weapons of mass destruction etc., despite the fact that there were no Security Council approvals for such interventions or any kind of U.N resolutions granting the country the right to invade those countries that were overrun on false pretexts. (Please see article below by Shenali Waduge.) There was nothing substantive that Navinathem Pillai did in terms of censure despite the fact that there were such blatant incursions, and ‘investigating into drone strikes’ or coming up with what are equivalent to U.N term papers do not militate against the UNHRC doing nothing at all in practical terms about the military adventurism of the U.S.A.                              Read More

Trouble Up Ahead: The TNA’s Election Manifesto

By Dayan Jayatilleka -September 5, 2013
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
Colombo TelegraphTo go by its election manifesto the TNA seems completely unmindful of the massive effort that had to be made for the Provincial Council system to be set up in 1987-88, for the 13th amendment to be preserved in 2013 and the PC election in the North to be held under the existing amendment. In short it appears to be unconcerned about the fragility of the political space that has been prised open and the need to carry a sizeable segment of Southern opinion with it at all times or at least neutralise Southern opposition to the Council.
The inflated, emotive electoral rhetoric of 1977 played its part in setting theTULF on a confrontation course with Colombo. It is about to happen again and this time the collision is more certain and will perhaps prove more consequential. One miscalculation could lead to protracted deadlock and worse still, a strategic politico-military lockdown.
The TNA’s electoral manifesto shows that the Tamil politicians and perhaps their Northern constituency have learned as little as have their Southern counterparts. Here I do not refer to the call for federalism or the North-East merger, which may be objectionable to many and inadvisable to boot, but can hardly be described as illegitimate. Even if debatable, these are valid political stances and propositions.
I refer instead to other important aspects of the TNA’s manifesto. One is the explicit, uncritical and deceitful references to the LTTE.
Let us however, examine the TNA’s manifesto from the beginning. It says: “At the time of independence from colonial rule in 1948, Ceylon was foisted with a unitary type constitution with simple majoritarian rule.”
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The fires within


  • Four years after the war ended, development and reconstruction showcases are eclipsed by raw human suffering during Navi Pillay’s visit to Sri Lanka
  September 5, 2013 
Rajeswari Ganesan, mother of a 28-year-old Vavuniya prison inmate who died under suspicious circumstances in June last year, sobbed out her grief to visiting UN Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem Pillay in the North last Tuesday.
 



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Trouble Up Ahead: The TNA’s Election Manifesto

By Savitri Goonesekere and Jayantha Dhanapala 0n behalf of Friday Forum -September 4, 2013 
Prof Savitri Goonesekere
Colombo TelegraphA delegation of the Friday Forum met recently with the Commissioner of Elections Mr Mahinda Deshapriya with a view to initiating a constructive exchange of views on measures taken by him to ensure free and fair provincial elections.  Mr. Deshapriya emphasised the responsibilities of the public and the voters in these elections to be vigilant and to make their own contribution to a free and fair electoral process. In light of these discussions and the Friday Forum’s commitment to democratic and free and fair elections, we wish to place the following concerns before the public.The changes in election procedures over a period of time, and public disillusionment with regard to the electoral process, have created an unfortunate environment where there is some public apathy in regard to our rights and responsibilities as voters. The forthcoming Provincial Council elections in the Northern Province, North Western Province and Central Province are important for democratic and accountable governance in those provinces. Yet it is critically important that voters in these provinces go to the polls and exercise their voting rights, and these voters and the public are engaged with the electoral process. The politicisation of institutions, misuse of state resources, election violence, and the deterioration of our political culture have been the subject of frequent public comment. The current election process is an opportunity to address those concerns and pro-actively work towards holding the government accountable to ensure free and fair elections. A free and fair election process is the very foundation of democracy and must be considered an essential aspect of accountable governance.
By Agnes Thambynayagam -September 5, 2013 
Agnes Thambynayagam
Colombo TelegraphI am writing this in response to the articles published in the Colombo Telegraph by Professors Charles Sarvan and Michael Roberts regarding the meaning of the word ‘Para’ used amongst the various ethnic communities in Sri Lanka.
Amongst the Tamils the word Para is commonly used in the context of demeaning gesture. According to Prof. Charles Sarvan his Sinhalese classmates in Colombo called him ‘Para Dhemmala’. The meaning of the word ‘Para’, when used in such a context, originates from the word ‘Parayan’. This meaning of the word, however, is diagonally opposite to the meaning derived from the words Paranghi, Para-Rajasingham and Parama Pitha.
The word Faranghi in Portuguese means foreigner. Tamil language does not have the sound for ‘F’. Therefore, the letter ‘P’ was used in place of the letter ‘F’ and consequently, ‘Paranghi’ was adopted in the Tamil vocabulary for foreigners in the sixteenth century. In the name Para-Rajasingam, the word Para means Noble or Lord. Parama- Pitha is the God of the Universe where the word Param means the Universe in Tamil.
The word ‘Para’ that originated from Parayan (Parayar in plural) meant messenger before the twentieth century. Parayar were the group of people who went from village to village, beating the drum proclaiming the messages of the governors. In the twentieth century, the necessity for such a method of conveyance of messages became redundant, especially due to the arrival of the postal services. The traditional occupation of the Parayar was gradually eroded.  The market force created a new occupation for the unemployed group of Parayar to fulfill a necessary need of the local municipalities. Sadly, in marked contrast to their previous occupation, the Parayar had to settle for the job of collecting and disposing of the human waste. In Sri Lanka the people who performed such a task were viewed at low esteem and the word Para is commonly used in a demeaning context.
*Agnes Thambynayagam has conducted extensive research into Sri Lankan history between 1498 and 1833. A significant portion of her research was conducted during her tenure at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, England in 2003-2007.
Related posts;
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Where does G.L. Peiris get his facts on militarisation in Sri Lanka?

Groundviews“One of the biggest gaffes by an External Affairs (Foreign) Minister in post-independent Sri Lanka” is how the Sunday Times in April last year chose to describe a remark by Sri Lanka’s current Foreign Minister, G.L. Peiris. Far be it from us to accuse Minister Peiris of terminological inexactitude, but given a distinct tendency to confuse himself, our interest was piqued by public statements made in London after the visit of UN High Commission for Human Rights Navi Pillay to Sri Lanka.
Minister Peiris takes particular umbrage at Pillay’s statement over the militarisation in the North and the East of Sri Lanka, a fact that many before her have flagged with concern. Read for example Sri Lanka’s North II: Rebuilding under the Military and this report in the mainstream media, two of many others a Google search away.
The Ministry of External Affairs website, the Daily Mirror and other websitesquote Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister as saying,
Navi Pillay refers to the intimidating presence of the military in the north and the fear of the people and women there.
Rejecting this out of hand, he said it is pity that the High Commissioner had not read the reports produced by UN officials in Colombo who belie this claim having themselves interviewed nearly 200 people, chosen by the UN itself, 90% of who said they were comfortable with living there.
“Why does she ignore this evidence produced by the UN itself. What is the justification for ignoring this? This is again a classic example of pre-judgment.” he said.
Simple question – what is the UN report Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister is referring to and quotes figures from?
Is a report sent out by email (but unavailable, at the time of writing, on the web) by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in June 2013 what the Minister is referring to? Yet, if so, there is absolutely no substantiation in this report of what the Minister stated to the media and others in London.
Groundviews was able to secure a copy of the report. Download it as a PDFhere, or read it online here.
Some graphs from the report which show the nature and degree of militarisation in the North and the East of Sri Lanka.
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Is there some other report the UN Country Office has given the government, which is not yet in the public domain, that gives a factual basis for the Minister’s assertions in London? If not, what is the Minister talking about, and on what basis?
Is Sri Lanka’s foreign policy based on fact, or fiction?
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