State Facilitated Colonization of Northern Sri Lanka – 2013

• by WATCHDOG
• - on 09/19/2013

On 25th September 2012, the Menik Farm camp in Vavuniya, which at its peak, housed close to 300,000 internally displaced persons, was officially closed down when the Government of Sri Lanka relocated the last batch of IDPs. This formally marked the closure of all post-2009 IDP camps in the North of Sri Lanka. Termed ‘welfare villages’ or ‘relief villages’ by the Government[1] but widely viewed as internment camps[2][3][4], the camps initially dotted the districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Trincomalee before being later incorporated into the massive Menik Farm IDP camp in the Vavuniya District.

History of State-sponsored colonization                    Continue Reading →

Sri Lanka Asks Detractors At HRC Not To Discredit The NPC Election Process Or Prejudge Its Outcome And Impact

September 19, 2013

Exercising a ‘right of reply’ with regard to references made to Sri Lanka by Germany, the US and Ireland under Agenda Item 4 – General Debate at the ongoing 24th Session of the Human Rights Council, the Sri Lanka delegation on Thursday (19 September 2013) said; it seemed ironic that at a time when for the first time since the introduction of the Provincial Council system in 1987 elections to the Northern Provincial Council are to be held later this week, that Germany should choose to discredit the process and prejudge its outcome and impact. It was noted that the commitment of the Government to ensure the transparent and free and fair conduct of the election not only to the Northern Provincial Council, but also to the Central and North Western Provincial Councils which go to the polls this Saturday is clearly demonstrated by the presence of  24 election observers from the South Asian region as well as from Commonwealth countries, on the invitation of the Elections Commissioner.

We publish below the statement in full;

Mr. President,

My delegation wishes to exercise its right of reply with regard to references made to Sri Lanka by Germany, the US and Ireland under Agenda Item 4 – General Debate,

Manisha Gunasekera, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva.

It seems ironic  when for the first time since the introduction of the Provincial Council system in 1987, elections to the Northern Provincial Council are to be held later this week on 21 September 2013, thatGermany should choose to discredit the process and prejudge its outcome and impact. The commitment of the Government to ensure the transparent and free and fair conduct of the election not only to the Northern Provincial Council, but also to the Central and North Western Provincial Councils which go to polls this Saturday is clearly demonstrated by the presence of  24 election observers from the South Asian region as well as from Commonwealth countries, on the invitation of the Elections Commissioner. It may be noted that there has been no practice inSri Lanka for provincial council elections to be observed by external entities. However the Election Commissioner took this initiative vis a vis the Northern Provincial Council as elections had not been held over a very long period of time, and as a confidence building measure. Representatives from local NGOs are observing the polls of the elections to the Central and North Western Provincial Councils, which are also being conducted on the same day.

Read More

NPC won’t have special powers

No one could go against the Constitution – Vasu

By Dasun Edirisinghe-September 18, 2013

Democratic Left Front (DLF) leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara recently ruled out the possibility of a federal solution to the national issue. Addressing the media at Nallur, Jaffna, Minister Nanayakkara pointed out that people would have to accept Provincial Councils as any attempt to go beyond that would cause a catastrophe. Senior Minister DEW Gunasekera was present.( Pic courtesy National languages Ministry)

The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) to be elected on Sept. 21 would not be given more powers than those already enjoyed by other PCs, the government said yesterday.

Addressing a media conference, at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Headquarters, National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that even if the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the NPC election, the council would not be given more powers than others and all council funds would be overseen by the Finance Commission of the government.

Minister Nanayakkara said the UPFA could easily win the North-Western and Central Provincial Councils, but was uncertain of the outcome in the Northern Province.

Answering a query, the minister said that the TNA could demand a separate government or self-administration in the Northern Province through an election manifesto, but under the Sri Lankan Constitution that could not be given.

"Only the President and Parliament could decide on the powers to the Northern Provincial Council and that fact has been recognised by the Constitution," Nanayakkara said.

The Constitution was the country’s supreme law and no one could go against it, he said.

Minister Nanayakkara said that the main allegation levelled by Opposition against the government was the military presence in the Northern Province. But, during the last six months that situation had changed as the military presence had been reduced by 95 per cent.

"We have also allowed unimpeded access to local and international monitors to observe the election," Nanayakkara said, adding that the monitors from the Commonwealth, SAARC countries and local monitors would observe the election.

Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said that the government had been able to send the people of the northern from bunkers to polling stations.

He said that the child soldiers recruited by the LTTE administration were now going back to school like normal children.

Colombo Municipal Council member Mohamed Muzammil said that the LTTE leader, Prabhakaran, had ‘taken the Tamil community back by 30 years’ and the TNA was now making the same mistake.

The TNA’s main candidate Vigneswaran was spreading racism and obstructing reconciliation among ethnic groups after 30 years of war, he said.

Muzammil asked the people to vote for a national political party, which was against racism, at the Sept. 21 polls.

Sri Lanka’s Tamils Go to Polls in First Provincial Elections Since End of Civil War
Security during an election rally at the former rebel capital of Kilinochchi, on Sept. 14, 2013 in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka

Electoral wins likely for Tamil party calling for greater devolution

By Amantha Perera / Colombo Sept. 18, 2013

Campaigning ends Wednesday night in the first provincial elections to be held in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province since the end of the civil war in 2009, with ballot choices for the area’s 714,000 voters split along stark ethnic lines.

Up for grabs are 38 seats in the Northern Provincial Council, one of nine in the country. Hoping for a major win is the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), campaigning on a platform of more autonomy for the province. Against it are candidates from the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of Sinhalese President Mahinda Rajapaksa, or from parties aligned with it. Voting takes place on Sept. 21.

“We want to address the people’s needs like jobs, houses and agriculture development,” said Sinnathurai Tavarajah, a chief ministerial candidate from the UPFA. Perhaps with an eye on winning votes, the government has, in the last fortnight, commissioned half a dozen new development projects in the province, including the 63km extension of  the railway track to the key city of Kilinochchi.

(MORE: Amid Abuse and Fear, Tamils Continue to Leave Sri Lanka)

The TNA, the party that has the largest representation in the national parliament from the Tamil-dominated north, says that what is important is power devolution to address long festering complaints by the Tamils of marginalization. Over 90% of the provincial population is Tamil.

“For the Tamils, the election is yet another opportunity to raise the call for more power sharing,” Abraham Sumanthiran, a TNA parliamentarian said.

A survey by the national rights advocacy body the Centre for Policy Alternatives found that jobs, housing, transport and education were the most important issues faced by the voters. But despite the UPFA’s emphasis on development over power sharing, 33% of those surveyed said they were likely to vote for the TNA, with only 21% choosing the UPFA.

Kumaravadivel Guruparan a law lecturer at the northern University of Jaffna says  there is lingering resentment among voters over the  massive military presence in the province and lack of government initiatives to address allegations of rights violations.

“It’s an opportunity to silently vent out their anger,” he said.

Sri Lanka’s future as a post-conflict state

September 19, 2013 

The President has expressed his annoyance with the TNA Manifesto, perhaps because of their demand for the merger of the north and east – the original provisions of the 13th Amendment which were overturned by a Chief Justice who lawyers would say certainly exceeded his mandate.
At the end of every conflict there is a peace treaty or agreement where the two sides that engaged in the conflict agree to cooperate in future on some agreed basis. The Government has failed to engage in such talks and reach a solution to the demands of the Tamils despite promises to India and the UN.

Sri Lanka’s future as a post-conflict state by nelvely

Video: Ranil awaits Pillay’s reply over DS statue

THURSDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2013 

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said today he was awaiting a reply from UNHRC High Commisioner Navi Pillay to clear the air over allegations made by some government officials that she wanted the D.S. Senanayake statue and the Buddhist flag removed at Independence Square.

“We are awaiting a clarification regarding the news that she had requested the government to remove the D.S. Senanayake statue and the Buddhist flag located at the Independence Square. We hope she would respond to our letter even after the next Geneva session.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said there were two reasons which prompted him to write to Ms. Pillay.

“We had two reasons to write to Ms. Pillay. One was that the government attempted to remove the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s statue to build the Shangrila Hotel. We doubted that the government was trying to remove the D.S. Senanayake statue also in the same manner. And the other was that Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had made a comment regarding this issue 10 days after Navi Pillay left the country”, he said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said the government was also trying to clear pillay from the charge.

 “The president had said in a speech made at a rally in Naththandiya recently that someone who came to Sri Lanka recently requested to remove the Buddhist flag without mentioning any name. He was trying to clear her name. This is a big problem. When the president was trying to clear her name, we also find it difficult to correspond with her regarding the issue. The president has a responsibility to reveal who said this”, he said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe said that the use of Kumaran Pathmanadan alias KP, who was wanted by India on the charges of killing Rajiv Gandhi, in government’s election campaign, would damage the international ties with India.

“The government was using KP who attacked the Temple of the Tooth for its election campaign with special security. These things should not happen in a democratic society. These are not good signs. We will have to face problems when we seek assistance from a terrorist leader. I will never use KP in my political campaign. I would rather go home than doing such a thing. India had asked for KP on charges of killing Rajiv Gandhi. When we take such a person into our political stage, we would not be surprised that it would damage the ties with India. This is a serious issue”, Mr. Wickremesinghe said at a meeting held at Sedawatta Weheragodalla temple yesterday.

Referring to the statement made by Navy Pillay after her visit to Sri Lanka that the country was heading to an authoritarian state he said it was a valid statement as the democratic rights were being abolished. (Ajith Siriwardana)

Click HERE to view pictures

Wigneswaran Bids Adieu…

By Malinda Seneviratne -September 19, 2013 

Malinda-Seneviratne

If the TNA’s manifesto with its not-so-subtle separatist posturing dismays those who believe that the TNA has to be part of any discussion on post-conflict resolution, the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate C.V. Wigneswaran must leave them in tears.

First, because his inconsistency plays into the hands of those who harbor apprehensions about the TNA’s political will with respect to reconciliation.  He was, ab initio, a ‘problem’ for the hardliners in the TNA.  He was a living contradiction of the discrimination gripe. He was ‘Colombo’, an eminent symbol of the city’s cosmopolitan brag.

He also walked into, precipitated and is a symbol of party disunity.  The TNA’s constituent parties are not exactly ‘friendly’ to begin with, and Wigneswaran’s arrival, given his professional and public stature, has not exactly elicited cheer from the ‘lesser’ parties of the coalition.   He may have been cheered by section of the Sinhala politic for snubbing Tamil Nadu politicians revered by Tamil politicians, but this has clearly irked his detractors within the TNA.  Such division stumps the emergence of an authentic and united political voice that can articulate grievance and extract ‘solution’.

The second reason for dismay, clearly evident for example in the long lament of seasoned and well-informed commentator on Tamil politics, D.B.S. Jeyaraj where he refers to the how and why of Wigneswaran praisingPrabhakaran.  Jeyaraj details a pandering to hawkishness which many believe detracts from rather than further the cause of reconciliation.                      Read More

Rendering Pirapaharan Relevant

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -September 19, 2013 |

“People here do not want the war. They say they only want to live with dignity, with powers and rights”. - Rev Thomas Saundranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna[i]

Victor Klemperer, who occupied his purgatory years as a German-Jew in Hitler’s Germany by studying Nazi semantics, warned that “if someone replaces the words ‘heroic’ and ‘virtuous’ with ‘fanatical’ for long enough, he will come to believe that a fanatic is a virtuous hero and that no one can be a hero without fanaticism”[ii].

Vellupillai Pirapaharan can be a hero only if brutality, intolerance and ruthlessness are accepted as essential ingredients of heroism.

LTTE Leader

Does Justice Wigneswaran really believe that murdering unarmed civilians and child conscription constitute no bar to heroism? Or was he playing the politician, wooing the preference of Velvetiturai-voters by praising their native-son? Either way, he had given the Rajapaksas a potent politico-propaganda weapon which they will use to the maximum, against a TNA-led NPC and the Tamils.

Mr. Wigneswaran’s opprobrious remark indicates that Tamils – like Sinhalese and Muslims – continue to be plagued by politicians who place personal agendae above national/popular interests. If the Tamils are to avoid a replication of the homicidal-suicidal politics of the Tiger-decades, they need leaders who not only have the intelligence to understand why the Eelam War ended in total unmitigated defeat but also the courage to tell the truth as it is.

The TNA and Justice Wignewaran have ruled out separation explicitly[iii], much to the wrath of the Diaspora-hardliners. They are certainly not taking the Tiger path. But if they do not draw a clear line of demarcation between their way and Tiger Way, explicitly and publicly, they will fail to build local alliances (especially with Muslims) and gain international support (especially of India) without which they cannot defend the 13^thAmendment, let alone achieve a more just political solution.

The LTTE refused to accept that there could be Tamil separatists or Tamil nationalists who are anti-Tiger or even non-Tiger. The Rajapaksas (and Sinhala-Buddhist supremacists) believe that every Tamil nationalist is a separatist and that every separatist is a Tiger. If the next stage of the Tamil struggle is to have a happier ending, democratic Tamil leaders must demonstrate that Tamil nationalists are capable of criticising the inhumane Tiger-ethos and eschewing the homicidal-cum-suicidal Tiger Way.

Re-antagonising Tamils; Alienating Muslims                                  Read More        

Make offenders pay

Editorial-September 18, 2013

Elections are said to be the lifeblood of democracy. That may be so, but in countries like ours, they also cause quite a lot of blood to be spilled. Politicians here apparently don’t consider an election complete unless it is marred by bloodletting. If they are without any competition and provocation from their rivals they resort to internecine clashes among themselves. Dracula looks a babe in comparison to the desperadoes in the garb of politicians thirsting for blood.

Besides violence and bloodshed, elections lead to a colossal waste of public resources. Polls monitors have been crying from the rooftops during the past few weeks that the government is misusing public assets to its heart’s content in support of the UPFA candidates in the PC election fray in the three provinces going to the polls on Sept. 21. It is rather disturbing that the TNA, too, stands accused of misusing the assets of the local government institutions under its control for electioneering.

Yesterday, our main news item said election poster clearing operations would cost the public 10 million rupees. We also reported on our provincial news page that thousands of schoolchildren were likely to be deprived of their midday meals as the food suppliers hadn’t been paid. Public funds are going down the gurgler while the voiceless people are struggling to make ends meet and hitting the sack on empty stomachs. If party leaders had cared to rein in their unruly candidates with the police enforcing the election laws without fear or favour, funds wasted on clearing posters could have been used for poor children’s midday meals or some other worthy cause.

Why should taxpayers’ money be spent to hire workers to remove propaganda materials when there are so many local government bodies burdened with tens of thousands of freeloaders? Keeping areas under their jurisdiction clean is the responsibility of these councils. Why keep a dog and bark yourself? Not even a banner announcing a school event is allowed to be hung in a public place without their permission which is granted for a fee. But, no such rules and regulations apply to election posters, banners and cut-outs. Why?

The heads of local government bodies must be asked to get their act together and do what they are paid for with public funds. They are not worth their salt if they cannot keep their areas free from illegal posters, banners etc.

The display of propaganda materials in undesignated places is a clear violation of election laws. What are the police doing? They should not wait till posters are pasted and banners hung to remove them. Pasting posters is not a clandestine operation. That is done openly, sometimes during daytime, in full view of the public with the police looking the other way. One way of tackling the problem is to arrest the poster pasting gangs and haul them up before courts. They could be charged with violating election laws and causing environmental pollution.

In the Jurassic jungle that is Sri Lankan politics infested with tyrannosauruses in kapati suit the Elections Commissioner is helpless. The need for an independent elections commission capable of withstanding political pressure and making the police and the pro-government state bureaucracy fall in line during electoral contests is felt more than ever.

The public must not be made to bear the cost of cleaning up the mess politicians make during election campaigns. It is the offenders who must be made to pay.