Saturday, September 21, 2013

A TNA Member Shot Near A Polling Booth In Kodikamam

September 21, 2013

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections confirmed the vehicle of a TNA member was shot at near a polling booth in Kodikamam in the Jaffna District a short while ago. The vehicles were delivering lunch to their polling agents at the Varani school booth. There is an army camp opposite the polling booth Caffe’s National Coordinator A. Anas said. He said the gunshots had been heard by others in the vicinity.

10 shots were fired at the vehicle belonging to candidate of the TNA. One van has bullet marks. No damages have been reported to the vehicles or passengers the monitors confirmed.

Kodikamam Update: Uniformed Soldiers Shooting Right Opposite An Army Camp

September 21, 2013

Election Monitors have now confirmed that the vehicle of TNA Candidate at the Northern Provincial Council election, Sajanthan was fired upon outside a polling booth in Varani near Kodikamam in the Jaffna District.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said they had confirmed the report with officials in the area who had heard the gunshots.

The incident had taken place outside the polling booth at the Varani Maha Vidyalam which is right opposite an army camp, CaFFE said.

At least 10 shots were fired at his vehicle and that of his supporters, Sajanthan said. He said that his supporters who had turned around to look as the vehicles were fleeing the scene had confirmed uniformed soldiers were shooting at them.

The TNA candidate claimed he had rushed to the scene upon hearing that the TNA’s Urban Council Vice Chairman had been confined by soldiers in civil clothing who were engaged in attempts to prevent voters from reaching polling booths in the area.

“By the time we got there the Vice Chairman had been rescued by TNA MP Suresh Premachandra,” he explained. The civil clothed groups were roaming around outside the polling booth chasing away voters.

Sajanthan and his supporters had made it a habit of walking around in areas of Thenamarachchi where groups of men in civil clothing that people of the area claimed were soldiers were chasing voters away from voting stations and filming the groups with his phone camera causing them to flee, TNA officials say.

Sajanthan had attempted the same thing outside the Varani MV polling station when he said two of the civil clothed men had run into the army camp next door. He says suddenly his group realised they were being fired and got into their vehicles – one white jeep and a white van – and fled the scene.

They had noticed one bullet mark on the van, Sajanthan said.

MaRa's armed army of 100 storm into TNA candidate house and launch brutal attack- elections or war in Jaffna?

(Lanka-e-News-20.Sep.2013, 11.30PM) A group of armed army soldiers had this early morning (20) entered the abode at Sulipuram , Tholpuram division where TNA Jaffna district candidate for tomorrow’s election, Anandi Sahshitharan was staying, and attacked her supporters brutally. As most of them had been attacked with clubs , 10 victims were admitted to hospital and a grave situation had resulted thereby. When lawyer Subash of PAFFREL organization had arrived on the scene on hearing of this , he too had been assaulted by the army. This armed group had even slit the tires of the vehicles in the house and gone away.

Anandi Sashidaran is the wife of former Trincomalee district LTTE leader , Eleelan. After the war she surrendered to the army , and worked with great commitment to form an organization of those who were disappearance of the surrendered Tamils.

She is contesting the elections as a TNA candidate . On the very day she handed over her nominations she was subjected to interrogation by an unknown group. Subsequently on the 17th an attempt was made to attack her .

She gave evidence before the LLRC and had met with UN human rights Commissioner when she toured Jaffna.

According to the supporters of Anandhi who were attacked , about 100 armed men had entered the house at dawn , shouting ‘where is Anandi , where is Anandhi ?’

One of the victims of the attack stated thus:
We saw army soldiers hovering around the place at about 9.30 p.m. At about 11.30 p.m. we heard that a second group were also loitering around the premises. Later two of them jumped over the wall and came towards the house. When we all came out they fled. Then at about 12.30 a.m. we heard the sound of vehicles arriving and parking in front of the house.

We realized that our house is laid siege to by the army. Some of them were waiting outside the wall while some others entered the house. We got scared and many of us hid above the ceiling of the house . The intruders started raising their voices and asked ‘where is Anandhi, where is Anandhi?’while attacking the other supporters with clubs. They also pulled out those who were hiding and fiercely assaulted them until the clubs they were wielding were broken. They even kicked us. That army group had even swords with them. After assaulting they dragged us out of the house kept us in a row and attacked us again with clubs. They were screaming after holding the guns to our heads ‘ if you all can live in Wellawatte and Kirilapone , why cant we be here?’ ‘Do you all want provincial councils or Tamil Eelam?’ supporters of Anandhi related to us .

Another victim of the assault said , his motor bike tires were cut. Then the assailant brought his own motor bike and yelled out , ‘why the devil is this motor bike (assailant’s) getting deflated’, and attacked him mercilessly.

Another victim narrated he was caught by his hair and taken around the house while being assaulted all the time.. The armed army group had also taken away with them 7 mobile phones of Anandhi’s supporters .

As a first step Anandhi was dispatched to another safe place because the supporters had harbored fears that the group would come to attack any time.. Hence her life was saved , they related.

Anandhi Sasheedaran speaking to the Tamil media regarding this brutal and ruthless assault said , among those who came to attack the supporters in her house , there were also EPDP Organization groups.

It is most significant to note that as the attack was beginning to be launched the police were informed on the emergency phone No. 119 , but none arrived .

Centre for Monitoring Election Violence

Northern Provincial Council Election 2013 – Communiqué No 7

On 20th September 2013 / 08.10h/ Northern Province/ Mannar District/ Mannar Electorate/ Pesalai UPFA party office

As reported by CMEV monitor in the area, UPFA Mannar District candidate No 6, Mr. Robert Pieris, organized dry rations to be distributed on the night of 20^th September 2013.

On 20^th September 2013 from 6.00 – 8.00 pm : Northern Province: Jaffna District, Electorate,Chavakachchari, Kodikamam area:

Northern Provincial Council Election 2013 Communiquc3a9 No 7 by nelvely

Amid Violence, Returning to Elections in Sri Lanka After a Void

Kuni Takahashi for The New York Times

By GARDINER HARRIS-September 20, 2013

Campaign posters in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on Thursday. The first provincial council elections since 1988 are being held Saturday in the Tamil-dominated north.

Amid Violence, Returning to Elections in Sri Lanka After a Void by nelvely

Lasantha Had Courage

By Malinda Seneviratne -September 21, 2013

Malinda Seneviratne

Greetings to the organizers and my fellow panelists. I participate with the full knowledge that the organizers have been at the receiving end of criticism from all quarters, those I consider friends and those who would consider me adversary. I am aware, also, that friends and colleagues though my fellow panelists are, they roughly fall into a single camp. I am an outsider, in that sense. But I believe, still, that our commonalities outweigh our differences.

Media has a role in all societies. Media can be effective in a positive way and it can be destructive and divisive too. The pen, to use the old metaphor, is not always innocent. Pens are frequently agenda-driven and used in defense and in attack, by governments and those opposed to governments, those who want to protect regime and those who want regime-change, those who prop systems and those who wish system-change. It would lovely indeed if media was always pro-people, but in the real world media says ‘pro-people’ but by omission and commission act in ways that go against popular sentiment. Self-righteousness is cheap. Self-reflection, self-criticism, expensive.

Note – This content is removed upon request by Malinda; we will re-post tonight after the event is done’.

*Malinda’s presentation to the Sri Lankans Without Borders (SLWB) event on the Lasantha Wickrematunge Memorial Lecture.

PC Elections: The ‘Ugly’ Rises Again

By Malinda Seneviratne -September 22, 2013

Malinda Seneviratne

When the first provincial council elections were held on April 28, 1988 hundreds were killed. The JVP in its Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya avatar decreed that the first to cast his or her vote in each and every polling station was ‘fair target’. Emerging from the fires that engulfed the country and its youth towards the end of the eighties and clothed with a democratic new-look, the JVP, in time, actually contested the PC elections. That’s another story, however.

The worst PC election in remembered history is ‘Wayamba 1999’ held during theChandrika Kumaratunga presidency. For the thuggery unleashed on opponent and voter, voter impersonation, intimidation of election officials etc., Wayamba ’99 is second only to the elections held during the UNP-JVP bheeshanaya and the 1982 Referendum.

The 17th Amendment of 2001 which yielded an independent Elections Commission and an independent Police Commission cured many but not all the ills of ‘democracy’ with respect to elections and election campaigns. If one played ‘Relative Merits’ then Sri Lanka has come a long way from 1982, 1988-89 and 1999, but that is a dangerous game which in effect can only stifle processes of further democratization, especially since the 18th Amendment did away with the 17th and all the checks and balances therein.

One day before the election, TNA’s Jaffna District candidate Ananthi Sasitharan’s house in Ariyalai came under attack. The lady alleges that there is a concerted move to eliminate ‘witnesses to what happened during the last days of the war’. Since she is the wife of former LTTE political commissar for Trincomalee District Sasitharan alias Ezhilan, detractors including victims of LTTE terrorism and their loved ones can and will say that what she suffered was ‘mild’ and not amounting to ‘just deserts’. But a terrorist’s wife is not necessarily a terrorist. She has done nothing illegal. Association will mark her no doubt, but association does not imply culpability. Her candidacy is as legitimate as that of anyone else.Read More

Bid to scare voters foiled; No secret cameras, confidentiality guaranteed - Polls chief

September 20, 2013, 12:00 pm

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Polls chief Mahinda Deshapriya has intervened to guarantee the confidentiality of voters’ identity following threats that they would be under surveillance within polling booths, hence their preference could be established.

Deshapriya rejected claims that hidden cameras would be allowed in polling booths to identify those voting for a particular party. Addressing the final media briefing, at the Elections Secretariat, Rajagiriya, yesterday, Deshapriya warned his staff would confiscate camera phones in case voters used them within polling booths.

A despicable attempt was being made to pressure the electorate at the expense of people exercising their democratic right, the outspoken official said. "Whatever various interested parties say to exploit the electorate, voters can exercise their franchise without having their choice known to a third party. I can give you that guarantee," Deshapriya said.

The blunt speaking polls chief said that voters had been also warned of dire consequences depending on the result of a particular electorate. Having discussed the situation, the Election Secretariat had decided to do away with the practice of counting the ballots of a particular area together, Deshapriya said. "Now, a particular counting center will receive ballot boxes from different areas within an electorate. That’ll prevent a particular village being identified with a political party. Instead, we will issue the final result at electorate level."

Asked what would be his message to the electorate on the eve of the Northern, Central and North-Western PC polls, Deshapriya stressed the importance of the voters exercising their franchise. He urged people to cast their votes as early as possible. When queried whether he intended to discuss the new counting procedure with political parties, a smiling Deshapriya said that it was finalised on Sept. 13 at a discussion attended by General Secretaries of political parties. Deshapriya lamented that had new counting procedures been agreed upon earlier, it could have been implemented in all three provinces. Instead, it would be implemented in selected areas, Deshapriya said, adding that the new mechanism could be implemented fully at the next election.

Deshapriya pointed out that as Western and Southern PC polls would be next, followed by another important election, new counting procedures could be employed to ensure a level playing field.

Vasan not for supplying warships to Sri Lanka

September 21, 2013

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan on Friday wanted the Union government to keep in abeyance its proposal to supply two warships to Sri Lanka until the problem of Tamil Nadu fishermen being arrested and attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy was resolved.

“Though it is an old pact between the two countries, people in Tamil Nadu feel that India should not help Sri Lanka in the present situation. I only echo their feelings and all pacts between the two countries should be kept in abeyance,” he told The Hindu.

Mr. Vasan said that on the one hand, fishermen were harassed by the Sri Lankan navy, and, on the other, they were arrested and remanded in judicial custody. “This shows the inhuman attitude of the Sri Lankan government. If this continued and fishermen are subjected to harassment, it will strain the relationship between the two countries.”

Mr. Vasan said protecting the 13th amendment was now paramount to securing Tamils their rights in Sri Lanka.

ANBUMANI TO ATTEND UNHRC SESSION

Former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss will attend the session of the United Nations Human Right Commission on September 25 when its commissioner Navaneetham Pillay is expected to submit a report on her visit to the war-torn Sri Lanka and the problems of the Tamil community.

Dr. Anbumani, representing Pasumai Thayagam, an organisation espousing the cause of environment and human rights, said even four and half years after the war, there were no efforts to bring to book those responsible for the killing of Tamil civilians in the last phase of war.

Human rights organisations across the world will take part in the meeting at Geneva and Dr Anbumani will press for a referendum among the Tamils for creation of a separate Eelam by merging East and Northern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Son being used to spy on minister Susil!

Saturday, 21 September 2013 07:33

The Rajapaksas, notorious for baiting opposition politicians by way of granting them various perks and privileges in order to break up opposition parties, are not stopping there, but are also involved in an uncivilized attempt to divide senior politicians of their own party by setting their relatives against them.

The latest victim of this attempt is Minister of Environment and Renewable Energy Susil Premajayantha. His son is in the US, distancing himself from the family due to minister Premajayantha and his wife opposing the son’s love affair with an Indian girl.

After getting to know about this dispute, the president has told his eldest son Namal Rajapaksa to get closer to Minister Premajayantha’s son anyhow and obtain all information regarding his father. Acting on the instructions of his father, the president, MP Namal has already obtained all information regarding Minister Premajayantha from his son. He has also obtained a promise from him to give him any further information as soon as he gets to know them.

In return, the son of Mr. Susil Premajayantha has asked that an open warrant issued by the Nugegoda Magistrate’s Court against him be recalled. This open warrant has been issued against the minister’s son after he got ‘Toyota Sarath’, a notorious broker at the Department of Motor Traffic, to register an illegally obtained vehicle by paying him Rs. 1.8 million. Mr. Namal Rajapaksa has promised him to order the Nugegoda magistrate through the chief justice to recall the open warrant within the next few days.

Sri Lankan Military Spying On Journalists Covering NPC Elections

September 21, 2013 |

The Sri Lankan military has been accused of spying on journalists who are covering the Northern Provincial Council elections. “As we travel around the north, they are keeping a close eye on us too.” Andrew North, BBC’s South Asia correspondent wrote last night.

Secretary MOD Gotabaya

He wrote; “The mood among most Tamils in northern Sri Lanka is far more downcast as they prepare to vote this weekend for their first ever provincial government.

“But few are willing to talk openly, because of the ubiquitous and often suffocating military presence.

“At the wedding event the authorities are keeping a close eye, to make sure all goes to plan.

“As we travel around the north, they are keeping a close eye on us too.

“Within minutes of arriving in the Tigers’ former military stronghold of Mullaitivu, a Sri Lankan army patrol turns up to question us.

“A man who had been following us then gives the soldiers an account of our movements.

“The same happens in Jaffna, when we try to talk to shopkeepers. Soldiers appear, then a police car and several men in plain clothes. Soon everyone dries up. We hear later that the one man we had talked to had been questioned.”

Malaka Silva Done It Again: This Time Assaulted A Customer At R&B Night Club

September 21, 2013

Controversial minister Mervyn Silva‘s son Malaka Silva has brutally assaulted a patron of the R&B night club located duplication road, Colombo, last night (Friday), sources close to the Club Management told Colombo Telegraph.

“We are unaware of such an incident and we have not received a complaint,” Kollupitya Police told Colombo Telegraph.

Malaka’s track record

* In September 2007 an Accountant, Chaminda Senasinghe was hit on face with pistol butt by Malaka Silva at the Bistro Latino Restaurant. Speaking to The Sunday Leader from the Nawaloka Hospital, Chaminda recounted those last moments before he fell to the floor only to be kicked and manhandled by about 10 persons. (Sunday Leader September 9, 2007). After visiting hospital Chaminda lodged a complaint at the Bambalapitiya Police Station. However Malaka had made it to the police station before Chaminda and had himself made a complaint indicating a small bruise on the bridge of his nose and stating a group of persons had assaulted him. Senasinghe who had 11 stitches on his forehead and Malaka Silva was remanded on September 11, 2007 for pistol whipping Chaminda Senasinghe.

* Malaka Silva and two of his bodyguards on November 2, 2006 pleaded guilty to attacking attacking Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) officers who were on a drug raid at a night club in a five star hotel.

* An Army intelligence officer Major C. Pradeep was admitted to the National Hospital after being assaulted by Malaka on September 08, 2012

* Malaka Silva was stabbed in the car park of Odel by a group of Army men allegedly working with the presidential security divission. He was admitted to the Nawaloka Hospital.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Lanka Tamil party's CM nominee wants India to take part in Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

Karthick S, TNN | Sep 20, 2013
JAFFNA: While leaders of political parties inTamil Nadu have been strident in their demand that India boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November, former Sri Lankan Supreme Court judge C V Wigneswaran, chief ministerial candidate of one of the key parties in the fray in the Northern Province council elections, has called for the country's participation.

"I am not for this business of boycotting," Wigneswaran told TOI in an exclusive interview in Jaffna on Thursday. Campaigning for the elections to three provincial councils - Northern, Central and North-Western - scheduled for September 21 ended on Wednesday.

"We must have the courage of conviction to tell the Sri Lankan government that it has done this and this and what does it got to say... It is better you say it at the CHOGM rather than keep away," he said. Pointing out that Tamils lost the Eastern Province due to their leaders keeping away from the election, Wigneswaran said, "I am not a politician. I don't look at these things in the same way as politicians do". Accusing Tamil Nadu politicians of playing with the Tamils issue by treating it "like a tennis ball", Wigneswaran said India owed it to the Lankan Tamil community to help revive democratic institutions. "We especially need the support of south India".

While confident that his Tamil National Alliance (TNA) would get a majority in the elections, being held after 25 years, Wigneswaran, however, feared there would be attempts by the Sri Lankan army to prevent people from casting their votes. "Our difficulty is not in getting a majority. We have to contend with the army...They would probably allow people whom they think might vote for the government and prevent the others," he said. As a judge he had heard election petitions about "such things" happening in this part of the country, he said. "Otherwise, we are fairly confident that 80 to 90% of the people are with us".

The former judge said there was great expectation among the people that something might come out of this election. "So, it is essential that there should be a good turnout.

Depending on the turnout, it would be possible for us to make out the wishes and aspirations of the people. We are fairly confident there would be a good turnout," he said. On development projects being taken up by the government in the war-torn areas, Wigneswaran said, "It is mere propaganda. Roads and other infrastructure projects are just showpieces. The roads have been put up with the help of foreign collaborations and donations. They have been most beneficial for the army to keep the electorate under control."

He said the problems of war widows and internally displaced people, housing and other issues are yet to be addressed. On criticism by the ruling alliance UPFA that the TNA's manifesto promoted separatism, he said, "There is a misunderstanding. The government is unnecessarily creating trouble. We are for a democratic institution based on federalism within the boundaries of Sri Lanka".

On allegations that he had glorified the LTTE and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and addressed him as 'Maveeran' (great warrior) in his election campaign, Wigneswaran said, "It is all perception. If you are going to call him a terrorist, should I also not address those who are being now hauled up in the international forum for war crimes as terrorists?" The TNA leader said Keppetipola Disawe, who was considered by the British as a dangerous criminal, has roads named after him and statues built for him. "Prabhakaran was a freedom fighter. He may have been brutal, but so is the government," he said.

SL military attacks Ananthi's residence in Jaffna, 8 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 September 2013, 19:35 GMT]
Eight persons, including an election monitor, Lawyer Sugas of PAFFREL, were brutally attacked by the occupying SL military in Jaffna, which besieged the residence of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) woman candidate Ms Ananthi Sasistharan at Araali in Jaffna in the early hours of Friday. Ms Ananthi narrowly escaped from the assault as her supporters had managed to send her away over the wall of the residence as the military rounded up her residence. The Sri Lankan soldiers were searching for her with the intention of physically harming her, those who were present at the residence told media and the election monitors. An independent election monitoring group, CaFFE, has openly stated that the SL military was behind the attack. The public, TNA members and election monitors of various groups are visiting the house of Ms Ananthi on Friday, witnessing the shocking attack.

Those who were attacked by the SL military were struggling to get to the hospital as the tyres of the vehicles were punctured by the soldiers.

The latest harassment is reported as the Sri Lankan military establishment has unleashed a campaign against Ms Ananthi, the mother of three and the wife of Mr Elilan, the former LTTE Political Head of Trincomalee who is reported missing after he was handed over to the SL military.

Also last Tuesday, she narrowly escaped from an attack carried out by alleged Sri Lankan military operatives on her way back from a campaign meeting.

The attack on Friday was reported at 1:00 a.m.

A few minutes before the latest attack, a group of SL military operatives had attempted put up posters against Ananthi Sasitharan at the residence of Ms Ananthi. The group has been putting up posters against her at several places in Jaffna city.

When the supporters of Ananthi Sasitharan, present at her residence, came out, the group had run away. But, a few minutes later, Sri Lankan soldiers rounded up the residence. They were searching for her smashing the doors at the residence.

Ananthi told TamilNet Friday that the paramilitary EPDP was also instrumental in the harassments against her.

The PAFFREL coordinator, who had arrived at the site after hearing about the incident, was also attacked despite his identification as an election monitor belonging to the civil monitoring group.

Throughout the nigh, the SL military was deployed at every junction, from Jaffna city to Araali. The SL soldiers, carrying stop signs, were blocking independent election monitors and journalists from reaching the residence of Ms Ananthi Sasitharan.