Friday, November 1, 2013

Fate Of Tamil Propagandist – New Evidence From Sri Lanka

November 1, 2013

New video showing the fate of a Tamil propagandist & TV presenter is a stark reminder of Sri Lankan government cruelty. Until now they insisted Isaipriya died in combat. Warning: distressing images.

Courtesy Channel 4

Free Access For Foreign Scribes During CHOGM: Govt

November 1, 2013

The Sri Lankan Government yesterday pledged unrestricted access to foreign journalists who will arrive in the country to cover CHOGM this month even though scribes overseas are yet to have their visas approved for the summit that will get underway in just two weeks.

Channel 4 ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’

Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella responding to a question posed by a journalist said the government would place no restrictions on foreign reporters in the country to cover the summit.

Asked if Britain’s Channel 4 which aired the controversial Killing Fields Documentaries and had trouble with their media accreditation for CHOGM would also be granted this same access, Rambukwella responded “of course.”

After a prolonged period of nearly nine weeks Channel 4 journalists received their CHOGM accreditation last week. Media accreditation applications for the summit are being scrutinised by military intelligence.

Commonwealth must honour its own commitments

Photo courtesy Contribute Magazine

by Vidya Venkat
- on 11/01/2013

The choice of Sri Lanka as a venue for CHOGM 2013 has always remained controversial. But now that most member countries have agreed to go ahead and participate in the high-profile summit happening in Colombo, the moment has arrived for the Commonwealth to reassess its commitment towards its own values.

###

Two weeks from now, the Heads of Government of 53 Commonwealth countries will congregate in Colombo’s Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall to discuss, among other things, the Commonwealth’s commitment towards the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law in keeping with the Harare Declaration. Sri Lanka has consistently breached all three values. Two years have passed since the decision to allow Sri Lanka to host CHOGM was taken in Perth but little progress has been made by the island nation with regards to initiating accountability measures for credible allegations of war crimes.

On Thursday, I had attended a meeting organised by the Human Rights Watch in New Delhi in which torture victims from Sri Lanka who have been brutally beaten, raped and abused by either the police or military personnel in 2012 gave testimonies over Skype from their hospital bed. These were a handful of people who have been fortunate enough to escape from the island nation and find refuge in a foreign land. Charu Lata Hogg, a London-based human rights researcher said that between 2006 and 2012, 75 cases of sexual violence against men and women from the Tamil minority community have been found and several of these victims hail from the camps for internally displaced persons. According to the Sri Lankan military’s own admission there have been 11 cases of sexual abuse against Tamils by military personnel in 2012, but this is a highly underestimated number, according to Ms. Hogg.

It is worth recalling the very serious violations of Commonwealth values committed by Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has not implemented the recommendations of its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. Add to this the consolidation of powers in the hands of the President and his family; the impeachment of the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake in January which the Sri Lankan Supreme Court held unconstitutional; the killing and abduction of journalists resulting in suppression of free speech; excessive militarisation in Tamil-dominated regions which proved to be a “significant obstacle to a credible electoral process” according to Commonwealth monitors who oversaw the recent elections in the northern provincial council.

And while these harsh realities stare us in the face, we find the Sri Lankan government sparing no effort to win over the Commonwealth leaders attending the summit. The latest is the decision to name orphaned baby elephants in Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage after the Commonwealth leaders! For Sri Lanka CHOGM 2013 presents a major opportunity to build its international brand and attract investments as the President has said. Sri Lanka is only doing what any country that has successfully ended a separatist movement in its land would like to do. To borrow an expression from the anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot, the preparations ahead of CHOGM point to efforts at “silencing the past” and producing a victor’s narrative of a nation that has emerged successful and resurgent from the dark days of the civil war.

Consider the significant benefits that Sri Lanka will get if it were to get to lead the Commonwealth for the next two years. The Sri Lankan President would be anointed Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office in the presence of Prince Charles, who is representing the Queen of England. He will enjoy the opportunity to reinforce the Good Offices’ role of the Commonwealth Secretary-General and contribute to strategic advocacy of Commonwealth positions in high-level international forums. A Sri Lankan Foreign Minister will become a member of Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). Sri Lanka will chair the Committee of the Whole and Communiqué drafting committee at future ministerial meetings.

Handing over these crucial responsibilities to a member country that has breached all the core values of the Commonwealth without demanding any accountability whatsoever would make a mockery of the organisation which now finds itself in deep crisis. The Canadian Prime Minister has threatened to review funding for the Commonwealth and as the second largest donor this will be disastrous for the association. Similarly, the UK has reduced its contributions citing concerns about the direction of the organisation. It is only during CHOGM that there is interest in the Commonwealth and the member countries must use this opportunity to take concrete measures to address the deepening crisis.

Commonwealth mechanisms are inadequate when it comes to responding to human rights abuses by member countries. In response to criticism of its functioning, the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) was created in 2009. Several of the EPG’s recommendations were put in place between the 2011 and 2013 biennial Heads of State meetings. However, the EPG’s recommendation to appoint a Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law and Human Rights was dropped because Member States could not reach a consensus on how to respond to this recommendation.

In its 2013 report to CHOGM titled ‘The Missing Link: A Commonwealth Commissioner for Human Rights’, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has demanded that an independent Commonwealth Commissioner for Human Rights be appointed to plug the alarming gap that remains between Commonwealth promises and reality. The full Report can be accessed here.

While CHRI has decided to stay away from CHOGM 2013 due to displeasure regarding the manner in which the host nation has conducted itself, we do realise the value of utilizing this event as an opportunity to push for reforms within the Commonwealth. Sri Lanka remains an inappropriate venue for hosting CHOGM, but it paradoxically presents an appropriate opportunity for the Commonwealth Heads of Government to consider the value in appointing a Commonwealth Commissioner for Human Rights who will rebuild the confidence of its people and ensure a renewed, relevant and sustainable Commonwealth. CHOGM must ideally be used to pressurise Sri Lanka to accept precise time-bound commitments to uphold its international human rights obligations. Unless such measures are initiated, CHOGM 2013 runs the risk of deepening the already existing crisis within the organisation.

The author is Media and Communications Officer for Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi.

CPA Challenges Constitutionality Of Govt. Appropriation Bill: Case Fixed For Monday

November 1, 2013

For the second consecutive year, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director challenged the provisions of the Appropriation Bill for the financial year 2014 which was placed on the order paper of Parliament on the 22nd of October 2013.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu - Co-Convenor CMEV

In its Petition CPA challenged the constitutionality of Clause 5, 6, 7 and 2(1) b of the Bill. Clause 5 and 6 of the Bill permits the Secretary to the Treasury or any authorised officer to reallocate funds between heads/programmes without prior permission or subsequent ratification by Parliament. Furthermore Clause 7 permits the Finance Minister, with the approval of the ‘Government’- as opposed to Parliament- to withdraw monies allocated to a particular purpose, if he thinks such monies are not required. Clause 2(1)(b) of the Bill grants blanket authorisation to the Executive to raise foreign or local loans up to Rs.1100 billion (in the next financial year) without any requirement for Parliament to scrutinize and approve the terms related to the raising of each of such loans.

CPA in its Petition contended that the Bill amounts to a clear violation of the Constitution which mandates that Parliament shall have full control over Public Finance. Sovereignty, which includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise, is in the People and is inalienable. The removal of specific public funds from within the control of Parliament is directly inconsistent with the Constitution and amounts to a grave violation of the inalienable sovereignty of the People. The matters and concerns emphasised in the case include the reality that the Sovereignty of the People, the Rule of Law and the Supremacy of the Constitution would be imperilled through the provisions of the said Bill that are inconsistent with and / or in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution, and thus ought not be permitted to pass validly into law through a simple majority in Parliament alone.

CPA has on several occasions in the past challenged Bills- including the Appropriation Bill for the financial year 2013- which had a direct impact on Parliaments full control over public finance. The said same provisions were challenged by CPA and its Executive Director in 2012 and subsequent to the determination by the Supreme Court the budget had to be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the whole number of Members of Parliament voting in favour of it.

CPA is concerned that the proposed Bill is part of a continued effort to denude Parliamentary oversight over public finance which is essential to promote accountability and transparency in the manner in which tax payer money is utilised. The resulting position would be that Parliament would be rendered impotent to curb the excesses of the Executive arm of government, and thereby consolidate Executive control over the other arms of government.

This matter (SC SD 19/2013) will be heard by a divisional bench of the Supreme Court on the 4th of November 2013.

Dawn Of A New Age In Lankan Tamil Politics

( November 1, 2013, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) The election result in the Northern Province redefines relations between Jaffna and Colombo. India should use it as an opportunity to strengthen ties between Colombo and New Delhi

Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province have struggled for over five decades to secure grassroots devolution of power.

Dawn of a New Age in Lankan Tamil Politics by nelvely

Rajapaksa retaliates to India’s moves

Friday, 01 November 2013

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government is now retaliating to India’s failure to announce the participation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo this month.

The Indian media has reported that the Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) Lankan arm, Lanka IOC, which leased oil storage tanks at Trincomalee, has hit a dead end as it attempts to set up a joint venture with Ceylon Petroleum Corporation for about 84 tanks.

The Times of India has reported that coming months after the Rajapaksa government decided to “repossess” a number of unused tanks; the move is being seen by some as retaliation for India's recent moves.

Petroleum secretary Vivek Rae has asked foreign secretary Sujatha Singh to take up the issue at the diplomatic level since the Lankans were refusing to engage the petroleum ministry.

He has said Lanka IOC had given a proposal for a joint venture to the Lankans in May but there was no response yet.

Colombo had also rebuffed oil minister Veerappa Moily who had discussed the issue with his Lankan counterpart at a recent Asian energy roundtable in Seoul.

India voted against Sri Lanka in a US-sponsored resolution at the Human Rights Council in March, which was seen as a sign of betrayal by Colombo. Right after that decision, the Lankan government announced it would renegotiate the tank farm agreement signed in 2003.

Now, India is threatening to put a damper on the first multilateral CHOGM in Sri Lanka by downgrading its presence from the prime minister level. Sri Lanka has already threatened it would associate more closely with China and Pakistan if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not travel to Colombo for the summit.

Lanka IOC was given 99 storage tanks and ancillary facilities , divided into ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ farms, that date back to World War II days.

IOC utilizes the 15 tanks for petroleum products but the upper tank farm needs substantial investment since they are more rundown.

According to the Times of India, a lease agreement for 35 years for the land and facilities was to be signed but it never was. The lease agreement was a successor to the original agreement whereby India pays $100,000 annually.

Sri Lanka’s tragedy

The Sri Lankan government must allow a UN investigation into the fate of the disappeared

Sri Lanka will host a Commonwealth summit in a fortnight, yet the country has more 'outstanding cases' of disappearances than anywhere in the world apart from Iraq Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The agony endured by the loved ones of missing people can scarcely be imagined. Instead of being allowed to grieve and come to terms with their loss, they must live in suspense without knowing the fate of a child, wife or husband. Sri Lanka will host a Commonwealth summit in a fortnight, yet the country has more “outstanding cases” of disappearances than anywhere in the world apart from Iraq. No fewer than 5,676 names appear on a United Nations list: more than in Argentina after the “dirty war” of the Seventies, or in Colombia after decades of abductions by drug barons and Marxist insurgents.

Some of Sri Lanka’s disappeared are Tamil rebels who fought in the 26-year civil war; others are innocents who were caught up in the turmoil. Then there are recent cases such as that of Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist who was abducted two days before the last election in 2010. He was known for writing critical articles about President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This deeply compromised leader will host David Cameron and the Prince of Wales at the Commonwealth summit. Allowing Sri Lanka to stage this gathering was never sensible, but that decision cannot be reopened; nor would a British boycott be wise. Instead, the Prime Minister should use his visit to made one categorical demand: that the Sri Lankan government must allow a UN investigation into the fate of the disappeared.

Mr Rajapaksa has set up his own commission , but no government can be trusted to investigate itself. The relatives of the missing deserve an independent and international inquiry, empowered to discover the fate of each outstanding case. How could anyone oppose this? Mr Cameron should seize the opportunity to make this reasonable and realistic demand.

Sri Lanka’s long-term IDPs - what next?

Subair and his family call their home of more than 20 years "temporary"

COLOMBO/BATTICALOA, 1 November 2013 (IRIN) - Years after fighting ended in Sri Lanka - up to more than 20 years for some - tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes, a situation researchers say is unlikely to change soon.

ap/pt/cb

Sri Lanka’s long-term IDPs - what next by nelvely

The Story Of Olive And Palm Trees Across The Fence

By Mahesan Niranjan -

Prof Mahesan Niranjan

In 1984, in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven, my drinking partner, the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow Sivapuranam Thevaram, met a Palestinian guy — the very first Palestinian Thevaram has ever met. Their host in The Netherlands was the electronics company Phillips,

well known for having invented the digital compact disc. The two men were at a welcome reception by a director of the company. Phillips, he claimed, was the largest manufacturer of light bulbs in the world. “Next to the sun, Phillips provides the most light,” he boasted. Abdul (not his real name) the Palestinian and Thevaram the Sri Lankan, sitting next to each other, laughed jointly and introduced themselves to each other.

Prior to arriving in Eindhoven, Thevaram, having been a student at HillTop University in Sri Lanka, had decent enough knowledge about the intricate politics of the world. He had read about the Second World War, the persecution of the Jews, the creation of a Jewish State in their “Promised Land,” the connivance of the super-powers in setting up an ever-lasting problem to guarantee a flow of oil wealth from East to West. Years later, when the USA invaded Iraq to teach them democracy, and a comment in the UK Guardian newspaper paraphrased the Bard to have said “Oils well that ends well,” Thevaram understood precisely what all that was about – proof that the 25 year old young man in 1984 had a pretty good idea about the Jews and the Palestinians.

Only 37 heads of states confirm participation at CHOGM

Friday, 01 November 2013

The Mahinda Rajapaksa government has announced that 37 heads of Commonwealth states have confirmed participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this month.

It is learnt that President Rajapaksa who has taken great pains in putting up an extravagant show to take the chair of the Commonwealth nations is displeased that only 37 nations have confirmed out of the 53 Commonwealth nations.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in a bid to cover up the embarrassment has said that 37 heads of states have confirmed their attendance in the CHOGM and it is more than the number of heads of states who participated in the last CHOGM held at Perth.
He has added that several more heads of states are to confirm their attendance within the next few days.

LfD Condemns The Attack On Dambulla ‘Badramman Kovil’

November 1, 2013

‘Lawyers for Democracy’ condemns unreservedly the attack on ‘Badramman Kovil’ at Dambulla, said Lal Wijenayake, the Convener of the Lawyers for Democracy.

Bhadrakali Mata Statue /File photo

“This Kovil which is a place of religious worship specially for Hindus has come under attack on several occasions in past and the government has failed to take any concrete steps to stop these attacks and infact as a result the whole Kovil has been razed to the ground. This is not an isolated incident. Previous incidents of attacks on Churches, mosques and Kovils and other places of religious activity of minority religions has gone unabated and unchecked by the state. These incidents shows the level of intolerance of diversity and dissent that prevails in our society today. What is of most concern is the impunity with which these criminal acts are committed against religious and ethnic minorities.” the LfD further said.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Press release/01.11.2013

Open appeal to CHOGM: Ensure that the Commonwealth values on Freedom of Expression respected in Sri Lanka; Ensure unhindered access to media

The Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka makes these open appeals the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Sri Lanka next month in the hope that the meeting will be an opportunity to re emphasis importance the democratic governance and human rights including the freedom of expression rights in Sri Lanka.

Open appeal to CHOGM Ensure that the Commonwealth values on Freedom of Expression respected in Sri Lanka... by nelvely

Bitter War In The IFJ: Park’s Perk Man Blames IFJ President For Arrest And Says IFJ Rigs Elections

November 1, 2013

The detention, questioning and deporting of the two International Federation of Journalists’ paid workers in Sri Lanka last Wednesday is evidently a part of a broader game plan by the IFJ president Jim Boumelha to destabilising IFJ activities in Sri Lanka a leaked email claims.

Sukumar Muralidharan

Jacquline Park, a paid worker of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) was detained and questioned along with another paid staff member,for conducting workshops while on a tourist visa.

A close confident of Jacqueline Park, another paid worker, IFJ’s South Asia Project Manager Sukumar Muralidharan in an email sent on November 30, 2013 to IFJ secretary Beth Costa and its Sri Lankan affiliates squarely places the blame for this turn of events on the IFJ president.

He said; “It is deeply shocking to learn of IFJ colleagues being taken in for interrogation by the Colombo city police.I must say however, that it comes as no surprise, considering the trail of correspondence that precedes this mail of mine. I was trying with great difficulty to keep out of this thread of correspondence, but it seems time now to break the silence.”

Muralidran goes on to accuse an Indian journalist who is also an Executive Committee member of the IFJ (whose name we have to withhold for legal reasons): “Full details can be revealed at some future time and there is a long history behind this, of which this particular thread of correspondence is only the most recent event.”

Naming the Indian Journalist he said the journalist “has been operating with the active support of two disgruntled elements within the IFJ affiliate structure in Sri Lanka.” Read More

Chandra Wants Answers On Casino Bill

November 1, 2013

Good governance activist Chandra Jayaratne has written to the Minister of Investment Promotion requesting clarifications on the controversial casino bill that the Government was proposing to present to parliament but subsequently withdrew for amendment in the face of strong opposition.

Chandra Jayaratne

Referring to the Gazette Notices Issued under Strategic Development Projects Act No.14 of 2008 on 23rd September 2013 Jayaratne asks the Minister to be transparent about the scope of the tax concessions to the resorts operating in the proposed casino zones and the revenue loss to the state from the proposed tax breaks to casinos that will operate under the Strategic Development Act. Jayaratne demands answers from the Minister on 10 key points in the public interest.

His letter to the Minister in full is found below:

28th October 2013

Hon. Minister of Investment Promotion

Ministry of Investment Promotion,

Levels 25 & 26, West Tower,

World Trade Center,

Echelon Square,

Colombo 1.

Dear Mr. Minister,

Clarifications Re; Gazette Notices Issued under Strategic Development Projects Act No.14 of 2008 on 23rd September 2013