Keeping The Tamils In Line: Response To Mr. N.D. Jayaweera

By S. Sivathasan -November 5, 2013

S.Sivathasan

As always, the unconventional and the non-fashionable have been brought forth with the same sparkle of brilliance, elegance and clarity. In response tohis thoughts, I am pleased to write this note to a personage I met 48 years ago as CAS probationer in Jaffna. Nine months later, I worked with him in my first appointment when he was GA Trincomalee. On values and attitudes, I had met my alter ego. I am happy that he remains as trim and articulate now as he was then.

Very candidly Mr. Jayaweera has said in his critique, “Clearly, the 13th Amendment does not do that, (“delegating to the Tamils…power to order their own affairs”) because that was not its purpose and it was not driven by an ideological commitment to sharing power. Rather, it was drafted primarily as a mechanism to keep the Tamils in line and to that end it reinforces control rather than share power”. Nothing can be truer or more exact. The operative word is control, which has been chosen judiciously.

Wresting power from the centre and vesting a due share in the North East was far from India’s scheme of things. Vitalising the North East was none of her concern. Then why did India intervene? The personality of the ‘Iron Lady’, Indira Gandhi needs to be understood. Gone were the times and the harmonious relations of Nehru – SWRD, Nehru – Srimavo and Indira Gandhi – Srimavo. What followed was a tenuous relationship of IG – JR, which lumbered reluctantly along and collapsed at the first rupture, when 1983 provided the occasion and ample justification as well. What IG was unable to accomplish, Rajiv Gandhi executed three years after her demise, more as ‘sustained release’, than with a sense of mission or with verve.

The act itself lacked meaningful direction. India’s supremacy was purported to be established after the expedition. Oil farm at Trincomalee was part appropriated by her. In reciprocity, India’s gift was to insulate the South from the JVP and the North from the LTTE. To JR the prospect and the discomfort of war on two fronts were avoided. It was wished that Sri Lanka was made safe for democracy. India’s action yielded no results for the Tamils as the operation was not oriented to resolving the Tamil issues. They were only befuddled.

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Colombo Uni to be closed for two weeks for CHOGM?

By Aisha Nazim-Tuesday, 05 Nov 2013

The Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) questioned why the University of Colombo should be closed for two weeks in view of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

IUSF Convener, Sanjeewa Bandara, claimed that the campus is being closed so as to prevent the undergraduates from convening and forming protest campaigns during the international event.

Speaking to Ceylon Today, he queried why the education of the youth has to be disrupted even though the summit would be in progress, and also questioned what purpose the closing of the campus would serve.

“This event is just a huge exhibition with no purpose – what would be achieved by it? Everything the government is doing in the country now is to show the CHOGM delegates how much Sri Lanka is developing and to distract them from issues in the country they could be critical about. At the end of the day, the common man is not going to benefit because of the summit, and the lives of students are put on hold as schools and universities are shut down because of the event,” Bandara said.

Refuting the student unionists’ claims, the University Grants Commission (UGC) denied that the campuses are going to be shut down for two weeks.

UGC Chairperson, Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama told Ceylon Today that, the unionist’s claims are baseless, and that the education authorities had no intention of closing down the Colombo University during CHOGM for that long. However, it might be closed for three days in view of issues related to traffic, she said.

“We might close the university on 13, 14, and 15 November because mobility will be a problem for students, due to the high security that will be in place during the summit,” Prof. Hirimburegama added. (Ceylon Today Online)

India refuses visa to Macrae

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 November 2013, 12:40 GMT]
India has refused visa to Callum Macrae, the Channel-4 documentary maker, who produced a series of video documentaries exposing the war-crimes committed by the Sri Lankan military during the war on the Tamil people in Vanni where, according to UN estimates, the Petrie Report, more than 70,000 Tamil civilians were killed in 2009 alone. Macrae was planning to fly out on November 6 for a screening of the latest documentary in Delhi. The video contained footage showing LTTE TV anchor-actor Isaippiriya's capture during the last phase of the Lankan war. Still images released earlier showed Isaippiriya was bound, tortured and shot naked, and experts alleged that she was severely raped in custody before being shot by the Sri Lankan soldiers. 

Callum Macrae, Director of Sri Lanka's Killing fields

"I know that the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the last few months of the civil war in Sri Lanka are a matter of considerable concern to the government in India. And I am at a loss to understand why they are giving the impression they want to prevent me coming over to talk about my film and the evidence that we have been gathering for more than three years," Macrae was quoted as saying in a report in Times of India. 

Minister of state for external affairs E Ahamed told TOI he didn't interfere in granting visas. "There are set protocols, and the visa officer has to take a call.”

While India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is delaying announcement of his possible intended participation in the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo, Senator Hugh Segal, Canada's envoy to the Commonwealth, exclaimed that the Commonwealth Secretariat headed by an Indian diplomat was acting "as a 'shill'" for Sri Lanka's government. 

Macrae said he applied for the visa in February to attend a pre-launch press conference on the documentary.

Macrae said Sri Lanka has been trying to systematically prevent screening of his documentary, 'No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka'. 

"They protested over screenings in the UN and the European Union. In Malaysia, they are accused of putting pressure on the government to stop a screening organised by the Human Rights NGO Pusat Komas in Kuala Lumpur. Indeed when the screening went ahead it was raided by between 30 and 40 members of the Censorship Board and the police. They did not manage to stop the screening, but they arrested the organizers and one of them, a brave young woman called Lena Hendry, is now awaiting trial and could face a maximum of three years in jail," the film-maker said, according to TOI.

Macrae's team was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Indian PM’s CHOGM Dilemma

Manmohan caught between political and diplomatic compulsions

| by Ashok Tuteja

( November 5, 2013, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) It’s a catch-22 situation for the UPA government at the Centre. With rival political parties in Tamil Nadu indulging in a game of one-upmanship to demand boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Tamil Nadu over alleged war crimes against Lankan Tamils, India’s foreign policy threatens to yet again become a hostage to petty domestic politics.

While the mandarins at the Foreign Office are strongly pitching for India’s participation at the meeting, contending that engagement with neighbours is the essence of the country’s foreign policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is under increasing pressure even from members of his own Congress party to give a miss to the summit of former colonies of the British Empire.

Union Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan and Minister of State V Narayanasamy today came out strongly against the Prime Minister visiting Colombo for the November 15-17 summit. Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Shipping Minister G K Vasan have already expressed their opposition to the trip.

While Narayanasamy is from Puducherry, the three others ministers hail from Tamil Nadu. They realise how their political adversaries would try to cash in on the situation, should the Prime Minister heed to the advice of his top aides and go ahead with the visit to Colombo.

Last month, the Tamil Nadu Assembly had adopted a resolution asking the Centre to boycott the summit to register India’s protest against the Mahinda Rajapkasa government’s failure to investigate and punish those who allegedly persecuted the island’s ethnic Tamils in the final phase of the civil war in 2009.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said India’s important strategic interests were at stake in Sri Lanka which has in many ways been responsive to New Delhi’s engagement. In this connection, he drew attention towards elections to the Northern Province after 25 years and the setting up of a Select Parliament Committee on constitutional issues.

The process of rehabilitating Tamils displaced by the prolonged conflict has also proceeded though more could be done. However, what has been done was also significant, he added.

Akbaruddin noted that Myanmar under the military “junta” or Pakistan under the Army in the past had not hindered India’s engagement with these two neighbours.

Even newly-elected Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran has invited Manmohan Singh to visit Jaffna, the capital of his Tamil majority province, suggesting that he was in favour of the Prime Minister attending the summit.

Experts say the UPA government has allowed so much political debate on the question of the Prime Minister’s participation at CHOGM. With the summit being just 10 days away, the Indian establishment is still weighing the diplomatic and political fallout of the decision either way.

WikiLeaks: It’s Not Genocide, Army Could Have Won The Battle With Higher Civilian And Less Army Casualties – ICRC To US Mission To UN

November 5, 2013

“Jacques de Maio, ICRC’s Head of Operations for South Asia, began by stating that, because of ICRC’s strict confidentiality rules, he would be unable to share any specific information regarding allegations of crimes by either side, nor would he be able to direct Williamson to sources. That said, de Maio engaged in a lengthy discussion of the conflict and offered a nuanced view of the complex situation on the ground. For example, he said that the Sri Lankan military was somewhat responsive to accusations of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and was open to adapting its actions to reduce casualties, but only to the extent that this would not undermine its overriding military objective – to destroy the LTTE.” the US Mission to UN informed Washington.

US Ambassador to Geneva Clint Williamson

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The “Confidential” cable discuses what had happened on the ground during and since the conflict. The cable was signed by the US Ambassador to Geneva Clint Williamson on July 15, 2009.

After a meeting with Jacque de Maio, ICRC Head of Operations for South Asia on July 9, 2009, just two months after the war, the ambassador wrote; “The army was determined not to let the LTTE escape from its shrinking territory, even though this meant the civilians being kept hostage by the LTTE were at increasing risk. So, de Maio said, while one could safely say that there were ‘serious, widespread violations of IHL,’ by the Sri Lankan forces, it did not amount to genocide. He could site examples of where the army had stopped shelling when ICRC informed them it was killing civilians. In fact, the army actually could have won the military battle faster with higher civilian casualties, yet chosen a slower approach which led to a greater number of Sri Lankan military deaths. He concluded however, by asserting that the GSL failed to recognize its obligation to protect civilians despite the approach leading to higher military casualties. From his standpoint, a soldier at war should be more likely to die than a civilian.”

Related posts to this cable;

WikiLeaks: LTTE Stored Weapons At Hospitals – ICRC To US Mission To UN

British rights group documents 85 new cases of torture by Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 November 2013, 18:18 GMT]
“If the British government wants to be taken seriously in its stated commitment to using the Commonwealth meeting to highlight human rights issues, it must first come clean about how it has facilitated this abuse through the Home Office's forced removals programme,” said Freedom from Torture, the Chief Executive of Freedom from Torture, a UK based medical foundation, which provides therapeutic care for survivors of torture, in a statement issued on 01 November. The charity also stated that it had documented a further 85 cases of ‘post-conflict’ torture since the publication of ‘Out of the Silence’ in 2011. 

Freedom from Torture has been at the forefront of efforts to expose evidence that certain categories of Tamils returning to the island from the UK in the post-war period are at serious risk of torture. 

In a recently published 2012/13 Annual Review, Sri Lanka surged ahead to become the top country of origin for those referred to Freedom from Torture for clinical services in 2012, the group further said. 

The total number of cases of person tortured since the end of war whose injuries the rights group has documented now stands at a staggering 120, the rights group said on Friday.

“Detailed clinical evidence we presented to both the Home Office and the FCO was repeatedly distorted in policies about the risk to people forcibly removed to Sri Lanka,” the group said adding that a cross-departmental review of the British government's handling of evidence and other sources is essential.

“With so much depending on the international community and its readiness to exert greater pressure on the Sri Lankan government, the sight of Prime Minister David Cameron, Foreign Secretary William Hague, the Prince of Wales, and dozens of other heads of government shaking hands with the Sri Lankan leaders who permit torture brings little comfort.”

The ‘Ugly Sri Lankan’: How Sri Lanka Is Losing The Legitimacy War

By Dayan Jayatilleka -November 5, 2013 |

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

I returned from New Delhi over the weekend having spent a week there while presenting a paper by invitation at a seminar organized by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) the oldest strategic studies think tank in Delhi. I do not think the attendees at the IDSA annual conference on South Asia could be said to simply reflect the opinion of the Indian government establishment. Though the IDSA is linked to government—and here I must add, it is not only the Ministry of Defence but also the Ministry of External Affairs that supports it– it conducts independent research and the research fellows and staff are independent minded specialists of top quality who do not take their cue from the Government of India. It is no echo chamber. There were around 150 members of the audience who were basically strategic and security policy analysts and area specialists, with a sprinkling of officials. One may call it a significant segment of the strategic studies community.

From what I could discern, there is some concern and confusion with regard to missed opportunities for post war reconciliation on the part of Sri Lanka, the slow pace of delivery on promises of devolution as per the13^th amendment, the lack of progress on the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, the long term alienation of the Northern Tamils by overly large military footprint in the North, and the attitude of ‘triumphalism’ in the discourse of the regime.

My conversations left me with the impression that these strategic analysts believe that militant Tamil Nadu sentiment could have been forestalled and could still be countered by adequate devolution and implementation of the LLRC which would revive and restore better relations between Colombo and Delhi. My interlocutors were concerned about a new political culture which seemed to have arisen in Sri Lanka which was less democratic, more authoritarian, more militarized, more religious and ethno nationalist and less open minded than they recall Sri Lanka as being. What is the direction in which Sri Lanka is going, and what is the future that Sri Lanka envisages, seemed to be a question. There was some amazement that the Sri Lankan establishment seemed to think that the globalization of the Lankan issue – most visibly in the form of UNHRC resolutions and forthcoming moves in Geneva– could be countered by Colombo with only the support of China and Pakistan. I definitely got the impression that Sri Lanka has an image problem in Indian public opinion, that it had depleted its soft power and that a sophisticated new generation of young activist-lobbyists from Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Diaspora were beating Sri Lanka in winning hearts and minds.      Read More

What Are The Communal Implications?

| by a Special Correspondent

(November 5, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is reported that the Badhrakaali Amman temple was totally destroyed by the unidentified group of people on the last week. This cowardly act of some extremist Buddhists fanatics should be condemned by peace loving people of this country. This temple has been there in this small township for more than thirty years and yet, this temple has been destroyed in the pretext of sacred Buddhist land. 

What Are the Communal Implications by nelvely

UNP, CAFFE, CHR denounce intimidation of journalists, HR violations

by Zacki Jabbar-November 4, 2013, 10:18 pm 

The UNP, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) and the Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) yesterday lashed out at the government for ‘stepping up intimidatory tactics against the media’, while there was a marked increase in state actors violating the human and political rights of the people.

General Secretary of the UNP, Tissa Attanayake MP, addressing journalists in Colombo, having petitioned the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, over the arrest of a large number of UNPers following the clash between the anti–Ranil and pro-Ranil groups in Matara on October 5, said that the police, on the directions of the Rajapaksa regime, had arrested even those who had not raised a finger at anyone, while ignoring video evidence of Presidential Security men backing the anti-Ranil group, led by Provincial Councillors Maithri Gunaratne and Shiral Lakthillake.

Many members of the pro-Ranil group had been fired at and some injured, Attanayake said, adding that UNP Provincial Councillor Krishantha Pushpakumara injured and confined to a wheelchair had also been summoned to the police Station.

The MP also condemned last week’s deportation of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific Director Jacqui Park and her Deputy Jane Worthington, merely because they had entered the country on tourist visas and participated, on invitation, in a media workshop that had been organised by the Free Media Movement (FMM) in Colombo.

The government had acted as if the two IFJ members had committed a serious crime and were a threat to national security, Attanayake said while pointing out that they were two professionals who, by their presence, could have only made a positive contribution to the development of journalism.

Attanayake observed that even though the Rajapaksa regime was making grand preparations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next week, it had repeatedly violated the Commonwealth Charter to which it was a signatory.

Mangala Samaraweera MP, who was released on bail after being produced in Court over the October 5 clash, said that the government had selectively applied the law and arrested only those in the forefront of the fight against corruption, crime and blatant violation of the rule of law, while disgruntled elements in the UNP were being used to divide the party.

The Executive Director of CaFFE and CHR Keerthi Tennakoon, also condemned the deportation of the two IFJ members. He said that they had been in Sri Lanka on a private visit. The FMM, on hearing of their presence, had invited them to participate in the workshop, but the authorities were trying to make out that it was a pre-planned operation against the country, he said.

Sri Lanka had, Tennakoon noted, earned a reputation as one of the worst places for journalists. The 2013 ‘Impunity Index’, prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists, ranked Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity with regard to the murder of journalists, as the fourth highest in the world and the country also ranked 162nd out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders Media Freedom Index, he said.

Tennekoon said that several media organisations were part of the CHR’s civil society network and it was disconcerting to observe the increasing restrictions on freedom of expression.

Building capacities of journalists would enable them to better carry out their professional duties, Tennakoon said. The witch hunt against members of the profession would only limit opportunities for training, he pointed out.

Sri Lanka media activists fear crackdown after arrests

Sunil Jayasekera, spokesman for the Sri Lankan Free Media Movement (FMM), talks to journalists in Colombo on November 4, 2013. AFP PHOTO

Nov 05, 2013

Haveeru Online

COLOMBO, Nov 05, 2013 (AFP) - A media rights group Monday expressed fears for the safety of journalists in Sri Lanka after Colombo grilled two Australian activists and seized computer data before kicking them out.

The Free Media Movement (FMM) said it expected a crackdown by the authorities following last week's questioning of the two International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) staffers in Colombo.

"We have very serious doubts about our own safety and that of independent journalists after the detention of IFJ officials last week," FMM leader Sunil Jayasekera told reporters in Colombo.

He said the two activists -- Jacqui Park and Jean Worthington -- were questioned by the police Criminal Investigations Department and immigration authorities about their local contacts.

Their computer files had been hacked and storage discs destroyed, Jayasekera said.

The two Australians were detained last Wednesday while they were at a workshop on media freedom in Colombo, accused of violating their visa conditions and expelled from the country, according to immigration officials.

However, the FMM said the pair were told by the immigration department Friday that "it was all a big misunderstanding" and they were free to leave.

"This is simply part of intimidation to scare journalists and rights activists both here and abroad," Jayasekera said.

"After insisting that they broke visa conditions and engaged in anti-government activities, they have not pressed charges. That is because there are no grounds for any action against them, but the government wanted to send a strong signal to independent journalists and activists."

Shortly after arriving in Sydney, Park told reporters that she feared for the safety of journalists in Sri Lanka.

"From the kinds of questions that we had over the two days it was clear it was kind of a witch hunt against the local media, local journalists and media freedom activists who are really trying to create some free space for freedom of expression in Sri Lanka," she said.

There has been no comment from immigration authorities who questioned the pair for two straight days while detaining them in their hotel.

The Brussels-based IFJ said it was also "deeply concerned" about the safety of media personnel in Sri Lanka after a Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka from November 15 - 17.

Sri Lanka has blacklisted many foreign journalists over their reports on the country's human rights record and alleged war crimes in the final stages of the Tamil ethnic war in 2009.

Local journalists have also been the victims of crimes and many say they practise self-censorship.

An anti-establishment editor fled the country in August, less than a month after armed men held her at knifepoint.

In 2009, the Sunday Leader newspaper's editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, a staunch critic of the government, was shot dead near his office just outside the capital.

Appropriation Bill gets SC nod

 November 5, 2013 

• Appropriation Bill already referred to SC to check constitutionality: CJ
• CJ says Bill has already been deemed constitutional
• Divisional bench had dealt with all matters raised in the challenge to the Bill by CPA
• Petitioner says control granted to Parliament over public finance important check on Executive power
• AG argues that Appropriation Bill cannot be a rigid instrument
• Special determination to Speaker by 18 November

The Government had already referred the 2014 Appropriation Bill to the Supreme Court and it has been deemed constitutional by a divisional bench, Chief Justice Mohan Peiris revealed yesterday.
A five-judge divisional bench had dealt with all the matters raised in the petition challenging the Appropriation Bill by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, Chief Justice Mohan Peiris said, when the case came up before court yesterday.
The divisional bench set up to study the referred sections had determined the bill was constitutional, the Chief Justice told Counsel for the Petitioner, Attorney-at-Law Suren Fernando. The opinion differs from a judgment delivered on the 2013 Appropriation Bill by a three-judge Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Shiranee Thilakawardane that found identical provisions to be inconsistent with the constitution.
Under Article 129 (1) of the Constitution, the President can refer a question of law of public importance to the Supreme Court for opinion which the Court can then report to the President.
The three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice and comprising Justices K. Sathya Hettige granted Counsel for the Petitioner Attorney at Law Fernando to make submissions on the petition filed against the Bill by CPA on the grounds that sections of the Government’s expenditure estimates for 2014 were inconsistent with the Constitution.
Making submissions, Counsel Fernando said that sections of the 2014 Appropriation Bill granted power to public officers to reallocate funds from recurrent expenditure to capital expenditure without the prior approval of Parliament. He said this was in violation of Article 148 of the Constitution that gave Parliament full control over public finance.
Fernando argued that this control over finances granted to Parliament by the Constitution was an important check on the executive.
“An act lacking in such transparency was inconsistent with Article 148,” he told the three-judge bench.
Addressing Counsel for the Petitioner, Chief Justice Mohan Peiris said there was no basis for such fear on the part of the petitioner. The Chief Justice said that Parliament controls finances through legislation and through agency and this also amounted to “control” over public finance.
“Transfer of funds occurs with concurrence of the Treasury and heads of department will not spend willy-nilly,” the Chief Justice argued. He said the Court goes on the basis that all public servants conduct their duties within the law.
“There is no need to load the system with more and more checks and balances to make the process tedious,” he explained.
But Fernando argued that if the Constitution mandated certain controls over public finance, they should not be considered unnecessary.
Fernando argued that legislation cannot be drafted on the assumption that public officials will act properly with regard to public finance. “They must be drafted on the premise that there must be no room for misconduct,” he submitted to Court.
Making submissions about Clause 6 of the Appropriation Bill that created a contingency fund of sorts under the National Budget Department from which money can be transferred with such transfers being notified to Parliament only after two months.
Fernando said that this clause creates a contingency fund outside the contingency fund provided for in Article 151 of the Constitution that also includes safeguards against arbitrary appropriation. The National Budget Department fund would operate outside the control of Article 151, he argued.
Deputy Solicitor General Indika Demuni de Silva appearing on behalf of the state said that the Appropriation Act cannot be a rigid instrument and must allow for a degree of flexibility. “What happens if Parliament is prorogued? Or dissolved? Does the economy of this country come to a grinding halt?” de Silva argued.
The DSG said there were plenty of checks and balances in the Bill that Counsel for the Petitioner had ignored. Parliament also controls funds through other legislation and agency, such as the Auditor General’s Department, the DSG pointed out. “If public officials do the wrong thing, Parliament can go into it,” De Silva said.
After hearing oral submissions, Chief Justice Peiris ordered the attorneys to file written submissions by Thursday (7). The Supreme Court will send its Special Determination on the constitutionality of the 2014 Appropriation Bill to the Speaker of Parliament by 18 November.

Don’t legitimise fish theft!

Editorial-November 4, 2013, 7:51 pm 

Illegal fishing by Indians in Sri Lankan waters continues unabated. There have also been several instances of Sri Lankan fishers committing the same offence in Indian waters; 16 of them have recently been taken into custody. Everybody expresses concern about this seemingly intractable problem but nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

Two Tamil Nadu fishermen drown as Sri Lanka navy chases boat

PTI | Nov 5, 2013,

RAMESWARAM (TN): Two fishermen drowned and three others were injured when their boat capsized while being chased allegedly by Sri Lankan naval vessels off this coastal town. 

Don’t legitimise fish theft! by nelvely

A Man Is Being Tortured At Bandaragama Police Station Now – AHRC

November 5, 2013

The Asian Human Rights Commission has learned from the wife of D.A. Ruwan Kumara (27) that he has been taken into police custody by officers of the Bandaragama Police Station and is being tortured. The wife, Chinthini Nadeesa and Ruwan Kumara’s brother have visited him at the police station and have seen him being tortured by some police officers who are keeping him at a location behind the police station.

Inspector General of Police

Chinthini Nadeesa has made complaints through the telephone and facsimile to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Inspector General of Police. However, this has not led to any relief and Ruwan Kumara continues to be tortured, according to her. She appeals to the public to help her get the police to stop torturing her husband.

Previously her husband made some complaints against some officers of the Bandaragama Police Station and she believes this is the reason he is being tortured.

The Asian Human Rights Commission appeals to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Inspector General of Police to intervene immediately in order to save Ruwan Kumara from further torture. Also the AHRC demands an investigation into the matter and the suspension of the Officer-in-Charge of the police station and all others engaged in torturing Ruwan Kumara until further action is taken at the conclusion of the inquiry.

We also urge the public to directly call the police station and express their concern. The telephone number of the Bandaragama Police Station is 94 38 2290222.

*Asian Human Rights Commission 

Mohammed Irshad’s story and the banality of violence in the Rajapaksa regime

• by Niranjala Ariyawansha
• - on 11/05/2013 

• [Editors note: Also read I’m not mad to tie myself to a tree by the author, which appeared in the Ceylon Today newspaper.]
  

  Giving up a pensionable government job as a Samurdhi animator, Mohammed Irshad fled Sri Lanka began work as a bakery employee in Saudi Arabia.
  This is his story.

Mohammed Irshad’s story and the banality of violence in the Rajapaksa regime by nelvely

Matale Mass Grave Case: Magistrate Refuses Affidavits, Ignores Submissions & Avoids Recording True Proceedings

November 5, 2013 

The Matale Magistrate yesterday (4 November 2013) refused to accept further affidavits from persons whose relatives have disappeared and were seeking to provide information to court on incidents relating to the mass graves discovered in Matale.

Mass Grave At Matale

The Magistrate verbally asked that all statements be given directly to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). According to several relatives contacted by Colombo Telegraph, this paves the way for the police to be used to cover up for powerful interested parties.

The lawyers appearing on behalf of the aggrieved parties objected to the decision to send forensic samples to a Chinese institution, given the different legal standards applied in China and the recent incidents which have discredited the Chinese Forensic Medicine Association.

The above issues and concerns though raised in open court, are not reflected in the official case record. The case record would only reflect the next date given as 22 May 2014, which is all that was dictated for the record.

China bound for DNA testing

 

By Chrishanthi Christopher-Tuesday, 05 Nov 2013

 

Ostensibly the jig saw puzzle is falling into place. Samples of the skeletal remains found at the Matale mass grave last November, will be produced in the Matale Magistrate’s Court tomorrow and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is preparing to send the bone samples to China for Carbon Dating tests, which would re-determine the period to which the bones belong.  In another development, the Matale Judicial Medical Office said that the skeletal remains will soon be ready for DNA testing.

The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO),
Dr. Ajith Jayasena, who is in charge of the forensic investigation says that the 160-page report on the over 150 skeletons and shards of bones found at the mass grave site  will be ready in the next four weeks and  DNA tallying on the bones could be started, immediately, thereafter. 

The bones, which were found in the Matale District Hospital backyard during an excavation process for construction of a building for the hospital, is arousing many an interest both locally and internationally. Critics argue the DNA tallying of the bones with the families  who are claiming the bones belong to their family members lost or killed during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), insurgency will  definitely  open up a Pandora’s box, implicating many politicians, high ranking army officials and the police.  The Archaeological Department has announced the time period the bone belongs to, as 1988-91 and many families who had lost their family members during the JVP uprising, have come forward to claim the bone relics.

According to former JVP Provincial Councillor, Gamagedera Dissanayake, already around 100 families have turned up with affidavits, since the case was taken up at the Matale Magistrate’s Court, a few months back.   Moreover, the  former Matale Magistrate Chaturika de Silva has directed the CID  to insert adverts in the local newspapers  to inform the people that they can come forward and claim a stake on the bones if they had a family member gone missing during the relevant period. The newspaper advertisements, when published are expected to shoot up the number of claimants on the bones.

Dr. Ajith Jayasena said he would be forwarding the prepared reports to the Matale Magistrate Sampath Gamage by the end of this month and the process of DNA testing can commence, immediately.

With the bones ready for the DNA testing process, questions have arisen as to Sri Lanka’s preparedness to do the tests locally. Dr. Jayasena argues that though DNA testing is being done at the Molecular Medicinal Unit of the Kelaniya University, the reliability of the tests are questionable. JMO Colombo Dr. Ajith Tennakoon, also echoes the same opinion. “The Kelaniya University has the expertise but I am not sure of their standards,” he said.
On the contrary, sending the samples overseas for testing will be time-consuming and costly. To circumvent the problem both Dr. Jayasena and Dr. Tennakoon recommend testing the samples at Genetech, a local company engaged in the DNA testing business for over eleven years.

Senior Scientist Dr. Ruwan J. Ileperuma of Genetech says that his company has all the expertise required for the DNA testing of the bones.  According to Ileperuma, his company has handled over 3,000 cases for the police and the courts, testing over 3,500 samples of blood, saliva, vomit and other traces of evidences found at the crime scenes, helping the police solve many tricky cases. Besides, many civil cases of paternity, maternity and immigration problems have also been solved successfully by the company.

Dr. Ileperuma said DNA in dead bodies get degraded quickly due to external factors such as time, moisture and high temperature destroying the delicate nucleus in the cells. And as the DNA testing involves the nucleus, samples that are old and have been exposed to extreme temperatures and moisture cannot be subject to nuclear DNA testing. However, he said in such instances the alternative test, the Mitrochondrial DNA (MtDNA) testing is resorted to.  However, there is a snag in the MtDNA testing as only the female relatives of the sample can be traced in the tests. It is understood that the MtDNA which is present in the cytoplasm of the cell, outside the nucleus is passed down from the mother to the children, unchanged.  Hence, a MtDNA test results can be tallied with the samples of the DNA of the individual’s mother, siblings or maternal family members.

 As the bones in question are in a degrading condition, Dr. Ileperuma contends that only a MtDNA testing can be done on the bones as the nuclear DNA will be degraded beyond analysis. Also he proposes to deal with the samples that are more wholesome than the others. “femur, ribs and teeth are ideal bones for DNA testing as they are strong bones,” he said.

Dr. Jayasena also agrees that the testing should be done in stages and with the good bones first.  He said that he would highly recommend to the courts for the DNA testing to be done at Genetech, which would be less costly and save enormous amount of time.