Friction over Sri Lankan rights record shows at Commonwealth as president defends gov’t effort

By Associated Press, Published: November 13 | Updated: Thursday, November 14, 10:24 AM

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president lashed out at criticisms of his nation’s human rights record, saying Thursday that the government deals with any complaints of abuses committed during or after its bloody 27-year civil war. Pro-government protesters, meanwhile, attacked the headquarters of the main opposition party.

Friction over Sri Lankan rights record shows at Commonwealth as president defends gov’t effort by nelvely

A Haunted Nation: The Separation Of Tamils

By Rajan Hoole -November 15, 2013 |

Rajan Hoole

Sri Lanka: A Haunted Nation - The Social Underpinnings Of Communal Violence- Part 9

Ethnicity: The Futility Of Backward Projection

The case of Kosovo in the (former) Yugo- slavia illustrates the absurdity of, and the violent passions engendered by, attempts to project backwards the ethnic composition prevalent at a given time. The Albanians were one of the area’s older indigenous groups. Slavs from the north did not expand into the region until the 9th century AD. Serbs, a Slav group, did not become significant there until the late 12th century when the Serbian state extended south- wards from its base in Rascia. In the next two centuries many Albanians adopted Serb names and became assimilated. Subsequently the region came under the Ottoman Empire, which had modern Turkey as its hub. The instability resulting from the decay of this empire caused a fresh wave of Albanian migration. In being forced to seek the protection of Muslim war- lords, the price was often conversion to Islam. It was not until about the middle of the 19th century that Kosovo came to have a majority of Albanian speakers. The subsequent relative decline of the Serb population owes to factors such as the area’s backwardness which prompted Serbian migration, the fact that Serbs were concentrated largely in urban areas where the birth- rate was lower, and, crucially, the high abortion rate among Serbs. Today Kosovo has a vast majority of Albanians with the great majority of town and village names remaining Serb.

The Tamil Homeland Issue: The Red Herring Of Ancient Possession-Part 8

Smashing The Tamil Homeland-7

The Tamil Homeland Question-Part 7

A Haunted Nation: India And The Legacy Of The Citizenship Act-Part 6

Obfuscation Of Tamil Grievances-Part 5

A Haunted Nation: The CCNH Document-Part 4 

A Haunted Nation: Other Minority Groups And The July ViolencePart 3

Exorcising Reds And Eelamists- Part 2

Sri Lanka: A Haunted Nation – The Social Underpinnings Of Communal Violence

     Read More

Cameron upstages Commonwealth summit with Jaffna trip

AFPCameron upstages Commonwealth summit with Jaffna trip

November 16, 2013,

JAFFNA (Sri Lanka) (AFP) - Survivors of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict poured their hearts out Friday to Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron as he paid a "harrowing" visit to the war-torn north, upstaging a Commonwealth summit in Colombo.

Cameron Upstages Commonwealth Summit With Jaffna Trip by nelvely

Julie Bishop denies going soft on Sri Lanka's human rights record 

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, right, listens to a speaker during the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Source: AP

November 15, 2013

JULIE Bishop has denied the Australian government was going soft on alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka in return for Colombo's cooperation on asylum-seekers, saying her attendance at the Commonwealth summit was "not a PR exercise".

While other Commonwealth nations have taken a tough stand over alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, with the Canadian and Indian prime ministers boycotting the event and Britain's David Cameron leaving the door open to supporting an international war crimes inquiry, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Ms Bishop have insisted they will "not lecture" the government on human rights.

Ms Bishop said she had met both opposition Tamil National Alliance MPs and government ministers during her two days in the Sri Lankan capital leading up to today's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), where Mr Abbott will pass the Commonwealth chair to President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Attending CHOGM is not a PR exercise on our part," she said, adding she had "raised human rights issues in all of my meetings with Sri Lankan ministers" and encouraged the government "to continue down the path of reconciliation".

But Sri Lanka's situation had to be "put in context".

"It was only four years ago when a 30-year-old civil war came to an end and in that time there's been significant reconstruction work. It was a very bloody conflict by all accounts. The LTTE was one of the most notorious terrorist organisations and the Sri Lankan government was determined to stamp it out."

"It deserves credit for having rid the world of a dangerous terrorist organisation."

Both Canada and the United States have called for an international investigation into allegations of war crimes, including indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets by both sides during the final months of the war.

The UN estimates as many as 40,000 civilians were killed in the last five months to the May 2009 climax, though the government puts the death toll at 7700.

UN Human Rights Council special envoy Navi Pillay also delivered a damning assessment of the Sri Lankan government following a recent fact finding visit to the country, accusing it of increasing authoritarianism, intimidation of media and human rights organisations and of compromising the independence of the judiciary.

The Sri Lankan government has taken an increasingly heavy hand to its detractors in recent days and weeks, allowing pro-government blockades of western journalist teams and parallel human rights events even while obtaining a court order to prevent any opposition protests in Colombo over the next few days.

Last weekend it briefly detained Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and NZ MP Jan Logie, less than an hour before they were to hold a press conference calling for the cancellation of CHOGM because of continued human rights violations there.

But Ms Bishop said she saw no reason to flag concerns with the Sri Lankans over the Ms Rhiannon's detention, despite the fact the government had advised Colombo of her intended visit, because the senator "had not raised the issue" with her.

Tony Abbott campaigned relentlessly on the issue of asylum seekers in the lead up to the federal election, and his political credibility relies on ensuring he can deliver on his promise to "stop the boats".

For that he remains heavily reliant on the Sri Lankan government's cooperation and so cannot afford to alienate the Rajapaksa government lest it ease the current crackdown on the people smuggling trade there.

Ms Bishop said she was heartened by the arrest of several Sri Lankan naval officers in recent months allegedly involved in people smuggling, notwithstanding reports that one senior officer was simultaneously organising boats as he was briefing Australian officials on the people smuggling trade.

"The fact that they have been arrested indicates the Sri Lankan government is serious about working in partnership with Australia to crack down on the people smuggling trade," she said.

Sri Lanka's Commonwealth Summit comes under fire

Nov. 13, 2013

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka's government is on the defensive ahead of the 53-nation Commonwealth Summit following complaints of interference from a British television crew.

The team from Channel 4 TV was prevented from visiting the former war zone in the north when their train was stopped by pro-government protesters, the BBC reported.

About 250 placard-carrying demonstrators blocked the train from leaving Anuradhapura and accused the journalists of supporting the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.

Callum Macrae, director of Channel 4's award-winning documentary, "No Fire Zone: Sri Lanka Killing Fields," said police told him his team had to return to the capital, the BBC reported.

The BBC also reported police stopped from entering Colombo the buses of more than 100 Tamils whose family members disappeared during or after Sri Lanka's civil war.

Sri Lanka's Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said police prevented the Tamils from entering Colombo as a precaution against disruptions to the 3-day summit that starts on Friday.

"There were intelligence reports that this is a politically motivated protest and [if] these [Tamil] people came to Colombo during the summit, it would have led to a breach of the peace," Rambukwella said.

Sri Lanka remains a dangerous place for journalists reporting on sensitive political issues, Reporters Without Borders said in a report published earlier this year. Sri Lanka ranked 162nd of 179 countries in the organization's 2013 World Press Freedom Index.

In March Reporters Without Borders said state-owned Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp. had been censoring retransmissions of the BBC's Tamil-language broadcasts.

The Sri Lankan summit could be one of the most contentious Commonwealth gatherings in the 73-year history of the organization, made up of former British Empire colonies.

As host, Sri Lanka becomes chair of the biennial event until the next summit.

But the summit -- officially the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting -- in Colombo has been overshadowed by concerns over the human rights record of the army during and immediately after the end of the 26-year brutal conflict with Tamil rebels.

The Sri Lankan regular army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- the Tamil Tigers -- who were fighting a guerrilla campaign to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in northeastern areas of the island.

As many as 100,000 people are thought to have been killed in the civil war.

Since the war's end in 2009 tensions have remained high during attempts to integrate Tamils into mainstream national life.

Human rights groups, freedom of speech organizations and the United Nations have criticized both sides about their treatment of civilians.

Just before the war ended, U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights Navi Pillay said the number of civilian deaths was "truly shocking" and could reach "catastrophic" levels.

The Sri Lankan government later rejected the findings of a U.N. group investigating allegations of heavy civilian casualties at the end of the war, as well as two resolutions by the U.N. Human Rights Commission calling for an investigation of alleged war crimes.

However, in February 2012 Sri Lanka's military appointed a five-member Court of Inquiry to look into civilian deaths allegedly at the hands of the army during the civil war.

The summit is seen by Commonwealth members as a window to display mostly economic progress and boost trade. Issues discussed also include international peace and security, democracy, sustainable development, debt management, education, environment and human rights.

A report by Sri Lanka's Daily News in April quoted External Affairs Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris saying the government has made great strides regarding reconciliation since 2009, despite attempts to destabilize the peace agreement.

Choosing Sri Lanka as the venue "is all the more satisfying because of the large resources at the command of the forces opposed to Sri Lanka," Peiris said.

But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, later said they wouldn't attend the summit because of concerns about human rights.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will attend but will ask "serious questions" and demand an investigation into allegations of war crimes.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC it was right for Cameron to visit Sri Lanka and vital to raise "difficult questions."

At the Commonwealth Business Forum this week, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed for greater understanding by the Commonwealth's more developed nations.

"For genuine and credible partnerships to be established for wealth creation, the more advanced nations need to be sensitive to the issues of the lesser-developed nations and must be honestly supportive of promoting trade with emerging nations," he said.

This also will be the first time in 40 years that Queen Elizabeth II will miss the summit. Buckingham Palace announced her son, Prince Charles, will attend in her place because she has curtailed her overseas visits due to age -- she is 87.

CHOGM 2013 /Sri Lanka: Opposition boycott as mobs close to Secretary of the Defence Rajapaksha play havoc

CHOGM 2013 /Sri Lanka: Opposition boycott as mobs close to Secretary of the Defence Rajapaksha play havoc

Friday, November 15, 2013

In a letter to the Commonwealth Secretary Kamalesh Sharma, UNP General Secretary MP Tissa Attanayake informs that the UNP has been compelled to change their decision attend inaugural ceremony of the CHOGM today (15). In the letter sent yesterday, MP Attanayake stated that though it was initially stated that the UNP leader and other invitees from the party would attend the event, they had been compelled to change the decision due to latest developments which included the assault on the UNP leader by 'mobs transported by army and government vehicles'. 'In view of these developments, the UNP will boycott tomorrow's opening session and all other related functions,' MP Attanayake added.

The complete letter of the UNP General Secretary MP Tissa Attanayake is as follows :

H.E. Kamalesh Sharma,
Secretary General,
The Commonwealth,
CHOGM Secretariat,
Colombo.

Your Excellency,

I regret to inform you, that the United National Party has been compelled to change our decision to attend the inauguration of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting tomorrow morning at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre in Colombo due to the unfortunate developments in the last 24 hours.

In the statement issued by me on 12th November 2013, I clear stated that the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of my party, Hon. Ranil Wickramesinghe along with other invitees from the UNP will be attending the opening ceremony tomorrow despite many reservations about the continued violations of democratic rights, human rights and the rule of law as well as about the massive and wasteful expenditure incurred by the Government to host this summit.

However,we also felt that as the Chair in Office, President Rajapakse and his government, will be compelled to implement the Commonwealth Charter and change it's authoritarian direction.

However, the attack against the vehicle of our leader as he tried to enter our party headquarters by mobs transported by army and government vehicles yesterday while the police looked on, reaffirms our belief that the government will not change its despotic tendencies and that it will continue to violate the core values of the Commonwealth Charter even after it assumes the chair. The mobs again returned today to continue its vitriolic campaign against our leader and the party along with an extremist group of monks, known to have close links to the Secretary of the Defence Ministry.

Ironically, these fascist thugs were protesting against an exhibition organised by 'Samagi' a coalition of civil society groups highlighting the need to implement the Commonwealth Charter through the speedy implementation of the President's own LLRC proposals. This exhibition was labelled as treacherous and the state media has unleashed a vicious campaign against all those who have been involved with the exhibition and they have been labelled as 'traitors' and LTTE sympathisers.

In view of these developments, the UNP will boycott tomorrow's opening session and all other related functions.
With kind regards,

Yours Sincerely,

Tissa Attanayake,
General Secretary,
United National Party.
SLM

As CHOGM Opens, IFJ Seeks Accountability for Free Speech Violations

Media Release: Sri Lanka                                                                                        

15 November 2013  

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the heads of government and delegations of the Commonwealth countries, who today begin their bi-annual summit meeting in the Sri Lankan national capital of Colombo, to lay appropriate stress on the need for the restoration of democratic liberties and media freedom in the host country, after a quarter century or more when these have been under severe stress.

As CHOGM Opens, IfJ Seeks Accountability for Free Speech Violations by nelvely

British PM disappoints families of missing persons in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 November 2013, 12:27 GMT]
Demanding to witness their plight in person, hundreds of kith and kin of missing persons took to the venue in Jaffna on Friday when the visiting British Prime Minister David Camaron was scheduled to meet with Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran and R. Sampanthan of the TNA at Jaffna Public Library. British PM David Cameron was taken to the meeting without the possibility of even witnessing the mothers and the family members who were carrying the photographs of their loved ones. 

SL police commandos put a barrier with military vehicle across the main entry route blocking the families from reaching Jaffna Library while a group 50 persons brought by the SL military staged a protest against Channel-4 near the entrance to the Jaffna Public Library. 

Provoked by the injustice committed by the SL police, the peaceful protestors, numbering around 800, forced themselves across the barrier to reach the entrance of the Public Library. 

The Sri Lankan riot control police commandos attacked the mothers, catholic priests, Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) leaders and the NPC members. 

British PM Disappoints Families of Missing Persons in Jaffna by nelvely

VIDEO: CAMERON MEETS WITH VIGNESHWARAN...

November 15, 2013  
UK Prime Minister David Cameron holds talks with Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vigneshwaran at the Jaffna library today (November 15). Security has been tightened in the area following protests.

PM Cameron Meets CM Wigneswaran In Jaffna

By S.Sivathasan -November 16, 2013

S.Sivathasan

Knowing full well that a very productive meeting will take place between two stalwarts in a face to face engagement, I spoke to Chief Minister on 15^thnight. He was happy to speak quite precisely about the path breaking discussion he had with Prime Minister Cameron.

Uppermost in the Chief Minister’ mind was the effective functioning of the Northern Provincial Council. Towards this end, he requested support from the Prime Minister and also his assistance. He supplemented his conversation with a prepared document outlining six issues of great concern. They were:

1)     Demilitarisation of Northern Province and Transition from Military to Civilian Governor. The CM pointed out the clear statement in the Manifesto and the overwhelming vote received for its endorsement.

2)     Full implementation of the 13^th Amendment with a view to obtaining maximum devolution possible. To ensure meaningful devolution, the need to assign land and police powers to NPC was stressed.

3)     Strengthening and building Institutional Capacity of Northern Provincial Council and Provincial Administration. The importance of grants and technical assistance including info-communication assets was urged.

The Sinhala-Tamil Cross-Pollinated Siblings

    By Kumar David -November 15, 2013 

Prof Kumar David

If Lanka’s Tamils and Sinhalese are slaughtering each other like pathological morons don’t blame the genes. All the research material I could lay hands on supports the view that Sinhala-Tamil genetic mixing is large. I chased web-accessible research material and found that though there are differences, the degree of admixture was always described as large. Nowhere could I find the opposite view that admixture is small canvassed. One startling discovery was that Demalas are Sinhalayas, not the other way round! OK I’m dramatising to get your attention; let me explain.

Surprise-surprise: Who are the Ceylon Tamils related to?
(Gautam K. Kshatriya: Population genetics researcher, University of Delhi)

We are accustomed to the story that testosterone laden Chola warriors discharged their overflow into the local gene pool, and that South Indian traders and workers in Colombo and the small towns in colonial times, were mischievous pailwans! The conventional view is that the Sinhalayas are presumed heavily impregnated by theDemalas. So you could have knocked me down with a feather to learn from a University of Delhi population geneticist Dr Gautum K Kshatriya, whose results to the best of my knowledge are unchallenged, that it’s the other way round. Ceylon Tamils, he says, overlap genetically 55% with Sinhalese, 28% with Bengalis, and only 17% with South Indian Tamils. Other studies found no significant differences in blood grouping, genetic markers and “single-nucleotide polymorphisms” between Ceylon Tamils and Sinhalese. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Sri_Lankan_Tamils
Genetic studies on the Sinhalese produced rather a welter of inconsistent results. Different techniques have been used and the results differ. ( A summary of the inconsistencies can be found here )

                                      Read More      

Boycotting The Commonwealth over human rights in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman. Sri Lanka plays host this week to leaders from Commonwealth nations at a summit it hopes will generate enough good will to eclipse grim history & massive civilian deaths. (AP/Eranga Jayawardena)

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Criticism of Sri Lanka for the torture of Tamils in the four years since the end of a terrifying war, has Prime Minster Harper and other leaders staying away in protest as The Commonwealth summit is set to begin tomorrow. Today, we look at the sins of Sri Lanka.

Critics say it's hypocritical that Sri Lanka be allowed to host the Commonwealth meeting

"Some of you may recall what I said two years ago now. That unless we saw significant changes in Sri Lanka in terms of democratic governance, reconciliation, respect for human rights, I would consider not attending The Commonwealth leaders summit. In the past two years we have not only seen no improvement in these areas, in almost all these areas we have seen a rolling back, a considerable worsening of the situation. Based on that I have made a decision that I will not attend The Commonwealth leaders summit this fall".

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is very clear about why he's staying home from The Commonwealth leaders meeting in Sri Lanka tomorrow. And he's not alone. India's Prime Minister won't attend either.

The Sri Lankan Government is coming under increasing fire over its human rights record since it routed the separatist Tamil Tigers in 2009. Last week, BBC Television's Our World broadcast a new documentary by Frances Harrison called Sri Lanka's Unfinished War that accuses Sri Lankan security forces of targeting, raping and torturing Tamil civilians.

Frances Harrison is a former BBC Correspondent who spent four years covering Sri Lanka. After the end of the war in 2009, she wrote a book called Still Counting The Dead, about the conflict's bloody final days, in which tens of thousands of people -- mostly Tamils and often civilians -- were killed.

Now, Frances Harrison says she has uncovered a disturbing pattern of rape and torture carried out against Tamils in Sri Lanka ... a pattern that endures four-and-a-half years after the end of the civil war. Frances Harrison was in London, England.

Sri Lanka's Unfinished War: Part One of the Documentary) 

Watch Part Two and Part Three of the documentary, Sri Lanka's Unfinished Civil War

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper is boycotting the Commonwealth meeting because of Sri Lanka's human rights record, Deepak Obhrai, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Affairs Minister will attend instead.

Hugh Segal is a Conservative Senator and the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to The Commonwealth. He was in Kingston, Ontario.

Chitranganee Wagiswara is Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Canada and joined us from Ottawa.

Have thoughts you want to share on this story?

Tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Follow us on Facebook. Or e-mail us through our website. Call us toll-free at 1 877 287 7366. And as always if you missed anything on The Current, grab apodcast.

This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott and Lara O'Brien.

Sri Lanka: Cameron urges leaders to ‘bring country together’

The BBC's Nick Robinson said the Prime Minister's convoy was surrounded by protesters

15 NOVEMBER 2013 

David Cameron has said his symbolic visit to the north of Sri Lanka has “drawn attention to the plight” of the Tamil minority in the country.The Tamils’ treatment at the end of the country’s civil war dominated the run-up to the Commonwealth summit, which opened in the capital Colombo earlier.
The UK prime minister has defied calls for him to boycott the event in protest against alleged human rights abuses.

Sri Lanka Cameron urges leaders to ‘bring country together’ by nelvely

Human Rights Should Not Be Utilised Any Longer To Recreate A New Violent Conflict

By Laksiri Fernando -November 15, 2013

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Commonwealth, Member Responsibilities and Human Rights  

“While people talk of a commonwealth, every man seeks only his own wealth”– Thomas More (Utopia, 1516)

It is always easy to criticise, but difficult to be relevant and responsible. This applies not only to human rights but also to all facets of governance or more pertinently to ‘good governance.’ Didn’t the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth unaware of the ‘human rights record’ of Sri Lanka when they decided to have the next summit in Colombo at the last summit held in Perth in 2011? They did.

Of course people are free to change their minds on any matter on earth, but could that be considered responsible when it comes to international relations and diplomacy of the highest order? It could hardly be the case if and when facts were clear from the beginning, however controversial. Sri Lanka should have a fair go, whatever the weaknesses or violations of the present regime and the government, because the matters pertinent to the Commonwealth are supposed to be the matters of the common people more than of the government.

If the present summit decides not to handover the leadership of the CHOGM to Sri Lanka for the next two years, it would be a slap on the face of the people of the country more than the government. It is also not the politically correct policy for a multilateral organization like the Commonwealth. Not that I am speculating that it would be the case, or would happen even by accident, but that is what some of the agitators are furiously advocating even at this last moment.                                                   Read More

An Open Letter To C’wealth Heads

By Saroj Jayasinghe -November 15, 2013 |

Prof Saroj Jayasinghe

An Open Letter To The Commonwealth Heads Of Governments – Make Global Peace Your Primary Agenda! 

Activities relating to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2013) are progressing in earnest, and Foreign Ministers and Heads of State are now busy formulating proposals that include, the negotiating points from the perspective of the Commonwealth on the United Nation’s Global Development Goals of 2015 (i.e. successor to the Millennium Development Goals of the UN that is scheduled to ‘expire’ in 2015). This open letter to the Commonwealth Heads of Governments is to draw their urgent attention to a crucial factor facing humanity and the biggest human-made disaster, namely, war.

Since the origin of human history, wars have cost billions of human lives.  From as recent as the beginning of the Second World War (i.e. past 75 years or so), wars between nations have killed and maimed more than a billion. They have decimated millions within minutes (e.g. due to dropping of nuclear bombs), annihilated whole civilisations, created millions of displaced populations and crippled billions mentally and physically for a life-time. Furthermore, they destroy environments and whole ecologies, forever, and contribute to climate change. In short, wars have the ability to destroy all our development agendas overnight. Furthermore, wars across borders and invasions are probably the most powerful promoters of internal strife and conflicts within nations, as they lead to a breakdown of their social fabrics, and promote a culture of violence. The unfolding chaos in Iraq is a painful reminder of how a country could tear itself to pieces and spiral towards worsening violence after invasion. Therefore, a set of global development goals that does not tackle the issue of wars between nations (in addition to conflicts within nations) will be akin to the mythical Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burnt….

                              Read More