Paving The Middle Path: Why We Must Empower Moderate Voices

By M.A. Sumanthiran -December 8, 2013 

MA Sumanthiran MP

Whilst shame keeps its watch, virtue is not wholly extinguished in the heart; nor will moderation be utterly exiled from the minds of tyrants. - Edmund Burke (1729–1797)

Last week in Parliament, I pleaded with my fellow MPs to listen to the voices of moderation. I appealed to them to do their best to prevent extremist forces on either side from destroying our future. Now I appeal to the members of the public to do the same. Do not for a moment underestimate the power that still resides in you, the reasonable-minded citizens of this country. Your leaders still fear the shame you might impose on them for extremist views.

During my short tenure in politics, I have observed a glimmer of hope. That glimmer does not emanate from the sparkling new streetlamps, the shiny new expressways, or the other glistening things that are presented to us as evidence of progress and development. Hope comes from the moderate and non-violent path that so many have chosen to follow. There are still some who choose to endure immeasurable suffering and humiliation without retaliating with violence or aggression. As long as such individuals remain in Sri Lanka, there is still hope.

The false dichotomy

A false dichotomy of ‘moderation’ and ‘extremism’ has emerged to discredit reasonable demands for autonomy. We must, however, reflect on the meaning of these words and apply them only when appropriate. On the one hand, we must not demonise moderate voices merely because we disagree with them. On the other, we must not venerate extremist voices merely because they target those with whom we disagree. The real test of moderation lies in the manner of engagement. The true moderates are those who believe that, whatever their political aspirations, they must be pursued in a manner that does not undermine the rights of other individuals and communities; in a manner that expands the freedoms of those who are struggling, as well as those they are struggling against.

Emblems of moderation                                                    Read More

TNA ready to offer active support (Audio)

December 7, 2013

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today offered active support to the government to address the accountability issue if the government meets certain conditions.

Among the conditions, the TNA said is the need for the government to agree to make an honest effort to address the issue with an open mind and work with the international community including India and the US and learn from the South African experience.

“You will have our active support and participation in such a process of accountability and reconciliation,” TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran said in a speech made in parliament today.

However he said if the government continues with its present agenda of oppression and subrogation the TNA will resist it with all its might.

Sumanthiran said if the government is sincere to change its present direction and treat Tamils as equals then the TNA is ready to sit down and discuss a solution which is acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka.

The TNA MP said that if the government agrees to an international inquiry or at least an international involvement in the process of resolving the differences, it will move the country forward.

“Questions of accountability will never go away until we meet them squarely and sincerely,” he said.

He said Sri Lanka has a great opportunity now to agree to a process under the aegis of the United Nations.

The MP urged the Government to make use of the opportunity to bring an end to the misery suffered by the people.(Colombo Gazette)

TNA Lays Conditions For Support

By Easwaran Rutnam-Sunday, December 08, 2013

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday offered active support to the government to address the accountability issue if the government meets certain conditions.

Among the conditions, the TNA said, is the need for the government to agree to make an honest effort to address the issue with an open mind and work with the international community including India and the US and learn from the South African experience.

“You will have our active support and participation in such a process of accountability and reconciliation,” TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran said in a speech made in parliament yesterday.

However, he said if the government continued with its present agenda of ‘oppression and subrogation’ the TNA would resist it with all its might.  Sumanthiran said if the government is sincere to change its present direction and treat Tamils as equals then the TNA is ready to sit down and discuss a solution which is acceptable to all communities in Sri Lanka.

The TNA MP said that if the government agrees to an international inquiry or at least an international involvement in the process of resolving the differences, it will move the country forward. “Questions of accountability will never go away until we meet them squarely and sincerely,” he said. He said Sri Lanka has a great opportunity now to agree to a process under the aegis of the United Nations. The MP urged the government to make use of the opportunity to bring an end to the misery suffered by the people.

UK will 'build international support' for March 2014

Sri Lanka

Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK has international support before formally requesting that the UN Human Rights Council 

4 Dec 2013 : Column 755W

sets up an international inquiry into allegations of war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war; what assessment he has made of whether it will be necessary for the UK to raise the issue at UN level; and if he will make a statement. [179209]

Mr Swire: The Prime Minister was clear with the Sri Lankan President at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo in November that we expect real progress on human rights, reconciliation, accountability, and political settlement. The Human Rights Council will assess progress in March.

In particular, the Prime Minister pressed for credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged war crimes and made clear that if these investigations have not begun properly by March, then we will use our position on the UN Human Rights Council to work with the UN Human Rights Commissioner and call for an international inquiry. The UK has been voted back on to the Human Rights Council and will play an active role in building international support ahead of the March Human Rights Council session. We will continue to discuss Sri Lanka with a range of other EU, Commonwealth and international partners over the coming months.

Tribunal: Bosnia war crimes prosecutions flounder

Friday Dec 6, 2013       New Zealand Herald

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The prosecutor for the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia says the prosecution of war crimes cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina is “floundering.”

Serge Brammertz expressed serious concern to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that very little progress has been made toward finalizing nine of the 13 major cases transferred to Bosnia’s state court.

Brammertz also said the state court’s unconditional release of 12 people convicted of serious crimes, including genocide in some cases, pending correction of their sentences, “poses a threat to the proper conclusion of the cases and undermines public confidence in the administration of justice.”

Bosnia’s U.N. Ambassador Mirsada Colakovic said the country’s commitment to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes “is unquestionable” and the government is working on increasing the number of completed cases.

Modi Wave Has Struck A Chord

By S. Sivathasan -December 8, 2013 

S. Sivathasan

Narenrda Modi is riding the crest of his creation. The wave originating from Gujerat, will in four months have ripple effects in the South as well, reaching up to Tamil Nadu. Seats to be won in the South may be limited, but coalition support pre and post-election can be substantial and may even be enduring.

Modi’s whirlwind electioneering had created a stir in India from the day his candidature was announced in September this year. Unprecedented turnouts and people’s enthusiasm had driven BJP’s morale very high. It got transmitted to the voters countrywide. Yet people in all the states weighed the prospects in measured tones, waiting for the outcome in the five States. These five have emerged as a microcosm of the Indian polity reflecting the mood and the will of the nation. With results for four states being released, the total seats won by BJP, the 1^st Party are more than comparable and much higher when matched against the 1^st Party in the 2003 & 2008 Assembly elections.

Did the haze prevailing till the 7^th clear on 8^th December either in full or in part? What do the results portend for Lok Sabha next April? For a dispassionate inquiry the picture is now less unclear. Even so in our reasoning process, we have to rid our minds of preconceived baggage, that of incumbency. What does Malaysia tell us? The same party or coalition was voted in 13 times in a row. In Singapore, PAP rules continuously since independence in 1965. Governments that govern and deliver, have the endorsement of the people. ‘Incumbency Factor’ is facilely conjured up and blithely advanced as deciding the throwing away of the lack lustre non – performers.

Why go far? In India itself for 30 years at a stretch from 1947 to ’77, Congress held power, winning 7 elections in a row. Aura of the leaders, charismatic leadership, respectable performance and clean hands at centre and state explain. The same phenomena account for Modi’s 3 consecutive victories. In economic management Gujarat ranks first in the country, inspiring hope in many states outside. The above account renders incumbency a non-issue.

If this perception finds acceptance, then where do we seek to find the reasons for voters spurning the Congress in the states in question? Irresolute governance resulting in erratic oscillation of the pendulum has virtually made the clock stop. The second term was marked by lack of appreciable movement, particularly in the economic sphere. To compensate for it, wasteful burgeoning of welfare expenditure unsustainable by the national economy was resorted to. Compounding the issues was public perception of pervasive malpractice. With image continuing to get tarnished, domestic achievement failed to win people’s allegiance. The defaults of the centre percolated to the states to add to the malaise.

Foreign policy as Jashwant Sinha pointed out, lacked elan. Failures had made it incompatible with the nation’s expectation from a country aspiring to great power aura. The conspicuous dent showed its ugliness most in her relationship with Sri Lanka. The approaches became miserably weak kneed as manifesting in continuing regress concerning Sri Lankan Tamils. The theatre of betrayal was in the Vanni. Waterloo for Congress by running with the Tamils and hunting with the Sinhalese, for several years on end was manifest at Mullivaikkal. Kautilya together with his Arthasashtra both got buried there. The arena for exposure was at Geneva. Opportunities for redemption that came the way of India were lost on the Congress. Governance of the Congress had lost its sheen.                                             Read More    

Was Anything Achieved By PM Singh Not Being In Colombo? – Analysis

By Observer Research Foundation-December 7, 2013

By Vikram Sood

By next year, we will have in our armoury nuclear capable Agni-V missiles capable of hitting targets 5000 kms away. We already have an aircraft carrier that is the size of three football fields, is 20 stories high and can cover 600 nautical miles in a day. 

Was Anything Achieved By PM Singh Not Being In Colombo – Analysis by nelvely

Regime Change Not A Viable Solution ?

By S. V. Kirubaharan -December 8, 2013 |

S. V. Kirubaharan

The 1987 Indo- Lanka accord recognized the North East of the island of Sri Lanka as the hereditary land of the Tamil people. Under internationally agreed arrangement, the North and Eastern provinces were merged as one administrative unit.

Unfortunately less than a year after Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected as President, the merger of the North and Eastern provinces was brought to an end on 16 October 2006, after systematic manipulation. The President’s voice, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna – JVP and then Chief Justice, Sarath N. Silva played an important role in this.

The President who ordered the National anthem to be sung only in Singhalese and who scrapped the Ministry which handled human rights, continues to cheat the International community by chanting the sweet word, “reconciliation”. What is lacking for Mahinda Rajapaksa to implement a viable political solution for the people who have demanded their fundamental rights for more than six decades?

The excuse given by the government is that a problem which lasted three decades cannot be solved in two or three years. So, why did they assure the international community that as soon as terrorism was wiped out, the ethnic problem would be settled?

As far as the realities, experience and history are concerned, regime change in Sri Lanka is not a viable solution for accountability and reconciliation. It is a myth created by some stooges who see benefit in it for themselves. As far as the ethnic conflict is concerned, every government in power has wanted to find a pretext to justify not solving the ethnic problem, rather than find a solution. A few examples follow:

Two third majority

In 1970, Srimavo Bandaranaike had a two third majority in the parliament. She used that to strip away the minimum political safeguards that the Tamils had under the Soulbury constitution.

Ceylon became a “Republic” on 22 May 1972, ushering in a Sinhala-Supremacist Republican Constitution,which made Buddhism the state religion.

The leftist parties, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party – LSSP and the Communist Party – CP who were for equal rights and were in coalition with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party – SLFP, drafted the new constitution, and gave a prominent place for Buddhism and the Singhalese. They not only ignored the ethnic issue, they also removed the minimum protection provided in the Soulbury constitution . It is true that not all members of the LSSP and CP supported this view, but it cannot be denied that the leaders fully endorsed it.Read More

The Inquisition On Sri Lanka

Sunday, December 08, 2013

A so-called Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), claiming to have antecedents going back to revered intellectuals like Bertrand Russell and John Paul Sartre, was to have commenced hearings yesterday on alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lanka’s armed forces during the last stages of Sri Lanka’s war against terrorism that ended more than four years ago.

Philosophers like Russell and Sartre would be turning in their graves if they knew that their names and reputations were being invoked by racist supporters of a terrorist group – described as the most ruthless terror group the world has known for the past few decades. This is a terror group which is holding some British politicians to ransom by a system of gerrymandering of British electorates and duping American State Department officials. These sittings are a continuation of the on-going inquisition against little Sri Lanka by the mighty world powers under the euphemism ‘international community’.

The Tamil Tiger terrorist movement of Sri Lanka, the world is aware, was initiated, financed and sponsored by one of Sri Lanka’s inquisitors on human rights – India. Of the many gruesome paradoxes that resulted in Indian involvement in Sri Lanka was the landing of Indian troops in 1987 to help the LTTE. This intervention however ended with the LTTE fighting the Indians and killing over 2000 troops, ultimately leading to India withdrawing her troops.

There are many other gross contradictions involving foreign powers in this 30 year long conflict which this Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) should go into. Immediately after the 1983 riots an arms embargo was placed on Sri Lanka by all Western powers including America. But America permitted an Israeli Interests Section to operate from its embassy in Colombo helping the Sri Lankan government to combat terrorism. Why did they do that? Was it because India with its Peace, Friendship and Cooperation Treaty with the Soviet Union was bullying Sri Lanka?

Another comic aspect of the evolution of Indian foreign policy were the grave fears entertained about Americans being given the use of the Trincomalee Harbour and their fear that the Voice of America Broadcasting facility at Iranavila was being used to spy on India. The VOA facility is still there but now the Americans and Indians are buddies.
We go back in history about two to three decades to point out that investigations into alleged war crimes in the last few days of the conflict will not reveal the true situation the Sri Lankan government and its forces were placed in at the time they vanquished the terrorists.

Even in the closing stages of the LTTE conflict, India and even the United States were helping in the defence of Sri Lanka. Why did the volte –face take place soon after?

The only clear answer that we can think of is: Lanka’s developing relations with China. India promoted from a cow-dung power to a nuclear power by America now wants not only to be the Big Brother of South Asia but South East Asia as well. This suits Americans because the only massive country that can be used as a countervailing force against China is India.

The so called intellectuals comprising this PPT whose dependence on the big powers and their generous purses  ould not permit them to break through the tunnel vision to which they have been circumscribed. They can only parrot what the Darusman report, Navi Pillai, David Cameron and fellow travellers have been repeating ad nauseam. They should look into the reasons behind this fanatical vengeful search which the ‘international community’ is pursuing against a small country

Call them Dogs of Peace or Dogs of War they do not appear to want peace on this island. India throughout the years has revealed through covert action that they want to have a hold on Lanka by creating disharmony between Tamils and Sinhalese and backing the Tamils. What is the objective of inviting the Northern Province Chief Minister to New Delhi at a time when the Congress government is precariously balanced with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin?

The one way Sri Lanka can get rid of this crown of thorns is to come to terms with democratic Tamil leaders and bring about genuine peace and reconciliation. The Rajapaksa government has initiated economic development in Tamil areas but that is not enough. Heart break, severe anguish, insults and indignities have to be atoned for. The dignity of the Tamil people should be restored. Tamils are not asking for favours. What they want are their legitimate rights as citizens of the country.

The government should do its basic duty by responding to Tamil grievances. By doing that they deflate those who want to teach us the Rule of Law and democratic governance. There should be the political will to do justice to Tamils.

The Vanniyas Of Sri Lanka Vs Vanniyas Of South India

By Darshanie Ratnawalli -December 8, 2013

Darshanie Ratnawalli

I got a query from Tissa Devendra regarding my previous piece, “Memories of the Vanni, Vaddas and Vanniyas”. “Do you mean to say that the Vanni was peopled by a slow influx of Vanniyar caste infiltrators from South India?” he asked. I told him that it’s simplistic to imagine Sri Lanka as a setting where South Indian concepts and conditions get duplicated en mass as if traced by carbon paper. There were in-migrations orchestrated by the medieval central Sinhala states that claimed suzerainty or chakravarthihood over the whole country[i]. But these migrations were from diverse milieus in South India and also Bengal. The key word is “diverse cultural milieus” of South India.

None of the immigrant groups from South India given in the Sinhalese folk historical tradition as appointees to chieftaincies in the Wanni of Lanka can be identified as belonging to the group called Vanniyar mentioned in South Indian records from the 10^th/11^thcentury onwards[ii]. The Malavaras, lovingly mentioned in the relevant Hugh Nevill manuscript (Or 6606-182)[iii]as “the first possessors of the very own Wanni kingdom belonging to this Lanka”, are not of South Indian Vanniyar stock. Instead they are “chiefs of certain hill-tribes in the Karnata and Tamil areas of South India” whose warlike habits secured them many mentions in “the Pandya records of the thirteenth century in South India”( Indrapala 1965 thesis p296). The Malavara chieftains are also listed in the Sri Lankan Tamil tradition (in the “Vaiyapatal” and the “Vaiya”) among the more important colonists of Jaffna-(ibid).

Nor do the chieftains of Ariya Vamsa who are immortalized in the Vanni Puvata (Or 6606-139) as having received lands in the Puttalama, Munnessara, Jaffna, and a number of villages in Nuvarakalaviya(D.G.B 1996[iv])  seem to be of the Vanniyar kula of South India. Ariya Vamsa is not an appellation carrying associations with the Vanniyar group of South India.

Another group, which stands outside of the Vanniyar of South India, but became Vanniyas of Lanka were the Mukkuvas. A copperplate grant of Bhuvanekabahu VII in Sinhalese dated to 1544 A.D refers to a Navaratna Vanniya of Lunuvila, a mukkuva chieftain of the Puttalam region (Indrapala 1970: S. Casie Chetty, Ceylon Gazetteer, 1834, p190-191).                                Read More

ICC's failure to prosecute Sri Lanka, no shelter to Africa's criminals, says HRW

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 December 2013, 19:42 GMT]
African leaders are raising concern over the actions of the 11-year old court of last resort, the International Criminial Court (ICC), where the eight cases that are currently active and the twenty-one defendents are all from Africa, Washington Post reported Sunday. The article quoted Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch who countered Africa's arguments saying that African nations cannot deny redress to victims (in Darfur or Kenya) just because it is not possible to provide victims in Sri Lanka justice, implying that while ICC has failed to go after war-criminals in Sri Lanka even after the UN's Petrie Report has accused Sri Lanka of killing more than 70,000 Tamil civilians in the no-fire zone, this is not sufficient to deny african victims redress through the Court. 

African leaders say that comparable crimes elsewhere in the world are being ignored and that race is a factor in the decision-making. With Kenya’s president and deputy president on trial, African leaders are pushing for changes that some ICC advocates say would undermine the court completely, the Washington Post said in its ICC coverage.

• ICC-Kohona complaint reference

• Filing with ICC Prosecutor Moreno O'Campo

The ICC has not shown any inclination to investigate Palitha Kohona, an Australian citizen of Sri Lankan origin who has been charged with complicity to genocide in papers filed with the ICC. Australia is a signatory to Rome Statute which provides jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute Australians for war-crimes.

In 2009, Bruce Fein, counsel for a US-based Tamil activist group Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), in a letter sent to Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Hon. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, urging him to open investigations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes against four high-level officials of the Sri Lanka Government, and received no response.

O'Campo earlier initimated to a CNN reporter that since Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Rome Statute ICC does not have jurisdiction to investigate Sri Lanka crimes. Only the UN Security Council should provide the mandate to the UN Chief Prosecutor to indict Sri Lanka, or the Secretary General should establish a tribunal similar to what was established for Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

After Two Years Lalith And Kugan Still Missing

By Jayashika Padmasiri -December 8, 2013 |

Jayashika Padmasiri

Today marks two years since the alleged abduction of the two human rights activists   Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan who were last seen on the day before the World Human Rights Day. After this controversial abduction Lalith Weeraraj’s father, a rubber tapper working at Siri Niwasa Watte told the media that he strongly believe that the government is behind this abduction by referring to a statement made by the Cabinet Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella at a press conference stating that Lalith and Kugan are in police custody, though the police authorities strongly denied this claim soon afterwards.

Lalith and Kugan

According to media reports the two human rights defenders Lalith and Kuganhad disappeared in Jaffna on December 9th in 2011, while they were organizing a press conference for the Peoples Struggle Movement which was scheduled to be held in Jaffna on December 10^th coinciding with the International Human Rights Day: according to reports Lalith and Kugan were last seen by relatives leaving Kugan Muruganandan’s house at Avarangal Jaffna at 5 p.m on December 9th.

The Propaganda Secretary of the Front Line Socialist Party  (FLSP) Pubudu Jayagoda speaking about the disappearance which was later confirmed as an abduction said that Lalith and Kugan belongs to the thousands of victims who has gone missing in Sri Lanka in the postwar situation..Read Mor

Superstars And Wild Boars

By Rasika Jayakody -December 8, 2013

Rasika Jayakody

The ruling party lost several budget votes one after another, in several local government institutions, causing embarrassment to the top echelons of the government who brag about a two thirds majority in Parliament. The main reason behind such defeats was personality clashes and internal power struggles between various individuals and groups in the same party. Although a defeat at a budget-vote does not warrant dissolution of a local government body it can certainly be viewed as something that spoils the feel-good factor of the government.

Irked by this new trend, Maithripala Sirisena, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), sent a strongly worded letter to local government members and electorate organizers, urging them to take this matter into serious consideration. He asserted that everyone must work together to avert this kind of setbacks in the future and resolve internal issues.

                  Read More

Evidence presented against Sri Lanka at Genocide Tribunal in Germany

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 December 2013, 01:29 GMT]
During the Second Session of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka which opened Saturday in Bremen, Germany, a panel of eleven eminent judges heard the "Prosecution outline its case that the crime of genocide has been and is being committed against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka," the press release issued by the sponsoring organizations, Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) and Internationaler Menschenrechtsverein Bremen e.V. said. Eleven direct witnesses gave evidence to the panel during the first day. The judges, many of whom are legal scholars on genocide, will apply the principles enshrined in the 1948 Genocide Convention to the evidence presented, and announce their legal determination this Tuesday, December 10th. 

• Press Release: PPT Genocide Hearings Day-1

Excerpts from the press release follows:

This Second Session in Bremen was convened in response to the determination by the First Session, held in January 2010 in Dublin, Ireland, that War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity had taken place on the Eelam Tamil population during the final months of the war in Sri Lanka in early 2009, and that further investigation be undertaken regarding the question of genocide.

These two sessions of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka have been established in response to a submission made by the International Human Rights Association Bremen (IMRV) and the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL). As in the First Session, here in Bremen a panel of judges consisting of experts in genocide studies, former UN officials, experts in international law and renowned peace and human rights activists (see attachment) will hear the evidence that is presented and will announce their judgment on Tuesday 10 December 2013 (Human Rights Day).

The spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group which seeks legal redress to Tamil victims of war, said that the the hearings of the Sri Lanka tribunal is a land-mark event that the Tamil diaspora should use to further shape future legal efforts to ensnare Colombo into a sustainable genocide legal net in the Western Courts.

TAG added, "Parsing the population in the safe zone during the last months of the war into the categories of combatant and civilian is consistent with a laws-of-war analysis of Mu'l'livaaykkaal. However, the combatant-civilian distinction is not appropriate for analyzing Mu'l'livaaykkaal as a case of genocide. A genocide analysis in brief has three prongs. It identifies whether a group existed that was targeted for extermination, whether an actor took demonstrable steps to further this extermination, and whether the actor took those steps with the specific intent to exterminate that group. As such, in Mu'll'ivaaykkaal, combatant and civilians categories are not relevant to a genocide analysis. Both communities of combatants and civilians fall into the unitary group of ethnic Tamil.

"The genocide legal inquiry and the evidence presented, therefore, should remain focused on whether the government's military operations are cognizable as acts of genocide within the aforementioned framework, viewing combatant and civilians as not separate groupings, but part of one unitary group of ethnic Tamils targeted for extermination. Arguments that contemplate laws-of-war factors, such as proportionality or distinction, are not relevant to the genocide framework, TAG said.

"Also, in the determination of whether the GoSL conducted its military operations with genocidal intent, post-Mu'l'livaaykkaal colonization is a significant factor which should be considered in the inference of intent from the facts. When viewed in light of Sri Lankan military operations, the state-sponsored Sinhala colonization of Tamil areas after Mu'l'livaaykkaal, as widely highlighted by International actors, including UN's Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani, provide an additional circumstantial factual basis to infer a specific intent to exterminate the ethnic Tamil group," TAG said.

While the proceedings are broadcast alive, the Tribunal has provided private, off-camera facility to witnesses, who fear danger to their lives or to the lives of relatives, to present the evidence.

Article 2 of the Geneva Convention states: Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;
2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Sri Lankan Police Officer’s UK Asylum Case: SL Authorities Involved In ‘Widespread’, ‘Systematic’ Attacks On Tamils

December 8, 2013

In a significant development that would further strengthen the growing calls for international impartial inquiry into the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Rajapaksa regime, the British judiciary has upheld the UK government’s position that Sri Lankan authorities have involved in “a widespread and systematic attack” against the Tamil population “as a part of the government’s strategy”.

Secretary MOD

The UK’s Upper Tribunal, the Immigration and Asylum Chamber’s  judges Lane and Pitt, a couple of weeks ago have made these findingwhile determining an asylum appeal of an anonymity direction protected appellant, a Sri Lankan Police Officer, who has been named as “Mr. AS”

Mr. AS began his career as a Police Officer in Sri Lanka in 2003.  From 2007 until he left the Unit in January 2010, Mr. AS worked in a Special Unit within the Sri Lankan Police department that was tasked with the job of abducting Tamil civilians.

Mr. AS feared that he was at risk either from the government who may have suspected him of disclosing information about the torture and murder of Tamil suspects or from the criminal underworld who had been informers for and victims of the Special Unit. He decided to leave the country. His asylum claim was based on the fear that the Sri Lankan authorities would persecute him if he were returned to Sri Lanka. His asylum claim was refused by the Home Office.

Mr. AS appealed against the Secretary of State for Home Department’s (SSHD) decision to the First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). The First Tier Tribunal dismissed his appeal and upheld the decision made by the SSHD and he appealed to the Upper Tribunal.

Dismissing the appeal, senior Upper Tribunal judges found that “…during the period of the appellant’s service in the special unit that the actions of Sri Lankan authorities were well-characterised as “a widespread and systematic attack” directed at the civilian population, in particular those of Tamil ethnicity. Indeed, it was difficult to conclude otherwise, this being the consistent view across the human rights and country reports on Sri Lanka for that period.”                                                Read More