Never a good time

Sri Lanka and human rights

Banyan - Mar 21st 2014,  IT WAS with an incredible sense of that Bad Timing of the Government of Sri Lanka Couple arrested a prominent Human-rights workers just this Week-As the United Nations' Human-rights Council in Geneva goes to Work sifting through its murky record for some sign of progress.

Never a Good Time by nelvely

Sri Lanka: Sheer Viciousness & Brutality Of The Sexual Violence

| by Desmond Tutu

( March 21, 2014, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The evidence presented in this report gives the lie to the Sri Lankan government’s propaganda that it is reconciling with its former enemies. It shows how anyone remotely connected with the losing side in the civil war is being hunted down; tortured and raped, five years after the guns fell silent. Shockingly, more than half of the abductions in the report took place as recently as 2013-2014. The testimony collected here comes from 40 witnesses, almost all of whose families could afford to pay a bribe for their release; one wonders what happened to those whose relatives could not afford to pay and to those without relatives. The sheer viciousness and brutality of the sexual violence is staggering; as is the racist verbal abuse by the torturers and rapists in the Sri Lankan security forces. Thirty-five of these witnesses were forced to sign confessions in Sinhala; a language they do not understand.

In some cases people were forced to turn informer as well as to betray innocent bystanders in order to survive and left to bear the subsequent terrible burden of guilt.

I find it horrifying that almost half the witnesses interviewed for this report attempted to kill themselves after reaching safety outside Sri Lanka. This indicates the Sri Lankan government has achieved its aim in destroying these souls, who are unlikely to regain happiness and peace in their lives. My deepest hope is that the cycle of revenge will be broken. In order for this to happen, the international community must intervene. It is imperative to pierce the skein of impunity that surrounds Sri Lanka – an island where the war is clearly not yet over.

( Foreword to the report released by the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) and The International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka.)

New report finds torture and sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka increasing

21 March 2014

Yaumin Suco , Author of the report at HRC25
presenting the report (©sunanda deshapriya)

A report released today on Sri Lanka  - An Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka, 2009 - 2014 - concludes that "abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, rape and sexual violence has increased in the post-war period" against Tamil people by Sri Lankan security forces and there was "a prima facie case of post-war crimes against humanity by the Sri Lankan security forces, with respect to (a) torture and (b) rape and sexual violence."
See full report here. 

New Report Finds Torture and Sexual Violence Against Tamils in Sri Lanka Increasing by nelvely

Sri Lanka Tamils subjected to horrific abuse after 2009 civil war, says report

Testimony gathered from 40 Tamils detained by Sri Lankan authorities documents sexual and physical abuse

Activists protest proposed UN resolution to investigate Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes: new report alleges abuse after war. Photograph: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images

Paul Farrell- Friday 21 March 2014

Horrifying details of sexual and physical abuse, including forced oral sex, anal rape and water torture, have been documented in a new report on Sri Lanka’s treatment of Tamils after the end of the 2009 civil war, which includes testimony from returned asylum seekers and raises further questions about Australia’s deportation of Tamils.

The report from the United Kingdom Bar Human Rights Committee, human rights lawyer Yasmin Sooka and the International Truth & Justice Project, details evidence of abuse from Tamils who say they were beaten with pipes, burnt with cigarettes and branded with hot objects.

The report says the testimony was gathered from interviews with 40 Tamils who had been detained by Sri Lankan authorities. Almost all had suffered some form of sexual abuse.

According to the report, several of the victims were returned after attempting to seek asylum, raising further questions about Australia’s close relationship with the country and the return of Sri Lankan asylum seekers.

“Since 2012 an ‘enhanced screening process’ for Sri Lankan asylum seekers has led to many being returned without having access to lawyers, or being subject to formal processing.

“The cases of torture, rape and sexual violence described in this report are just a small sample of those crimes likely to have been committed against Tamils,” Sooka said. “The international community must act now, otherwise such atrocities will continue to define post-conflict Sri Lanka.”

The release of the report coincides with revelations that the Australian government is continuing to resist international calls for a war crimes investigation into the bloody 2009 civil war, in which tens of thousands of civilians were casualties. Fairfax Media reported on Friday that the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, had confirmed Australia had not co-sponsored a draft resolution calling for an inquiry.

The Sri Lankan government has been the subject of a campaign for a war crimes investigation into the war. Claims of abuse of Tamils have continued since the end of the war.

The report describes graphic details of physical and sexual assaults. It says one woman was sexually assault with a baton, and endured seven gang rapes.

“He was very violent,” one of the men interviewed said of his captor. “I was angry and would try to fight him. I begged him not to. He said that the Tamil people’s mouths were only good for oral sex.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said he found it “horrifying” that almost half of those who suffered abuse had attempted suicide.

“This indicates the Sri Lankan government has achieved its aim in destroying these souls, who are unlikely to regain happiness and peace in their lives,” he said.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon called on the Australian government to support the United Nations resolution calling for an international inquiry into Sri Lanka.

“How much more evidence of the continuing systematic sexual torture and rape of Tamil women and men by Sri Lankan officials does Foreign Minister Julie Bishop need before she will acknowledge that the brutality of the Rajapaksa regime needs to be investigated,” she said.

“If Australia fails to back the UN Human Rights Council resolution, which is reportedly being supported by the US, Canada, Britain and the European Union, we will have done a great disservice to human rights and justice.”

The report urges the United Nations representative on sexual violence to visit Sri Lanka and initiate an inquiry into the allegations of abuse, and calls on the UN to suspend Sri Lanka’s involvement in peacekeeping operations.

The United States and Britain had earlier expressed fears that Australia could be preparing to undermine moves for an international inquiry into alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, according to sources reportedly involved in the preparation for an upcoming UN meeting.

Credit card scam: Chennai police arrest three Sri Lankans, including man wanted by Interpol

A Selvaraj,TNN | Mar 21, 2014A Selvaraj,TNN | Mar 21, 2014
CHENNAI: The Chennai police on Friday arrested three men in connection with a credit card scam. One of the arrested men is wanted by Interpol as the Sri Lankan police have issued a red corner notice against him.

Based on the confession of Sivanesan alias Prem, a Sri Lankan Tamil, arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths a few days ago for allegedly using a skimmer to steal data from credit card users in the city, police teams led by CCB deputy commissioner of police S Jayakumar and assistant commissioner of police, bank fraud wing, Jaya Singh, arrested the trio from a house at Ramavaram here. They recovered three laptops, two encoding machines, mobile phones and 15 fake credit cards from the house.

Police identified the trio as Jayatharan Thambapillai, 28, a native of Trincomallee in Sri Lanka, and his associates V Navaneetha Raja, 37, and V Prateep Kumar, 28, both hailing from Sri Lanka.

Jayatharan told the police that he arrived in Tamil Nadu in August last year on an illegal ferry. Later, he contacted Navaneetha Raja and Prateep Kumar and stayed with them at Ramavaram and operated the racket.

Police said Jayatharan, a graduate in civil engineering, developed knowledge in computer and collected stolen credit card data from hackers. He was also regularly in touch with the hackers and exchanged information.

Preliminary inquiries revealed that Jayatharan was involved in several credit card scams in Sri Lanka. As he managed to evade police apprehension and stayed in hideout, the Sri Lankan police issued a red corner notice through Interpol in 2011.

Putin laughs off sanctions as he signs bills to transfer Crimea to Russia

President promises to open account at blacklisted bank as west signals intent to maintain pressure over Ukraine crisis

Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, signs a law on ratification of a treaty making Crimea part of Russia, in the Kremlin in Moscow. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty

Alec Luhn in Moscow

Friday 21 March 2014 

Vladimir Putin has laughed off western sanctions against Russia, promising to open an account in a bank on the US blacklist, but indicating that he will not escalate the Ukraine crisis further.

A day after the US extended its sanctions blacklist to take in businesspeople and aides from Putin's inner circle, the Russian president told his security council that he would not take retaliatory measures against the US sanctions nor against threats that Ukraine will implement a visa regime with Russia.

But at the same time, he completed the annexation of Crimea by signing new legislation completing the transfer of the peninsula to the Russian Federation. Putin described it as a "remarkable event", as he signed the bills on Friday.

Western powers signalled their intention to maintain the pressure, with France announcing a suspension of all military co-operation with the country and offering warplanes to the Baltic republics, which also have sizeable Russian minority populations and borders with it. The US was reportedly organising military exercises in eastern Europe to include Poland and the Baltic trio of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

But Putin appeared insouciant in the face of the western manoeuvres. In response to the US move to include Bank Rossiya on the blacklist because it is believed to be the "personal bank for senior officials of the Russian Federation", Putin joked: "I personally didn't have an account there, but I'll definitely open an account there on Monday."

As for the 20 influential officials added to the US sanctions list, a smiling Putin warned: "Stay away from them, they'll compromise us".

Visa and Mastercard have stopped servicing cardholders of Bank Rossiya, as well as those of SMP Bank, which is controlled by the Rotenberg brothers now sanctioned by the US. The move marked the first time sanctions have affected ordinary Russians.

There was a stern Russian attitude towards Ukraine, however. At the meeting, the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, said that an agreement under which Russia gave Ukraine deep discounts on Russian gas in return for allowing Russia to keep its Black Sea fleet in Crimea should be cancelled now that Russia controlled Crimea. Russia should seek the return of the $11bn (£6.7bn) that Ukraine saved under the agreement, as well as $5bn in other debts, Medvedev said.

Investcafe analyst Andrei Shenk said the threat to call in debts was likely meant to keep Ukraine from taking radical steps, such as instituting a visa regime.

"It's a deterrent that can later be used in negotiations" over Russia's use of Ukrainian gas pipelines to sell its product to Europe, which may eventually be cut off in the political conflict, Shenk said.

Putin told the meeting that "millions of completely innocent Ukrainians" who worked in Russia would suffer under any visa regime.

At the same time, the US sanctions seemed to be taking a slight toll on the Russian economy. Russian stocks dropped on Friday, with the Moscow market falling by as much as 4%, although it later began to recover. Companies connected to individuals on the sanctions list suffered the most.

Meanwhile, the US ratings agencies Fitch and S&P downgraded the outlook on the country's long-term foreign and local currency ratings to negative.

But, Shenk said, the mainly political US sanctions posed "the threat of harm more than direct harm" to the Russian economy. For now, only financial organisations would really be affected, as the cost of credit from western banks would rise for them, he said.

The already weakened ruble did not fall significantly against the euro and the dollar on Friday.

Russia's Central Bank promised to support Bank Rossiya, apparently guaranteeing that it would not let the bank fail now that US sanctions had cut off its dealings with international credit card companies and other institutions.

Shenk said Russia was unlikely to respond to the US sanctions not only because it lacked the instruments to do so, but because firing back with its own sanctions would admit the legality of the measure.

"For now, it's a political decision not to answer sanctions, not to acknowledge the legitimacy of such actions," he said.

Inside Hezbollah: fighting and dying for a confused cause 

Friday 21 Mar 2014
Nine months since IT was admitted Hezbollah in waging the War in Syria, the Eastern-backed militia has made ​​dramatic Inn,  strategic battlefield gains for the Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad . Not so long ago, he was on the back foot.

The Shia Muslim Party of God - bankrolled, trained and armed by Tehran - claims its "timely" intervention on behalf of the Syrian dictator is in Lebanon's national interests.

There's no doubt that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, is under orders from his Iranian paymasters to do their bidding in defence of their Shia Muslim ally, al-Assad.

Inside Hezbollah fighting and dying for a confused cause by nelvely

Taliban gunmen kill nine civilians in attack at Kabul's Serena hotel

Four foreigners among victims in attack on luxury hotel as wave of violence sweeps Afghanistan ahead of presidential elections

Weapons used by Taliban gunmen, which were hidden in their shoes, in Serena hotel attack in Kabul on 21 March 2014. Photograph: Anja Niedringhaus/AP

Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul- Friday 21 March 2014 13Teenage Taliban gunmen who slipped into a top luxury hotel in Kabul on Thursday night shot and killed two young girls along with seven other civilians in the latest attack in a wave of violence hitting Afghanistanahead of presidential elections. Six others were injured.

Four foreigners were also among the victims of the carefully planned assault, which was apparently aimed at undermining a vote now just two weeks away. Election monitors were among the Serena hotel's guests.

It came days after a marketplace bomb killed 16 people in the north and just hours after a complex attack on a police headquarters in Jalalabad city claimed at least 18 lives. On Friday morning an attack in southern Kandahar killed three. The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the poll and said anyone who votes or works on the election is risking their life.

"This attack is connected to the election, our enemy is trying to sow uncertainty about our future," said Sediq Sediqqi, an interior ministry spokesman, at a news conference the morning after the assault on the hotel. "They are threatening the security of the election, which is one of the biggest events in the history of Afghanistan."

The gunmen launched their attack by opening fire in the Serena's popular buffet restaurant, which was packed with families and officials celebrating the start of the Afghan new year to live music.

Afghan journalist Sardar Ahmad was killed in attacks by Taliban. Photograph: David Gill

Their most prominent victim was Afghan journalist Sardar Ahmad, who worked for Agence France Press and had his own media company. Ahmad's wife and two daughters were also killed, and his toddler son is now fighting for his life in hospital.

Tributes to him and his work poured in from colleagues, politicians including the former warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum and readers in Afghanistan and beyond. "My dear Sardar rest in peace! Fuck you terrorists you bloody killed my best friend with all his family," Parwiz Shamal, a journalist with TOLO, an Afghan television station, said on Twitter. The foreign victims were from New Zealand, Canada, India and Pakistan, said Sediqqi, but he did not release names or any other details.

The attackers were armed only with six tiny handguns, barely bigger than cigarette packets, but shooting went on for over two hours as security forces hunted down the last attacker, who hid inside toilets at the sprawling hotel complex. Hundreds of staff and guests took refuge in a cavernous bunker, while others were evacuated from the building.

The last person rescued, Sediqqi said, was the gunmen's first target. A senator who had been dining with three other legislators hurled glasses at the young attackers and escaped into a nearby garden where he hid for four hours, injured but alive. The other three all survived the attack unharmed.

The Serena had been one of the few places in Afghanistan where both foreigners and the country's elite could relax and enjoy rare luxuries such as a swimming pool and 24-hour electricity. Tight layers of security including armed guards, multiple steel gates, metal detectors and x-ray machines made the five-star hotel feel safe even though it had been hit by an attack in 2008 that killed seven people.

Thursday's attackers apparently hid handguns and bullets, wrapped in blue tissue paper and hidden under in the soles of their chunky shoes.

They were all young men, with fake ID cards from southern Kandahar province with their ages given as between 19 and 25, although in pictures taken after the attack they looked barely out of their teens.

They had told guards on the door that they were going to the restaurant for dinner, the interior ministry spokesman said, although the government is investigating why their guns were not discovered during security checks.

The attack may drive some election monitors away. At least one mission was reportedly packing up just hours after the attack. Others said that while the deaths were tragic, violence was a risk in any country at war and they would continue with their mission.

"If you go to Afghanistan, a country where in the last year thousands of incidents have taken place, you cannot let yourself be influenced by the next incident," said Thijs Berman, a member of the European parliament and head of the EU election-monitoring mission.

He added that his team had a commitment to millions of Afghans risking their lives to organise and participate in the vote. "You have voters, you have civil servants, you have policemen and women, and thousands of people organising this election. Do they find themselves deterred from doing so by finding the country is not the safest place in the world?"

The inglorious self-goal

• So perfectly orchestrated and precisely timed, the detention of human rights campaigners in Sri Lanka over the past week almost looks like internal sabotage to ruin the country’s faltering chances at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

Thursday 20th March 2014

Here’s a mid-week riddle: What do the Tamil widow Balendran Jeyakumari, activists Ruki Fernando, Father Praveen Mahesan and Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister have in common?
They all chose to engage with international human rights mechanisms, including UN rights Chief Navi Pillay. And now they are paying for it.

The Inglorious Self-goal by nelvely

மூங்கிலாறு பகுதியில் மீட்கப்பட்ட எலும்புக்கூடுகள் பூநகரியைச் சேர்ந்த 3 குடும்பங்களுடையவை உறவினர்கள் இனம் காட்டினர்

19 மார்ச் 2014, புதன்

முல்லைத்தீவு, மூங்கிலாறுப் பகுதியில் புதைக்கப்பட்ட நிலையில் கடந்த மாதம் 28 ஆம்திகதி மீட்கப்பட்ட 9 எலும்புக்கூடுகளும் பூநகரியைச் சேர்ந்த 3 குடும்பங்களின் உறுப்பினர்களது என அடையாளம் காணப்பட்டுள்ளன. 

 

முல்லைத்தீவு, மூங்கிலாறுப் பகுதியில் கடந்த 27 ஆம் திகதி காணியை உழுதபோது அங்கு பிளாஸ்ரிக் பாய்களினால் சுற்றப்பட்ட நிலையில் எலும்புக்கூடுகள் இருந்தமை அவதானிக்கப்பட்டது. சம்பவம் குறித்து பொலிஸாருக்கு தெரியப்படுத்தப்பட்டதையடுத்து மறுநாள் அங்கு 9 மனித எலும்புக்கூடுகள் மீட்கப்பட்டன. 

 

அதன்போது ஒருவரது அடையாளஅட்டையும் மீட்கப்பட்டிருந்தது. இவ்வாறான தகவல்களைக் கொண்டு இடம்பெற்ற விசாரணைகளில் கடந்த 2009 ஆம் ஆண்டு விசுவமடுகுளத்தை அண்மித்த பகுதியில் இருந்து மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்ட எறிகணைத் தாக்குதலில் உயிரிழந்தவர்களின் உடல்களே அங்கு புதைக்கப்பட்டதாக தெரியவந்தது. 

 

இது குறித்து அப்போது தமிழர் புனர்வாழ்வு பணியாளராக இருந்த ஒருவரும் சாட்சியமளித்திருந்தார். மீட்கப்பட்ட அடையாள அட்டைக்குரிய நபர் கோரக்கன் கட்டு, பரந்தனைச் சேர்ந்த திருச்செல்வம் ரமேஸ்வரன் என்பவர் ஆவார். 

 

இவருடன் இவரது மனைவியான ரமேஸ்வரன் கெளசல்யா, இவர்களது உறவினர்களான செல்வாபுரம் பூநகரியைச் சேர்ந்த கந்தசாமி பவளராணி மற்றும் இவரது பிள்ளைகளான கந்தசாமி கஸ்தூரி, கந்தசாமி ரஜிவ்காந்த் ஆகியோரும் இதே பகுதியைச் சேர்ந்த மற்றுமொரு குடும்பமான துரையப்பா பூரணலிங்கம், அவரது மனைவியான பூரணலிங்கம் புஸ்பவதி, இவர்களது மகள்களான பூரணலிங்கம் கலாவதனி, பூரணலிங்கம் மேனகா, மகனான பூரணலிங்கம் கஜீபன் ஆகியோரே ஒரே நாளில் உயிரிழந்ததாக தெரியவருகிறது. 

 

இவர்களில் ஒருவரது எச்சங்கள் அந்தப் பகுதியில் உள்ள கிணறு ஒன்றில் இருக்கலாம் என உறவினர்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர். இது குறித்துய­ல் தாக்குதலில் காயமடைந்து உயிர் தப்பியவர்கள் வழங்கிய தகவல்களின்படி 2008 ஆம் ஆண்டில் தாம் பூநகரியில் இருந்து இடம் பெயர்ந்து புளியம்பொக்கணையிலும் அங்கிருந்து இடம்பெயர்ந்து கண்ணகை நகரிலும் வசித்ததாகவும், 2009.01.31 ஆம் திகதி இரவு 7 மணியளவில் இடம்பெற்ற எறிகணை வீச்சில் தாம் இருந்த குடிசைகள் சேதமடைந்தன என்றும் அதன் போதே இவர்கள் உயிரிழந்ததாகவும் தெரிவித்தனர். தொடர்ந்தும் விசாரணைகள் இடம்பெற்று வருகின்றன.                 

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=800192756220696588#sthash.bC5gKSYI.dpuf

Video: The Way Sri Lankan Military Treats Women Recruits

March 20, 2014

“18+ Wanting a Fun Activity That Pays ?” says the Sri Lankan Army recruitment advertisement. But the footage shot by Sri Lanka forces on a mobile phone shows the way Sri Lankan military treats its women recruits. 

புதுகுடியிருப்பில் காணிகளைப் பறிக்கும் உத்தியோகத்தர்கள்

19 மார்ச் 2014, புதன்

இராணுவத்தினரால் கையகப்படுத்தப்பட்டு விடுவிக்கப்பட்ட  காணிகளை   காணி உத்தியோகத்தர்கள் பறிமுதல் செய்வதாக மக்கள் விசனம் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.புதுக்குடியிருப்பு இடைக்கட்டுப் பகுதியில் பலவருடங்களாக வசித்து வரும் மக்களின் காணிகளே இவ்வாறு பறிமுதல் செய்யப்படுகின்றன என்று அந்த மக்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர்.

குறித்த பிரதேசத்தில் உள்ள மக்கள் போருக்கு முன்னரும் அதற்கு பின்னரும் குறித்த இடத்திலேயே வசித்து வருகின்றனர். தற்போது தமக்கு வேண்டிய சிலரை  அங்கு குடியேற்றுவதற்காக அடாவடித்தனமான செயற்பாடுகளில் காணி உத்தியோகத்தர்கள் ஈடுபட்டு வருகின்றனர்.

 “ இந்தக்காணிகள் உங்களுக்குச் சொந்தமானவை அல்ல” என்று  தெரிவிப்பதுடன் போலி உறுதிகளை காண்பித்து , தம்மைக் காணியை விட்டு வெளியேறுமாறு  குறித்த உத்தியோகத்தர்கள் அடாவடியில் ஈடுபட்டு வருவதாக  பிரதேச மக்கள் கவலையுடன் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.
இந்த அடாவடிச் செயலுக்கு அந்தப்பகுதியின் கிராம சேவகரும்  மற்றும் அரச அதிகாரிகள் சிலரும் உடந்தையாக இருப்பதாகவும் தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.
இதற்கான தீர்வினைப் பெற்றுத்தருமாறு புதுக்குடியிருப்பு பிரதேச செயலரிடம்  பாதிக்கப்பட்ட மக்கள் கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளனர்

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=399452759119807313#sthash.BaEDDJNM.Osi1m8kq.dpuf

TNA ready for talks with Govt-If there are no preconditions 

By Ananth Palakidnar-March 20, 2014
 
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC), led by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), admitted for the first time that if President Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to talks without preconditions, the Alliance would take part in talks with the government.
 
The NPC held a lengthy session on Tuesday (18) where the issue regarding the talks between the government and the TNA was discussed extensively.
 
The NPC, however, emphasized the UPFA Government should not insist on the TNA participating at the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) as a precondition for direct talks with the government.
However, the opposition members at the NPC pointed out the external forces should not interfere in the political affairs of the Tamils.
 
The TNA Councillors, responding to the Opposition members said, it was due to the reluctance of the Rajapaksa Government in settling the humanitarian and political issues in the North and East, the international community has expressed their concerns over the Sri Lankan issue.
 
Meanwhile, the NPC Councillors led by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran held a demonstration outside the NPC building against various other humanitarian issues in the North.

Sri Lanka’s National Security Silence: Threat Or Defence?

By Niranjan Rambukwella -March 20, 2014-----The people of Sri Lanka need debate and discussion on national security

Flipping through newspapers or scrolling through Colombo Telegraph, absence is as significant as presence. Absence of discussion, that is silence, often points to areas where society has arrived at consensus. Lack of debate on slavery can either signal broad societal agreement that slavery is wrong, or the counter-consensus that slavery is right. In either case, silence points to consensus.

Studying silence can reveal a society’s most fundamental beliefs, those beliefs that are so deeply entrenched that they need no articulation. For many years Sri Lankans believed in the success of our education system. Debate and discussion were limited to fixing peripheral problems like the Scholarship Exam. Newspapers and political discussion never questioned the fundamental structure of educational institutions – everyone agreed that the basic structure was sound, no debate was needed, and silence prevailed.

Silence is also sinister – signifying ignorance, taboos and outright oppression. For many years public debate ignored the necessity of education reforms. While teaching standards fell and graduates struggled to find work, Sinhala and Tamil speaking society complacently accepted the comfortable consensus of Sri Lanka’s educational success – persisting till FUTA’s iconoclastic strike. These strikes razed the idol, and now collective inquiry into Sri Lanka’s educational problems slowly emerges as debate expands. Teachers, parents and students starting to comprehend the gravity of the issue, are beginning to talk and question. As the embers of discussion are fanned, understanding grows further and virtuous cycle is set in motion.

Silence Muted

Over the last year the government’s foreign and economic policies, which for a couple of years commanded virtually universal approval, are now the subject of considerable debate. Why did the silence break so suddenly? These policies have not changed much over the last few years – then why the sudden shift.

Disruptive interventions destabilize consensus. When an infallible truth is credibly questioned debate emerges. Consensus and certainty give was to debate and doubt. Existing critical voices become credible, the disheartened encouraged and defenders roused. A war of ideas then emerges, and while the battle rages certainty is dead and doubt reigns.

Public debate (by this I mean Sinhala language debate) on foreign policy over the last year is an excellent case in point. Dayan Jayatilleke’s arrival in Sri Lanka marked the start of the skirmish – his weekly television appearances, regular writing to the Sinhalese press criticizing the government’s foreign policy and formidable speaking schedule all played an important role in destabilized the conviction that Sri Lanka’s foreign policy was well handled. Over the last few months that skirmish has become a pitched battle with many commentators and political parties joining the fray. Regardless of their view of the government’s ends, faith in the government’s policy is shaken, debate is emerging and consensus and certainty are slowly slipping away. Silence on foreign policy management is now replaced with sustained criticism and the Sri Lankan people now know that all is not quiet on the Western Front (or the Southern for that matter). The UNP and JVP and even the nationalists are all questioning its efficacy. Newspaper editors are increasingly publishing critical voices and the government is forced to defend its record.

The same can be said of the economy: the JVP’s sustained and informed critique in the Sinhala sphere was almost as successful as Dayan’s in foreign policy. While a year ago the multiple Nagumas and the photos of infrastructure deluded that masses very few now believe that the government will win the ‘development war’ as it won the other war. Tales of corruption, evidence of economic mismanagement and widespread waste, combined with criticism from commentators and politicians has put paid to certainty.

The Next Idols

The Foreign Policy and Economy idols are dead. Now the National Security Idol must be extinguished.

Radio silence is imposed when ships want to sail discreetly, without others knowledge. Sri Lanka’s national security policy is a ship on radio silence. No one knows how big it is, where it going, why etc. The tax payer knows precious little about how the nation’s security is being protected, and how the defence forces plan to prevent the phoenix like rise of another violence conflict. Even in policy circles there is virtually no debate, discussion or even conversation on Sri Lanka’s national security objectives, its strategy and its operational methods. There is no Dayan challenging the Defence Idol.

We, the people, have no choice but to assume that the current strategies, tactics and operations are the best for us and our country. We have no choice but to assume that we need a 300,000 strong army. We have no choice but to assume that we need a totalitarian intelligence apparatus. We have no choice but to assume that we need military rule and colonisation in the North.

The people of Sri Lanka need debate and discussion on national security. Silence means we will have to believe that the methods that won the war will win the peace, we will have to believe that extraordinarily calling out the army every month protects the Sri Lankan people and not the government, and we will have to believe when we are tortured and executed without trial that it is for our own protection. This is the price of worshiping the National Security Idol.

Urgency of international investigation discussed at HRC event on Sri Lanka

19 March 2014

Picture: Tamil Guardian

A side-event at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva saw first-hand testimony from Dr Varatharajah Thurairajah, one of the doctors active in the No Fire Zone, in the last phase of the armed conflict.

The event, moderated by Julie de Rivero of Human Rights Watch, had Dr Varatharajah, the director of the No Fire Zone movie Callum Macrae, Edward Santow of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Charu Lata Hogg of Child Soldiers International.

Callum Macrae presented a short extract of the No Fire Zone movie, which included footage of Dr Varatharajah in the aftermath of attacks on hospitals in 2009.

Varatharajah detailed the incidents of government attacks on the hospital, which intensified once coordinates were passed to the government through the Red Cross. The doctor said that they were then scared to pass on GPS coordinates to the Red Cross as the shells landed very soon after the details were passed on.

He explained how the lack of medicine and blood bags caused many deaths, adding that the government deliberately understated the number of civilians in the conflict zone, in order to avoid sending adequate medical supplies, including anaesthetics.

Charu Lata Hogg said that it was very difficult to get accurate numbers of child casualties, but the 200 deaths between January and May 2009, as reported by the UN, were only the tip of the iceberg. She said children were forcibly recruited by the LTTE and the government-aligned Karuna faction. Hogg said there was documented evidence the Sri Lankan state aided and abetted child recruitment by Karuna and he should be held accountable for the crimes committed by his faction.

Edward Santow from the PIAC said that his organisation has been gathering some of most important evidence, collecting it and analysing it, to see whether there are reasons to suspect serious international crimes committed.

Santow said the alleged destruction of mass graves are important facts to consider and if the allegations are proven, a domestic inquiry cannot be an option, leaving an international accountability mechanism as the possibility.

Callum Macrae also said that an international investigation is crucial now, and that whatever mechanism is implemented, it cannot be a question of delaying justice for another year. He said that events are ongoing in the north now, like land grabs, sexual violence as a cultural weapon, and that there is sinister evidence of coercive contraception on Tamil women, while Sinhala families are being paid bonuses to have childred. Macrae said that there was a “dangerous and sinister project” ongoing and that the need for an international inquiry was not only a question of justice but an ongoing, urgent need.