South African delegation meets with Tamil diaspora organisations to discuss issues of settling the ethnic conflict

 25 May 2015
A South African delegation headed by the Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO)  Nomaindiya C Mfekto held an official consultation with Tamil diaspora organisations with regards to Tamil affairs in Sri Lanka and work towards bringing a sense of normalcy to the North-East of the island.

A series of separate discussions were held on Monday with representatives from Tamil diaspora organisations including the South African Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka (SGPJ), British Tamil Forum (BTF), United States Tamil Political Action Campaign (USTPAC), Global Tamil Forum (GTF), International Council of Eelam Tamils (ICET),  and Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE).

A source from the meeting said that the discussions were centered around producing a conducive environment in the North-East to foster a future process to end the ethnic conflict on the island.

The South African delegation consisted of the Deputy Director General for Asia & Middle East Dr Anil Sooklal, Special Advisor to Deputy President Ms Nokikhanya Jele, Deputy Director for South Asia Mr Tielman Furter and the South African High Commissioner to the UK Mr Obed Mlaba.

Speaking to the Tamil Guardian, the SGPJ General Secretary, Pregasen Padayachee said,

“We outlined the importance of bringing about a sense of normalcy to the North-East before an actual negotiation process is put place with the Sri Lankan government to solve the ethnic conflict.” 

See also: 

 South African delegation visits Sri Lanka (25 Feb 2015)

20A: Why The Indecent Haste ?

By Mass L. Usuf –May 25, 2015 

Mass L. Usuf

The infamous 18th Amendment to the Constitution drafted by the previous government within closed doors stigmatised the history of constitution making in our island Republic. Public discussion was outrageously disregarded and the amendment was put through as an urgent Bill under Article 122 of the Constitution. This Article now stands repealed by the 19th amendment.

Not as bad as that was the 19th amendment. If not up to the desired level, at least minimum public discussion did take place. However, the public literally was not privy to the 174 changes made to the amendment both by the government and the Opposition. One such change was regarding the Constitutional Council. A good illustration of horse trading, in the face saving act of ensuring the passage of the 19th amendment.

The 17th amendment historically was passed to whittle down the powers of the Executive President by the institution of the Constitutional Council. This Council was supposed to be an independent body. The antithesis to this was the 18th amendment. The draft 19th amendment, Article 41 A(1), had almost the same provisions of the 17th amendment relating to the composition of the Council. Three members of Parliament viz. The Prime Minister, Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition and seven outside of parliament. When the bill was passed on 28 April, hosanna! it became clear that the spirit of the Council had been hijacked by the Parliamentarians. Today, we have a Constitutional Council which is akin to a mini-parliament with seven of the ten members being members of the parliament.

As per the Constitution, the Council is supposed to reflect the pluralistic character of Sri Lankan society, including professional and social diversity. It is to comprise persons of eminence and integrity who have distinguished themselves in public or professional life.Read More

India keeps high stakes game in Sri Lanka at arm's length

The lack of dates for Parliamentary elections has meant that governance taken a back seat

Aditi Phadnis  |  New Delhi  

May 25, 2015 

With all the attention concentrated on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government's first anniversary, India is not paying much attention to events in its neighbourhood. But what is happening in Sri Lanka is utterly fascinating.
 
With the abolition of the executive presidency on April 29, 2015, the coalition government in Sri Lanka headed by President Maithripala Sirisena has managed to keep most of the governance reform promises it had made when it came to power in January 2015.
 
However, the government failed to meet one deadline: Parliamentary elections in April. Since the prime minister and the council of ministers that will take most governance and administrative decisions in the future will be elected from among Members of Parliament, the timing of a general election and who wins it is critical.
 
Contradictory interests in the coalition are preventing the announcement of dates for elections. When presidential elections were called two years ahead of schedule by previous president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena was a high-ranking member of the then ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He defected and became a common candidate of one section of the SLFP and the opposition United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickermasinghe. In a bizarre twist in politics, the Opposition was in government - and the government was in Opposition!
 
It was an unnatural alliance of interests propelled together for just one reason: the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa. In partial recognition of this fact, rather than announcing an ideological program, the SLFP-UNP alliance restricted themselves to a 100-day plan of reform which would end with abolition of the presidency, the government turning itself into a caretaker administration and the announcement of Parliamentary elections. This was much like the UPA in its first phase when they drew up a common minimum programme in 2004 to tie up with the Left - only to keep the BJP out.
 
In Sri Lanka, this entailed amendment of the constitution. After extended consultations the 225-member Parliament cleared the bill that reduced the terms of President and Parliament from six years to five years; re-introduced a two-term cap on individuals seeking to become President; diluted the power of the President to dissolve Parliament from the present one year to four and a half years; revived a Constitutional Council that would set up independent commissions to guard the autonomy of institutions like the police.
 
The dilution in the powers of the president makes the prime minister the effective head of government. The party that has a majority in Parliament can instal its prime minister in the new system of governance Sri Lanka has adopted. This has led to a clash between coalition partners SLFP and UNP on the scheduling of elections as each tries to evaluate the timing that gives it maximum advantage.
 
The additional problem is accommodating those elements in the SLFP that are loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa and are viewed with deep distrust by the Sirisena government. Last week four ministers loyal to Rajapaksa resigned from the government. It is too early to say whether this will create a crisis for Sirisena.
 
The election delay, though, has cast a shadow on other governance issues. Soon after coming to power, the Sirisena government had suspended China's largest investment in the South Asian country, a commercial and residential port project in the capital Colombo. The project was part of China's efforts to implement its "one belt, one road" strategy for increasing trade and influence in Southeast and Central Asian countries, as well as in Africa and Europe.
 
With the first phase costing around $1.5 billion, and the second estimated to at $13 bn, it was to be China's largest investment project in Sri Lanka and the biggest ever by a foreign company in the country. China is watching political developments in Sri Lanka closely to see if the project can be revived. Private sector companies in China that would have bid for contracts have put a decision to invest in Sri Lanka on hold.
 
Similarly, India has high stakes in the politics of Sri Lanka where it has to protect its political capital – the Tamils. However, in the current climate of confusion, India is staying aloof from even tacitly endorsing one or other political group it would like to see in power.
 
While there is no deadline for holding parliamentary election (the current Parliament’s term ends in 2016), the consensus is that while UNP would like an election as soon as possible, the SLFP would like to push it back so that it can stay in power. Residual loyalists of Mahinda Rajapaksa are anxious to expose the government through a parliamentary election.
 
Despite the charge that the Sirisena government is engaged in cronyism and corruption to make the most of the transition, there is little likelihood of parliamentary elections taking place before September, 2015. In the interim, the 20^th Constitutional amendment, putting in place electoral reform to usher in a new hybrid version of a prime minister-led presidential republic will have to be passed. With a small elite base and its preoccupation with constitutionalism, Sri Lanka is so obsessed with how it governs itself that what it delivers to those it governs is sometimes forgotten.

The price of perpetual debt

Tuesday, 26 May 2015

The Parliamentary brawl over the Bond scam was a revealing event. It exposed the fragile nature of the Maithripala presidency and the UNP administration.
The coercive deep State has been replaced by a duplicitous corporate State. The rich continue to steal from the poor. The educated morons, having established a precarious perch in power, are busy promising that with enough hard work, they can pay off their debt. The ‘Gamarala’ from Thamankaduwa is under siege by the Royal College ‘chumocracy’.

The Price of Perpetual Debt by Thavam Ratna

WikiLeaks: Bond Issue 2007; ‘UNP Will Not Be Able To Honour Repayment’ – Ranil Wrote To JP Morgan, Barclays & HSBC

May 25, 2015 

“The CEO of HSBC in Sri Lanka discounted the UNP threat as ‘silly… political tub-thumping.’ He said there was no way a future UNP government would voluntarily default, and was confident that international markets would be unconcerned by the UNP position. Other international bank and credit rating agency reps gave Econoff the same assessment.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from theWikiLeaks database. The unclassified cable discusesSri Lanka’s debut sovereign bond issue. The cable was written by the Ambassador Robert O. Blake on September 05, 2007.

The ambassador wrote; “The Government of Sri Lanka plans to issue the country’s first international sovereign bond, in hopes of raising $500 million to fund infrastructure projects. However, the main opposition United National Party has announced that a future UNP government would not honor the bonds, which it claims the country cannot afford. UNP reps told us that their effort to sink the bond issue is primarily political though — an effort to keep the government from being able to buy the continued loyalty of former UNP MPs who joined the government as ministers last January. While markets will likely correctly view the UNP threat as a political move that would never materialize, the timing of the pending bond issue appears to be as bad or worse as sixteen months ago, when the government shelved an earlier plan for a $1 billion sovereign bond issue. Sri Lanka has had little good news to reassure currently skittish international debt markets. Nevertheless, market watchers say that the relatively small bond issue will probably appeal to a sufficient number of international investors who remain interested in diversifying their holdings of high-yielding emerging market debt.

“The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, which will float the bond on behalf of the Government, has selected JP Morgan, Barclays Capital and HSBC as joint lead managers of the issue, from among twelve local and international banks that bid on the role. According to a senior Central Banker, the bank plans an October road show to financial centers like New York, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, and Hong Kong to publicize the planned bond issue.”

Read More

More information on putrid antecedence of Gagan the new air force commander to be comes to light

(Lanka-e-News- 25.May.2015, 10.30PM) Lanka e news recently under the heading ''To Air force commander to be who brought down two Kafir jets through collision, pushing out Maithri from helicopter is no big deal'' revealed the unsuitability of Air Vice marshal Gagan  Bulathsinghala for that post, while also warning that pushing out president Maithripala from the helicopter in flight is no big deal for such an individual.  After the exposure of Lanka e news , more copious information about Gagan’s inefficiency and unsuitability have come to light.

The most important piece of information is: against Gagan there is a fundamental rights(FR ) case currently  being  heard in the supreme court (SC). According to  the country’s laws , if a court has decided that a government officer is found guilty in an FR case, he is not eligible to any promotion for a period specified, and if there is an FR  case on going against him in court , he/she  is not eligible for promotion until the court verdict is given.

In the SC , an FR case No. 74/2015 has been filed on the ground  that sending Daminda Rambukwella , a Squadron Leader residing at Isuru Uyana,  Kotugoda on compulsory pension, his fundamental rights have been infringed. In that case , it is none other than Air Vice marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala is the second accused . This case was filed on 13 th March 2015.

In the circumstances , it is the considered opinion of legal luminaries that appointment of Gagan as the Air force commander is illegal , and if he is appointed in spite of it , that will be a grave violation of the laws of the country , and it will also  be tantamount to contempt of court.

Informed sources from within say ,  as the son of a high profile businessman who is a close friend of the president, and daughter of Gagan Bulathsinghala are about to be married , the businessman is secretly whispering to the president and inducing him to appoint his new ‘massina’ (in law) as the new air force commander,  Gagan’s utter inefficiency , deficiencies and putrid antecedence notwithstanding. 

---------------------------
by     (2015-05-25 18:09:11)

Once Tiger Den Jaffna Now a Hub of Crime?

By P K Balachandran

Published: 08th December 2014

COLOMBO:  The phenomenon of rising crime in Jaffna after the end of the war is worrying experts. A place known for its law-abiding citizens is today a happy hunting ground of criminals and law-breakers.

Sebastian Nehru, a Jaffna resident who had worked in the UK police said, “The crime rate is very high. Twenty to 30 bicycles are stolen every day in Jaffna town alone. Seventy per cent of the motorbikes here have no licence. The police, mostly non-Tamil, turn a blind eye, and the courts give bail because there aren’t enough prisons.” The high rate of unemployment is one cause, says Dr Muthukrishna Sarvananthan of the Point Pedro Institute of Development.

“The unemployment rate in Sri Lanka as a whole is 18 per cent, while in the Tamil-dominated North Province it is 31.2 per cent. There has been a 76 per cent increase in financial outlays on developmental projects in the Northern Province, but these investments have increased employment by 5 per cent only,” Sarvananthan noted.

Unemployment is partly due to youth not taking up blue collar work, said A R Jeyamanon, of the Board of Investment in Jaffna.

“Money sent by relatives abroad has spoilt the youth here. They only want white collar jobs. The result is, industries are not coming up here,” Jeyamanon said.

Thiyagarajah Nirosh, a social activist, attributed the malaise to lack of role models or ideals in the post-war scenario. “During the war, the liberation movement offered ideals and goals. After the war, there is a vacuum filled by unproductive or criminal activity. Creation of opportunities for higher education will keep the youth engaged,” he said.

Dr Daya Somasundaram, Jaffna University psychiatrist, said government and civil society should create opportunities for the youth and build up leaders, as these can motivate others.

Jaffna unrest had political dimension too

by Jehan Perera-May 25, 2015, 12:00 pm 

The mob violence that suddenly burst forth in Jaffna has given rise to multiple interpretations, both in Jaffna and elsewhere. Opposition politicians have claimed that the displaced Sinhalese who have been resettled in parts of Jaffna were being targeted. Others claimed that national security had been jeopardized by the demilitarization taking place in the North and the entrusting of security measures to the police. They saw in the unrest the footprint of the Tiger seeking to stage a comeback with support from parts of the Tamil Diaspora who continue to harbor separatist ambitions. In these analyses of the happenings in Jaffna there seemed to be a certain nostalgia for a return of the old days when the former government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled the North with an iron hand. But this was not the reality in the North nor the desire of the people there.

I travelled by train to Jaffna two days after the civil disturbances in Jaffna and hartals had shut down parts of the North. The day I reached Jaffna there was a court order that banned any public protests. The area close to the courts complex had been sealed off by the police. As a result television footage of that part of Jaffna would have given the impression that the city was empty and military control was high. There was a large contingent of military personnel on the streets. But they stood by, and made no attempt to interfere with the ordinary life of the people which continued in the rest of Jaffna. The general population seemed accustomed to their presence, which had become a part of the natural landscape during the previous decades.

My Muslim colleague and I went to lunch in a Muslim "hotel" or more accurately roadside eatery located on a side road. I asked my colleague to start a conversation with a diner at the next table whom I assumed was a Muslim and who would therefore be conversant in the Tamil language, and find out what he thought of the current situation. To our surprise the person who was addressed in Tamil replied in Sinhala and said he was Sinhalese. It turned out that he was a worker at a bakery in Jaffna. He said he was from Matara, but had come to Jaffna as the price of bakery products was higher in Jaffna than in Matara, so he could make a better living here. He sold bakery products by going house to house on a motor cycle which had been made into a delivery vehicle. He said he and his friends had faced business reprisals five years ago when they first started their business venture, but now it had all settled down. He did not feel threatened.

POLICE INACTION

The mob violence in Jaffna arose after the rape and murder of a teenage girl in one of the small islands off Jaffna. The initial public anger was directed against the police who had been slow to act on the complaint of the family members of the girl. Like in the rest of the country, there is a sense of frustration within the community that too often the police do not work as quickly and efficiently as they should. In this instance, the police reaction had been to not take the complaint seriously and to be jocular and say that the girl had probably gone on a rendezvous with a boy. The family and larger community felt that if the police had acted earlier the girl’s life might have been saved. In fact it was the brother of the girl who had found her body after he had searched the area that she usually walked on her way to school.

There has been a longstanding complaint emanating from the people of Jaffna that when robberies of their homes, and rapes of their women take place, the police are inactive. While they do not accuse the police as being the culprits, they sometimes doubt whether the police is in connivance with the wrongdoers and being paid off by them, as the reasons for their inactivity. The deficiencies in the police are more aggravating to the people of the North as most of the police officers in Jaffna, and indeed the North, are Sinhalese from far away, and not Tamils from the same community. In more democratic countries like those in Europe where participatory democracy is valued, the local police are usually drawn from the community themselves and not from far away.

The civil society members I spoke to in Jaffna said that it had been civil society groups, such as the Teachers Unions and university students that had organized the shutdown of normal life for a day of protest against the failure of the law enforcement agencies to be more effective in protecting the people. However, they do not believe that these groups planned anything violent, such as the throwing of stones that damaged the courts complex and nearby commercial establishments. During the public protests a section of the crowd had turned violent and resorted to stone throwing which led to police firing tear gas and a general commotion. The civil society members I spoke to were convinced that there was a political hand behind those who acted violently, and they had their theories.

POLITICAL MOTIVES

With the President announcing that a new government will be in place by September and the indications that general elections are fast approaching, all political parties and potential candidates are busy mobilizing their forces or planning to do so. One of the interpretations in Jaffna regarding the identity of those who threw stones and behaved in a rowdy manner unbecoming of a civil society is that that they were politically organized groups with a political agenda. The allegation is that there is a section of the polity that wishes to create a general impression that the North continues to be unstable and volatile even six years after the end of the war, and therefore needs a strong hand and a powerful military machine to control it. After the events in Jaffna there were politicians with a nationalist orientation who said that the events in Jaffna demonstrate that the country needs a political leadership that will not betray the country or its armed forces whose grip over the North should not be relaxed.

Those who continue to speak and adduce arguments for a strong government and military presence in the North are challenging the most fundamental achievement of the new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena. This is the restoration of civil administration to the North and East, symbolized by the removal of the two governors of those provinces who were from military backgrounds, and replacing them with governors with purely civilian backgrounds. As a result the pervasive sense of fear and insecurity that underlay social and political life in the North of the country has been lifted. This is acknowledged and appreciated by the civil society in the North. Indeed, this fear has been lifted throughout the country, due to the restoration of the rule of law, and the banishing of the culture of white vans that took people away with impunity.

In the not so distant past, the former government dealt with civil unrest and mob action with extreme violence whether in the North or South. This was seen both in the free trade zone protest by garment factory workers and in Rathpaswella when villagers protested against the contamination of their drinking water by industrial waste. On both occasions the military was used to violently break up the protests with loss of life. However, on this occasion, the government succeeded in quelling the Jaffna unrest without resorting to violence. The government showed that it would not brook lawlessness and took about 130 persons into custody. The civil society members I met in Jaffna felt that many of those arrested were not engaging in violence and were there to protest peacefully, and hope that the courts will release them soon. They also appreciated the fact that there had been no overreaction on the part of the security forces that could have set a vicious cycle in motion.

Schools Need Change: Teach & Practice Humanity

By Mithula Guganeshan –May 24, 2015 

Mithula Guganeshan

Schools need to play a major role in developing and creating better humans than merely producing students. We need to question the norm of “Getting excellent results Vs. Being an Excellent human being”. There needs to be a balance in terms of both gaining knowledge and being an excellent human being are equally important. As adults, we should help and direct the children, the future generation towards developing themselves as humans with humanity. If Mathematics, Science, and History are important as a subject, why don’t we emphasize the importance to include subjects on teaching and practicing empathy, kindness, compassion, values of life, helping each other, saving yourself and others from harm (physical/sexual abuse). What makes these topics any less important than Physics and History?

We spend enormous amount of our significant budding years at school just learning theories and histories, and not giving much or any importance to practicing humanity and appreciating the simple gifts of life. Humans should learn about the importance of manhood practicing humanity and living life with compassion from an early age and this must be made as a compulsory subject at schools.

Quite a number of issues prevailing in the world today could only be happening due to lack of empathy and compassion. Rapes, high usage of drugs, alcoholism, elders abandoned, racism, gender disparity, physical and emotional abuses are portraying lack of humanity. There are many organization and groups who are fighting against all these, with the hope to end this. But while we deal with these issues with adults, we need to set the right path for the youngsters, the future generation.Read More

Tamil man injured after Sri Lankan police open fire in Jaffna

Photograph Tamil Guardian

24 May 2015
A man has been injured in Jaffna district on Sunday after police opened fire at crowds after locals intervened when police officers assaulted a pregnant woman who was trying to prevent her brother from being detained over a dispute between two families.

Around fifteen police officers arrived in the Uduthurai region looking to arrest a young man in relation to the dispute which had taken place the day before. When the officers realised the accused man was not at home however, they tried to detain his brother, forcing him into the police vehicle.

The man's pregnant sister intervened, trying to the stop the officers from taking her brother away, however the officers assaulted her.

Local residents who had gathered to observe what was taking place were outraged and condemned the police's actions against a pregnant woman.

As tensions rose between the locals and the police officers, the policemen opened fire towards the crowd, injuring the father of the man they had come to arrest.

According to locals, the police officers fled from the scene upon seeing that one man had been injured. 

The man, 56 year old Velan Sivapathasundaram, was admitted to Maruthangkeni hospital with injuries. He has since been transferred to Jaffna teaching hospital.

Tensions are high in the Uduthurai region however, as locals remain angered by the Sri Lankan police's actions.

According to the Sri Lankan police's media unit, the police officers were attacked by an axe when they opened fire.

Jaffna violence: ‘external elements’ could be involved

May 25, 2015

Those wanting to portray the govt. in poor light could be behind it, says TNA MP Sumanthiran.

There is a lurking suspicion over the role of “external elements” in the large-scale violence that Jaffna witnessed last week.

The trigger was a recent incident of rape and murder of an 18-year-old schoolgirl in Pungudutivu, west of Jaffna. When the girl’s body was found on May 14, the initial reaction was one of shock and sadness.

“On Tuesday, some individuals asked certain shops and establishments to close down without any notice. It was like a scene in Tamil feature films,” says Mr. Ravichandran, a member of the Tamil Civil Society Forum in Jaffna.

Mob violence

The next day, the town observed a general strike. But, it was on that day, when the police brought arrested persons to the court complex that a section of the mob, numbering around 400, threw stones at the court buildings and in the process, vehicles were damaged. Not only this, some agitators wanted the police to hand over the suspected persons to them.

“This kind of response was something that was shocking to us. Jaffna is not known for this,” says Mr. Ravichandran, adding that traditionally, people would hold placards, demanding speedy action and justice.

Going by the violent response, he says that one gets suspicion that this may be engineered by the “external elements.” He refuses to elaborate the term “external elements.”

However, this opinion is shared by others too.

M. A. Sumanthiran, Member of Parliament representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), feels that those who wanted to portray the Northern Provincial Council, TNA and the Central government in poor light were behind the episode.

CID in Jaffna for full probe on protests

Detectives focus on causes and possible involvement of anti-national groups

Sunday, May 24, 2015

A 15-strong group of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives arrived in Jaffna last night to conduct an urgent probe into a string of incidents that culminated in Wednesday’s attack on the Magistrate’s Court. The probe will centre on the causes that led to the incidents and whether any ‘anti national’ groups were attempting to destabilise the peninsula. One of the first tasks of the detectives yesterday was to obtain from Police the identities of persons who took part in the attacks. This was after Jaffna Magistrate P. Sivakumar issued an order for those in possession of video footage to hand them over to the Police.

The origins of the incidents, Police believe, were the abduction, rape and brutal murder of 18-year-old schoolgirl Sivaloganathan Vidya from Pungukudutivu, an outlying island off the Jaffna peninsula. Demonstrations and an attack had come on the grounds that the mobs were protesting against this incident.

One of those at the centre of the events was V.T. Thamilmaran, an academic teaching law and human rights at the Colombo University. He was to be a prospective candidate for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) at the upcoming parliamentary elections. He told the Sunday Times: “I contacted DIG Northern Province Lalith Jayasinghe, a student of mine, and requested immediate action to arrest the criminals.” He said he had also faxed details to the Attorney General.On Monday, Mr. Thamilmaran said he met the Senior DIG, the SSP Jaffna and other officers. He had told them of his intention of visiting his village of Pungudutivu to arrange for a Police-Public dialogue. They had welcomed the idea. He had gone to make arrangements and was accompanied by two Police officers in plain clothes. The main suspect, Swiss Kumar, and his family were taken to the Jaffna Police Station by the officers. I then learnt that the main suspect had left the police station and had been arrested by the Wellawatte Police. I was able to confirm this through a telephone call, he said.

Mr. Thamilmaran said that at the Public-Police discussion, “I asked the Senior DIG who was seated next to me at the head table how it could happen. He tried to explain it in Sinhala to the audience but by that time they have become restless and started to shout slogans. He said that if there is no direct complaint and evidence against a person he cannot be arrested or held in custody. I translated it into Tamil for those who surrounded us at the time. When the meeting was brought to an abrupt end, the crowd shouted that I cannot leave the place until the suspect is brought back to Pungudutivu. They alleged that I have assisted him to escape to Colombo.” Several Police officers have since been transferred.

CID detectives also want to determine whether political rivals of Mr. Thamilmaran triggered the incident using this episode as a cover.
Senior DIG Lalith Jayasinghe told the Sunday Times all state institutions in the Jaffna town area have come under security cover. This was whilst special teams of the Police Special Task Force (STF) were deployed to maintain law and order. They went aroud with loud hailers asking shop owners to remain open and warned people not to assemble in groups.

Demonstrations outside city limits Circumventing a ban imposed by the Jaffna magistrate on demonstrations within the Jaffna city limits, three groups staged in protests in an outlying area yesterday. The three groups are the Manipay-based People’s Power Organisation led by Murugan Kumaravel, the Women’s Revolutionary group led by Aanandi Sasitharan and the Kokuvil-based Organisation for Women’s Liberation Thoughts.

மாணவி கொலையின் பின்னால் உள்நோக்கம் கொண்ட மூலசக்தி; நாடாளுமன்றில் சரவணபவன் எம்.பி 

25 மே 2015, திங்கள்

புங்குடுதீவு மாணவியின் கொலை ஒரு பாலியல் வேட்கை அடிப்படையில் மட்டும் நடந்த கொலை என்றோ தனி மனித விரோதங்கள் காரணமாக மட்டும்  நடந்த கொலை என்றோ நம்பி விடமுடியாது. 

 

இந்தக் கொலையின் பின்னால் ஒரு பெரும் உள்நோக்கம் கொண்ட மூலசக்தி இருந்துள்ளது என்றே கருதவேண்டியுள்ளது எனத் தெரிவித்தார் தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பு நாடாளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் ஈ.சரவணபவன்.

 

கடந்த 21ஆம் திகதி நாடாளுமன்றில் ஆற்றிய உரையின்போதே அவர் இவ்வாறு கூறினார்.

 

அங்கு அவர் மேலும் தெரிவித்ததாவது:

இன்று நான் இந்தச் சபையில் மிகவும் மனம் நொந்தநிலையிலும் ஆத்மார்ந்த கோபத்துடனும் உரையாற்றவேண்டிய நிலையில் உள்ளேன்.

 

புங்குடுதீவிலுள்ள பள்ளி மாணவி ஒருவர் சில மிருகத்தனமான நபர்களால் கடத் தப்பட்டுப் பாலியல் வல்லுறவுக்கு உட்படுத்தப்பட்டுப் படுபயங்கரமான முறையில்  கொலை செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளதை நீங்கள் அறிவீர்கள்.

 

முழு மனித குலமுமே வெட்கித் தலைகுனிய வேண்டிய இழிச்செயல் இது என்பதில்  நீங்கள் அனைவரும் என்னுடன் உடன் படுவீர்கள் என நம்புகிறேன்.

 

கடந்த காலங்களில் வடக்கில் சிறுமியர், மாணவிகள் உட்படப் பெண்களுக்குப் பாலியல்  பாதுகாப்போ, உயிர்ப் பாதுகாப்போ இல்லாத ஒரு நிலை நிலவியது. அப்படியான சில குற்றங்களில் இதுவரை எவரும் கைது செய்யப்படவில்லை. 

 

இன்னும் சிலவற்றில் சிலர் கைது செய்யப்பட்டாலும் ஒரு சில நாள்களில் பிணையில்  விடப்பட்டுச் சுதந்திரமாக நடமாடும் நிலை இருந்தது. ஆனால்  ஆட்சி மாற்றத்தின் பின்பு  இப்படியான கொடுமைகளிலிருந்து தமிழ்ப் பெண்களுக்கு விடிவு கிடைக்கும் என நாம் நம்பினோம். 

 

எமது நம்பிக்கையைச் சிதறடிக்கும் வகையிலும் அந்த இருண்ட யுகம் இன்றும் கலையவில்லை என்ற தோற்றப்பாட்டை ஏற்படுத்தும்  வகையிலும் இந்த மனிதகுல விரோத நடவடிக்கை இடம் பெற்றுள்ளது.

 

காரைநகரில்  சிறுமி ஒருத்தி கடற்படைச் சிப்பாய் ஒருவரால் ஏமாற்றிப் பாலியல் வன்புணர்வுக்கு உட்படுத்தப்பட்டமை, பாலியல் தொந்தரவு காரணமாகத் தீவுப் பகுதியில்  ஒரு மருத்துவ மாது தற்கொலை செய்தமை, நெடுங்கேணியில் பள்ளிச் சிறுமி ஒருத்தி படையினன் ஒருவனால் பாலியல் வன்புணர்வுக்குட்படுத்தப்பட்டமை, கனகராயன் குளத்தில் ஒரு மாணவியின் கொலை என அடுக்கடுக்காக நடந்த பாலியல் கொலைகள் தொடர்பான சம்பவங்களுடன் தொடர்புடைய சந்தேகநபர்கள் எவரும் இதுவரை தண்டிக்கப்படவில்லை. 

 

இது சம்பந்தமாக எடுக்கப்பட்ட ஆக்கபூர்வமான நடவடிக்கைகள் எதுவும்  இடம்பெற்றதாகத் தெரியவில்லை.

 

எனவேதான் புங்குடுதீவு மாணவி வித்தியாவின் படுகொலை தொடர்பாக நியாயபூர்வமான நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட வேண்டும் எனக் கோரி வடபகுதியே கொதித்தெழுந்தது. இது ஒரு பாலியல் வேட்கை அடிப்படையில் மட்டும் நடந்த கொலை என்றோ தனி மனித விரோதங்கள் காரணமாக மட்டும்  நடந்த கொலை என்றோ நம்பி விடமுடியாது. 

 

இந்தக் கொலையின் பின்னால் ஒரு பெரும் உள்நோக்கம் கொண்ட மூலசக்தி இருந்துள்ளது என்றே கருதவேண்டியுள்ளது.

 

சந்தேக நபர் ஒரு கொள்ளைச் சம்பவத்தில் ஈடுபட்டவர் எனவும், மாணவியின் தாயார்  அவருக்கெதிராகச் சாட்சி சொல்லியதாலேயே பழிவாங்கும் முகமாக மாணவி கொல்லப்பட்டார் எனத் தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. 

 

இக் கொலையில் சம்பந்தப்பட்டதாகக் கொழும்பிலிருந்து வந்த நால்வரும் கைது செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளனர். சுவிஸ் நாட்டிலிருந்து திரும்பி வந்த ஒரு வரும் இதில்  சம்பந்தப்பட்டவர் எனவும் அவர் சம்பவத்தைப் படமெடுத்தார் எனவும் கூறப்படுகிறது.

 

இதில் சம்பந்தப்பட்டவர் கொள்ளையில் ஈடுபட்டவர் என்றால் இவரின் கொள்ளைக் கோஷ்டி மற்ற நபர்கள் யார்? அவர்கள் வேறு எங்கு கொள்ளைகளில் ஈடுபட்டனர்.

 

அவர்கள் ஒரு தனியான கொள்ளைக் கோஷ்டியா அல்லது அவர்களை இயக்கும் பின்னணிச் சக்தி உண்டா? என்ற கேள்விகள் எழுகின்றன. இவர்கள் இந்தக் கொலையைத் தாங்களே செய்தார்களா அல்லது கூலிக்குச் செய்தார்களா என்பதும் அறியப்படவேண்டும்.

 

எனவே இந்தச் சம்பவம் தொடர்பாக ஆழமாக,துல்லியமாக எந்த ஒரு சக்தியினதும் அழுத்தங்களுக்கு உட்படாத வகையில் புலனாய்வு செய்யப்பட வேண்டும். கடந்த காலத்தில் இப்படியான சம்பவங்கள் தொடர்பாக எடுக்கப்பட்ட திருப்தியற்ற நடவடிக்கைகள் போல இப்போதும் இருந்துவிடக் கூடாது.

 

அவ்வகையிலேயே குற்றவாளிகள் தண்டிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் எனக் கோரி வடபகுதி முழுவதும் போராட்டங்கள் எழுச்சி பெற்றன. மாணவர்கள், ஆசிரியர்கள்,பல்கலைக்கழகச் சமூகம், வணக்கத்தலங்கள், பொதுநிறுவனங்கள் என வடபகுதியில் முழு மக்களுமே நீதி கோரி வீதியில் இறங்கினர். மக்கள் நீதியைக் கோரி ஜனநாயக வழியிலேயே தங்கள் போராட்டங்களை நடத்தினர். 

 

அதை யாரும் தடுக்கவும் முடியாது. தவறு எனக் கண்டிக்கவும் முடியாது. ஏனெனில்  அது அவர்களின் மறுக்க முடியாத உரிமை. மக்களின் போராட்டங்கள் நியாயமானவை என்பதால் அவற்றுள் சில வி­மிகளால் திட்டமிட்ட முறையில் வன்முறை புகுத்தப்படுவதை ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளமுடியாது. 

 

இவர்கள் உண்மையான குற்றவாளிகள் கண்டுபிடிக்கப் படுவதையும் எவ்வித அழுத்தங்களுக்கும் உட்படாமல் விசாரணைகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படுவதைக் குழப்பவுமே இவ் வன்முறைகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படுகின்றன என நான் திடமாக நம்புகிறேன்.

 

கடந்த செவ்வாயன்று ஒரு கோஷ்டியினர் யாழ்.நகரெங்கும் திரிந்து கடைகளையும், அரச காரியாலயங்களையும் பூட்டும்படி மிரட்டியமையை நாம் இங்கு சாதாரண விடயமாகப் பார்க்க முடியாது.

 

மக்கள் இயல்பாக எழுச்சி பெற்ற நிலையில் சில வி­மிகள் மேற்கொள்ளும் இப்படியான மிரட்டல்கள் வன்முறைக்கு இடப்பட்ட அத்திவாரமாகவே நான் கருது கிறேன் என்றார்.    

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