Plight Of Civilians Living Under An Army Of Occupation [Alien Hostile Military]

By Kumarathasan Rasingam –SEPTEMBER 26, 2018

Kumarathasan Rasingam

Contrary to promises made in Geneva that in the name of peace and reconciliation the Sri Lanka government would dismantle High Security Zones, close army cantonments and return lands seized from the people, the Northern and the Eastern Provinces, considered the Tamil homeland, continue to be occupied zones even nine + years after the end of the war. 

There are 14 Divisions station in the Northern Province:-

Jaffna District: SFHQ-Jaffna- 51, 52 & 55 Divisions

Vavuniya District:- SFHQ-W – 56, 61, 21, 54 & 62 Divisions

Kilinochichi District: SFHQ – KLN – 57. 66 & 68 Divisons

Mullaitivu District:- SFHQ – MLT –  59, 64 & 68 Divisons.

The total population of the Northern Province is 1,058,762

14 Divisions of Army =  14 X 15,000 =  210,000

[Source from Wikipedia – List of Sri Lanka Army formation]

The ratio of Army to civilian = for every 5 civilian 01 military

Civilian to Army ratio = 05 : 01

Tamil civilians live under a militarized and securitized system in which surveillance and intimidation continue in everyday life.  The horrifying reality is that the military has no plans to leave but is there to stay, making the Tamils traditional and historical homeland a virtual military camp. 

The Tamils in the majority Sinhala military forces occupied areas in the North and East live in a Nazi style concentration camp.

Military camps thrive well in the resettled areas, causing fear and trauma for many people are still living in a war related post trauma. They have natural fear about the hostile alien military.

Despite numerous promises made to the United Nations and the International Community the Sri Lankan Government not reduced military presence in the North and East and it continues to occupy private property. The Government is unwilling or unable to overcome the political and administrative obstacles that stymie progress on the Reparation Office, Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Special Court to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity etc. 

Protests by the affected Tamils whose lands are occupied by the military are continuing their daily protest for well over 500 days demanding answers. 

The continued military presence in Tamils homeland is viewed as hampering the post-conflict ethnic reconciliation. [The military is entirely Buddhist Sinhalese and the people in the Northern Province are Hindu/Christian Tamils.

The North and East of Sri Lanka are not under the Sri Lankan Government but under the Sri Lankan [Sinhalese] military [99% Sinhalese]. It is a military state where the military can do what they want with no accountability.

The Armed Forces have gone into non-military commercial activities. They are engaged in large scale property development, construction projects and business ventures such as travel agencies, holiday resorts, restaurants and innumerable cafes in the North and East. 

Tamils suffer from a lack of economic and educational opportunities and economic underdevelopment in Tamil majority areas.
According to the International Crisis Group, “Tamil concerns have been constantly marginalized,” and ethnically biased state institutions and politicized court system provide ‘little or no redress for or legal protection against the range injustices faced by Tamils.” [International Crisis Group 2012.3]

The Sri Lankan Government is good at talking, they will go on talking and the UN, HNHRC and the International community and Tamils would be fooled again and again as in the past. 

Sri Lankan Government is determined to protect the security forces even if they are war criminals.

People for Equality and Relief [PEARL] have recently published a timely report based on field research that was conducted in January 2016. According to the report “Sri Lanka’s Military is still heavily involved in civilian affairs. Unsurprisingly sustained militarization continues have extensive negative effects on the Tamil community, this includes ongoing reports of sexual violence and fewer livelihood options for Tamils, among other problems. 

Waiting to return home is the continued plight of internally displaced people [IDPS] on post-war Sri Lanka.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights His ExcellencyZeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein told at the IDP Camp in Sri Lanka 2016 

‘YOU MUST BE TIRED WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE LIKE ME YEAR AFTER AND YOU TELL YOUR STORIES AND NOTHING SEEEMS TO HAPPEN’ 

Domestic mechanisms do not work in the context of war crimes. The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein in his report had said, “The sheer number of allegations, their gravity, recurrence and the similarities in their modus operandi as well as the consistent pattern of conduct points towards ‘system crimes’ and that it was the Sri Lankan state that was the perpetrator of the international crimes.”

It was for this reason that hybrid courts and tribunals, as in Cambodia, East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone, were suggested
[Source: The Straight Times – March 17, 2017

 If the Government was serious about addressing Tamil oppression, it would have ended the military occupation of the Tamil areas and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Instead, Government is seeking to get the 30/1 Resolution amended to wriggle out of inclusion of foreign judges failing which it will seek an extension of two years to do nothing in the hope the problem will disappear. 

It is to be noted that the President of Sri Lanka has vowed several times to protect the Security Forces even if they committed war crimes, crimes against humanity.President very recently at a meeting in Nivitigala, has again vowed to vindicate Security Forces at the United Nations General Assembly where he is scheduled to speak on September 24, 2018 [Daily News of Sept. 09, 2018], and even requesting UN to drop and abandon the allegations of war crimes etc. and grant a blanket  general amnesty for the Security Forces  so as to ensure their guaranteed  culture  and policy of impunity.

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Right to live in peace

Lionel Wijesiri-Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.

While the Second World War was raging on, various attempts were made for the establishment of an international peace organisation. The London Declaration (June 1941), The Atlantic Charter (August 1941), Moscow Declaration (October 1943), Teheran Conference (December 1943), Yalta Conference (February 1945), and finally, the San Francisco Conference.

San Francisco Conference on June 25, 1945, managed to form the United Nations Organisation and 51 nations got together and began to discuss on the UNO Charter. And, four months later, the UNO came into official existence.

By that time, two world wars had claimed nearly 100 million lives across the globe. All countries who came together to create the UNO system promised that the organisation was formed “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” By adopting these words as the lynchpin of the U.N. Charter, the member states imagined that long-term peace was possible.

But it was not so. Modern history shows us that their dreams didn’t come through. The adoption of the Charter and the U.N. system did not put an end to wars. Indeed, the resort to military force has become the default method of resolving international disputes.

Charter

Now, 73 years later, it is not too late to rekindle what the original drafters of the Charter dreamed. That requires instilling in the public imagination that national and international peace is possible. And every citizen, in which country he or she lives, has a basic human right to live in peace.

Internationally, peace requires that all countries refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, settle their disputes through continued negotiations, and create conditions necessary to eliminate the causes of conflict.

Nationally, peace requires moving beyond the rhetoric and to make concerted efforts toward achieving enduring peace among their various communities. The citizens and their representatives are expected to explore all the avenues that build, sustain and consolidate peaceful co-existence.

However, both internationally and nationally, right to peace has not been a reality. In the case international wars and disputes, one major reason was that UNO - the only international forum for peacekeeping has failed to live by its stated principles. It continued to serve largely as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy.

In the case of national disputes like civil wars, the major reason in most countries was the politicisation of ethnic and religious harmony. As a result, the leaders haven’t understood that societal conflicts are existential threats to a country’s national survival leading to horrific consequences of the loss of peace.

Discrimination

One year ago, in September 2017, UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo, Una McCauley said, “In Sri Lanka, the war is over. Yet many still face discrimination and hate. We still have the opportunity to work together for lasting peace. So much needs to be done to ensure that everyone can participate equally in shaping the way forward for the country. It also means that we must respect each other’s religion, race, culture, values and political beliefs. We need to accept and work with each other’s differences if we are to make any meaningful progress. As long as discrimination, intolerance and inequality are encouraged or ignored, then our efforts are in vain.”

She is right. In any country, the minorities, whether religious or linguistic, expect protection and understanding of the majority. The majority has an ethical responsibility to bring hope to them.

Genuine peace

Likewise, if the Government is keen to bring genuine ethnic peace to Sri Lanka, it must identify the roots of our racial problems and strive, with imagination and determination, to check conflicts in their early stages. Better still, prevent them. It must act in a timely, decisive and courageous manner, knowing that prevention engages the attention only when it fails. Peace and normality do not make the news. But a simple ethnic conflict will make headline news.

Peace, development and democracy form an interactive triangle. They are mutually reinforcing. Without democracy, there is no sustainable development or vice versa. However, without peace, there wouldn’t be democracy or development. We have experienced the theory ourselves during the civil war period.

It is not the peace of silence, of men and women who by choice or constraint remain silent. It is the peace of freedom – and therefore of just laws – of equality and solidarity, in which all citizens live together and share. That is the real peace.

Key goals

Winning genuine peace in a deeply divided society like Sri Lanka is daunting. It is because any peace-seeking effort has to deal with the forces attached to the conflict. To be successful, both parties should have willingness for accommodation and compromise.

Maybe, Tamil Tigers were militarily demolished but the aspirations they shared with the people still have a greater political influence. The political goal of Tamil nationalism may tilt between “political autonomy within a united Sri Lanka” to “federal solution based on the inalienable right to self-determination of the Tamil people.”

On the other hand, the key goal of the Sinhala nationalism is to consolidate unitary state structure. In between the Tamils and the Sinhalese are the Muslims who form their identity based on their faith. Muslim political elites would seek political accommodation that would not radically challenge the aspirations of the Sinhalese.

There is a belief among our political analysts that a good democratic system will liberate masses from the burden of ethnic and religious discrimination. But Sri Lankan experiences suggest that even in a democracy, due to highly complex electoral system and the politicians’ desire to win power at any cost, had helped increase religious and ethnic tensions and hostility among different groups.

Also, Sri Lanka’s experience suggests that the opening-up of political freedom has created destructive religious and ethnic forces that are able to manipulate sensitive emotions for political gain. This has paved the way for social instability in a number of instances.

Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war was not about ethnic, linguistic, and religious differences. The ethnic and religious antagonisms fuelled it, the political miscalculations precipitated it, and the mistrust created between the two communities by the politicians led it to a serious conflict which permeated in to ruthless war.

Sustainable peace

If the rubble of war is to be converted into a sustainable peace, a new constitution is needed that incorporates guarantees of equality, justice, dignity, and pluralism for all. We cannot avoid addressing the core aspirations of Tamil people. We need to think new forms of representation, if necessary, by modifying the composition of parliament.

Neelan Tiruchelvam, who was a leading Sri Lankan constitutional thinker and member of parliament said that one of the major problems with Sri Lanka since 1948, is the definition of the state. Sinhala majoritarian have always assumed a unitary entity. But something other than a unitary state matches the truly plural nature of the contemporary nation.

Jayadeva Uyangoda says, “What is needed, is a futuristic political vision of an ethnically heterogenous political association called the state.” That vision needs to be shared by Sinhala, Tamils, and Muslims, but, he cautions, sharing political power is the “most resisted” approach in Sri Lankan politics.

TNA leader R. Sampanthan puts it across more clearly: He says, “Our expectation for a solution to the ethnic problem is based on a political structure outside that of a unitary government, in a united Sri Lanka in which Tamil people have all the powers of government needed to live with self-respect and self-sufficiency. We believe that only within such a structure of government can the Tamil people truly enjoy the right to internal self-determination that is their inalienable right. We are prepared to offer our cooperation and service to those committed to the achievement of such a solution.”
Eventually a compromise has to come. But it would not be soft. Any solution acceptable to Tamil nationalists will almost certainly be unacceptable to Sinhala nationalists and vice versa. However, if Sri Lanka aspires to have a peaceful co-existence for a long-term economic and social development, both Sinhala and Tamil leaders must sit together and work out a solution. “Compromise” is the keyword for best solution and the resulting sustainable peace.

Response to Female Circumcision: An Islamic practice brings untold benefits to women Ban FGM in Sri Lanka

While FGM is widely recognised as a public health issue, it is most importantly a child rights issue and is in violation of a domestic and international law  

2018-09-26

Over the past few years, activists and researchers have been explicitly highlighting the existence of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Sri Lanka. 

Practised discreetly in small communities, reports show that it has affected women across a number of generations, primarily from the Bohra community, and in Moor and Malay communities, to a lesser extent. 

FGM is defined by the World Health Organisation as “All procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or another injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” 

FGM is widely recognized as a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights, affecting their right to health, physical integrity, and a life free of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 

That FGM is done to control a woman’s sexuality is well documented and echoes the narratives of Sri Lankan women we have spoken to between the ages of 25 and 60. ...

Following years of advocacy, women affected by FGM in Sri Lanka successfully lobbied the State to issue a circular earlier this year, prohibiting medical practitioners from carrying out this practice, thus ensuring at the very least that it is not state-sanctioned. 

I was deeply concerned to read the publication of an opinion piece titled Female Circumcision: An Islamic practice brings untold benefits to women in this paper on September, 18 in support of the practice of FGM for Muslim women and girls. 

The author, Asiff Hussein, disturbingly champions FGM for its apparent benefits such as “Facilitating genital hygiene and improving sex life.”

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• Asiff Hussein disturbingly champions FGM for its apparent benefits such as facilitating genital hygiene and improving sex life  
• Case studies from around the world have shown how deeply traumatic and scarring the process of FGM is on young girls

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The author fails to cite any medical or scientific research to support this conclusion, instead relying on presumptions that FGM will have the same ‘benefits’ as male circumcision. In respect to his harmful and ill-substantiated argument, I would refer Mr Hussein to extensive global studies of the practice as well as international normative standards which classify FGM as a harmful practice and a human rights violation. 

Case studies from around the world have shown how deeply traumatic and scarring the process of FGM is on young girls. Case studies from Sri Lanka submitted to the National Child Protection Authority, the Human Rights Commission and to representatives in parliament support this evidence. 

What Mr Hussein refers to as “a relatively minor and harmless procedure” is described by survivors of FGM as following: 

“I don’t have a memory of my mother in the room, maybe it’s something I’ve blocked out, or maybe she was upset at what was going to happen and didn’t stay in. I do remember though two or more people holding down my legs. I’m not sure if I was screaming or protesting, I don’t have a memory about this....but I do remember there being a pain, extreme pain, unbearable pain. Throughout all this my aunt was by my side all along, obviously comforting me. My next memory of the day was arriving home, I do remember there being discomfort between my legs.” -Sri Lankan Muslim woman aged approximately 50. 

“The first thing I remember after [the procedure] was a cloying and horrid smell of something, which I cannot forget to this day, of dried blood and some yellow colour ointment. And then the excruciating pain every time I wanted to pee. The smell, the clotting, and the pain being there for a week, and it seemed like there was nothing that could be done about it. As a child, I guess one does not ask why. And how I felt defiled at what they had done to me and that would I ever be ok again.” Sri Lankan Muslim woman aged approximately 40. 

“I refuse to call it circumcision since what was done to me was no mere “prick”, “nick” or ‘cut”. I did not realize the extent of the damage until I got married. My wedding night turned out to be an extremely painful experience, and the pain has not gone away. I was initially in denial since I could not remember the procedure, done when I turned seven by a qualified doctor at his clinic in Sri Lanka, as being traumatic in any way. But later I thought to connect the two and got myself examined by a gynaecologist. I was then told that part of my genitalia had been extracted and the exposed nerves had become super sensitive and thus painful to the touch.”

Sri Lankan Muslim woman aged approximately 40. 

(These and other testimonials have been previously published in Ceylon Today, December 12, 2017) 
An article published in Reuters (November 2017) delves further into the issues highlighted in the testimonials, while an article in Al Jazeera (November 2017) examines the implications and community power relations regarding the practice of FGM: 

“That FGM is done to control a woman’s sexuality is well documented and echoes the narratives of Sri Lankan women we have spoken to between the ages of 25 and 60. These women have bravely testified to the lasting harm and trauma caused by their childhood experiences of being cut, despite great fear about the social and personal consequences of doing so.

“Supporters of FGM have been loud and vehement. They are community gatekeepers who hold power and authority and are often male. Their insistence on the cultural practice is an attempt to trump the voices of women saying they have been hurt and don’t want it done to any other child.” 

I find it curious and disturbing that Mr Hussein cannot make a distinction between a child (a minor), and adult women. 

In fact, he refers to “Western women, especially American women” undergoing such procedures to “lead satisfactory sex lives” in order to justify the genital mutilation of Muslim girl children. 
Surely Mr Hussein is not unaware of the concept of informed consent?

He is advocating for harmful procedures on girl children that may have (unproven) potential sexual “benefits” for them as grown women. 

I, believing in the autonomy of women, am quite certain that adult women are capable of making a choice about increasing or decreasing their sexual pleasure at their leisure, and can do so through available medical services to which they can freely consent. 

Imposing this practice on a girl child who cannot consent to it, and furthermore sexualizing her body in such a way, is deeply disturbing. 

While FGM is widely recognised as a public health issue, it is most importantly a child rights issue and is in violation of a domestic and international law. 

He refers to “Western women, especially American women” undergoing such procedures to “lead satisfactory sex lives” in order to justify the genital mutilation of Muslim girl children.

For instance, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in Article 24(3) directs to “Take all effective and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial to the health of children.” Sri Lanka has been party to CRC since 1990. 

Sri Lanka’s Penal Code also considers causing “grievous hurt” a criminal offence. 

It is no stretch of the imagination to perceive the mutilation of the genitals of a child as anything other than grievous hurt, at the very least. 

I call upon the State to ensure the circular by the Ministry of Health is upheld and furthermore, to enact legislation specifically banning the practice of FGM in Sri Lanka, in keeping with demands made by Muslim women, child rights activists and women’s rights activists. 
-The author is a Muslim woman who has requested anonymity.

Game up for Sirisena, too, on war-crimes probe? 

N Sathiya Moorthy-September 24, 2018, 9:49 pm

As was only to be anticipated under the circumstances, President Maithiripala Sirisena has declared that he will be proposing amendments to the UNHRC resolution on war-crimes probe, which his government co-sponsored with the US and the rest, after predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa had resisted the efforts of the ‘international community’, until his electoral defeat in January 2015. It is, however, unclear if the West is going to be happy for what it may hear when Sirisena addresses the UN General Assembly on the opening day, 25 September, as it had cheered him at his maiden address as the nation’s President in the 2015 session.

As Sirisena told a recent meeting with the local newspaper editors in Colombo, he would come up with the proposals only at the UN. Whether he would spell out the details in his UNGA address or at his meetings with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UNHRC chief, Michelle Bachelet, former Chilean President, is unclear as yet. So is the there no clarity if the Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is wholly with the President on the proposals, or not.

Clarity and unanimity on the part of the Government and the Cabinet as a whole has acquired significance in the context of President Sirisena’s UNGA address in 2015. On the occasion, he committed the nation to a credible and independent war-crimes probe, as if without being asked by anyone out there. Once back home, he sang a different tune and opposed the Geneva process, where the nation’s commitments from the time have to be met by March 2019.

Clearly, neither the government, nor the President as the Head of Government and also as the Commander-in-Chief of the nation’s armed forces, is not going to seek a further extension of time, for meeting Sri Lanka’s 30/1 commitments at the UNHRC. If anything, it can be safely concluded that the UNHRC should revisit the resolution and possibly agree to an ‘internal mechanism’ for war-crimes probe within the Sri Lankan scheme and answerable only to the nation’s highest judiciary, and none else of the ‘Nuremberg trial’ kind.

Why the media...

For all this, however, President Sirisena may have chosen the wrong forum, for pulling up the nation’s police force in relation to pending court cases and investigations to what could tantamount to ‘war-crimes’ probe, even if not of the direct kind. The cold-blooded killing of Lasantha Wickremetunga in broad-day light on a busy road in a Colombo suburb, and the equally despicable disappearances of other journalists and commoners alike, deserves all condemnation and also identification of the culprits and their punishment.

While saying as much, Sirisena pulled up the police for not taking up any or many of these cases to their logical conclusion by filing charge-sheets and taking them up to the case of trial and conviction. In particular, he is reported to have referred to the recent controversy around the CID obtaining an arrest-warrant against Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, for helping a suspect-colleague escape from the long arm of the law.

The suspect was wanted in connection with the abduction and killing of 11 persons in 2009. As President Sirisena alone pointed out to media editors whom he met, the CID had not even customarily questioned the CDS when seeking and obtaining an arrest-warrant against him.

It is not only about the procedure that the CID and other wings of the police force did not follow in the matter. It is even more about the President discussing the matter with media editors. As Head of Government and the Cabinet, the Head of State and the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, he was/is well within his rights and duties to take up the matter within the officialdom and the ministry.

According to media reports, the President discussed the matter with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and other authorities before meeting with the editors. Yet, there is no knowing why he should rake up an avoidable and even more embarrassing controversy of the kind.

If one went by the precedents from the recent past, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his senior UNP ministerial colleagues may look the other way, when the President purportedly has his way. Or, was/ is it the other way round?

It is politics...

Going by President Sirisena’s methods in such matters involving Cabinet decisions and the like, he seems to be playing up to the political class and playing politics the same way. The controversy attending on his maiden UNGA address on the war-crimes probe was followed (up?) by his shifting posturing on the ‘Central Bank bonds scam’, the ‘Hambantota equity-swap’ with China and the ‘Avant-Garde floating armoury controversy, this one dating back to the predecessor Rajapaksa regime.

In a way, the nation was forced to witness a political game of oneupmanship between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, and their aides. If not as the senior of the two politicians, but at least as the Head of State and of the Government, Sirisena has had the last laugh, in every matter on which he had held back his opinion, possibly from the Cabinet and the officialdom, until he went to town with his views.

The question thus arises is whose cause Sirisena is presenting and/or seeking to protect? As much as that of the nation and the people, he was seemingly sub-serving his own self. In more sophisticated ways than what the Rajapaksas might have employed and equally suave and style, he was seeking to outsmart the genially cunning Ranil at the latter’s game.

This was not expected of the President, who owes his election and position, not to a party that he believes he is now heading, but to the UNP and other allies in the incumbent government and outside. Obviously, Team Sirisena, too, knows that the he can go thus far and no more, in terms of facing elections and winning them on his own steam.

If not the Sirisena camp, most definitely the UNP and the Rajapaksas’ SLPP-JO know as much. However abominable, it is one thing for a President or party leader with a proven mass-base to take decisions that at least would stand the test of political tides, if not public morals, constitutional scheme and judicial pronouncements. It is another for a constitutional-head-by-accident, invoking positions that he cannot hold politically and electorally, for long.

Last laugh...

This only takes the nation to the next phase of ‘Game Sirisena’, or so it seems. By siding with the UNP adversaries of the Rajapaksas, to deny each one of the serious presidential contenders from the family, the possibility of doing so, he has ensured that the JO needs him even more than his own SLFP and the UNP.

If anything, Sirisena knows more than anyone else that the UNP would want to have a President, Prime Minister and Parliament of their own, after the long gap, when they have lost out either or all of them, in turn, for two-plus decades now. His current game-plan possibly is to have the UNP push the Rajapaksas to the wall as much as possible, and try to capture the latter’s ‘traditional constituency’, which may now include the ‘war veteran families’ and their valuable votes, as also the ‘Sinhala-Buddhist nationalists’.

It is anybody’s guess if the Rajapaksas’ SLPP-JO would fall for ‘Game Sirisena’ and end up adopting/adapting him as their presidential candidate, whenever the polls are held within the mandatory deadline of early January 2020. With Sirisena seeking to cut into their vote-bank, they may at least be wary of deciding to ditch him just as he had done to the Rajapaksas in Elections-2015.

But then Diaspora Tamils’ TGTE is not the one not to look through ‘Game Sirisena’. If nothing else, they have come to suddenly remember that Sirisena, after all, was the ‘Acting Defence Minister’ during the last phase of the war, leading up to the death of LTTE boss, Velupillai Prabhakaran and others in the lagoons of Mullivaikkal. To whatever ‘war-crime’ charges that they had thus far levelled (only) against the Rajapaksas, the TGTE has since tagged on Sirisena’s name, too.

It is all because Sirisena has now told the nation that he was going to go the UN with amendments to the UNHRC resolution on ‘war-crimes probe’ and allied matter. If nothing else, both Sirisena and his UNP Prime Minister would be constrained to start off with the institution of a ‘credible and independent’ probe, even if ‘internal’, agreeable to the ‘international community’, translating to the US-led West.

Naturally, the incumbent government may want at least some of those identified with the Rajapaksas, if not any or all of the Rajapaksas, to be hauled up before such a probe, embarrassing the family, if not providing additional justification for denying them the presidential ticket. Likewise, the TGTE’s political foot soldiers from within the community, or the off-again-on-again ‘competitive Tamil nationalists’ of the poll-eve TNA kind, may want to haul up Sirisena too for his being the ‘Acting Defence Minister’ during the end-game of the war.

Who would have then had the last laugh? The TNGTE or the TNA, or what? It might not be Sirisena, after all, unless of course, he may have more of the 2015 Aces up his sleeve, without even the knowledge of Ranil W and the very same ‘international community’ that had backed Sirisena at the time, though on the crucial ‘China factor’ from the previous poll, the latter may have greater credibility on ‘la affaire Hambantota’ than even the former.

It is another matter that with the TNA divided on ‘war crimes probe’ more than devolution and the like, especially at the level of the Northern Provincial Council, the party leadership would find it difficult to tell the Tamil voters to what they should do the next time round, a ‘southern Sinhala’ seek their votes on the presidential poll. As is becoming evident on the ‘CDS issue’, where Wijegunaratne travelled to Mexico and back, pending the execution of court-ordered arrest, the TNA, more than ever, is under greater pressure in four-plus years of this government, to do, and not just talk – and talk only to the government leaders, and not their own constituency.

The loser in this case may well be UNP and PM Ranil, who may not resist internal ‘demands’ for him to contest the presidency, this time again, after losing the elections in 2005. To the extent, the Rajapaksas and the Sirisenas can relax, but not eternally, if either or both of them have their eyes still on the presidency!

(The writer is Director, Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, the multi-disciplinary Indian public-policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi. Email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com)

Keeping Promises – Fooling The UN Is A Lot Tougher Than Fooling Sri Lankans

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole –SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Commitment to the People

After the war and the massacres of civilians by the army, promises were made to the world, including to the Tamil people at the UNHRC. While some seem to think that Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP sealed the deal by themselves, diplomatic circles are very clear that President Maithripala Sirisena was fully briefed and agreed to cosponsoring Resolution 30/1 at UNHRC.

However, President Sirisena is, according reports, going to Geneva seeking to renegotiate Resolution 30/1. The expectation, says Jehan Perera, is that he will fail. The world will not brook heads of state playing games with them, promising one thing one day and asking to be excused the next.

Review of the Commitments

Three years after 30/1, it is good to recall what we promised and where things are. Succinctly

Para 1: Encourages implementing measures for truth-seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. (In contrast, the President keeps calling murdering soldiers national heroes and promises that they will never be charged. It is a promise of impunity to those who murder Tamils, inviting recurrence).

Para 2: Encourages exploring appropriate forms of international support for and participation in Sri Lankan processes seeking truth and justice. (What truth and justice when our leaders are in denial?)

Para 3: Strengthen processes of truth-seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence by engaging in broad national consultations drawing on international expertise, assistance and best practices. (There are no national consultations. There is paranoia about international expertise).

Para 4: Establish a commission for truth, justice, reconciliation and non-recurrence, an office of missing persons and an office for reparations. (The OMP has happened at long last, but the President made his mala fides clear by not appointing persons for long even after the law was passed, and not appointing some good nominees proposed by the CC).

Para 5: Recognize the need for a process of accountability and reconciliation for the violations and abuses committed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (Contrary to how we treat Sinhalese murderers, Tiger suspects against whom there is no evidence languish in prison).

Para 6: Establish a judicial mechanism with a special counsel to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and affirm that a credible justice process should include independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions, and the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the special counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investigators. (No action but a lot of hysteria).

Para 7: Implement the LLRC Report, as well as the recommendations of the report of the Office of the High Commissioner, including by allowing for the trial and punishment of those most responsible for the full range of crimes during the period covered by the LLRC. (The President promises to protect them).

Para 8: Also encourage the Government of Sri Lanka to introduce effective security sector reforms and ensure that no scope exists for retention in or recruitment into the security forces of anyone credibly implicated in serious crimes involving human rights violations  or violations of international humanitarian law. (Instead murderers are rewarded and are made our Ambassadors).

Para 9: Passage of an updated witness and victim protection law and  commitment to review the law, and strengthen specific accommodations to protect witnesses and victims, investigators, prosecutors and judges. (Some progress that is undone by obstructing and threatening those going to Geneva to give evidence).

Para 10: To accelerate the return of land to its rightful civilian owners, and to end  military involvement in civilian activities, the resumption of livelihoods and the restoration of normality to civilian life. (Settlements are increasing as shown below. The army has asked for powers to tackle gang violence in Jaffna for which there is evidence that the Police are behind the sword wielding Aava gangs whose activities in the first 20 days of September are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Gang Violence in Jaffna: 1 Sept. to 20 Sept. 2018

Date	Where	Description
6 Sept. 2018	Kaikulanj Chanthai	3 houses attacked. 3 injured by sword cut
8 Sept. 2018	Manipay	3 houses attacked. 2 motor bikes and ice cream van damaged. The van was burnt.
12 Sept. 2018	Puthukudiyiruppu	Two injured by sword. One attacker killed by householder
19 Sept. 2018	Kaithady	5 injured by knife cuts

Para 11: To investigate all alleged attacks by individuals and groups on journalists, human rights defenders, members of religious minority groups and other members of civil society, as well as places of worship, and to hold perpetrators of such attacks to account. (Government reluctance to punish Gnanasara Thero, giving him the comforts of hospital after he is convicted  and calls for his pardon show sympathy for his activities and that there are powerful forces supporting him).

Para 12: Welcomes the commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka to review the Public Security Ordinance Act and to review and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and to replace it with anti-terrorism legislation in accordance with contemporary international best practices.  (This has not happened and the PTA is the very instrument that  puts us Tamils in constant danger from the police and army).

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Further protest demanding release of Tamil political prisoners

24Sep 2018

Another protest took place today demanding that all Tamil political prisoners be released. 

The protest, which took the form of a symbolic hunger strike, in solidarity with the eight political prisoners at Anuradhapuram prison who have been protesting for their release, took place outside the Government Agent Office. 

Families and loved ones of the political prisoners took part in the protest and called for the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to be abolished. 

Related Articles: 

23 September 2018 : Protesters demand release of political prisoners

22 September 2018 : 4 Tamil political prisoners admitted to hospital after ongoing hunger strike

19 September 2018 : Military harassment continues says mother of Tamil political prisoner

19 September 2018 : Tamil political prisoner hospitalised whilst on hunger strike

Murder of soldier at Ambepussa army camp: Two soldiers arrested

2018-09-25 20:15:40

Two soldiers attached to the Ambepussa Regimental Headquarters of the Sinha Regiment was arrested this afternoon in connection with the incident where a 21-year-old soldier was found dead with stab injuries at one of the guard posts in the same camp last week, Police said.

They said the stolen T-56 rifle and the knife used for the killing were recovered by the police.

The victims were identified as 29 year-old A.P. Chanaka Wikumsinghe of Kotadeniyawa and 27 year-old N.V. Danushka Lakmal of Kanthale. (Darshana Sanjeewa)

Sirisena Wants All World Leaders To “Emulate” Nelson Mandela But He Himself Wants Another Term

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena, who used photographs of former South African leader Nelson Mandela in advertisements throughout his election campaign and promised a similar rule, yesterday called upon all world leaders to emulate Mandela.

However, Sirisena, over three and a half years into presidency, has earned severe criticism in his own country for backtracking on the election promises and moving away from the so-called ‘Mandela policies’.

“I wonder how many of the leaders have the qualities displayed by Nelson Mandela and I feel that it is for the leaders to emulate Mandela and enter the correct path (sic),” Sirisena said, Addressing the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit held on the sidelines of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.

“Mandela was a leader who showed how to use power for the benefit of the people and give up power without any greed,” sirisena added.

The Plenary Session of the Mandela Peace Summit will also adopt a Political Declaration covering policing guidelines for a gamut of areas including peace, democracy, rule of law and human rights.

Sirisena made this statement just a week after he ordered the Police not to arrest his highest military commander, Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, over his alleged involvement in the abductions and killings of 11 youth.

Sirisena also promised not to seek re-election upon the completion of his first team. However, he has now made it clear that he will run for presidency again in 2020.

Despite his promises to step down from presidency after five years, Sirisena also unsuccessfully sought the opinion of the Supreme Court whether he could continue in office one extra year, until 2021.

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Nelson Mandela, a remarkable leader- President

Rakshana Shriyantha in New York-Tuesday, September 25, 2018

President Maithripala Sirisena addressing the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit in New York yesterday. Picture by Sudath Silva

President Maithripala Sirisena while calling on world leaders to follow in the path of anti-apartheid revolutionary and statesman Nelson Mandela yesterday said that his life teaches the world many lessons about peace, reconciliation and above all humanity.

He added that world leaders should study the life and work of Mandela who demonstrated remarkable leadership qualities.The President was addressing the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit which was held on the sidelines of 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. “The world should be guided by his leadership qualities and follow in the path of this extra ordinary leader,” the President added. The President added that former South African leader Mandela set many examples on giving up or limiting of powers centric on him.

President Maithripala Sirisena thanked the United Nations for organising the Mandela Peace Summit, who devoted his entire life for peace and reconciliation.

The focus of the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit is on Global Peace in honour of the birth centenary of Nelson Mandela. This Peace Summit offered the opportunity for world leaders to renew their commitment to global peace, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace building, promotion and protection of human rights and long-term development initiatives .