Two Years On: No War but No Peace for Women still facing the Consequences of the War – CMTPC

 

Women in the north and the east of Sri Lanka have undergone severe hardships during the war, including the loss of loved ones, family’s support structures, livelihoods, houses and also a loss of life and dignity. While there have been numerous changes announced by the Government the situation for women on ground, however, has continued to be challenging. It is sad since the end of the brutal war women’s lives have not seen a dramatic transformation over the last two years and they have continued to face the basic challenges of safety, shelter and basic facilities. It in this light that we wish to put forward a few issues that these women have been facing within the broader context of life in the north and east for the communities living there.   We have chosen to highlight these issues because of their gravity, the State’s involvement in the same and the inability of women to seek justice in such cases owing to the lack of an effective civilian administration, security threats and the lack of a concrete remedy within the local legal system.  While we write of the issues relating to women, they raise broader concerns impacting the families and communities. The incidents and the report cover only the Northern and Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

 

Resettlement – Even though there has been publicity about resettlement, the manner and the speed in which it has been done harmed the women.  Muslims returning to Jaffna have a long drawn process and have to spend about Rs.1500 to government officers to register themselves. They also need to cover their travel and food costs to and from Jaffna. They forgo the cost of food rations, have no shelter in this intermediate stage and are forced to shuttle between Puttalam and Jaffna. Granting of land permits has also been stopped. In other areas people have been able to go back to their villages but their house has been occupied by the army. There are fears that some areas will be barred for access either due to national security or development reasons.

 

The government has been taking over land that people earlier inhabited and in some cases owned title deeds either to set up military camps or for developmental projects. In the North and the East several public and private lands have been taken over by the military to set up camps or check points.[1] The people from Sampur still await return but the Government claims it needs their land for military and development purposes, including a coal power station built by an Indian Company.

 

The Sri Lankan government needs to provide a systematic and speedy resettlement process for the people in the North and ensure that the aid promised by donors and the government are in fact distributed to those who are being resettled. Equal treatment in the process of distribution across the sexes has to be assured by the responsible government officials.

 

The government’s new rule stopping the grant of land permits need to be re-looked at as this new policy ensures that families with no land are left destitute and with no possibility of resettlement or aid, particularly of housing. The GoSL however has been continuing its land grant under the Mahaweli scheme in the Central Province. Likewise, either it must treat the Northern citizens the same by providing them permits in the North or ensure that they can apply for land in the Central Province.[2]

 

Missing Persons, Detainees and Political Prisoners – A critical issue faced by a number of  families in the north, particularly women in the north and the east, is that of the missing – of husbands, sons, daughters and other family members. The Government has failed to provide these families any system of recourse to help them trace their family members. While currently much of the focus is about what happened in the last months of the war, the victims from the last two decades are waiting for some help to know what has happened to their loved ones. Also a number of the detainees who were subsequently released have undergone torture during the period of detention.[3] There is also a systemic harassment of women who have been detained and subsequently released in the new resettlement areas. They are constantly monitored and cannot lead normal lives. But more importantly there is a culture of harassment that comes with this form of monitoring. For women there are additional issues. When female ex- cadres and women arrested ‘under suspicion’ under the emergency law, which has been extended again this month[4], and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, report to military camps, which they are constantly asked to do, certain military personal make sexual advances and the women have been threatened for non-compliance. Increased military presence and the constant surveillance of these women released are at great risk within the community and also with the military. A few women are still in detention even though they have been sent for rehabilitation and their said period of rehabilitation has been completed.[5]

 

There are several cases[6] where women have been arrested and detained for long periods of time without a charge sheet and released subsequent to the filing of a Fundamental Rights petition. These women have faced torture and inhuman treatment in the prison on mere suspicion. The GoSL of Sri Lanka must ensure that arrests and detention are not used by the State to control people and harass them but are done in the proper manner where the detainees safety is assured at all times. It should be a system through which wrong doers are apprehended. Hiring legal counsel is expensive in Sri Lanka and many women do not have the finances or the knowledge that they have a right to legal aid. Therefore many women languish in prison. Therefore the GoSL must take steps to release those who have no charge sheet against them with immediate effect.

 

The case of Thirumakal Maxmillan[7] and Vasanthy Ragupathy:[8] they were arrested under suspicion of aiding in illegal activity. They have been in prison for the last 10 years, away from their young children and suffering mental trauma and illness. These women when arrested with their husbands were tortured and made to confess to crimes that they were not aware of. The GoSL should ensure that the case which has been dragging over a decade is tried and a verdict issued  so that these women can return to their young children who are currently in the care of relatives/orphanages

 

Violence against women and Rape by Military and Security Personnel – The civil administrative system has been replaced by the military system in the North in the ‘post war’ context. This started with the management of interim camps such as Menik farm in the last days of the brutal war that ended in May 2009. Militarization of the everyday lives of people in the north has caused significant problems to women’s security, such as increased insecurity and even rape. In many areas there are no police posts and people need to seek the assistance and permission of the military for their daily needs. This places women in a vulnerable position.

 

In the Vishvamadu rape case for example, four military men raped one returnee women and sexually abused another on 06th June 2010.[9] The raped victim and other two women were with their children in the resettlement areas clearing their plot of land and the military men who visited the site in the day, realizing that the women were without male companions and went back to the site on the same night and assaulted the women and children and went on to sexually abuse and rape the women. On 14th June the victims identified the four military men. On 19th November 2010 four accused military men were released on bail and one of the accused has been absconding the last two hearings.  To date the case has faced several postponements and there is a complete disregard by the State to ensure speedy justice.

 

On December 16, 2005 Ms. Vijekanthan Tharsini was raped and murdered in Punguduthivu. It is alleged that the crime was committed by the Sri Lankan Navy since a cap used by the forces was found near her dead body. A number too was found in the cap. No reference was made by anyone regarding this cap and no attention was given regarding this matter. Investigations were carried out. Subsequently it was found that  it belonged to an army personnel serving in Kayts who later served in Batticaloa. The case is still pending in the courts.

 

On March 19, 2001 two Tamil women, Mrs. Sivamani Sinnathamby and Mrs. Vijikala Nanadakumar, were arrested in Mannar by naval officers and taken into custody. While in custody both were raped and tortured by police officers.[10] At the time of the incident the case was very sensitive and drew the attention of the international community. The case was transferred to Anuradhapura where the women were humiliated during court proceedings and faced great threats as they had initiated legal proceedings. Both victims and their family members underwent continuous harassment at the hands of the military and repeatedly received death threats.  In 2008 the case was stopped on a stay order by the Court of Appeal. There are several such cases where women who were raped, tortured and even murdered by security personnel are unable to come forward, for if they do, they might have to face violence, being abducted and even killed.

 

Women lost their husbands and young male family members, as a result of forced recruitment by the LTTE or of  targeted arrests and detention of male members of the ethnic Tamil population by the government etc.  Therefore, many women have found themselves without any male ‘protection and support’ and outside their conventional and cultural concepts of family. Single women have been facing harassment, the threat of rape and also rape in many instances.  Rape given social taboo is a difficult issue for women to raise and rape by State actors more so given the risk not only to the women’s lives but also to their family members. Therefore even when women are raped they do not file a case against the perpetrators.

 

Under Sri Lankan law while rape is an offence against the State the victim per se receives no remedy. In many other jurisdictions women are provided compensation, especially in cases where State actors are perpetrators. However in Sri Lanka apart from rape being an offence which is very difficult to prove, once proven the accused is sentenced and the women is said to be served justice.

 

The Sri Lankan government needs to provide speedy justice for the victims of rape by the military and other State actors and provide compensation for the victims.  The Sri Lankan government must make a commitment to prosecute military personal and not hinder court proceedings as it has done in several cases. It must also put in place a local system of compensation for victims of rape, especially in the cases where where State actors have been perpetrators. Justice delayed is justice denied.

 

Cases of detention and rape from the North are constantly transferred to the Anuradhapura Courts where the language of the Court is Sinhala. This ensures that the victim is left in the dark about court proceedings and places the victims and family members of those detained in a new environment. Victims are also forced to travel for hearings which is a cost most times women cannot bear.

 

While the fighting may have stopped today, in the post war situation, women continue to face violence. In the last six months there have been 28 reported cases of death mostly among young women in Jaffna alone and many of these deaths are either murder or suicides as per Jaffna hospital officers. It is difficult to claim that these have been carried out by agents of the State or political groups, and the perpetrators could be members of the family or community. What is clear is that there continues to be a climate of insecurity and perpetrators are confident of being able to carry out such acts, while the victims are forced to submit to a culture of fear, shame and secrecy.

 

Trafficking – Since the end of the war there are increased reports of women and girls being trafficked. Recently a statement was made by the head of the National Child protection authority[11] warning parents of the North to be vigilant and protect their girl children as many were found as victims of trafficking.  There have been several cases where disabled women have also been trafficked. Given the current military presence and surveillance, it is indeed a matter of concern how traffickers are able to bypass several check points and take young girls and women across to other parts of the country.

 

In one incident a member from a political armed organisation was found to be taking young disabled women across to Colombo promising them work in the film industry. However no action has been taken as it would incur the wrath of this member of the political group. The police have also been inactive in this matter owing to this political influence.[12] The Sri Lankan government needs to take steps to apprehend the military and political personnel involved in this trafficking cartel and ensure women and girl children from the North and East have mobility free of harassment and abduction.

 

Presidential Task Force Rules – The civilian administration and local elected bodies continue to be circumvented by the central government that has established a Presidential Task Force that decides policy and provides approval for all projects in the North. No organization in the North or the east has been granted permission for psycho social intervention.  This denial of a basic health care service for people who have undergone severe trauma and faced violence as a result of the war is deplorable, unjust. The government has set up mental health units at the government hospitals. However, these are neither safe nor gender sensitive spaces for women to talk regarding the war, violence faced during the war, rape, detention or the disappearance of their loved ones. This denial is a denial of healing and mental wellbeing of a whole ethnic community that faced immense violence. The same need to be addressed immediately. Even the LLRC did not allow women to grieve and it was noticed by several witnesses[13] that there was impatience and a lack of sympathy from the commissioners themselves who berated the women for crying and moved on to other cases if the woman was unable to recompose herself. They also suggested that a few women should speak on behalf of the multitudes of women who had gathered there to report the abductions of their loves ones – sons, husbands, brothers and other loved ones.

 

The Sri Lankan government has reiterated its commitment to peace and reconciliation time after time in the last two years. However, the actions of the government fail to convince us of this commitment.  The Sri Lankan government must ensure that it addresses the continuing suffering of all communities, especially those from areas that faced the brunt of the war. It needs to restore civil administration in the North, hand over administration from the military to civil bodies and prosecute State actors who have engaged in gross human rights violations, and take steps to find solutions for the problems faced by women.

 

[1] Mullikulam in Mannar and Sampoor in Trincomalee are well known examples of the same.
[2] Currently only Sinhala people have been provided land under the Mahaweli scheme in the recent past. No Tamil or Muslim villagers are informed of the same through the State as it is done for the Sinhalese.
[3]  Interview with a woman in Jaffna who was arrested and detained, 2009-2010. interview with women in Mannar.
[4] http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11A/Jul05_1309878253CH.php
[5] Interview with Mother of detainee, Killinochchi.
[6] As per data gathered by a legal aid organization.
[7] Dehiwala Railway Station bomb blast case HC/9429/99
[8] Town Hall bomb blast HC/891/02
[9] http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=9652
[10] MC/20265/01 — HCV/REV/131 — HCA/53/2006
[11] http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2011/06/110625_sexual_abuse.shtml
[12] Information gathered from two sources working in the North who were faced with this issue and do not wished to be named.
[13] Witness account at the LLRC hearing.

 

 

Sunanda Deshapriya : Vikalpa

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Federalism on the table in Sri Lanka while federalists gone to hiding =w3Lanka=

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Ravaya ==HOT TOPIC== Tiran kumara bangagamaarachchi

By Wasantha Chandrapala and Navaratna Samarathunga – The residents of several villages in Inginiyagala staged a protest compelling the authorities to hold an impartial inquiry against the individuals responsible for the mysterious killing of a young man who was allegedly taken into custody by Inginiyagala police.

They burnt tyres and obstructed the traffic on Damana-Padagoda Road.

A resident of Mahawala in Inginiyagala police area Saman Tilakasiri (39) was allegedly taken into custody by police on Sunday night and his body was recovered from a canal last morning.

The relatives of the deceased and the residents who suspected a foul play made representations to the Ampara Additional District Judge Chaminda Sampath Hewawasam who held a preliminary inquiry at the scene.

A resident of the area L.V. Chandrasena told the magistrate that Saman and Chandana were asleep in his house when three police officers came on motorcycles and arrested Saman.

He said: “Police told us that they wanted to record a statement from Saman in connection with a complaint. When we were talking to the police officers, they received a call from the Police Station. The officer who answered the call asked weather they should bring Saman right now or tell him to come to the police station on the following day.

Later they wanted Saman to come with them. After they left we went to the police station. On our way we saw their motorcycles halted near the bund.

However, the police officers did not reply when we made inquiries about Saman. The following morning we heard that his body was floating in the canal,” he said. Thousands of people from several villages flocked to the scene when the body was recovered from the canal.

They said the death was a foul play for which Inginiyagala police was responsible. They pointed out Saman Tilakasiri was a social worker of the area and he was under death threats from police.

His wife accused the police for the killing.

However, the Magistrate told the people to appear in court on next Friday and make statements in this regard.

He advised them to take up the issue with the SP Ampara Premalal Ranagala. A police team of Ampara Police is conducting formal inquiries on the instructions of SP Ampara.

© Daily Mirror

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Prageeth Ekneligoda Letter to Ruwandi : Befor he Missing

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Letter to missing Journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda : Ruwandi Neranjala

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Feature article: The JVP’s campaign among the Tamils, 1977-1982

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Gamini Viyangoda :Hors d`oeuvre (Sinhala Artical)

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What are the future perspectives for the Tamils? the Tamils?

The following talk was delivered by Nadarajah-Suseenthiran Straube at the conference, ‘Sri Lanka After The Victory: What Is The State Of Freedom, Democracy, Peace And Minority Rights?’ organised by the Protestant Academy, Bad Boll, in cooperation with the Association for Conflict Prevention, Democracy and Minority Rights (Gesellschaft für Konfliktprävention, Demokratie und Minderheitenrechte), the International Network of Sri Lankan Diaspora, and the Sri Lanka Association, Stuttgart, held from October 2 – 4, in Bad Boll, Germany.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka, robbed of all hope for the future, find themselves lost and staring into something much worse and threatening than emptiness. A chain of events has shown them that, throughout post-independence history, they have been disappointed, failed, betrayed.  Unfortunately, the reaction to the present state of affairs has been emotional (rather than rational), and bereft of a long-term strategy. Through the establishment of a unitary state in 1948, the subsequent formulation of a succession of discriminatory constitutions (1972, 1978), with the help of majoritarianism, mob violence, and the force of the police and army, Sinhalese-Buddhist hegemony has been established in the island.

Tamil reaction to subordination and exclusion took several forms. The first was to cooperate with the government and, in that way, try to influence its policy and actions, and bring about some degree of development in the north and east. When that brought no results, Tamils tried non-violent resistance within the parliamentary system. That too having failed, Tamil youth, in despair and desperation, chose the path of armed resistance. The resulting fear, suffering and sense of hopelessness made thousands of Tamils to flee the land of their birth. Now, with the final defeat of the armed struggle, around 250, 000 civilians have been placed in concentration camps.

These people in the camps are simple folk who, in economic and educational terms, lived in undeveloped districts, namely, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya, making a minimum living through hard work. These people did not demand a separate state. These people are not responsible for starting the armed struggle.  The Tigers came into their region and set up their stronghold, first in Kilinochchi, then in Mallavi, and finally in Puthukudiyiruppu (all within the Wanni region).

Lives disrupted

The lives of the people were disrupted, and they were subjected to the fiat of the LTTE. They were exploited and forced to pay “tax” in various forms. A pass system was introduced in 1990 to control their exit. The restrictions imposed by the government on trade resulted in a dire lack of food and proper medical attention, felt by these people on a daily basis. They remained in the region not out of choice, not out of political loyalty, but because they were, in effect, imprisoned. On the one hand, they experienced and endured aerial bombardment; on the other hand, they helplessly saw their sons and daughters recruited into the ranks of the LTTE, and being used as cannon fodder.  It is a cruel irony that it is these people – innocent, blameless and long-suffering –  who are now being held prisoner by a state that (cynical and grotesque as it may be) claims to have come as liberators. The victims are being further victimised.

They whose misery has now deepened, had hoped and believed that, with the end of the war, their suffering would end; that they would have free movement again: after all, there must be LTTE supporters in Jaffna, and yet there is freedom of movement there. Free movement is a more immediate and greater priority for them than so-called “development”. Their hopes have been bitterly betrayed, and those Tamils who clung on to some degree of belief in the government’s good faith are now disillusioned and have to face stark realities. Let me quote from the UTHR(J)  report:

End of war

“The end of war, rather than marking a return to normality or better yet an opportunity to improve inter-ethnic relations and justice in Sri Lanka appears to have been only another political milestone for chauvinist and authoritarian elements in power. They treated the war as an excuse to return to an ideological agenda that sought the debilitation of minorities; presenting them as permanent enemies, purposefully uprooting them from lands that had been their home for centuries and tolerating their existence only under the jackboot of the State.”  UTHR(J): University Teachers for Human  Rights (Jaffna) SRI LANKA, Special Report No:33.

To express it bluntly (albeit also sadly), the present government is lying, busily finding excuses and fabricating falsehood. For example, the state lies when it says that it continues to detain these people because of the presence of landmines. There are no landmines, for this area was never no-man’s-land but was inhabited and cultivated by the people now imprisoned. As the army advanced, the Tigers herded them to other areas. Even if there had been landmines, they would have been cleared by the army in order to facilitate its own progress. Again, the government claims there are about ten thousand Tigers among those detained. However, it is well known that the Tigers have melted away, several having bought their freedom. In a repetitive feature of history, those left behind are the innocent and the poor.

As already stated, what is paramount to these unfortunates is not “development” but freedom of movement. The government, on one pretext or another, is unwilling to release them because they are living testimony to the war crimes committed by the state. This is the reason for the continued imprisonment of so many thousands of children, women and men in primitive conditions. The rainy season has begun, bringing with it greater discomfort, disease and, inevitably, death – particularly to children. It is not surprising that journalists and foreign agencies are excluded from visiting these sites of extreme misery, sorrow and humiliation.

Plight of Tamils

I now move to the plight of Tamils elsewhere on the island. Though the so-called war on terror is over, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is still in force, and used to harass and humiliate Tamils; to intimidate not only Tamils but also the rest of the population. The journalist Tissainayagam was charged under the PTA, so that the draconian sentence of 20 years hard labour could be handed down. Though the LTTE has been defeated, their entire leadership wiped out, the fear of the Tigers is deliberately kept alive in Sinhalese minds so that they condone the unjust and cruel acts of the government. The island is artificially, needlessly, kept in a permanent “state of emergency.”

Within the Tamil diaspora there are about 100,000 in India, most of them further scattered in 117 refugee-camps in Tamil Nadu state. Until recently, very little was said about the miserable conditions in these camps. Elsewhere, in Western countries, there are about 400,000 Tamils. Those of the Tiger movement have advanced the idea of a trans-national Tamil Eelam but this seems to me to be unrealistic.

Perhaps, it is an effort to keep alive the sense of oneness and commitment that existed right up to 18 May 2009.  While I discount this idea, I find it also ironic. It is based on the Vaddukoddai resolution (1976), but several of those responsible for formulating this resolution, including the leader, A. Amirthalingam, were murdered by the LTTE! The mandate (1977) of the people was given to the TULF, and not to the LTTE. Further, I would ask for whom are we going to attain a political solution? Is it for minorities in Sri Lanka or for Tamil minorities in the Western countries?

Diaspora

Previously, the diaspora was able to call out thousands in public demonstration and protest, but such a galvanised togetherness is now hard to create, sustain and use. That the diaspora has not succeeded in gaining the freedom of those trapped and imprisoned in the Wanni shows its debilitated, disoriented and scattered condition.

While the war was raging, some members of the diaspora loudly proclaimed and protested the genocide that was taking place, but they did not demand with equal vehemence that the imprisoned population be set free.  Perhaps, their thinking was that the presence of civilians would inhibit the Sinhalese state from waging “total war.” (If so, they miscalculated the nature of the government which, racist and cruel, was willing, even eager, to murder and maim thousands and thousands of innocent, helpless, Tamils in order to get at Tigers.) Whatever the reasoning and motivation, by keeping silent then, the diaspora has lost heavily in ethical, humane, terms.

Initially, the government took the promising step of setting up an all-party, representative conference, charged with the task of suggesting a blueprint for the equitable and harmonious development of the island.

However, there has been no progress, and the realisation grows that it is yet another plan of the government to deceive the people, particularly the minorities, and indefinitely delay addressing fundamental issues. The present government has lost the opportunity to prove its willingness to share power, at least with the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. Observing the present situation, I must frankly confess that I cannot see any glimpse of better prospects for minorities in Sri Lanka.

Unless the present constitution is changed, there will be no real peace, but the government neither has the will nor, indeed, the wish to make changes. Even if it did, the government cannot because its power-base is the chauvinist element among the Sinhalese. The only hope is that like-minded minorities and Sinhalese will work together to change the mind-set of the Sinhalese; allay irrational fears, remove suspicion and hatred, show that the Tamils ever since independence have been unjustly treated, and that, for the sake of the entire island and all its people, a different course must be set. We must learn from the past, objectively examine the present, and so fashion a more just and harmonious future.

— Nadarajah-Suseenthiran Straube

(nsusee@hotmail.com)

Crossing Fires – A Place called home

A Place called home –
Almost all of Sri Lanka’s displaced people left or were forced to leave their homes at times of heightened activity between Sri Lankan military and LTTE troops. In addition to assaults against each other’s infra structure and personnel, combatants on both sides also engaged in deliberate, large-scale massacres of civilians.

Among those who experienced the heaviest toll in a bloody cycle of attacks and counterattacks were the residents of four villages in the Polonnaruwa District, in north-central Sri Lanka. In October 1992, over 300 people, most of them Muslim civilians, were shot and hacked to death at dawn, by attackers whom witnesses identified as LTTE cadre.

Palliyagodelle was one of the villages where 84 families lost their men. 23 widows eventually moved to a neighboring village – Sungawila.

Source : YaTV.net

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Sunanda Deshapriya : Vikalpa_16

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Views from Jaffna: Pre-election public opinion poll, July 2009

Published on 30 July 2009 in category: Poll and Survey

Related Thematic Areas: Survey Research July 30, 2009:

Social Indicator (SI), the survey research unit of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), in collaboration with Home for Human Rights (HHR) conducted an opinion poll amongst the people living in the Jaffna municipal area to assess their views in relation to the upcoming Municipal Council election. This poll did not intend to forecast the election results but rather to assess the views of the residents in terms of their optimism or pessimism about their future, political interest and participation, and how they view the upcoming election. This poll was conducted amongst 880 randomly selected eligible voters in all 23 Wards in the Jaffna municipal council. A total of 36 field researchers –men and women- participated in the field data collection using a structured questionnaire. The field work of the poll was conducted from 22nd to 24th July 2009. Even though sample was distributed uniformly across all the wards, data was weighted before the analysis to reflect the actual population proportion at the ward level. The results of this poll is subject to + or – 3.3% error margin.

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Bumuthurunu Blog Letter 24/7/2009

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Lasantha Wickrematunge: The man who changed Sri Lankan journalism

Hello Friends

It is six months since the fearless editor of “The Sunday Leader” was brutally assassinated in broad daylight.Lasantha Manilal Wickrematunge was murdered in cold blood at Ratmalana by a killer squad of eight riding four motor cycles. He was driving alone to work on that fateful January 8th.

Six months have passed and the Police are yet to progress in their so called investigation into the killing. The only “suspect” netted by them is the man who misappropriated Lasantha’s cellular phone.

Lassie Boy as I called him was one of the bravest journalists I ever knew. It was he who single-handedly changed the nature of Journalism in Sri Lanka. Lassie belonged to that dwindling tribe of scribes who believed in speaking truth to power.

His death or the way in which he was killed has brought about a great void in Sri Lankan journalism. Yet “the Sunday Leader” follows the path chartered by Lassie “unbowed and unafraid”.

The staff remains loyal to his principles and memory and continues amid very difficult circumstances. Lasantha’s brother Lal is now the managing Editor while Frederica Jansz (another gutty journalist) has taken over as Editor.

In a bid to pay homage to his memory six months after his death I am posting on this blog an insightful, moving tribute to Lasantha Wickrematunge by Rohan Pethiyagoda.

Here is the tribute to Lassie Boy – DBSJ

I can be reached on dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com

The man who changed Sri Lankan journalism

by Rohan Pethiyagoda

Lasantha Wickrematunge often referred to the well-known warning of German pastor Martin Nimoeller-who fell victim to Nazi forces-on the consequences of inaction and passivity in the face of fascist terror.

The tragic irony behind Lasantha Wickrematunge’s foul murder is that unlike Nimoeller, he from the very beginning spoke out for one and all who were victims of the forces of fascism and all forms of terrorism. In the 1980s, some Sinhalese (JVPers) were being hunted by pro-government vigilantes, he wrote about them and earned the ire of an all-powerful personality at that time who promised him to be ‘garlanded with a necklace of burning tyres.’

He had to flee the country at that time but came back soon. He consistently stood up for ethnic and religious minorities who were victims of the war on terrorism. That was a cardinal sin in the eyes of many. He exposed bribery and corruption, nepotism, racketeering, gangsterism in all its forms, bureaucratic lethargy and corruption under which the public suffered and even judicial misdemeanours.

For one such reason or more he was cruelly gunned down on the Attidiya highway, less than a kilometre from his beloved newspaper offices of The Leader. That was the supreme sacrifice he made for independent journalism, for freedom of expression and above all the right of the people to know and say about events going on in society.

Many are those who disagreed with his views, some with great emotion. Even in his last week on Earth he and his organisation were roundly abused. But he was a man who could give what he took. That is the essence of a good journalist. He had the courage of conviction to stand by and sponsor unpopular causes, even though it would have been detrimental to the interests of The Leader publications and also in the face of dire threats to his life and limb.

Some people understood this principle of democratic journalism. Karu Jayasuriya expressed this view on the day of Wickrematunge’s demise: ‘He was severely critical of me on many occasions and so was I of him. But he was a good and brave journalist,’ Jayasuriya said. But such democratic politicians are hard to find.

The manner in which he was disposed of from life and the political scene leaves no doubt some forces wanted him permanently out of the political picture. Lasantha Wickrematunge created a new variety of Sri Lankan journalism. This was investigative journalism of a variety that left no stone unturned. This was not the kind of mild bottom pinching the so-called sophisticated journalism that some English language newspapers indulged in. It was straight, hard punching from the shoulder in the Sunday and Wednesday publications.

The bold, hard headlines in black and white-at times spread across two opposite pages-told the whole story. Not for him those coloured boxes with techni-coloured headlines that said little or nothing. In the 15 years of publication of The Leader he brought a new dimension to Sri Lankan journalism. Wickrematunge in effect became a one-man opposition to government. He warned the public of the possibility of an impending dictatorship and the need of an unfettered media to prevent such moves.

His death leaves a big void hard to fill. It is all the more regrettable because it comes at a time when other newspapers and electronic media which earlier had been impartial and independent in their news coverage have commenced singing from the same hymn sheet as the state media. The panegyrics published today about the ‘great men now in power’ and those of their favoured dead will leave a sensitive reader or viewer nauseated.

Wickrematunge, quite often was able to show that our modern day emperors often had no clothes, while having feet of clay. That is all the more important to generations growing up to be stimulated into independent thinking about their leaders, people and the country.

With English effectively removed from the school curriculum about 40 years ago, children have been fed on a diet of state propaganda all the while. The effect of Wickrematunge’s daring journalism was to make people and the children think for themselves and not be zombies praising the powers that be at any given moment.

Our education system has been mentally crippled to such an extent the children’s process of thinking has suffered. Those of earlier generations blessed to be taught in the English medium were told of thoughts of great thinkers and philosophers like Rene Descartes like: ‘Cogito ergo sum’-I think therefore I am.

Are today’s children taught that if they cease to think, they will cease to exist as individuals? Are they taught that if two people agree on everything, then only one person is doing the thinking? Lasantha Wickrematunge did not preach philosophy in his newspapers. But he did try to convey to the people that what was being drilled into their minds by state radio, TV and the pro-government press had quite a lot of hogwash that could be fatal to the nation in the long run.

He exposed ’saviours of the nation’ as pious frauds; newly arrived messiahs in various fields as absolute fakes; exposed bribery and corruption at all levels; and the duping of the poor by conmen.

Wickrematunge’s assassination came just 48 hours after the attack on the MTV central transmitting station by another gang of unidentified goons. At the time of writing these comments there have been no reports of any of the offenders being questioned or arrested. The world awaits to see the outcome of investigations into the dastardly, cold blooded killing. Killing and bashing journalists have become a popular sport in Sri Lanka. We have lost count of the many incidents of journalists that have been subjected to and even killed in the north in recent times.

The journalist world has been shocked and aghast at the killing of Sivaram, the internationally known Tamil journalist, the abduction and brutal attack on Keith Noyahr, Deputy Editor of The Nation and now the outrageous killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Earlier attempts were made once again by an unidentified gang to set ablaze the press of Leader Publications.

Are the Sri Lanka Police and other security establishments impotent in tracing down the perpetrators of these crimes? Can a respectable democratic government under any circumstance plead to impotence to bring these criminals to justice? What confidence will any independent journalist have in investigating any offence or crime if there is a likelihood of armed goons shadowing them?

Expressions of sadness, claims of friendship and other excuses such as attempts by anti government forces to divert attention from the military victories of the government will not even convince the faithful of the Rajapakse government. Both Wickrematunge and MTV came under virulent attack by government propaganda organs from their coverage and comments on the military offensives in the north, although no unfavourable references were made, at least by Wickrematunge or his publication, on such offensives.

Government leaders and propagandists have the right to make such criticism even though they were wrong in their assumptions but the virulence of the attacks and the attributed motives place these accusations in another dimension. No responsible democratic government can get away with assurances of intensive investigations and justice being done in the future with no tangible results forthcoming.

The many instances of journalists being bashed and the failure to bring criminals to book make the government spokespersons jokers.

Lasantha Wickrematunge in death has also placed a challenge on his journalist colleagues. What action will they take not only to see that justice will be done but that the same tragedy will not happen to one of them? Stirring resolutions calling upon the government to take action and fiery rhetoric in public places such as roundabouts are not enough. The people will want to avenge Lasantha Wickrematunge-a man who went through hell and high water to safeguard the freedom of expression of the Sri Lankan people.

pictures by: Indi.ca

Sri Lanka: Is the war really over?

The end of the conventional war in the north and the east of Sri Lanka witnessed the almost total annihilation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) including its leadership. However, the Government forces are still carrying out clearing up operations throughout the island. Tens of thousands have been slaughtered; many thousands wounded; hundreds of thousands expelled from their habitats and many hundreds of thousands interned into camps. The deaths of the militants have been celebrated by the overwhelming majority of the Sinhalese and some of the Tamils and Muslims. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is allegedly engaged in destroying any incriminating evidence of its culpability in war crimes. The fate of three doctors, who were earlier praised by the UN for their heroic services to the wounded during the war, serves as an example.

History
The LTTE commenced as a guerilla force and over time developed its own conventional fighting capability by having a ground force, a navy and a rudimentary air force. It had a strong local and diasporic base and a vast fund raising network. The LTTE targeted attacks on civilian, political, security individuals, religious symbols and civilian groups, particularly in the south. Its initial aim was to fight against the Sinhala discrimination and the government security forces. In the process it began to kill members of other Tamil groups and repress its own Tamil community. The LTTE was ruthless in removing diversity of opinion within the Tamil community by armed force, not by political means. Thus many leaders of the Tamil bourgeois parties[1] and left parties and groups[2] were eliminated. The ruthless repression of any political opposition to it alienated many working people in the areas under the LTTE control.

I believe that the LTTE’s defeat was brought about by its military strategy and tactics based on terror and over reliance on conventional force, its violent attempt to become the sole representative of the Tamil people; misreading of the international balance of forces and a lack of progressive economic or political policies. It simply believed that imposition of a separate Tamil state was the only response to the discriminatory policies of the successive governments against Tamils. It substituted ethnic struggle for class struggle. As a nationalist movement it could have survived by either compromising with the capitalist class or resorting to mass struggle, but it did not do either. The political support of the Sinhala workers and the other oppressed people for the nationalist struggle of the Tamil people gradually diminished. The methods of the LTTE enormously helped the Sinhala ruling elites to whip up anti-Tamil chauvinism to protect the privileges and interests of the ruling elites.

War Preparations and the LTTE
When the security forces of the GoSL went to war in 2006, they were well-trained and enjoyed superiority in firepower and mobility. They built up their force levels on land, in the air and at sea en masse to ensure success against the LTTE. Evidently, the LTTE failed to read this turnaround taking place in the capabilities of the Security Forces and adapt its military line of action accordingly. Instead, it stuck to a conventional warfare mode that was doomed to fail although it inflicted many casualties on the advancing government troops.

When the LTTE floundered in the Eastern Province in 2006, offering only limited stiff resistance, the regime made up its mind to go all the way against the LTTE.

Is the war over?
Elimination of the top leadership of the LTTE with many of their cadres assassinated or dead may not represent the total end of the LTTE. The post-Pirapaharan era of the LTTE may represent a departure from the strategy and tactics of terror previously adopted by the LTTE.

The GoSL and the LTTE have declared that the war is over. Does this mean that the GoSL will devolve political power to the North and the East? Those who lean towards the left and Tamil groups within the GoSL believe it will devolve power at least to the extent granted by the 13th amendment to the Constitution^[3]. Those who lean towards the right within the GoSL believe it will not devolve power at all. Those who are outside the government are similarly divided. Given the sorry history of devolution in the country it is hard to believe that the optimists will succeed. The extreme nationalist forces within the GoSL have already commenced their campaign against any power devolution.

The GoSL has stated that the state of emergency and Prevention of Terrorism Act would remain in force for some time to come. The eastern province has been firmly under army control since mid-2007. There are army checkpoints in the town centre, armed thugs prowl the back streets and reports of abductions and disappearances continue. To quote the Defence Secretary, “The war is like a cancer. Even after curing a cancer, there is a period for radiation treatment. It is the same with the war on terrorism.” Meanwhile the President in his victory speech has adopted a new doctrine following on the path of Bush doctrine. While inviting investments in the north and the east, while talking of a home grown solution to the political situation, there are no minorities in the island, he said. He branded the population into two categories: those who love the country and those who don’t.

Media Freedom
The GoSL’s vendetta against anyone critical of the war, particularly in the media continues. Targeting journalists for “treason” indicates a broad offensive against human rights bodies and non-government organisations, which have been branded as “terrorist sympathisers”. The methods used are not limited to arrest and prosecution as evident from the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge, editor of the Sunday Leader, who was posthumously awarded UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2009. As in numerous other cases, the police have made no arrests yet. Most of these threats seem to target international organisations that exposed to a limited extent the exterminationary tactics used by the GoSL. Only three days back, the Centre for Policy Alternatives[4] received a 1989 type of threatening letter demanding compliance with the GoSL programs. Disappearances seem to continue. On June the first, Poddala Jayantha, General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association was abducted by a gang who came in a white van, severely assaulted and later released.

Access to camps and war ravaged areas
Despite many requests by the international community, the GoSL has continued to refuse full access to the areas destroyed by the war and to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians interned in the so-called welfare villages encircled by barbed wire and security forces.

The Economic repercussion
Sri Lanka spent and will continue to spend a significant part of its gross domestic product on the war effort, thus exacerbating its dependence on the world capitalist system. The very high military expenditure has significantly contributed to a weakening economy, rising cost of living, inflation, unemployment and an impending economic collapse. The GoSL hopes to survive by relying on massive foreign loans. It is using the “war victories” as a mechanism to divert attention from the crises the country is faced with. The next pretext will be in the form of “an emergency” caused by the rapid deepening of the country’s economic crisis and an eruption of working people against the imposition of new burdens. The broader fear in Colombo ruling elite is that the military defeat of the LTTE will be followed by a wave of political unrest and social struggles. The GoSL has mortgaged the Sri Lankan state to the hilt to finance massive military spending and imposed the full burden of the war on the working class. Now, confronting the impact of an unprecedented global economic crisis for which it has no answers, the regime has no alternative but to use police state measures to stamp out opposition, particularly by working people.

Key political decisions are made by a military cum political unit rather than in parliament or cabinet. Unelected bureaucrats can make outrageous threats against diplomats and journalists. GoSL operates with complete contempt for the law, the constitution and the courts. Elements of the Sinhala majority in the south now want the President to be treated as the King of Sri Lanka. The government will boost its armed force, already one of the largest per capita in the world, from 200,000 to 300,000 within a population of around 20 million. The navy and air force each have around 30,000 personnel and the home guard another 35,000. All of the above will be used against workers, peasants and youth seeking to defend their rights and conditions.

The role of China, India, Pakistan and the US
The Global political and economic balance of forces has played a significant role in what is happening in Sri Lanka. All the major powers, with the United States in the lead, have backed the GoSL while turning a blind eye to its abuse of democratic rights. Britain and other EU countries also assisted the GoSL by selling military equipment in the last three years of the war, it was reported. If the US is now raising concerns, it is only because instability in Sri Lanka threatens broader American economic and strategic interests in South Asia, in particular the growing influence of China. This is of major concern to the Indian Government also.

The US and India are intent on countering China’s strategy. Thus under the guise of humanitarian concerns, India has sent a military medical team to Sri Lanka. Earlier the US proposed to send a Marine Expeditionary Brigade to northern Sri Lanka to evacuate refugees – an offer that appears to have been turned down. None of these moves is motivated by concern for working people in Sri Lanka who have born the brunt of 25 years of war. Rather the island is being drawn into the international rivalry that is intensifying as the global economic crisis deepens and foreshadows far more catastrophic conflicts.

Military defeat and Political defeat of the LTTE
Yet, the difference between defeating the LTTE militarily and destroying the LTTE politically does not seem to have been completely understood by many.

The GoSL would require enormous amounts of human, material and financial resources to be spent on maintaining its forces in the north and the east. The psychological effects caused by the war on society as a whole, including the Tamils and armed forces of all sides to the conflict will continue to be challenging and daunting, which will make the dream of political unity an ever receding mirage.

The Tamil psyche is hurt as never before. Their feeling of subjugation has multiplied with the end of the conventional war. Most Tamils perceive this war as an invasion to grab ‘their land’. Their sense of anger and resentment will remain for a long time. The war and its aftermath have accelerated the tensions and distance between the majority of the Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil diaspora. This has also brought the Sri Lankan national question to the forefront of international discourse, second only to the questions of Palestine and Darfur. It has become embedded in the maelstrom of conflicts that are currently inflaming large parts of Asia. The desperate and deadly situation faced by the many thousands of Tamil civilians interned in the camps will become a serious international issue.

These developments do not bode well for the GoSL or the Sinhalese, though Sinhala nationalist groups and the GoSL will try to put a positive spin on the situation. Almost all Sinhala nationalist groups seem to see this phenomenon as of a transient nature, which they believe would go away when the ‘massive’ infrastructure development programs for the north and east are jump started.

My simple question is: How could the capitalist ruling elites of the island, who have never been able to engender and sustain such development in the South of the island, be expected to undertake such a development in the North and East of the island?

Link to Class Struggle
From its very origins, the war has been bound up with the class struggle. At every point of crisis, the weak Sri Lankan bourgeoisie has whipped up anti-Tamil chauvinism as the means of dividing the working class and shoring up its hold on power. The war was launched in 1983 by a United National Party government amid a horrific wave of anti-Tamil pogroms. These were being carried out in response to a growing rebellion by the working class against the impact of the government’s free market agenda. Over the past three years, the GoSL has repeatedly accused striking workers and protesting students of being accomplices of the “Tiger terrorists”. Having been strengthened by the defeat of the LTTE, the most reactionary sections of the ruling elite will soon be calling for the crushing of the new enemy, the working people.

The LTTE’s defeat is primarily a political, not a military question. Its perspective of a separate capitalist state of Eelam has proven to be a deadly trap for the working people. Its sectarian outlook and attacks on Sinhalese civilians has only deepened the communal divide and played into the hands of the Sinhala extremists in Colombo. The LTTE’s plans for a separate state represented the interests of the Tamil bourgeoisie, not the Tamil masses, and always depended in the final analysis on the support of one or other of the imperialist powers.

The atrocities committed in Sri Lanka will serve as a warning to working people anywhere in the globe. As capitalism plunges into its worst economic crisis since the 1930s, the ruling elites around the world are reaching into the tool bag of political reaction to secure their rule. Anti-Tamil chauvinism in Sri Lanka finds its parallels in anti-immigrant xenophobia, various nationalisms and numerous forms of chauvinism based on religious, ethnic and linguistic divisions. These can also become the starting point for local and international wars. The only alternative to such barbarism will be to explore the path towards socialism.

Conclusion
In Sri Lanka, as elsewhere, cultural diversity and tensions were manipulated to divide and weaken the working people to preserve the interests and privileges of the ruling elite. In the process, the fundamental democratic and social aspirations of the people have been crushed. The military defeat of the LTTE has not resolved the fundamental issues that underpinned the conflict. It has shown that the territorial unity of the capitalist state can be maintained only on the basis of ruthless repression of the people using military force. Through such repression it has reinforced its defence of Sinhala nationalism. The socio-economic problems of discrimination based on language and nationality and poverty linger on.

The LTTE’s military defeat clearly confirmed that the struggle against imperialism and the fight to secure democratic rights can only be advanced on the basis of a program relying on the support of the working people of the world. The answer to discrimination and racial oppression lies not through a separate state, but through the broad unification of the oppressed people in a common struggle against it.

As I have indicated many times before, our stand in defending the democratic rights of the Tamil people against all forms of chauvinism and racism, was neither an expression of political support for the LTTE nor for separation, nor to bring about a Tamil capitalist regime in the north and the east. Rather it is an expression of our acceptance of the right of the Tamil people for self-determination and the necessity for building unity of the Tamil and Sinhala working people to defend their interests against exploitation and repression by the ruling elite which divides diverse communities along racial, religious and caste lines.

I believe that the way forward lies in the paradigm change Sri Lanka needs to go though, which is alien to its current political traditions of exploitation through repression and subjugation. Firstly the equitable distribution of the fruits of economic development and participatory democracy are essential for the society to progress, especially, when the majority of people are surviving from one meal to the other. Internationally, there is a widespread demand for a refashioning of the world economic order, an end to the unconscionable arrogance of the wheelers and dealers and a call for governments to be more accountable for the welfare of its people. Sri Lanka needs to understand this reality and act accordingly. Secondly, while recognizing the specific problems facing the Tamil community, the injustices faced by the Sinhalese, and Muslims and challenges they all face due to capitalist globalisation also need to be recognised and addressed.

Lionel Bopage is former general secretary of the JVP and former member of the District Development Council, Galle.Associated with the JVP since 1968, he resigned in 1984.He is currently a member of the Executive Committee, Friends for Peace in Sri Lanka, based in Canberra, Australia.