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

View this document on Scribd

UNIVERSITY TEACHERS – Special Report No: 33

UNIVERSITY TEACHERS

FOR

HUMAN RIGHTS ( JAFFNA )*

SRI LANKA.

Special Report No: 33

Date of release: 4^th August 2009

Third Anniversary of the ACF Massacre

A Travestied Investigation, Erosion of the Rule of Law and Indicators for the Future of Minorities in Lanka

Three years ago, on the 4^th of August 2006 at around 4.15pm , one Muslim and 16 Tamil ACF aid workers were forced to their knees, begging for their lives, and shot execution style at point blank range in their office compound in Mutur , Sri Lanka .

The victims of this crime were not caught in cross fire, killed accidently or mistaken for combatants in the midst of an encounter. They were sought out and murdered. Available evidence points to the responsibility of police officers and Muslim home guard members who have acted in the presence of Sri Lankan Army commandos.

In this, or any premeditated crime of this nature, the State has a responsibility to independently determine the facts of the case and the identity of the perpetrators. The Government has not only failed to fulfil this duty, it has obstructed efforts to do so through the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI).

Currently, turning the scales of justice completely upside-down, the Government is pointing the finger at the organisation for which the victims worked, the ACF, and accusing it of negligence. This can only be an effort to divert attention from its own responsibility, since the ACF’s actions, although important for the organisation to look into, are utterly irrelevant to a determination of responsibility for the premeditated murder of the ACF employees.

In light of the Government’s recent claim that the CoI has found the LTTE to be fully responsible for this crime and attempts by the CoI to debunk our findings, we present a thorough review of our earlier reports, with new evidence gathered and assessed. This effort has affirmed our earlier findings that the 17 aid workers were killed by at least one member of the Muslim home guard (Jehangir) and two police constables (Susantha and Nilantha) in the presence of military commandos

Even before the Commission of Inquiry was constituted, several arms of the state including the Judicial Service Commission undermined a proper inquiry, including by replacing the sitting Magistrate (a Tamil, who was replaced by a Sinhalese) just prior to his announcing the findings of his inquest. After the CoI was formed, the AG’s office along with the defence lawyers continued to work as a team to discredit any information which might point towards the real culprit. The role of AG’s office was questioned by the IIEGP (International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, mandated to observe the work of the CoI) but their concern was discarded.

The report stands by its earlier concerns regarding the cover up of bullet types used by the assailants and unprofessional nature of the Australian expert’s decision to retract his earlier identification of a 5.56 mm bullet.

This report also critically examines the CoI proceedings and actions by the Government in the context of the CoI’s efforts. In addition to favouring witness testimonies at the CoI that were sympathetic to the Government’s position, the Government of Sri Lanka and its proxies have engaged in systematic intimidation and harassment of witnesses and families that have refused to support the Government’ s patently false position.

A representative list of these actions includes the following, carried out, prior to, during and after CoI proceedings:

·         threats carried out by telephone and in person;

·         public questioning and temporary restriction on movement by police;

·         forced reporting to police stations and a TMVP office;

·         abduction and assault;

·         intimidation, ffic light junctiono placethe Commission.ived after the situation was relatively calm. ficers. ave sent Jehangir as parbribery and threats by the CoI’s police investigation unit;

·         ongoing surveillance by police;

·         illegal arrest and temporary detention by the security forces;

·         house searches;

·         threatening letters signed by TMVP;

·         intimidation while giving testimony at the CoI and while in the witness protection room of the CoI; and denial of witness protection to those seeking it.

The government made sure there was no proper witness protection in place, and any support by a commissioner for a witness facing fear and isolation was used to discredit both. The police investigation unit of the CoI came to function as an intimidation unit towards the witnesses, making sure that the truth was suppressed.  The presidential order to stop video conferencing of testimony by witnesses who had to flee the country was another blatant move to suppress the truth.

Family members of victims were harassed and threatened to such a level that their lives in Trincomalee became unbearable; some were forced to flee the country. Two family members have died: Kanapathy, the guardian of ACF driver Koneswaran, died consequent to being beaten by a naval officer in an unrelated incident and Niranjala, wife of ACF worker Muralitharan, from a brain haemorrhage resulting from high blood pressure a day after she received a letter summoning her to appear before the CoI, following months of official harassment. Several families and witnesses have been forced to leave Sri Lanka and others are forced to live underground to escape attempts by the Government and its proxies to silence those who may point the finger at the Government for the killings. Perhaps the best thing the witness protection unit of the CoI has done is to tell witnesses frankly the unit cannot provide any protection.

In an attempt to debunk evidence that consistently points to State responsibility for the ACF murders, the Government has carried out a series of actions through the CoI including:

–          attempts to provide or assert alibis for certain persons we named as the killers in our report in April 2008;

–          attempts to advance the time of the killings to make the LTTE’s guilt more plausible;

–          attempts to post date by two days the Police’s knowledge of the killings;

–          attempts to discredit the finding that commandos were involved by denying the commandos ever went out with the Muslim home guard.

The Government’s control of the CoI through the role played by Deputy Solicitor General Kodagoda and the complicity of some of the Commissioners, has allowed the extraordinary attempts at cover up described above to take place as well as an obvious and deliberate failure to pursue questioning and investigation that could implicate the Government.

The conduct of the CoI further degenerated after Dr. Nesiah, then a Commissioner, was forced out by the President supported by the Counsel for the Army Gomin Dayasiri for a perceived conflict of interests. No attention was given to the manifest conflict of interests of other Commissioners:

–          Javid Yusuf with his long term association with the ruling SLFP;

–          Mr. Douglas Premaratne, a former additional solicitor general having close associations with the extremist party, the JHU; or

–          Chairman Udalagama who as a member of the Judicial Services Commission had improperly removed the ACF inquest from the Tamil Mutur Magistrate.

The CoI ceased with a whimper in mid 2009. According to the Chairman, the culprits in the ACF case were not identified because he ‘ran out of funds’. However this admission has not prevented the Government from coercing the family members to sign documents stating that they “agree with the findings of the Commission that the deaths were caused by the LTTE”. Thus it would seem that someone in the Presidential Secretariat has been able to wind up the investigation and attribute responsibility on behalf of the CoI.

The course of the ACF inquiry traces growing state hostility to legal norms, arbitrariness in the use of police powers, and the politicisation of the Attorney General’s office to the point of complicity in crime. Extra judicial methods of dealing with inconvenient witnesses on occasion to the point of murder have become the norm as several witnesses in the ACF and Five Students cases came to know. These developments are not just about the fate of the 17 ACF victims, but about developing attitudes and practices that will determine the fate of the minorities and no doubt, sooner rather than later, that of the Sinhalese population as well. There is no excuse for leaders so obtuse and arrogant as to forget within a generation the bitter lessons of the 1980s.

The case reveals the mindset behind the repression. The State consequently makes itself far more venal than what its ideology attributes to the minorities, as evident during rounds of communal violence. If the trend continues, in the end there will be no standards or laws the citizen and communities could appeal to. Anarchy is complete where truth loses all meaning and the state itself incapable of rationality and foresight.

Rather than marking a return to normality, the end of war appears as just another milestone for those in power. For them, the war and its aftermath remain an opportunity for a return to an ideological agenda that sought the debilitation of minorities, treating them as permanent enemies, purposefully uprooted from lands that had been their home for centuries. Their existence may be tolerated only under the jackboot of the State. The human rights abuses so abundant during the decades of conflict will not simply be forgotten. While those in power continue to suppress the truth, the tragedy continues for those who have suffered these harms. Without public recognition of the truth, including the brutalities inflicted by the LTTE, it will never be possible to build a new course for the Island based on principles of equality, justice and peace. A proper inquiry, revealing the truth behind the ACF killings and the multitude of other human rights abuses is necessary to avoid the further entrenchment of ethnic politics. There is a need for an honest evaluation of the past that can provide a basis for a common future for all Lankans.

Read on>> as_PDF

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.

Download this publication: Read on>> as_PDF

Death threat on “Uthayan” news paper in heavily fortified Jaffna

“Uthayan” news paper in Jaffna has once again come under the hacksaw of the Sri Lankan regime. A new death notice has been distributed to all “Uthayan” news paper Employees, Agents, Reporters and the Security Guards working at its office in Jaffna.  Three days ago on Thursday 25th June, a dubious front by the name ‘Tamil Front Protecting the Country’ issued a notice that was forced on news papers in Jaffna and all news papers that refrained from carrying that notice were burnt in bulk.     That act of arson was the handy work of a para-military group working with State security forces, said reports from the North.  (http://southasiaspeaks.wordpress.com/category/sri-lanka/sl-media/)  The latest “death notice” issued to “Uthayan” news paper yesterday (June 27) has come without a name, but could be from the same source, says sources from North. Such acts can not be carried out in the heavily fortified Jaffna peninsula without the government security forces’ approval, where all movement is heavily restricted and no person could move about freely without carrying the “identity pass” issued by the military in addition to the NIC. With elections now scheduled for the Northern local government bodies (Jaffna municipal council and Vavuniya urban council) armed group(s) working closely with the government security forces have started dictating terms on the media, with the government ignoring all such intimidation.  Therefore these “death threats” can not be taken lightly and as mere threats going by past experience, says media sources.  Below is the full text of the death threat, translated from Tamil to English LAST WARNING  TO: ALL EMPLOYEES, AGENTS AND REPORTERS OF PROTERRORIST ‘UTHAYAN’ NEWSPAPER  From the time Uthayan started its publication up to now, Uthayan publishes news items to confuse the Tamil people and their Liberty.  Now after regaining the harmony and Liberty in the Society, “Uthayan” News items are aimed at destroying the permanent peace and causes the public to turn to terroists again. Further, these news items promote communal feelings among Tamils and cause to destroy the peace. Your news items are twisted from actual truth.  Your paper appears to be a mouthpiece of the Terrorists. Our earlier warnings have been disregarded by you. Therefore, we are compelled to take a decision not to allow the publication of Uthayan in Jaffna as it publishes news that cheat the people.  Therefore all Employees, Agents, Reporters and Security Guards should officially resign from the Organisation with effect from 30.06.2009  If this final warning too is disregarded, you will face capital punishment (Death sentence) imposed by us.

Sri Lanka’s humanitarian crisis – 18 May 09

After 26 years, the Tamil Tigers – who had previously managed their own army, police, courts, and even taxation system – effectively surrendered to Sri Lanka’s army. No one knows how the struggle for an independent Tamil homeland will turn now, but one thing is for certain: the country is facing a massive humanitarian crisis.

Part 1

Part 2

Culture Clash : Jaffna-s public Library

Western Provincial Elections – Update from Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu

Co-Convenor of the Centre for Monitoring Elections Violence Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu speaks on voter turnout and violence on the day of the Western Provincial Council elections, and also on how the elections results will be interpreted by political parties.

Have NGOs failed in peacebuilding? An interview with Jehan Perera

I recently interviewed Dr. Jehan Perera, Executive Director of the National Peace Council. Jehan is also a columnist for the Daily Mirror and the Lanka Monthly Digest in Colombo. He holds a Doctor of Law degree from Harvard Law School and a BA in economics from Harvard College.

Based on his significant experience as a civil society activist, I asked Jehan whether NGOs in particular had fostered any appreciable difference in the quality of governance in Sri Lanka. Jehan stated that after a quarter century of working in civil society, he was acutely aware how little impact it had in shaping the political agenda in Sri Lanka and could in no way compare with the power and reach of a politician or political party.

Jehan noted that the fundamental issue was for Sri Lanka’s continued strife was the confusion of majority rule with democracy. Agreeing that while the LTTE is close to defeat militarily, he also stressed the need to address the underlying causes of what gave rise to the LTTE. Without this he noted, combined with support from sections of the Tamil diaspora and the continuing grievances of the Tamil people, the LTTE could retain a presence in the country and act as a spoiler to any peace and developmental process.

Jehan spoke about the challenges of peacebuilding in a context of war and violence, the power of NGOs to shape the political and peace agenda, possible scenarios after the military defeat of the LTTE, his hope for the growth of dissent, the chances of legitimate Tamil grievances being addressed and the need for a united Sri Lanka that recognises the right to self-determination.

Source : GroundView

Remembering Father Killi

Read on>> as_PDF

Where We Are and Where To? = Groundview =

by Lionel Bopage

“War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes” said Mao . Thus, a civil war in Sri Lanka which is a capitalist economy with its strong feudal remnants is to preserve the class interests, privileges and benefits of the ruling elite.

It could be argued that the recent political and cultural bashing of ‘the other’ in the Sri Lankan society commenced in a major way, following the signing of the ceasefire agreement (CFA) in 2002. The military and political weakening of the LTTE intensified in 2004 with Karuna Amman (Muralitharan) relieved or expelled from the LTTE, who was probably recruited by the pro-GoSL forces and RAW. By the end of 2005, the parties to the conflict were on the verge of an all out war against each other. Sinhala nationalist groups strongly backed Mr Mahinda Rajapakse’s presidential campaign, because they were convinced that he would tear down the CFA, demerge the north and east, disband the Norwegian facilitation and conduct a successful war against the LTTE. The LTTE’s direct involvement in preventing North-east Tamil votes in the presidential elections also helped Mr Rajapakse’s presidential victory.

The battle lines were drawn in 2006, when the Sri Lankan Security Forces (SLSF) and the LTTE confronted each other over the water supply from the Mavil Aru in the Eastern Province. In August 2006, the LTTE restored the water supply but the SLSF continued to strike at the LTTE until they gained control of the sluice gates of the reservoir and beyond. Despite the CFA, the resumption of full scale, but undeclared war had begun. The Sri Lankan Air Force had begun bombarding the LTTE held positions during this confrontation, which indicated the beginning of a long-term military strategy to drive the LTTE out of the East first and then out of the Vanni.

The declared aims of the current war effort of the government (GoSL) were to attain political, administrative and territorial unity of the people in Sri Lanka. To achieve this, Sinhala nationalist groups wanted to tear down the CFA, demerge the north and east, disband the Norwegian facilitation and conduct a successful war against the LTTE and these pledges seem almost completely fulfilled. A further aim according to certain Sinhala nationalist groups is to ensure the dominance of the Sinhalese over other Sri Lankans.

The aim of the LTTE is to establish a separate political and territorial Tamil Eelam, in which Tamils could exercise their dominance over other communities.

Before we can discuss future directions, we need to make a hard headed political assessment of the conflict as it currently stands. According to the government and its media allies, the LTTE has been completely defeated. The LTTE has lost almost all the territory it held during the time of the CFA and it has almost lost its entire conventional military capability. Therefore, GoSL and the nationalist forces supporting it seemed to have achieved their declared aims. Yet, the difference between defeating the LTTE militarily and destroying the LTTE politically does not seem to have been understood.

On a military level, what will be the cost of keeping this territorial unity? It would require enormous amounts of human, material and financial resources to be spent on maintaining it. Further, 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.

Political unity is becoming an ever receding mirage too. The Sinhala and Tamil people have become ever more distant.  Some Sinhalese genuinely want to help Tamils rebuild their lives after more than three and half decades of conflict. Many others that I have met are obviously in a triumphant mood-set. In the context of the war, the Muslim population too seems to have been drawn into militant ways in the East and in the Puttalam Mannar areas.

The Tamil psyche is hurt as never before.  Their feeling of subjugation will multiply when the conventional war ends. 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 current war has accelerated the tensions and distance between the majority of the Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil diaspora.

The war has been the catalyst that has brought the majority of Tamils worldwide to unite in a single front against the GoSL, the Indian Central Government (ICG) and extreme forms of Sinhala nationalism.  Previously, such sentiments were limited to Tamils living in Tamilnadu. This support should not be, as has been happening for some time, be instantly labeled as supporting the LTTE or a separate state.

The current war has 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 trapped in the war zone 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.

Regardless of the reconstruction work which is said to have commenced already, delivery of security and stability to the people of all ethnic communities living in the East remains to be fulfilled. A simple question could be posed here. 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 country, be expected to undertake such a development in the North and East of the island?

This brings us to the question of where to from here.

Many serious economic think tanks point to the fact that Sri Lanka is facing a dire economic situation, a fact that the GoSL and many Sinhala extreme nationalist groups continue to glibly dismiss. However, reality seems to be seeping in, at least among some government ministers who imply that an extreme balance of payment crisis exists. This is evident from the willingness of the GoSL to go for a ‘stand-by’ arrangement with the International Monetary Fund.

The current fiscal crisis has been engendered by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issuing treasury bills worth Rs. 200 billion since September while the country’s foreign reserves were depleting. This situation will be exacerbated greatly when the current global financial crisis starts to bite. I leave this issue to economists to ascertain whether we will soon be following Zimbabwe and Sudan in economic and political terms.

Even if the expectations of the GoSL, SLSF and Sinhala extreme nationalist groups of a manageable low intensity guerilla warfare are achieved, the Sri Lankan people would expect the current high costs of essential commodities to reduce, more employment opportunities to be generated, the provision of better health facilities and other things.

The Tamils, specifically, would demand the GoSL to implement whatever current constitutional provisions that exist so that they could communicate, correspond, educate and carry out their day to day activities in their mother tongue. Furthermore, they would expect the GoSL to devolve power so that they could attend to their developmental activities in coordination with the GoSL. Given the GoSL’s track record and that extreme Sinhala nationalist forces have already commenced a campaign to give nothing to the Tamil people, this might not materialize.

Another aspect to consider would be the stance of those who benefitted from the war situation in terms of material, financial and social privileges. Some of these elements may create conditions to continue the war in other forms. The war has engendered a force of about 300,000 including SLSF and its auxiliaries. Support industries such as provision of human resources, commodities and services to the SLSF and its auxiliaries would not welcome a peaceful resolution to the conflict either.

Adding to this volatile mix, a village economy dependent on wages, salaries, incomes and compensations received by the participation, death and destruction of their folks in the war effort needs to be reconstituted. Given the current economic crisis, the parlous state of the economy and the greed and corruption of the elite, this task will become an impossible juggling act as there would be no war and the bogey of the LTTE to distract the masses.

My firm view is that the way forward lies in the paradigm change Sri Lanka needs to go though, which is alien to its current political traditions. 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, as demonstrated these days in London during the G20 summit, 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 due to the conflict and challenges they all face due to capitalist globalisation also need to be recognised and addressed.

Whoever values humanity, peace, democracy, freedom and liberty needs to rise up and show that they oppose the current repressive political culture bequeathed to us by both the state and the LTTE.
The Sinhala and Tamil expatriates that helped perpetuate the conflict could now make a positive contribution to its resolution by engaging in dialogue within and outside their community. I believe that there is a need for a political movement that could unite working people on the basis of a democratic socialist policy platform that would reject special privileges for any community and discard all forms of chauvinism.

Even if the Government and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces manage to significantly weaken, defeat, or eliminate the LTTE militarily, a political solution is required. People who value democracy, equality and equity needs to pressure the Sri Lankan state to take immediate action towards a meaningful and just power sharing arrangement. That is the only way to ensure security and the dignity of the peoples of Sri Lanka.

If peaceful coexistence through power sharing is not achievable, the only other solution that would be available will be secession.

www.boondi.lk =Kavi=

KAvI -I

KAvI -II

KAvI -III

KAvI -IV

A response to Michael Robert’s Dilemma at Wars End: Thoughts on Hard Realities = Groundviews=

by Lionel Bopage

This is a response to Michael Robert’s article published on Groundviews recently titled Dilemma at Wars End: Thoughts on Hard Realities.

I am disappointed that a historian of Dr Michael Roberts’ stature and humanitarian sensibility is seduced by the triumphalist rhetoric of the current Sri Lankan government. There are countless examples currently and in the historical records that show that questions of competing identities and nationalities are only resolved when the issues fuelling such questions are addressed; otherwise they fester and deform the body politic of a nation state.

Dr Roberts’ article seems a pure academic exercise in isolation of the material realities of the world. One cannot discuss the issue of bombing a civilian population out (however small that could be) in isolation.

Dr Roberts unfortunately takes an extreme position and alleges that advocates of all other views as do-gooders. In doing so, he casts himself firmly in the camp of the war-mongers and extremist nationalists. His arguments justify any actions taken by any juntas or reactionary regimes all over the world against their own people.

In particular, let me make the following comments:

1. If, as Dr Roberts points out, the Sri Lankan government insists that the Sri Lankan Tamils are citizens of one country, one would think then that GOSL armed forces have a fundamental responsibility to protect their lives and treat them no differently from the other citizens of Sri Lanka. Suppressing and denying the cultural and linguistic identity of Sri Lankan Tamils will not solve the national question in the long term: it will only dull the embers and the conflict may flare again. The mere fact of Tamils living in LTTE controlled areas  is no justification for denying them their basic human rights.
2. I agree a cease-fire itself is not in itself going to help the Tamil civilians trapped in the war torn areas of the Vanni. However, there is an urgent need for the involvement of an international body such as the UN, to create a safe passage to affected civilians and ensure their protection. Such a humanitarian exercise must be linked with a political solution which genuinely devolves power to address the issues that gave rise to the war in the first place.
3. It does not really matter whether the number of affected civilians is 100,000, or 250,000. The bottom line is, they are citizens of Sri Lanka and they should be treated with dignity and respect. All Dr Roberts is doing is providing GOSL and the state a political and ideological veneer to justify the gross violation of the fundamental and inalienable rights of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
4. The example of World War 2 is both disingenuous and inappropriate, I believe. It is disingenuous because the evidence on the waging of total war on the civilian population of Europe and Japan was in many instances a crime and prolonged the war. The fire storms created by carpet bombing of civilian areas of Dresden, Hamburg and Tokyo caused the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, and are now seen by many progressive historians as war crimes. The extreme position of the Allies denied vital oxygen to the progressive elements in the German armed forces to sue for peace. It also did not in any way halt or greatly affect the war effort of the Axis powers. The dropping of Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ushered in the nuclear age and its attendant horrors.
5. World War 2 is also an inappropriate example because the reasons, enormity and the complexities of that conflict are completely different to the reasons for and the solving of the National Question in Sri Lanka.

Starving for Peace in Sri Lanka

Clip