Indian support in negating Tamil aspirations in Sri Lanka

The following fact file was compiled by a group of Tamil citizens in Tamil Nadu. If the facts and numbers are right, the story is very devastating. It also spells a very inhuman approach in wiping out Tamil aspirations under the guise of rehabilitation, with total consent and support from the Indian administration.

This fact file compiled, also reveals that all decisions are taken by a Committee controlled by military and police personnel.
Chennai based M.S.Swaminathan’s Research Foundation is seen as the brain behind the whole project. In fact Swaminathan was a respected a visitor in Sri Lanka who met with President Rajapaksa and his Advisors about a month ago and was reported to have discussed future developments in Sri Lanka.
in this fact file needs immediate and serious scrutiny by human rights and democratic organizations, both in SL and in South Asia.
Fact File on the proposed “rehabilitation” in Northern Sri Lanka.
On 27th April 2009 a sum of Rs.100 crores was announced as relief by the Government of India..
Again on 23rd May 2009 a sum of Rs.500 crores was announced by the Indian Government presumably also to cover the following cost:
- Expenses towards running of Indian Medical hospital at the camp of Vavuniya.

- De-mining project at Vanni, undertaken by Private companies viz “Horizon” of Pune and “Sarvathra” of Gurgaon (Haryana) and the expenses towards deploying of 500 Indian army personnel for de-mining.

- Fee for imparting rapid agricultural programme for the rehabilitated women under the aegis of Multinational corporations under the supervision of M.S. Swaminathan’s Research Foundation.

The Secretariat/Committee for Rehabilitation:

- No. of Members : 18

- Chairperson: Basil Rajapakshe

- Member: Gotabhaya Rajapakshe

- Not even a single Tamil in the team.

- 8 of them are from the army and the police

- The rest from the Bureaucracy

- Major General Chandrasri, the Chairperson of all the camps, and now appointed Governor of the North, is one of the members, (Chandra Sri served as the totalitarian Head of the Army at Jafna between 2006 and 2008).

12 army divisions, aggregating 84,000 Sinhala personnel will be stationed at Vanni region to supervise the rehabilitation.
In addition to this, 20,000 Police personnel and an equal number of Administrative personnel will be posted in the North.
30,000 Sinhala prisoners are to be released and to be inhabited in the North.
Over one lakh members of the family of Sinhala Police and Administration are expected to move to the North.
Thus, even before the Internally Displaced Tamils are rehabilitated in their homeland at Vanni region, approximately 2.5 lakh Sinhalese representing the administration personnel and their families are to be moved to the Vanni region.
Hence, the traditionally Tamil dominated Vanni region will be predominantly inhabited by sponsored Sinhalese shortly. This is precisely the reason why Sri Lankan President declined to recognize the existence or rights of the traditional Tamil homeland.
Meanwhile, according to the rehabilitation package, able bodied Vanni women would have been converted as contract labourers of private Agri and Fisheries corporates, thanks to the assistance rendered by Chennai based M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation.
The men in the camps will be detained under long term Preventive custody.
In this backdrop, the Srilankan government may even declare the implementation of the 13th Constitutional amendment and conduct general elections in the Vanni region and proclaim itself as a great democratic nation!
Human Casualties and disappearances during the last 14 months of war (Apr 2008 to June 2009):

Total population of Vanni region in April 2008: 4,03,000 (extrapolated from 2004 population data)

- No. of Internally Displaced persons detained in the camps: approx. 2,80,000 [as on 18th June 2009, as per UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Report]

- Children among them: 60,000 approx

- Aged and pregnant women: 4,000 approx

- Fatally injured: 12,000

- Crippled: 4,000

- Thus, those who are dependent on others number 80,000 (Approximately one third of those detained in the camp).

- Hence, the number of able bodied persons: 2,00,000

- Therefore the number of persons disappeared: 1,20,000 (Approximately one third of the total population in the Vanni region).

- Number of youngsters detained separately suspected as supporters of LTTE : 13,000

- Rate of Death in the Camp: 10 per day (66 on May 23rd; 62 between May 26th June 9th ; These were reported at Menik Farm at Vavuniya Chettikulam. The dead were buried enmasse).

What can be done for rendering justice to the people of Vanni?
India should prevail upon the GOSL to dismantle the Task Force Committee constituted for implementing the “Northern Spring”. (வடக்கின் வசந்தம்).
Rajapakshe brothers who have been accused of committing War Crimes and Crimes against humanity are the key members of the Rehabilitation Committee. More over all of them are Sinhalese. This committee will have to be reconstituted for the genuine reconstruction of North with suitable members. The Committee should be reconstituted with the members representing the refugees in the Sri Lankan camps and the displaced living in India and elsewhere; and representatives from various Human Rights Organisations; and representatives from the UN. Sinhalese like Sri Lankan Justice Sarath Nanda Silva and the like to be included in the committee. Until the committee is reconstituted, disbursement of Rs.500 crores declared by the Indian government should be kept on hold.
Indian government and the Government of Tamil Nadu should impress upon the GOSL categorically that the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Vanni region should be vested with the people of the region for whom it is their traditional home land, since time immemorial, and it cannot be left with the occupied Sinhala army/authorities.
India should initiate action against GOSL in the UN Human Rights Council and the ICC and bring the authorities concerned for a trial for their War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. The truth behind the disappearance of over 30% of the population in the North and the plight of the civilians in the detention camps need to be examined by independent agencies. India should prevail upon all concerned to ensure transparency of the probe and expose the crimes committed by the GOSL.
M.S.Swaminathan’s Research Foundation and other Private Corporates which have been lined up to obliterate the Tamils, their very identity and existence as a community, in the name of the so called rehabilitation and reconstruction should withdraw from their role from Sri Lanka.
No corporates or other institutions from India should engage themselves in any activity in Sri Lanka which will deprive the people of Vanni region their rights over their traditional homeland. If they indulge in such ventures for gain, they will also be deemed as participants in the genocidal war

34 media personnel killed during present SL govt rule: JDS

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) express its serious concern that even after government's declaration of war victory and end of war, intimidations and harassments to media and journalists continue with increasing ferocity.

People of Sri Lanka are deprived of their right to information and media and journalists are forced to practice unprecedented level of self censorship, a press release today by the executive committee of the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) said.
JDS statement further said: It is in this context JDS reports with anger and great sadness that thirty-three journalists and media workers have been killed with no recourse to justice since the present government was formed. Out of 34 killed, 30 were from the Tamil community, three were Sinhala journalists and one Muslim and.
In addition, 10 journalists and media workers were abducted. Journalist Jeyaprakash Tissainayagam, his printer Vetrivel Jesiharan and Jesiharan’s wife Vadivel Valarmathi remain in custody since their arrest over a year ago. These unresolved killings and abductions clearly demonstrate the culture of impunity that prevails in Sri Lanka.
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government came into power in April 2004 with the present President Mahinda Rajapaksa as its prime minister. Never before in the history of Sri Lanka have such a number of journalists and media workers been killed in such a short period of time.
During the same period, intimidations and threats against journalists and media increased unabated. This situation resulted in more than 50 journalists leaving Sri Lanka fearing persecution: Austria 01; Australia 03; Canada 03; Denmark 01; France 12; Germany 04; India 05; Malaysia 01; Netherlands 02; Nepal 02; Norway 02; Switzerland 16; UK 10; USA 02.
JDS supports the eleven point plan put forward by International Press Freedom Mission to redress the perilous press freedom environment in Sri Lanka and pledges to work with all democratic forces within and outside the country to achieve human and democratic rights for all peoples in Sri Lanka.
JDS calls upon the United Nations, governments and other international organisations to put pressure on the government of President Rajapaksha by taking all practical means at their disposal to end the culture of impunity and to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) is an action group of journalists, writers, artists and human rights defenders who fled persecution in their country and convened in Europe in order to campaign for democracy, human rights and media freedom in Sri Lanka.

UN concerned about camp conditions, calls for clear IDP resettlement plan

A detailed plan to resettle almost 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka is needed to sustain donor assistance, says UN Country Representative. Meanwhile Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General in yesterday's press briefing said "we have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week."

“It’s very important that there be clear plans and timelines for people to return,” Neil Buhne, the UN country head, had told IRIN in Colombo.
“I think it is going to be difficult to sustain the financing (for relief measures) over a long period if you have 300,000 people in there (IDP camps) for months and months, stretching into a year,” Buhne warned. “The first stage in reconciliation is how (IDPs) are treated. I think the government recognizes that, we recognize that, but it is a huge challenge.”
His comments followed a pledge by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 10 July to resettle up to 60 percent of the IDPs by November. In 180 days, we want to settle most of these people. It's not a promise, it's a target.
But aid workers on the ground have expressed concern that some of the facilities being erected in the camps appear more permanent than temporary.
Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General when asked about the deaths in the internally displaced person's camps on Tuesday said due to the level of available access they do not have precise information and added that UN is concerned about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week.
"Well, that of course depends on the level of access we have. We don’t have necessarily the most precise information about things like death tolls. At the same time, we do have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week."
Transcript of the question and answer at the Tuesday press briefing by the Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General at UN:
Question: Perhaps belatedly, over the weekend, Action Contre la Faim -- it’s this French NGO -- denounced the Sri Lankan Government’s ending of an inquiry of how 17 of their workers were killed, and they called for an international inquiry, including calling on the UN to take action. Since the UN -- John Holmes and others -- had said they were closely watching that investigation, what do they say now that it’s over, and the group concerned calls it a whitewash?
Associate Spokesperson: We’ll check with OCHA what kind of particular response they have on the issue concerning Contre la Faim. As far as that goes, there has been no UN investigation into this, as you are aware. We’ll first monitor events on the ground, and we do continue to monitor a wide range of issues concerning how the Government of Sri Lanka has followed up on the commitments that the Secretary-General had outlined in his letters. As you know, the Secretary-General met with President [Mahinda] Rajapaksa last week on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit, and he brought up again the sort of actions we had wanted taken in Sri Lanka.
Question: Just one more on that. I wanted to know, there was a report in the Times of London saying that, in the camps in Vavuniya, up to 1,400 people have died, and the AP has also reported that the conditions are very dire in terms of health. What’s the UN, if they’re closely monitoring, are they monitoring both the health and the level of deaths inside these camps?
Associate Spokesperson: Well, that of course depends on the level of access we have. We don’t have necessarily the most precise information about things like death tolls. At the same time, we do have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week.
Comment by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City press at UN
With Sri Lanka putting restrictions on the Red Cross and the press, and despite statements by the UK and US on the country's application for a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, on July 20 IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced his staff will recommend a $2.5 billion transfer to Sri Lanka at a board meeting on July 24.
Since March, Inner City Press has asked IMF spokespeople what safeguards if any would be attached to the loan. Most recently on July 16, the IMF's Caroline Atkinson said that the views of the international community will be taken into account. Four days later her boss issued a press release with no mention of safeguards. Pro-government media in Sri Lanka report IMF board approval as a mere formality. HSBC and now JPMorgan Chase are helping the Rajapakse regime to do a road show to foreign capitals to drum up more investment.
Outgoing UK minister to Asia and the UN Mark Malloch Brown told Inner City Press earlier this month that "the IMF loan is not moving," is not going anywhere. His boss David Miliband had said the conditions are not right for such a loan. With 300,000 people detained in government camps, are the conditions any better now?
An AP wire service reporter who exposed conditions in the camps was told to leave the country, his visa not renewed. (Reuters with more pro-government reporting, on the other hand, apparently had no such problem.)
The Red Cross was been ordered to cut back in Eastern Sri Lanka, where it had over 140 workers. Despite commitments to investigate itself, the Rajapakse government ended an investigation into the killing of 17 workers of the NGO Action Contre La Faim, exonerating its armed forces. And what does the UN have to say?

War without end - SL having won the war risks losing peace: NYT

The guns have fallen silent in Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war, but the deep wounds of ethnic animosity have not even begun to heal. An estimated 300,000 Tamil civilians remain essentially prisoners in internment camps run by a Sinhalese-dominated government, says Robert Templer, Asia program director of the International Crisis Group in his opinion to New York Times.

To begin easing the deep mistrust between the communities, donor countries will have to pressure the government to be as serious about securing a just peace as it was earlier this year about winning the war, he said.
The opinion column further said: The final months of combat in the decades-long war between the Sri Lankan Army and the rebel Tamil Tigers were brutal. As government forces tightened a noose around insurgent positions, hundreds of thousands of civilians were caught in the middle.
The army was indiscriminately launching artillery shells and air strikes into mixed areas of insurgents and innocents, and the Tigers shot at people who tried to escape. The U.N. estimated some 7,000 civilians, including at least 1,000 children, died and more than 10,000 were injured in the last few months of the war.
The legacy of atrocities on both sides clearly needs to be investigated if the Tamils and Sinhalese are to share the same island peacefully in the future. The immediate concern is for the 300,000 Tamils still interned behind barbed wire in camps with no government plan for returning them to their homes. Up to two thirds of them are in the giant camp at Manik Farm, where lives are lost every day to overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of clean drinking water and inadequate medical services.
The government has blamed the United Nations and international aid agencies for the poor conditions, because those organizations are reluctant to build permanent or semi-permanent shelters to house the displaced. The real origin of the problem, however, is the government’s refusal to expedite its “screening” process and allow tens of thousands of the displaced to live with relatives or host families.
Furthermore, access for international agencies is restricted in ways that limit the effectiveness of aid delivery. Many of the restrictions appear designed to prevent the disclosure of conditions in the camps or the situation that civilians faced during the final months of the war. No private consultations with the displaced are allowed in the camps, and no cameras or recording equipment can be brought in.
Many of the displaced remain uncertain about the whereabouts or fate of family members from whom they have been separated. Many suspected of involvement with the Tigers have been separated from their families and detained for further questioning, some in undisclosed locations. Some end up in detention and rehabilitation centers that the Red Cross and Unicef have access to.
One case deserves special mention. Three Tamil government doctors and one senior health official are known to be in government custody and are now threatened with prosecution for cooperating with the Tamil Tigers. As just about the only remaining officials inside the war zone in the final weeks, they worked heroically to save lives and alert the world to the humanitarian disaster endured by civilians trapped in the fighting. On July 8, their captors forced them to recant their stories. This farce should end: They should be freed.
After winning the war, the Sri Lankan government now risks losing the peace with its approach toward ethnic Tamils displaced by the conflict. Colombo needs to alter course if the country is to begin overcoming years of animosity and avoid having old hatreds and current antipathy turn into the next Tamil rebellion.
Specifically, the government needs to provide a clear timetable for rapid and full resettlement of those currently interned in all the camps. It also has to make significant improvements in access to and conditions in those camps. Colombo should make public its lists of the interned and allow the Red Cross access to all places of detention and all aspects of the “screening” process conducted by the military and intelligence agencies.
The international community has a clear role to play in convincing the Sri Lankan government to take these steps. The cochairs of the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka — the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway — have particular responsibility as they prepare to meet in August. They must send an unequivocal message.
All donor countries, both acting alone and using their influence in key institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, should condition all new non-emergency economic assistance to the country on their implementation. Creating the basic conditions necessary for a sustainable and equitable peace demands no less.

AP writer leaves Sri Lanka after visa not renewed

The Associated Press bureau chief in Sri Lanka, who broke news of private U.N. reports outlining civilian death tolls, has been denied permission to remain in the country.

The AP's Ravi Nessman left Sri Lanka on Monday after the government declined to renew his journalist's visa.
The government denied that the decision was related to his reporting on the final throes of Sri Lanka's quarter-century civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels. The AP reported extensively on the heavy toll the war took on civilians as government forces surged across the rebels' strongholds in the jungles of the north this year.
"We find this failure to renew Ravi's visa disturbing," said John Daniszewski, AP's senior managing editor for international news.
Aside from reports on civilian casualties, Nessman revealed first word of a government document from January outlining a plan to keep hundreds of thousands of displaced people in camps for up to three years.
Nessman received a one-year journalist visa upon arriving in Sri Lanka in July 2007, and it was renewed the following year. The government declined to renew it for a third year.
Lucien Rajakarunanayake, director of international media in the office of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, insisted the government had not ousted Nessman. He said it was standard for foreign journalists to be based in Colombo for two years.
Nessman's predecessor as AP bureau chief, Dilip Ganguly, was based in Colombo for a decade, from 1997-2007.
Both sides of Sri Lanka's civil war have been accused by media groups of attempting to manipulate coverage.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 11 Sri Lankan reporters were forced to flee the country in the past year, and Amnesty International said at least 14 Sri Lankan journalists and media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006.(AP, COLOMBO)

What really happened in Sri Lanka?

The Moscow Trial Was Fair wrote the British lawyer and MP Dennis Pritt, who was subsequently awarded the International Stalin Peace prize, having been expelled from the Labour party in the interim for backing the Soviet invasion of Finland. The government of Sri Lanka must be hoping for a similarly credulous reaction to its decision last week to parade the five doctors who witnessed the bloody climax of the country's civil war in May and now claim that they deliberately overestimated the number of civilian casualties. Since the government blocked access to the conflict zone by all independent observers, the doctors were one of the few sources of first-hand information at its height.
full story

SRI LANKA / MUTTUR MASSACRE: ACF demands an internationalized inquiry

According to the media, the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (notably in charge of investigating this massacre) failed to identify the people responsible for this slaughtering. This commission was the last of the 3 procedures implemented by the Sri Lankan authorities, which ACF called upon to obtain justice. Nowadays, nearly 3 years after the crime, one cannot but notice that these procedures have failed, and that the Sri Lankan government obviously lacks will to establish the truth. Facing this, Action contre la Faim (ACF) reiterates its call, notably to the European Union, to constitute an internationalized inquiry into this massacre.
full story

Tamils look for leadership after Tigers

Tamil National Alliance (TNA)is trying to assume a leadership role by proposing a solution. "Our proposals will be based on the Canadian and Swiss model of power sharing in a federal set up. We will try to build a consensus among the Tamil parties barring the ones which support the ruling party," says R Sampanthan, the leader of the TNA. Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) V. Anandasangaree believes the Indian model of power sharing between the central and state governments will solve the problems in Sri Lanka. But the Sinhala hardliners in the government are not keen to dilute the unitary structure of the Sri Lankan state.
Full story

Tamil issue paramount in relations - India

The Indian government says that the way Sri Lanka deals with the Tamil issues has a bearing on the island's relations with the regional power. Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said that he urged Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to "do all he can" to resolve Sri Lanka's national issue. He was answering a question by a parliamentarian at the Lower House of the Indian parliament, Rajya Sabha.
Full story

The silent suffering of Sri Lanka's Tamils

Roy Ratnavel, National Post
In May of this year, during the final stages of a brutal ethnic civil war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, a so-called "humanitarian rescue" of civilians was undertaken by Sri Lanka's armed forces. More than 20,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the conflict zone were massacred. Thousands of dead are children, and most of them died before they even knew that they were Tamils. Scores of people died in bunkers, or were burned alive and bombed in open spaces. People were also shot at close range by the Sri Lankan army. Sri Lanka had no qualms about using heavy weapons to bombard the very people it claimed to be rescuing. According to some reports, the army even used illegal chemical weapons.
Full story

Sri Lanka, India bridge proposal revived

July 17, 2009 (LBO) - A proposal to build a bridge linking Sri Lanka and Indian across the Palk Straits is to be discussed at a meeting of south Asian transport ministers in Colombo, a senior official said.

Amal Kumarage, chairman of the island's National Transport Commission, said the bridge will help Sri Lanka regain its regional identity and be part of a continent.
The bridge, over the existing Adam's Bridge of sand banks, would almost be like an umbilical link between the two countries.
"If we have a land bridge with India it will revolutionaise travel," he told a seminar organised by the Chamber of Construction Industry on transport needs to revive the island's north and east whose progress had been retarded by the 30 year ethnic war.
Government forces defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May after a lengthy military campaign. The government is trying to revive the former war zone.
Kumarage said the Indo-Lanka bridge is still at least 10 years away and should be looked at as a long-term project.
"Next weekend (south Asian) transport ministers are to meet in Colombo at which the Indo-Lanka land bridge is an item for discussion."

Post-War Sri Lanka- Concerns and Reservations

History has shown that a political solution, delivered or credibly promised, is an essential component of reconciliation, in situations as in Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa had earlier hinted that a political solution would be offered once the military operations ended. Now, the President says that he needs a fresh mandate and that the political solution would have to await his re-election. It is difficult to comprehend as to why separate mandates are required to wage war and to make peace. All these delays result in scepticism about the intention to evolve an equitable political solution.
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Sri Lankan refugee appeal

SOS Children has launched an emergency appeal for funds to finance helping refugee children after fighting in Sri Lanka. SOS has been working in Sri Lanka for 29 years and so far is the only organisation that has been invited to visit the area and start work for children. Senior staff of SOS Sri Lanka have been able to visit the northern part in Vavuniya. Vavuniya is also the area where SOS had programmes in early 1990 for about 5 years or so helping the community rebuild their lives. There are hundreds of unaccompanied children in the camps in immediate need of help and care.
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DEPLOYMENT TO SRI LANKA - HAP SUPPORT IN NEW EMERGENCIES

The HAP field team will be in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 23rd July 2009, for a three month deployment to work with HAP members, their partners, and other interested agencies responding to the current humanitarian crisis in Northern Sri Lanka with the aim of improving understanding about, and strengthen performance of, NGO humanitarian accountability and quality management practices. Fifteen HAP members are responding either directly or through implementing partners: ACFID, ACT, ACTED, CAFOD, CARE, Christian Aid, DanChurchAid, Danish Refugee Council, MERCY Malaysia, Muslim Aid, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, Tearfund, and World Vision.
full story

US Congress places Rights barriers on Sri Lanka IMF loan

The language inserted in the Department of State Appropriations bill S.1434 soon to be passed in the United States Senate, has virtually blocked U.S. Treasury Secretary from authorizing the projected $1.9B IMF loan to Sri Lanka, unless Secretary of State Hilary Clinton certifies that Sri Lanka "is treating internally displaced persons in accordance with international standards, including by guaranteeing their freedom of movement, providing access to conflict-affected areas and populations by humanitarian organizations and journalists, and accounting for persons detained in the conflict," and Sri Lanka is promoting "reconciliation and justice including devolution of power to provincial councils in the north and east as provided for in the Constitution of Sri Lanka."
The bill makes appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes.



Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, reported the original bill which was read twice and placed on the calendar.


Congressional staffers told TamilNet the strong language in the bill inserted by Senator Leahy greatly diminishes the prospects for the IMF to release the long delayed loan to Sri Lanka any time soon.

TamilNet also learnt that the Leahy committee has asked US State Department to submit a report on possible war crimes committed in Sri Lanka between January and May this year.

The text of the portion of the bill related to Sri Lanka follows:

SRI LANKA

SEC. 7091. (a) None of the funds appropriated by this Act under the heading ‘‘Foreign Military Financing Program’’ may be made available for assistance for Sri Lanka, no defense export license may be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Sri Lanka pursuant to the authorities contained in this Act or any other Act, until the Secretary of State certifies to the Committee on Appropriations that the Government of Sri Lanka—

is suspending and bringing to justice members of the military who have been credibly alleged to have violated internationally recognized human rights or international humanitarian law; and

has agreed to the establishment of a field presence of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sri Lanka with sufficient staff and mandate to conduct full and unimpeded monitoring throughout the country and to publicize its findings;

is treating internally displaced persons in accordance with international standards, including by guaranteeing their freedom of movement, providing access to conflict-affected areas and populations by humanitarian organizations and journalists, and accounting for persons detained in the conflict; and

is implementing policies to promote reconciliation and justice including devolution of power to provincial councils in the north and east as provided for in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

(b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to technology or equipment made available for the limited purposes of maritime and aerial surveillance.

(c) The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States Executive Directors of the international financial institutions (as defined in section 1701(c)(2) of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 262r(c)(2))) to vote against any loan, agreement, or other financial support for Sri Lanka except to meet basic human needs, unless the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that the Government of Sri Lanka is meeting the requirements in subsections (a)(3) and (4).

The model indictment document produced by Washington Attorney Bruce Fein, and the submittals to the District of Columbia District Court on Tamils Against Genocide (TAG's) legal action against IMF loan have also been forwarded to the Leahy committee, according to TAG officials.

Mahinda takes Tamils on merry go round for the world to see

In the aftermath of the LTTE’s military defeat, some of the Tamil-speaking people in the northern parts of Sri Lanka rush to the polls to elect representatives to their local councils. This election is a ruse, Sri Lanka’s false face of democracy to the world. Even if we were to concede that government elections are an aspect of democracy, it is a tiny part devoid of free media and freedom of speech, with the ratio of one military officer for every ten Tamil persons. Colombo wants to show the world that political stability and democracy have been restored so that they will prove both that the ethnic strife has dissipated and to cover up the genocide accusations. They want to show the world that all people of the island are Sri Lankans and they all embrace Sri Lankan democracy. However, Colombo uses the Tamils as scapegoats and is taking them for a ride. The Local Councils will look after the removal of rubbish bins, destroy stray dogs, and try keeping the toilets clean. If the huge rubbish mounds in Colombo are anything to go by, then we can imagine what kind of work these local councils would be engaged in.

The tragedy is that Colombo rejects the fundamental rights of Tamils and has treated the entire Tamil community as terrorists even in the aftermath of the LTTE – GoSL war in Vanni, where nearly 300,000 Tamils have been incarcerated in the Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya. Despite confining the Tamils in the razor-wired camps, Colombo claims that it is seriously concerned about the plights of Tamils and they want to educate the Tamils in democracy.

Elections a waste in the Northeast

It is pathetic that the government does not allow free movement of media access, even to the NGOs and INGOs, for the fear that these organizations will bring out the miseries of the people living in the military controlled areas. Instead, Sri Lanka claims that they are educating the Tamils in democracy.
Tamils are again taken for a ride as they were in the past on several occasions. In the past when the Indian Armed Forces infiltrated the Tamil homeland, they too conducted such elections and they put forwarded their loyal militant-turned-political parties and even ten year old Tamil children were taken forcefully, had their heads shaved, and put in the camps of the militant organizations such as EPRLF, ENDLF and EPDP so that in case if they happened to join the LTTE, they could be identified and killed. However, the Tamils rejected all these militant groups as well as the Indian Armed Forces except the LTTE because the other organizations acted against the interest of the Tamils, while the LTTE was receiving a red-carpet welcome from the Tamils. Varatharajah Perumal of EPRLF became the first Chief Minister with the introduction of 13th amendment of Sri Lanka’s Constitution as per the Indo-Lanka accord, which legalized the joining of the North and East of Sri Lanka as a single entity known as the “Northeast”. However, Varatharajah Perumal and his associates fled the country to India for safety because Tamils rejected them. Perumal and associates are still in the protection of Indian taxpayers and their whereabouts are still kept confidential for fear that they will be killed by the LTTE.
As it is the history of Eelam struggle, Sri Lanka’s president, too, makes such a move to hold elections after claiming that they have defeated the LTTE militarily in May 2009. Colombo announced that they defeated the LTTE and the time is ripe for Tamils to hold the elections as it would help bring democracy to the Tamils in the North who experienced terrorism in the past three decades. The irony is, Colombo failed to acknowledge that it was Colombo that terrorized the Tamils who are now defenceless and who will have no choice but to live within the military culture introduced by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
After the war was over, Colombo announced that 174 candidates from six political parties and two independent groups are vying for 29 seats in the Jaffna Municipal Council while there are 15 seats in the Vavuniya Urban Council for the 135 candidates from six political parties and three independent groups. The Elections Department will set up 85 polling stations in Jaffna and Vavuniya on August 8. The question is who and what the election staff would be. The record of the government has been involved in the rigging of elections since the Development Council elections in 1981 in Jaffna where the election staff was appointed from among carpenters, tailors, labourers, and criminal elements taken to Jaffna from the south coinciding with the burning of the Jaffna Public Library.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) credible to the Tamils submitted its list of 29 candidates contesting the Jaffna election. The TNA announced that S.N.G Nathan would be its “principal candidate” for the list for Vavuniya. In Jaffna, the three-party coalition consisting of EPRLF Varathar front, PLOTE, and Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) tendered its nomination list with Veerasingham Anandasangaree as its principal candidate. The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), and two independent groups, one headed by Abimanasingham Manickasothy and the other formed by displaced Muslims of Jaffna, filed nominations.
No free and fair elections
TNA Jaffna district MP Mavai Senathirajah has said: “We do not believe that the elections are going to be free and fair. The burning of newspapers on the eve of nominations raises a big question.” He said his party’s priority would be to resettle the displaced Jaffna civilians once it is elected to the Jaffna Municipal Council. He further said: “Our intention is to rebuild Jaffna to its pristine glory with the resettlement of displaced civilians from Jaffna. The Jaffna Municipal Council areas are the worst hit in the Jaffna district. Thousands of people have been displaced from Jaffna Municipal Council limits with their houses and business establishments coming under severe attacks. Therefore, the TNA’s priority would be in re-building the Jaffna Municipal Council to its old glory with all modern facilities.”
In the meantime, Deputy Inspector General of Police Gamini Navaratne, who is in charge of elections, said in response to the growing violence and intimidations that there is no group that exists in the region to cause such problems. However, residents and media outlets say they face severe threats and violence taking place daily, even in broad daylight, but the culprits manage to escape without apprehension by the Sri Lankan security.
The ruling party, UPFA General Secretary and Education Minister Susil Premajayantha, said that people who accept UPFA policies can join the UPFA. Everybody should at this critical point unite to propel the country to achieve the development targets set under the Mahinda Chintanaya. Referring to the Jaffna and Vavuniya local government poll’s nomination lists which included EROS, TELO, and EPDP, representatives of the UPFA Secretary said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had also stressed recently that all citizens should work for the country’s sinking narrow differences.
The UPFA election campaign in Jaffna is managed by Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, while Resettlement and Relief Services Minister Rishard Badiudeen and Vavuniya District Parliamentarian Sumathipala will lead the campaign in the Vavuniya district. Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree will contest the Mayoralty of the Jaffna Municipal Council. Anandasangaree said that the TULF was contesting the election with the objective of bringing about a change in the Jaffna political landscape.
It is well known that the EPDP of Douglas Devananda conducted elections in the mid-1990s and killed many opponents, intimidated voters, and was vehemently condemned by opponents because they rigged the elections and won majority of seats. The EPDP is a rejected party by the Tamils. In the recent past elections, the TNA, the proxy party of the LTTE, won the majority vote. The EPDP is collaborating with UPFA and that would be an asset for the UPFA to sweep the seats and thereby impose detrimental actions against the Tamils.
As these elections are being hurriedly done, unknown armed men believed to be the paramilitaries sponsored by the Sri Lankan army threaten the locals and even the local newspapers are receiving death threats, assisted by parties loyal to the government such as the EPDP. Despite promises given by Colombo, Tamil dailies are severely threatened to support the UPFA. A group calling itself the Tamil Front Protecting the Country earlier said in a note sent to newspaper dealers that reporters and other staff, including the security guard, must quit the dailies. The note further said: “Uthayan has been a propaganda organ for terror activities. Since you have ignored our previous warnings, we are forced not to allow newspapers that mislead the people. Those who ignore this will be subjected to the death penalty.”
The Sri Lankan armed forces are escorting the vehicles of the UPFA and its allies and they are pasting posters with the photos of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Douglas Devananda. But, the pro-government militants and the armed forces bring down the posters of opponents even in broad daylight. Also, the armed forces as well as paramilitaries are threatening the volunteers who put up the posters of TNA and others with death.
Sri Lanka is a country where at least 14 journalists and staff at news outlets have been killed by suspected government paramilitaries since the beginning of 2006. Others have been detained, tortured, or have disappeared, and 20 more have fled the country because of death threats. The farcical elections made out to be vital to democracy are in serious turmoil because the freedom of expression has been suppressed by the state and the people have no say publically for fear they will be persecuted by the state armed forces. This is the reality on the ground for the Tamils on the island.
The elections to be held on August 8 in Vavuniya and Jaffna are nothing but a means to hoodwink the global community and thereby weaken the political demands of the Tamils, and further to receive aid from foreign donors in the guise that they are making every effort to restoring democracy to the region the LTTE had terrorised. Also, the government will use its electoral victory in the local government elections in the Tamil dominated North as the mandate for the Mahinda Chinthanaya, and that would easily allow the government to deny the political demands of Tamils for which the LTTE was fighting for more than three decades militarily. However, it is unlikely that the global community would recognize Colombo’s sinister plans though they will soon realize the real face of the Sri Lankan government. Rajapaksa and his brothers who run the state would never grant autonomy for the Tamils, even a federalism that exists in India, because Sinhala extremists would not allow it to happen, and the Tamils who have silenced their guns will have no choice but to rise again with the global support.

-- By Satheesan Kumaaran for Tamil National

World’s media community writes open Letter to Rajapaksa

The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka, which is comprised of representatives from the world’s media community, including Reporters Without Borders, is extremely concerned over the ongoing spate of violent attacks against the media.

However, in spite of the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the deterioration of the press freedom situation in the country has continued, the International Press Freedom Mission group to Sri Lanka said in its statement published Thursday.
The statement said: We welcome your recent statement ensuring the safety of Tamil-language media outlets following a series of harrowing attacks and death threats against their personnel.
However, we believe that much needs to be done immediately to ensure that Sri Lanka’s journalists and independent news media in Sinhala, Tamil and English enjoy the freedom and safety to which they are entitled in a democracy.

The International Mission would therefore like to propose to you and your Government a 11-point plan to redress the perilous press freedom environment in Sri Lanka:

1. Combat impunity through the creation of a Special Prosecutor’s Office for the investigation of crimes against the media with full autonomy to investigate attacks on and assassinations of journalists and to bring those responsible to justice. Several journalists have been killed since 2007, and yet none of these murders has yet been solved.

2. In accordance with international standards on media freedom and freedom of expression, put in place effective measures to ensure that all journalists can work safely, in particular in areas where local council elections will soon take place such as Jaffna and Vavuniya.

3. Release imprisoned journalist J.S. Tissainayagam and his colleagues B. Jasiharan and V. Vallarmathy, who have been detained since March 2008 under the Emergency Regulations, and were later charged under the 2006 Prevention of Terrorism Act. Withdraw all unjustified complaints and lawsuits brought by the police and government against journalists and freedom of expression activists and repeal legal provisions which may be used to punish journalists for engaging in legitimate media work, including those found in anti-terrorism legislation.

4. Release the first results of the investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge in 2009.

5. Provide full and unconditional access to the IDP camps for all media in order to report freely and fairly on the reconstruction process since the end of the war. The media can play a vital role in making sure that the reconstruction and reconciliation efforts are genuine and have real impact to bringing lasting peace.

6. Repeal the Press Council Act No. 5 of 1973, which includes powers to fine and/or impose criminal measures, including sentencing journalists, editors and publishers to lengthy prison terms. Instead, allow the media to strengthen the existing self-regulatory mechanism, in accordance with democratic practices.

7. Introduce training for the police, army and the intelligence agencies on freedom of expression and the important role of the media in a democratic society. Since 2007, security forces have been allegedly responsible for kidnapping, beating and threatening at least 30 journalists and media workers.

8. Award financial compensation to journalists who have been arbitrarily detained, beaten or otherwise harassed by security forces.

9. Invite the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom and Expression to visit Sri Lanka, in line with your Government’s commitments to the Human rights Council in 2006.

10. Work with the state-owned media to ensure the immediate end to direct verbal attacks and threats against independent journalists and press freedom activists, which has in particular promoted the unethical spread of accusations portraying the media as LTTE-supporters in a concerted hate campaign that has put several journalists lives in unnecessary danger.

11. Introduce structural legal reforms to create an enabling environment for a free and independent media including by transforming existing state media into independent public service media, with guaranteed editorial independence, by adopting a strong right to information law and by overhauling broadcast regulation to put it in the hands of an independent regulator with a mandate to regulate in the public interest.
We are aware that the task you face is enormous, but we hope that your conviction to ensure a prosperous and democratic future for Sri Lanka will lead you to make it a priority to strengthen press freedom as a vital pillar in the reconstruction of a unified Sri Lanka.
We, as leading press freedom organisations across the globe, hope that you will give your personal attention to these matters and that you will encourage your government to consolidate a climate in which journalists can work freely and without fear.
In October 2006, June 2007 and October 2008 delegations from the International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka, which is comprised of twelve international press freedom and media development organisations, undertook fact-finding and advocacy missions to Sri Lanka.

Those organisations joining this statement from the International Mission group include:

ARTICLE 19

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

International Media Support (IMS)

International News Safety Institute (INSI)

International Press Institute (IPI)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC)

Sensitive colonization in Manal Aru (Welioya) area in Mullaithivu district

The Director General of Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority Dharmasiri de Alwis has told the state-owned Dinamina newspaper Wednesday that 2500 families will be settled in Nedunkarni in Mullaithivu district under the Welioya project of the Mahaweli L-zone. Each family will be granted one acre for paddy cultivation, half an acre for coconut growing and one acre for the home garden.

Nedunkarni is a Tamil dominated area centered by a small town and the residents are now internally displaced in camps in Vavuniya. Dinamina report does not mention anything about the ethnicity of the settlers in the new colonies.
We consider this as a very sensitive political issue that should be handled with utmost care. Mahaweli Authority should not be the sole competent authority in this regard.
The idea that the Sinhala invaders are colonizing their land is one of the basic tools manipulated by the Tamil nationalists to fuel the passion on the homeland among Tamils. This phenomenon presented as Sinhala colonization was vehemently resisted by Tamils.
In the early colonization process, the traditional dwellers of the lands as such in Galoya etc. were integrated to the new colonies. The ethnic ratio among the settlers was also considered. But this situation gradually changed later.
In the late 1950s, Pihimbiyagollewe Dhammaloka Thero, a young Buddhist monk who had settled in Padaviya blocked Tamils being settled in the Eastern parts of the Padaviya colony with the auspices of the Sinhala politicians. Entire Padaviya settlement was tuened to a Sinhala colony and later in 1980s the traditional Tamil villagers like Thennamaravadi in the Eastern coast off Padaviya were also wiped out.
Through this process, a wall of Sinhala villages was erected in between the Northern and Eastern Provinces. It can be observed that the colonization process in the age of the D.S. Senanayaka aimed at undermining the separatist trends among the minorities. But the late colonization were attempts to spread Sinhala chauvinism.
Herman Malinga Bandara, a civil servant engaged in colonization in Welioya has clearly hinted in his book ‘For a sovereign State' that Sinhala chauvinist interests were behind the setting up of Welioya colony in the northeastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Before Welioya colony was set up, this area was dominated by the farms like Dollar, Kent and Ceylon Theaters Farm etc. that were set up in long leased crown land. An NGO called Gandhiyam Movement had settled some Tamils that had been displaced from the southern parts of the island due to ethnic violence in the abandoned land of these fams.
Militant groups like PLOTE led by Uma Maheswaran were also active among these displaced persons. Ill-famous Dollar and Kent Farm massacres of Sinhala settlers and the retaliatory massacre of Tamil villagers in nearby Othiyamale were a beginning of a new era of bloodshed in this zone that took hundreds of lives of Sinhala and Tamil peasants.
Welioya was later earmarked as Mahaweli L-zone. Under the original plan, 39,000 hectare land belonged to Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Mullaithivu administrative districts were divided into six zones. They include Sampathnuwara, Janakapura, Kokilai, Nedunkarni and Nayaru areas but only two zones were developed so far, say the Mahaweli Authority. The other zones could not be developed due to the unsafe conditions. There are settlements in Nikaweva, Ehetugasweva, Kiribbanweva, Janakapura , Kalyanipura, New Monaraweva and New Gajabapura areas. People were settled in some other areas of Gajabapura, Monaraweva, Helambaweva, Kambiliweva, Konweva, Veheraweva and parts of Kalyanipura but they vacated those areas due to security concerns.
Mahaweli Authority says that 5000 families were settled in Welioya area during the past 22 years. 3364 of them were settled in legally allocated land and the others were squatters. They were leaving and coming back time to time due to security issues. (Lanka Polity)

Power before peace in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government has asked international aid agencies to scale back operations as there has been no more fighting after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May. ‘There must be a reduction or scaling down in operations,” Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe told Reuters. “The challenges now are different,” he added.

The directive to aid agencies comes at a time when the aid community has been calling for increased access to the camps where some 300,000 Tamil internally displaced persons are being housed. Rights activists have accused the government of keeping Tamils as “prisoners behind barbed wire in camps where conditions are in many cases abysmal” and of not allowing them to return to their homes.
Relations between the government and international aid agencies deteriorated sharply in the final stages of its offensive against the LTTE when the Sri Lankan armed forces were closing in on the Tigers. With the media not allowed into the war zone, it was humanitarian workers there who drew the world’s attention to the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire. It was observed that the government’s use of heavy weaponry put the lives of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians at risk.
In the final stages of the war, an increasingly prickly Sri Lankan government rejected visas of journalists and diplomats of countries that were calling for a ceasefire. With the victory over the LTTE, its tolerance of international and domestic criticism has vanished. The government is shutting down the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, or the Peace Secretariat, a body that was set up in February 2002 to coordinate and facilitate the peace process and negotiations. While the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat was flattened by bombing during the hostilities, that of the government continued to function through the fighting, albeit in a much diminished role.
The government has not given a reason for its closure of the Peace Secretariat. The scaling down of relief work and the shutting down of the Peace Secretariat point to strategy that President Mahinda Rajapakse is crafting in post-LTTE Sri Lanka. “The Rajapakse government has made it clear that after defeating the LTTE militarily, it is not keen on reconciliation or reaching out to Tamils,” said a Tamil political analyst who spoke to Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity. “It has signaled its lack of interest in pursuing a political solution to the ethnic crisis. It has indicated that it doesn’t have use for a Peace Secretariat.”
Rajapakse has made it clear that seeking a political solution is not on his immediate list of priorities. It would have to wait his re-election as president. “I must get the mandate. After that, the political solution comes,” Rajapakse said in an interview to The Hindu, an Indian daily. The search for a political solution has been set aside. The “end of hostilities” has been used by the government to justify its demand for a scaled down international humanitarian agency presence on the island. But the end of combat operations has not led to a trimming down of the government’s military muscle or of security measures.
In fact, the government is planning to expand its armed forces. Chief of Defense Staff Sarath Fonseka has said that he wants a 50% increase in the size of the 200,000-strong Sri Lankan Army. Army officials say that more soldiers are needed to monitor Tamils in the north and east to ensure that the LTTE isn’t revived. With 5.7 soldiers per every 1,000 in the population, Sri Lanka already stands first in South Asia and 42nd in the world with regard to armed forces per capita. The country does not face external military threats and the LTTE has ceased to exist as a military force. “Even 200,000 soldiers are not required in a post-LTTE Sri Lanka,” the political analyst pointed out.
Rights activists fear that an expanded army means that military occupation of the north and east will continue for many years. They also fear that the army will be deployed to crush protests that are likely to break out in the south. Although the war is over, emergency regulations, which have been in place for much of the past 30 years have not been lifted. Last week, the government extended many of these once again.
Its war on the media continues. Both, the Defense Ministry and the government-controlled press continue to label journalists who were critical of its conduct of the war as traitors. Journalists have been jailed, abducted, shot dead or beaten up during the war years. But they aren’t any safer now that the combat operations have ended. On June 1, Poddala Jayantha, an advocate of press freedom was abducted and assaulted in Colombo. The government has announced the re-establishment of a powerful press council with the authority to jail journalists.
Apparently, the government has compiled a list of journalists supposedly on the LTTE’s payrolls based on information divulged by Daya Master, the LTTE political wing member who surrendered to the army in April. Journalists - both Sinhala and Tamil - fear that critics of the government will be named on this list and punished. “The witch-hunt against journalists critical of the government has been intensified,” the analyst said.
Following the defeat of the LTTE and the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and the entire Tiger top brass, a mood of triumphalism and extreme chauvinism has gripped the Sinhala south. Accompanying this is a frenzied glorification of Rajapakse by his cronies, his party members, Sinhala-Buddhist hardliners and the Buddhist clergy. Rajapakse has been promoting a personality cult around himself for some years now. The victory over the LTTE has given this personality cult a massive shot in the arm - and taken it to a new level.
Within weeks of the victory over the LTTE, Rajapakse was conferred with the title of Vishvakeerthi Sinhaladheeswara (Universally Glorious Overlord of the Sinhalese) and Shree Wickrema Lankadheeswara (Heroic Warrior Overlord of Lanka) and crowned Sri Lanka Raajavamsa Vibhooshana Dharamadveepa Chakravarti (Monarchical Emperor of the Glorious Land of Buddhism) by high priests of various leading Buddhist chapters.
Billboards featuring Rajapakse in the white robes of a Buddhist deity carry slogans hailing “Our Savior”. There have been calls for a constitutional amendment to allow him to remain in office beyond his six-year term without facing a fresh election. These are trying times for those who disagree with this regime’s vision for Rajapakse and his family. A popular astrologer was recently thrown in jail for predicting that the president would be ousted by his own prime minister by September and that the opposition leader would become prime minister.
A few days later, the prediction of another astrologer, this one prophesying good times for the Rajapakses was carried in the state-owned Sinhala daily, Silumina. “In the next presidential election, President Rajapakse would be victorious with more than 75% of the votes. The next chapter in Sri Lanka is reserved for the Rajapakses. Before 2010, this constitution would become invalid and the country would get a new constitution. This would get not two-thirds, but three-fourths majority,” the astrologer said. In a country where astrology wields significant influence, the Rajapakse regime appears to be using it to mould public opinion.
Nepotism and dynastic politics are common across South Asia. Still, what is unfolding in Sri Lanka is unprecedented. “With siblings, cousins and nephews ubiquitous, the administration has a distinct Rajapakse flavor,” writes noted political commentator Tisaranee Gunasekera. Besides the presidency, Rajapakse controls the ministries of defense, public security and law and order, finance, religious affairs and moral upliftment, and highways and road development.
His elder brother Chamal is Minister of Irrigation and Water Management as well as Ports and Aviation while younger brothers, Gotabhaya and Basil “function as presidential alter-egos, controlling key swathes of the state structure. According to Gunasekera, Gotabhaya is effectively in charge of the country’s defense and its powerful and growing military machine. Basil, believed to be the brains of the family, is senior presidential advisor and an appointed member of the legislature. “As the ‘Development Czar’, he presides over mammoth infrastructure projects. ... Together the siblings control 67.6% of the national budget,” he added.
The Brothers Rajapakse are tip of the iceberg. There are Rajapakse nephews, nieces and cousins in various positions of power and influence in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans believed that with the end of the war their freedoms would return. The defeat of the LTTE and the death of Prabhakaran has ended the latter’s dictatorial rule over the Tamil people. With Rajapakse following Prabhakaran’s strategy of crushing dissent and democracy, authoritarianism disguised in the garb of democracy looms over the island.


- By Sudha Ramachandran, an independent journalist/researcher based in Bangalore.


Source: AsiaTimes

US never threatened to block IMF loan to SL

Mr. James Moore, chargé d’ affaires of the U.S. Embassy called at his request on Dr. Palitha Kohona, Secretary, Foreign Affairs today and wished to clarify the U.S. position regarding the IMF loan facility to Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Mr. Moore stated that the U.S. government has on no occasion, either publicly or privately, threatened to block the IMF loan to Sri Lanka on political grounds.
He explained that the decision will be taken by the Executive Board of the IMF, of which U.S. is a member, based only on economic criteria and not political factors. He also added that the U.S. Government and other members of the Board will review and consider the loan on financial and economic criteria after such time when the Government of Sri Lanka submits the Letter of Intent to the IMF.

Donor countries and international aid organizations

Donor countries and international aid organizations have kept quiet so far about the Tamils’ plight, evidently fearful that criticizing conditions in the camps could get them thrown out of the camps. The time for silence is over. The best way to help the Tamils is by demanding their freedom and an end to their long ordeal, says New York Times in its Wednesday editorial.

The editorial said that what is called as “welfare villages” by the Sri Lanka’s government to hold hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians for more than two months is increasingly look like military internment camps, where access by human-rights organizations or journalists is highly restricted.
It further said that though the government's claims of looking for Tamil Tigers among the refugees and clearing Tamil villages of landmines before letting people return may have concerns, but the screening process is dragging on far too long. And many refugees see it as another abuse of the country’s Tamil minority.
It added that one prominent Tamil politician told The New York Times’s Lydia Polgreen, “This is simply asking for another conflict later on down the road.” If President Mahinda Rajapaksa means it when he says he seeks reconciliation with the Tamils, he should start by letting these people return to their homes.
The editorial continued: The government’s strict control on visits to the camps has also raised suspicions that it may be trying to block any investigation into possible government abuses committed in the last months of the war. Soldiers corralled the Tigers, along with hundreds of thousands of civilians into a narrow stretch of beach and, according to human-rights organizations, shelled the area repeatedly. The United Nations says that thousands of civilians were killed, though how and by whom remains murky in the absence of independent investigations.
Donor countries — including the United States, the European Union and Japan — as well as international aid organizations are helping provide food, shelter and clothing to the camps. Most have kept quiet so far about the Tamils’ plight, evidently fearful that criticizing conditions in the camps could get them thrown out of the camps. The time for silence is over. The best way to help the Tamils is by demanding their freedom and an end to their long ordeal.

Tamil Camps

More than two months after declaring victory over Tamil Tiger guerillas, Sri Lanka’s government is continuing to hold hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in what it calls “welfare villages,” but what increasingly look like military internment camps.

The civilians, many of whom were held hostage by the guerrillas in the bloody last stage of the long war, are not being allowed out of the camps, and access by human-rights organizations or journalists is highly restricted.
The government claims it is looking for Tamil Tigers among the refugees and clearing Tamil villages of landmines before letting people return. It may well be that there are former guerrillas hiding among the civilians — the Tamil Tigers had no compunctions about using civilians as cannon fodder or forcibly conscripting men and children. But the screening process is dragging on far too long. And many refugees see it as another abuse of the country’s Tamil minority. As one prominent Tamil politician told The New York Times’s Lydia Polgreen, “This is simply asking for another conflict later on down the road.” If President Mahinda Rajapaksa means it when he says he seeks reconciliation with the Tamils, he should start by letting these people return to their homes.
The government’s strict control on visits to the camps has also raised suspicions that it may be trying to block any investigation into possible government abuses committed in the last months of the war. Soldiers corralled the Tigers, along with hundreds of thousands of civilians into a narrow stretch of beach and, according to human-rights organizations, shelled the area repeatedly. The United Nations says that thousands of civilians were killed, though how and by whom remains murky in the absence of independent investigations.
Donor countries — including the United States, the European Union and Japan — as well as international aid organizations are helping provide food, shelter and clothing to the camps. Most have kept quiet so far about the Tamils’ plight, evidently fearful that criticizing conditions in the camps could get them thrown out of the camps. The time for silence is over. The best way to help the Tamils is by demanding their freedom and an end to their long ordeal.


STORY

Ban refutes allegations that UN closed eyes on civilian casualties in SL; 'I should not be responsible for that'

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in an interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on a wide-ranging issues, last month in New York, touched on Sri Lankan crisis when WSJ asked him what he accomplished on Sri Lanka.


Mr Ban discussed on wide-ranging issues with WSJ, including the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs, his relations with the Obama administration, UN reform, his own public image and the role of the secretary-general in the modern era.

When WSJ asked him why he didnot make any public statement on high civilian casualties, while the killing was going on, he said: Whatever the number may be, it was totally unacceptable. Unfortunately there was a high number of civilian casualties. At this time I would like to make it quite clear that there were some allegations that the United Nations closed our eyes to this [reported figure of] 20,000 civilian casualties and tried to underestimate this number. First of all that is totally not true. We have never done that.

He said "I should not be responsible for that, it's totally not true."
"Whatever the number might be, this is an unacceptable one. In these extreme conditions, it was not possible to know the exact number of people who had been killed. That is what I can tell you at this time," he told WSJ.

Here is an edited transcript of the interview:
WSJ: Many of your critics say you travel too much, that you are not in New York enough and delegate too much in New York on management issues and not enough to your representatives abroad. And that by traveling too often you are devaluing the impact of a Secretary General visit. Also that your timing is off, in Sri Lanka you arrived after the fighting, almost putting a seal of approval on what the Sri Lankan government had done.
SG: I am aware of that kind of sentiment, even criticism. I have been on the road maybe average one-third of my time trying to attend multilateral meetings or very crucial events where I can really send out some messages. But when you have 192 member states who want to invite me to their events, I have been refraining from meeting on a purely bilateral purpose. I try to be more often in headquarters. However I delegate my authority, the tendency is for people looking to the head, of course. But they know what they should do, all these under-secretaries general or assistant secretaries-general. So it doesn't involve me much in my direct intervention in the daily activities. With global communications I can be reached wherever I am.

WSJ: But on Sri Lanka. I'd be interested to hear your view about what you accomplished on Sri Lanka.

SG: If you look at my timing of my visit to Sri Lanka you may argue that I was there after everything had finished. A long time before this crisis began I have been urging the Sri Lanka government to protect the civilian population, not to use heavy weapons. I have been talking to them all the time. Sometimes I issued a strong statement, urging and criticizing them. On my visit, first of all I called for unimpeded access to internally displaced camps. That has been done. Then [the Sri Lankan president] assured me that 80% of these people would be resettled by the end of this year. It was very difficult to agree with him on a joint communique. I conveyed the importance of full accountability, taking into consideration the view of the international community and non-governmental organizations. I strongly urged them that before there was an external imposition on them to be committed to accountability. In the end [the Sri Lankan president] agreed to full accountability and I am sure he will take action soon.

WSJ: At least 10,000 civilians died. Wouldn't it have made a difference if you had made public statements while the killing was going on as opposed to a joint communique after the fact?

SG: That's what I said. Whatever the number may be, it was totally unacceptable. Unfortunately there was a high number of civilian casualties. At this time I would like to make it quite clear that there were some allegations that the United Nations closed our eyes to this [reported figure of] 20,000 civilian casualties and tried to underestimate this number. First of all that is totally not true. We have never done that. I should not be responsible for that. It's totally not true. Whatever the number might be, this is an unacceptable one. In these extreme conditions, it was not possible to know the exact number of people who had been killed. That is what I can tell you at this time.

UN Staff Union concerned at continuing detention and harassment of staff in SL

The UN Staff Union, last Friday called on Secretary General Ban to demand the Sri Lankan Government to release all UN staff members held without charge and not to restrict the movement of UN personnel.

The United Nationa Staff Union and its standing cOmmittee on the security and independence of the international civil service regret the continuing detention and harassment of UN staff members in Sri Lanka, said its statement.
The press statement dated 10 July, further said: The action by the Sri Lankan authorities against UN staff members in Sri lanka violate international instruments dealing with the privileges, immunities and independence of UN officials. In particular, detained staff must not be held without charge and must be brought before a civilian court. The freedom of movement of UN staff to do their work must be ensured.
It said that the recent action of Sri Lanka to detain two national staff members appears to be a campaign against UN personnel, which is illegal under international law. Authorities have been arresting without explanation, UN staff members, initially refusing to provide access to them by UN officials, it added.
On 20 June, the UN's country team in Sri Lanka said that two its staff members, one from UNHCR and one from the UN Office for Project Services, had been arrested. The staff members had been reported as missing eight days earlier, after which it emerged that they had been taken into custody. The country team was not aware if any charges had been laid, nor of the details of any accusations, and requested details as to the basis on which the staff members were being held. The two men both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were working as drivers in the northern region of Vavuniya.
The committee called upon the Secretary General to demand the Sri Lankan Government to release all UN staff members held without charge, not to restrict the movements of UN personnel and to respect the independence of all UN staff, in accordance with international law.
The Staff Union also requested the authorities in Sri Lanka to provide the details on staff members' well-being and reminded the government that it is a party to the 1994 UN convention on the safety of United nations and associated personnel and the 1946 convention on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations.
Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press said that with even the funders of Sri Lanka's camps for Tamils now calling them prison-like places of internment, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been quoted about Sri Lanka that "I should not be responsible for that." But what about the continued detention of the UN's own staff? Two UN system employees have grabbed up by plain clothes police in unmarked vehicles and have yet to be released: Kandasamy "Saundi" Saundrarajan and N. Charles Raveendran.
According to ICP, before issuing their statement, UN Staff Union officials expressed outrage at quotes by the UN's Country Representative in Sri Lanka, UNHCR's Amim Awad, that "the UN acknowledges without reservation the right of the security services of Sri Lanka to investigate any allegations of criminal wrongdoing, including by UN staff members, and will cooperate fully to support due process."
Whatever happened to the UN's claims, for example in Sudan, that its staff members are immune, at least in the scope of their work?
In fact, the UN on Sudan was taking a contrary position, that immunity extends to national staff, Lee said.
"In New York, U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said U.N. officials in Khartoum had contacted authorities about Hussein to ensure a U.N.-Sudan agreement on the status of the mission was respected 'and that basic human rights are upheld in the context of national laws governing such issues.' U.N. officials said the United Nations interpreted the agreement to mean that members of the mission were immune from judicial proceedings."
Why are the UN's positions in Sri Lanka and Sudan so different? asks ICP.

Rajapaksa rules out separate ethnicity-based provinces

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said “no” to ethnicity-based separate provinces, in an interview to the latest edition of the American magazine Time.

Asked if he believed in some kind of self-governance for the Tamils, Rajapaksa said: “Don’t say Tamils. In this country you can’t give separate areas on an ethnic basis, you can’t have this.” But provinces could certainly have powers, to enable them to handle local matters, he conceded.
When asked if there was some kind of an effort to change the demography of the Tamil-majority areas, the President said: “No”. But he pointed out that demographic changes were happening in the Sinhalese-majority Colombo. “The Eastern Province Muslims have come here (Colombo district). The Tamils have come here. You ask them. Why are you coming here? Can I stop them? No. If anybody wants to come and live in any part of this island, it the right of a man,” he stated.
Ruling out any special devolution for the wholly Tamil-speaking Northern Province, Rajapaksa said the North could not have a model of its own. “That I will not allow. The whole country must have a system.”
He noted that there were differences among the Tamils as to what they should ask for, now that the LTTE has been defeated and its leader, Prabhakaran, is dead. “If you ask the IDPs (International Displaced Persons or the war refugees) they’ll say we want to go back to our villages. If you ask politicians, they’ll say, we want this and that. But yes, we need to give a political solution,” Rajapaksa explained.
NO TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION: Rejecting a suggestion that there should be a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to heal the wounds of the past through an honest and public acceptance of past mistakes, the President said that he did not want to “dig into the past and reopen wounds.” When suggested that airing a wound would help it heal, he retorted: “This is where the West is different from the East.”
WAR CRIMES: Asked about the move to punish Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes in the final stages of the battle against the LTTE in which 7,000 civilians were thought to have been killed, Rajapaksa said that it was wrong to punish a whole people through sanctions and embargoes, for the alleged wrongdoings of the leader or decision maker.
“Are you going to punish (all the) citizens for that, or the man who is responsible? Take me. Say that I violated all these human rights, killed people, right? Do you punish me, Mahinda Rajapaksa, or the innocent people of this country by sanctions, embargoes, travel advisories? There are ways of punishing me if you want. There, by now saying that, I will get punished,” he said.
However, he maintained that there were no human rights violations against the Tamil civilian population. “There was no violation of human rights. There were no civilian casualties. If I did that, it would’nt have taken two-and-a-half years to finish this. I would have done this in a few hours. These are all propaganda. In the Eastern Province (there were) zero casualties. I won’t say there were zero casualties in the North. The LTTE shot some of them (civilians) when they tried to escape,” Rajapaksa said.
CHINA’S INTERESTS: The Sri Lankan President denied that China was gaining a strategic foothold in the island, by building a major port at Humbantota. “I asked for it. China didn’t propose it. It was not a Chinese proposal. The proposal was from us. They gave money. If India said, yes, we’ll give you a port, I will gladly accept. If America says, we’ll give a fully equipped airport – yes, why not? Unfortunately, they are not offering to us,” Rajapaksa said.
BETWEEN CHINA AND INDIA: Asked if China was becoming a more important ally to Sri Lanka than India, the President said that he was not looking at China and India in that way. “India is our neighbour, our relation, our friend – we have special relationship. India is helping us (with money for development).” (P K Balachandran, ENS)

Vavuniya MSF medical team performed more than 5,000 surgeries in five months

War-wounded and displaced patients flood MSF hospitals, there are many pregnant women and many children who are developing complications from respiratory illnesses, malnutrition, and diarrhea, says Hugues Robert, MSF head of mission for Sri Lanka.

A Médecins Sans Frontières's (MSF's) field news on Tuesday said: Working in conjunction with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams in Vavuniya District in Sri Lanka’s northeast have performed more than 5,000 surgeries over the last five months, most to treat conflict-related injuries. Activities are currently focused on post-operative care, including minor surgery, dressings, and physical therapy, as well as hospitalizations for displaced persons.
"There are many pregnant women and many children who are developing complications from respiratory illnesses, malnutrition, and diarrhea."
Seven weeks after fighting ended between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tiger rebels, fewer patients are arriving at the hospitals, but their numbers still exceed bed capacity. The total number of patients at the 450-bed hospital in Vavuniya has stabilized in recent weeks at approximately 1,200. MSF is working with Ministry of Health staff in the Vavuniya and Pompaimadu hospitals, as well as in an MSF hospital located across from the Manik Farm camps.
Surgery and post-operative care for the wounded still constituted most of June's activities, with nearly 1,200 surgeries performed on war-related injuries and thousands of wounds dressed. "Increasing numbers of displaced persons are now coming to the hospitals, too," says Hugues Robert, MSF head of mission for Sri Lanka. "The population in Vavuniya District nearly doubled over a few months, with more than 260,000 displaced persons arriving from the former conflict zone in the Vanni, area of northern Sri Lanka. This means that there are many pregnant women and many children who are developing complications from respiratory illnesses, malnutrition, and diarrhea. The Ministry of Health has expanded its capacity to treat these patients, but given the breadth of the needs, we think it's important for MSF to continue to provide support and expertise."

Treating the displaced population

 

At the MSF hospital located across from the Manik Farm camps, staff has hospitalized 600 patients since its opening on May 22. Most are displaced persons, referred either by Ministry of Health staff working in the camps or by other hospitals that have run out of space. They arrive and leave in ambulances, accompanied by a member of the security forces.

"The primary causes of hospitalization are old wounds and respiratory and skin infections," says Marie-Noëlle Rodrigue, MSF's emergency operations manager. "We adapt based on the medical needs. For example, we are developing obstetric care. But because we don't provide medical care in the camps, we don't have a good sense of the health status of the population that has come out of the war zone." Some displaced persons may require hospitalization for several days to several weeks. They include, for example, paralyzed and permanently disabled individuals who are treated at the Ministry of Health's Ayurvedic hospital in Pompaimadu. MSF's physical therapists help them regain some mobility so that they can move around with the crutches and wheelchairs provided by Handicap International.
Some of the wounded and ill are burn survivors, struggling to return to normal life. "I remember one woman whose face was ravaged – you couldn't tell her age,” a nurse recalls, “and she was with her eight-year-old daughter, the only one of her four children to survive. The child helped her in every aspect of her daily life. The woman would just disappear into herself for periods; it was the only way to escape the pain, in spite of the medication. She had to undergo several skin grafts after being wounded by multiple bomb explosions. I also remember a seven-year-old boy who no longer spoke and hadn't eaten practically anything for two months, since his father died. He was severely malnourished and did regain weight while he was hospitalized. But he never said a word right up until the time he left."
Overview of MSF's activities in Vavuniya District
Ministry of Health hospital in Vavuniya: MSF has supported the surgical unit since February. Approximately 4,000 surgeries have been performed on war-related injuries. The volume of work remains high, with an average of 1,400 surgeries per month since April. The vast majority, 70 percent, involve war-related wounds. More than 3,000 dressings have been applied in a temporary tent, the accident unit and three other hospitalization departments where MSF received authorization to work. MSF also supports the nutrition center in the pediatrics department, with nine nutritional assistants. In addition, approximately 100 assistants help patients in various departments who cannot feed or wash themselves. They also distribute essential supplies, including sheets, clothing, and bags, to new patients who need such items.
Ministry of Health Ayurvedic hospital in Pompaimadu: More than 170 wounded patients receive care, from minor surgery to physical therapy, in this hospital, which has received support from MSF since May. A small operating room was installed for minor procedures. Most involve wound- cleaning under anesthesia so that patients do not suffer excessively. In June, 114 minor procedures, primarily wound cleaning, were performed. Two physical therapists and five assistants help patients work their muscles and move as much as possible. Approximately 150 patients have benefited from this physical therapy to date.
Manik Farm hospital: This 150-bed hospital is equipped with two operating rooms and an intensive care unit. The tents have been replaced gradually by semi-temporary structures in order to improve hospital conditions, and the number of beds may be increased further as needed. Of the 600 admissions since late May, approximately one-quarter were children under five years of age.
The surgical team performed more than 300 procedures. More than one-third involved war injuries, primarily to extract shrapnel and bullet fragments. Outpatient services are also provided for new patients and for surgery patients who require post-operative treatment. 210 patients have received outpatient care since late May.
MSF has also been working at the Point Pedro hospital on the Jaffna peninsula since 2006, providing obstetric services, emergency care, and surgical care, and in the Chavakachcheri hospital since 2008, providing surgical consultations and prenatal care. MSF has provided prenatal care in the displaced persons' camps in Jaffa since June.