“No new appointments of medical staffers for the thirty-seven regional hospitals in Jaffna district have been made in the past twenty years,” Jaffna District Director of Public Health Service (DPHS), Dr. R. Ketheeswaran said. Only 50% of the medical staffers needed in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH), which is administered by the Ministry of Health, have been appointed in the past, the Director said.
The 37 regional hospitals in Jaffna district which come under the administration of Public Health Service Department have been neglected by the Health Ministry where an acute shortage of medical staffers prevails for the last two decades, he further said.
This situation forces the 600,000 people of Jaffna district to seek medical treatment in JTH which is understaffed.
In most of the regional hospitals we have been forced to employ retired medical staffers, some of them over 70 years of age, Ketheeswaran said.
17 doctors are urgently needed to meet the needs of these 37 regional hospitals.
There are only 16 doctors serving in the regional hospitals while 88 doctors are needed.
Only a single Physical Health Inspector is in service when 12 are needed.
Similarly, in the posts of Registered Medical Practitioners, only 19 serve out of the 58 required.
Only 11 dispensers are in service while 28 are needed and only 2 Medical Laboratory Technicians are in service when 18 are needed.
Seven X-ray technicians are needed but only two are employed and when there is a need for 308 medical nurses only 70 are available.
While 351 Family Health Officers are needed only 141 are in service.
The reason for this acute shortage of medical staffers in the regional hospitals in Jaffna district is the disinterest shown by the Ministry of Health, Dr. Ketheeswaran said.
Government should take immediate steps appoint the needed medical staffers in the interest of the 600,000 population of Jaffna district, he added
Monday, August 31, 2009
journalist abducted in white van; later released
Unknown persons arriving in a white van abducted P. Ekaneligoda, a journalist who worked as Features Editor of Siyarata, official organ of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and LankaeNews website, in Makumbura in Homagama police division in Colombo district on Thursday night, sources in Colombo said. He was subsequently released the next day.
The reason for the abduction is not known, the sources said.
Mr. P. Ekaneligoda has lodged a complaint with the Homagama police Saturday.
The reason for the abduction is not known, the sources said.
Mr. P. Ekaneligoda has lodged a complaint with the Homagama police Saturday.
Sri Lankan court imprisons journalist for 20 years
J.S. Tissainayagam, a senior journalist and Sunday Times columnist, was sentenced to twenty-year rigorous imprisonment by Colombo High Court judge Deepali Wijesundara on Monday. Mr. Tissanayagam has been indicted under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), and was charged on three counts including printing and distributing the publication North Eastern Herald Monthly magazine.
According to the indictment, the veteran journalist had committed an 'offence' on two counts under the PTA and has committed 'acts of violence by inciting communal feelings by editing, printing or distributing the North Eastern Monthly magazine'.
Tissainayagam was also charged under the Emergency Regulations for collecting money for the furtherance of terrorism or specified terrorist activities.
Journalist Tissainayagam was detained on March 7, 2008 when he went to the Sri Lanka's Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to look for his colleagues Jasikaran and Valarmathy. He was detained for almost six months without charges.
On August 25th he was charged with writing to incite 'ethnic disharmony'.
Tissainayagam was also charged under the Emergency Regulations for collecting money for the furtherance of terrorism or specified terrorist activities.
Journalist Tissainayagam was detained on March 7, 2008 when he went to the Sri Lanka's Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to look for his colleagues Jasikaran and Valarmathy. He was detained for almost six months without charges.
On August 25th he was charged with writing to incite 'ethnic disharmony'.
Continued confinement of innocent civilians may lead to renewed conflict: British Conservatives
William Hague, the British Conservative Party MP and the Shadow Foreign Secretary on Thursday urged the Sri Lankan government to take all possible measures to prevent further suffering".
He called for UN and relief organisations to be given "full and unrestricted access to provide shelter, food, water, and medicine, and to oversee the screening process" – a call made all the more urgent by the onset of the monsoon season.
Hague also stressed the importance of the Sri Lankan government living up to its commitment to allow the people to return to their homes by the end of the year. "Their continued confinement in camps will simply sow the seeds of discontent and may lead to renewed conflict in years to come. This would be a disastrous setback for the country when peace has been so hard won."
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Video, leaked memo bedevil Moon's climate visit to Norway
International Development Minister Erik Solheim told Norway's Aftenposten Wednesday that he will discuss the details of the gruesome video showing Sri Lanka soldiers executing naked, bound men, during Ban Ki Moon's Norway visit this week. Meanwhile, the visit occurs while 'The Economist' gave Mr. Moon a failed grade in his UN performance (30%), and a leaked memo by Norway’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mona Juul, accused Moon for being a "passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes [in Sri Lanka]," in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure.
Mr. Ban will visit Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, as part of his official visit to Norway which begins next week.The visit to the Arctic is part of the Secretary-General's ongoing efforts to push for action ahead of the global climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where countries will implement a new greenhouse gas emissions reduction pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, UN Radio said of his visit.
Solheim commenting on the video to the Norway daily said that dozens of people have been killed or have disappeared in Sri Lanka in recent years, without any form of judicial process or verdict. And there is overwhelming evidence that structures within the state apparatus is behind many of these killings, and added that "he will not be surprised if the footage turns out to be genuine."
"United Nations must address in the investigation of possible war crimes in Sri Lanka. It's something I definitely want to do, even if the purpose of his trip is about climate and environment," Solheim told the paper.
Meanwhile, a leaked diplomatic document, stamped ‘strictly confidential,’ on 19th August, Mona Juual is likely to further add diplomatic discomfort to Ban's visit. Juul said in the memo, "the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who was refused admittance by Colombo at the height of the war, chose to accept its invitation as soon as the war was “won."" The diplomat added: "War in Sri Lanka is an example of the weak handling of the Secretary General. He was a passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes, the diplomat further said in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure."
The Economist gave a paltry 2/10 for Moon's Management skills and a 3/10 for "truth to power," saying his quiet diplomacy has failed to yield tangible results.
"After Sri Lanka’s war ended, Mr Ban denied that the UN had leaked grim civilian casualty figures (indeed, some UN officials reportedly sought to suppress the toll). That obscured his other responses—such as an appeal to aid the Tamil refugees. With Sri Lanka’s government shielded by China, India and others at the Security Council and at the UN Human Rights Commission, human-rights groups had hoped Mr Ban would speak up more for the victims," the Economist cited as one of the reasons for giving Moon a failed grade.
Solheim commenting on the video to the Norway daily said that dozens of people have been killed or have disappeared in Sri Lanka in recent years, without any form of judicial process or verdict. And there is overwhelming evidence that structures within the state apparatus is behind many of these killings, and added that "he will not be surprised if the footage turns out to be genuine."
"United Nations must address in the investigation of possible war crimes in Sri Lanka. It's something I definitely want to do, even if the purpose of his trip is about climate and environment," Solheim told the paper.
Meanwhile, a leaked diplomatic document, stamped ‘strictly confidential,’ on 19th August, Mona Juual is likely to further add diplomatic discomfort to Ban's visit. Juul said in the memo, "the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who was refused admittance by Colombo at the height of the war, chose to accept its invitation as soon as the war was “won."" The diplomat added: "War in Sri Lanka is an example of the weak handling of the Secretary General. He was a passive observer when thousands lost lives and were driven from their homes, the diplomat further said in her mid term assessment of Ban’s tenure."
The Economist gave a paltry 2/10 for Moon's Management skills and a 3/10 for "truth to power," saying his quiet diplomacy has failed to yield tangible results.
"After Sri Lanka’s war ended, Mr Ban denied that the UN had leaked grim civilian casualty figures (indeed, some UN officials reportedly sought to suppress the toll). That obscured his other responses—such as an appeal to aid the Tamil refugees. With Sri Lanka’s government shielded by China, India and others at the Security Council and at the UN Human Rights Commission, human-rights groups had hoped Mr Ban would speak up more for the victims," the Economist cited as one of the reasons for giving Moon a failed grade.
Chauvinism and greed 'naked' in Sri Lanka
It was frightening to see the combined effect of naked chauvinism of Sri Lanka and naked greed of powers, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo responding to the video clip displayed Tuesday. “Such a trend in the establishments is a challenge to every lay human being of the civilized world. While rising up to free people in the internment camps is a spontaneous response, what is of paramount importance is independent political organisation of Tamils in order to meet the challenge of the same forces that are now coercing or enticing them to drop righteous aspirations. Tamils are not asking for other’s land or for empires. They only ask for their own land and there is nothing to get scared or to feel ashamed of. As people of classical heritage, if Tamils fail, they fail not merely their cause but an entire human civilization,” he writes commenting on current Tamil affairs.
Full text of the response from the commentator follows:
The world was shocked to see a video footage Tuesday showing the nakedness of Colombo’s genocide of Tamils. What was seen is only an iota of what has happened and what has been happening for decades in the island. But the snippet clip from the Independent Journalists of Sri Lanka has awakened the civilized world that was by design put to slumber by the so-called international media.
Colombo is only partly responsible for crimes against Tamils.
It is the naked greed of the tzars of so-called international community banking on Sri Lankan state that was essentially responsible for this savage experiment on human civilization.
In the long history of genocide against Tamils in the island, the state always escaped scot-free in the pogroms of 1958, 1977 and 1983. The international community did nothing in the edification of the state. Tamils were always told to compromise.
Confident of its impunity, the state was ‘all naked’ in waging the genocidal war and in incarcerating Tamil people. Equally naked, the international community rationalised and abetted it.
Indian Establishment the most active partner of Colombo, China, Russia, Pakistan, and a host of others demonstrated this in a crude way in the UN human rights council. But Tamils are more worried of the sophisticated ways of the West.
India in an intimidating way and the West in an enticing way tries to do the same thing. After military abetment, now strengthening Sri Lankan state diplomatically and economically, they want the victims to reconcile, not to call ‘genocide a genocide’ and want Tamils to forget their aspiration of achieving permanent security by having their own nation state.
India and the West are also competing subtly in capturing and blunting the democratic political moves of Tamils to suit their interests. The former is active in the island and the latter in the diaspora. The main agenda, either by coercion or enticement, is to make Eezham Tamils to drop their nationalism.
They do this with full knowledge that in the context of the deep divide in the island, nothing less than the recognition of two nations only could sort out the matter.
The Australian foreign minister was very open last week.
In view of the long ‘trade relations’ of Australia with Sri Lanka and as a fellow island nation in the ‘region,’ his government is interested in seeing a united Sri Lanka and is reluctant to call for freeing the incarcerated Tamils, despite the fact that all its earlier calls for restraint were not cared by Sri Lanka.
Australia didn’t consider Indonesia as an island nation in the region when it stood for the independence of East Timor.
What implied by the Australian foreign minister is that Tamils have to accept genocide and subjugation for the sake of the economic and geopolitical interests of powers. He leaves Tamils with no choice.
Such an open show of greed by the establishments today is a challenge to the entire civilised world. Ultimately it is a war against every person of lay humanity.
Agitations to attract attention on the plight of Eezham Tamils are planned by diaspora groups in different parts of the world. Attracting the attention of whom? Not that the establishments that caused it don’t know it.
Tamils have to draw the attention of the alternative world, including alternative sections of the Sinhala nation and mobilize them against the common danger all are facing.
Of course, the issue of people in the internment camps is of grave concern and there could be no second word that all have to rise up for their freedom.
But one has to carefully note that governments that allowed genocide, incarceration and the crushing of Tamil safe guards, and the international media that silently sabotaged the Tamil cause, are now showing interest in the IDP issue only because it is essential for the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to establish themselves in the island. At the same time, all of them meticulously continue nullifying the Tamil national question.There is no need to elaborate that their operations in collaboration with the Sri Lankan state, while keeping Tamils deprived of sovereignty to decide about their homeland, portend only danger.
The idea is to capture everything of Tamils including their spirit so that the question of political solution or handing over the land to the rightful owners doesn’t arise and the greedy ones could have their ways, making people as ‘work force’.
Therefore, what is of paramount importance is Tamils demonstrating their political will for sovereignty and telling the powers loud and clear that meaningful engagement comes only when they recognize the nation of Eezham Tamils and its absolute self-determination.
Independent political formation of Eezham Tamils, strongly anchored on their national aspiration for independence and sovereignty, is the foundation for achieving anything or engaging with anybody meaningfully.
Individuals who believe in circular ways or in the formulas of powers and think that engagement first and demands later, may do so and may be appreciated if their efforts bring in acceptable results.
But for this purpose they should not attempt to deviate the voice coming from the soul of Tamil nation. Truncating political voice is not the strategy.
It is for an independently organised polity of Eezham Tamils to decide about alliances. An ally may even be an alternative Sinhala polity but it cannot be anyone who tells Tamils to forget righteous aspirations.
Tamils are not asking for other’s land or for empires. They only ask for their own land and there is nothing to get scared or to feel ashamed of it.
The people of Tamil Nadu on their part have a duty in putting the message in strongest possible terms to Karunanidhi government and to the Establishment in New Delhi.
As people of classical heritage, if Tamils fail, they fail not merely their cause but an entire human civilization.
Full text of the response from the commentator follows:
The world was shocked to see a video footage Tuesday showing the nakedness of Colombo’s genocide of Tamils. What was seen is only an iota of what has happened and what has been happening for decades in the island. But the snippet clip from the Independent Journalists of Sri Lanka has awakened the civilized world that was by design put to slumber by the so-called international media.
Colombo is only partly responsible for crimes against Tamils.
It is the naked greed of the tzars of so-called international community banking on Sri Lankan state that was essentially responsible for this savage experiment on human civilization.
In the long history of genocide against Tamils in the island, the state always escaped scot-free in the pogroms of 1958, 1977 and 1983. The international community did nothing in the edification of the state. Tamils were always told to compromise.
Confident of its impunity, the state was ‘all naked’ in waging the genocidal war and in incarcerating Tamil people. Equally naked, the international community rationalised and abetted it.
Indian Establishment the most active partner of Colombo, China, Russia, Pakistan, and a host of others demonstrated this in a crude way in the UN human rights council. But Tamils are more worried of the sophisticated ways of the West.
India in an intimidating way and the West in an enticing way tries to do the same thing. After military abetment, now strengthening Sri Lankan state diplomatically and economically, they want the victims to reconcile, not to call ‘genocide a genocide’ and want Tamils to forget their aspiration of achieving permanent security by having their own nation state.
India and the West are also competing subtly in capturing and blunting the democratic political moves of Tamils to suit their interests. The former is active in the island and the latter in the diaspora. The main agenda, either by coercion or enticement, is to make Eezham Tamils to drop their nationalism.
They do this with full knowledge that in the context of the deep divide in the island, nothing less than the recognition of two nations only could sort out the matter.
The Australian foreign minister was very open last week.
In view of the long ‘trade relations’ of Australia with Sri Lanka and as a fellow island nation in the ‘region,’ his government is interested in seeing a united Sri Lanka and is reluctant to call for freeing the incarcerated Tamils, despite the fact that all its earlier calls for restraint were not cared by Sri Lanka.
Australia didn’t consider Indonesia as an island nation in the region when it stood for the independence of East Timor.
What implied by the Australian foreign minister is that Tamils have to accept genocide and subjugation for the sake of the economic and geopolitical interests of powers. He leaves Tamils with no choice.
Such an open show of greed by the establishments today is a challenge to the entire civilised world. Ultimately it is a war against every person of lay humanity.
Agitations to attract attention on the plight of Eezham Tamils are planned by diaspora groups in different parts of the world. Attracting the attention of whom? Not that the establishments that caused it don’t know it.
Tamils have to draw the attention of the alternative world, including alternative sections of the Sinhala nation and mobilize them against the common danger all are facing.
Of course, the issue of people in the internment camps is of grave concern and there could be no second word that all have to rise up for their freedom.
But one has to carefully note that governments that allowed genocide, incarceration and the crushing of Tamil safe guards, and the international media that silently sabotaged the Tamil cause, are now showing interest in the IDP issue only because it is essential for the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) to establish themselves in the island. At the same time, all of them meticulously continue nullifying the Tamil national question.There is no need to elaborate that their operations in collaboration with the Sri Lankan state, while keeping Tamils deprived of sovereignty to decide about their homeland, portend only danger.
The idea is to capture everything of Tamils including their spirit so that the question of political solution or handing over the land to the rightful owners doesn’t arise and the greedy ones could have their ways, making people as ‘work force’.
Therefore, what is of paramount importance is Tamils demonstrating their political will for sovereignty and telling the powers loud and clear that meaningful engagement comes only when they recognize the nation of Eezham Tamils and its absolute self-determination.
Independent political formation of Eezham Tamils, strongly anchored on their national aspiration for independence and sovereignty, is the foundation for achieving anything or engaging with anybody meaningfully.
Individuals who believe in circular ways or in the formulas of powers and think that engagement first and demands later, may do so and may be appreciated if their efforts bring in acceptable results.
But for this purpose they should not attempt to deviate the voice coming from the soul of Tamil nation. Truncating political voice is not the strategy.
It is for an independently organised polity of Eezham Tamils to decide about alliances. An ally may even be an alternative Sinhala polity but it cannot be anyone who tells Tamils to forget righteous aspirations.
Tamils are not asking for other’s land or for empires. They only ask for their own land and there is nothing to get scared or to feel ashamed of it.
The people of Tamil Nadu on their part have a duty in putting the message in strongest possible terms to Karunanidhi government and to the Establishment in New Delhi.
As people of classical heritage, if Tamils fail, they fail not merely their cause but an entire human civilization.
SLA blocks spouse from collecting Welikada victim's body
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Saturday denied permission to Mrs Devendran Saro, the wife of a Welikada prisoner who died in questionable circumstances inside the maximum security prison in Boralle last week, to travel to Colombo to collect her husband's body, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The second Tamil prisoner who died under the same circumstances is yet to be identified.
The deceased, Sinnaiah Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
Mrs. Devendran had gone to the Jaffna police to get permission to collect the body on Saturday morning but was referred to meet SLA officers to obtain permission to travel to Colombo.
Mrs Devendran than went to the SLA civil affairs office, where the SLA officers had given her an application to fill, and she submitted the form duly filled.
The SLA officers had questioned how and where her husband had died, and she had told that her husband had died in the Welikada prison.
The SLA officers then refused to issue authorization to travel, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
The body of Sinnaiah Devendran currently lies at the Police morgue, Colombo.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
The deceased, Sinnaiah Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
Mrs. Devendran had gone to the Jaffna police to get permission to collect the body on Saturday morning but was referred to meet SLA officers to obtain permission to travel to Colombo.
Mrs Devendran than went to the SLA civil affairs office, where the SLA officers had given her an application to fill, and she submitted the form duly filled.
The SLA officers had questioned how and where her husband had died, and she had told that her husband had died in the Welikada prison.
The SLA officers then refused to issue authorization to travel, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
The body of Sinnaiah Devendran currently lies at the Police morgue, Colombo.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
Colombo suspends releasing Trinco internees from Menik farm
Sri Lanka authorities, without prior notice and without citing any reason, have suspended Saturday, a planned release of a group of 600 persons out of about 3,000 internally displaced persons who are residents of Trincomalee district and fled from Vanni and currently being interned in military supervised Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa to their own villages, civil sources in Vavuniyaa told media. More than 300,000 Tamil civilians are currently being held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
The internees were brought from Menik Farm on Friday and were sheltered in Vavuniyaa Saivapragasa Girls Maha Vidiyayam to be sent to their villages in Trincomalee district Saturday.
But on a sudden decision taken by the civil authority on the orders of higher officials, the internees were sent back to Menik Farm internment camps.
About four hundred IDPs were sent back on Friday night. The rest IDPs were sent Saturday, sources said.
The internees were brought from Menik Farm on Friday and were sheltered in Vavuniyaa Saivapragasa Girls Maha Vidiyayam to be sent to their villages in Trincomalee district Saturday.
But on a sudden decision taken by the civil authority on the orders of higher officials, the internees were sent back to Menik Farm internment camps.
About four hundred IDPs were sent back on Friday night. The rest IDPs were sent Saturday, sources said.
Key Campaign to Unlock Sri Lankan ‘Concentration Camps’
Marking 100 days since the end of the bloody conflict in Sri Lanka and the imprisonment of over 280,000 Tamil civilians in deplorable ‘concentration camps’, British Tamils Forum launched an unprecedented “Key” campaign.
The launch event, attended by UK Parliamentarians, human rights activists, councillors and members of community organisations, was held at the Boothroyd Suite, Portcullis House in Westminster on Thursday, 27 August from 4pm.
In an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the Tamil civilians who remain incarcerated in military-run camps, the UK Tamil Diaspora launched a “continuous campaign”, vowing to take action until all the illegally detained people are freed and resettled in their own homeland.
The safety and security of these civilians guarded by military personnel has come in to grave questioning following Channel 4’s airing of disturbing footage obtained from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, depicting the extrajudicial execution of Tamils by government forces, underscoring international probe calls.
“Unlock the Concentration Camps in Sri Lanka” campaign slideshow presentation was followed by Siobhain McDonagh MP chairing the proceedings. Joan Ryan MP, Virendra Sharma MP, Neil Gerrard MP, Andrew Pelling MP and Cllr Pete Pattisson all participated in the launch event offering their continued support and joining international calls for an independent inquiry into all war crimes evidence.
Minister of State, Department for International Development, Gareth Thomas MP, said “there needs to be full access for UN, Media to the camps” and reiterated that the Government of Sri Lanka must “use this victory to deliver justice and perfectly legitimate aspirations of self determination to Tamils”.
Steven Pound MP voiced his concerns for the missing, the disappeared, and the murdered, highlighting that the main priorities are an “investigation into war crimes” and for Tamils to have some form of dialogue with the Sri Lankan government.
Cllr James Allie from Brent expressed great resentment at the “double standards” towards the Sri Lanka crisis, “Camps need to be cleared. Of all other places Europe has history of concentration camps. Europe knows there is no justification.”
The launch event, attended by UK Parliamentarians, human rights activists, councillors and members of community organisations, was held at the Boothroyd Suite, Portcullis House in Westminster on Thursday, 27 August from 4pm.
In an effort to raise awareness of the plight of the Tamil civilians who remain incarcerated in military-run camps, the UK Tamil Diaspora launched a “continuous campaign”, vowing to take action until all the illegally detained people are freed and resettled in their own homeland.
The safety and security of these civilians guarded by military personnel has come in to grave questioning following Channel 4’s airing of disturbing footage obtained from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, depicting the extrajudicial execution of Tamils by government forces, underscoring international probe calls.
“Unlock the Concentration Camps in Sri Lanka” campaign slideshow presentation was followed by Siobhain McDonagh MP chairing the proceedings. Joan Ryan MP, Virendra Sharma MP, Neil Gerrard MP, Andrew Pelling MP and Cllr Pete Pattisson all participated in the launch event offering their continued support and joining international calls for an independent inquiry into all war crimes evidence.
Minister of State, Department for International Development, Gareth Thomas MP, said “there needs to be full access for UN, Media to the camps” and reiterated that the Government of Sri Lanka must “use this victory to deliver justice and perfectly legitimate aspirations of self determination to Tamils”.
Steven Pound MP voiced his concerns for the missing, the disappeared, and the murdered, highlighting that the main priorities are an “investigation into war crimes” and for Tamils to have some form of dialogue with the Sri Lankan government.
Cllr James Allie from Brent expressed great resentment at the “double standards” towards the Sri Lanka crisis, “Camps need to be cleared. Of all other places Europe has history of concentration camps. Europe knows there is no justification.”
Lanka among countries worst-hit by disappearances: RSF
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has put Sri Lanka among countries worst hit by disappearances since the year 2000. In a statement to mark the 26th International Day of the Disappeared which falls on 30 August RSF says the list of disappeared journalists is far from exhaustive.
“Whether carried out by agents of the state or local criminals bent on settling scores, the many disappearances of journalists highlights the fact that the enemies of press freedom have no hesitation in using the most cowardly and despicable methods to gag journalists. We restate our support for the families of the disappeared and we share the pain they suffer in the waiting and uncertainty about their fate”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“We urge the relevant authorities to systematically take these disappearances seriously and to open the badly-needed investigations to find these missing journalists and punish those responsible. It is moreover incredible that cases of ‘enforced disappearance’ implicating agents of the state or those acting with its support can still be going on around the world. We urge countries that have signed the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance to ratify the law as quickly as possible so that it can be put into force”, it added.
Mexico, where eight journalists have disappeared since the year 2000, is the country most affected by this plague. Mauricio Estrada Zamora, journalist on the regional daily La Opinión de Apatzingán, has been missing since 12 February 2008 in Michoacan state in the south-west of the country, an area notorious for crime and the illegal drugs trade. The management of his newspaper said that three weeks before he went missing he wrote an article that enraged an agent of the Federal Investigation Agency. Also in Michoacan, the editor of the weekly Ecos de la Cuenca, José Antonio García Apac, went missing on 20 November 2006 after he keeping an appointment after he received a phone call at 7.15pm. His son got a call from his father at 7.30pm which was interrupted by voices telling him to switch off his mobile phone and to identify himself. Nothing more has been heard of him since.
A Reporters Without Borders’ delegation that visited Mexico in July 2009 met and talked to the families of these two journalists. .
In January 2009, The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” surrounding the disappearances of journalists in the country. Soldiers arrested Subramaniam Ramachandran, correspondent for Tamil dailies Thinakural and Valampuri, close to a military camp, Kalikai Junction, in the north of Jaffna, in the north of the country on 15 February 2007. His family has heard nothing of him since then. He had been reporting on the illegal trade in sand, implicating a businessman and members of the military. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission handled the case and it was referred to the military authorities, including the commander in chief for the Jaffna region. But as lawyer Mudiyapu Remedias explained, in this type of case “everyone is afraid of challenging the army, which denied any involvement”.
Vadivel Nimalarajah, a sub-editor on the popular Tamil daily in Jaffna, Uthayan, which is highly critical of the government, has not been heard of since 17 November 2007 when, colleagues believe, he was abducted while cycling home after working overnight at the paper.
In Iran, Pirouz Davani, editor of the newspaper Pirouz, has not been seen or heard of since he left his home one day at the end of August 1998. The authorities have never shown any sign of wanting to solve the case. Those behind his disappearance have thus been ensured complete impunity. The newspaper Kar-e-Karagar reported rumours of his “execution” in its 28 November 1998 edition. Journalist Akbar Ganji, working for Sobh-e-Emrouz, confirmed these rumours at the end of November 2000 and accused the former intelligence minister and current prosecutor general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, of involvement in the killing. No government officials have ever commented on this report. Davani’s family took their case to the UN Human Rights Commission in December 2002.
In Gambia, "Chief" Ebrima Manneh, a journalist on the privately-owned The Daily Observer, has been missing since 7 July 2006, when he was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for an unknown reason shortly after the closure of the African Union summit of heads of state and government which was held in the Gambian capital Banjul. The Gambian government has since then refused to reveal any information about his fate. Justice Minister, Marie Saine Firdaus, said on 6 April 2009 that the journalist had never been held in a Gambian prison. However, one week later, a police officer from Mile Two prison in Banjul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had seen the journalist for the last time inside the prison, in 2008, before he was taken away in the middle of the night by a police officer in plain clothes. “Chief” Ebrima Manneh has never been seen since.
On the other side of the African continent, in Eritrea, scores of journalists have been arrested since September 2001 and most of them have disappeared into the country’s jails without their families knowing where they are. The authorities in the capital Asmara have remained completely silent about their fate.
“Whether carried out by agents of the state or local criminals bent on settling scores, the many disappearances of journalists highlights the fact that the enemies of press freedom have no hesitation in using the most cowardly and despicable methods to gag journalists. We restate our support for the families of the disappeared and we share the pain they suffer in the waiting and uncertainty about their fate”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“We urge the relevant authorities to systematically take these disappearances seriously and to open the badly-needed investigations to find these missing journalists and punish those responsible. It is moreover incredible that cases of ‘enforced disappearance’ implicating agents of the state or those acting with its support can still be going on around the world. We urge countries that have signed the International Convention for the Protection of Persons from Enforced Disappearance to ratify the law as quickly as possible so that it can be put into force”, it added.
Mexico, where eight journalists have disappeared since the year 2000, is the country most affected by this plague. Mauricio Estrada Zamora, journalist on the regional daily La Opinión de Apatzingán, has been missing since 12 February 2008 in Michoacan state in the south-west of the country, an area notorious for crime and the illegal drugs trade. The management of his newspaper said that three weeks before he went missing he wrote an article that enraged an agent of the Federal Investigation Agency. Also in Michoacan, the editor of the weekly Ecos de la Cuenca, José Antonio García Apac, went missing on 20 November 2006 after he keeping an appointment after he received a phone call at 7.15pm. His son got a call from his father at 7.30pm which was interrupted by voices telling him to switch off his mobile phone and to identify himself. Nothing more has been heard of him since.
A Reporters Without Borders’ delegation that visited Mexico in July 2009 met and talked to the families of these two journalists. .
In January 2009, The International Press Freedom Mission to Sri Lanka condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” surrounding the disappearances of journalists in the country. Soldiers arrested Subramaniam Ramachandran, correspondent for Tamil dailies Thinakural and Valampuri, close to a military camp, Kalikai Junction, in the north of Jaffna, in the north of the country on 15 February 2007. His family has heard nothing of him since then. He had been reporting on the illegal trade in sand, implicating a businessman and members of the military. The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission handled the case and it was referred to the military authorities, including the commander in chief for the Jaffna region. But as lawyer Mudiyapu Remedias explained, in this type of case “everyone is afraid of challenging the army, which denied any involvement”.
Vadivel Nimalarajah, a sub-editor on the popular Tamil daily in Jaffna, Uthayan, which is highly critical of the government, has not been heard of since 17 November 2007 when, colleagues believe, he was abducted while cycling home after working overnight at the paper.
In Iran, Pirouz Davani, editor of the newspaper Pirouz, has not been seen or heard of since he left his home one day at the end of August 1998. The authorities have never shown any sign of wanting to solve the case. Those behind his disappearance have thus been ensured complete impunity. The newspaper Kar-e-Karagar reported rumours of his “execution” in its 28 November 1998 edition. Journalist Akbar Ganji, working for Sobh-e-Emrouz, confirmed these rumours at the end of November 2000 and accused the former intelligence minister and current prosecutor general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, of involvement in the killing. No government officials have ever commented on this report. Davani’s family took their case to the UN Human Rights Commission in December 2002.
In Gambia, "Chief" Ebrima Manneh, a journalist on the privately-owned The Daily Observer, has been missing since 7 July 2006, when he was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for an unknown reason shortly after the closure of the African Union summit of heads of state and government which was held in the Gambian capital Banjul. The Gambian government has since then refused to reveal any information about his fate. Justice Minister, Marie Saine Firdaus, said on 6 April 2009 that the journalist had never been held in a Gambian prison. However, one week later, a police officer from Mile Two prison in Banjul, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had seen the journalist for the last time inside the prison, in 2008, before he was taken away in the middle of the night by a police officer in plain clothes. “Chief” Ebrima Manneh has never been seen since.
On the other side of the African continent, in Eritrea, scores of journalists have been arrested since September 2001 and most of them have disappeared into the country’s jails without their families knowing where they are. The authorities in the capital Asmara have remained completely silent about their fate.
Liam Fox meets Mahinda Rajapakse, Sampanthan
The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.
Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.
Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.
Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.
Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.
Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.
Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.
Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.
Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.
2 Tamil political prisoners killed in Welikada
Two Tamil political prisoners have died under 'questionable circumstances' inside the Sri Lankan Central Prision at Welikada in Borallea this week, civil sources in Colombo revealed on Friday. One of the prisoner's wife, a native of Vaddukkoaddai, was informed by Jaffna police that her husband, 30-year-old Sinnaiah Devendran, had died three days ago while he was under going treatment at prison hospital.
Mr. Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
The second Tamil prisoner is yet to be identified.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
These are only reported massacres. But, Human Rights organisations and Tamil circles have accused that a very large number of such killings of Tamils have taken place while in custody of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
A few days ago, when two Sinhala youth were killed in police custody in Angulana and when a Sinhala student was abducted and assaulted by the police, the public outcry and media flash made the Sri Lankan government to announce inquiry and arrest of suspects.
On Angulana killings of Sinhala youth, the Bishop of Colombo Rev. Duleep D Chickera, told Sunday Times: "Our society should recognise that the culture of impunity and extra-judicial violence experienced mostly by the Tamil community over the past several years has turned some of our police officers into victims of a vicious system. They are unable to behave differently because they do not know a better way."
When Tamil political prisoners are killed as with the present case and suspected being killed in large numbers without accounts, there is no way of mobilising public protests, Tamil circles said.
Mr. Devendran, a native of Maskeliya in Up-country, was arrested after a bus bomb blast in Piliyandala. He was a garment factory worker.
The second Tamil prisoner is yet to be identified.
In 1983, 53 Tamil political prisoners were massacred inside Welikada and Magazine prisons.
In 2000, 28 Tamil detainees were killed inside the Bindunuwewa detention centre.
These are only reported massacres. But, Human Rights organisations and Tamil circles have accused that a very large number of such killings of Tamils have taken place while in custody of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
A few days ago, when two Sinhala youth were killed in police custody in Angulana and when a Sinhala student was abducted and assaulted by the police, the public outcry and media flash made the Sri Lankan government to announce inquiry and arrest of suspects.
On Angulana killings of Sinhala youth, the Bishop of Colombo Rev. Duleep D Chickera, told Sunday Times: "Our society should recognise that the culture of impunity and extra-judicial violence experienced mostly by the Tamil community over the past several years has turned some of our police officers into victims of a vicious system. They are unable to behave differently because they do not know a better way."
When Tamil political prisoners are killed as with the present case and suspected being killed in large numbers without accounts, there is no way of mobilising public protests, Tamil circles said.
Executions by Sri Lankan Army To Be Raised to UN's Ban in Norway, a Post Mona Juul Memo "Moral Authority" Test
The video footage depicting the Sri Lankan Army committing summary executions will be raised to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his impending visit to Oslo, Norwegian Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim has vowed. On August 26 at a regular press briefing before Ban left New York, Inner City Press asked his Spokesperson Michele Montas if he or she had seen the footage, and for a UN Secretariat comment. There was no response to the video, and so the the link to the video was provided. In the four days since there has been no UN Secretariat
FULL STORY
FULL STORY
Video of killings: LTTE hopes UN, ICC will act
"However, I am not surprised because this is not the first time the barbarism and the brutality of the government of Sri Lanka has been on public display. We have seen pictures of small children who were literally hung to death in Vaharai and the explosion of bombs in a woman's private parts to hide evidence of rape by members of the armed forces.
"We fear there have been many more atrocities committed. There have been tens of thousands of disappearances and extrajudicial killings of Tamils over the past 25 years, for instance, while this is the first to be captured on film." he said.
Rudrakumaran said the latest video released by Germany based "Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka" would be part of his legal campaign against the Sri Lankan government.
"Your browser may not support display of this image. Definitely this video will be part of the legal campaign to bring justice to the victims. We believe this kind of revelations prick the conscience of the international community. It is appalling to see even after the killing of more than 30,000 people and the detaining of more than 300,000 people in a clear effort to be rid of an entire community, Sri Lanka is still treated as a normal state.
"The international community's failure to bring these criminals to justice not only reinforces the betrayal of the international community of the Tamils, but also undermines the rule of law and the integrity of international institutions such as the UN. We hope that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will do an investigation on its own, will refer the matter to the Security Council and get the Council's approval to initiate prosecution in the ICC. India's support for such action toward justice will be very important." he said
Rudrakumaran expressed concern for the three lakh Tamil civilians in IDP camps set up by the Sri Lankan government in North Sri Lanka.
"We are very concerned about the basic human security of the IDPs in the camps and the former combatants in places unknown. General Sarath Fonseka says that 4-5 suspected combatants are being taken from the camps every day, while Human Rights Watch says that there are "concerns of possible ill-treatment or enforced disappearance" for these individuals removed from the camps without accountability," he said.
Rudrakumaran said many of the Sri Lankan government's actions during its last war with the LTTE had been in clear violation of the international norms and could be described as "war crimes" and "genocide".
"Your browser may not support display of this image. There is no doubt that war crimes have been committed by the government of Sri Lanka. How else can one explain the killing of more than 20,000 civilians within the last ten days of the war? In addition to killing tens of thousands outright, the government deliberately starved 300,000 civilians for months, withheld medical care and deliberately bombed and shelled hospitals, homes, fields, and temples and is holding the survivors in concentration camps indefinitely.
"In fact, the carnage committed by the government of Sri Lanka clearly satisfies the definition of genocide in the Genocide Convention. The intent to eliminate large numbers of Tamils can easily be inferred from the acts themselves. "
The Sri Lankan government continues to deny charges of war crimes and human rights violations and has said that there is no need for an internal or international investigations into the latest video or other charges.
"What else do you expect from this government? The fact they haven't even offered to have a domestic investigation reveals where the guilt lies." he said.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59088§ionid=104&Itemid=1&issueid=121
Determine if massacre video is old or new: Karunanidhi
"Some say it is an old video. It is for the central government to come out with a clarification," Karunanidhi told reporters here.
The film was released by a grouping of Sri Lankan journalists based in the West. It was apparently shot in January at an unspecified location.
It showed uniformed men said to be Sri Lankan soldiers shooting two naked, blindfolded and tied young men believed to be Tamils from close range.
The film, widely shown on international television channels, also showed the bodies of more naked men, shot dead similarly. Only one body was fully clothed. Sri Lanka has said the video is a fake and meant to sully the image of the military, which crushed the Tamil Tigers in May, ending one of the world's longest running insurgencies.
Asked about the nearly 300,000 Tamil civilian in refugee camps in Sri Lanka since the conflict ended, Karunanidhi said: "We have been urging the prime minister and the external affairs minister to take necessary action on this front.
"The union government must show more interest. The union ministers and MPs from Tamil Nadu are also urging the centre to take immediate action."
He said that tonnes of relief material sent by the state government for the displaced Tamils had reached the island for distribution.
Tamils for Obama: Keep the Sri Lankan War Criminals Out of the U.S.
A video recently emerged showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners. The video was broadcast by the U.K.'s Channel 4 news. Tamils for Obama wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis requesting them to block the entry of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa's delegation to the U.N. General Assembly session this fall where he plans to present SL military men to the assembly for the world's approval. Tamils for Obama suggests that these soldiers will be revealed as war criminals and will eventually embarrass the U.N. and the U.S.
New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2009 -- Britain's Channel 4 news aired a video showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners.
(To see the Channel 4 news report go to:http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001
Tamils for Obama, citing the Channel 4 video as further evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan military, requested that the U.S. refuse to allow President Rajapaksa's delegation to enter the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly session this fall. President Rajapaksa plans to include a number of Sri Lankan soldiers in this diplomatic delegation. Tamils for Obama maintains that most of them are guilty of war crimes like those shown in the video.
The video was made by a Sri Lankan soldier on his mobile phone and then passed along to an independent journalists' group, which supplied it to Channel 4. The video seems to give clear evidence of this Sri Lankan war crime.
"We are pleased that this video emerged," said a spokesman for Tamils for Obama. "It came from independent sources--a Sri Lankan soldier and a European journalists' group--who cannot be called propagandists for Tamils. This is plainly genuine."
Tamils for Obama also mentioned in a letter the Tamil group sent to Secretary of State Clinton, Attorney General Holder and Ambassador Butenis that "according to the U.N., the number of Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan government is over 30,000 between January and May of this year."
The same Tamils for Obama spokesman said that "Stories of Sri Lankan atrocities still horrify us, but they are no surprise. As we wrote to Secretary Clinton and Attorney General Holder 'We have heard stories like this for years. We have heard that thousands of crippled Tamil civilians were buried alive by the Sri Lankan armed forces on May 18, 2009, a story which we expect will eventually be proven and become part of the world's consciousness.'"
The Tamils for Obama spokesman said that independent proof of the mass burials has not yet emerged, but that they are confident that the truth of the matter would eventually be proven.
The Tamils for Obama letter concludes "We consider that these bloody-handed killers are appropriately regarded as war criminals and should be barred from entering the U.S. We urge the U.S. state and justice departments to prevent them from entering the U.S. and exploiting American credulity."
To read the letter, go to:http://www.tamilsforobama.com/Letters/SL_UN_Delegation.html
Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.
To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.
New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2009 -- Britain's Channel 4 news aired a video showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners.
(To see the Channel 4 news report go to:http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001
Tamils for Obama, citing the Channel 4 video as further evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan military, requested that the U.S. refuse to allow President Rajapaksa's delegation to enter the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly session this fall. President Rajapaksa plans to include a number of Sri Lankan soldiers in this diplomatic delegation. Tamils for Obama maintains that most of them are guilty of war crimes like those shown in the video.
The video was made by a Sri Lankan soldier on his mobile phone and then passed along to an independent journalists' group, which supplied it to Channel 4. The video seems to give clear evidence of this Sri Lankan war crime.
"We are pleased that this video emerged," said a spokesman for Tamils for Obama. "It came from independent sources--a Sri Lankan soldier and a European journalists' group--who cannot be called propagandists for Tamils. This is plainly genuine."
Tamils for Obama also mentioned in a letter the Tamil group sent to Secretary of State Clinton, Attorney General Holder and Ambassador Butenis that "according to the U.N., the number of Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan government is over 30,000 between January and May of this year."
The same Tamils for Obama spokesman said that "Stories of Sri Lankan atrocities still horrify us, but they are no surprise. As we wrote to Secretary Clinton and Attorney General Holder 'We have heard stories like this for years. We have heard that thousands of crippled Tamil civilians were buried alive by the Sri Lankan armed forces on May 18, 2009, a story which we expect will eventually be proven and become part of the world's consciousness.'"
The Tamils for Obama spokesman said that independent proof of the mass burials has not yet emerged, but that they are confident that the truth of the matter would eventually be proven.
The Tamils for Obama letter concludes "We consider that these bloody-handed killers are appropriately regarded as war criminals and should be barred from entering the U.S. We urge the U.S. state and justice departments to prevent them from entering the U.S. and exploiting American credulity."
To read the letter, go to:http://www.tamilsforobama.com/Letters/SL_UN_Delegation.html
Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.
To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.
UN expert urges Sri Lanka to probe execution video
Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Colombo had categorically denied the allegations, but stressed the need for an investigation.
"If the government?s position is validated as a result of an inquiry, the
international community can rest easy and the government will have been vindicated," he said.
"There is no justification for not moving ahead with such an investigation in view of the government?s confidence that such atrocities were never perpetrated by its armed forces," he added.
The images, which he described as "horrendous," indicate a serious violation of international law if found to be authentic, he said.
Alston also pointed out that he had asked permission to visit Sri Lanka on several occasions in recent years, but Colombo had not given him the green light.
The video footage, aired Tuesday by Channel 4 in Britain, was allegedly shot during the final stages of the army's defeat of Tamil Tiger separatists.
The rebels were finally vanquished in May after nearly four decades of ethnic bloodshed.
Sri Lanka's military had said the video was a fabrication designed to "discredit" its armed forces.
Widespread international concern was voiced over the number of civilians killed during the last leg of the fighting, while aid groups now fear for the welfare of 300,000 Tamils held in the state-run camps.
Erik Solheim Suggests Investigation On SL War Crimes
Based on the video footage lived by the British broadcast channel 4 that depicted the cruel killings of people during the Ezham war in Sri Lanka, International peacemaker and Norwegian external affairs minister Erik Solheim suggested the global community to investigate the war crimes committed by Sri Lanka.
Earlier, Erik Solheim led the peace keeping time on behalf of UN to settle the dispute between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ezham and the Sri Lankan government which turned futile. He is now about to met the UN envoy Ban Ki Moon and has promised he would urge the international community to commence an investigation. The Channel 4 video is more than solid evidence to accuse the government and those who committed the crime is punishable under law. 'Thousands of Tamils went missing during the bloody war and no one has questioned the government regarding this violation of Human Rights. The ruling government has willfully ignored human rights and laid rules of their own. Without evidences, the UN was unable to proceed but now we have the necessary docs to bring them under custody. Moreover, they have committed the punishable crime of kidnapping international journalists with their white van and I will urge the envoy to put an end to this atrocity,' said Solheim.
Earlier, Erik Solheim led the peace keeping time on behalf of UN to settle the dispute between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ezham and the Sri Lankan government which turned futile. He is now about to met the UN envoy Ban Ki Moon and has promised he would urge the international community to commence an investigation. The Channel 4 video is more than solid evidence to accuse the government and those who committed the crime is punishable under law. 'Thousands of Tamils went missing during the bloody war and no one has questioned the government regarding this violation of Human Rights. The ruling government has willfully ignored human rights and laid rules of their own. Without evidences, the UN was unable to proceed but now we have the necessary docs to bring them under custody. Moreover, they have committed the punishable crime of kidnapping international journalists with their white van and I will urge the envoy to put an end to this atrocity,' said Solheim.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Rebellion or mass suicide only outcome if this continues’
This is an eyewitness report from someone who had personal exposure to the suffering of Tamils in the Manik Farm concentration camp.
With all the people from Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar districts crammed into the camps in Vavuniya, space is a premium. Rather than being ‘internally displaced persons’ these people are in reality ‘internally displaced prisoners’.
The camps are large open prisons where suspicion is encouraged, all rights denied and human rights abuses occur in the open, with no indication that any attempts are being made to change the circumstances in which these people are constrained.
The Manik Farm complex is the second largest city on the island of Sri Lanka, after the capital Colombo. Locally the story is that more camps are to be built, and more people are still being transported into the camps from outside.
The estimated 280,000 inmates of Manik Farm camp – and there are no accurate figures of how many people are in each camp or who they are – are housed in six zones, three on either side of a central passage. The names of the people detained are not recorded, and thus there is no accountability for the people detained.
The zones are named after Tamil politicians of the past – Kadirgamar, Arunachalam, Ramanathan, etc. One zone remains unnamed as the name of a sixth Tamil politician deemed suitable enough could not be found.
Each zone is self-contained and all inmates are prevented from leaving their zone or interacting with relatives in another zone unless they have the permission of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence.
Inside the zones, 2-3 families are housed in each temporary dwelling. This is ten to fifteen individuals, many of them adults, crammed into a small tent. There is absolutely no privacy and solitude is only a dream.
Food and water
Visitors to the camps get simple meals of rice and dhal or rice and beetroot. The residents get even less, and at times are lucky if they get one meal a day. At other times, they get three meals, leading to a complete lack of certainty about what sustenance the people will have at any given time.
Certainly no effort is made to provide nutritious or balanced meals. Some people are attempting to grow their own plants outside their tents, but these disappear quickly and are not sufficient for their needs.
But if the food is restricted, the water is atrocious. There is never enough water for people to drink and many have been forced to drink from the bathing pools. The lack of sanitation however means that these are basically breading grounds for bacteria and this is one of the major causes of the rampant spread of diseases through the camps. Malnutrition, chicken pox, diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory infections and skin diseases are common, spreading rapidly through the tight swarm of people. Deaths are common.
Toilets consist of large open pits with planks across to squat on and removal of waste is nonexistent. Children have been known to fall into the toilet pits – the scene from the movie ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ has new significance in these camps. Many of these children die, for there is no way out of these pits, unlike in the movie.
Suspicion and fear
The Tamils are suspicious of each other. Divides between Tamils from various regions, religion or castes are being encouraged so as to break down the sense of Tamil unity. People are distrustful of everyone they don’t know, as everyone is a potential whistle-blower, passing on true – or false – information in order to advance their cause, or because they don’t like an individual.
Anyone attempting to cross from one camp to another – for example to see relatives – is shot. One example was a mother and father who attempted to see their children who were being held in another zone. They were shot and the bodies allowed to lie where they lay, exposed to the children looking on from the neighbouring zone.
The dominant feeling in the camp is one of despair.
Rampant rape
Rape is common in the camps, and is carried out by the soldiers ‘guarding’ the camps. With toilets at the periphery, women who go to use the facilities are easily dragged away and raped.
Women and girls identified as having had a connection with the Liberation Tigers are held separately at Ponmedu (the men and boys are held at the Tamil Mahavidyalayam in Chettikulam, also separated from the rest of the population). Every night a bus arrives at Ponmedu and about ten women are taken out and returned in a ruffled state the next day.
This is done quite openly, and is common knowledge among those in the camps and those who have had access.
Lack of access
The International Red Cross has been asked to reduce their operations in Sri Lanka while non-governmental organisations are still not allowed in to camps.
only people allowed into the camps are local religious organisations and aid groups from what are considered ‘friendly countries’ – countries that militarily or economically supported the Sri Lankan government in its war against the Liberation Tigers. For example, visitors from India have been allowed inside the camps.
Religious groups are encouraged to visit the camps, but they are often ill equipped to deal with the practicalities of large scale displacement and the psychological impacts of this on the people.
The only local doctors working in the camps are from the Independent Medical Practitioners Association. Accommodation is provided in tents for clinics, but there is no privacy for individual patients. All patients have organic medical problems and mental illnesses have been reported, but no records of this are available.
There is no shortage of medicines, donated by agencies or drug firms, but often these include drugs not commonly used, which can do harm or cause death if used inappropriately. There is no pharmacy so patients are reliant on what drugs the local doctors can provide.
There are no facilities in the local hospital. An ill patient who needed surgery was delayed for six hours in the camp and then disappeared, with no news of his progress brought back to the people in the camp.
Locals feel the camps are likely to continue indefinitely with foreign financial help – they were certainly built with international aid. But they also warn that if the situation continues, the people are bound to either rebel or kill themselves.
news:tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2460
With all the people from Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar districts crammed into the camps in Vavuniya, space is a premium. Rather than being ‘internally displaced persons’ these people are in reality ‘internally displaced prisoners’.
The camps are large open prisons where suspicion is encouraged, all rights denied and human rights abuses occur in the open, with no indication that any attempts are being made to change the circumstances in which these people are constrained.
The Manik Farm complex is the second largest city on the island of Sri Lanka, after the capital Colombo. Locally the story is that more camps are to be built, and more people are still being transported into the camps from outside.
The estimated 280,000 inmates of Manik Farm camp – and there are no accurate figures of how many people are in each camp or who they are – are housed in six zones, three on either side of a central passage. The names of the people detained are not recorded, and thus there is no accountability for the people detained.
The zones are named after Tamil politicians of the past – Kadirgamar, Arunachalam, Ramanathan, etc. One zone remains unnamed as the name of a sixth Tamil politician deemed suitable enough could not be found.
Each zone is self-contained and all inmates are prevented from leaving their zone or interacting with relatives in another zone unless they have the permission of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence.
Inside the zones, 2-3 families are housed in each temporary dwelling. This is ten to fifteen individuals, many of them adults, crammed into a small tent. There is absolutely no privacy and solitude is only a dream.
Food and water
Visitors to the camps get simple meals of rice and dhal or rice and beetroot. The residents get even less, and at times are lucky if they get one meal a day. At other times, they get three meals, leading to a complete lack of certainty about what sustenance the people will have at any given time.
Certainly no effort is made to provide nutritious or balanced meals. Some people are attempting to grow their own plants outside their tents, but these disappear quickly and are not sufficient for their needs.
But if the food is restricted, the water is atrocious. There is never enough water for people to drink and many have been forced to drink from the bathing pools. The lack of sanitation however means that these are basically breading grounds for bacteria and this is one of the major causes of the rampant spread of diseases through the camps. Malnutrition, chicken pox, diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory infections and skin diseases are common, spreading rapidly through the tight swarm of people. Deaths are common.
Toilets consist of large open pits with planks across to squat on and removal of waste is nonexistent. Children have been known to fall into the toilet pits – the scene from the movie ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ has new significance in these camps. Many of these children die, for there is no way out of these pits, unlike in the movie.
Suspicion and fear
The Tamils are suspicious of each other. Divides between Tamils from various regions, religion or castes are being encouraged so as to break down the sense of Tamil unity. People are distrustful of everyone they don’t know, as everyone is a potential whistle-blower, passing on true – or false – information in order to advance their cause, or because they don’t like an individual.
Anyone attempting to cross from one camp to another – for example to see relatives – is shot. One example was a mother and father who attempted to see their children who were being held in another zone. They were shot and the bodies allowed to lie where they lay, exposed to the children looking on from the neighbouring zone.
The dominant feeling in the camp is one of despair.
Rampant rape
Rape is common in the camps, and is carried out by the soldiers ‘guarding’ the camps. With toilets at the periphery, women who go to use the facilities are easily dragged away and raped.
Women and girls identified as having had a connection with the Liberation Tigers are held separately at Ponmedu (the men and boys are held at the Tamil Mahavidyalayam in Chettikulam, also separated from the rest of the population). Every night a bus arrives at Ponmedu and about ten women are taken out and returned in a ruffled state the next day.
This is done quite openly, and is common knowledge among those in the camps and those who have had access.
Lack of access
The International Red Cross has been asked to reduce their operations in Sri Lanka while non-governmental organisations are still not allowed in to camps.
only people allowed into the camps are local religious organisations and aid groups from what are considered ‘friendly countries’ – countries that militarily or economically supported the Sri Lankan government in its war against the Liberation Tigers. For example, visitors from India have been allowed inside the camps.
Religious groups are encouraged to visit the camps, but they are often ill equipped to deal with the practicalities of large scale displacement and the psychological impacts of this on the people.
The only local doctors working in the camps are from the Independent Medical Practitioners Association. Accommodation is provided in tents for clinics, but there is no privacy for individual patients. All patients have organic medical problems and mental illnesses have been reported, but no records of this are available.
There is no shortage of medicines, donated by agencies or drug firms, but often these include drugs not commonly used, which can do harm or cause death if used inappropriately. There is no pharmacy so patients are reliant on what drugs the local doctors can provide.
There are no facilities in the local hospital. An ill patient who needed surgery was delayed for six hours in the camp and then disappeared, with no news of his progress brought back to the people in the camp.
Locals feel the camps are likely to continue indefinitely with foreign financial help – they were certainly built with international aid. But they also warn that if the situation continues, the people are bound to either rebel or kill themselves.
news:tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=2460
Three doctors accused of helping Tamil rebels released on bail
Colombo - Three of five doctors accused of spreading Tamil rebel propaganda about civilian casualties during the army's final offensive against the separatists in May were released Monday on bail in Sri Lanka, court officials said.
The doctors were captured after they fled rebel-held areas in north-eastern Sri Lanka a few days before the army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They were interrogated and charged with spreading false information.
The physicians treated civilians during the last few months of the conflict and provided details of the offensive and war casualties.
They were a main source of information for journalists and were also quoted in reports by international organizations, including the United Nations
and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International.
Soon after their capture, the medics said at a government-arranged press conference that they were forced to provide false information by the rebels. The doctors released on bail were identified as Kanapathipillai Shanmugaraja, Illancheliyan Vallavan and Thurairaja Varatharaja.
The security forces were questioning a large number of people, including government officials and civilians, about possible links with the LTTE, which had fought for 26 years for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority.
According to UN figures, more than 7,500 civilians perished from January until May 18 when the conflict ended with the deaths of the top rebel leadership.
The doctors were captured after they fled rebel-held areas in north-eastern Sri Lanka a few days before the army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They were interrogated and charged with spreading false information.
The physicians treated civilians during the last few months of the conflict and provided details of the offensive and war casualties.
They were a main source of information for journalists and were also quoted in reports by international organizations, including the United Nations
and human rights groups, such as Amnesty International.
Soon after their capture, the medics said at a government-arranged press conference that they were forced to provide false information by the rebels. The doctors released on bail were identified as Kanapathipillai Shanmugaraja, Illancheliyan Vallavan and Thurairaja Varatharaja.
The security forces were questioning a large number of people, including government officials and civilians, about possible links with the LTTE, which had fought for 26 years for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority.
According to UN figures, more than 7,500 civilians perished from January until May 18 when the conflict ended with the deaths of the top rebel leadership.
In Sri Lanka, Death Threats Over Speaking on EU's GSP Plus Tariff Treatment, Silence at UN
A Sri Lankan academic and human rights activist faces death threats for allegedly providing information about the situation in Sri Lanka which might force the European Union not to continue its tariff free treatment of Sri Lankan textiles under the so called GSP Plus program. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives received the death threat, reproduced below, last week. The UN Security Council, which despite the UK's claim to have had the votes to put Sri Lanka on the agenda didn't, has not spoken on the death threat, nor on the worsening conditions in the internment camps for Tamils which the UN is funding.
news:www.innercitypress.com/untrip6may8srilanka082309.html
news:www.innercitypress.com/untrip6may8srilanka082309.html
Eelam and the new 'super power' Sri Lanka
In their petty geopolitical and corporate interests, India and the West have created a Frankenstein monster of a state in Sri Lanka that disgraces the whole world. What fears them now is this monster in its frenzies making their labours lost in the island. This is what impels them to tell the victims to reconcile, not to anger the monster and not to say genocide even when it takes place for decades. A general excuse they come out with is that the present world has no appetite for new nation states. Colombo makes the best use of this weakness. No justifiable norm of polity could be seen in why India and the West should labour so hard to uphold a united Sri Lanka and to appease it beyond all limits, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
A prominent diplomat of a power that invented and indiscriminately pursued the paradigm ‘war on terror’ in the entire world, after around two thousand of its people got killed in a single attack, is privately advising some members of the Tamil diaspora to avoid highly charged terms like ‘genocide’ and ‘Nazi-style conditions' in Sri Lanka to advocate constructively with the Sri Lanka government and the UN. “People in the government and the UN will assume there is no point in engaging you as your mind is already made up,” he says.
Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary and permanent representative to UN, Palitha Kohona explicitly explained the point saying “there isn’t one instance where a winner of a war has been tried before a Tribunal. They have always been set up for losers.”
A few days ago, an article appeared in Tamil in a literary journal of Tamil Nadu substantiated at length, Kohona’s stand. What is conspicuous about the article, apart from the fact that it made abetters of Colombo ‘vindicated’, is its vantage and thrust aimed at capturing the political course of the diaspora. Inferences in the article indicate its origins in the diaspora and not in Vanni.
When there was a long standing demand that the Tamil Nadu state assembly should inspire the world by recognising the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, and when there should have been no ‘obstacles’ to it as the LTTE excuse was crushed, Karunanidhi government not only chose to openly nullify Eezham Tamil nation, but has gone to the extent of even erasing the word ‘Eezham’ in public places.
Mr. Karunanidhi reportedly told someone who met him that erasing the word Eezham had been the work of ‘central’ agencies. But people believe that Centre has now assigned the task of political subjugation of the question of Eezham Tamils to Karunanidhi. Some obsolete laws of the state have been re-asserted now, aiming against voices supporting the national cause of Eezham Tamils in Tamil Nadu.
Mahinda Rajapaksa set the orchestration sometime back by a draft legislation banning ethnic-orientated political parties in the island and by compelling to EPDP to abandon its identity in the municipal elections in Jaffna.
What is clearly and repeatedly demonstrated by all the Establishments is that the war they commonly waged for varying reasons was not against the LTTE, but against the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils in the island. If not so, their responses should have been different now.
In a negative way they all have recognised the validity of Eezham Tamil nationalism and the global significance of the question. War on terror was a camouflage as there was no moral justification to reject a long-due liberation.
All their intense and aggressive current manoeuvres only show that the war has not been 'won'.
But there is no camouflage for the aggressors and abetters now. So the war of the guilty ones now, shielding behind states and the tag of ‘winners,’ is to use all possible ways - coaxing, lure, money, divide, pressure, coercion and subjugation, to make Tamils on their own give up national aspirations and accept all blame onto themselves.
Colombo is never ashamed of its ‘naked’ chauvinism and will not be at rest until all traces of Tamil identity are erased from the island. Already it has started saying political solution is unnecessary as it is successful in 'emptying' Tamil homeland. In its incurable paranoia this self-proclaimed ‘super power’ is not going to stop with the island. Tamil Nadu and India are the immediate ones going to reap the consequences for the policies followed by them.
Drunk with diplomatic and military victories, Palitha Kohona has formally declared war on Eezham Tamil diaspora, last week. This is going to be waged by diplomatic missions being militarized now. Besides all kinds of acts of subversion by these missions, no diaspora member may able to visit kith and kin in the prisons and open prisons in the island without first getting screened by these missions and for that purpose sacrificing freedom of expression or playing stooges.
In their petty geopolitical and corporate interests, India and the West have created a Frankenstein monster of a state in Sri Lanka that disgraces the whole world. China and Pakistan have only made use of the situation.
What fears them now is this monster in its frenzies making their labours lost in the island. This is what impels them to tell the victims to reconcile, not to anger the monster and not to say genocide even when it takes place for decades. A general excuse they come out with is that the present world has no appetite for new nation states. Had it been some other context the song would have been different.
Colombo makes the best use of this weakness.
No justifiable norm of polity could be seen in why India and the West should labour so hard to uphold a united Sri Lanka and to appease it beyond all limits.
What so ever, how the diaspora is going to comprehend the situation and is going to respond are of paramount importance.
In any such situation there will be always a section of collaborators, citing the immediate plight of people or as Kohona has said, citing “job opportunities, children going to school” etc. Even though there is no history that collaboration with aggression ever produced positive results, let there be no qualms if this section could make anything durable. It is for them to prove to the people.
But the vast majority, who wants to be true to their aspirations, have a historic duty in organising themselves politically without playing in the hands of calculated detractors of Eezham Tamil nationalism and in demonstrating their will power for what they want.
International equations are not going to be the same always, but Tamils need the voice strong to negotiate when changes take place. Strength of any form is what always recognised.
What to do and how to do it democratically have been discussed in many articles appeared in TamilNet, even though being democratic in struggle is not going to keep Tamils away from the wrath of the Sri Lankan state.
The diaspora, which was able to draw all the people to streets for demonstrations, can always do it. It will not fit enough to be a nation if it doesn’t achieve it. If the old generation is disillusioned and if they can’t conceive ways to stand upright, let them not deviate the cause, but concentrate on other activities of developing the nation and leave the matter to the younger generation.
It is detractor’s argument that political organisation in the diaspora for Tamil independence in the island would affect the rhetoric ‘resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction.’ On the contrary, it is the political challenge that can expedite any meaningful remedy to the present plight of people. Moreover, collaboration is not going to have any say on the Three Rs as they are going to be determined only by the designs and interests of the aggressors and multi national corporations.
There is no need to tell genuine rehabilitation begins from psychological rehabilitation. After all what has happened, it can come to Eezham Tamils only when their national aspirations are recognised and fulfilled.
A few days ago, an article appeared in Tamil in a literary journal of Tamil Nadu substantiated at length, Kohona’s stand. What is conspicuous about the article, apart from the fact that it made abetters of Colombo ‘vindicated’, is its vantage and thrust aimed at capturing the political course of the diaspora. Inferences in the article indicate its origins in the diaspora and not in Vanni.
When there was a long standing demand that the Tamil Nadu state assembly should inspire the world by recognising the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, and when there should have been no ‘obstacles’ to it as the LTTE excuse was crushed, Karunanidhi government not only chose to openly nullify Eezham Tamil nation, but has gone to the extent of even erasing the word ‘Eezham’ in public places.
What is clearly and repeatedly demonstrated by all the Establishments is that the war they commonly waged for varying reasons was not against the LTTE, but against the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils in the island. If not so, their responses should have been different now.
In a negative way they all have recognised the validity of Eezham Tamil nationalism and the global significance of the question. War on terror was a camouflage as there was no moral justification to reject a long-due liberation.
All their intense and aggressive current manoeuvres only show that the war has not been 'won'.
Colombo is never ashamed of its ‘naked’ chauvinism and will not be at rest until all traces of Tamil identity are erased from the island. Already it has started saying political solution is unnecessary as it is successful in 'emptying' Tamil homeland. In its incurable paranoia this self-proclaimed ‘super power’ is not going to stop with the island. Tamil Nadu and India are the immediate ones going to reap the consequences for the policies followed by them.
In their petty geopolitical and corporate interests, India and the West have created a Frankenstein monster of a state in Sri Lanka that disgraces the whole world. China and Pakistan have only made use of the situation.
What fears them now is this monster in its frenzies making their labours lost in the island. This is what impels them to tell the victims to reconcile, not to anger the monster and not to say genocide even when it takes place for decades. A general excuse they come out with is that the present world has no appetite for new nation states. Had it been some other context the song would have been different.
Colombo makes the best use of this weakness.
No justifiable norm of polity could be seen in why India and the West should labour so hard to uphold a united Sri Lanka and to appease it beyond all limits.
In any such situation there will be always a section of collaborators, citing the immediate plight of people or as Kohona has said, citing “job opportunities, children going to school” etc. Even though there is no history that collaboration with aggression ever produced positive results, let there be no qualms if this section could make anything durable. It is for them to prove to the people.
But the vast majority, who wants to be true to their aspirations, have a historic duty in organising themselves politically without playing in the hands of calculated detractors of Eezham Tamil nationalism and in demonstrating their will power for what they want.
International equations are not going to be the same always, but Tamils need the voice strong to negotiate when changes take place. Strength of any form is what always recognised.
What to do and how to do it democratically have been discussed in many articles appeared in TamilNet, even though being democratic in struggle is not going to keep Tamils away from the wrath of the Sri Lankan state.
It is detractor’s argument that political organisation in the diaspora for Tamil independence in the island would affect the rhetoric ‘resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction.’ On the contrary, it is the political challenge that can expedite any meaningful remedy to the present plight of people. Moreover, collaboration is not going to have any say on the Three Rs as they are going to be determined only by the designs and interests of the aggressors and multi national corporations.
There is no need to tell genuine rehabilitation begins from psychological rehabilitation. After all what has happened, it can come to Eezham Tamils only when their national aspirations are recognised and fulfilled.
Government plans to hold Vanni IDPs in camps for longer period
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has instructed government authorities to set up offices in Vavuniyaa and its surrounding area to carry out the administration of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Vanni which had ceased to function due to the war on Vanni, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Though it is said that the above decision has been taken due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) refusal to resettle Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their own villages in the near future, the real intention of the government is to hold the Vanni IDPs in the detention camps permanently, the sources added.
Government has directed high officials of the NPC to take action to set up temporary buildings along with the government offices in Vavuniyaa to house the government administrative structures of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.
Besides, all government officials who had been serving in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and given temporary permission to serve in Jaffna district and other areas have been instructed to immediately return to Vavuniyaa to assume duties.
The temporary permission granted to the above government officials has been cancelled with immediate effort, the sources said.
Though some high government officials had visited Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts with the intention of reactivating the administrative structures their efforts had been blocked by SLA.
As SLA refuses to allow Vanni IDPs to be resettled in their villages, government is making plans to hold the IDPs in the detention camps permanently by relocating the entire government administrative structures to Vavuniyaa, the sources said.
Government has directed high officials of the NPC to take action to set up temporary buildings along with the government offices in Vavuniyaa to house the government administrative structures of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.
Besides, all government officials who had been serving in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and given temporary permission to serve in Jaffna district and other areas have been instructed to immediately return to Vavuniyaa to assume duties.
The temporary permission granted to the above government officials has been cancelled with immediate effort, the sources said.
Though some high government officials had visited Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts with the intention of reactivating the administrative structures their efforts had been blocked by SLA.
As SLA refuses to allow Vanni IDPs to be resettled in their villages, government is making plans to hold the IDPs in the detention camps permanently by relocating the entire government administrative structures to Vavuniyaa, the sources said.
Plan to resettle IDPs in the midst of Army and Sinhala settlements
A source close to the President said that the release of IDPs has been postponed indefinitely with the government focusing on a plan to resettle them along with the new Sinhala and military settlements that are to be set up in the north.
The source further noted that the plan is to resettle people in areas in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, below Mannar and above Vavuniya , where there are currently no people. The plan is said to remove all the old Tamil villages that existed in the respective areas. Although thousands of displaced persons currently living in camps even after completing the security checks, they cannot be released due to the government�s new plan.
According to the Defence Ministry and the Defence Secretary, 10,000 of the 300,000 people living in the displaced camps have been identified to have links with the LTTE. They are currently living in separate camps located within the main IDP camp in Vavuniya.
While former child soldiers of the LTTE are being rehabilitated at the Ambepussa camp, several other LTTE members are held at the Boossa camp.
Half of the government stipulated period of 180 days to resettle the displaced persons has lapsed. The government in order to receive aid from India and other countries said it would resettle the displaced within 180 days.
It is reported that elements opposed to the devolution of power within the government had proposed the above mentioned plan while the others who are supportive of power devolution have objected to it.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told parliament on the 19th that the displaced would be resettled by December 31st
According to the Defence Ministry and the Defence Secretary, 10,000 of the 300,000 people living in the displaced camps have been identified to have links with the LTTE. They are currently living in separate camps located within the main IDP camp in Vavuniya.
While former child soldiers of the LTTE are being rehabilitated at the Ambepussa camp, several other LTTE members are held at the Boossa camp.
Half of the government stipulated period of 180 days to resettle the displaced persons has lapsed. The government in order to receive aid from India and other countries said it would resettle the displaced within 180 days.
It is reported that elements opposed to the devolution of power within the government had proposed the above mentioned plan while the others who are supportive of power devolution have objected to it.
Meanwhile, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told parliament on the 19th that the displaced would be resettled by December 31st
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Government plans to hold Vanni IDPs in camps for longer period
Northern Provincial Council (NPC) has instructed government authorities to set up offices in Vavuniyaa and its surrounding area to carry out the administration of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Vanni which had ceased to function due to the war on Vanni, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Though it is said that the above decision has been taken due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) refusal to resettle Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in their own villages in the near future, the real intention of the government is to hold the Vanni IDPs in the detention camps permanently, the sources added.
Government has directed high officials of the NPC to take action to set up temporary buildings along with the government offices in Vavuniyaa to house the government administrative structures of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.
Besides, all government officials who had been serving in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and given temporary permission to serve in Jaffna district and other areas have been instructed to immediately return to Vavuniyaa to assume duties.
The temporary permission granted to the above government officials has been cancelled with immediate effort, the sources said.
Though some high government officials had visited Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts with the intention of reactivating the administrative structures their efforts had been blocked by SLA.
As SLA refuses to allow Vanni IDPs to be resettled in their villages, government is making plans to hold the IDPs in the detention camps permanently by relocating the entire government administrative structures to Vavuniyaa, the sources said.
Government has directed high officials of the NPC to take action to set up temporary buildings along with the government offices in Vavuniyaa to house the government administrative structures of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.
Besides, all government officials who had been serving in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and given temporary permission to serve in Jaffna district and other areas have been instructed to immediately return to Vavuniyaa to assume duties.
The temporary permission granted to the above government officials has been cancelled with immediate effort, the sources said.
Though some high government officials had visited Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts with the intention of reactivating the administrative structures their efforts had been blocked by SLA.
As SLA refuses to allow Vanni IDPs to be resettled in their villages, government is making plans to hold the IDPs in the detention camps permanently by relocating the entire government administrative structures to Vavuniyaa, the sources said.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Winners are never tried for war crimes, says Colombo’s foreign secretary
“If you look at the history of war crimes there isn’t one instance where a winner of a war has been tried before a Tribunal. They have always been set up for losers. And if you were to take winners then the start would have to be taken elsewhere. Sri Lanka did not drop atom bombs or destroy entire cities during the war,” said, Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary and newly appointed permanent representative to the UN, Palitha Kohona in an interview to Daily Mirror, Thursday, outlining the diplomatic prospects of Colombo in engaging the officialdom of the world, in negating political solutions to the Tamil national question. “There is this thinking that all our problems can be solved by applying a political solution. I fail to see the logic behind this,” he said.
The foreign secretary while justifying uselessness of political solution, made a special reference to a bunch of Tamils in the diaspora with whom his government had made a rapport.
“The government has engaged expatriate Tamils in a very constructive manner. The government in February brought in a representative group of Tamils with whom we had a dialogue for 2 days. We continue to do that,” he said adding, ”I learnt from the BOI recently that there are 31 buildings coming up in Colombo all being built by expat Tamil people. Our efforts to engage them is certainly bearing fruit.”
The foreign secretary was of the opinion that there was no need for a political solution to North and East, as Tamils are not living there anymore.
“Where are we going to apply this solution? Are we going to do that to the 54% of those living in and around Colombo or those in the North and East? In the North the entirety of the Tamil population is 750,000. There were 300,000 in the Wanni area who are now in the camps. There’s no one outside the Wanni area. The total number in the Jaffna peninsula is miniscule compared to the rest of the island,” he said rejecting any problems to Tamils.
“If there were a problem with them why have 54% of the entire Tamil speaking people of this country migrated to Sinhala speaking areas? They did it on their own. If they had a problem why did they voluntarily come to these areas?” was his question.
“It is easy to suggest that a political problem will solve, when, even if we have problems, they are certainly not in an political form. Like in every other country people have problems with job opportunities or getting children to school etc. We need to address them but not through an ethnic approach”, he said.
On APRC, his response was: “We made the mistake in the past of trying to impose the solution from the top. But on this occasion President decided that any changes would carry the majority support.”
He was confident that Rajiv vision of 1987 is the ultimate contentment of India: “India has been very supportive of our issues. We are confident of this support. Their own suggestion is that we should implement the 13th amendment. And the President has said he will. I don’t think India has gone beyond that in their discussions.”
On the conditions of the internment camps he cited a British delegation: “The cross party delegation from the House of Commons publicly said that these camps were better than they had seen elsewhere.”
Palitha Kohona accused the international agencies for not agreeing to make ‘permanent’ facilities in the internment camps: “The latest is the rains. Of course the conditions would deteriorate. When the government asked the international agencies in paving the paths and roads in the camps they refused on grounds that these would be converted to permanent camps. Today the same agencies are complaining that the roads are unusable. The same with the lavatories.”
The foreign secretary who was jubilant of the support of India, Pakistan, China, Russia and some other countries not just in the ‘tasks’ of Colombo but in the human rights council too, in ‘disgracing the opponents,’ ended his ‘interview’ with Colombo’s FO agenda deviously put as a question.
“Q:Similar arrests (like that of KP) are expected of LTTE activists in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, India and even in Scandinavia and very likely also in Norway in the coming year. What special difficulties do you foresee especially in the Scandinavian countries given their continued support towards the LTTE? How can you ensure that these countries are no longer made safe havens for senior LTTErs?”
“We will continue to work with them. I would never say there was no support. I wouldn’t say that the LTTE was ever endorsed by Norway; they were the acknowledged facilitator of the peace talks and their argument was that as facilitator it was not in a position to take sides. Our goal it to get all our friends on board to get back to our old friendships before terrorism raised its head.”
According to reports, militarization of diplomacy in the lines of certain totalitarian regimes has changed the face of Colombo’s foreign office in a drastic way in recent times.
China a ‘stakeholder’ in Sri Lanka’s development: Sri Lanka
Describing China as a “major stakeholder” in Sri Lanka’s development, Colombo has said Beijing had offered financial support and had stood by the country in “crucial situations“.
“China has extended its support to us... despite some international pressures on Sri Lanka in recent times,” senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa said, while addressing a ceremony to mark the completion of the first phase of a power plant build with Chinese assistance in North-western province.
Mr. Rajapaksa said China is a major stakeholder in the country’s development.
“China came forward to help Sri Lanka in crucial situations,” he said, thanking Beijing for its financial support for the $455 million project.
The 900 MW coal-fired power plant, work on which was inaugurated in May 2006, is being built with Chinese financial assistance in Norochcholai and its first phase is expected to become operational next year.
The total estimated cost of the project is put at $455 million out of which EXIM Bank of China is providing a soft loan of $300 million.
Basil Rajapaksa said that the Chinese government had also granted financial support to Sri Lanka to develop roads, railways, harbours and other facilities.
The first phase of the plant would meet 25 per cent of the country’s power requirement, Mr. Rajapaksa said on Thursday.
A statue of Lord Buddha to be brought from China will be installed at the plant, a report further said.
The ceremony was attended by a group of Chinese monks from the Shaolin Temple including its Chief incumbent Ven Shi Yongxin.
Minister of Power and Energy W D J Seneviratne said plans are underway to begin the construction of the second coal-fired power plant with a generation capacity of 1,000 MW in Trincomalee with the assistance of the Indian government this year.
China is also assisting in construction of the multi-million dollar Hambantota new Port Complex in South-eastern coast of Sri Lanka, the Performing Arts Centre in Colombo, among other areas.
“China has extended its support to us... despite some international pressures on Sri Lanka in recent times,” senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa said, while addressing a ceremony to mark the completion of the first phase of a power plant build with Chinese assistance in North-western province.
Mr. Rajapaksa said China is a major stakeholder in the country’s development.
“China came forward to help Sri Lanka in crucial situations,” he said, thanking Beijing for its financial support for the $455 million project.
The 900 MW coal-fired power plant, work on which was inaugurated in May 2006, is being built with Chinese financial assistance in Norochcholai and its first phase is expected to become operational next year.
The total estimated cost of the project is put at $455 million out of which EXIM Bank of China is providing a soft loan of $300 million.
Basil Rajapaksa said that the Chinese government had also granted financial support to Sri Lanka to develop roads, railways, harbours and other facilities.
The first phase of the plant would meet 25 per cent of the country’s power requirement, Mr. Rajapaksa said on Thursday.
A statue of Lord Buddha to be brought from China will be installed at the plant, a report further said.
The ceremony was attended by a group of Chinese monks from the Shaolin Temple including its Chief incumbent Ven Shi Yongxin.
Minister of Power and Energy W D J Seneviratne said plans are underway to begin the construction of the second coal-fired power plant with a generation capacity of 1,000 MW in Trincomalee with the assistance of the Indian government this year.
China is also assisting in construction of the multi-million dollar Hambantota new Port Complex in South-eastern coast of Sri Lanka, the Performing Arts Centre in Colombo, among other areas.
Australian politicians troubled by deteriorating conditions in Sri Lanka
A group of Australian parliamentarians have expressed concern for the plight of thousands of refugees being held in Sri Lankan military run camps at a meeting with members of the Tamil youth at Parliament House on Tuesday. In a free flowing discussion covering conditions faced by displaced civilians and a lack of independent access to refugee facilities, the panel also condemned reports of intimidation directed at the Tamil Diaspora from the Sri Lankan Government, before citing the promised resettlement of the 300,000 refugees within a 6 month period as the basis for future engagement.
The politicians shone a critical eye over recent actions carried out by the Sri Lankan Government, including the blocking of the Vanangama Mercy Mission, an aid ship organised by members of the Tamil Diaspora to deliver essential goods to thousands of refu'gees that was turned away by authorities.
“This should be of great concern to all of us because we are talking about the fundamentals of human existence. If you can’t get food and medical aid to the people who so desperately need it, we have got to speak out against it” said MP John Murphy.
Responding to a letter he received highlighting the Sri Lankan Government's threats of arresting anyone who was seen speaking out against authorities upon return to Sri Lanka, MP Murphy said: “We are very concerned, at the heart of what we want to do here in Australia is ensure that human rights and dignity of those people are preserved, and if we are getting a message now that the government now don’t even want the Diaspora of the world speaking out for the poor people...this gravely concerns us as parliamentarians”.
Discussing possible avenues for future action, the delegation, consisting of Senators Mark Furner and Claire Moore, and Members of Parliament Jill Hall, Laurie Ferguson, John Murphy and Julie Owen, cited Mahinda Rajapakse's seemingly doomed pledge to resettle civilians detained in government camps within 6 months as the basis for higher level discussions with Australian Foreign Minister Steven Smith.
The ministerial representatives also praised the efforts of Vishna and Seran for their inspiring dedication and resolve in raising awareness of the issue, describing the Tamil Diaspora as “fine citizens who have made invaluable contributions to Australian society”.
In an hour long meeting, the parliamentarians discussed at length various concerns raised by a youth delegation headed by Vishna Sivaraj and Seran Sribalan, who had been welcomed just minutes after completing a 300km walk over eight days from Sydney to Canberra to raise awareness of the imprisonment of Tamil refugees in military run camps.
The politicians shone a critical eye over recent actions carried out by the Sri Lankan Government, including the blocking of the Vanangama Mercy Mission, an aid ship organised by members of the Tamil Diaspora to deliver essential goods to thousands of refu'gees that was turned away by authorities.
“This should be of great concern to all of us because we are talking about the fundamentals of human existence. If you can’t get food and medical aid to the people who so desperately need it, we have got to speak out against it” said MP John Murphy.
Responding to a letter he received highlighting the Sri Lankan Government's threats of arresting anyone who was seen speaking out against authorities upon return to Sri Lanka, MP Murphy said: “We are very concerned, at the heart of what we want to do here in Australia is ensure that human rights and dignity of those people are preserved, and if we are getting a message now that the government now don’t even want the Diaspora of the world speaking out for the poor people...this gravely concerns us as parliamentarians”.
Discussing possible avenues for future action, the delegation, consisting of Senators Mark Furner and Claire Moore, and Members of Parliament Jill Hall, Laurie Ferguson, John Murphy and Julie Owen, cited Mahinda Rajapakse's seemingly doomed pledge to resettle civilians detained in government camps within 6 months as the basis for higher level discussions with Australian Foreign Minister Steven Smith.
The ministerial representatives also praised the efforts of Vishna and Seran for their inspiring dedication and resolve in raising awareness of the issue, describing the Tamil Diaspora as “fine citizens who have made invaluable contributions to Australian society”.
Sri Lanka to train Pakistani army
Sri Lanka's army has said it will be happy to give training to members of the Pakistani military.
It says Islamabad has requested the training because of the country's success in defeating the Tamil Tigers.
In May, the government announced the end to a decades-long war with the rebel group.
The army's new commander told the BBC that Pakistan had already asked if it could send its military cadets to train in counter-insurgency operations.
"We'll give a favourable response," Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya said of the request.
He said the Sri Lankan military envisaged specialist courses lasting up to six weeks, directed towards small groups from interested armies.
Lt Gen Jayasuriya said there was external interest in how the military had defeated the rebel group in practical terms.
The army now wished to construct a written military doctrine in English.
Mutual support
He said Sri Lanka had offered similar training, through diplomatic channels, to other countries including the United States, India, Bangladesh and The Philippines.
He dismissed reports that the Pakistanis might receive military training in newly recaptured parts of northern Sri Lanka, saying it would be more likely in the south-east.
But he did say new permanent military bases would be set up in those northern areas including the rebels' former headquarters, Kilinochchi.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have long enjoyed warm relations.
In late May, Pakistan - like India, China and Russia - helped Colombo defeat a motion at the UN which would have criticised both the government and the rebels for allegedly violating humanitarian law during the war.
But India, which is highly influential here, might well be uncomfortable at this news of the Pakistanis' interest in being trained.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8214731.stm
It says Islamabad has requested the training because of the country's success in defeating the Tamil Tigers.
In May, the government announced the end to a decades-long war with the rebel group.
The army's new commander told the BBC that Pakistan had already asked if it could send its military cadets to train in counter-insurgency operations.
"We'll give a favourable response," Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya said of the request.
He said the Sri Lankan military envisaged specialist courses lasting up to six weeks, directed towards small groups from interested armies.
Lt Gen Jayasuriya said there was external interest in how the military had defeated the rebel group in practical terms.
The army now wished to construct a written military doctrine in English.
Mutual support
He said Sri Lanka had offered similar training, through diplomatic channels, to other countries including the United States, India, Bangladesh and The Philippines.
He dismissed reports that the Pakistanis might receive military training in newly recaptured parts of northern Sri Lanka, saying it would be more likely in the south-east.
But he did say new permanent military bases would be set up in those northern areas including the rebels' former headquarters, Kilinochchi.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan have long enjoyed warm relations.
In late May, Pakistan - like India, China and Russia - helped Colombo defeat a motion at the UN which would have criticised both the government and the rebels for allegedly violating humanitarian law during the war.
But India, which is highly influential here, might well be uncomfortable at this news of the Pakistanis' interest in being trained.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8214731.stm
'Sri Lanka has imposed iron curtain on refugee camps'
The British Tamil Forum (BTF), a large group that says it works for Tamil self-determination through democratic means, said 300,000 Tamil civilians are confined in military-run internment camps in Sri Lanka, hidden from the glare of international witnesses.
The Sri Lankan military crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May to end a 20-year insurgency but its subsequent policy of confining the war displaced in refugee camps has come in for strong criticism from international aid agencies and media.
'The continuous refusal to engage with international humanitarian organisations and allow access to international monitors and free media places a modern day 'iron curtain' over a humanitarian crisis that no longer takes precedence on the international agenda and gives little hope for the Sri Lankan government's commitment towards reconciliation,' the BTF said in a statement.
'With the ongoing restrictions to aid agencies and international monitors, the true extent of the risks facing these imprisoned civilians remains vastly obscured. These supposed 'welfare camps' lack adequate sanitation facilities and access to clean water,' it added.
The statement, issued on the inaugural UN World Humanitarian Day Aug 19, said heavy rains in the areas of Vavuniya District and Menik Farm have damaged or destroyed up to 1,925 shelters, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The BTF urged international institutions, governments, humanitarian rights groups and humanitarian organisations to help end what it called the 'unprecedented violation of human rights and continuous crimes against humanity' and secure the release of civilians from the camps.
The Sri Lankan government says it needs the camps to screen for fleeing LTTE terrorists.
However, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has made provision of aid conditional on the resettlement of Tamil refugees and progress on 'reconciliation and devolution of power.'
Sri Lanka calls for rebel assets
The demand by Gotabaya Rajapaksa came weeks after the arrest of the new Tamil Tiger leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan.
Mr Pathmanathan was arrested in a South East Asian nation earlier this month and brought to Colombo in a swift and secretive operation.
He is currently being interrogated by Sri Lankan security officials.
The Sri Lankan military declared victory over Tamil Tiger rebels in May this year.
Overseas assets
Mr Pathmanathan is the most senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to be caught alive by Sri Lankan security forces.
"He's a seasoned man, so he's coming out with information very slowly during interrogation. He was the person who ran a massive network to purchase arms and ammunition for the LTTE for nearly 30 years," Mr Rajapaksa told the BBC.
The LTTE had a well-organised overseas network to fund their arms purchases.
Its investments abroad are said to range from grocery shops to real estate, from petrol stations to temples, from commercial shipping to financing movies.
But most of these activities were carried out under different names as the rebels were banned in many countries.
The estimates about the LTTE's assets and investments range from $300m (£182m) to $1bn. Mr Pathmanathan is believed to have substantial knowledge about these assets.
"Once it is proved that these assets belong to the LTTE, then concerned countries should hand over the assets as well as the remaining LTTE members to Sri Lanka," Mr Rajapasa said.
He said that "if the western world is serious about fighting terrorism" it would not provide safe sanctuary "to a terrorist organisation like the LTTE".
The arrest of Mr Pathmanathan is regarded as a significant blow to the LTTE's overseas operations, especially when it was desperately looking for a figurehead to revive the organisation and boost its sagging morale following its defeat on the battleground.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8199754.stm
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