Floods threaten Tamils in Sri Lanka’s detention camps - HRW

Floods and disease are threatening the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of Tamils detained enmasse in violation of international by the Sri Lankan government, HRW said Tuesday. The floods have caused emergency latrines to flood or collapse, causing sewage to flood several areas of the camps, heightening the risk of outbreaks of contagious diseases. The camps are located in places that are known to flood during the onsetting monsoon season.

Meanwhile, HRW says camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated by the difficult conditions in the camps. In late June, camp residents held at least two protests, which were dispersed by the security forces. Since then, the military administration of the camps, apparently fearing more unrest, has divided the camps into smaller sections, which are easier to control. The full text of HRW’s statement follows:Floods caused by heavy rains unnecessarily threaten more than 260,000 displaced Tamil civilians whom the Sri Lankan government has unlawfully detained in camps in northern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today. Permitting displaced families to move in with friends and host families would quickly address the deteriorating conditions in the camps with the onset of the rainy season, Human Rights Watch said. "The government has detained people in these camps and is threatening their health and even their lives by keeping them there during the rainy season floods," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This is illegal, dangerous, and inhumane."In violation of international law, the government has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps, euphemistically called "welfare centers" by the government. Only a few thousand camp residents have been released and allowed to return home or to stay elsewhere. During the last several days, heavy rain fell on northern Sri Lanka, flooding several camps. Zones 2 and 4 of Manik farm, a large complex of camps west of the town of Vavuniya, were particularly affected by rain. More rain is expected with the onset of the rainy season next month, further worsening conditions in the overcrowded camps."Aanathi," a 30-year-old woman living in zone 2 with her 1-year-old son, told Human Rights Watch: "Within seconds, the water was pouring into our tents. ... After a couple of minutes, everything was flooded. We lost all of our things. We had no place to cook. We couldn't get help from anybody, because everybody was in the same situation. It was terrible. We were already frightened, and this made it worse." Seven people from three families were living in Aanathi's tent, which was designed to house five people. According to the United Nations, the majority of the camps are severely overcrowded; zones 2 and 4, with a joint capacity of 50,000 people, held more than 100,000 people as of July 28, 2009. For their protection, the residents who spoke with Human Rights Watch were not identified by their real names. The rain caused emergency latrines to flood or collapse, causing sewage to flood several areas of the camps, heightening the risk of outbreaks of contagious diseases. "Shantadevi," also in zone 2, told Human Rights Watch: "Some of the toilets are completely flooded. It looks like they are floating in water. The pits have collapsed and raw sewage is floating around with the storm water in a green and brown sludge. It smells disgusting."Aanathi explained to Human Rights Watch that the area where the camp is located usually floods during the rainy season: "If they don't release us before then, we will be washed away by all the water, there will be outbreaks of diseases here. It will be terrible." The camps have already suffered from outbreaks of contagious diseases with health officials recording thousands of cases of diarrhea, hepatitis, dysentery, and chickenpox. Observers report that camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated by the difficult conditions in the camps and that the current heavy rain caused unrest that was quickly defused by the military camp administration without the use of force. In late June, camp residents held at least two protests, which were dispersed by the security forces. Since then, the military administration of the camps, apparently fearing more unrest, has divided the camps into smaller sections, which are easier to control. Humanitarian organizations have long advocated the release of the displaced from the camps. Many of the camp residents have relatives, including close family members, with whom they can live if they are allowed to leave. Aanathi told Human Rights Watch that she would go to live with her mother in Jaffna or her mother-in-law in Trincomalee if released. "The camp is like a desert, there are no trees here," she told Human Rights Watch. "When it is sunny, it gets really hot. When it rains, you can't walk because of all the mud. With a 1-year old it is very difficult to move around, and I can't leave him alone in the tent. It is painful to speak about my situation here. I am lonely, very lonely. If I could go to Jaffna or Trincomalee, I would have a good life again."The government has refused to release the displaced from the camps, contending that it needs to screen them for Tamil Tiger combatants. In response to calls to release them, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, recently named Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN, told the BBC on August 10 that it was "mischievous to talk of rights in the absence of security."On August 15, the minister of resettlement and disaster management, Rizad Bathiudeen, told the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror that he held UN agencies responsible for the flooding in the camps, saying, "[T]he Government cannot be blamed for the poor condition of the drainage systems which burst and failed.""The government bears full responsibility for the situation in the camps," said Adams. "Locking families up in squalid conditions and then blaming aid agencies for their plight is downright shameful."

United States provides $6 million to support de-mining in North

U.S. Department of State is contributing $6 million to be shared by four non-governmental organisations, Danish De-Mining Group (DDG), Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD), Halo Trust and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) for de-mining activities to increase their demining capacity and expand their work over the next twelve months in the Northern Province, according to a press statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. The U.S. military, through U.S. Pacific Command, will provide equipment and training to the Sri Lanka Army for humanitarian demining in the Northern Province, the statement further said.

Full text of the press statement issued by the US Embassy in Colombo follows:

United States Contributing $6 Million to Support Demining in Northern Sri Lanka


Colombo, August 19, 2009: The U.S. Government is contributing an additional $6 million for demining activities in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province to help people displaced by the conflict return to their homes as quickly as possible.

This funding, through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political and Military Affairs Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (State/PMWRA), was granted to four non-governmental organizations (NGOs) currently working on demining activities in Sri Lanka. This additional funding is allowing the demining NGOs to increase their demining capacity and expand their work over the next twelve months. The demining process includes initial assessments of the land where mines may have been planted, technical surveys of minefields, clearing of mines and the destruction of unexploded ordinance.
DDG (Danish De-Mining Group), FSD (Swiss Foundation for Mine Action), Halo Trust and MAG (Mines Advisory Group) are sharing the award and using the funds to hire additional staff for survey teams and demining teams and to purchase new equipment to remove the mines.
“The U.S. Government is pleased to provide this funding and assist with demining in northern Sri Lanka,” stated James R. Moore, U.S. Charge d’Affaires. “Demining is a critical step in the process so that people can return to their homes, and we support the Government of Sri Lanka’s commitment to return all those displaced quickly and safely,” he continued.
In addition to this new funding, the Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) team, a group of U.S. military and civilian demining experts from the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Pacific Command, Special Operations Command Pacific, and U.S. Army Pacific visited Sri Lanka on June 22-26. The team met with a number of Sri Lankan government officials, members of the Sri Lankan military and representatives from non governmental organizations involved with demining to identify how the United States can best assist the Sri Lankan military in its humanitarian demining efforts in northern Sri Lanka. The U.S. military, through U.S. Pacific Command, will provide equipment and training to the Sri Lanka Army for humanitarian demining in the Northern Province.
The U.S. Government has provided more than $68 million for humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka in 2008 and 2009, including more than $42 million in emergency food aid and more than $11 million in emergency non-food relief. Most of this assistance has been directed to serve Sri Lankans displaced by the conflict in the North.

Creeping Talibanization in Sri Lanka - Prof. David

Noting several trends in Sri Lanka point to "early steps in [reaching for] totality of power," Prof Kumar David in a column in the weekend edition of "The Island" asserts that the cultural control exercised by the current Rajapakse regime are no different to those of "the Mullahs of Teheran and the iconoclastic Taliban fundamentalists." Prof. David summarizes the views of six lawyers expressed at a Lawyers’ Press Conference organised by the Platform for Freedom (PfF) early August where one notes that the scene is set for ever expanding authoritarianism as Sri Lanka's President flagrantly violates the "supreme law, the public [is] apathetic and the judiciary [is] powerless," and another points to the holding of 300,000 people "against their will, in defiance of local and international law" as "obscene infringement of the constitution."

Professor Kumar David

Full text of the article follows:

State bureaucrats, and the political hypocrites at whose behest they function, are telling us what films to watch, what music to listen to, what to drink and smoke, what animals to torture, and instructing our lawyers what clients they dare appear for. Have they gone mad? No not at all, they are perfectly sober and cynical. These are but early steps in assimilating a totality of power; better known as totalitarianism. Cultural control by the Mullahs of Teheran and the iconoclastic Taliban fundamentalists are forerunners of culture control as a means of exercising political power.
Historically, hypocritical prudery – a cover-up for vileness in the private lives of the power elite – go back to the Borgia Popes, and further back to the mad Caligula who made his horse a Senator (now don’t say its better than having jackasses in parliament and cabinet), or the paedophile emperor Tiberius who had children perform unspeakable abominations as he swam naked in the pool. Rodrigo Borgia was a Cardinal and later Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) and while in these offices he fathered a number of children by his mistress Vannozza Catanei. Conversely, the wise emperor Dharma Asoka never sought totalitarian control of the minds and freedoms of his people.
I do not need to dwell on corruption in public life in Sri Lanka, and profanity in private life, links to the drug underworld, and the drift to political absolutism. Understandably then, reactivation of the draconian press council is entirely for the purpose of controlling dissent.

Six lawyers speak out
"The erosion of the rule of law has been a process, continuing at a steadily worsening pace. First it was white vans and abductions but the majority took little note since the victims were a minority community, then it was journalists and editors, then lawyers came under threat, and now scores of common "criminals" are being bumped off by the police – who knows the truth; how many personal scores are being settled" said leading Kandy lawyer and LSSP PB member Lal Wijenayake speaking at a Lawyers’ Press Conference organised by the Platform for Freedom (PfF) at the National Library Auditorium on 4 August. Alleged criminals held in police custody are taken in handcuffs to a remote location, suddenly, as if by magic, hand grenades and T-56 assault rifles materialise in the hands of the criminal "forcing the police to gun him down in self-defence" like a dog. The lie is of Gobblesian proportions. Wijenayake thinks that between 50 and 70 may have been eliminated in cold blood. Off the record the police say summary extrajudicial execution is necessary because the legal process is too slow and criminals escape via loopholes in the law.
"Now that this trend has taken hold, remember nobody is safe; you may be the next in line and the reason may well be something you never foresaw" warns Wijenayake. A day after he spoke Nipuna Ramanayake a student at the Information Technology Institute was abducted, allegedly by the son of a Senior Superintendent of Police and taken to the SSP’s home where he was beaten mercilessly for several hours (Daily Mirror 6 August, front page). Then an attempt to force him to sign a false statement at the Crime Division office of the Dematatgoda police station mercifully misfired with the timely arrival of his parents. What does the IGP say? "No comment". What has the President done? No comment from me! Lal Wijenayake could well have added: ‘Not even your sons and daughters are safe any longer from uniformed thugs masquerading as officers of the law.’
Six lawyers spoke at the Press Conference which was a model of brevity and clarity. Each took seven or eight minutes and made an incisive presentation on topics related to creeping dictatorship. President’s Council Srinath Perera dealt with the threat published on the website of the Ministry of Defence against a team of lawyers. The case is a private plaint filed by the Secretary to the Defence Ministry, Gotabhaya Rajapakse (the President’s brother), against the Editor and owners of the Sunday Leader newspaper. The Ministry, in contempt of judicial process, published a statement describing the lawyers appearing for the defence as "traitors"!
In Perera’s view this amounts to three simultaneous blows aimed at demolishing the rule of law. Firstly it was a violation of the constitutional right of a citizen to a fair trial and representation by counsel; second it was an attack on the bar and on the ability of lawyers to work without intimidation. Third and most insidious, it is a warning to the judge hearing the case that he had better be careful - if the verdict goes against the Defence Secretary, the implication is clear; the judge has sided with national traitors. The sanctity of the courts is being flagrantly, openly and unashamedly violated on a never before seen scale by agencies of the Sri Lankan state.
The lawyers expressed their disappointment with the Bar Association which has been supine in the face of these threats. The public is largely apathetic to creeping dictatorship, still basking in the glory of war victory. Many professional bodies including the Bar Association are spineless, cowed down in fear of the Executive. The Vasudevas, firebrands of old, are now domesticated presidential lapdogs. These are sad and dangerous times for those who believe that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance". The all powerful executive does not care a damn: ‘We do as we damn well like, what the hell can any of you do about it!"
Chandra Kumarage, a lawyer with a pro-left (LSSP) and one time pro-PA background, described the long fight for human rights that had made this country, if not a model, at least an example of a society where the rule of law had some space. He dealt with the period when Mahinda Rajapakse, as a lawyer and an opposition politician, had been with human rights agitations and taken briefs to HR commissions overseas. Now all this was being reversed on Rajapakse’s watch as President of the Republic, said Kumarage.
Sudarshan Gunawardena, lawyer and PfF convenor, believes that despite the end of the war the government will not return democratic rights to the people; instead gross violations will continue and take new forms. The moral is clear; it is up to the people to come forward and boldly take back their rights, there is no other way. Nanny-state sponsored displays of priggishness, cultural fascism, threats to impose prohibition of alcohol by 2015, and religious leaders stooging political masters, all constitute a cultural assault to supplement the slide to totalitarianism.
Infringing common rights
J. C. Weliamuna, another PfF convenor, discussed the breakdown of the constitutional framework. In this lawyer’s view the functioning of the executive in defiance of the provisions of the 17-th Amendment is grossly illegal. When the President is in flagrant violation of the supreme law, the public apathetic and the judiciary powerless, the scene is set for ever expanding authoritarianism. Mercifully, however, a few sections of society are beginning to stir; artists and film makers are infuriated by the impending ban on adult’s only films soon to be imposed by the nanny state. The state cleverly convolutes adult themes with pornography to inflame gullible public opinion. The Taliban and the Mullahs of Teheran convolute artistic licence with paedophilia and lechery; that is the stock in trade of cultural fascists on the road to totalitarianism.
K. S. Ratnavale, who has appeared in many human rights related cases, turned the spotlight on the IDP camps calling them the largest concentration camps in the history of the world. I am not too sure whether they earn the title largest, but concentration camps they are. Between two and three hundred thousand people are held against their will, in defiance of local and international law, and in an obscene infringement of the constitution. Hundreds of thousands have been in illegal detention for three months, in effect hostages of a minority race, hostages of the state. As for their release, nothing that is said by any official source can be believed.
Xenophobia and the traitor image
Zimbabwe is an extreme case where xenophobia served to undermine human rights. There was a change from liberal democratic values to an authoritarian and xenophobic ideology; an attack on ‘Western style’ human rights values, and an attack on colonialism and imperialism for past atrocities. The critique found some popular support since it was linked to the aftermath of a racist regime. TV and the press were mobilised and opposition politicians, parties, journalists and newspaper editors were branded as traitors and paid the price.
Circumstances in Lanka are not yet as dreadful but there is a distinct turning away from human rights values, denigrating them as a Western post-colonial imposition. There is a not so subtle effort to conceal the universal applicability of human rights. Xenophobia is underlined by a turn in foreign policy that speaks approvingly of friendship with China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. The logic is that these governments provided arms and diplomatic support during the war while the West took a more nuanced view; proscribing the LTTE and freezing its assets and access to arms, but also making war crimes allegations and raising human rights concerns. This did not pan out well with the regime since the new friends did not raise such embarrassing concerns.
I do not object to the government turning to China and elsewhere in addition to the West for development aid, investment and markets as a part of a strategy of economic diversification. The problem is when this turn takes a twist in relation to human rights. Unfortunately there are no human rights traditions and independent civil society organisations in those countries with which the democratic left or bourgeois liberals can form links. Hence continuing emphasis on lines of contact with peoples and institutions tested in the human rights arena is necessary. The peoples’ movements and civil rights organisations in Western democracies have strengths that can be crucial allies in Lanka’s struggle against totalitarianism.

Tamils in Jaffna long for normality

JAFFNA, SRI LANKA // The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) may claim it won a crucial election in the minority Tamil-dominated town of Jaffna, but frustrated residents say the government is far from being able to provide peace with dignity.

“It is a long way before people will get their freedom and peace. We want to be treated with dignity, not live like second-class citizens,” said a retired lawyer who, like many others who spoke to The National, did not want to be named.
From journalists, public officials and businessmen to the ordinary man on the street, residents of this town, once the seat of Tamil nationalism and the cry for a separate homeland, are reluctant to speak to the media for fear of upsetting the authorities.
At the nearby Nallur Hindu temple, which this month is expecting Tamil expatriates from across the world for its annual festival, devotees were uneasy even talking about the festival, its origins and significance. “Please don’t quote me,” said a young man going towards the temple.
Hindus are the majority community in Jaffna, which has a small Christian and Muslim population. Across Sri Lanka, Tamils, who represent 12 per cent of the population, are mostly Hindus.
While the end of the war in May this year brought relief to many Sri Lankans, the life of the Jaffna resident has not changed much apart from the end of food shortages.
Hundreds of troops are spread across the northern region, there are some items still banned in Jaffna, and going to Colombo, about 400 kilometres to the south, is a bureaucratic nightmare.
They charge us 19,500 rupees (Dh623) per return flight for a one hour journey [one way] when it probably costs the same to go to Malaysia and back from Colombo,” said an angry resident. Travel to Jaffna is mainly possible through two or three daily flights by a private airline, and for the past two weeks, the air force, which has been operating commercial flights.

Travel is still restricted along the main north-south motorway, which is open now mostly for military transport. A few passenger buses and goods lorries are allowed on the road, with security checks taking a long time.
A trader said it takes as long as eight hours to travel from Colombo to Jaffna by car.
“Lorries are held up sometimes for three days at security checkpoints further south of Jaffna. Often these lorries, which carry fruits and vegetables, arrive here with rotting or spoilt stuff,” he said.
Another shopkeeper said transporting goods by lorry cost 100,000 rupees per journey compared with 10,000 rupees in 2002-03 when the road was open without restriction during peace talks between the government and Tamil rebels.
However, with lorries carrying consumer goods into Jaffna, compared to goods being transported by ship during wartime, essentials and other goods are available and in some cases, like medicines, cheaper than in Colombo.
“The drug companies want to capture this market. So they are offering huge discounts which we are passing to the consumers,” said a pharmacy owner.
In the first polls held since the Tamil rebels were defeated by government troops, the ruling party won elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council. However, the win by the UPFA, which claimed that the victory reflected faith in the government by Tamils, was largely due to the presence of the government minister and former rebel commander Douglas Devananda.
Mr Devananda, whose party supports the government, told the media yesterday, two days after the election, that his party would have won a bigger victory if he had his way.
He said it should not be perceived as a victory for the government, which faces many problems. High among them is reforming an education system that is in shambles. A once-proud system – Jaffna district had the best results after Colombo in any secondary examinations – has been shattered by the war.
Education officials here say Jaffna, part of the northern province, which is at the bottom among Sri Lanka’s nine provinces, now ranks 18th among 25 districts.
“We have not only lost infrastructure but also skilled people. Dozens of teachers have gone abroad due to the war and it’s hard to get replacements,” a senior official said.
Teachers are also unable to get updated on new teaching methods and school curriculum as the training and workshops are held in Colombo, which for most of the past three to four years has been inaccessible.

IDPs swimming in human excreta

Torrential rains in Vavuniya Friday burst temporary sewage pipes, destroyed make-shift shelters and trapped thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) interned in Menik Farm in Vavuniya causing many of them to undergo severe difficulties as rain waters filled with sewage matter, maggots and human excreta rose in tents sheltering some 20,000 IDPs.

Reports reaching The Sunday Leader yesterday said that IDPs particularly in Zone 3 and Zone 4 of Menik Farm were seriously affected as poorly constructed drainage pipes caused severe flooding within the area.
The situation caused panic and while turmoil raged the Government moved in additional military personnel fearing large numbers of IDPs would escape the barbed wire camps.
The Sunday Leader has over the last three months consistently highlighted serious concerns raised by humanitarian agencies who pointed out that flooding was possible in these camps due to badly constructed drainage and sewer pipes.
Jeevan Thiyagarajah, Head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) told The Sunday Leader that apart from inadequate sanitation facilities and tents meant for an emergency only would also collapse in the event of heavy rains. “My predictions have been proved right,” he said last evening.
Thiyagarajah in fact two months ago threatened court action if the tents were not de-congested.
Government officials yesterday confirmed that of some 20,000 IDPs facing this horrendous situation only around 1,000 had been relocated to other locations within Menik Farm.
Vavuniya Government Agent, P.S.M. Charles told The Sunday Leader that around 400 people in Zone 4 of Menik Farm were on low level grounds and faced more risks than the others in the camp.
“Around 1,000 persons have been shifted to locations within the camp premises. The problem in Zone 4 is that the drainage system could not be completed on time. These 400 persons are on lower level ground. Therefore, they face more problems and would have to be shifted to another location if rain continues,” she said yesterday.
She said the government continued to supply them with food and essential items.
Meanwhile, TNA Wanni District Parliamentarian Sivasakthi Anandan told The Sunday Leader that he had received calls from displaced persons on the issue. “IDPs especially in Zone 4 have been shifted to locations within the camp. I am not aware of the actual number,” he said. “In other zones too, those who live on lower level grounds face similar problems.”

A view from behind the barbed wire

Interview with our Canadian colleague Denise Otis, a UNHCR Canada legal officer who just returned from serving on UNHCR's Emergency Response Team in Sri Lanka. The interview is published by Embassy Magazine, Canada's influential foreign policy newspaper which has a weekly readership of over 60,000 and has become a must-read among politicians, top bureaucrats, political staffers, diplomats and academics.


by Jeff Davis
During the final months of Sri Lanka's civil war, the island nation's government barred the media and other observers from entering the war zone. As a result, first-hand accounts of the conditions facing the hundreds of thousands of Tamils forced to flee their homes, and later interned in internally displaced peoples (IDP) camps, were practically non-existent.
But on the ground during the final weeks of intense fighting was Denise Otis, a Canadian employed at the Montreal office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. After 15 years representing mostly asylum seekers before the Immigration and Refugee Board, Ms. Otis joined the UNHCR as a legal officer in 2004. Eager for field experience, Ms. Otis volunteered for the UNHCR's emergency roster team, and after some training in Sweden, spent May and June among Sri Lanka's internally displaced Tamils.
Last week, Embassy spoke with Ms. Otis about her experiences. This is an edited transcript of her reflections on her time in Vavuniya, a town which swelled with internally displaced peoples in the war's aftermath:
When you were dealing with the IDPs near the end of the conflict, what were they telling you? What state were they in?
"We were not alone there, of course. There were many organizations, and it was a huge operation at the very beginning because these people were coming down to the checkpoint called Omanti. At this spot the people were registered, a very brief registration, and sent to camps.
"And so at that checkpoint, [Doctors Without Borders] was present, and trying to cover the cases they could monitor.... One important task for UNHCR was what we call presence protection, to be there and observe what's happening. We were visible with our T-shirts and caps, and we were allowed to be present to monitor what was going on.
"[The IDPs] had just left courageously, they were survivors of war. They were in bad shape. They had been under fire for a few months, and some of them had practically lived in bunkers. Some of them were injured; they had been victims of shelling. They were all extremely tired. They also had had problems of access to food.
"I myself witnessed the case of a young boy-my boy's age, an 11-year-old-who was dehydrated and they were going to lose him, but they finally fortunately succeeded in resuscitating him. It was something very [deeply moving] to witness.
"At the beginning, a lot of people were sent to schools and community centres in Vavuniya City. Because the arrivals were sudden, it was very difficult half the time to establish proper camps and so on.
"The first protection that you try to give people is for their lives, so you need shelter and food and so on. UNHCR, in terms of shelter, had, thanks to donations, sufficient shelters, mainly tents, to protect those people at the beginning. But it was huge numbers of displaced...in total at the beginning about 280,000 people.
"So obviously, at the beginning the authorities, including the army, were taken a bit off guard because of all the displacements and what it meant in terms of sheltering. You have to remember, we were in a context of war, and obviously the LTTE cadre, the combatants, were also among those people who were being displaced. So the Sri Lankan army wanted to make sure that the combatants would be apart from the civilians. So there was a screening process going on at this particular checkpoint."
Broadly speaking, how did the Sri Lankan army treat the IDPs?
"We were very much constrained as humanitarians, we were not allowed on roads before eight o'clock and after six o'clock pm, for security reasons.
"When we were there we did not, generally speaking, see any mistreatment. But the bottom line is...that they are encircled by barbed wire. Generally speaking, there is no freedom of movement, which is one of the basic principles applied to internally displaced peoples. There is a [UNHCR] guideline that exists on IDPs, and it's very clear that the very first principle of these guidelines is freedom of movement.
"In Sri Lanka, many people had been displaced in the past, including when the tsunami took place. And I saw some of these settlements of people who had been displaced in 1998, and these people had never been constrained, never been submitted to confinement like that.
"The main reason given by the government, and I think UNHCR understood the fact, that because of the context, the government thought it was better for security reasons to confine those people. But the situation is that they are still confined."
What are some of the things that stick out clearest in your mind about the situation in those camps?
"Well it's heavily militarized around the camps. At the beginning the army was also in the camps, but they were eventually replaced by civilians. I think this was also thanks to advocacy from UNHCR, because that's another principle: the camps cannot be militarized.
"Nevertheless, it's still militarized outside, but inside now it's civilians, which is a good improvement. But it was a first impression, that that was a bit contrary to the principles.
"Of course the fact that the people are confined is something that catches the attention. It's barbed wire and you see kids, old age people, and so on. Now, I have to tell you that the government of Sri Lanka has established rules where people 60 and above and the kids 10 and below were allowed, according to various rules and procedures, to leave the camps. So a certain number have been released, but Vavuniya is a small town. The infrastructure did not necessarily exist, but they did their best to have those people find a place to live."
Has any progress been made?
"The basic rights have to come through. Sanitation, water, etcetera. And now I know they have made a lot of efforts in order for the kids to have access to education. They also made efforts to decongest those huge camps where too many people were jammed at the beginning. Now they put them in other camps.
"They have the intention to resettle, meaning they will be sent back to where they came from, but because of the war situation, the demining, the operation can still take some time."
Why are they still in the camps?
"It's not that all the territory has been mined, but it's risky to send them back to where they come from, that's the reason that's given.
"So for the moment, they're trying their best, I guess, to make sure people are fed, but the problem remains they are confined, and that's something UNHCR is advocating [against]. In Pakistan, people were sent also to their families, people who could not do otherwise, they are in camps, but are free to move, and they have the option to go."
I understand there are a number of Canadians are among the IDPs. How are they?
"I must admit when I was there I didn't know about [those Canadians]. I heard about it afterward. But the fact is yes, there are.
"Some [foreign] people had been in the areas, because they attended a funeral, or were on holidays or were coming from a wedding or whatever, and were caught in the situation and so they found themselves in the camps. That's pretty unfortunate.
"The monsoon season is coming, and that's something I dread for them, because they are in tents and when it rains, it rains...and there's no flooring. When I was there, there was a half hour rain and it was a total disaster."
Do you think peace is in the cards now for Sri Lanka?
"The people want it, right. The Tamils, the ones I talked to, want to do like everyone else: be in peace, raise their kids peacefully and be able to go out in the evening. War is war, and at one point you just want to be at peace. That's what they want, most of them."
It seems to me that the main thing where the Sri Lankan government is falling afoul here is the freedom of movement issues.
"That's a big issue, yes. Because it's the basis of guidelines on IDPs and it's also a principle that is in the Declaration of Human Rights. It's not out of the blue, it's really the fundamentals of international law, and we have the mandate and the duty to repeat it, here and everywhere."

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7UWMG4?OpenDocument

Sri Lanka call to free refugees

Two of Sri Lanka's most senior Roman Catholic clergy have spoken out against the continued detention of nearly 300,000 Tamil war refugees.




The Archbishop of Colombo and the Bishop of Jaffna were addressing tens of thousands of pilgrims at a shrine close to camps housing the refugees.



Jaffna bishop Thomas Saundaranayagam, himself a Tamil, said the refugees were being held "like prisoners".



The government says they have to be vetted for links to the Tamil Tigers.



Government forces defeated the Tamil Tigers in their last stronghold in the north earlier this year, bringing the country's civil war to an end.



Sri Lanka's Roman Catholics revere the statue of Our Lady of Madhu at the shrine in north-west Sri Lanka and 15 August is a major festival.
This is the first time since 2005 that the government has given permission for Catholics to visit the shrine in large numbers. Until last year the area was controlled by the Tamil Tigers. The warring sides used to make arrangements to allow pilgrims to visit on 15 August.
'Behind barbed wire'

The BBC's Charles Haviland is in Madhu and says well over 100,000 pilgrims have visited the shrine in recent days.
In his sermon, the Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith from the majority Sinhalese community, said this was a beautiful occasion.

However he said it would have been more so had the people of this area being held in camps been able to come, he said, referring to the lack of Tamils.
Bishop Saundaranayagam said most local people were "confined to camps, behind barbed wire fences, like prisoners".
Father Joe Xavier, who has officiated at this shrine for 15 years through war, ceasefire and peace, estimated that as many as 90% of the devotees this year were Sinhalese people who generally could not visit during the long years of Tamil Tiger control.
He said that many Tamils were being held in camps, while others did not want to come this year.
"When we are talking to them they feel their feelings are being hurt," Father Joe said. "When our brothers and sisters are now in the camp we just cannot come and celebrate the feast here."
The main Menik Farm refugee camp is very close by.
Our correspondent says that although security has been tight for the Madhu festival, President Mahinda Rajapaksa cancelled his planned visit out of security concerns.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8202993.stm

assistance and the attached strings

Palaly has been receiving some attention in the news recently. Last week, in a move cementing relations between two neighbouring countries, India reportedly made a payment of Rs. 117 million to the Sri Lankan Government, for runway rehabilitation at Palaly.

It appears, however, that this project has been in the works for quite some time.
Former Secretary of Defence, Austin Fernando, reveals in his book My Belly Is White, that the runway rehabilitation was considered essential by the SLAF Commander, even during Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure.
The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) noticed that, especially after the introduction of heavier aircraft into the Palaly airstrip, many vital aircraft components were damaged. This posed serious flight safety risks, and replacing the parts was expensive. Private operators, flying after the ceasefire agreement came into effect, reported similar problems. The SLAF Commander had asked for assistance to more or less redo the air base, according to Fernando.
Lack of funding
However, as Fernando observed, there was a severe lack of funding to get this project off the ground. The cost of this project would be around USD 5 million, hardly small change. He petitioned the Treasury, and when this failed, turned to the idea of foreign assistance.
The arrangement at the time was for a company under the Ministry of Highways to do the work, Fernando revealed. This company would be supervised jointly by the SLAF and a local consultant attached to the Road Development Authority (RDA). Quality control would be the responsibility of the Project Management Group of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The parties involved hoped to finish the entire job within 11 months. It was to be in two phases. The first phase constituted resurfacing the runway, constructing drains and replacing the airfield lighting systems. The second would be resurfacing the other taxi tracks and aprons.
It was suggested that the Indian Government finance this project as a grant to the Sri Lankan Government.
Money with conditions
However it was at this point that Captain M. Gopinath, Defence Attaché of the Indian High Commission of Colombo, approached Fernando.
It appeared that the money India was willing to provide came with certain conditions.
The first request was that any further work on the runway should first be entrusted to India before considering any other country for assistance. This was not an unreasonable requirement. In fact Fernando wrote that considering the dire need for funding, he thought the government would be happy to comply with this request.
The second was that no other country be allowed to carry out a military operation from the Palaly runway, and the third that India be allowed to use the runway upon request.
India had legitimate security concerns in mind preventing countries such as, say, Pakistan from using the runway. However, what this effectively amounted to was that no other country could use the runway without India first agreeing to it. That in turn could mean that Sri Lanka might only have India to depend on in the event of an air attack on Jaffna. It was a tug-of-war between the need for sovereignty and the need to maintain good diplomatic ties with India.
“A soft intervention by a Gulliver could be heavy for a Lilliputian!” wrote Fernando on this dilemma. It appeared that others agreed with him. After discussions Fernando was told by Former Defence Minister Tilak Marapone that the Prime Minister at that time, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had decided that if India continued to insist on these conditions, they would use Sri Lankan funds instead. Wickremesinghe thought the money came at too high a price.
Series of letters
It was a series of letters between the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J. R. Jayewardene that saved the day. A letter written by Jayewardene pledged that foreign military and intelligence personnel would not be employed in a manner prejudicial to Indo-Sri Lankan relations. It also said that no ports would be made available for military use by any other country in a manner prejudicial to Indian interests. There was hope that the Indo-Lanka treaty would be enough to satisfy the Indian Government, and Marapone intimated that Former Minister Milinda Moragoda would speak to the Indian High Commissioner to finalise the agreement.
However, before this was finalised, Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga “grabbed the Ministry of Defence on constitutional grounds,” as Fernando puts it, and he was relieved of his post.
Whether India was satisfied with the Indo-Lanka Treaty or not is unknown, though Fernando wrote that from what information he had, the arrangement followed the terms Wickremesinghe had sought.
If India did indeed agree to forward a total of USD 5 million for runway rehabilitation, it would be a huge step in improving relations between the two countries. One can only hope that this time, there were no strings attached.

India’s help for Lanka’s LTTE-freed areas

NEW DELHI: With de-mining of north Sri Lanka gaining momentum, India is sending a team of agriculture experts there to assist in activation of farming in the areas that have been freed from the LTTE control.

The team, to be led by a crop scientist of Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), is expected to travel to Sri Lanka by the end of this month.
The agriculture experts will assess the soil condition, irrigation facilities and weather conditions among other aspects to determine how farming could be started in the areas freed from LTTE control, sources told PTI here.
The timing of the visit has been chosen in view of the coming crop season.
The team will determine requirements for activation of farming in those areas so that follow-up assistance could be extended by India which is set for a massive rehabilitation and reconstruction agenda in the Tamil-dominated areas, they said.
The government has also roped in noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and he is being consulted in the effort to activate farming in north Sri Lanka.
Activation of farming activities is one of the first steps aimed at providing livelihood to locals.
The effort to start farming coincides with the progress being made in de-mining by India of the areas that have been freed from LTTE control.
Four Indian teams, each comprising 50 experts, are currently engaged in clearing north Sri Lanka of mines that had been planted by fleeing LTTE.
India will also be helping in resurrection of railway network in north Sri Lanka that has been damaged during LTTE control of the area. The two countries are discussing the specific projects that India can take up in this regard.
At the same time, a temporary hospital operated by India in Vavuniya is being wound up after six months of service.
The 100-bedded hospital that was set up soon after the war between the Sri Lankan army and LTTE got over, has treated nearly 27,000 patients.
India is also undertaking reconstruction activities in Sri Lanka's Eastern province, which too is Tamil-dominated.
Among the projects are a rail-bus service which has been started with vehicles being provided by India.

A 500-MW power plant, set up in Trincomalee through collaboration between India and Sri Lanka, is also expected to be started next month.

Lankan Oil Investment Modified

An agreement between Iran and Sri Lanka for the expansion of Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery has been altered due to Sri Lanka's inability to meet the stipulated conditions.

Sri Lanka will pay its share of the project in installments over the period of construction, Moj News Agency wrote.
Authoritative sources said that in the original agreement, the Sri Lankan government had made a commitment of 30 percent of $1.47 billion project upfront. It subsequently said it could not raise the required funds.
The project aims at doubling the production capacity of the oil refinery near Colombo from 50,000 barrels per day to 100,000 bpd.
Sri Lanka has greatly benefited from Iran making available what diplomatic sources called $700 million in cash to purchase oil.

Indian Navy a big challenge for China?

CHENNAI: Though China has been engaged in developing three ports at Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Pakistan thus encircling India, the weak area for the country today is the Indian Navy, Naval Chief of Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, said here on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters here at a function held at Chennai Port on Thursday, the Admiral said, “The Chinese efforts and help to Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Myanmar to build ports in their countries were a part of its strategy to get a foothold in the ocean, but one has to understand the fact that it is not so easy for them (China) to come inside the Indian Ocean where our navy has better presence.” On a question about India being encircled by Chinese-sponsored ports in its Asian neighbourhood, Mehta said that Beijing was building such dependency ports as part of its strategy to have a strong footing in the ocean in future. While reacting to his reported statement on China-India comparison a few days ago, Mehta said, “During the intellectual discussion a few days ago, I spoke about several national security issues there but the media picked my China-related statement only.” Strongly discounting the number game with China, Admiral Mehta said, “It’s not that you have 50 ships, I have 50 ships. I may have 10 ships which are much smarter and better and let us do that.” To a query on the recent detention of North Korean cargo ship MV Musan near Hutbay in South Andaman, Mehta said that no full details were available at this point of time. “But with North Korea, we have to be doubly sure. But prima facie, it looks like the ship got some genuine cargo which was destined for Iraq,” he said. However, he added that the ship was being towed to Kakinada Port and different agencies would investigate the matter there

The war in Sri Lanka has ended but the suffering continues

Any health system would have difficulties responding to the needs of over 260,000 people who recently came out of a war zone. And so, facilities in the Sri Lankan IDP camps are overstretched. People sometimes need to wait days before they can see a doctor for treatment and at night non-medical people decide who gets referred to a hospital and who does not. The suffering continues.

For the past three months, Ati* has been living in a camp in Menik farm with her husband and three children. Two weeks ago, her five year old son had a fever and was barely responding. She carried him to the clinic in the camp at 5am and queued to see a doctor until 6pm. Like many others that day, she did not get to see a doctor and returned to her tent with her sick child and no treatment. She went back the next day and again failed to see a doctor after waiting for another 13 hours. It wasn't until the third day that she finally managed to see a doctor who gave her some antibiotics.

300 patients a day
Even if the services are gradually expanding in the camps with Ministry of Health clinics in all the camps and the medical staff doing what they can, the needs are vast and the facilities are overstretched. Some doctors are seeing 200 to 300 patients a day, there is little capacity to carry out tests or follow up patients and only the most urgent cases get transferred to hospitals outside the camps. Maruthani,* a 24 year old woman, arrived in Menik Farm at the end of May and is badly disfigured since a fragment of bomb shell cut her lips, cheeks and chin during the conflict. Her mouth is always open, her tongue is badly affected, she can barely drink and cannot speak. She is in need of reconstructive surgery, something impossible to get inside the camp. When her wounds became infected, she went, in pain, to the clinic in the camp. There they were unable to do anything for her and she was not transferred to a hospital outside the camp because she was not considered to be an emergency case. She spends her days lying in the sand outside her tent, waiting for the day to pass.
Some emergency cases in the camps are referred by the Ministry of Health staff to the MSF hospital outside Menik Farm where MSF medical teams are mostly treating patients for conflict related trauma, respiratory tract infections and skin diseases. The problem comes at night.
“In many camps if someone gets sick at night they have to rely on the soldier at the gate of the camp to take the decision on whether they get referred to a hospital or not”, explains Karline Kleijer, MSF emergency coordinator. “This works for those who are obviously ill, fitting or with a bleeding wound, but when it is a dehydrated child with a fever, the average soldier will not see that they are in urgent need of medical attention because they are not easy things to diagnose.”

Breakfast at night
Another concern for those in the camps is access to clean water and food. In most camps people do not cook for themselves but rely on community kitchens and rations distributed daily by the government or NGOs.
“Sometimes, especially in the newer camps, the food doesn't get delivered until late in the evening and the first meal of the day is at ten o'clock at night”, says an MSF aid worker. Every day MSF distributes high energy porridge to 23,000 children under five, pregnant and lactating women and people over 60 in 11 of the camps. “It is difficult for our staff to turn people away when they do not fit into our target group."
Outside of the camps, hundreds of people are still hospitalised receiving treatment for injuries they incurred during the conflict. Working with Ministry of Health staff in Pompaimadhu hospital, MSF is treating 180 patients with spinal cord injuries, fractures that did not heal and infected wounds. The MSF surgeon does an average of 16 to 20 surgeries a week and physiotherapy is a big component of the programme.
“To see someone walk again thanks to the physiotherapy is amazing” says MSF surgeon Tim Pruchnic.

Traumatised
Traumatised by what they experienced during the conflict, many of the patients in hospital are struggling to cope with their grief and worry about their future and the fate of their loved ones.
“A young mother admitted in Pompaimadhu has lost her husband, her parents, her sister, her sister's husband and children”, remembered an MSF worker. “She is alone now in Pompaimadhu hospital recovering from her injuries, she is the sole survivor of her family and she is pregnant. She feels very lonely and is still in shock, it has only been two and a half months since she lost everything and everyone. She worries about how she will cope as a single mother. As long as she stays in Pompaimadhu she can get help, but when she is discharged to the camps she will no longer get any support.”
In the camps, people are dealing with the trauma experienced in the conflict and it is difficult to rebuild any semblance of a normal life. There are very few job opportunities inside the camps, the people are not allowed to leave the camps and parents worry about their children's education. People have difficulties to search for relatives, make plans or take control of their own future. With nowhere to go there is little to do other than walk from one distribution to another. The uncertainty of how long they have to remain in the camps is difficult to live with. There is therefore a huge need for psychological support for people living in the camps and currently none is provided.

Ready to start
In addition to the high energy porridge the MSF teams cook and distribute in the camps, MSF has the capacity to scale up activities and provide medical support to the Ministry of Health staff inside the camps.
“We have two whiteboards in our office,” explained Karline. “One with a list of planned activities for the coming weeks: supplementary feeding, surgery, etc. And another is a list of activities waiting for approval, including mental health, basic health care and physiotherapy in the camps… We are ready to start!”

MSF continues to pursue discussions with the authorities in Colombo.

*name has been changed

http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=12EEE5AE-15C5-F00A-259ECDF0EB7BAAFF&component=toolkit.article&method=full_html

AAAS Satellite Image Analysis Points to New Graves, Shelling, and Human Displacement in Sri Lanka

Beside a green lagoon on Sri Lanka's northeastern coast, on a sandy spit of land less than 8 miles long, violence reportedly erupted 9-10 May as military soldiers clashed with rebel Tamil Tigers.

Now, a detailed AAAS assessment of high-resolution satellite images seems to confirm descriptions of intense fighting within Sri Lanka's "no-fire zone"—revealing a landscape scarred by freshly dug graves and artillery explosions.
At one gravesite, for example, an estimated 342 new graves appeared in satellite images after violence erupted in May, said Lars Bromley of the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program. Thousands of refugee shelters vanished, while dozens of permanent structures were damaged and the region was riddled by shelling, said Bromley, director of the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project at AAAS.

"The narrow peninsula that makes up the civilian safety zone in Sri Lanka clearly has undergone very dramatic physical changes," Bromley confirmed. "By comparing before-and-after satellite images, we were able to see a significant movement of the region's human population, suggesting widespread displacement, based on changes to structures. We also identified many crater-like features consistent with shelling, a major gravesite expansion, and numerous suspected mortar sites."

 
 
 
 

By 6 May 2009, numberous probable internally

displaced persons structures are present in this

image, along with a graveyard (outlined in red),

containing an estimated 195 burials.

Shortly after the clash between the Sri Lankan military and rebels with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the New York Times filed this report: "A government doctor said at least 378 civilians—and perhaps as many as 1,000—had been killed and more than 1,100 wounded on Saturday and Sunday during intensive shelling of the combat zone on Sri Lanka's northeastern coast."

The Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka issued a statement contending that rebels were "bombarding their own civilians." Other sources have accused the government of shelling the civilian-populated region, which was declared a no-fire zone on 12 February. Journalists meanwhile reported being banned or ejected from the region.

By 10 May 2009, the graveyard in this image,

outlined in red, has expanded substantially,

compared with the earlier, 6 May image above.

Bromley compared six images, spanning dates from 9 May 2005 through 24 May 2009, captured by multiple satellites, including DigitalGlobe's QuickBird and WorldView satellites; and GeoEye's Ikonos and GeoEye-1 satellites.

The AAAS analysis, requested by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA, was conducted as part of broader AAAS research funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
When compared with a 6 May satellite image, a 10 May image reveals "the obvious removal of thousands of likely [internally displaced persons, or IDP] structures," the AAAS report states. "Overall, the area appears to have been swept relatively clean."

By 24 May 2009, an area across the street from the

original graveyard in this image has been cleared

and is also being used for burials. AAAS analysis

suggested that 342 new graves were dug at this site

in Sri Lanka's "no-fire zone" following the 9-10 May

episode of renewed fighting.

http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/0812sri_lanka.shtml

Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé d'Affaires Moore Discuss the Humanitarian Situation and Prospects for Political Reconciliation in Sri Lanka with Tamil Diaspora Groups

Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Sri Lanka James Moore met with 16 representatives of U.S.-based organizations representing members of the Tamil diaspora to discuss the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka and prospects for political reconciliation on August 11.

Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé Moore welcomed the opportunity to listen to the concerns and perspectives of the American Tamil diaspora community and to share the steps the United States is taking to address the humanitarian crisis. The United States has provided $56 million in humanitarian assistance in 2009. While the Government of Sri Lanka has made some progress easing camp congestion, registering IDPs, and expanding access by humanitarian organizations, much remains to be done, Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé Moore said. The United States is urging the safe and speedy return of IDPs, continued access for international humanitarian organizations, and the registration and provision of national identification cards to IDPs, to help promote freedom of movement.
Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé Moore underscored the importance of political reconciliation. The U.S. has stressed to the government that to achieve a lasting peace, it must promote justice and political reconciliation for all parties, dialogue with all parties, including Tamils inside and outside Sri Lanka on new mechanisms for devolving power, and improve human rights. Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé Moore recommended that the Government of Sri Lanka and the American Tamil diaspora community seek opportunities to engage one another on political reconciliation and the reconstruction of Sri Lanka.
Assistant Secretary Blake and Chargé Moore concluded by saying that they would like to continue the dialogue with the diaspora community and urged participants to continue to share feedback.
The discussion took place at the State Department with Chargé Moore through a digital video conference at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo.


http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/aug/127195.htm

Chinese identify Tamils conducive in breaking up India

A recent article that appeared in a Chinese strategic think tank saying “[i]f China takes a little action, the so-called Great Indian Federation can be broken up,” and its argument that China in its own interest, and the progress of whole Asia, should join forces with different nationalities like Assamese, Tamils, and Kashmiris, and support the latter in establishing independent nation-states of their own, out of India, has ruffled the Indian counterparts. Responding to the article in Chinese, D S Rajan, Director of Chennai Centre for China Studies wrote, “an approach of panic towards such outbursts will be a mistake, but also ignoring them will prove to be costly for India.”

The Chinese article by Zhan Lue, that appeared on Saturday, was timed for the 13th round of Sino-Indian border talks held in New Delhi, Friday and Saturday. After holding talks with M K Narayanan and meeting Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, the visiting delegation declared the importance of Sino-Indian partnership, stressing that it involves 40 percent of the world’s population. The delegation also said that they discussed South and Northeast Asia.
On the outcome of the talks, The Hindu reported that China and India have agreed to set up a hotline communication between the leaders of the country, a facility that exists for India at the moment only with Russia.
Writing in South Asia Analysis Group, Sunday, promptly responding to the Chinese article, Rajan said, “[i]t has generally been seen that China is speaking in two voices – its diplomatic interlocutors have always shown understanding during their dealings with their Indian counterparts, but its selected media is pouring venom on India in their reporting.”
According to Rajan, the punch line in the Chinese article has been that “to split India, China can bring into its fold countries like Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, support ULFA in attaining its goal for Assam’s independence, back aspirations of Indian nationalities like Tamils and Nagas, encourage Bangladesh to give a push to the independence of West Bengal, and lastly recover the 90,000 sq km. territory in Southern Tibet.”
It is rumoured in the diplomatic circles that during the war against Eezham Tamils, huge amounts of unaccounted Chinese money was spent especially in Tamil Nadu by Colombo’s agents in Chennai to buy or check media and politicians.

The biggest question is why the Indian Establishment is precipitating a situation for China to eye on Tamils, ask Tamil circles.

Sri Lankan State Terror extends boundaries: BTF

The Sri Lankan Government has once again exposed its arrogance as a ‘democratic state’ apparently unbound by international law and order, extending their practice of illegal abductions, kidnap, disappearances and violations of human rights with impunity, this time across international borders, says British Tamil Forum in its press release yesterday. The military establishment’s disrespect and disregard to international law and order in Sri Lanka is now being permitted internationally, it seems.

The press release further said: Recent news reports surrounding the alleged arrest of Mr Selvarasa Pathmanathan has once again bought to the foreground the Sri Lankan Government’s ability to whitewash international norms. The anomalies surrounding his kidnap and detention give rise to serious concerns over Sri Lanka’s seemingly superseding legal jurisdiction which is not restricted to the island of Sri Lanka.
The illegal abduction and subsequent extrajudicial transfer of Mr Pathmanathan to Sri Lanka should be challenged by all those who believe in democracy, and are party to Geneva conventions. Extraordinary Rendition is illegal in accordance with Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which clearly prohibits extradition of any persons to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
Sri Lanka’s Defence website boasts Minister Keheliya Rambukwella’s proclamations that “Sri Lanka is capable of defeating LTTE terrorism wherever it emerges”, further stating that the arrest of Mr Pathmanathan was only made possible with the unreserved, and adequate support of the “international friends” of Sri Lanka.
By its eerie silence, the international community, institutions like the Commonwealth and the UN are, by default, accepting daylight abductions as being internationally accepted practice and allowing for rogue states to extend their belligerent practices across borders.
International laws, treaties, governance and conventions will all have to be rewritten if this sets a new precedent. Sri Lankan regime has been effective in eliciting the support of the international community to conduct its Genocidal agenda against the Tamil people. Whilst the international community obliged then, under the pretext of eliminating terrorism, Sri Lanka’s lack of willingness to attend to international calls to stop the ongoing incarceration of over 300,000 civilians in ‘Nazistyle’ detention camps have largely gone unchallenged.
The silence of international institutions have only signalled acceptance of this piecemeal approach adopted by the Sri Lankan regime. This paves the way for other countries to be selective of the international laws they wish to adhere to and exploit the international conventions and UN charters to which they have signed to.
Even international media, which normally takes the higher moral ground, has been largely desolate on this issue, raising little concern of the circumstances surrounding this illegal act by a defiant state acting outside its legal jurisdiction. Mr Pathmanathan was instrumental in “silencing the guns” of the armed struggle and promoting democratic and political means in progressing forward the Tamil liberation struggle, despite many pundits, including governments and reputable international institutions, predicting guerrilla warfare.
By allowing removal of a moderate leader from the equation and by maintaining silent, thus supporting Sri Lankan State terrorism, the international community seem to gesture a dangerous path for the radical elements. If Mr Pathmanathan has breached any laws of the land where he was domicile, or breached any international law, then the due legal process should have been followed by governments and government agencies involved. That is why extradition treaties are in place. Concerned citizens of the country of domicile of Mr Pathmanathan have the right to demand for a public enquiry into breaches of laws of the land.
Recent allegations of UK’s complicity in torture and rendition gave rise to a statement from the Foreign Secretary David Miliband stating that the UK "firmly opposed" torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. Widespread dismay at UK’s possible involvement in “War on Terror” human rights abuses has clearly shown UK public opinion on such illegal practices.
UK Prime Minister’s office argues that suspension from the Commonwealth has only been carried out in instances where there has been a failure of democracy in member states, on which grounds Sri Lanka does not warrant such a deferral. If rules, regulations and laws are to be effective, no one should be above the law. Perpetrators of international law cannot go unpunished on the grounds of having no precedents.
Any other state guilty of such persistent refusal to observe the will of the ‘international community’ would have been subject to warnings of economic and/or military sanctions. If the international community continues to be a silent bystander, inaction is likely to promote violence and anarchy, not just in Sri Lanka, but allow free reign for similar states to practice state terrorism internationally.

In light of these concerning developments, British Tamils demand:

UK Government to, along with other governments, demand from the Sri Lankan Government that Mr Pathmanathan must be produced immediately in a court of law and charges made against him as soon as possible
The ICRC must be given access to Mr Pathmanathan immediately and Article 3 Convention against torture must be followed to protect Mr Pathmanathan’s human rights and safeguard his wellbeing
Mr Pathmanathan must be given access to legal representation according to international laws Any breach of international law by governments, government institutions or agencies involved in this illegal abduction and extraordinary rendition should be investigated and action taken to establish law and order
UK government, along with US and other administrations with firm belief in international law and order, should speak out against such international acts of crime by a state
Foreign and Commonwealth Office must review its stance on supporting suspension of member states from the Commonwealth, whether breach of law without precedents can go unpunished
Media that values human rights and respects law and order should promote action against such acts of crime by a state

KP arrest 'violated international law': Sam Zarifi

KP was reportedly arrested in Malaysia and brought to Sri Lanka. Amnesty International has accused Malaysia of violating international law by handing over new Tamil Tiger leader to Sri Lanka.

Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Sam Zarifi commenting on the recent arrest of new LTTE leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan in Malaysia, told BBC Sandeshaya that if any country arrests LTTE members the detainee should face charges in the country that they had been arrested.
"International law prohibits sending someone, including a criminal suspect, back to a country where they face real possibility of torture and ill-treatment and Sri Lanka does have a poor track record of torturing and poorly treating detainees," Mr. Zarifi said.
"So there are some real questions about how KP was taken to Sri Lanka."
Malaysian authorities have neither confirmed nor denied reports that he was arrested in the country.
The Amnesty International also calls on Sri Lanka produce and charge, if appropriate, nearly 10,000 former LTTE cadres currently held in detention camps.
Not only the new LTTE leader, says Sam Zarifi, but Minister Karuna (Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan) should also face a fair trial for his alleged human rights violations.
"We want to see proper justice with proper due process for KP, for any of the LTTE members detained, for Karuna as well as for any member of the government accused of human rights violations," he told BBCSinhala.com.
Minister Samarasinghe, however, says that in regard to Minister Karuna not only Sri Lanka but also international community has failed to take action.
Karuna Amman, who served a short prison sentence in UK, was appointed a parliamentarian and later a minister by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.(Courtesy: BBC)

Lankan minister questions the right of Blake to speak on behalf of Tamils

The Sri Lankan government yesterday questioned the right of US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake to speak on behalf of the displaced Tamils in the North.

Robert O' Blake was quoted in the international media saying that US has been disappointed by the recent statements by the president (Rajapakse) that he is not going to be in a position to take any measures on the devolution of power until after a presidential election.
Blake said: "The government needs to find a way to move more quickly than January 2010, because the risk, of course, is that people will become disaffected and that will give new impetus to terrorism."

Sri Lankan Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has told local media 'It is irrelevant, as it is the right of the Sri Lankan people to decide on what makes them happy as a nation'...I am sad to note that a senior diplomat of the caliber of Robert Blake would comment on this.'

Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert O Blake, in an interview with rediff.com has expressed US's deep disappointment with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse for relegating the devolution of power in the Tamil majority areas, in the country's northern province, to the back-burner.
Blake told rediff.com "We have been disappointed to hear recent statements by the president (Rajapakse) that he is not going to be in a position to take any measures on the devolution of power until after a presidential election." He added "something needs to take place more quickly than that and we certainly are encouraging the government to do so."
Asked what the latest US position on Sri Lanka was, Blake said, "We have encouraged progress on two particular fronts."
"First, on the humanitarian front, there are still more than 250,000 internally displaced persons who are residing in camps under detention conditions, and so we have encouraged the Sri Lankan government to allow them freedom of movement, and more importantly to allow them to be resettled as quickly as possible," he explained.
Blake pointed out that the Sri Lankan government "has pledged to resettle the majority of the IDPs by the end of this year, which would certainly be a very welcome step." "So, we just encourage rapid progress towards that goal, but also steps (should) be taken so that the international community, the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross and others have access to the camps, so that the IDPs can be assured of receiving treatment and everything that goes on there is up to international standards," he said.
"Secondly," Blake added, "We hope that our friends in Sri Lanka will make progress towards political reconciliation because really that's the only way that there's going to be a definitive end to terrorism. And that means figuring out ways to have a dialogue with the Tamil community."
This includes "the wide Tamil community inside, but also outside Sri Lanka, about exactly what those measures should entail," he said. He emphasised that this "needs to take place sooner rather than later."
Earlier, on Monday Blake expressed similar comments on Sri Lanka in an interview with 'Associated Press.'
Further he told AP that Sri Lanka's failure to share power with minority Tamils following the end of a bloody 25-year civil war in May could lead to renewed violence.
"The government needs to find a way to move more quickly than January 2010, because the risk, of course, is that people will become disaffected and that will give new impetus to terrorism," he said.
He said the government must make Tamils feel like they are part of the political process after a civil war that killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people.
Blake also said that Sri Lanka should allow more freedom of movement for the nearly 300,000 Tamils displaced by the war and confined to government camps. Some aid groups fear the camps are actually military-run internment centers designed to indefinitely hold the displaced.

Sri Lanka's failure to share power with Tamils could lead to renewed violence: Robert Blake

"Sri Lanka's failure to share power with minority Tamils following the end of a bloody 25-year civil war in May could lead to renewed violence," says Robert Blake, the top US diplomat for South Asia.

In an interview Monday with the 'Associated Press,' Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake expressed disappointment that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has indicated he will not pursue political reconciliation until after presidential elections are held, probably in January.
"The government needs to find a way to move more quickly than January 2010, because the risk, of course, is that people will become disaffected and that will give new impetus to terrorism," Blake told AP.
He said the government must make Tamils feel like they are part of the political process after a civil war that killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people.
Blake also said that Sri Lanka should allow more freedom of movement for the nearly 300,000 Tamils displaced by the war and confined to government camps. Some aid groups fear the camps are actually military-run internment centers designed to indefinitely hold the displaced.
Blake while noting some progress on the matter, including Sri Lanka allowing about 10,000 displaced people to leave the camps said, the people in the camps were being "held against their will."
"They're not allowed to leave," Blake told AP. "It's important for them to have this freedom of movement."
The United States said Monday that it was donating $15 million in food aid to help Sri Lanka resettle some of the Tamils displaced by the war. The USAID, U.S. Agency for International Development said the aid will provide those returning to their homes with a six-month ration of essential foods.
Commenting on that Blake said, Washington will not put conditions on humanitarian aid, but he said, "longer term reconstruction assistance really will be dependent on the progress that they make" on resettling displaced people and in power sharing efforts.

Sri Lanka careering back to where it was: Financial Times

After the government of Sri Lanka finally and violently crushed the 25-year-old insurrection by Tamil rebels last May, there were hopes this sparkling island in the Indian Ocean would finally emerge from its dark history into the light. That is already looking forlorn, says Financial Times in its editorial yesterday under the caption 'Dark triumphalism clouds Sri Lanka.'

"Put simply, while the conflict has ended, Sri Lanka is careering back to where it was when the conflict began. Its precarious identity as a mix of ethnic and linguistic, cultural and religious influences is in danger of being swept away by a triumphalist wave of Sinhalese chauvinism," said the editorial comment.
The editorial further said: True, partial local elections on Saturday returned some Tamil nationalists in northern towns on the fringe of the former fief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. But the real purpose of the poll seems to have been to test the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa before he calls an early general election to secure a second six-year term, in the afterglow of military victory. Mr Rajapaksa’s machine steamrollered through the southern province of Uva. That will, no doubt, have added to his sense of invulnerability.
What really happened in the elections is hard to know; foreign journalists were banned from the north, just as all journalists were during the final stages of the war.
The government has stepped up its intimidation of dissidents, lawyers and human rights workers as well as journalists. Five doctors who were the sources for the outside world on the final civilian bloodbath in the Tigers’ last redoubt have somehow been persuaded to recant in public, downgrading the number of civilian deaths to a tenth of UN estimates.
Meanwhile, 280,000 Tamils are being held in camps largely sealed off from aid workers. The notion of devolution to deal with Tamil grievances has been taken off the table. The government no longer wishes to discuss minority rights, only individual rights within the new national identity it intends to forge. US and British officials fear this may involve the forced dispersal of Tamils across the island so they can no longer cluster.
Even before last month’s $2.5bn reconstruction loan package from the International Monetary Fund, Mr Rajapaksa’s ability to find new sources of finance, especially from China, had made him relatively immune to international pressure.
His victory seems to have convinced him force is the answer. Yet unless the Sinhala majority shows magnanimity and gives the Tamils control over their lives, their cause will surely reignite from the embers of this war.