Security News Sundayobserver.lk - Sri Lanka
LTTE’s main agent in arms network, a serious threat - Expert
by Shanika SRIYANANDA
International counter terrorism expert Shanaka Jayasekara said that Ponniah Anandarajah, the main agent of the LTTE’s arms network in the post-KP period, still poses a serious threat to Sri Lanka’s efforts in countering the LTTE’s international links.
Jayasekara, an Associate Lecturer at the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (PICT) at Macquarie University in Sydney, told the Sunday Observer that Anandarajah is still having access to gun-running networks globally.
“The arrest of KP, the arrest of Rajan and the acquisition of the LTTE vessel MV Chrishantha are great achievements for Sri Lanka’s security agencies”, he said.
Jayasekara who is doing research on terrorist fund-raising, weapons procurement and support networks, said that it was difficult to estimate the LTTE’s total wealth as most of the investments were hidden or in front companies.
“The only figure that I have come across is that TRO leader Regi, now living in the UK has over US$50 million of TRO funds under his control.
The LTTE is still having six single engine aircraft packed in crates in a warehouse in Asmara, Eretria. It is also believed that one sea plane allegedly purchased with LTTE funds is running charter flights in the Fiji Islands”, he said.
Jayasekara said that most of the LTTE’s ships had been destroyed by the Sri Lanka Navy in deep sea operations and the security agencies seized the MV Chrishantha, the LTTE’s largest weapons ship. “The Princess Eswarie (Ocean Lady) captained by Kamalraj Kandasamy was the main vessel that transported weapons out of North Korea for the LTTE. In the post-May 2009 situation, after the arrest of KP in Malaysia the LTTE operatives felt insecure in South East Asian countries and fled to Canada”, he said.
He also said that the trend continued when the MV Sun Sea, captained by Vinod with a LTTE crew travelled to Canada. “The trend is very clear and members of the LTTE shipping network (Sea Pigeons) are using their seafaring skills to transport asylum seekers to western countries. The LTTE’s main shipping location for the Asian region was based in Cebu in the Philippines”, he said.
Jayasekara said that to prevent the LTTE smuggling people to the West, countries such as Canada and Australia need to look into their asylum seeker criteria on the UNHCR recommendations.
“The UNHCR has clearly indicated that Tamil persons from Northern Sri Lanka are not in any danger and political asylum should be considered only for an individual who has a specific threat in Sri Lanka. Therefore, based on the UNHCR recommendation all Tamil boat people should be sent back. This will be a clear message to potential asylum seekers”, he said. He said that payments to most of these human smugglers don’t directly come from asylum seekers and the money is paid by relatives living abroad. The Canadian authorities should track down payments made by their relatives in Canada.
“These human smuggling vessels maintain satellite phone contact during the voyage and these contacts should also come under surveillance”, he said.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Necessary Battle Over Presidential Term-Limits | The Sunday Leader
The Necessary Battle Over Presidential Term-Limits The Sunday Leader
The Necessary Battle Over Presidential Term-Limits
“Tomorrow, perhaps the future” — W.H. Auden (Spain 1937)
Mahinda Rajapaksa: Battling for term-limits
By Tisaranee Gunasekara
The charade is finally over. President Rajapaksa has informed Sri Lanka’s Micawberian opposition that he intends to remove presidential term-limits and run for a third (and, the Grim Reaper permitting, a fourth and a fifth…) term. Clearly Rajapaksa père means to be president for life and be succeeded by Rajapaksa fils. The UNP has been deluded, yet again and (wittingly or unwittingly) made to serve the dynastic ambitions of the ruling family.Now that the truth is out, the UNP cannot continue to cling to the mirage of consensual politics. Here is an issue which must be fought and can be won. If the Rajapaksa plan to remove presidential term-limits is successful, Sri Lanka will succumb to dynastic rule. But, if the proposed amendment is defeated, there is a fighting chance for a non-Rajapaksa to succeed Mahinda Rajapaksa, six years from now. This is a battle which cannot be evaded by any who abhors the thought of Sri Lanka in the grip of a tyrannous and rapacious family oligarchy.Removing presidential term limits while preserving the powers of executive presidency is incompatible with democracy. Consequently, this is not a partisan issue but a straightforward battle for democracy in which all opposition parties (from the UNP to the JVP and the DNA, from the SLMC to the TNA and the TULF) can join, without reservations about political principles or electoral spoils. Since, in the final analysis, the only real beneficiaries of the proposed amendment are some members of the Rajapaksa family and their hangers-on, this issue can be used to drive a wedge not only between the ruling family and the ruling party, but also within the ruling family, causing the isolation of Rajapaksa père and fils, (Would Basil Rajapaksa, for instance, be elated at the thought of a President Namal?) The Rajapaksas, in their unctuous greed, have presented the opposition with the ideal single-issue campaign which can ‘unite the many to defeat the few’. Will the opposition grab this opportunity or miss it to the detriment of our common future?Will To Power, Leni Riefenstahl’s artistically magnificent and ideologically diabolical movie heralded the Nazi future. Pongu Thamil venerated Velupillai Pirapaharan as a living god. Jaya Jayawe, a musical show sponsored by the state TV, presaged the Rajapaksa future. Panegyric after panegyric hailed President Rajapaksa as the ‘Lion in the Lion Flag’, ‘Our Time, Our Legacy, Our Future, Our Solution, Our Father, Our Comfort, Our Happiness, Our Light…’, the ‘Father of the Nation’ and the ‘Wonder of the World and the Universe’, ‘High King’ and ‘Divine Gift’, a ‘Golden Sword which defends the nation’ and a ‘Golden Thread which unites sundered hearts’, the Sun and the Moon (Hiru and Sandu to the South; Thinakaran and Chandiran to the North).The final song of the evening was dedicated the President’s mother; ‘Mother, are you watching from heaven, as the son, whom the gods and the Brahmas sent to your womb from golden palaces, is protecting the nation?’ queried the songstress, while the said heaven-donated son listened with manifest complaisance, finding nothing out of the ordinary in this and other idolatrous outpourings. His demeanour indicated that he considered such slavish obeisance to be his due. It was the attitude of a man who sincerely believes that absolute power and lifelong rule as his right. Removing presidential term-limits is a sine-qua-non for the realisation of that manifest destiny.
Task of the Hour
The Rajapaksas, when inveigling opposition members to defect, use cupidity as their main psychological propellant. The opposition can use similar tactics to cause dismay and consternation in government ranks. If Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga removed presidential term limits, Mahinda Rajapaksa would not have had a chance of becoming the president. Similarly, if the Rajapaksa plan works, all senior and up-and-coming SLFP leaders will be condemned to stagnation and to end their political lives as the servitors of this or that Rajapaksa.The constitutional amendment removing presidential term limits contains the potential to create dissension within the ruling coalition. If the amendment goes through, non-Rajapaksa SLFPers will have to be content with nothing more than toothless ministerial posts, since real power will be concentrated in the hands of the Rajapaksas. A word picture of this unending Rajapaksa future, consisting of unquestioning obedience to every caprice of the ruling family and humiliating servitude to a President Namal, for a paltry reward, should be drawn for the edification of SLFP seniors and potential Young Turks.The prospect of such a life sentence of servility cannot but dismay any vertebrate SLFP leader. Given their dread of Rajapaksa vengeance (of which Gen. Sarath Fonseka is living proof), leading SLFPers are unlikely to join any oppositional campaign openly. But if the opposition can launch a broad and a spirited campaign against term-limit removal, some SLFPers may be emboldened into urging the President to shelve his signature constitutional reform.There was a time when the UNP was a source of inspiration to its supporters and unease to its opponents. Today, thanks to the long, debilitating leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP is a source of inspiration to its opponents and unease to its supporters. Reversing this reversal totally is impossible until Wickremesinghe is ousted from UNP leadership. Fortunately the necessary battle against the removal of presidential term-limits need not wait for that felicitous change. In fact, the conduct of leading UNPers on the issue of presidential term-limit removal can become a litmus test to gauge their capacity (or lack of it) to battle the Rajapaksas.Will Wickremesinghe be able to unite the opposition and launch a strong and spirited protest campaign against presidential term-limit removal? Which of the UNP’s Young Turks will play a leading role in this national campaign? Incidentally, the Rajapaksas are likely to make insidious attempts to exacerbate the leadership squabble and other divisive issues to prevent the UNP from focusing on the battle against presidential term-limit removal. The UNP needs to avoid such ruses and concentrate on the task at hand. Let Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ravi Karunanayake, Sajith Premadasa and others with leadership aspirations show their mettle in this necessary battle for democracy against a common enemy.An effective and united protest campaign may also discourage potential opposition defectors. The regime does not have a two-thirds majority as yet. Unless the Rajapaksas can engineer a substantial defection from the opposition, they will need to retain the support of every UPFA parliamentarian. If some of the minority or left parliamentarians can be persuaded to dissent on just this issue, while remaining in the government, the Rajapaksa plan to remove presidential term-limits may be stillborn.The opposition lost many battles because it never waged them. Today indifference and inaction are non-options. The term-limit removal issue is the last real hurdle in the path to dynastic rule; it is also the highest because this is an issue which cannot be justified, ipso facto, using patriotism, Sinhala supremacism or any other ism. On this issue, the Rajapaksas are at their weakest and most naked. They can and must be defeated, for a democratic Sri Lankan future to become even a remote possibility.
AKPC_IDS += "21598,";
The Necessary Battle Over Presidential Term-Limits
“Tomorrow, perhaps the future” — W.H. Auden (Spain 1937)
Mahinda Rajapaksa: Battling for term-limits
By Tisaranee Gunasekara
The charade is finally over. President Rajapaksa has informed Sri Lanka’s Micawberian opposition that he intends to remove presidential term-limits and run for a third (and, the Grim Reaper permitting, a fourth and a fifth…) term. Clearly Rajapaksa père means to be president for life and be succeeded by Rajapaksa fils. The UNP has been deluded, yet again and (wittingly or unwittingly) made to serve the dynastic ambitions of the ruling family.Now that the truth is out, the UNP cannot continue to cling to the mirage of consensual politics. Here is an issue which must be fought and can be won. If the Rajapaksa plan to remove presidential term-limits is successful, Sri Lanka will succumb to dynastic rule. But, if the proposed amendment is defeated, there is a fighting chance for a non-Rajapaksa to succeed Mahinda Rajapaksa, six years from now. This is a battle which cannot be evaded by any who abhors the thought of Sri Lanka in the grip of a tyrannous and rapacious family oligarchy.Removing presidential term limits while preserving the powers of executive presidency is incompatible with democracy. Consequently, this is not a partisan issue but a straightforward battle for democracy in which all opposition parties (from the UNP to the JVP and the DNA, from the SLMC to the TNA and the TULF) can join, without reservations about political principles or electoral spoils. Since, in the final analysis, the only real beneficiaries of the proposed amendment are some members of the Rajapaksa family and their hangers-on, this issue can be used to drive a wedge not only between the ruling family and the ruling party, but also within the ruling family, causing the isolation of Rajapaksa père and fils, (Would Basil Rajapaksa, for instance, be elated at the thought of a President Namal?) The Rajapaksas, in their unctuous greed, have presented the opposition with the ideal single-issue campaign which can ‘unite the many to defeat the few’. Will the opposition grab this opportunity or miss it to the detriment of our common future?Will To Power, Leni Riefenstahl’s artistically magnificent and ideologically diabolical movie heralded the Nazi future. Pongu Thamil venerated Velupillai Pirapaharan as a living god. Jaya Jayawe, a musical show sponsored by the state TV, presaged the Rajapaksa future. Panegyric after panegyric hailed President Rajapaksa as the ‘Lion in the Lion Flag’, ‘Our Time, Our Legacy, Our Future, Our Solution, Our Father, Our Comfort, Our Happiness, Our Light…’, the ‘Father of the Nation’ and the ‘Wonder of the World and the Universe’, ‘High King’ and ‘Divine Gift’, a ‘Golden Sword which defends the nation’ and a ‘Golden Thread which unites sundered hearts’, the Sun and the Moon (Hiru and Sandu to the South; Thinakaran and Chandiran to the North).The final song of the evening was dedicated the President’s mother; ‘Mother, are you watching from heaven, as the son, whom the gods and the Brahmas sent to your womb from golden palaces, is protecting the nation?’ queried the songstress, while the said heaven-donated son listened with manifest complaisance, finding nothing out of the ordinary in this and other idolatrous outpourings. His demeanour indicated that he considered such slavish obeisance to be his due. It was the attitude of a man who sincerely believes that absolute power and lifelong rule as his right. Removing presidential term-limits is a sine-qua-non for the realisation of that manifest destiny.
Task of the Hour
The Rajapaksas, when inveigling opposition members to defect, use cupidity as their main psychological propellant. The opposition can use similar tactics to cause dismay and consternation in government ranks. If Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga removed presidential term limits, Mahinda Rajapaksa would not have had a chance of becoming the president. Similarly, if the Rajapaksa plan works, all senior and up-and-coming SLFP leaders will be condemned to stagnation and to end their political lives as the servitors of this or that Rajapaksa.The constitutional amendment removing presidential term limits contains the potential to create dissension within the ruling coalition. If the amendment goes through, non-Rajapaksa SLFPers will have to be content with nothing more than toothless ministerial posts, since real power will be concentrated in the hands of the Rajapaksas. A word picture of this unending Rajapaksa future, consisting of unquestioning obedience to every caprice of the ruling family and humiliating servitude to a President Namal, for a paltry reward, should be drawn for the edification of SLFP seniors and potential Young Turks.The prospect of such a life sentence of servility cannot but dismay any vertebrate SLFP leader. Given their dread of Rajapaksa vengeance (of which Gen. Sarath Fonseka is living proof), leading SLFPers are unlikely to join any oppositional campaign openly. But if the opposition can launch a broad and a spirited campaign against term-limit removal, some SLFPers may be emboldened into urging the President to shelve his signature constitutional reform.There was a time when the UNP was a source of inspiration to its supporters and unease to its opponents. Today, thanks to the long, debilitating leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the UNP is a source of inspiration to its opponents and unease to its supporters. Reversing this reversal totally is impossible until Wickremesinghe is ousted from UNP leadership. Fortunately the necessary battle against the removal of presidential term-limits need not wait for that felicitous change. In fact, the conduct of leading UNPers on the issue of presidential term-limit removal can become a litmus test to gauge their capacity (or lack of it) to battle the Rajapaksas.Will Wickremesinghe be able to unite the opposition and launch a strong and spirited protest campaign against presidential term-limit removal? Which of the UNP’s Young Turks will play a leading role in this national campaign? Incidentally, the Rajapaksas are likely to make insidious attempts to exacerbate the leadership squabble and other divisive issues to prevent the UNP from focusing on the battle against presidential term-limit removal. The UNP needs to avoid such ruses and concentrate on the task at hand. Let Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ravi Karunanayake, Sajith Premadasa and others with leadership aspirations show their mettle in this necessary battle for democracy against a common enemy.An effective and united protest campaign may also discourage potential opposition defectors. The regime does not have a two-thirds majority as yet. Unless the Rajapaksas can engineer a substantial defection from the opposition, they will need to retain the support of every UPFA parliamentarian. If some of the minority or left parliamentarians can be persuaded to dissent on just this issue, while remaining in the government, the Rajapaksa plan to remove presidential term-limits may be stillborn.The opposition lost many battles because it never waged them. Today indifference and inaction are non-options. The term-limit removal issue is the last real hurdle in the path to dynastic rule; it is also the highest because this is an issue which cannot be justified, ipso facto, using patriotism, Sinhala supremacism or any other ism. On this issue, the Rajapaksas are at their weakest and most naked. They can and must be defeated, for a democratic Sri Lankan future to become even a remote possibility.
AKPC_IDS += "21598,";
The Tamil Film Maker in France:
The Island
The Film Maker
August 28, 2010, 12:00 pm
Pradeepan Raveendran
Pradeepan Raveendran was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka in July 1981. He attended Jaffna Hindu College until he was 15 years old, when he and his family suffered forced displacement due to the war and had to move to his mother’s birthplace in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Pradeepan attended Wijeyaratnam Central College in Negombo.
In 2000, he began to focus on developing his childhood interest in both film and photography. He became a self-taught photographer and began to obsessively study film as well. Due to the heightening civil strife in Sri Lanka at that time, he applied for and was granted asylum status in France. He arrived in Paris as a refugee in 2004. In Paris, he became a part of the Tamil alternative political and literary circles, writing articles for Uyirinizhal (Shadows of the Soul), an independent Tamil political and literary magazine. He remains on the board of Uyirinizhal.
During this time he also became a serious professional photographer and was selected to stage 2 exhibitions, one in Paris and the other in Berlin. These exhibitions were contemporary documents of the lives of refugees in France; showing the textures of the dark spaces they occupy on the periphery of French society.
Pradeepan continues to live as a refugee in Paris.
A Synopsis
11min/2010/Sri Lanka - France/Tamil with English subtitles/RED ONE 4K
In 2010, Pradeepan completed his second short film called "Shadows of Silence", about the life in exile of a family man with three small children and one wife. This story picks up on an earlier theme of Pradeepan’s work on the border-life of refugees. The film is a deeply felt look at the personal torment of an exile and the permanent presence of pain and alienation in the depths of his heart. It shows how his bleak dreams and illusions echo instead the profound isolation of a shattered mind, driving him to contemplate ending his life.
Awards: "Shadows of Silence" premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, as part of its prestigious ‘Director’s Fortnight’, dedicated to honouring alternative and independent film globally. It is due to be screened at many more festivals in 2010 and 2011.
The Film Maker
August 28, 2010, 12:00 pm
Pradeepan Raveendran
Pradeepan Raveendran was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka in July 1981. He attended Jaffna Hindu College until he was 15 years old, when he and his family suffered forced displacement due to the war and had to move to his mother’s birthplace in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Pradeepan attended Wijeyaratnam Central College in Negombo.
In 2000, he began to focus on developing his childhood interest in both film and photography. He became a self-taught photographer and began to obsessively study film as well. Due to the heightening civil strife in Sri Lanka at that time, he applied for and was granted asylum status in France. He arrived in Paris as a refugee in 2004. In Paris, he became a part of the Tamil alternative political and literary circles, writing articles for Uyirinizhal (Shadows of the Soul), an independent Tamil political and literary magazine. He remains on the board of Uyirinizhal.
During this time he also became a serious professional photographer and was selected to stage 2 exhibitions, one in Paris and the other in Berlin. These exhibitions were contemporary documents of the lives of refugees in France; showing the textures of the dark spaces they occupy on the periphery of French society.
Pradeepan continues to live as a refugee in Paris.
A Synopsis
11min/2010/Sri Lanka - France/Tamil with English subtitles/RED ONE 4K
In 2010, Pradeepan completed his second short film called "Shadows of Silence", about the life in exile of a family man with three small children and one wife. This story picks up on an earlier theme of Pradeepan’s work on the border-life of refugees. The film is a deeply felt look at the personal torment of an exile and the permanent presence of pain and alienation in the depths of his heart. It shows how his bleak dreams and illusions echo instead the profound isolation of a shattered mind, driving him to contemplate ending his life.
Awards: "Shadows of Silence" premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2010, as part of its prestigious ‘Director’s Fortnight’, dedicated to honouring alternative and independent film globally. It is due to be screened at many more festivals in 2010 and 2011.
KP and Sarath Fonseka. Another perspective.- The Island
The Island
THE NATIONALIST PAPERSOn Sunanda Deshapriya’s ‘nationalist’ angstAugust 28, 2010, 12:00 pm by Malinda Seneviratne
Sunanda Deshapriya, former convenor of the Free Media Movement and forced-to-resign employee of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (for pilfering money) is livid. He has written to the Ravaya expressing chagrin about the powers that be going soft on ‘KP’, the former head of the LTTE’s international network and, according to many, the key player in the terrorist outfit’s global crime operations and weapons procurement (‘KP veeraya – api kawda’ or ‘KP is a hero, who are we?’; Ravaya of August 29, 2010).
Sunanda has a point. There was a time when those who opposed the military offensive or who were reluctant to criticize the LTTE were called LTTE Proxies, Closet Tigers and so on. The term ‘traitor’ was thrown around loosely and especially at those opposing the Government right up to the end of the war and especially at those bringing up human rights issues and agitating for international intervention to stop the war. Sunanda is perplexed that the Government is not calling KP any names.
The Government did not call Karuna Amman any names either. Pilleyan too was spared. The difference between the Sunandas and those like KP, Karuna and Pilleyan is that the latter were ‘practitioners’ and the former ‘apologists’. One could argue that apologists are also practitioners of a kind and as such are not innocent. One could say ‘there are degrees of culpability’, that punishment (and name-calling) should fit the crime, but I believe there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between killers, arms suppliers, crime bosses etc., and apologists, pickpockets (in a relative sense), political whiners (given to running to key players in the international community at the drop of a hat) etc. The former are directly involved in blood-letting, the latter are launderers. Their actions may all contribute to the same outcome (ethnic cleansing, genocide, displacement, dismemberment, death etc) but the crimes themselves are of different kinds.
Sunanda has pointed out that while KP, arguably the senior-most LTTE leader (or ex-LTTE leader, if you wish) alive, is enjoying the friendship, good will and hospitality of a Government that seems to have forgiven and forgotten, the foot soldiers of the outfit are languishing in rehabilitation centres. Sunanda is upset by this injustice. I am too. Political efficacy is one thing but if it is deferred to at the cost of compromising the principle of equality in judicial procedure, then there will be negative fallout that outlasts governments, the political/criminal lives of terrorists and political configurations of the moment.
There were many ways to handle ‘KP’. There is a legal hitch, given his history, but there’s a legal ‘out’ as well: presidential pardon. Such mechanisms are made for abuse and should be carefully used. KP’s situation is unique. It is an issue that has arrived in a post-conflict situation where healing is the objective. Subject to the objection of the rank and file being treated differently what appears to be the relatively ‘soft hands’ approach on KP can be seen as having some logic. There is a time to fight, and time to lay down arms; there is a time to be resolute in the decision not to concede and a time to be pliant. There has to be political wisdom to be able to make the right choices of course. As of now, this approach seems to be far superior to dressing KP in chains and throwing him to the corner of dark and tiny room with a bread-and-water diet.
It all depends on the terms of association. There has to be some ‘agreement’ that makes sense. The fault lies in the fact that the Government has not revealed to the people what this agreement is. The CFA was authored in secret. That was ‘agreement away from the public eye’. This too. The circumstances are different of course and the threat is certain less today than it was on February 22, 2002. Still.
‘The agreement’, as far as we can construct it is based on evidence available, seems to be something like this: ‘KP has agreed to play ball and while he keeps playing within rules specified by the Government, he will be allowed to be on the ground; if there’s infringement, he will be thrown out’. It is too vague as of now and too secretive for my liking, even though I am not opposed to the general fostering of forgive-forget spirit.
On the other hand, there is, as Sunanda points out, the question of Sarath Fonseka. Is his ‘crime’ nothing more nothing less than ‘not toeing the line’? If that is the main point of justice-determination it is very disturbing. Ideally, forgiving and forgetting should not be part of a deal; it ought to be an option exercised without calculating ‘return on investment’. As things stand we have to conclude that it is not magnanimity but political deal that has seen KP being treated the way he is and Fonseka being charged and sentenced the way he has been.
As for Sunanda, we must keep in mind that he doesn’t have any right to weep any tears for Fonseka and his fate nor begrudge KP the good times that have unexpectedly arrived. It is not just about crime and punishment, deals and agreements. This is a two way street. The basic determinant of resolving differences and reaching agreement is the professed intent to leave the past behind and work together. Sunanda is not interested in either. He shows no remorse. As such his is a brat’s whine, nothing more.
KP’s no ‘hero’ and Sunanda knows this. He’s at best been given a long leash and therefore a bigger circle to operate within, which, we must acknowledge, is miniscule compared to the world he owned before capture and before the LTTE sent him to the wilderness. KP is no longer ‘villain’. Yes, he’s not being called the names that the Government has used on people like Sunanda. That vocabulary is outdated now. It looks to me that Sunanda wants those categories to remain forever. Maybe that’s what makes his bread and butter today.
So, sorry, he does not deserve the ‘hero’ tag. Neither should anyone give him respectability by calling him ‘traitor’ which is something he can put on curriculum vitae wherever he’s holed up now to remain relevant (by vilifying Sri Lanka). He was and is a petty thief, given to pilfering money from I/NGOs by maintaining double-receipt books, shuffling designations and such. ‘Petty’, let me hasten to add, ONLY in a relevant sense. The man made bucks. Big ones. Nothing compared to the LTTE’s war chest of course, but theft is theft and thieves cannot be heroes.
THE NATIONALIST PAPERSOn Sunanda Deshapriya’s ‘nationalist’ angstAugust 28, 2010, 12:00 pm by Malinda Seneviratne
Sunanda Deshapriya, former convenor of the Free Media Movement and forced-to-resign employee of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (for pilfering money) is livid. He has written to the Ravaya expressing chagrin about the powers that be going soft on ‘KP’, the former head of the LTTE’s international network and, according to many, the key player in the terrorist outfit’s global crime operations and weapons procurement (‘KP veeraya – api kawda’ or ‘KP is a hero, who are we?’; Ravaya of August 29, 2010).
Sunanda has a point. There was a time when those who opposed the military offensive or who were reluctant to criticize the LTTE were called LTTE Proxies, Closet Tigers and so on. The term ‘traitor’ was thrown around loosely and especially at those opposing the Government right up to the end of the war and especially at those bringing up human rights issues and agitating for international intervention to stop the war. Sunanda is perplexed that the Government is not calling KP any names.
The Government did not call Karuna Amman any names either. Pilleyan too was spared. The difference between the Sunandas and those like KP, Karuna and Pilleyan is that the latter were ‘practitioners’ and the former ‘apologists’. One could argue that apologists are also practitioners of a kind and as such are not innocent. One could say ‘there are degrees of culpability’, that punishment (and name-calling) should fit the crime, but I believe there is a BIG DIFFERENCE between killers, arms suppliers, crime bosses etc., and apologists, pickpockets (in a relative sense), political whiners (given to running to key players in the international community at the drop of a hat) etc. The former are directly involved in blood-letting, the latter are launderers. Their actions may all contribute to the same outcome (ethnic cleansing, genocide, displacement, dismemberment, death etc) but the crimes themselves are of different kinds.
Sunanda has pointed out that while KP, arguably the senior-most LTTE leader (or ex-LTTE leader, if you wish) alive, is enjoying the friendship, good will and hospitality of a Government that seems to have forgiven and forgotten, the foot soldiers of the outfit are languishing in rehabilitation centres. Sunanda is upset by this injustice. I am too. Political efficacy is one thing but if it is deferred to at the cost of compromising the principle of equality in judicial procedure, then there will be negative fallout that outlasts governments, the political/criminal lives of terrorists and political configurations of the moment.
There were many ways to handle ‘KP’. There is a legal hitch, given his history, but there’s a legal ‘out’ as well: presidential pardon. Such mechanisms are made for abuse and should be carefully used. KP’s situation is unique. It is an issue that has arrived in a post-conflict situation where healing is the objective. Subject to the objection of the rank and file being treated differently what appears to be the relatively ‘soft hands’ approach on KP can be seen as having some logic. There is a time to fight, and time to lay down arms; there is a time to be resolute in the decision not to concede and a time to be pliant. There has to be political wisdom to be able to make the right choices of course. As of now, this approach seems to be far superior to dressing KP in chains and throwing him to the corner of dark and tiny room with a bread-and-water diet.
It all depends on the terms of association. There has to be some ‘agreement’ that makes sense. The fault lies in the fact that the Government has not revealed to the people what this agreement is. The CFA was authored in secret. That was ‘agreement away from the public eye’. This too. The circumstances are different of course and the threat is certain less today than it was on February 22, 2002. Still.
‘The agreement’, as far as we can construct it is based on evidence available, seems to be something like this: ‘KP has agreed to play ball and while he keeps playing within rules specified by the Government, he will be allowed to be on the ground; if there’s infringement, he will be thrown out’. It is too vague as of now and too secretive for my liking, even though I am not opposed to the general fostering of forgive-forget spirit.
On the other hand, there is, as Sunanda points out, the question of Sarath Fonseka. Is his ‘crime’ nothing more nothing less than ‘not toeing the line’? If that is the main point of justice-determination it is very disturbing. Ideally, forgiving and forgetting should not be part of a deal; it ought to be an option exercised without calculating ‘return on investment’. As things stand we have to conclude that it is not magnanimity but political deal that has seen KP being treated the way he is and Fonseka being charged and sentenced the way he has been.
As for Sunanda, we must keep in mind that he doesn’t have any right to weep any tears for Fonseka and his fate nor begrudge KP the good times that have unexpectedly arrived. It is not just about crime and punishment, deals and agreements. This is a two way street. The basic determinant of resolving differences and reaching agreement is the professed intent to leave the past behind and work together. Sunanda is not interested in either. He shows no remorse. As such his is a brat’s whine, nothing more.
KP’s no ‘hero’ and Sunanda knows this. He’s at best been given a long leash and therefore a bigger circle to operate within, which, we must acknowledge, is miniscule compared to the world he owned before capture and before the LTTE sent him to the wilderness. KP is no longer ‘villain’. Yes, he’s not being called the names that the Government has used on people like Sunanda. That vocabulary is outdated now. It looks to me that Sunanda wants those categories to remain forever. Maybe that’s what makes his bread and butter today.
So, sorry, he does not deserve the ‘hero’ tag. Neither should anyone give him respectability by calling him ‘traitor’ which is something he can put on curriculum vitae wherever he’s holed up now to remain relevant (by vilifying Sri Lanka). He was and is a petty thief, given to pilfering money from I/NGOs by maintaining double-receipt books, shuffling designations and such. ‘Petty’, let me hasten to add, ONLY in a relevant sense. The man made bucks. Big ones. Nothing compared to the LTTE’s war chest of course, but theft is theft and thieves cannot be heroes.
Boston Lanka: My Father was abducted, says Apsara Fonseka
Boston Lanka: My Father was abducted, says Apsara Fonseka
Friday, August 27, 2010
My Father was abducted, says Apsara Fonseka
"He was not arrested but was abducted. One whole day our whole family did not know where he was taken," Apsara Fonseka, daughter of General Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Boston Lanka News that covered wide range of issues from the detention of General Fonseka to the accusation of Danuna Tilakaratne to the inner strength of Anoma Fonseka. Apsara Fonseka who lives in the United States also spoke freely about the bond between her father and her mother and about her loving relationship with her husband and how she is coping in a foreign land not having her husband and her father in detention. .Responding to a question about the detention conditions of General Sarath Fonseka, Apsara said: "He does not get to see his personal doctor. He is in his 10X10 room 24 hours a day. He does not see the sunlight. As a person who is not convicted he has a right to stay outside under the sunlight at least for 4 hours every day.
He is not given a chance to take x-rays. He has lots of shrapnel inside his body from the 3 suicide attempts on his life and those shrapnel are moving, so it's really vital that he does take x-rays . They don't bring the x ray machines to him or do not let him go to a hospital." When asked about the accusations the retired army captain Upul Illangange who lives in Oklahoma came out against general Sarath Fonseka and Danuna Thilakarathne, Apsara responded by saying that "Its all because of money and he will do anything for money.
Responding to the comments made by Upul Illangange to the Sri Lankan media that he was the person who helped General Fonseka and his family getting the Green Card, Apsara went on explaining on how her mother won the green card lottery in 2003 and the reasons why General Fonseka initially opposed the idea of getting the Green Card in and how he changed his mind. Apsara went on saying that if Upul Illangange thinks that he is all power and all mighty and that He can get anybody green cards in USA he thinks very highly of him.Talking about her husband Danuna, Apsara said that "on the day we believe that that he will be treated fairly he will come out." She went on further saying that the family cannot bear the thought of having two men in the family: one in detention and other missing.
Reflecting on how Government changed their propaganda of General Fonseka from being war hero to a political prisoner, Apsara said, " I think he is still a war hero to lots of people and I don't think that will change even though he is a political prisoner now."Part of Apsara's interview will be included in the Boston Lanka News Edition on August 30th and the rest will be in the Boston Lanka: Point of View that will be out on First week of September.For more information, visit: www.bostonlanka.com
Friday, August 27, 2010
My Father was abducted, says Apsara Fonseka
"He was not arrested but was abducted. One whole day our whole family did not know where he was taken," Apsara Fonseka, daughter of General Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Boston Lanka News that covered wide range of issues from the detention of General Fonseka to the accusation of Danuna Tilakaratne to the inner strength of Anoma Fonseka. Apsara Fonseka who lives in the United States also spoke freely about the bond between her father and her mother and about her loving relationship with her husband and how she is coping in a foreign land not having her husband and her father in detention. .Responding to a question about the detention conditions of General Sarath Fonseka, Apsara said: "He does not get to see his personal doctor. He is in his 10X10 room 24 hours a day. He does not see the sunlight. As a person who is not convicted he has a right to stay outside under the sunlight at least for 4 hours every day.
He is not given a chance to take x-rays. He has lots of shrapnel inside his body from the 3 suicide attempts on his life and those shrapnel are moving, so it's really vital that he does take x-rays . They don't bring the x ray machines to him or do not let him go to a hospital." When asked about the accusations the retired army captain Upul Illangange who lives in Oklahoma came out against general Sarath Fonseka and Danuna Thilakarathne, Apsara responded by saying that "Its all because of money and he will do anything for money.
Responding to the comments made by Upul Illangange to the Sri Lankan media that he was the person who helped General Fonseka and his family getting the Green Card, Apsara went on explaining on how her mother won the green card lottery in 2003 and the reasons why General Fonseka initially opposed the idea of getting the Green Card in and how he changed his mind. Apsara went on saying that if Upul Illangange thinks that he is all power and all mighty and that He can get anybody green cards in USA he thinks very highly of him.Talking about her husband Danuna, Apsara said that "on the day we believe that that he will be treated fairly he will come out." She went on further saying that the family cannot bear the thought of having two men in the family: one in detention and other missing.
Reflecting on how Government changed their propaganda of General Fonseka from being war hero to a political prisoner, Apsara said, " I think he is still a war hero to lots of people and I don't think that will change even though he is a political prisoner now."Part of Apsara's interview will be included in the Boston Lanka News Edition on August 30th and the rest will be in the Boston Lanka: Point of View that will be out on First week of September.For more information, visit: www.bostonlanka.com
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