UNP 'undermining TNA' | |||||||||
The largest Tamil party in parliament the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) has accused the main oppostion party in Sri Lanka, United National Party(UNP) of undermining its political inidividuality, the TNA General Secretary has told the BBC Tamil Service. War of words have broken out between the TNA and UNP over the nomination of the TNA MP Sumanthiran to the parliament council by the leader of the opposition. The nomination was immediately rejected by the TNA. UNP leader Ranil Wikramasinghe then went on record saying that he nominated the TNA MP knowing well they would reject it. "This is undermining the political individualtiy of the TNA" Selvam Adaikalanathan, one of the General Secertaries of the TNA told BBC Tamilosai. Cooperation for development Sumanthiran's nomination was done by the opposition leader without consulting either him or his party says the TNA General Secretary.
According the controversial 18 th amendment to the Sri Lankan consitituion which was passed by the parliamemt a few days ago, a five member parliament council which will recommend heads of organisations like Election Commission, Judicial Commission, Human Rights Commission, Police Commission, Public commission and others However the President can either accept or reject it . The five member Parliament council including the speaker, prime minister, leader of the oppostion and one member nominated by the PM and oppostion leader. "We voted against the 18 th amendment along with the JVP while the UNP boycotted the voting" points out Selvam Adaikalanathan. "That being the case nominating a MP from our party is undermining the our individuality," argues the TNA General Secretary. The TNA aslo wants "Ranil Wikramasinghe to stop such activities in future". "We respect Ranil as leader of the oppostion, however we don’t approve of any acitivities aimed at weakening us", Selvam Adaikalanathan further said. The TNA had made it clear to the President that it will cooperate with him in all aspects of welfare activities of the Tamil people says Adaikalanathan cautioning at the same time that, the TNA will continue to oppose the government on anti people policies. Selvam Adaikalanathan also points out that "till date the government has not placed any concrete proposals regarding political solution to the decades long ethnic conflict" in spite of the fact that the TNA has assured to discuss with the government on such proposals. He also told the Tamil Service that the local citizens of mannar district have urged the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to have a sitting in mannar so that the locals there will also have a chance to voice their opinion. The LLRC after hearing the views of the residents in Killinochi for two days is going the Mullaitheevu for the people to testify before them. The years long civil war came to an end in May 2009 when the LTTE was militarily defeated and its leader Prabakarans body was found on the banks of the Nandikadal lagoon in the Mullaitheevu district. | |||||||||
Sunday, September 19, 2010
UNP 'undermining TNA'
We respect Ranil as leader of the oppostion, however we don’t approve of any acitivities aimed at weakening us
TID torture Tamil detainees held under PTA
Click Here-TamilNet: 19.09.10 TID torture Tamil detainees held under PTA
TID torture Tamil detainees held under PTA
[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 07:07 GMT]The Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of Sri Lanka government continues to torture hundreds of Tamil youths arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) without trial, a journalist who had met the detainees said, under conditions of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government intends to keep the Tamil youths who were combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention for five more years, sources close to Sri Lanka prison authorities said. Tamil youths who had been arrested under PTA in the North and East besides those arrested in Colombo and its suburbs where they had been employed have been detained for more than five years in places like Colombo TID Head Office and Boosa Prison.TID men who had brought LTTE former combatants held in the camps in Vavuniyaa and Velikantahai to Colombo in the name of interrogation continue to torture them.
The TID men further threaten the youths that they may have to spend their lifetime in prison if they refuse to sign statements prepared by TID.The TID men attack the detainees blindly using iron rods, cricket bat and batons besides squeezing their testicles. Videos of detainees being killed and tortured are shown by the TID men to terrorize the detained youths.Not only the Tamil detainees but their family members who visit them are also subjected to untold difficulties.
Only ten minutes are allowed for such visitors who had travelled a long way to see the detainees.The visitors are not allowed to give any food that they had brought along but forced to by food from the prison canteen run by a Boosa Prison officer if they want to give the detainees any food.It is alleged that Abdeen, a Muslim officer of the Division Four of the TID exhorts money from the relatives who come to see the detainees and that another Muslim officer Mohamed torture the Tamil detainees with racial hatred.Meanwhile, the detainees in Boosa Prison are not allowed medical treatment if they fall ill while the sanitary facilities are very poor. There are only three lavatories for hundreds of prisoners and only a minute given to each to bathe. A request for more water is responded with ruthless attacks.
TID torture Tamil detainees held under PTA
[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 07:07 GMT]The Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of Sri Lanka government continues to torture hundreds of Tamil youths arrested and detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) without trial, a journalist who had met the detainees said, under conditions of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government intends to keep the Tamil youths who were combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention for five more years, sources close to Sri Lanka prison authorities said. Tamil youths who had been arrested under PTA in the North and East besides those arrested in Colombo and its suburbs where they had been employed have been detained for more than five years in places like Colombo TID Head Office and Boosa Prison.TID men who had brought LTTE former combatants held in the camps in Vavuniyaa and Velikantahai to Colombo in the name of interrogation continue to torture them.
The TID men further threaten the youths that they may have to spend their lifetime in prison if they refuse to sign statements prepared by TID.The TID men attack the detainees blindly using iron rods, cricket bat and batons besides squeezing their testicles. Videos of detainees being killed and tortured are shown by the TID men to terrorize the detained youths.Not only the Tamil detainees but their family members who visit them are also subjected to untold difficulties.
Only ten minutes are allowed for such visitors who had travelled a long way to see the detainees.The visitors are not allowed to give any food that they had brought along but forced to by food from the prison canteen run by a Boosa Prison officer if they want to give the detainees any food.It is alleged that Abdeen, a Muslim officer of the Division Four of the TID exhorts money from the relatives who come to see the detainees and that another Muslim officer Mohamed torture the Tamil detainees with racial hatred.Meanwhile, the detainees in Boosa Prison are not allowed medical treatment if they fall ill while the sanitary facilities are very poor. There are only three lavatories for hundreds of prisoners and only a minute given to each to bathe. A request for more water is responded with ruthless attacks.
President Rajapakse went to the extent of avoiding telephone calls from the US State Department and the British government leaders.-Claims Editor of Island Newspaper today.
He also claimed that " And the real objective of his visit to Jordan, while the war was raging, was to prevent the UNSG from coming here".
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated .......................
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated .......................
Another bravado claimed by this editor was against India " Exasperated beyond measure, he minced no words when he told the visiting Indians that even if India were to violate Sri Lanka's air space and ‘drop lentil’ again–India .........
If this was indeed the attitude and arrogance of President Rajapakse, and there is no doubt to dispute such shocking claims
of the editor it is no wonder 16 months after the war ended against the Tamils and the LTTE, with 40,000 Tamil civilians dead, 60,000 injured and 300,000 incarcerated no world leader want to shake the blood stained hands of President Rajapakse in garments soaked with Tamil blood.
President Rajapakse is to meet the Iranians, Malaysia Prime Minister a country which illegally arrested K P and renditioned him to Sri Lanka, and another small Asian country while in New York. The Chancellor of Germany already refused to meet President Rajapakse in Germany, when he dropped by the country as an uninvited guest or tourist using his diplomatic passport.
Quotes of the Editorial of 20th September 2010.
Full editorial available .................http://thetamillatest.blogspot.com/2010/09/probe-how-norway-us-and-eu-manipulated.html
http://thetamillatest.blogspot.com/
Quote"
http://thetamillatest.blogspot.com/
Quote"
Ranil's approach was in sharp contrast to how President Mahinda Rajapaksa handled the Co-Chairs and the other meddlesome members of the international community. The latter had the intestinal fortitude to stand his ground in the face of unbearable pressure they brought to bear on him in a bid to stop the war and rescue Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders. He went to the extent of avoiding telephone calls from the US State Department and the British government leaders. And the real objective of his visit to Jordan, while the war was raging, was to prevent the UNSG from coming here.
When a powerful Indian delegation consisting of Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and the then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Alok Prasad, under pressure from Tamil Nadu, visited President Rajapaksa on April 24, 2009, and sought an immediate end to the final assault on the LTTE, he saw red. Exasperated beyond measure, he minced no words when he told the visiting Indians that even if India were to violate Sri Lanka's air space and ‘drop lentil’ again–India, which saved Prabhakaran in 1987, had done by way of a dire warning during Operation Liberation in the North––he would go the whole hog to destroy the LTTE! Had he given in to Indian pressure and suspended the war, the international allies of the LTTE would have made use of the opportunity to rescue Prabhakaran.
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA to aid and abet the LTTE against a UN member State and, in the process, helped the outfit with the launching of its eelam war IV, which left thousands of people dead and about 300,000 others displaced.
Unquote"
A western diplomat commented that President Rajapakse's behavior reminded him of Idi Amin's era, or when President Saddam Hussein killed thousands of Kurds despite appeals of the international community. Sudan's leader is another example.
Israel's attacks on civilians with their relentless bombing in Lebanon and Gaza last year killed leass than 3,000 in the two wars compared to 40,000 Tamil civilians in a matter of weeks.
Probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA demands Sinhala editor well known for his racist comments.
Click Here -The Island
Editorial
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA to aid and abet the LTTE against a UN member State.
Probe Co-Chair's Crimes
September 19, 2010, 12:00 pm
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel on Sri Lanka has commenced work, after a delay of six months, in time for the UNGA's 65th session, to probe the alleged war crimes during the Vanni offensive, which was concluded over one and a half years ago. While the UNSG, egged on by his western masters, is trying to embarrass President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York, it has been revealed by a respected former Sri Lankan ambassador and scholar who was once involved in the now defunct Peace Secretariat that the war, only the final stages of which the UNSG wants probed at the behest of the US, the EU and Norway, could have been avoided, if Norway etc. had not rejected four proposals that Sri Lanka had made as regards the CFA, which they crafted in 2002.
Testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), Dr. John Gooneratne said on Thursday the then UNP-led UNF government had presented those proposals aimed at making the CFA pave the way for evolving a negotiated solution, preventing arms smuggling, ensuring freedom of movement for political parties in LTTE-controlled Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and ending the forcible conscription. Ironically, the same countries––Norway, the US and the EU––that rejected Sri Lanka’s proposals and thereby helped the LTTE abuse the truce with impunity, prepare for its eelam war IV and plunge the country into a bloody conflagration, now want only the final phase of the war probed!
What Dr. Gooneratne told the LLRC about a remark that the late Anton Balasingham had made during the LTTE's talks with the government is of interest. Cornered by former law professor G. L. Peiris on some point, LTTE spokesman Balasingham had cynically asked, "Now professor, supposing I agree to what you are asking of us, can you get it through Parliament?" This question warrants a comment as there is a misconception in some quarters that the LTTE did not agree to a political solution because the governments it dealt with were incapable of the implementation thereof.
In fact, what the LTTE did was to demand things that no government could grant! Its ISGA demand, which it used to justify its exit from talks, is a case in point. Even the then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Chris Patten were prompted to note very critically that 'the ISGA far exceedes the Oslo Accord and does not resemble any kind of known federalism'.
The political tug-of-war between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the UNF government from 2001 to 2004 was deplorable and condemnable but that was no reason for the LTTE's intransigence. Prabhakaran never wanted a political solution. He wanted only one thing––eelam. It may be recalled that by the time President Kumaratunga presented to Parliament in 2000 a draft constitution containing Regional Councils which envisaged devolution beyond the 13th Amendment, the LTTE had already rejected them out of hand.
From Dr. Gooneratne's revelation about the four proposals at issue, one sees that the present Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's predicament is mainly due to his pusillanimity, indecisiveness and servility to the international community. If he had taken people into confidence and told them that his government's proposals had been rejected by Norway etc. and explained to them his difficulty in defying the Co-Chairs, perhaps he would not have had to pay such a huge political price for signing the ill-fated, disastrous CFA. His mistake was to grovel before Norway, the US and the EU in a bid to be in their good books while biding his time as part of a grand plan to win the presidency, which he mistakenly thought was within his easy reach as Prime Minister, regardless of the adverse impact the CFA had on the country.
Ranil's approach was in sharp contrast to how President Mahinda Rajapaksa handled the Co-Chairs and the other meddlesome members of the international community. The latter had the intestinal fortitude to stand his ground in the face of unbearable pressure they brought to bear on him in a bid to stop the war and rescue Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders. He went to the extent of avoiding telephone calls from the US State Department and the British government leaders. And the real objective of his visit to Jordan, while the war was raging, was to prevent the UNSG from coming here.
When a powerful Indian delegation consisting of Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and the then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Alok Prasad, under pressure from Tamil Nadu, visited President Rajapaksa on April 24, 2009, and sought an immediate end to the final assault on the LTTE, he saw red. Exasperated beyond measure, he minced no words when he told the visiting Indians that even if India were to violate Sri Lanka's air space and ‘drop lentil’ again–India, which saved Prabhakaran in 1987, had done by way of a dire warning during Operation Liberation in the North––he would go the whole hog to destroy the LTTE! Had he given in to Indian pressure and suspended the war, the international allies of the LTTE would have made use of the opportunity to rescue Prabhakaran.
It is a supreme irony that Norway, the US and the EU, responsible for loading the CFA in favour of Prabhakaran––who committed his first murder when he was still a teenager; massacred tens of thousands of civilians; assassinated an incumbent President (Ranasinghe Premadasa), a Foreign Minister (Lakshman Kadirgamar), an Opposition Leader (Gamini Dissanayake); attempted to assassinate another Head of State (President Chandrika Kumaratunga) leaving her critically injured; killed an Indian leader (Rajiv Gandhi); forcibly recruited children as combatants; blasted civilian targets; engaged in gun running, drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion and violently suppressed democratic dissent by murdering Tamil politicians including TULF leader A. Amirthalingam and Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam––pretend to be perturbed by the 18th Amendment!
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA to aid and abet the LTTE against a UN member State and, in the process, helped the outfit with the launching of its eelam war IV, which left thousands of people dead and about 300,000 others displaced.
Editorial
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA to aid and abet the LTTE against a UN member State.
Probe Co-Chair's Crimes
September 19, 2010, 12:00 pm
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's panel on Sri Lanka has commenced work, after a delay of six months, in time for the UNGA's 65th session, to probe the alleged war crimes during the Vanni offensive, which was concluded over one and a half years ago. While the UNSG, egged on by his western masters, is trying to embarrass President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York, it has been revealed by a respected former Sri Lankan ambassador and scholar who was once involved in the now defunct Peace Secretariat that the war, only the final stages of which the UNSG wants probed at the behest of the US, the EU and Norway, could have been avoided, if Norway etc. had not rejected four proposals that Sri Lanka had made as regards the CFA, which they crafted in 2002.
Testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), Dr. John Gooneratne said on Thursday the then UNP-led UNF government had presented those proposals aimed at making the CFA pave the way for evolving a negotiated solution, preventing arms smuggling, ensuring freedom of movement for political parties in LTTE-controlled Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and ending the forcible conscription. Ironically, the same countries––Norway, the US and the EU––that rejected Sri Lanka’s proposals and thereby helped the LTTE abuse the truce with impunity, prepare for its eelam war IV and plunge the country into a bloody conflagration, now want only the final phase of the war probed!
What Dr. Gooneratne told the LLRC about a remark that the late Anton Balasingham had made during the LTTE's talks with the government is of interest. Cornered by former law professor G. L. Peiris on some point, LTTE spokesman Balasingham had cynically asked, "Now professor, supposing I agree to what you are asking of us, can you get it through Parliament?" This question warrants a comment as there is a misconception in some quarters that the LTTE did not agree to a political solution because the governments it dealt with were incapable of the implementation thereof.
In fact, what the LTTE did was to demand things that no government could grant! Its ISGA demand, which it used to justify its exit from talks, is a case in point. Even the then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Chris Patten were prompted to note very critically that 'the ISGA far exceedes the Oslo Accord and does not resemble any kind of known federalism'.
The political tug-of-war between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the UNF government from 2001 to 2004 was deplorable and condemnable but that was no reason for the LTTE's intransigence. Prabhakaran never wanted a political solution. He wanted only one thing––eelam. It may be recalled that by the time President Kumaratunga presented to Parliament in 2000 a draft constitution containing Regional Councils which envisaged devolution beyond the 13th Amendment, the LTTE had already rejected them out of hand.
From Dr. Gooneratne's revelation about the four proposals at issue, one sees that the present Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's predicament is mainly due to his pusillanimity, indecisiveness and servility to the international community. If he had taken people into confidence and told them that his government's proposals had been rejected by Norway etc. and explained to them his difficulty in defying the Co-Chairs, perhaps he would not have had to pay such a huge political price for signing the ill-fated, disastrous CFA. His mistake was to grovel before Norway, the US and the EU in a bid to be in their good books while biding his time as part of a grand plan to win the presidency, which he mistakenly thought was within his easy reach as Prime Minister, regardless of the adverse impact the CFA had on the country.
Ranil's approach was in sharp contrast to how President Mahinda Rajapaksa handled the Co-Chairs and the other meddlesome members of the international community. The latter had the intestinal fortitude to stand his ground in the face of unbearable pressure they brought to bear on him in a bid to stop the war and rescue Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders. He went to the extent of avoiding telephone calls from the US State Department and the British government leaders. And the real objective of his visit to Jordan, while the war was raging, was to prevent the UNSG from coming here.
When a powerful Indian delegation consisting of Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and the then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Alok Prasad, under pressure from Tamil Nadu, visited President Rajapaksa on April 24, 2009, and sought an immediate end to the final assault on the LTTE, he saw red. Exasperated beyond measure, he minced no words when he told the visiting Indians that even if India were to violate Sri Lanka's air space and ‘drop lentil’ again–India, which saved Prabhakaran in 1987, had done by way of a dire warning during Operation Liberation in the North––he would go the whole hog to destroy the LTTE! Had he given in to Indian pressure and suspended the war, the international allies of the LTTE would have made use of the opportunity to rescue Prabhakaran.
It is a supreme irony that Norway, the US and the EU, responsible for loading the CFA in favour of Prabhakaran––who committed his first murder when he was still a teenager; massacred tens of thousands of civilians; assassinated an incumbent President (Ranasinghe Premadasa), a Foreign Minister (Lakshman Kadirgamar), an Opposition Leader (Gamini Dissanayake); attempted to assassinate another Head of State (President Chandrika Kumaratunga) leaving her critically injured; killed an Indian leader (Rajiv Gandhi); forcibly recruited children as combatants; blasted civilian targets; engaged in gun running, drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion and violently suppressed democratic dissent by murdering Tamil politicians including TULF leader A. Amirthalingam and Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam––pretend to be perturbed by the 18th Amendment!
Let the UN be urged to appoint a panel to probe how Norway, the US and the EU manipulated the CFA to aid and abet the LTTE against a UN member State and, in the process, helped the outfit with the launching of its eelam war IV, which left thousands of people dead and about 300,000 others displaced.
An Open Letter to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
Click Here-Sri Lanka Guardian: An Open Letter to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
Sunday, September 19, 2010
An Open Letter to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
LLRC’s mandate is very limited. Within its limited instruct, it has still not made any effort to reach the involved parties in its process from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009 authorised by the President.
by Rajasingham JayadevanHon Chitta Ranjan Silva ,Chairman,Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission,24 Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies,Horton Place,Colombo 7Sri Lanka Dear Sir, (September 19, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) After considerable thought and with the dejected innermost feelings, I address this open letter to the Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).I write this as a Sri Lankan Tamil living in the Diaspora, who experienced the fair share of the failings of the state of Sri Lanka to recognise me as a citizen of the country.
The culpability of the failures must be heavily rested with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that led to the appointment of your Commission in a chaotic hurry, I believe, to manufacture a doctored post-mortem report from the conditioned LLRC it mandated to undermine the international outcry over the war crime claims against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, your mandate is very limited, is politically motivated to teach lessons to the opponents of the government and to bury the ‘whole truth’ of war crimes under the euphoric victory over the LTTE and systematic cover-ups.
The unfolding events of over sixty years that led to the bloody massacres of thousands of civilians in the final onslaught of the government forces against the Tamil Tigers will never be unravelled and the victims of the failures of the government will not be given the opportunity to breast beat and cry to discharge their hurts and pain. It is open knowledge that the LLRC was evidently formed in a hurry to jettison the effort of the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon appointed a panel of experts to advise the world body on ‘accountability issues’ relating to possible human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
When I did my research a month ago to find the terms of reference of the LLRC, I was taken on the rollercoaster by the state media publications. The first reference I found was of Minister Keheliya Rambukawella published in the much read government’s Defence Ministry website stating that ‘LLRC would find the root causes of the terrorist problem and what happened during the last three decades which would be helpful for reforms that would go hand in hand with constitutional reforms too’. I got some comfort, though Keheliya Rambukawella in his usual bullish upbeat branded the end result as a ‘terrorist problem’. Fortunately he gave some comfort that ‘root causes’ will be dealt by the LLRC. When I traced the terms of reference of the LLRC which stated: ‘The Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa under Section 2 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, to inquire and report on matters that took place between February 21, 2002 to May19, 2009……’This is totally different to what Minister Rambukkawela asserted that gained so much publicity in the media.
I questioned myself as to why the scope has to be limited from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009? I contended, it is clearly a cynical move to officially castigate the opposition United National Party for signing the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and of course to elongate the President for defeating the LTTE in the battle in May 2009. After all, it is a Commission appointed by the President, who is being accused of committing war crimes as the head of the arms forces of Sri Lanka. LLRC is also clearly an effort to give him the clean bill of health on his horrible mission to militarily punish the Tamil people unwholesomely to vanquish the LTTE. LLRC’s mandate is very limited. Within its limited instruct, it has still not made any effort to reach the involved parties in its process from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009 authorised by the President.
Even the panel members of the LLRC could be beneficiaries of the decades old state sponsored marginalization policy against the Tamils. They may have achieved their status by entering the state universities following the introduction of the standardization policy against the Tamils that significantly scaled down the Tamil entries and seeded the Tamil militancy that lead to the full scale war in the country.Who are these involved parties falling within the mandate of the LLRC?
1. The mandate of the LLRC is clearly aimed to discredit the opposition UNP.
The Ceasefire Agreement was signed between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and the LTTE and there is no report that such an important person like Ranil who is a party to the CFA is not giving evidence to the LLRC.Judging from the terms of reference of the LLRC, Ranil will be foolish to give evidence as the outcome of the LLRC is a foregone conclusion, irrespective of him presenting his case. The LLRC shadowed by the Defence Ministry is conditioned by its tainted appointments to the panel and the mandate given to exercise judicial or moral far-sight to make fair decisions.
Evidently, it is a fact that the Attorney Generals of Sri Lanka are petty parochial politicians. One has to follow the political role played by the present Attorney General who whips up the failures of the state to the international audience without any scruples of holding an esteemed legal position of a state institution.
2. Norway that brokered the ceasefire agreement on 21 February 2002 has not appeared before the Commission so far and whether the Norwegian Minister Eric Solheim has been invited to give evidence is not known. Even if he is invited, it will be a good guess of even a beggar in the streets of Colombo that he will not attend and it is knowledge even if Norway attends or not the LLRC process and outcome will be all out to discredit the Norwegians as a mouth piece of the LTTE.
3. The LTTE is a party to the Ceasefire Agreement. The top leaders of the LTTE are no more to give evidence or even the few surviving will not consider appearing before the LLRC. Some of the involved persons in the Ceasefire Agreement have been killed during the final confrontation including those killed whilst carrying the white flags and some killed in the torture chambers of the military, post 19 May 2009 victory.The
LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingam too is not here to give evidence. He passed away well before 19 May 2009. The only person remaining now is Anton’s wife Adale who could unravel her side of the facts of the LTTE on the failures of the ceasefire agreement. She too will not attend the LLRC inquiry due to constraints faced by the Commission.The behaviour of the government officials at the peace talks since Mahinda Rajapakse came to power was acrimonious. At the final rounds of talks, it was Anton Balasingam who pleaded with the government to offer something to present to his leader Pirabakran, but the war-minded government disregarded the plea and snubbed him and walked away from the talks. There are many stories like this the LLRC will not hear from the Norwegians, LTTE or even the observers at the peace talks.
.4.There is also a government custodian Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Col Karuna still to give evidence before the LLRC. He participated in the peace talks. He got huge stories of his own to tell until he broke way from the LTTE. He is being accused of swimming in the pool of alcohol and devil dancing with women provided by the GoSL and whether he is in a fair state of mind to give credible evidence before the LLRC is a trillion dollar question only the Defence Ministry can answer.
5. We have not heard the evidence of the Former Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohane. He has not told his side of the story about the killing of white flag carrying LTTE men on his advice to the international players. Equally stand with him, is the UN Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar. He too has volumes to unravel.
6. Then the there are also evidences stacked up against Dr Palitha Kohana and Vijay Nambiar. There are Tamils in the Diaspora who were involved in the arrangement for the surrender of the slain white flag carrying LTTE men. Apart from their lack of enthusiasm to appear before the limited LLRC mandate, they can be easy prey to be branded as the ‘mouth pieces of the LTTE’ by the state machinery of Sri Lanka.
7. I also have credible information that a leading international journalist played an important role on the attempted surrender of the white flags carrying LTTE men. This credible witness account is only valuable to an independent international inquiry on war crimes in Sri Lanka.
8. The LLRC has not created the conditions for the Diaspora Tamil witnesses who survived the military onslaught whilst they were engaged in community service in the war region to appear. Their experience in the battle front published in the respectable media is crucial, as the mouth strapped Tamils in Sri Lanka will not have the courage to unravel their experience due to fear of the military and the paramilitary forces.
9. British Channel 4 TV produced firsthand evidence of the war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan forces which internalised the cry for a global War Crimes Inquiry. LLRC is not the right forum for them or their contacts to give first hand evidence on the stories. 10. Then the LLRC appears to be prevented from hearing the evidence of the former General of the Army Sarath Fonseka. He has publicly affirmed that his subordinates have committed war crimes and also implicated the Defence Secretary of complicity in war crimes. In the evidence much publicised of the Defence Secretary when he branded the Army General a traitor wanting him to be hanged for his revelations was not questioned in the LLRC proceedings. So far the evidence given before the Commission is limited to the agents of the government who had benefited from the six decades long disempowering of the Tamils from the mainstream. Even the Tamils who came forward before the LLLRC are messengers of the government who live on the pittance dished out by the state and some of them even do not fear robbing the very people whom they claim to represent.Even the panel members of the LLRC could be beneficiaries of the decades old state sponsored marginalization policy against the Tamils. They may have achieved their status by entering the state universities following the introduction of the standardization policy against the Tamils that significantly scaled down the Tamil entries and seeded the Tamil militancy that lead to the full scale war in the country.
The interesting of the evidences given so far was that from the government Minister and Tamil paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda. He went outside the mandate of the LLRC to publicly apologise over his conduct when he was a warring gun man fighting against the government. What he failed to testify was his paramilitary rule post the defeat of the LTTE that is holding the vulnerable Tamil people at gun points to extend his deceptive democratic crusade to replace him as the alternative leader to Pirabakaran.
When I read that the BBC was barred by the Defence Ministry from attending the LLRC hearing of the victims of the war in the north, it spoke of volume of the Defence Ministry’s agenda and its influence to produce a very favourable report to denounce the demand of justice by the right thinking people of Sri Lanka and the international community. Well! The LLRC process is proving to be façade- a façade that the government will attempt to prop-up to undermine its responsibility to be accountable.
I hope and pray the LLRC process will not become a blot in the catalogue of spoils stacked against Sri Lanka.
Yours sincerely
R Jayadevan
Sunday, September 19, 2010
An Open Letter to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
LLRC’s mandate is very limited. Within its limited instruct, it has still not made any effort to reach the involved parties in its process from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009 authorised by the President.
by Rajasingham JayadevanHon Chitta Ranjan Silva ,Chairman,Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission,24 Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies,Horton Place,Colombo 7Sri Lanka Dear Sir, (September 19, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) After considerable thought and with the dejected innermost feelings, I address this open letter to the Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).I write this as a Sri Lankan Tamil living in the Diaspora, who experienced the fair share of the failings of the state of Sri Lanka to recognise me as a citizen of the country.
The unfolding events of over sixty years that led to the bloody massacres of thousands of civilians in the final onslaught of the government forces against the Tamil Tigers will never be unravelled and the victims of the failures of the government will not be given the opportunity to breast beat and cry to discharge their hurts and pain. It is open knowledge that the LLRC was evidently formed in a hurry to jettison the effort of the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon appointed a panel of experts to advise the world body on ‘accountability issues’ relating to possible human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
When I did my research a month ago to find the terms of reference of the LLRC, I was taken on the rollercoaster by the state media publications. The first reference I found was of Minister Keheliya Rambukawella published in the much read government’s Defence Ministry website stating that ‘LLRC would find the root causes of the terrorist problem and what happened during the last three decades which would be helpful for reforms that would go hand in hand with constitutional reforms too’. I got some comfort, though Keheliya Rambukawella in his usual bullish upbeat branded the end result as a ‘terrorist problem’. Fortunately he gave some comfort that ‘root causes’ will be dealt by the LLRC. When I traced the terms of reference of the LLRC which stated: ‘The Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa under Section 2 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, to inquire and report on matters that took place between February 21, 2002 to May19, 2009……’This is totally different to what Minister Rambukkawela asserted that gained so much publicity in the media.
I questioned myself as to why the scope has to be limited from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009? I contended, it is clearly a cynical move to officially castigate the opposition United National Party for signing the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and of course to elongate the President for defeating the LTTE in the battle in May 2009. After all, it is a Commission appointed by the President, who is being accused of committing war crimes as the head of the arms forces of Sri Lanka. LLRC is also clearly an effort to give him the clean bill of health on his horrible mission to militarily punish the Tamil people unwholesomely to vanquish the LTTE. LLRC’s mandate is very limited. Within its limited instruct, it has still not made any effort to reach the involved parties in its process from February 21, 2002 to May 19, 2009 authorised by the President.
Even the panel members of the LLRC could be beneficiaries of the decades old state sponsored marginalization policy against the Tamils. They may have achieved their status by entering the state universities following the introduction of the standardization policy against the Tamils that significantly scaled down the Tamil entries and seeded the Tamil militancy that lead to the full scale war in the country.Who are these involved parties falling within the mandate of the LLRC?
1. The mandate of the LLRC is clearly aimed to discredit the opposition UNP.
The Ceasefire Agreement was signed between the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and the LTTE and there is no report that such an important person like Ranil who is a party to the CFA is not giving evidence to the LLRC.Judging from the terms of reference of the LLRC, Ranil will be foolish to give evidence as the outcome of the LLRC is a foregone conclusion, irrespective of him presenting his case. The LLRC shadowed by the Defence Ministry is conditioned by its tainted appointments to the panel and the mandate given to exercise judicial or moral far-sight to make fair decisions.
Evidently, it is a fact that the Attorney Generals of Sri Lanka are petty parochial politicians. One has to follow the political role played by the present Attorney General who whips up the failures of the state to the international audience without any scruples of holding an esteemed legal position of a state institution.
2. Norway that brokered the ceasefire agreement on 21 February 2002 has not appeared before the Commission so far and whether the Norwegian Minister Eric Solheim has been invited to give evidence is not known. Even if he is invited, it will be a good guess of even a beggar in the streets of Colombo that he will not attend and it is knowledge even if Norway attends or not the LLRC process and outcome will be all out to discredit the Norwegians as a mouth piece of the LTTE.
3. The LTTE is a party to the Ceasefire Agreement. The top leaders of the LTTE are no more to give evidence or even the few surviving will not consider appearing before the LLRC. Some of the involved persons in the Ceasefire Agreement have been killed during the final confrontation including those killed whilst carrying the white flags and some killed in the torture chambers of the military, post 19 May 2009 victory.The
LTTE negotiator Anton Balasingam too is not here to give evidence. He passed away well before 19 May 2009. The only person remaining now is Anton’s wife Adale who could unravel her side of the facts of the LTTE on the failures of the ceasefire agreement. She too will not attend the LLRC inquiry due to constraints faced by the Commission.The behaviour of the government officials at the peace talks since Mahinda Rajapakse came to power was acrimonious. At the final rounds of talks, it was Anton Balasingam who pleaded with the government to offer something to present to his leader Pirabakran, but the war-minded government disregarded the plea and snubbed him and walked away from the talks. There are many stories like this the LLRC will not hear from the Norwegians, LTTE or even the observers at the peace talks.
.4.There is also a government custodian Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Col Karuna still to give evidence before the LLRC. He participated in the peace talks. He got huge stories of his own to tell until he broke way from the LTTE. He is being accused of swimming in the pool of alcohol and devil dancing with women provided by the GoSL and whether he is in a fair state of mind to give credible evidence before the LLRC is a trillion dollar question only the Defence Ministry can answer.
5. We have not heard the evidence of the Former Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohane. He has not told his side of the story about the killing of white flag carrying LTTE men on his advice to the international players. Equally stand with him, is the UN Secretary-General’s Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar. He too has volumes to unravel.
6. Then the there are also evidences stacked up against Dr Palitha Kohana and Vijay Nambiar. There are Tamils in the Diaspora who were involved in the arrangement for the surrender of the slain white flag carrying LTTE men. Apart from their lack of enthusiasm to appear before the limited LLRC mandate, they can be easy prey to be branded as the ‘mouth pieces of the LTTE’ by the state machinery of Sri Lanka.
7. I also have credible information that a leading international journalist played an important role on the attempted surrender of the white flags carrying LTTE men. This credible witness account is only valuable to an independent international inquiry on war crimes in Sri Lanka.
8. The LLRC has not created the conditions for the Diaspora Tamil witnesses who survived the military onslaught whilst they were engaged in community service in the war region to appear. Their experience in the battle front published in the respectable media is crucial, as the mouth strapped Tamils in Sri Lanka will not have the courage to unravel their experience due to fear of the military and the paramilitary forces.
9. British Channel 4 TV produced firsthand evidence of the war crimes perpetrated by the Sri Lankan forces which internalised the cry for a global War Crimes Inquiry. LLRC is not the right forum for them or their contacts to give first hand evidence on the stories. 10. Then the LLRC appears to be prevented from hearing the evidence of the former General of the Army Sarath Fonseka. He has publicly affirmed that his subordinates have committed war crimes and also implicated the Defence Secretary of complicity in war crimes. In the evidence much publicised of the Defence Secretary when he branded the Army General a traitor wanting him to be hanged for his revelations was not questioned in the LLRC proceedings. So far the evidence given before the Commission is limited to the agents of the government who had benefited from the six decades long disempowering of the Tamils from the mainstream. Even the Tamils who came forward before the LLLRC are messengers of the government who live on the pittance dished out by the state and some of them even do not fear robbing the very people whom they claim to represent.Even the panel members of the LLRC could be beneficiaries of the decades old state sponsored marginalization policy against the Tamils. They may have achieved their status by entering the state universities following the introduction of the standardization policy against the Tamils that significantly scaled down the Tamil entries and seeded the Tamil militancy that lead to the full scale war in the country.
The interesting of the evidences given so far was that from the government Minister and Tamil paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda. He went outside the mandate of the LLRC to publicly apologise over his conduct when he was a warring gun man fighting against the government. What he failed to testify was his paramilitary rule post the defeat of the LTTE that is holding the vulnerable Tamil people at gun points to extend his deceptive democratic crusade to replace him as the alternative leader to Pirabakaran.
When I read that the BBC was barred by the Defence Ministry from attending the LLRC hearing of the victims of the war in the north, it spoke of volume of the Defence Ministry’s agenda and its influence to produce a very favourable report to denounce the demand of justice by the right thinking people of Sri Lanka and the international community. Well! The LLRC process is proving to be façade- a façade that the government will attempt to prop-up to undermine its responsibility to be accountable.
I hope and pray the LLRC process will not become a blot in the catalogue of spoils stacked against Sri Lanka.
Yours sincerely
R Jayadevan
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Tamils protest outside U.S. Consulate over Rajapaksa policies, UN (Includes interview and first-hand account)
Click Here- Tamils protest outside U.S. Consulate over Rajapaksa policies, UN (Includes interview and first-hand account)
Tamils protest outside U.S. Consulate over Rajapaksa policies, UN Special
By Andrew Moran.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297736
+
1 of 6
►
Toronto - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit the United Nations next week and deliver a speech to the General Assembly. Outside of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, hundreds of Canadian Tamils protested his presence at the UN.
Digital Journal reported this week that the National Council of Canadian Tamils, the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam and other non-governmental organizations will rally in front of the United Nations in New York to protest Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to the UN where he will deliver a speech to the General Assembly.
On Friday, hundreds of Canadian Tamils protested outside the United States Consulate in downtown Toronto on University Avenue to show their dissatisfaction with the government’s decision to allow the Sri Lankan President to set foot in the United States, and potentially Canada.
■ Andrew Moran
More than 500 Tamils protesting in front of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on University Avenue.
Like • 6 people liked this
var imgid = "76329";
“The protest is to tell the world that the world shouldn’t allow a war criminal to come into their country; it could be Canada, U.S., or any country, especially Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is responsible for 30,000 lives,” said the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) Chairman Mohan Ramakrishnan. “He is coming to the U.S. and we as Canadian Tamils, we stand by the protest and we don’t like to welcome him.”
The large rally was succeeded by a march along University Avenue to Queen Street to City Hall and back to the U.S. Consulate. The walk contained chants of “Mahinda Rajapaksa – War Criminal” and “Close the camps – Save the Tamils.” Marchers also carried signs stating: “UN & USA bring this war criminal Sri Lankan President to justice,” “UN & USA investigate war crimes on Sri Lanka” and “UN, USA don’t engage with war criminal Rajapaksa.”
During the demonstration, representatives handed out vital information to the general public about who Rajapaksa is and the recent 18th constitutional amendment that passed on Wednesday that “will fundamentally transform Sri Lanka’s political system, stripping away the facade of democracy.”
■ Andrew Moran
Hundreds of Tamils marching along University Avenue in front of the U.S. Consulate.
Like • 3 people liked this
var imgid = "76333";
According to Agence-France Presse, the recent constitutional changes will end a two-term limit on the Presidency and increases Presidential powers over the nation of Sri Lanka as it removes the checks and balances on the executive branch.
Furthermore, according to the Sri Lankan Guardian, the Sri Lankan President will only have to seek the opinion of a five-member council in order to appoint several commissions, including the Human Rights Commission, the National Police Commission, the Finance Commission and many others.
The five-person panel includes the Prime Minister, the speaker, the leader of the Opposition, a Member of Parliament that is appointed by the PM and an MP nominated by the Opposition leader.
■ Andrew Moran
More than 500 Tamils protesting in front of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on University Avenue.
Like • 4 people liked this
var imgid = "76332";
The U.S. State Department spokesperson, P.J. Crowley, said in a written statement: “The United States is concerned that this constitutional amendment weakens checks and balances and thus undermines the principles of constitutional democracy.”
Speaking with various representatives at the U.S. Consulate, Ramakrishnan said they were very cooperative and will provide any kind of support to the Canadian Tamils and the organizations involved. The NCCT Chairman noted that there will be continued dialogue between the two parties in the future.
Like • 24 people liked this article
More news from
tamils mahinda rajapaksa united states consul...
9 Comments»
Related News
Massive Tamil rally planned for Rajapaksa United Nations visit
New York - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to address the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York. The National Council of Canadian Tamils has announced that it will stage a massive rally opposing his visit.
In the Media Sep 14, 2010 by ■ Andrew Moran in World - 8 comments
Canadian Tamils march, rally through Toronto's busiest Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297736#ixzz0zx1ZZNQB
Tamils protest outside U.S. Consulate over Rajapaksa policies, UN Special
By Andrew Moran.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297736
+
1 of 6
►
Toronto - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to visit the United Nations next week and deliver a speech to the General Assembly. Outside of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, hundreds of Canadian Tamils protested his presence at the UN.
Digital Journal reported this week that the National Council of Canadian Tamils, the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam and other non-governmental organizations will rally in front of the United Nations in New York to protest Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to the UN where he will deliver a speech to the General Assembly.
On Friday, hundreds of Canadian Tamils protested outside the United States Consulate in downtown Toronto on University Avenue to show their dissatisfaction with the government’s decision to allow the Sri Lankan President to set foot in the United States, and potentially Canada.
■ Andrew Moran
More than 500 Tamils protesting in front of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on University Avenue.
Like • 6 people liked this
var imgid = "76329";
“The protest is to tell the world that the world shouldn’t allow a war criminal to come into their country; it could be Canada, U.S., or any country, especially Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is responsible for 30,000 lives,” said the National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) Chairman Mohan Ramakrishnan. “He is coming to the U.S. and we as Canadian Tamils, we stand by the protest and we don’t like to welcome him.”
The large rally was succeeded by a march along University Avenue to Queen Street to City Hall and back to the U.S. Consulate. The walk contained chants of “Mahinda Rajapaksa – War Criminal” and “Close the camps – Save the Tamils.” Marchers also carried signs stating: “UN & USA bring this war criminal Sri Lankan President to justice,” “UN & USA investigate war crimes on Sri Lanka” and “UN, USA don’t engage with war criminal Rajapaksa.”
During the demonstration, representatives handed out vital information to the general public about who Rajapaksa is and the recent 18th constitutional amendment that passed on Wednesday that “will fundamentally transform Sri Lanka’s political system, stripping away the facade of democracy.”
■ Andrew Moran
Hundreds of Tamils marching along University Avenue in front of the U.S. Consulate.
Like • 3 people liked this
var imgid = "76333";
According to Agence-France Presse, the recent constitutional changes will end a two-term limit on the Presidency and increases Presidential powers over the nation of Sri Lanka as it removes the checks and balances on the executive branch.
Furthermore, according to the Sri Lankan Guardian, the Sri Lankan President will only have to seek the opinion of a five-member council in order to appoint several commissions, including the Human Rights Commission, the National Police Commission, the Finance Commission and many others.
The five-person panel includes the Prime Minister, the speaker, the leader of the Opposition, a Member of Parliament that is appointed by the PM and an MP nominated by the Opposition leader.
■ Andrew Moran
More than 500 Tamils protesting in front of the U.S. Consulate in Toronto on University Avenue.
Like • 4 people liked this
var imgid = "76332";
The U.S. State Department spokesperson, P.J. Crowley, said in a written statement: “The United States is concerned that this constitutional amendment weakens checks and balances and thus undermines the principles of constitutional democracy.”
Speaking with various representatives at the U.S. Consulate, Ramakrishnan said they were very cooperative and will provide any kind of support to the Canadian Tamils and the organizations involved. The NCCT Chairman noted that there will be continued dialogue between the two parties in the future.
Like • 24 people liked this article
More news from
tamils mahinda rajapaksa united states consul...
9 Comments»
Related News
Massive Tamil rally planned for Rajapaksa United Nations visit
New York - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is set to address the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York. The National Council of Canadian Tamils has announced that it will stage a massive rally opposing his visit.
In the Media Sep 14, 2010 by ■ Andrew Moran in World - 8 comments
Canadian Tamils march, rally through Toronto's busiest Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297736#ixzz0zx1ZZNQB
Tamils scheduled to demonstrate against President Rajapakse in front of the UN. Details .........
Tamils scheduled to demonstrate against President Rajapakse in front of the UN. Details .........
USTPAC will hold a rally in front of the UN in New York on Wednesday, September 22. Details will follow. The Sri Lankan President is expected to speak to the UN Assembly on this date. The purpose of the rally is to:
(1) Expose Tamil Genocide conducted by the Rajapaksa Government in Sri Lanka
(2) Call for War Crime Investigations
(3) Cal...l the UN Secretary General to promptly start the work of the Advisory Panel
We encourage other organizations in the US and Canada concerned about human rights in Sri Lanka to join the rally. Please spread the word and participate in the event. Arrangements are being made by Ilankai Thamil Sangam to deploy a mobile billboard calling for accountability.
CONTACT INFO: 609 341 0916 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 609 341 0916
(1) Expose Tamil Genocide conducted by the Rajapaksa Government in Sri Lanka
(2) Call for War Crime Investigations
(3) Cal...l the UN Secretary General to promptly start the work of the Advisory Panel
We encourage other organizations in the US and Canada concerned about human rights in Sri Lanka to join the rally. Please spread the word and participate in the event. Arrangements are being made by Ilankai Thamil Sangam to deploy a mobile billboard calling for accountability.
CONTACT INFO: 609 341 0916 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 609 341 0916
Large number of Canadian Tamils and bus loads of US Tamils are confirmed to participate.
So are Sinhalese supporters of General Sarath Fonseka who has been jailed recently.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)