Sri Lanka President to dissolve parliament by early January?

(December 20, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka President is likely to dissolve the parliament by early January, government sources say.

The parliament meetings are now adjourned till January 5. Opposition protested this move of the government to cancel the meetings stating that it would undermine he accountability. The President has reportedly taken this step to deploy his mega cabinet in his presidential campaign island wide. President Mahinda Rajapakse is running for the second term in the snap presidential to be held on January 26,  

The parliament is to debate the proposal to extend the emergency regulations by one month on January 5. Sri Lanka is ruled under emergency for decades and the extension month by month without strict opposition is customary in the parliament.

The President is expected to dissolve the parliament after January 5, sources say. The term of the current parliament ends in April 2010 and the Election Commissioner and the political parties need time to go for a general election.

Sri Lanka's major opposition has united to campaign for the victory of the common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka. However, both capitalist United National Party (UNP) as well as Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) have announced that they will run individually in the general election.

Western super powers become tough on Sri Lanka

(October 21, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Two Western Super powers have strongly asked Sri Lankahuman rights violations during the last phase of the offensive against the Tami rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elama (LTTE) that the state forces totally annihilated in May 2009 eliminating almost entire leadership. There is wide spread allegations regarding the violations of internatinal human rights covenanats both by state and rebel forces. However, the governemnt of Sri Lanka led by President Mahinda Rajapakse is vehemently against any kind of investigation against its toops despite the region's oldest democracy is losing its reputation and the island is being isolated by its traditional Western alies. to account for the alleged

"Accountability is an essential component of national reconciliation.  The United States looks to the Government of Sri Lanka to identify an appropriate and credible mechanism and initiate a process for accountability," US embassy of Sri Lanka said in a statement issued on October 22 in relation to a report detailing incidents that allegedly occurred during the final months of the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil rebel iberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam that might constitute violations of international humanitarian law or crimes against humanity and related harms. The United States Department of State delivered the report to Congressional Appropriations Committee staff yesterday. 

The Department of State has prepared the report pursuant to a Congressional request and also provided a copy to the Sri Lankan Embassy. The report compiles alleged incidents, as reported by a wide range of primary and secondary sources, involving both sides in the conflict.  It does not reach any legal or factual conclusions, says the US embassy adding that information concerning the majority of incidents cited in this report has originated in first-hand accounts communicated by persons from within the government-declared No Fire Zones and locations close to the fighting.  

The United States says it "recognizes a state’s inherent right to defend itself from armed attacks, including those by non-state actors, such as a terrorist group like the LTTE.  The United States also expects states and non-state actors to comply with their international legal obligations, including the obligation to protect civilians in armed conflict."

Earlier the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for the Department for International Development, have urged Sri Lankan authorities to fulfill their human rights obligations in response to the findings of a recent EU report on the issue. They said:

'The European Commission’s report on Sri Lanka’s implementation of international human rights conventions raised serious concerns, which we shared."

The report highlighted failings in Sri Lanka’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The report is a precursor to the Commission’s recommendation to EU Member States on whether Sri Lanka should continue to benefit from the GSP+ trade preference scheme. "We are clear that to do so Sri Lanka must respect its international human rights obligations under GSP+.We strongly urge the Government of Sri Lanka to take immediate action to address the issues outlined in this report," said the UK officials.

 

Is the leader god, king or man?

In Sri Lanka, the leaders try to appear as kings and actually act as God.

This phenomenon was clearly seen in Prabakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).

Today, the President Mahinda Rajapakse is appearing as King of this country.

But in West, with the paradigm shift in which Obama came into power, the leader is depicted more and more as a human being.

But we are anti-Western and think we have better values.

Sri Lanka’s failure to provide scientific proof to the death of Tiger leader gives way to blind nationalism

(July 11 2009) Sri Lanka is failing to provide concrete proof of the death of Velupillai Prabakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and Pottu Amman, the intelligence chief of the outfit who are wanted by India to wind up the case regarding the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The sources say that Sri Lankan authorities are unable to provide scientific proof for the deaths of these Tiger leaders. Although a corpse said to be of Prabakaran's was displayed as the government declared he was killed on May 18. No corpse of Pottu Amman's was shown so far. 

The situation has triggered claims from the ardent Tamil Ealam nationalists that their elusive leader is still alive and will appear in public in right moment. The admittance of the expatriate leadership of the LTTE has also gone unhindered among these arch nationalists.

In theater-crazy Tamil Nadu, the politicians are manipulating the mystery for their gains where the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told the State Assembly of a story of a “hero's escape on a horseback with none in the know of his whereabouts” inferred here to mean LTTE leader V Prabhakaran.

“Mr Prabhakaran had been announced as dead in the past too atleast four times in 1984, 1987, 1989 and in 2004. This is the fifth time the announcement has come. Similarly four wars of independence have been fought in Sri Lanka. The fifth war for independence for Eelam (the area of Tamils in Sri Lanka) will commence and our respected Mr Prabhakaran will lead that war,”said Tamil Nadu politician P. Nedumaran, close associate of the elusive LTTE leader who has known him for decades.

“In connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a formal request for an official confirmation of the deaths of Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, the chief of the intelligence wing of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), has been made to the government of Sri Lanka,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told parliament, when asked whether India had sought the death certificate of Prabhakaran.

The Hindu editor writes after his privileged visit to the IDP camps in northern Sri Lanka

Following is the article written by 'The Hindu' newspaper editor-in-chief N. Ram following his hyped visit to the IDP camps in northern Sri Lanka. The government of Sri Lanka provides access to a selected few outsiders to the camps. Local media and even the parliamentary representatives of the displaced people are blocked access to these camps.

Visiting the Vavuniya IDP camps: an uplifting experience
N. Ram



The photographs by Thilak Bandara – taken during our visit on July 1, 2009 to some of the Zone 1 IDP camps on the outskirts of Vavuniya town in Sri Lanka’s mainland North – speak for themselves. They are testimony to the Sri Lankan government’s efforts, with international assistance, to care for a brave and resilient Tamil community, which will be resettled and rehabilitated in the next few months through an ambitious programme.   Colombo: The last phase of Sri Lanka’s low-intensity military conflict saw the elimination of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a military force. It simultaneously witnessed a poignant human drama in which some 300,000 Tamil civilians were rescued by force of arms from a terrorist organisation that, claiming to fight for their freedom, had no compunction in using them as a human shield.



Most of these internally displaced Sri Lankans are now housed and cared for by the government in transitional relief camps located in five demarcated zones of the 1500-acre Menik Farm on the outskirts of the town of Vavuniya in the mainland North. International concern has been expressed over the present condition and the future of these Tamil civilians, who include a large number of children, women, and senior citizens.



Following a three-hour conversation, including a recorded interview, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at ‘Temple Trees’ in Colombo, I had, at his suggestion and thanks to the helicopter and other facilities provided by the Defence Ministry, the opportunity of seeing for myself how the Tamil IDPs were being sheltered and cared for in the camps. It was an uplifting experience, which is reflected in some measure in the photographs by Thilak Bandara published on this page. The sight of tens of schoolchildren returning from makeshift schools and of the distribution by the Controller of Examinations and his team of preparatory material for the A-level exams, which will be taken in a month, was special.




What became clear during the visit to Anandakumaraswamy Village in Zone 1, through glimpses of other camps in the vast IDP relief complex, and in conversations in Tamil with some of the displaced people was this. Conditions in these camps are much better than what has been depicted, mostly second-hand, that is, without visiting the camps, in western media reports. Moreover, they are visibly better than conditions in Sri Lankan refugee camps in India, which are still mostly inaccessible to journalists, researchers, and other outsiders. Basic needs, including education for the schoolchildren and vocational training for older boys and girls, are being met by the Sri Lankan government with assistance from the United Nations, a number of countries, including India, and more than 50 INGOs.




Hearteningly, the best hospital in the Menik Farm IDP relief complex is the one staffed and provisioned by the Indian Medical Team with its eight doctors, four nurses, and overall strength of 60, including senior and junior paramedics. After this highly skilled and dedicated medical team, led by Dr. K. Vasantha Kumar, moved to Settikulam from Pulmodai (in the East) in March, it has treated close to 13,000 Tamil civilians and performed several surgical operations.




In his interview, which will be published in The Hindu on Monday, President Rajapaksa claimed, without exaggeration, that “the condition in the camps is the best any country has.” He admitted some “shortcomings,” chief among them being a lack of “freedom of movement.” But he also emphasised his responsibility for the security of his people and pointed to the need to speed up the work of de-mining in the heavily mined Wanni, which needed to be certified by the U.N. He reiterated his personal commitment to resettle all the Tamil civilians speedily.



The Sri Lankan government is now confident that the President’s 180-day resettlement plan can be implemented. This confidence would have been boosted by the unexpected success of the first meeting of the All Parties Committee for Development and Reconciliation, in which all parties, including the Tamil National Alliance, promised cooperation and support to the project of reconciliation and development in the North.




Brigadier S. Perera, who has responsibility for the Vavuniya IDP complex. Photo: N.Ram.

'Catastrophy for Sri Lanka to take triumphant position' - Ramachandra Guha

London (PTI): A noted historian has warned that it would be catastrophic for Sri Lanka to take a triumphant position on its victory over LTTE and it is time the country gave democracy and pluralism a chance. 

"In the aftermath of defeat of Tamil Tigers, it would be catastrophic if the Sri Lankan Government were to take a triumphant position. I am told there is a proposal to build statues of a Sri Lankan King who died 2,000 years ago to commemorate the victory," Ramachandra Guha, the Bangalore-based historian and biographer said while delivering the fifth Nehru memorial Lecture 2009 on "Democracy and Violence in South Asia and Beyond" at the Nehru Centre here on Friday night. 

Patrick French, a noted writer presided over the function, which was attended by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Shiv Shankar Mukherjee. 

Drawing a parallel between the violence in Jammu and Kashmir and Northern Sri Lanka, Mr. Guha who has previously taught at the Universities of Yale and Stanford, said: "Just as Kashmir is a big blot on India's democracy, the treatment of Tamils is a signal failure of Sri Lankan democracy. 

"As in Kashmir, the problem arose because of denial of democracy's software and hardware - elections were rigged both in Kashmir and Northern Sri Lanka," he said, adding "cultural pluralism in terms of language, in terms of dress, in terms of faith is a serious part of democracy." 

The historian said "in northern Sri Lanka, apart from rigging the elections, there was discrimination on the basis of language and religion". 

Mr. Guha said in 1956 Sinhala was made the sole official language of the island placing it on a position of superiority. This act of injustice was compounded in 1972 when Buddhism was made official religion of Sri Lanka - meaning Buddhists were superior to Tamils, Muslims, Christians and Hindus. 

"Discrimination on the basis of religion and language was further intensified by the burning of the great Jaffna Library in 1981 when the Sri Lankan army in an act of petty and vicious vindictiveness put to flame the great repository of Tamil culture and two years later, there was a progrom against Tamils in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, orchestrated and directed by ruling politicians," he stressed. 

Mr. Guha also noted that the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran had assassinated every rival Tamil politician. Emphasising that the Tamils in Sri Lanka had also made "terrible mistakes", he said "Prabhakaran led the Tamil people down the road to disaster." 

Answering a question, Mr. Guha said he wanted India to be a "more contented and less violent place." 

He said "the greatness of modern Indian democracy is that every citizen is equal, regardless of language and religion. That is what Sri Lanka can learn from India."

Sri Lanka: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights - International Crisis Group

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Colombo/Brussels, 30 June 2009: The Sri Lankan government must reform the country’s judicial system urgently if the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers is to lead to a lasting peace.

Sri Lanka’s Judiciary: Politicised Courts, Compromised Rights, the latest policy report from the International Crisis Group, warns that the Sri Lankan judiciary is not working in a fair and impartial way that secures justice and human rights for everyone regardless of ethnicity. This risks undermining the government’s recent military victory over the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). A durable national reconciliation process is only possible if human and constitutional rights are fully restored. 

“The judiciary has not acted as a check on presidential and legislative power but has instead contributed to the political alienation of Tamils”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director. “Under the former chief justice, the Supreme Court’s rulings strengthened political hardliners among Sinhala nationalist parties”.

Rather than assuaging conflict, the courts have corroded the rule of law and worsened ethnic tensions. They are neither constraining militarization of Sri Lankan society nor protecting minority rights. Instead, a politicized bench has entrenched favored allies, punished foes and blocked compromises with the Tamil minority. The judiciary’s intermittent interventions on important political questions have limited settlement options for the ethnic conflict.

Today, neither the lower nor the higher courts in Sri Lanka provide any guarantee of personal security or redress against arbitrary state violence. Although torture in police custody is endemic, courts are unwilling to provide adequate remedies for illegal or abusive detention. Police, judges and government officials have acted in ways that further the goals of powerful political actors, undermine the rule of law and deepen the current political and humanitarian crisis. The possibility of transitional justice, which is necessary for society to break the cycle of violence, is still missing.

The recent appointment of a new chief justice is an opportunity for reforms to begin. A first step toward restoring judicial independence would be a return to an orderly appointment and transfer of judges. This needs to be done both in the lower and appellate judiciary. There should also be fundamental reform of Sri Lanka’s extensive and often abused emergency laws, which are used disproportionately against Tamils. Provisions in the emergency laws concerning arrest, detention and derogation from routine criminal procedures need to be removed, as well as those that criminalize free speech and the exercise of associational rights.

“Fixing institutions and reforming laws will only have a limited effect until political actors, and especially the presidency, feel the cost of infringing on judicial independence”, warns Donald Steinberg, Crisis Group Deputy President for Policy. “Without a concerted effort by the bench and bar, the political costs of interfering with the judiciary will remain minimal”.