How do people 'escape' from the refugee camps in Sri Lanka unless they are internment camps?

(September 30, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Wording in some of the statements of the state officials reveal the true nature of the status of the refugee camps in Northern Province of Sri Lanka where around 300,000 internally displaced, mostly Tamil civilians are held.
Sri Lanka's Sinhala nationalist English daily 'The Island' today published this report:

At least 20,000 of the nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Vavuniya camps had escaped, SSP for Kandy Ranjith Kasturiratna said at the Kandy District coordinating committee meeting, chaired by Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake, on Monday.
 

SSP Kasturiratne said special police teams from Kandy had been dispatched to the IDP camps in the North to conduct investigations.

Police investigations had revealed that about 20,000 had escaped from the camps. They were believed to be LTTE cadres.

Marxist nationalist People's Liberation Front (JVP) MP Vijitha Herath pointed out today at a press conference held in Colombo that these places are not detention camps for people to 'escape'.

However, it is  well known fact that the mobility of the inmates of these camps are thoroughly restricted. Government under pressure from the international community to release these refugees, only recently decided to allow selected refugees to stay with the relatives that live outside. However, media reported that there were many flaws in application process. Human trafficking is also taking place in large scale. Many youths that were suspected of associating the Tamil rebels were abducted and they had simply disappeared.

"Government told a blatant lie to the world stating that it had resettled 6000 refugees of the Menikfarm in their villages although they had been re located at Kaithady and Mirisuvil in Jaffna, said JVP parliamentarian Vijitha Herath. About 40,000 of the Jaffna residents are still in the refugee camps, he said adding that around 2000 have been settled on the borders of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.

 

Land Sri Lankans fought for homelands is now in foreigners' hands

(September 29, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils fought almost three decades for land in Sri Lanka where the land is being acquired by foreign businessmen following the end of the civil war with total annihilation of Tamil rebel forces. This land acquisition both in land of the 'Sinhalese Lions' ain the southern parts of the island as well as the Tamil homeland in northern and eastern areas previously the de facto state of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels existed.

Sri Lanka has a span of 6.5 million hectares and 80% it belong to government, that restricts foreigners from buying land. But the state cannot block the 20% private land be sold to foreigners despite the government levies a tax of 100%. In most cases the selling price is undervalued in deeds and the state loses much of the tax revenue while the local land owners, most of them ardent patriots supporting the present system, do not disclose the real amounts they gained through deals with foreigners.

Much of the private land in ancient Dutch Fort in Sinhala dominated Southern Province is now sold to foreigners, said a resident of the picturesque location adjacent to Galle harbor. Altogether, 10,000 acres of land island wide has been purchased by foreigners so far, says the Minister of Land and Land Development Jeevan Kumarathunga.

Meanwhile, the government is also looking for investors for state land. "Delegates from the Sri Lanka board of investment met with executives from Omaxe in New Delhi and others seeking investments and have liberal rules governing businesses," reported The Economic Times of The Indian Times.

It further said:

“With the civil war over, we are seeing a huge demand for housing,” said Puravankara group MD Ravi Puravankara. The group is planning to launch a villa project in Colombo. “We have already initiated the land acquisition process,” he added. It is aimed at the Sri Lankan diaspora who may return to enjoy the long-desired peace. But, it will cost them around $2 lakh each.

L&T has already laid the foundation stone for its commercial park in Colombo and is all set to invest around $150 million for its residential and commercial projects in country with a population of around 20 million, about a fifth of Maharashtra.

The commercial complex, a 51 storey building in Colombo city with 15 lakh square feet, will be called the Diamond Tower. “We plan to make this the tallest building in Sri Lanka,” said C Ignatius, director of the Sri Lanka board of investment. Larsen declined to comment for the story. 

The Sri Lankan government is doing its best to attract overseas investors, especially from India, and has made the foreign direct investment rules simple. For an Indian real estate company to build complexes, all it needs to invest is Rs 2 crore. Also, there is no lock-in period for the investors. They can cash out and repatriate the money to India anytime they want.

“We have carried out an extensive research in Sri Lanka and our research shows that the country has huge potential for the developers,” Omaxe chairman and MD Rohtas Goel told ET. But, the company is yet to finalise its plans.

Sri Lanka, with many plantations, beaches and a colonial past, could draw global hospitality and manufacturing companies. “Many multinationals could also enter the country which would again increase the demand for commercial and office space,” said Cushman & Wakefield executive director Kaustuv Roy.

Government has demarcated an entire residential area in Sampur that was liberated from the Tamil Tigers a high security zone and thousands of residents of the villages still languish in refugee camps despite the government 'freed' them from the hold of the Tigers. Sampur is a Tamil residential area located close to Trincomalee natural harbor in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

Emptied Sampur is given to India's National Thermal Power Corporation to build a 1000 MW coal power plant.

Government of Sri Lanka encourages local and foreign investors to invest in state land in the fields of agriculture, industry and tourism etc. It is targeting an FDI of $2 billion by 2010. According to government statistics, Sri Lanka received $889 million in FDI in 2008 and $400 million, so far, this year. The Board of Investment declined to comment on how much it expects the Indian real estate developers to invest.

Norway, Solheim helped establish LTTE-Eritrea links for arms deals - Sri Lanka's Sinhala nationalist newspaper

(September 27, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka's leading Sinhala nationalist English daily The Island reported today that the former peace facilitator Norwegian government helped the Tamil rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) to establish relations with Eritrea, which allowed the group to purchase arms, ammunition and equipment from China on Eritrean end-user certificates and other documents needed to legally buy weapons, according to 'well informed sources'. 

The rest of the feature is as follows:

Sources said the tripartite understanding had been reached in Norway as far back as 2002-2003, when it facilitated negotiations purportedly aimed at ending Sri Lanka’s war. Sources said the on-going investigations had revealed that Norway facilitated the meeting between Eritrean representatives and the LTTE.

Responding to The Island queries, sources said the then Sri Lankan government had not been aware of Norway’s surreptitious move to strengthen the conventional fighting capability of the LTTE. Sources added that some members of the LTTE negotiating team, too, had been involved with the Eritreans. Government sources said that the international community should investigate the Norwegian role in destabilizing a UN member state.

The interrogation of Kumaran Padmanathan aka ‘KP’ captured by Sri Lanka over two months ago had confirmed the Eritrean deal, sources said.

India is also seeking to interrogate ‘KP’ though New Delhi never allowed Sri Lanka access to LTTE terrorists arrested during eelam war IV. Over 90 per cent of all heavy equipment, including a range of artillery pieces and 14.5 mm four barrelled anti-aircraft guns captured by the army were of Chinese origin.

Sources said ‘KP’, though unable to shed light on terrorist operations in Sri Lanka could help expose the vast international network of supporters, including the direct involvement of Norway in supporting terrorism. According to sources, the Norwegians, during bilateral talks with the LTTE had promised the outfit to develop ocean resources. Discussions had centred on oil exploration as well as the fisheries sector, sources said adding that the far reaching Norwegian project was believed to have started as far back as the arrival of NORAD in Sri Lanka.

Sources said that the LTTE had used Eritrean and also North Korean end-user-certificates to procure arms from China and smuggled them in several consignments before the Sri Lanka Navy destroyed eight floating arsenals on the high seas between September 2006 and October 2007.

Sources revealed that the Norwegian embassy in Colombo had gone to the extent of contacting the Maldivian government in May 2007, when the Maldivian Coast Guard intercepted a trawler carrying LTTE cargo. But, the Norwegians failed to save Sri Krishna, belonging to Indian fishermen from destruction and the SLN intelligence got an opportunity to question captured LTTE cadres as well as the Indian Captain of the vessel.

The then Chief Norwegian facilitator Erik Solheim had been directly involved in forming the Eritrean-LTTE relationship, sources said. An official said that the bottomline was that Norway had eyed Sri Lanka’s ocean resources and ministers, who had represented Sri Lanka in negotiations, had been totally unaware of what was going on behind their backs.

Sri Lanka recently decided to establish diplomatic relations with Eritrea. Although the former Navy Chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda revealed the LTTE relationship with an African country shortly after the killing of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in May, in an interview with the ITN. The Island was the first to name the country.

Sri Lanka President vows not to betray the people for US $ 150 million GSP Plus concession

(September 28, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse vowed not to betray the nation for US $ 150 million concession received through GSP Plus tariff relief scheme of the European Union. "I will earn that amount in another way and safeguard the industries," he said addressing lower rank government officers and village level elite of Southern Province at his ancestral home in Medamulana in Hambanthota district.

Rajapakse showed that he was clever to obtain the IMF stand-by arrangement that was also in balance one time. He boasted that as a man born in southern Sri Lanka, he was well versed in dealing such matters.

The President pointed out that one third of the land and two third of the sea given to Tamil rebels under agreements were united to the national economy.

Sri Lanka is about to lose the GSP Plus tariff concessions given to it by European Union to recover from the damages of 2004 Boxing Day tsunami due to criticism on its human rights conduct and the government's reluctance to investigate such issues.

Sri Lankan journalists rally to protest Press Council and to get Tissainayagam released

(September 27, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Several leading media organizations of Sri Lanka call for all citizens who value freedom in all its forms to staunchly oppose the reactivation of the draconian Press Council and to agitate for the release of our colleague J.S. Tissainayagam who was branded a terrorist and sentenced for 20 years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
 

"We can achieve these objectives only through a show of commitment and solidarity. Hence, a large gathering of journalists, civil society activists, political parties, artistes, religious leaders and civic minded citizens who wish to fight for a just and free society will come together on September 29 at the Jayewardene Center, Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 07 (opposite Vihara Maha Devi Park) at 4 pm. 

"We intend initiating a people’s petition against the reactivation of the Press Council and invite you in your capacity as a socially conscious citizen who wishes to safeguard democracy in our motherland to join hands with those likeminded others at this event," says the media organizations in a statement. 

 The organizations that convene this meeting are:

The Editor’s Guild of   Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association
Federation of Media Employee's Trade Union
Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum
Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance
Free Media Movement
National Forum of Journalists

New tactics of Sri Lankan legislators to undermine freedom of expression for the MPs

(September 26, Colombo - Lanka Polity) In Sri Lanka's deformed democracy, the honorable Members of Parliament are now suspected of deliberately boycotting parliament to disrupt each others freedom of expression.

On last Tuesday, the opposition United National Party (UNP) MP Ravi Karunanayaka showed at the adjournment debate that the house has no quorum. As a result, the Deputy Minister of Highways W.B. Ekanayaka lost the opportunity to deliver the government answer of the debate on a major road development project the opposition accused of having massive mismanagement and misappropriation.

Later the Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardhana said the opposition move was a breach of an agreement not to raise the quorum issues at the adjournment. Chief Opposition Whip Joseph Michael Perera apologized.

However, on Friday, the government Minister of Transport Services Lasantha Alagiyawanna blocked UNP MP Ravi Karunanayaka proposing the adjournment debate by showing there was no quorum in the house. The Deputy Speaker Piyankara Jayaratna failed to summon the quorum and the meeting was adjourned prematurely. Only 17 members had responded to the quorum bell while Alagiyawanna, who initially pointed out the absence of the required number of members, too, left the Chamber. Deputy Foreign Minister Hussain Bhaila, the only government representative present in Parliament said that they were still four short of the stipulated number.

There are 225 MPs in the parliament. The minimum number needed to maintain the quorum is 20. Most of the MPs do not attend the parliamentary meetings regularly although they enjoy lavish perks with public money. On the days the parliamentary meetings are held, the roads in Colombo city are closed time to time to provide safe passage to the MPs to come and go. A massive sum of public money is spent for each parliamentary meeting.

Sri Lanka Marxists question the ethics of raising money from soldiers to felicitate themselves

(September 26, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka oppsition People's Liberation Front (JVP) parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Disanayaka says that the Army has deduced Rs. 1800 (around US $ 16) each per a personnel from their salaries for the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Army.The MP queried the meaning of felicitating the soldiers with their own money.
The MP further pointed out to the parliament yesterday (25) that no house has been granted to war heroes (fallen soldiers) from the 'Api Wenuwen Api' housing fund that raised massive funds from public. Some Rs. 45.6 million (US $ 400,000) collected from the employees of the state-owned Transport Board has not still been transferred into the accounts of the aforesaid fund. 

Army has organized a massive celebration to mark its birthday that falls immediately after the war victory against the Tamil rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). They include Army Exhibition at BMICH (Oct 3-7) and the Army Tattoo (Oct 17-23) at Kettarama Stadium.

The Army Exhibition beginning at 10.00 a.m. (except on the opening day) is open till 10.00 p.m. on all seven days and expects a crowd of about 100,000 spectators every day. The Army Tattoo at Kettarama Stadium beginning on 17th October is expected to attract at least 20,000 visitors each day, depending on the number of seats available at the venue. The Tattoo will remain open between 5.30-10.00 p.m. on all seven days until the final day, 23rd October.