Sharing experiences of Sri Lanka's war against terror

(January 30, 2011,  Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka is to hold an international seminar to share experience on its victorious  fight against terror.

 

The details of the seminar was revealed recently by the Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya at a media conference held in the Army Headquarters.

 

The international seminar is to be held on May 31, June 1st and 2nd of 2011 at Colombo Galadari Hotel focusing on counter measures against global terrorism, terrorist trends, predominance of both political and military efforts, rapid resettlement, reconciliatory moves, nation-building and threats to national and international security concerns, the Ministry of Defense says.

 

Contributors and participants in the sessions are to be drawn from all corners of the world along with the representatives of different government, International Non Governmental Organizations, Non Governmental Organizations and professionals, academics and military officials.

 

The Defense Ministry says that the delegates representing about 54 countries are also expected to dwell on strategies, needed for nation-building while endeavouring to explore adequate measures for countering, with special relevance to the Sri Lankan perspective in counter terrorism.

 

The seminar is to review how the Sri Lankan approach transcended beyond the traditional approach and succeeded in defeating the LTTE with learning from years of fighting insurgency.

 

The Sri Lankan delegates, composed of war veterans while sharing their knowledge on counter terrorism, will enumerate all other contributory factors in military defeating the LTTE. The seminar simultaneously expects to broaden understanding and shares knowledge in effective counter terrorism strategy, operational and tactical level lessons, evolution of tactical level training, role of Human Rights in counter insurgency operations, rehabilitation of ex-combatants, preventive measures against resurgence of violence, introduction of political reforms, re-evaluation of the traditional model and the Sri Lankan experience.

 

When sharing experiences of Sri Lanka's war against LTTE, we think the following basic points are also needed to be discussed if the seminar is to be placed in a broader perspective.

 

• Did the war achieve sustainable peace?
• Did the military victory pave way to national reconciliation?
• Is Sri Lanka wisely using the opportunity created by the military victory over LTTE?
• Are the people of the country enjoying benefits of peace?
• Are the circumstances that led the war time Army Commander to be imprisoned fair?
• How did the state military deal with the world's insistence on ethical issues of war during the war time?
• How can the price for the 'liberation' paid by the people of the LTTE held areas rationalized in regard of their life after the war?

 

There can be many more similar issues that can be raised.

 

Some might say that Experience is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald.

 

'Experience is in the fingers and head. The heart is inexperienced,' Henry David Thoreau said after all.

 

 

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Galle Literary Festival that has no Galle

(January 23, 2011,  Lanka Polity) Galle Literary Festival (GLF) will begin this week for the fifth time.

Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy and a few other writers together with Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) have urged the writers to keep away from the GLF due to alleged Freedom of Expression issues in Sri Lanka.

Most of the Sri Lankan writers actually keep away from GLF every year not because of the 'alleged Freedom of Expression issues in Sri Lanka' but simply because they are unaware of such a magnanimous literary event is held in Sri Lanka.

The so called big literary event is represented by just one or two actual local vernacular writers. The only name I saw among the participants as a recognised Sinhala language writer is Liyanage Amarakeerthi, a university lecturer, writer and critique.

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Sri Lanka is at least not in the list of sponsors although it is not essential the government sponsor the event. Interestingly, the state Tourism Promotion Bureau is among the prominent sponsors instead.

The literary festival that uses the name and the cultural significance of Sri Lanka's Southern Province capital Galle seems to have concrete base in Galle at all and in Sri Lanka too. For Sri Lankans and for the so called literary figures also that are in thie organization structure, this seems a mere tourism event. 

Literature sans people is something extraordinary definitely. While appreciating the efforts rendered by the organizers to make this event 'a favourite of participants and audiences alike; named the best literary festival in the world' as mentioned in the GLF website, we beg them to make this an actual Sri Lankan event by getting down to earth at least to make it nationally known.


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An eye witness describes the cowardly attack against Dr. Vickramabahu on December 17

(January 07, 2011,  Lanka Polity) 
I was informed by Dr Vickramabahu Karunarathne that he has been
invited to participate in the 88th Birthday Remembrance celebration of
Pro. Reg Goodwin, a former Dean of Darwin College of Cambridge
University, held on 04th December. I knew that Vickramabahu as one,
who read for his Ph.D (Electro Magnetic theory) at Cambridge during
Goodwin's tennre, accepted an invitation from Goodwin’s Family members
and left for London on 21st of November 2010. As a leader of the Nava
Sama Samaja party I monitored the schedule of Vickramabahu and I knew
that he took the opportunity also to meet with the NSSP London Branch
as well as London-based supporters and sympathizers of the NSSP. He
addressed several meetings at the request of the NSSP London Branch.

Back home, false and fabricated reports were published in some
sections of the media to say that Vickramabahu participated in a
demonstrations and meetings held in December 2010, in London;
reportedly organized by some sections of the Diaspora to promote
terrorism and division of the country. 6. I was informed by
Vickramabahu that he would arrive on 7th December 27, 2010 in Qatar
air ways, plane no QR 302 arriving around 4pm. I went to the Airport,
and there were around 40 persons comprising leading Party members,
Lawyers, some members of the clergy etc, at the airport to greet him.

Coming out of arrivals while Vickramabahu was proceeding towards his
vehicle, a gang of persons, some of them wearing uniforms with their
official identity cards hanging from their breast pockets, started
shouting “Tiger”, “Kotiya” etc. against him. They said he betrayed the
Motherland to Tamils. Vickramabahu countered that it was the Rajapaksa
Government which has betrayed the country with its subservience to the
dictates of neo-liberal global forces, the IMF etc. at the expense of
the poor masses of this country. He then got into the vehicle; and
left the airport followed by 4 vehicles carrying most of those that
received him at the air port.

However, the last vehicle with my self and several others inside was
prevented by the Police from leaving the Airport premises. Those who
were in the van were pressured to lodge an entry with the Airport
Police before they left. The Police rejected their refusal to do so.
So the process of recording statements took well over 2 hours and it
was past 7.30 PM. by then and there were visible signals of threat to
their security and physical safety. However no Police protection what
so ever was given despite assurance given by the DIG Dayananda.

When this last vehicle no 253 - 7286 Town Ace left the Airport it
was at once chased on the heels by 2 vehicles. I saw clearly
intention to attack our vehicle. On the way the chasing vehicles tried
their utmost to block and attack our vehicle. At a certain point
between Ja-ela & Kandana where there was a brief traffic jam,
occupants of the two vehicles alighted and came in front of our
vehicle and blocked it. Those who blocked our vehicle, with iron rods
and an axe, mercilessly attacked our vehicle causing extensive damage.

No sooner than the traffic jam eased, with my instructions our vehicle
was driven through at break-neck speed to escape from those enemy
vehicles. We arrived at the party office in Colombo around 9.00 pm

V Thirunavakarasu

Political bureau member of the New Sama Samaja party


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Bitter story of sugar of Booker Tate to be re-written in Sri Lanka

(January 06, 201,  Lanka Polity, Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe) Sri Lanka Board of Investment (BoI) says that British firm Booker Tate is to come to an agreement this month to invest US$ 110 million to establish a sugar factory in Moneragala.

Environmental Impact Assessment is being carried out now, reports say.

Booker Tate, a subsidiary of Tsb Sugar International, will be collaborating with IMS Holdings along with an individual party in Sri Lanka to establish the plant that is to be named as “Bibile Sugar.”

The Cabinet has already approved the allocation of 200 hectares to build the factory and a sugar cane nursery. The company has planned to implement an out grower system.

Sugarcane cultivation may destroy remaining forest cover in the island since sugarcane is a mono-culture which requires land to be dry when the crop matures. Sugar cane is also a crop that is associated with poverty that repeatedly failed in the island.

The proposal of the IMS holdings and Booker Tate sugar project to set up this factory came in 2007. But the government had to take it back due to protests from the environmentalists and social activists.

In 2007, cabinet approved to allocate 20,000 hectares in the Uva region for sugar cultivation and another 3,000 for a seed farm. Two hectares each was to be given to settlers. However, C. W. Jayasekera, Managing Director of IMS Holdings said to The Island newspaper on July 29, 2007 responding to a statement by Prof. Gananatha Obeysekara, "there was no allocation of land of the extent mentioned by Prof. Obeysekera to Booker Tate or any other company. They have requested only 200 ha. of land for the factory site on lease to the project and this land will be leased to the BOI approved Bibile Sugar Industries Limited."

Jayasekera said that he wished to enlighten Prof. Obeysekera and readers with accurate information about the proposed project. The Plantations Ministry has projected that 23,000 ha. of land was the basic area of sugar cultivation necessary to justify the erection of a factory complex of the capacity they are looking at.

Of this land, 3,000 ha. will be allocated to the people in the area for sugar cane growing with guidance and support by the factory to ensure the best cultivation practices.

The valued Nilgala forest reserve is near the area considered for cane. Though assurances have been given that Nilgala would not be touched, the impact of a mono-culture and draining of water from a vast area around it was a severe concern.

Booker Tate created a black mark in Sri Lanka history as it established Pelwatte Sugar Industries - a white elephant that cost the country billions in subsidies and made all Sri Lankans pay more for their sugar.

"Companies like Booker Tate get their money from management fees. In Pelwatte Sugar it put only 10 percent of equity while the government put billions of poor people's money as subsidies. After a while it sold out and left the country, leaving others to hold the baby," said Lanka Business Online in 2007.

Sri Lanka imports 90% of its sugar consumption spending round Rs. 35 billion per annum. But sugar industry of the country is a failure.

Sevenagala and Pelawatta are the only two sugar producing factories operating in Sri Lanka. But Sevenagala is struggling and Pelwatte is running with indirect state support. Pelwatte makes some money from alcohol and is trying to get into other profitable businesses.

"Meanwhile the Government has brought in the private sector to revive the Kantale Sugar factory and the Hingurana Sugar factory. Hingurana factory is a private public partnership, which the Government owns a 51% stake," says News 360 website.

Links:
http://www.news360.lk/business-finance/booker-tate-to-start-a-sugar-factory-in-sri-lanka
http://federalidea.com/focus/archives/79
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=826968794
http://www.island.lk/2007/07/29/features11.html





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Jaffna sees millions of Sinhala visitors in addition to the Army but no real peace

Minister Devananda with a family member of slain Zonal Education Director Manikkam Sivalingam

(January 01, 2011) A senior official of Sri Lanka Army said recently to Sinhala daily The Divaina that 2.8 million people from southern parts of the island visited Jaffna before the final days of the year..

With the expected 200,000 year end holiday travelers, the official anticipated the total number of visitors that visited Jaffna in 2010 exceeded three million.

2010 set on Jaffna with same terrifying stories the cultural heartland of Lankan Tamils heard since years before the 'end of war.'

Jaffna sees millions of Sinhala visitors in addition to the Army but no real peace.

Walikamam Zonal Director of Education was brutally killed last week, perhaps to take revenge for opposing singing national anthem of his country in Sinhala at the National Safety Day commemoration on December 26 under a new directive of the cabinet that dropped the almost half a century practice of singing the national anthem in Tamil too.

A 26 year old businessman who went missing since December 27 was found stabbed and killed on the same day whilst anonymous caller sought a staggering eight million rupee ransom from the father of the youth.

Killings continue in strictly guarded Jaffna under the nose of the security forces. More Sinhalese will go there to enjoy their peace dividend of a pilgrimage to Nagadeepa, a place Buddhists believe Lord Buddha had visited.


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How people starve in India as food stocks rot

By Bharat Jhunjhunwala
The Statesman/ANN

THE country’s food grain stock is 60 million tons which is nearly three times the required buffer. We have storage capacity for only 52 million tons. About seven million tons are rotting in the open. At least six million tons have already become unfit for human consumption. The surplus is likely to increase further in the coming months. The monsoon crop has been satisfactory. Heavy rains have led to recharge of groundwater and the winter crop is also likely to be normal.

Surprisingly, India continues to languish in the Global Hunger Index despite availability of surplus food grain. The index is prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute. India was ranked 65th last year. It has slipped to 67th in the 2010 index. Not that the extent of hunger has increased; there has been some improvement on that score. We had secured 31.7 points in 1990. This has declined to 24.1 points in 2010. But while the scale of improvement has been better in other countries, our rank is sliding. The laggard athlete runs forward but is yet said to be ‘behind’ in the race. Similarly, we are moving ahead in reducing the level of hunger but are falling ‘behind’ other countries.

The Supreme Court has suggested that the surplus grain may be distributed free to the poor instead of letting them rot in the open. Yet it is doubtful whether this will lead to better nourishment. Haryana is among the more prosperous states in terms of agriculture. However, its "hunger status" is said to be "alarming". Punjab and Tamil Nadu are not far behind though they are not facing a shortage of grain.

Central to the problem is the lack of a balanced diet. Grains are provided to the poor BPL card-holders at a considerably subsidized rate. However, they don’t have the means to buy oil, pulses and vegetables. The resultant imbalance in the diet may be the reason why these states rank high in the hunger index. The distribution of more grain is unlikely to improve the nutritional requirement of the poor since enough of this commodity is available.

The second factor behind the country’s low rank in the hunger index appears to be the culture of consumerism. The family uses the available money to buy television sets instead of nourishing vegetables. The free distribution of grain is not feasible from the administrative point of view either. As in the public distribution system, the risk of a huge leakage is substantial.

The problem of malnourishment is inherent in the model of economic development. As the policy gets to be implemented, the poor man is first deprived of his job and made destitute. Manufacture of goods by automatic machines is encouraged. Then the destitute is provided with free or subsidized grain through the government machinery. The homemaker is not able to provide a balanced diet because the family can’t afford oil, pulses and vegetables. The government had provided a huge subsidy on urea till a few years ago. Soil productivity declined on account of over-application of nitrogen and a deficit of potash and phosphates. Similarly, the excessive intake of grain is leading to an unbalanced diet, even malnutrition. The current development model also encourages the purchase of electronic gadgets ~ the symbols of prosperity. The family spends the limited cash that is available on such purchases instead of balanced nutrition. The leakages that take place in distribution are also inherent in the development model.

The solution is to dismantle the welfare state and provide direct cash support to all citizens. An advertisement policy, that encourages healthy lifestyles, should be devised. The government must export the surplus grain and distribute the profit obtained. The price of wheat in the global markets is Rs 17 per kg. It is procured at Rs 12 per kg. It is better to export the surplus and give Rs 17 in cash to the poor instead of giving them grain valued at Rs 12.

Domestic prices may rise due to exports. This should not be regarded as a negative phenomenon. The farmers’ income will increase and benefit scores of people. Increased prices will lead to higher production and help secure food security. Agricultural workers will get a share of the higher prices through higher wages, and this will help reduce malnourishment. The negative impact of higher grain prices will be felt by the urban consumers. We should not sacrifice the food security and welfare of our millions of rural people for appeasing this already well-off segment of the population.

The Minimum Support Price policy is said to be responsible for the surplus stocks. The government is committed to buy all the grain offered for purchase at a pre-determined price. Farmers prefer to grow grain because they are assured of this minimum price. The result is excess production of grain and a shortfall in the production of oil, pulses and vegetables. While these facts are true, it doesn’t follow that the support price policy is undesirable.

Till the eighties, we were dependent on food imports. Today we are in a position to export because farmers have increased production on the basis of the support price policy. Millions of farmers have benefited. The government must procure yet more foodgrain and, if necessary, export them even at a loss. This is being done by the developed countries in order to maintain domestic production of food. We need to increase both production and exports. Another strategy to manage the surplus is to include other minor crops such as mustard, groundnut, soyabean and pulses in the Minimum Support Price policy. This will lead to diversification of the crop pattern and make oils and protein available to our people.

The World Bank has suggested that countries like India should not impose a ban on the export of foodgrain as a matter of policy. Free trade in grain will be beneficial for importers as well as exporters. This is in keeping with this writer’s suggestion to export surplus stocks. But there is a critical difference. The World Bank suggests that exports should be allowed even in times of domestic shortage, if international prices are high. This can be harmful for the sovereignty of the country. Remember that the former US President, Jimmy Carter, had imposed a ban on the export of grain to Russia as a pressure tactic for quitting Afghanistan. We will unnecessarily push ourselves to a similar situation. We should confine exports to surplus stocks.

The writer is former Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.


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Sinhalese displaced from Jaffna and Tamils displaced from the rest of the island

(October 11, 2010, Colombo - Lanka Polity, Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe) Lanka, irrespective whether it is Jaffna or Hambanthota is a multi-ethnic multi-religious country since times known.

A minority Sinhalese community lived in Jaffna before the escalation of hostilities in 1980s. Famous stories say they ran the bakery business there. Several university dons, namely Sucharitha Gamlath and Sunil Ariyarathna taught in the Sinhala Department of Jaffna University before 1983.

The fond memories of multi ethnic Tamil dominated Jaffna shattered with escalation of war. Tamil Tigers resorted to military strategies that attributed to ethnic cleansing. But, a Jaffna which was meant to be out of bound for Sinhalese and Muslims soon became a hub for tens of thousands of militarized Sinhalese young men that guarded the city with suspicious watchful eyes penetrating the Jaffna Tamils.

Now the war is over although conflict drags on at different levels. An apparently organized Sinhala group of around 200 families led by yet to be disclosed elements has emerged in Jaffna seeking land to resettle in what they call either the birthplace or the former residential town of theirs. They say their claim is rational although they had no proof for land ownership there.

Jaffna peninsula is a crowded area where a large extent  of land is still under Army high security zones. It is not easy to grant the demands of these Sinhalese families, although their claims can be justifiable.

Many thousands of Tamils also lived similarly in many areas in Sinhala dominated south and they too were displaced mainly as a result of 1983 July ethnic violence against Tamils. They either resettled or began to repeatedly displace elsewhere. What can the government do if all these people come back and ask for land in the places where they lived before they were dislocated by the circumstances of history?

For instance, Anuradhapura is a city a sizable Tamil population lived.  Only a few remained there after 1983 violence and the Tamil Tiger attack in the city in 1985. Some land the Tamils owned were grabbed by others and sometimes government used them in development projects.

What if the Tamils that lived in Anuradhapura return there and seek refuge in the city railway station pleading resettlement. Is the government ready to accept the returning Tamils in the same vein the Sinhalese are admitted and provided security at Jaffna railway station.

If the government redress the Sinhala people displaced from Jaffna it will rationalize the claims of the Tamils for similar treatment. But, the problem here is if this kind of development will create any positive impact in regard of reconciliation.

Won't the Sinhalese if they would be resettled in Jaffna face hostilities from the jealous Tamils who think the Sinhalese are responsible for their plight? Are Tamils' mindset broad enough to admit them as brethren?

In such context, are Sinhalese in south ready to admit the Tamils also in similar vein, if they return to pre-1983 context?

Status quo can be a better solution for some problems although it causes injustice in some senses.


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