Archive for December, 2007
by John S Whitehall
For over two decades, there has been savage conflict in Sri Lanka between a minority group of Tamils who claim traditional rights for land in the north-east and the majority, Sinhalese, government in Colombo. The conflict has consumed tens of thousands of lives, displaced hundreds of thousands, sown agricultural land with mines, laid waste plantations, and stunted a generation of children. It could be argued that the only rule of warfare is the respect each side has for the capacity of the other to terrorise: the desire for self-preservation has tended to restrict the number of civilians being bombed. Nevertheless, human rights organisations have reported over 4000 Tamil deaths in recent months. The conduct and cost of the conflict is obscured by suppression of the press on the government side and lack of access of the press to the other.
The Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 between the leaders for Tamil autonomy, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and the government in Colombo, and the effects of the Asian tsunami in 2004 have combined to reduce hostilities and permit greater access to the north-east by foreigners. In this time of relative peace, I visited the region in January and again in May 2005, delivering antibiotics and then ventilators and surgical equipment to hospitals throughout the island, supplied through the generous response of North Queensland to the tsunami.
Driving north from Colombo to Jaffna, I was struck by the poverty on the Tamil side of the armed border, the lack of facilities in the hospital in Kilinochchi (the administrative centre of the “Tamil” land) and the dilapidation of the tertiary hospital in Jaffna. Only the crowds in the corridors and the patients on the floors obscured the filth on the walls and passageways. Nothing obscured the suffering of apparently half-dead people being carried on bare metal stretchers at perilous angles up and down the stairs, buffeted in the surge. I was struck by the whites of their fingers as they clung to the metal. Nothing prevented the recycling of dengue through unscreened windows from sullage that pooled from broken pipes alongside the wards. One piddling tap leaned vainly against cross-infection in the crowded children’s barn. Why was this hospital so different to the many I had visited in the Sinhalese areas? I later learned of economic sanctions and underfunding by Colombo.
A home visit by one of the medical students
I volunteered to return to Sri Lanka in September 2005, originally to work as a paediatrician on the east coast, but diverted by my hosting organisation to work in Kilinochchi for a couple of weeks and teach “some students who had missed out because of the war”. I remembered the needs of Kilinochchi and was willing to comply. About three weeks later, I discovered that my students comprised the medical wing of the “terrorist” Tigers!
I met them in a shed whose walls reached halfway to a roof of corrugated iron that creaked in the heat of the sun, then roared with the monsoon rains as the weeks extended to three months, and I swapped tales of sick children for tales of my students’ lives.
We began awkwardly. As I entered, there was a sudden scraping of chairs on the concrete floor and then a silent standing to attention. I was further surprised by how many there were-32-and their being perhaps a decade older than I had expected. I introduced myself and asked them to sit. There was more scraping of chairs. Now they were sitting stiffly and silently. “Does anyone speak English?” I asked, and began to try to work out what they knew and what they needed. I had no idea I would grow to love them.
I realised they needed grounding in the old-fashioned approach of taking a history, examining methodically, and making provisional diagnoses and plans of management, though I soon sensed they had had profound experiences in triage and trauma. They had seen a lot of sick children but were thin on theory, so I decided to prolong my stay and start at the beginning.
Paraphrasing a student’s stories of his experiences
After about two weeks, we had worked our way to the examination of the respiratory system and it was then that I discovered how close my students had been to the acute end of medicine. I invited a man to remove his shirt and a woman to demonstrate her method of examination and was surprised by the divot out of the man’s shoulder. Asking him what had happened, I noticed a similar deformity in the woman’s forearm. Shrapnel and a bullet, they explained, and everyone began to laugh. “Well, who hasn’t been shot?” I asked, and, to my astonishment, only about a third raised their hands. “Didn’t you notice our wooden legs?” someone asked and, adding to my foolishness, three were waggled for my inspection, with the class now in uproar. Who are these people? I wondered, and began the journey of discovery.
They comprised the medical wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and were the remainder of an original group of over 70 who had been chosen from the ranks of the infantry because their commanders had concluded they had the potential to become doctors. The struggle for a Tamil homeland, Tamil Eelam, had entered a violent phase in the late 1980s, and the problem of casualties had originally been solved by taking them in small boats to sympathisers in nearby Tamil Nadu, in India. As the numbers increased and the political situation altered, they were taken to the hospital in Jaffna. But lives and limbs were lost in transportation through jungles or around the coast from distant front lines, and the need for the movement’s own medical wing became obvious.
In time, I asked them all why they had joined the Tigers and learned of the deaths and torturing of family members, of schools bombed, of the bodies of neighbours washing ashore, of mobs rampaging against Tamils and of discrimination in education and language. Each one had a saga and each had joined the Tigers because “they spoke less and did more” to protect their race against what they were all convinced was genocide. They had all been trained as infantry, but none had forgotten the speech by their leader, who had asked them to forego fighting for the greater goal of healing their people.
The course had started in 1992, with some students needing preparation in maths, chemistry and English because they had not finished high school. Others had graduated in biology from university. The course paralleled the curriculum at Jaffna University but had been interrupted by long periods of service in field hospitals, in public health campaigns against cholera and malaria, in the manning of general hospitals, and by the needs of the tsunami, which had wrecked the north-east coast. The Ceasefire Agreement of 2002 had allowed them to catch up on formal education, but they were lacking a module on paediatrics, when I turned up out of the blue. My 32 students were those who had stayed the course. Others had been unable to resist the call of the armed struggle, some had failed academically, and five had been killed on active duty.
Student treating civilian wounded by artillery fire
It was obvious they needed tuition that emphasised infectious diseases and malnutrition and it was easy to gather cases for presentation from my rounds in the ward and from outpatients. The days began with a lecture or two, then moved to cases, and included examination of the newborn and resuscitation. The poverty in the nursery was painful-mothers used old handkerchiefs for nappies.
They had never performed any formal research and were keen to be divided into groups to review perinatal outcomes, nutrition, causes for acute admission, snake bites and emotional effects of the tsunami. We found mothers and children to be wasted and stunted, road accidents to reflect the dangerous driving through the town, snake bites to be handled well, and counselling to be effective for grief. The findings were presented on a special research day, which evolved into an emotional ceremony of graduation.
As the weeks progressed, I learned more of their lives and could not rest until one began to translate short stories he had written about their experiences. We began to meet every night in a small gazebo, sometimes curtained with rain, and went over his stories, line by line, paraphrasing from Tamil and amplifying for a wider audience in English. My mind was fascinated by the stories of medicine, my emotions drawn by their humanity.
I learned of the development of the medical wing from first aid to reconstructive surgery, encompassing the triage of mass casualties, blood transfusions on the front lines, and end-to-end anastomoses of arterial wounds with ketamine anaesthesia by torch light under artillery fire that thudded shrapnel into the coconut-trunk walls of their bunker. I learned of organisation and secrecy that could construct a hospital overnight in preparation for a battle in the morning…and of my students who had worked and worked until the casualties stopped coming-in their uniforms stiff with blood, on legs that could barely stand and under the sustained threat of sudden death.
I could scarcely believe accounts reminiscent of the First World War, and insisted on interviewing all the students mentioned by name, others not mentioned, and particular patients, cross-checking the details. I went to battlefields to see if the layout was as described. It was. Though overgrown by jungle, the bunkers that had contained the operating theatres were still visible, confirmed by half-buried vials of empty medical containers. Mounds of dirt confirmed former protective walls, and abandoned paraphernalia confirmed the fighting. Bones and shredded uniforms confirmed casualties.
Students operating and giving anaesthesia
Why they continued to fight still puzzled me, especially as I visited war cemeteries and pondered the carnage in which over 17 000 Tamil young people have died in the past two decades. Understanding began on the afternoon of 27 November, their equivalent of Anzac Day. My students collected me and, for the first time, I observed them in uniform, making their way through the cemetery, squatting here and there with parents of the dead who had begun to arrive in droves to festoon the graves with garlands and food for their young men and women who “were living on in the spirit of Tamil Eelam”.
There were about 3000 graves and soon the cemetery was pulsating with grief. The burning sun sank beneath a row of palms and I anticipated some kind of communal eruption of emotion as candles were lit on the graves and flickered on distorted faces. But there was nothing. No hymns, no chants, no catharsis. Just a speech on the necessity for more sacrifice. Silently, the crowd shuffled away, leaving the garlands and the candles to the moonless night. I began to realise what some people are prepared to endure for freedom.
I had a farewell meal with my students before I left and before they were dispersed to look after the population of their Tamil Eelam and the casualties of a war that has escalated. We made speeches, and they presented me with what was clearly a special gift: a Tiger flag (which caused anxiety clearing Customs on the way out).
Private possession of a Tiger flag, I am informed, is not “recklessly supporting a terrorist organisation”, but detectives from the counter-terrorism team of the Australian Federal Police were keen to explore why I stayed in Kilinochchi when I learned the identity of the students. I figured teaching doctors how to resuscitate children was in the interests of the people, whoever controlled them, but wondered if my career had reached a crossroads!
Subsequently, I did not mind going over all our overseas phone calls with the police or explaining why my bank had sent money to England (for a course on radiation biology), but I was a bit unnerved by the attention I received from immigration officials when I recently left for New Guinea. Being profoundly Australian, I found it unsettling to be perceived as being on the “other side”! I hear, however, that the Department of Public Prosecutions is not proceeding with my case, which is good news. The bad news is that it is unlikely I will ever be able to return to Sri Lanka, and the needs of the north-east weigh heavily. Tamil friends assure me that publicity for the situation is the greatest help I could offer Sri Lanka. With that in mind, the collection of short stories I paraphrased will be published in the near future. [The Medical Journal of Australia]
by John S Whitehall, FRACP, Director of Neonatology
Department of Neonatology, Townsville Hospital, Townsville, QLD.
December 19th, 2007
by K.T. Kumaran
Is Sri Lanka seeking new allies to fund its coffers and buy arms straining relations with certain nations?
Sri Lanka already strengthened ties with Iran, and now has been reportedly seeking to buy arms from Russia.
In the meantime, UK High Commissioner Dominick Chilcott said aspiring for ‘Eelam is not illegitimate’ while calling for graft free governance and respect for human rights.
US Ambassador Robert Blake Jr. has been calling for greater power sharing and respect for human rights when speaking at several events he has been attending in Sri Lanka during his entire tenure in Colombo.
The Sri Lankan rights records keep deteriorating over the past few years, and now the matter has been brought to the international forefront through Civil Monitoring Convener Mano Ganesan being awarded with ‘Global Freedom Defender’ recognition by US. There seem to be certain restrictions lurking as well on arms purchases from Washington by the Mahinda Government.
All this amidst a mass that is unhappy about the pace of cost of living but pleased with the ‘progress’ of the war that causes the steep rise in prices. Mahinda Government is forging alliances with nations who may help in both of these ‘fights.’
While seeking these alliances, strides made in the past on foreign relations are being lost, due to the adamant positions primarily tied to the hawkish attitudes of the Sri Lankan governing coalition toward resolving the ethnic issue.
Post Independence and republic foreign policy
Conducting the affairs of foreign policy was seemingly easier for all nations, particularly of those in South Asia during the cold war era.
After a relatively quiet post independence period in international relations, Sri Lanka too after becoming a republic enjoyed deeper friendship with neighbours and other nations that held similar ideologies.
Nevertheless, many of Sri Lanka’s alliances by all leaders were rolled out with suspicions of the intentions of India for the region in their mind.
Sri Lanka embraced China during the leadership of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the UNP government ushered the nation into a more liberalized economy and related policies. Free market enthusiasts hailed the move then, which came ahead of India’s path to economic reform.
The visible gift from such alliances came from China in the form of Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), an architectural and technological marvel in the region since the completion of its construction. So was Rupavahini-television service from Japan, the prize product of foraying early on into what was then known as the “open economy”.
Perils of the globalization era
Foreign Policy of Sri Lanka is now conducted in a totally different internal and external geo-political environment. In the era of globalization many nations today are holding onto wobbly coalitions. They possess a shared vision for their masses that sometimes conflict with their past as well as present day norms.
The principle idea that Sri Lanka attempts to embrace nowadays seem to be maintaining stronger ties with India, at least to the point of containing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), seeing this as essential for the prevention of the near break-up of the island.
But Sri Lanka is also extending stronger ties with India’s historical rival Pakistan. Reportedly the staunch military ally in the fight against LTTE.
From ‘Temple Trees’ to Tehran
President Chandrika Kumaratungahe, the previous occupant of the ‘Temple Trees’-(official residence of Sri Lankan head of state), initiated the steps for strengthened ties with Iran. The Persian nation has strong economic and military ties with India as well. The present occupant President Mahinda Rajapakse has already moved to make ties with Iran at a much higher level.
[President Mahinda Rajapakse & President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-Pic:priu.gov.lk]
When President Mahinda Rajapakse visited Tehran recently, the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is reported to have voiced support for stability, independence and unity in Sri Lanka and said this would benefit the countries of the region. While in Iran, President Rajapakse affirmed Sri Lanka’s political support for Iran at the international foray!
Iran, a ‘threat to global peace’
However, in the West, Iran continues to be the tipping point of concern for ‘world peace’ today. US President George W. Bush on one hand is urging sanctions against Iran and several weeks ago he said the crisis of Iran seeking nuclear weapons could ignite the 3rd world war. European nations in the meantime want more chance given to diplomacy. The calls dissuading for military strikes on Iran have strengthened in the past few weeks as US intelligence now says that Iran halted its nuclear program few years ago.
Yet Iran reportedly remains as a stumbling block for Middle-East Peace in the eyes of the West; in Iraq and Israel. Reportedly it’s meddling in Iraq and providing clandestine support to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas. It is also suspected of providing assistance to Taliban.
And although on a much subdued tone, President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues his rhetoric of ‘destroying’ Israel.
US Sanctions on Iran
In September the US Senate voted on a resolution involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which, among other things, called them ‘proliferators of mass destruction’, labeling them a ‘terrorist’ group.
United States Office of Foreign Assets Control has cut off three Iranian banks viz., Bank Melli Iran, Bankat Mellat and Bank Saderat Iran from the US financial system after naming them as ‘terrorist financiers,’ and the US Government has urged banks the world over to terminate business relationship with these banks.
Top German companies, such as Siemens, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, have withdrawn from Iran in recent months.
Diplomatic relations with Israel
So how does a country like Sri Lanka forging alliance with Iran go for Israel and her closest friends?
Israel gained diplomatic access in Sri Lanka decades ago. The premier presence for Israel in the region began in Colombo during the leadership of President J.R. Jayewardene, amidst much secrecy while being decried as a diplomatic coup detat by opponents.
Israeli diplomats now witness right from Colombo as how Sri Lanka has gone on a complete turnaround in tailoring a close knit friendship with one of their arch enemies, who threaten and question their state’s very existence.
India faces rap for Iran ties
Countries exercising wider ties with Iran generally do not get well received in several US circles, the staunchest ally of Israel.
India’s ties with Iran which is on a much stronger note than that of Sri Lanka, gets under constant criticism by several US law makers and influential US newspaper editorials and op-ed essays.
During the discussions on US Nuclear deal with India, The Wall Street Journal ran an Op-ed piece titled, “Bad Company: Before the U.S. makes a nuclear deal with India, it should insist on an end to ties with Iran.” Concluding the article it emphasized that, “getting India to drop, and drop completely, its presumptively ceremonial military ties to Iran isn’t asking a lot.”
Access to India wanted globally
India has found her on the other side of the aspirations of the people and stronger ties with western democracies even during the cold war era too.
While millions of Indians and Indian diaspora wanted improved ties with the United States, the Congress-Gandhi dynasty over extended the alliance with the Soviet Union.
Today in the globalized economy, India’s NASSCOM, National Association of Software & Service Companies, nervously lobby on US Capitol Hill quietly, to keep the benefits grow for Indian companies from globalization and safeguard it from rising anti outsourcing feelings in the US and potential geo-political rifts.
While India is approached by several non US global investors around the world seeking a foothold in the expanding economy, the fractured state of affairs in neighboring Sri Lanka may only invite ‘more fishing’ in its troubled waters; bringing unintended consequences to the economy and security on the island due to these new alliances.
Long term prosperity
Sri Lanka has mounting debt and growing military expenditures muddled with rampant corruption and wastage. Iran may be able to infuse capital into Sri Lanka’s fragile economy for the medium term but it may be coming at a price. A price that comes in the form of damaged relationships with other friendly nations who view Iran as a threat to global peace. This may hinder cooperation in related areas within Sri Lanka.
Presumably, many ordinary Sri Lankans are of the view that their future lies in a strengthened local economy that fits in the global free market system; schooling in the western model, the growing number of international schools-all point that, Sri Lankans embrace the core values that are in the heart of western democracies when it comes to ensuring prosperity.
Only a wider power sharing mechanism and permanent political solution in the island, as repeatedly called for by the long standing donor countries of Sri Lanka, and emphasized repeatedly by dignitaries such as Ambassador Robert Blake Jr.-could bring benefits to all people for the future.
This will also usher Sri Lanka to a period of independent foreign policy making without regards to just plainly thinking in terms more loot to fight a war within the country.
December 19th, 2007
Mano Ganesan, founder of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) and a Rights award winner from the U.S. Government, in a press release issued Wednesday said that Sri Lanka Government has withdrawn eight of the ten Security personnel, and that he fears Sri Lanka Government is creating a climate for getting him assassinated. Pointing out that the official organ of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), has described him “as an arms supplier to the LTTE, drug trafficker and collaborator with the under world criminals,” Ganesan said, Colombo is orchestrating attacks against him from communal elements.
Full text of the media release follows:
Government is setting stage for my elimination by first publishing lies and then withdrawing security-CMC convener Mano Ganesan MP
Government has withdrawn since 8 PM of 18th December the additional security provided to me aftermath of the killing of my co-founder of Civil Monitoring Commission Nadaraja Raviraj almost a year ago in Colombo’s high security zone. Government’s latest move is amidst my request for enhancement of my security due to the increased threats to my life. Eight out of the team of ten MSD security personnel have been called back with their weapons and security back-up vehicle. This is contrary to the view of MSD intelligence division which has repeatedly told me on increased level of threats to my life. I believe by this vindictive act government is setting the stage and paving way for my physical elimination says Western Peoples Front leader and Civil Monitoring Commission convener Mano Ganesan MP. Ganesan said further to the media,
Government’s anger over me has increased manifolds since I was nominated to the Freedom Defender runner-up award the by US secretary of state Condeliza Rice on behalf of her government. This award is an acknowledgment to our human rights campaign and confirmation to the existing deplorable human rights condition in this country. Ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s official organ “Dinakara” in a front page story in its latest edition published on December 16th, 2007 has come very hard on me. It has described me as an arms supplier to the LTTE, drug trafficker and collaborator with the under world criminals.
I have today written to the IGP to initiate immediate investigations on the criminal accusations attributed by the official organ of SLFP. The police can take action against me if the SLFP provides evidences, if any. I have also handed over this subject to my lawyers for initiating legal action.
The very serious criminal nature of the accusation evidently indicates the fury of the political leadership of the government. This fabricated utter falsehood story is made deliberately with malicious intent to destroy my reputation as well of the government of United States of America . The hint in the story published by SLFP official paper is obvious. It is faulting United States of America for choosing me for the award, thereby gives an impression that US government supports all the criminality pinned on me. I cannot speak for USA . It is for the US government to make its responses.
Government’s game plan is very clear. First, it publishes utter falsehood on 16th December, 2007 in its official party paper. This fabricated story orchestrates direct threat to my life as my personal security is being endangered by ‘LTTE arms supplier label’ attributed to me. It could bring hatred from unsuspecting innocent people and could be used by communal elements against me. Next, two days later on December 18th, 2007 it withdraws my security and puts me into a vulnerable situation. This is against the known fact that I have been living under severe threats to my life due to my human rights campaign as the convener of Civil Monitoring Commission involved in monitoring involuntary Disappearances, Abductions, Extra Judicial Killings, Extortions and Arbitrary arrests and detentions in Sri Lanka.
Statement Released by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne
“This brutal terror against a defender of human rights and a member of Parliament, by the state which supposed to protect people should bring horror to all democratic people. We condemn this intimidation and demand that the state take all responsibility of protecting Mano Ganesan.” – Dr Vickramabhu
December 19th, 2007
By Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
I am not sure how and why Norway got involved in the Sri Lankan conflict. However, I have read in a couple of academic articles that peacemaking in internal conflicts is a cornerstone of the foreign policy of the Royal Norwegian Government.
It has been involved in several peacemaking exercises in Guatemala, Palestine, Sri Lanka and Sudan, inter alia. However, none seem to have borne fruit in a durable manner, except perhaps Guatemala. It is high time for the Norwegian Government and the people to realise why their efforts to make peace around the world have failed.
From the experience of Norway in Sri Lanka, this article postulates that the diaspora communities and the so-called Norwegian and Scandinavian experts on different conflicts around the world have misinformed the Norwegian people and the government, and therefore misunderstanding (or misreading) of the conflicts and their key players have become the norm in the Norwegian-brokered peacemaking efforts around the world.
Norway’s involvement
Norway has been vigorously involved in the development process in Sri Lanka since the 1970s through its financial sponsorship of Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDPs) in different backward districts of Sri Lanka. IRDPs became the vogue in the developing countries by the mid-1970s with the ascendancy of the ‘Basic Needs’ approach to development.
Norway has been involved in Northern Sri Lanka even before the IRDPs with the setting up of the CEYNOR foundation to help the fishing community in the Jaffna peninsula. It is important to note that there were no IRDPs in the Eastern and Northern Provinces. Except the CEYNOR project, I cannot remember a single project that Norway funded in the Northern Province during the 1970s.
In the east, I cannot remember a single Norwegian funded project in the 1970s. However, I am aware that Norway had funded resettlement of hill-country Tamils affected by the 1977 ethnic riots in the Wanni through local NGOs such as Gandhiyam.
I have also learnt from academic literature that Norway’s peacemaking role is facilitated by the development work it sponsors at the grassroots level through various local NGOs, which gives them access to local information and knowledge. However, in the case of the Sri Lankan conflict, I doubt Norway had adequate (a critical mass of) knowledge of the Eastern and Northern Provinces and the problems it faced at the time of the beginning of the armed conflict in the early-1980s.
Even afterwards, until today, I doubt Norway has adequate knowledge of the Tamil community in particular, and the Eastern and Northern Provinces in general.
This applies to various other international players in the Sri Lankan conflict as well, except of course the Central Government of India. Even in the case of India, not a single chief minister or political leader of the Tamil Nadu State has ever visited Sri Lanka or the Eastern and Northern Provinces, and therefore lack adequate knowledge about the problems faced by the Tamil people.
This is reflected in the often-idiotic statements made by fringe political party leaders of the Tamil Nadu state, and at times at chief ministerial level.
Sources of information
To the best of my knowledge Norway’s primary sources of information and knowledge about the Sri Lankan conflict in general, and about the Tamil community and the Eastern and Northern Provinces in particular, are the diaspora communities and the so-called Norwegian experts on Sri Lankan conflict. Both of these sources are dubious.
The Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora communities living in Western countries (including Norway) are overwhelmingly from northern Sri Lanka, particularly from the Jaffna peninsula, and are by and large conflict-induced.
The so-called Norwegian experts on Sri Lankan conflict in turn largely depend on diaspora communities for information, data, etc. Therefore, what the Norwegian Government gets is the peninsular view of the problem of the Eastern and Northern Provinces, which is partial and often partisan.
Moreover, conflict-induced diaspora communities cannot provide an objective, non-emotional, and balanced picture of the nature, causes and effects of the conflict back home. Because of this partial view, Norway fails to understand the diversities and intricacies within the Tamil speaking communities in the Eastern and Northern Provinces, particularly of the Muslims, Vanniars and the Eastern Tamils and the diversities within each of these sub nationals (class, caste, religious, etc).
This partial worldview is a major fallacy in the understanding and study of migrant communities in the Western world. The overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi migrant community in the UK, for example, is from a particular region called Shylet. The British people’s view of Bangladesh and Bangladeshis is formed on the basis of their knowledge and understanding of Shyletis, whereas the actual Bangladesh is much more diverse and complex.
Fallacious worldview
The same fallacy is repeated in the case of other migrant communities and in other countries as well. This fallacious worldview is greater in the case of conflict-induced migrants because of emotional and scarred representation of their tragic experiences back home (real, perceived and contrived), in addition to the useful class, caste, regional origin, and religious representations.
The same Tamil diaspora community also feeds the so-called Norwegian experts on Sri Lanka. The Tamil diaspora community itself fails to realise and understand the changing dynamic of their community back home, over a period of time. Therefore, most of their representation of the home community/region is often dated.
The Sri Lankan conflict has gone on for a quarter century and has never been the same and static. The Norwegian experts on Sri Lanka, along with the Norwegian government and the people, fail to realise and understand the outdated representation of the conflict back home. Even when the Norwegian experts seek local knowledge on the conflict in Sri Lanka, it is the diaspora community that refers the local contacts to them.
It is important to note here that this author was part of the conflict-induced Tamil diaspora community in the UK for about 13 years during the 1980s and 1990s, having earned three postgraduate degrees in three British universities. Therefore, the writer understands the diaspora communities well.
It is also important to note that the entire members of diaspora communities are not part of the ill-informed lot. Numerous people within the diaspora communities (the silent majority) are well informed, open-minded and balanced, but are silenced by the goon squads. Similarly, not all Norwegian or Scandinavian experts on Sri Lanka are misinformed or partisan, but the few who are balanced appear to have little influence on Norwegian policy.
Norway has commissioned very little research studies on the Sri Lankan conflict in general and on the Tamil community in particular, either in Norway or in Sri Lanka, which is publicly known. Whatever little it has (some are publicly known, most are not), were undertaken either by Norwegian or Swedish academics. Although most of it is based on fieldwork on the ground, it is with limited local input and partial coverage. This is totally inadequate for a peace facilitator.
British mistake
To the best of my knowledge, Norway has tapped very little local expertise either at the national level or at the sub-national level in the conflict region. In fact, there is a tendency to castigate local expertise as polarised and therefore non-objective. It is this kind of paranoia of local and intimate knowledge that makes peacemaking around the world a tale of failures, inter alia.
Norway is not the only country that is relying on diaspora sources and their own academics to investigate and understand the conflict in Sri Lanka. Britain is making the same mistake.
The British All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils is one other ill-informed lobby group around the world. The All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils Head is Keith Vaz (Labour Party MP for Leicester East) and one of the members is Andrew Pelling (Conservative Party MP for Croydon Central).
Vaz was suspended from Parliament for a month on the allegation of financial impropriety few years ago. Coincidentally, the birthday of Vaz and LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is the same, i.e. November 26, though the former was born in 1956 and the latter in 1954.
Pelling had a majority of just 75 votes at the last general election and is fighting to retain his seat at the forthcoming election. Croydon Central constituency has considerable Sri Lankan diaspora population, mostly Tamils. Pelling was arrested in September 2007 for beating his second wife and suspended from the Conservative Party for the same offence.
Both these MPs (and most likely others in the All Party Committee as well) do not have genuine concern for the Sri Lankan Tamils. Their only concern is getting the emotional votes of the Tamil diaspora communities and perhaps large donations for their electoral campaigns from proxies of a banned organisation. Could such a fraud and a violent person cum opportunist meaningfully and effectively contribute to conflict resolution in Sri Lanka?
Political party funding issue
Most of the champions of the LTTE cause in the British political establishment are of South Asian origin (Vaz, Virendra Sharma (Ealing Southall)), Sadiq Khan (Tooting), et al).
Moral and ethical aspects of political party funding in general and by immigrant communities in particular has become a hot topic of debate in Britain recently with a pro-Israel lobbying group donating money to the ruling Labour Party (see an article by Steve O’Brien entitled ‘What the funding scandal tells us about Britain, its Jews and immigrants in general’ in The Economist of December 6).
With the next general elections not too far, British politicians (particularly in the Labour Party) can expect large donations from Tamil diaspora communities to campaign for the cause of the LTTE (largely mobilised through illegal activities). This has become more realistic with the LTTE Leader in his annual Great Heroes Day speech on November 27 urging the diaspora communities to seek support for a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka in their host countries.
It is not only the foreign governments and politicians who are making this mistake. Even foreign non-governmental organisations involved in conflict transformation efforts and based in Sri Lanka are making the same mistake by bringing experts from their home countries and sometimes hiring from the diaspora community in their home countries.
These efforts are self-defeating and cannot make meaningful contributions to conflict resolution or transformation in Sri Lanka. It is high time Norway and other international facilitators of peace in Sri Lanka realise this folly.
Generally, developed countries have played dubious roles in the conflicts in developing countries. Most of the dictators, extremist governments, and violent anti-government movements in the Third World have been protégés of one or the other government of the Western world.
France was the protege of Ayatollah Khomeni, who established the Islamic Republic of Iran against which the entire Western world is waging a proxy war today. Saddam Hussein was a protégé of many Western governments including the USA. The United States was the protege of the Mujahedin in Afghanistan that created the Taliban regime.
Whither justice?
All the foregoing extremist governments/forces have bitten the hands that have fed them. Moreover, dubious roles played by Western governments in other countries’ conflicts have now begun to nurture indigenous extremist/violent forces within their own countries (Britain is a prime example).
In the same way, today many Western governments are harbouring members of state and anti-state movements who have perpetrated violent acts and crimes against humanity in their home countries.
While the perpetrators and instigators of conflicts in their home countries are provided sanctuary, innocent victims of such conflicts who are attempting to flee the violence are castigated as ‘economic migrants’ and barred by iron curtains of Western countries. What justice is this?
Several perpetrators of violence and crimes against humanity in the Sri Lankan conflict and their families are provided safe heavens (even diplomatic passports) in many European countries (particularly Britain), Canada and Australia, while innocent victims of the conflict are refused entry to these countries for visiting family, relatives or friends, for studies or for migration.
Moreover, perpetrators of the Sri Lankan conflict (particularly the LTTE and its proxies) continue to make death threats in public forums in their host countries on democrats and intellectuals in Sri Lanka (particularly those of their own community), against whom no action is taken by the host countries.
It won’t be too long before the extremist/violent forces within the diaspora communities bite the hands that feed them. Let the Western world learn a lesson from India’s role in the Sri Lankan conflict during the 1980s and its consequences. Comment is ours, choice is yours! [Courtesy: Nation.lk]
(Muttukrishna Sarvananthan Ph.D. (Wales) is a Development Economist by profession and is the Principal Researcher at the Point Pedro Institute of Development, Point Pedro, Northern Sri Lanka. He is the author of The Economy of the Conflict Region in Sri Lanka: From Economic Embargo to Economic Repression, published by the East-West Centre Washington (forthcoming). Further details about the author and his work can be accessed at http://pointpedro.org)
December 18th, 2007
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj
Velupillai Prabakharan the elusive chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has sustained minor injuries in aerial bombardment by the Sri Lankan Air Force in the last week of November!. Although the injuries are not of a serious nature the LTTE supremo was treated at an underground medical facility in a secret location by the Thileepan medical unit it is learnt.
The LTTE is keeping the entire incident under wraps because of the demoralising effect it may have on cadres and supporters of the movement. Also the Sri Lankan security forces may receive a morale booster by knowledge of the incident.
[LTTE leader pays homage to Anton Balasingham, Dec 14, 2007-Photo TamilNet]
The LTTE leader has fully recovered from the incident and is now moving about without any problem. On Friday December 14th the tiger supremo paid homage to the memory of Anton Stanislaus Balasingham who passed away on the same date last year.
The former LTTE ideologue and political adviser who died of cancer was posthumously bestowed the title “Thesathin Kural” or Voice of the Nation.
The LTTE released pictures of Prabakharan garlanding a picture of Balasingham and also lighting a lamp.
Other senior LTTE leaders were also associated in the event.
With reports of Prabakharan’s injury emerging slowly the LTTE releasing pictures and news about the LTTE leader honouring Balasingham’s memory has reduced tensions to a great extent.
The silence of Sri Lankan authorities about the incident seems to suggest that they are unaware of the fact that one of the bombs dropped by the Lankan air force has inflicted slight injuries on their most prized enemy target.
It could also be that they are quietly monitoring related developments without publicising the incident for reasons of their own.
According to informed Tamil sources the bombing incident took place around noon on Wednesday November 28th. Three Sri Lankan Airforce planes believed to be Israeli built K- fir jet bombers had commenced aerial bombardment on suburban areas of Kilinochchi town.
Jeyanthinagar bombing, Photo: TamilNet
At least twelve bombs believed to be of the MARK – 80 variety were dropped in the vicinity of Jeyanthy Nagar in Kilinochchi. Jeyanthy Nagar consisting of six separate housing schemes is situated along the road to Uruthirapuram and is in close proximity of Karadipokku junction along the A-9 highway.
Jeyanthinagar bombing, Photo: TamilNet
The air attack began around 12. 25 pm and went on for about 20 minutes during which the aircraft discharged their lethal cargo. The bombs had fallen on some houses in Jeyanthy nagar and in outlying areas including groves with lush vegetation. The bombs had also damaged the Uruthirapuran road extensively.
At least one of the bombs had hit the underground bunker in which the LTTE leader was staying on Nov 28th. A section of the bunker had apparently crumbled and some falling debris had struck the LTTE leader by accident.He received minor injuries.
It is not clear as to where Prabakharan sustained injuries but unconfirmed reports said it was on the back, . shoulder , and arm.. He was promptly taken to an undisclosed location and treated. He was then moved to an underground LTTE clinic run by the Thileepan medical unit at a secret location.
The medical unit is named after Rasiah Parthiban alias Thileepan, former LTTE political wing head of the Jaffna district. Thileepan went on a fast unto death campaign protesting acts of omission and commission by the Indian Army. He died after twelve days on September 26th 1987.
Uncomfirmed reports also stated that a couple of medical doctors from a Government hospital in the Wanni had also examined Prabakharan and pronounced the injuries to be minor.
The LTTE however was not taking any chances as the tiger supremo is reportedly suffering from other ailments including hypertension and diabetes.
Though the LTTE did not publicise the incident some senior tiger leaders were allowed to visit the numero uno. A few well – wishers including members of the Catholic clergy were also allowed to see the LTTE chief and pray for him.
News of the incident which took place on Nov 28th began circulating over the Tamil grapevine a few days ago. Many LTTE activists abroad who became aware of the incident were alarmed and agitated.
Anxiety however began subsiding after it was learnt that only slight injuries were caused. Overseas LTTE branch stalwarts also seemed confused as only scanty details were available. An unofficial blackout of the news is being observed.
The LTTE leader is extremely conscious of his security and does not sleep at the same place on consecutive nights. He has a number of safe houses and bunkers in different places of the Wanni. Prabakharan moves constantly from place to place and does not stay for long at any particular place place.
The LTTE leader also varies his movement for the sake of security. Though very orderly and methodical by nature the LTTE leader does not stick to a regular timetable to prevent anyone predicting his movements.
Even senior leaders of the LTTE do not have easy access to him and can meet him only after going through elaborate security procedures. Only Pottu Amman the chief of LTTE’s Intelligence division known as TOSIS (Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service) enjoys unfettered access to the supremo.
The LTTE leader is also extremely cautious about using telephones or other communication equipment directly. Once again security is the reason for this.
The Jeyanthy Nagar bunker was only one of the many abodes used by the LTTE chief. It is said that whenever Prabakharan stays at Jeyanthy Nagar he meets with orphaned children residing in the area.
The Gandhi Childrens home run by a Hindu charitable organization and the Aroganam Children’s home maintained by the Christian Church are situated in the locality.
Both children’s homes suffered some damage in the Nov 28th attack but there were no civilian casualties.
Shrapnel from the bombs also fell within the premises of Kiliinochchi Hindu College located in the area causing students to disperse in panic and seek refuge in bunkers, according to media reports quoting school officials..
Jeyanthy Nagar had been bombarded on Nov 26th also by the SL Air Force. On that day the Air Force had bombed Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitheevu district and Jeyanthy Nagar in Kilinochchi district within a time frame of one hour.
The Puthukudiyiruppu bombardment targeted ward no 2 areas of the town along the Paranthan road. The attack began at about 5 pm and continued for 20 minutes. At least 7 houses were destroyed.
Jeyanthinagar bombing, Photo: TamilNet
The Jeyanthy Nagar bombardment on ov 26th began at 5. 30 pm and continued till about 5. 50 pm. About six houses in the area were destroyed and a few civilians were injured.
The attacks were regarded as co-ordinated strikes aimed at the LTTE leader who reportedly shuttles between Puthukkudiyiruppu and Kilinochchi areas. It was suspected then that the Air Force suspected Prabakharan was either in Puthukudiyiruppu or Kilionchchi at that time.
It is not known whether the LTTE leader was in the targeted areas on Nov 26th. It was his 53rd Birthday and presumably the SLAf wanted it to be the day of his death too.
The “Maaveerar Naal” or Great Heroes Day was on the following day. The LTTE leader’s annual address was scheduled to go on air in the evening on Nov 27th.
The Air Force bombed the “Voice of Tigers” radio station in Kilinochchi shortly before the speech was to be relayed. Eight persons including three civilian employees of the VOT were killed. Fifteen persons including four VOT employees were injured.
Prabakharan’s pre-recorded speech was broadcast as scheduled through back up facilities.
It is not clear as to whether the Air Force had specific information about Prabakharan’s exact movements. A US built Beechcraft reconnaissance aircraft and an Israeli “Scout” Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) had been scouring the skies over Kilinochchi for days before the attack.
It is surmised that the security forces may have had information of a top LTTE tiger staying in the area and had bombed indiscriminately. There may also have been intelligence reports that Prabakharan himself moves about occasionally in the Jeyanthi Nagar area.
Residents of the Wanni usually become aware that the LTTE chief is in the vicinity due to the tight security arrangements. It is the practice to stop traffic and declare certain roads closed when the tiger supremo is on the move.
Many places in the Wanni are out of bounds for civilians. It is generally believed that the LTTE chief and/ or senior leaders have safe abodes in those areas. Other secret LTTE facilities may also be situated there.
Many of these places are in the midst of Civilian settlements. They are usually well camouflaged and appear to be thick vegetation when viewed from the air.
[LTTE leader pays respects to slain LTTE political head-TamilNet Photo]
The Air Force scored tremendously when Suppiah Paramu Thamilchelvan the LTTE political Commissar was killed in an aerial strike on Nov 2nd. The Air Force apparently had knowledge of the bunker being occupied by a top tiger but were unaware of who it was.
Colombo was also unsure of whether the bombing had resulted in top tigers being killed. It was only after the LTTE released the news that the Government claimed success.
The LTTE leader was shattered by his trusted deputy’s death. When Pottu Amman and LTTE Sports division head Pappa broke the bad news to Prabakharan the LTTE chief broke down and wept.
A rare occasion when he had done so openly under similiar circumstances was in July 1983 when Lt. Sellakkili who led the Thirunelvely ambush of July 23rd was killed.
Former LTTE commander for Jaffna , Sathasivampillai Krishnakumar alias “Col” Kittu was to write later that he “had never seen the leader cry after that”.
Prabakharan was also in tears when Sathiyanathan alias Shankar died while lying on his leader’s lap in Madurai in Tail Nadu, India.
Shankar was the first LTTE cadre to die of injuries sustained in combat. He died on Nov 27th 1982. Since he was the first LTTE “martyr” the day of his death is observed as “Maaveerar Naal” or “Great Heroes Day”.
In spite of nearly 20, 000 LTTE cadres being killed over the years the loss of Thamilchelvan affected Prabakharan badly. He was accompanied by his eldest son Charles Anthony when he went to pay his respects.
Later the LTTE leader issued a special statement in which he described Thamilchelvan as his younger brother. He called him a “peace dove” killed by a “giant bomb”.
Prabalkaran was to refer to Thamilchelvan in this years Great Heroes day address too. Once again he called Thamilchelvan his younger brother and lamented the fact that he was not there by his side to light the sacrificial flame.
While Prabakharan regarded Thamilchelvan’s death as a personal loss , most LTTE cadres and supporters with a capacity to think independently were upset due to different reasons.
The bomb that smashed into Thamilchelvan’s bunker at the Kilionochchi suburb of Thiruvaiyaaru was a powerful “bunker buster” type.
If Thamilchelvan could be killed that way then other LTTE leaders including Velupillai Prabakharan too could be similiar victims it was feared.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse contributed further to this angst by boasting openly that every single LTTE leader could be taken out one by one.
Engaging in psychological warfare the Defence Secy stated that they were aware of where each LTTE leader was staying.
It was blatant hyperbole. If the claim was true the Air Force could have killed several top tigers. Besides why should the LTTE be alerted on this issue by none other than the mastermind behind Mahinda Rajapakse’s military campaign against the tigers?
The LTTE however did not take any chances and commenced massive security changes after Thamilchelvan’s death.The attack on “Voice of Tigers” radio station exacerbated LTTE insecurity.
A series of new bunkers and safe abodes were constructed in secret locations. The earlier places were abandoned gradually.
This process was accelerated after the Nov 28th attack on Prabakharan. The “re-location” activities are being undertaken at a hectic pace now.
As a result of new security arrangements many of the noted LTTE institutions are now empty and deserted. LTTE structures of a parallel civil administration like Police stations, Courts, Banks, prisons, revenue offices. customs offices etc have virtually ceased to function.
Personnel “employed” in these places have been inducted into the civilian militia known as “Ellaip Padai” (Border Force) and the former “civilian” employees have been deployed to strategic border areas.
Close relatives of top tiger leaders have been exempted from military duties.
Most of the able bodied persons languishing in tiger jails have been press ganged into doing forced labour for the LTTE. Many of these pathetic human beings are forced to dig new bunkers and trenches.
With the LTTE abandoning many of its earlier positions and abodes the security arrangements surrounding those places have also lapsed.
The various “mini-high security zones” are no longer restricted areas. Tamil civilians are venturing cautiously into several areas that were “No Go Zones” until recently.
Depending upon propagandistic compulsions the LTTE may be contrained to deny the bombing incident indirectly if rumours about Prabakharan’s injuries gather momentum .
The LTTE also could release many photographs and videographs of the LTTE leader moving around appearing to be in the best of health.
This is quite probable because of the slight injuries sustained. Full recovery is possible within a short time span.
LTTE orchestrated publicity about Prabakhatan commeorating Balasingham.s first death anniversary has to be viewed within that context.
When Prabakharan commemorated Balasingham’s memory at a secret location the LTTE utilised the opportunity to release pictures and demonstrate indirectly that everything was normal.
Meanwhile paranoia about security and safety could be on the rise among upper echelons of the LTTE. A guess could be hazarded that much of the concern is over Velupillai Prabakharan.
LTTE cadres responsible for their leader’s security must be worried sick after the Nov 28th aerial attack that caused minor injuries.
Though Prabakharan escaped death the probability of another aerial strike being fatal cannot be dismissed lightly.
The LTTE has for many years caused many people to fear sudden death. Instilling fear of death into others is an integral component of its terror tactics.
Now the tables are turned. The predator is now prey on its home turf.
Against this backdrop a recent interview given by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse to the AFP news agency on Nov 28th assumes fresh significance. The AFP news report which appeared in the “Daily News” of Nov 29th is reproduced below.-
” The Government’s aim is to weaken the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam “(LTTE), Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said.
“Our objective is to weaken them. We have to defeat them militarily, we have to control Wanni,” he told AFP in an interview at the Defence Ministry.
“It is possible. We just have to squeeze them. Then a political solution becomes possible,” the Defence Secretary said, repeating his view that the Tigers only used a truce to smuggle in more arms and can therefore only be bombed into peace.
Rajapaksa said the Government now had the upper hand in the long-running conflict, with LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran limited in both his movements and ability to score strategic victories. Earlier this month, LTTE’s political head, S.P. Thamilselvan, was killed in an air strike. “That sent a very powerful message: they know we have good intelligence on their movements,” Rajapaksa said.
Monday was also the day the LTTE chief marked his 53rd birthday. “We are after him. We are specifically targeting their leadership,” he said. “For the last few months he has been even more restricted in his movements. We want to keep them under pressure. We are gathering intelligence, information.”
Prabhakaran’s speech, broadcast yesterday, came at the end of a year of several setbacks for the LTTE. Government Forces regained full control over the East in July, and have also managed to sink the bulk of the Tigers’ fleet of gun-running ships.
The Defence Secretary insisted that the tide of the 35-year-old conflict was finally turning in the Government’s favour.
He also signalled that the year ahead would see an escalation of the conflict, finally closing a chapter of “phony war” that began with a 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire and its progressive collapse. Still, Rajapaksa brushed aside the significance of Tiger attacks.
“In the end it’s just symbolic. it affects morale, but strategically it makes no difference,” said the Defence Secretary, who narrowly survived a suicide bomber sent by Prabhakaran last year. “In the end, what have they gained during the last 20 to 30 years? Just destroyed property and destroyed lives.”
One does not know the exact time that the interview was given but in what seems to be an eerie coincidence, Gotabhaya Rajapakse was saying “we are after him ” in Colombo while the Air Force inflicted minor injuries on Velupillai Prabakharan in Kilinochchi on the same day!
Spooky ain’t it? and of course much food for thought!
DBS Jeyaraj can be contacted on: djeyaraj@federalidea.com
December 15th, 2007
By M.S.Shah Jahan
“Don’t tell us – look at Ceylon, look at Burma”, thundered the ferocious orator, the youth leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress, in the Municipal Hall opposite Padang playground of the Kuala Lumpur Cricket Club and by the side of the Mosque type scenic General Post Office building, in the early 1970s.
‘If there is any tree on which money could be said to grow then this is it-rubber.’ This was the sentiment in Malacca way back in 1897. Mr. Ridley, the curator of the Singapore Botanical gardens had been trying for years to interest British planters in giving rubber a try. The imperial authorities in London had spent a fortune in arranging to have seed stocks stolen from Brazil. As Mr. Ridley himself first admitted that it might take as many as ten years for rubber plantation to become productive, Malaya’s European planters backed away.
But Tan Chay Yan, the son of a well known Chinese family of Malacca was undeterred and converted his pepper garden into a rubber plantation and succeeded in milking rubber in three short years. Now everybody started following his lead and the B.F. Goodrich Company of Ohio, USA, sent representatives all the way to encourage planters of Malaya to plant this new crop. This was the material of the coming age; the next generation of machines could not be made to work without this absorber of friction. The newest motor cars had dozens of rubber parts, the markets were potentially bottomless, the profits beyond imagination. In simple words, money was milked from the rubber tree.
No body ever knew that the assassination of the Grand Duke Ferdinand in Sarajevo would spark World War I in 1914, that rubber would be a vital strategic material in this conflict; that in Germany the discarding of articles made of rubber would become an offence punishable by law; that submarines would be sent overseas to smuggle rubber; that the commodity would come to be valued more than ever before, increasing their wealth beyond their most extravagant dreams.
Labourers were brought from Madras Presidency with so many false promises and persuasions to work in coffee and rubber plantations and also to lay railway lines. Many perished from diseases while clearing jungles for this. That is why it was said, every rubber tree in Malaya was paid for by an Indian life, and every railway track was a cemetery. Though India’s ties with Malaya go back to the pre-Christian days, major migration of Indians to that country started in the early 19th century. The planters were not in the least bothered about the welfare of their labourers. The workers’ shacks-tiny hovels, were made of roofs with branches and leaves and the floors were covered with dirt, the squalor was unimaginable.
‘You dog of a coolie, keep your black face up and look at me when I am talking to you’, verbal abuse in Tamil and English from the white manager was a daily event. Their life revolved around the manager, master, contractors, and tappers in the rubber estates. It was nothing better than ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ before the American civil war, a virtual slavery. Lankan readers need no explanation as it was much similar to the line houses in our tea estates today where neither the scene nor the life of those have improved to our knowledge, except the bellies of union or political leaders.
The sacrifice of Indian Tamils was well recognized, not only when Tun V.T.Sambanthan, as the leader of the Malaysian Indian Congress became a signatory to Merdeka [Independence] Agreement on Aug 31, 1957, but also when the Father of Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, went to Madras as his first official visit out of Malaysia and said “My wish is to land in Madras first as the Prime Minister of Malaysia for all the good things people of this state did to us”.
Over a century, though descendants of the tappers, who constitute 90% of the Malaysia’s 2 million persons of Indian origin that comprises 8% of the total population of 24 million, have under gone a vast change, they feel they have experienced only abysmal economic growth on several parameters compared to other communities. Trade was previously dominated by the Chinese acquiring wealth while the Malays were confined to their Kampong [Village] doing traditional professions like breeding poultry farm, fishing etc. with less inclination for that which have economic value. After independence, especially following the 1969 Malay Chinese riots, the picture changed as the government were hell bent to promote the Bumiputhra’s in commerce offering extraordinary concessions which pushed some Malays to dizzy heights and created cronies like Ananda Krishnan at the expense of the Chinese while the Indian Tamils were left far behind.
Malaysian Indian Congress, the ethnic-based party that represents the Indian minority in the ruling coalition, with a membership of 650,000 out of 850,000 eligible voters and having 4,000 branches are today widely looked upon as ineffective if not corrupt. Due to their colonial legacy, Indians are generally seen as providers of cheap labour in plantations and construction sites; their political and social mobility has been thwarted. The conversion of rubber plantations to housing estates and golf courses also has displaced plantation workers who have drifted to urban centres. As a result, urban Indian ghettos have emerged and crime has escalated.
Besides, Bumiputhra politics disadvantage Indians in education and work opportunities. Local university seats and scholarships are awarded under a racial quota system, and even after getting a degree, many say that discrimination is commonplace. Indian doctors, for instance, complain that they are often excluded from lists of approved doctors whom civil servants or company employees can patronize. Demolition of roadside temples and enforcing strict Islamic code on Hindus like where a Hindu dead body was buried under Muslim rights saying the person had secretly embraced Islam saddened them.
“Our community is backward, our schools are dilapidated. We are the last in the line for jobs, scholarships, health benefits,” says opposition lawmaker Kulasegaran Murugesan. “For over a decade we have been appealing to the government for help to alleviate our poverty but all our appeals had fallen on deaf ears,” says Uthayakumar Ponnusamy, Hindraf’s legal adviser. “The British brought us here, exploited us for 150 years and left us to the mercy of a Malay Muslim government. They should compensate us now.” Yes, the British brought tea pluckers to Ceylon, rubber tappers to Malaya and paddy farmers to Burma, almost from the same caste and same district. Interestingly, a steamer that was transporting these labourers from Calcutta to Rangoon and Penang was named Nuwara Eliya.
Though their living is identical, their lifestyle is different according to political situation in those respective countries. The smiling ones are from Burma though they still live a primitive life of the 19th century, chewing betel and travelling in bullock carts in the rural under a military dictatorial rule, sans starvation being farmers. The mother tongue is lost and even in religious festivals announcements are made in Burmese but devotional songs played are in Tamil. No much racism experienced living with natives while their Sri Lankan brethren are timid and feel unwanted by the natives, and in Malaysia they feel like poor relatives in a wedding.
That was why former youth leader, present president of MIC, and Works Minister Yang Berhormat Menteri Datuk Seri Samy Velu said “Don’t tell us-look at Ceylon, look at Burma”. Samy Velu born to rubber tappers Sangalimuthu and Anggamah in an estate in Johor, had an extremely tough life from his childhood to boyhood, described in his own words “Those were years when I ate only one meal a day. I felt things could not get any worse.” His fluency in Tamil gave him a job as a newscaster at Radio Television Malaysia from 1963 to 1974; as a result he became a household name and gained popularity to become a member of parliament in 1974.
In quick succession, he grabbed the presidency of MIC in 1979 at the age of 43 and he is the longest president of MIC and the second longest cabinet minister. Unfortunately his tenure has been lacklustre compared to Sampanthan and Manickawasagam’s who were wealthy and highly educated. Further Sami Velu is accused of amassing ill-gotten wealth and his critics call him “Semi Value” and “Mr.Tollgate” [like Mr.10%] because many projects handled by his ministries were found to be faulty and he was alleged to have a cut on tollgates introduced on highways. His second wife Indrani bought over the oldest newspaper ‘Thamilnesan’. Even mighty Dr. Mahathir in an interview last May stated that he could not remove tainted leaders like Samy Velu as he was powerless. The Barisan National [National Alliance] would have suffered a serious internal backlash if he had sacked Samy Velu, he said. “You ask MIC what they would do if I removed Samy Velu.”
Is there is no racial discrimination in Malaysia? I was waiting at my turn to get a taxi in the portico of Penninsula Hotel of KL. But Malay and Chinese drivers preferred to pick customers of their own colour or white men expecting big tips. Then came an Indian his name was the masculine of Chandrika whom I contracted till I departed and my conversation with him made him to think I was familiar with Malaysia. “Did Mr. Sami Velu come to see you, Sir?” “No”. “Did you call him, Sir?” “No”. “Good”. And he poured out his woes.
Sarala Sukumaran, 40, a Malaysian Indian entrepreneur who runs an IT firm, says” I know many Indian families who want to get out of Malaysia. There are two main reasons behind the backwardness of Indians. One is that we are a minority here, and two the politicians who represent us do not promote our cause.” Sukumaran is a third generation Malaysian Indian. Her grandparents came to Malaysia in the 1930s to work in the plantations in Penang. “I feel that we are not aggressive enough as a community in terms of unleashing our entrepreneurial potential. That’s why our evolution has been very slow. Comparatively, look at the Tamils from Sri Lanka,” she said. “They have a more close-knit community feeling, they help uplift each other and they are certainly doing much better than the Indians.” But for people like Ramakrishnan, who worried that rising food and fuel prices are eating into his meagre income, the choice will be easy. “We will vote for the Opposition this time to send a clear message to the Malay government to treat us with respect, to share with us,” he said. “We fight for the future of our children; we don’t want them to suffer like us.” This is the sentiment in SL too simmering of any community can’t be contained unless attended to, and this is an era to boot corrupt politicians and arrogant regimes out. [dailymirror.lk]
December 15th, 2007
by Mario Gomez
This afternoon (Dec 6th) we are gathered to celebrate and pay tribute to two Sri Lankan human rights defenders: one a fearless group (UTHR – J) that has exposed human rights violations mainly in relation to the conflict, and secondly, to an equally fearless woman (Sunila Abeysekera) who has played many roles in her campaign of human rights for all.
We are also gathered here at a moment of severe human rights crisis and their struggles reflect the many micro struggles that others undergoing in different parts of the country.
I have been asked to speak a few words on Sunila and have been deeply touched by this request.
Sunila entered my life and I entered hers sometime in the 1990s, I am not so sure exactly when. Since then I have been inspired by her work and the reason, the activism and the maturity she has brought to human rights work. In between then and now we have taught human rights activists in Bangkok, collaborated on IDP projects, been part of team that produced a book on ESC rights and demonstrated at Lipton’s Circus on Wednesday afternoons, among other things.
I thought I would share with you this afternoon, three facets of Sunila’s work, which to me have been the most striking.
The first facet of Sunila’s work relates to her activism and thinking around women and gender. I think the first thing that strikes you when you when you work with Sunila is that she is a woman. I refer here not just to the biological fact but to the power, the frankness, the passion and the astuteness of many women that an encounter with Sunila brings.
I think the fact that Sunila is not just a human rights activist, but a ‘woman’ human rights activist is a dimension of her work that you cannot ignore.
Related to this is her work around gender equality. Her Master’s thesis at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague on ‘Equality and Difference’ was a pioneering piece of work and was written at a time when many feminists were interrogating the concepts of equality that predominated in some of the early feminist struggles.
However, what I found most striking about Sunila’s work in this area was her ability to translate the everyday struggles of a battered woman, an IDP woman, or a mother of a disappeared, into the language of rights and into a language that was understandable to many. She has the capacity to de-mystify the concepts of feminism, equality and difference, relate these concepts to the day to day struggles, and reach out to students and other people in way that many others could not.
The second important facet of her work relates to her struggles around a variety of human rights issues. So while women’s rights and gender equality has been an important part of her work she has also contributed in important ways to the protection and promotion of other human rights.
She has been a tireless advocate against torture, a strong critic of disappearances and abductions, and an ardent campaigner on the right to free expression.
Unlike many other activists she has also been a fighter for economic and social rights. One of the initiatives that Sunila and I worked on was the activists’ manual ‘A Circle of Rights’. The book was designed for activists in the field and for those training in the area of economic and social rights. I was fortunate to be a part of this global team, together with Sunila and we worked on the manual, on a pilot programme to test the manual and then on the video that accompanied the manual.
She has also worked on those rights that have been marginalized within the human rights movement, for example the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT rights). Her work in this area has been of a pioneering kind and has contributed to lifting the veil, even if only marginally, for those with a variety of sexual orientations.
Her work illustrates the idea that human rights are interrelated and indivisible. It shows us that any attempt to protect and promote only some rights will be an incomplete endeavour that does not capture the complexity of the lives and the struggles of many people around the world.
The third part of her work relates to the balance she has struck between the theoretical aspects of human rights and the activism of human rights. Few people I have known have been able to reflect and theorize on human rights and combine this with robust and relevant activism with equal aplomb. Sunila has been one of the few people with this capacity, Neelan Tiruchelvam and Richard de Zoysa are two other names that spring to mind, albeit Richard for much shorter period.
A fourth facet of her work is her global human rights work. There are two aspects of this part of her work. First is her strategic use of international procedures and forums to support domestic human rights struggles. And second is her work as a global human rights activist working on many issues of concern to the global North and global South. However, this part of her work I think this has been acknowledged elsewhere and also in the film that was screened earlier and so I will not dwell on this aspect.
I would like to note two other qualities of Sunila’s work that I think are of immediate relevance to our work in Sri Lanka today.
One of the challenges of human rights work is to persist. To persist, even if you feel your work is not making a difference, to persist in times of adversity, and to persist when personal security is at stake. Sunila’’s work is an example of persistence and continuing to struggle in good times and bad.
But I think human rights work also needs to be smart and unashamed to make tactical withdrawals when such a withdrawal is called for, without sacrificing any of the principles we all believe in. Human rights work does not mean a blind assertion of rights, but rather a smart reading of political and social context and a nuanced understanding of the moment.
While the rights language may be appropriate at some moments they may not work at other moments and it is important to be able to recognize this. One of the critiques of rights based work is that human rights defenders are too preoccupied with the rights discourse to the exclusion of other discourses and other strategies of change.
Here too I think Sunila has shown remarkable insight and has been able to read situations and contexts with maturity and astuteness. She has shown remarkable political sense to read contexts intelligently looking for the points of greatest vulnerability and the windows of greatest opportunity.
We are gathered here this afternoon at a moment of grave human rights crisis. It is surely the ‘worst of times’. Sometime in the mid 1990s we thought this country had turned a crucial corner and had been able to put behind, the horrendous violations of the past. I think we rested too lightly in thinking that the ‘age of never again’ was already here.
The events of the past two years have shown us that the capacity for oppression and brutality both within the state structures and among non-state actors has not withered. In fact it seems to have ripened with age and acquired a chilling blazé.
The two qualities that Sunila has shown: the capacity to persist and a political sense to read situations smartly are of great relevance today. I think we need to draw inspiration from the many other struggles around rights whether it be in Argentina, in South Africa or in Timor Leste, where people fought for many years in the name of what they believed to be right.
Many of us in the human rights struggle are in it because we believe that it is the right thing to do even if at times like this we often feel powerless.
At dark hours like this the capacity to pick up and go on is an important quality. But equally important is the capacity to be politically smart especially when one is up against actors who manipulate the rights discourse for their own ends.
In the work of Sunila we find these qualities that I think the human rights struggle of Sri Lanka desperately needs at the current moment: the capacity to persist and the ability to be politically smart.
I hope Sunila would pardon me, if I say that over the years she has had a romance with rights that many of us would die for to have with our partners. It has been a relationship of love, a relationship of the mind, a journey of unbelievable ecstasy, a journey of incredible loneliness, and a struggle of unwavering commitment.
Today we applaud an exceptional person. A woman with all the qualities of a real woman; a human rights activist who has balanced mature intellectual work with robust activism; and a human being with some of humankind’s best qualities.
May the fire never die…
December 15th, 2007
by Dr.Dan Muthuveloe
I would like to share with you my experiences of Jaffna from a Tamil point of view. I am sure what I have to say could be matched by equally harrowing stories from other parts of North and East such as the Vanni, Mannar, Sampoor, Vaharai etc, and perhaps from the South by Sinhalese and Muslims who have also suffered pain and loss.
During the three months I spent in Jaffna recently, I met with many ordinary people. Many of them related to me their harrowing experiences and tales, which made me listen to them spell bound, speechless with no words of comfort or encouragement to give in return. I could only sigh. I was amazed at the capacity of people to cope with tremendous anxiety, fear, deprivation and the dehumanising infringement of their right to the pursuit of happiness and a quiet life.
After my return from Jaffna I have been pondering about the dire situation I left behind. I vowed to return. Not because I am able to do something for them, but purely because I wanted to be there and be with them and feel the fear and anxiety and humiliation they feel day in and day out. They have no advocate. They have no political voice.
There were days when I could not eat. Not because the food was not palatable. On the contrary the food was delicious as only the Jaffna cuisine could be. I had no appetite after hearing sad story after story of pain from crushed hearts.
Killings and abductions occurred daily. I have seen dead bodies by the road side. They were mostly young men who have been shot and killed. It is usually reported the next day in the Uthayan News paper that persons of unknown identity are thought to have been the killers. Friends and neighbours are scared to befriend the bereaved family for fear of their lives in case they also become victims of the killers. I was told that the victims were young men who were active politically, either when in University or as journalists or as activists during ‘Pongu Thamil’ celebrations and other political demonstrations. The killings did not appear to be random but targeted. Many of the abducted are given up for dead because so few of them return alive. The killings of these young men have left a growing number of young widows and fatherless children. The ‘recent’ widows number over a thousand. Last month alone 57 men were killed in the Jaffna peninsula. Wives and mothers are anxious each morning when their husbands and children leave home until they return in the evening.
The sound of gunfire, shells and aerial bombing can be heard daily. It is not only a constant reminder of the ongoing conflict but causes our hearts to sink. The children are petrified. Some shake with fear. Scattered through out the main trunk roads are sentry points where one is checked for identity cards. If you are riding a motorcycle or scooter, the army may take your bike from you for their use. You will be very thankful when the bike is returned without damage.
Cordon and search operations occur at any time of day or night. The trunk roads [Palaly Road, KKS Road, Pt.Pedro Road and the A9] are closed to civilian traffic twice a day for three to four hours. While I was there the nightly curfew was from 7 pm to 4 am. People are at home by 6 pm and do not venture out. Killings, abductions and robberies take place under cover of the curfew.
The people in Jaffna have no dignity or self worth or confidence as evidenced by the cringing posture and body language and the gibbering apology for their existence when stopped by the army.
The A 9 the only road to the rest of the country has been closed for over a year. This has caused great hardship to the people. Food and essential items have to be shipped to the peninsula. While I did not see starvation I certainly saw malnutrition and failure to thrive and growth retardation in young children.
Cement was four times the price in Colombo. There is hardly any construction work going on in Jaffna.
The declaration of High Security Zones by the army has resulted in several communities being evacuated from their homes and villages. They have been languishing in temporary housing for the last 14 years. They are referred to as I.D.Ps-Internally Displaced People. They are the forgotten people of this prolonged conflict.
The people in Jaffna are indeed subjugated and held captive in what amounts to an open prison. They cannot leave the peninsula unless they have an exit permit from the Grama Sevaka and the Army. Hundreds could be seen at the different army camps trying to obtain their permits to get to Colombo to find a new life.
The population of Jaffna in 1981 was 800 thousand people. Today it has drastically dwindled to 250 thousand persons and the numbers are continuing to haemorrhage. The number of army personnel in Jaffna is 60 thousand. Hence for every four civilian persons in Jaffna, there is an armed soldier with an automatic gun or machine gun.
The recurrent heartfelt cry that I heard in Jaffna was the sense of hopelessness and the feeling of desolation. Hopelessness because the people of Jaffna had put hope in their politicians through the democratic process. They had hoped in the freedom struggle through the efforts of the ‘boys’-the freedom fighters to some but terrorists to others. They had hoped in every new Prime Minister and President for an equitable solution for all time. They had hoped in the IPKF. They had hoped in the CFA. They had hoped the Norwegians would broker a deal for all time. The International community, the United Nations, the European Union and the Co-Chairs have not done enough to stop the genocide.
I could sense a feeling of desolation, a feeling of being abandoned and lonely and forlorn without friends. A feeling of utter hopelessness filled my heart as well. We have put our trust in men and horses and chariots with no avail. Our hopes have been dashed time and again. We as Tamils and as Sri Lankans as peace loving people have stood back in horror, feeling utterly helpless and alienated.
Our Response
A call to Prayer and Intercession-for Peace with Justice and Reconciliation
In recent weeks a few of us in England have been particularly inspired to pray and ask God for his intervention in this hopeless situation. God can intervene and can roll back the tide of violence and restore justice, peace and serenity in the land of our birth. We can hope and trust God in desperate times. We can pray for Peace with Justice and for Reconciliation between the peoples in Sri Lanka.
You and I may not have harmed any one but in our name, violent words have been spoken and atrocious deeds have been done causing pain, death and suffering. We need to repent and ask God’s forgiveness for the crimes committed in our name. May God forgive our leaders and us.
The book of 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, ‘if my people, called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land’.
God will heal our hurts and pain. God will restore our broken spirit.
God will change our hard hearts to compassionate and considerate ones. God will grant us the courage to accept each other and value each other.
God will help us to forgive and to receive forgiveness.
God will restore righteousness in our land.
So that we will not feel alienated any more. So that we could feel equal with one and all, and justly be proud of, and share in our common heritage.
In the famous poem Morte d’ Arthur, Lord Tennyson wrote:
‘More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day
For what are men better than sheep or goats
That nourish a blind life within the brain,
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer
Both for themselves and those who call them friend?’
So dear friend, should we not therefore as exhorted by Tennyson PRAY
for ourselves and our people. We invite you to join the Call to Prayer and pray with us for a speedy resolution to the conflict and for Peace with Justice and Reconciliation
May we suggest the following for you to consider?
1] Set apart a time of day or a day in the week for Special Prayers.
2] Use the following as prayer points
3] Enlist your family and friends to join in prayer
4 ]Pray with a prayer partner or group
5] Speak to others about the dire situation the need for urgent prayer.
Please do remember to pray as often as your busy life will allow. It does not matter what faith you are, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Buddhist. Praying for the situation in Sri Lanka is the least we can do and it is also the best we can do.
1] Pray for the cessation of hostilities.
Pray for Peace diplomats.
Pray for the defusing of anger and revenge.
2] Pray for the return of the sanctity of life.
Pray that killings and abductions will cease.
Pray that there will be no need for any more violent deaths
3] Pray for the return of civil rule and democracy.
Pray for the return of dialogue.
Pray for tolerance and respect of other points of view.
Pray for the spirit of generosity, to live and let live
4] Pray for Just Peace.
Pray that fear and apprehension and anxiety will be no more.
Pray for the Liberty and the Freedoms of each person in equal measure.
5] Pray for ALL aid workers, politicians and journalists.
Pray for their safety.
Pray for their important work.
6] Pray for ALL war widows and their dependants
Pray for ALL orphans.
Pray for ALL the war disabled and maimed
7] Pray for ALL Refugees- Internally Displaced People
If you share with us the need and importance of this Call to Prayer and wish to join us in doing so, please e mail one of us with your nod and feed back, views and suggestions if any.
Your Response?
1] Write to us if you will join us in prayer.
2] Give us your thoughts and suggestions.
3] Circulate this to like-minded persons for prayer
Arul Selvaratnam-selvaratnam@mail.com
Lawrence Ratnam-LRatnam@aol.com
Dan Muthuveloe- danmuthuveloe@hadenvale.org
Sam Muthuveloe-sam.muthuveloe@hopeoutreach.org.uk
If the uptake is good we may produce a monthly prayer-net bulletin to help us keep in touch and to encourage each other to continue praying.
Dr Dan Muthuveloe
Stourbridge
West Midlands
UK
danmuthuveloe@hadenvale.org
1st Dec 2007
December 13th, 2007
In a highly critical speech to the Human Rights Council on Tuesday [Dec. 11] the High Commissioner Louise Arbour, highlighted Sri Lanka’s failure to address a raft of human rights abuses. She is pushing to set up a UN human rights office on the island a move that Sri Lanka has categorically rejected, as explains Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka to Carole Vann and Claire Doole of Infosud.
Carole Vann, Claire Doole/Infosud-Following her visit to Sri Lanka in October, the top UN human rights official, Louise Arbour has taken the government to task for failing to adequately investigate an alarming number of abductions and disappearances over the past two years, and for a lack of safeguards for those detained under emergency regulations. On Tuesday she also expressed her concern at human rights abuses committed by the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Dayan Jayatilleka, rejected the allegations against the government, citing the mitigating circumstances of the civil war.
Louis Arbour says you have failed to adequately investigate an alarming number of abductions and disappearances over the past two years, is she correct?
When we invited her we did not expect a whitewash. We are not smug about the situation in Sri Lanka but I must stress this is taking place against the backdrop of a war. If there was no war there would be no human rights violations. It is a relative judgment because in most places of the world investigations like this happen after the war is finished through Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. We on the other hand are investigating while the conflict is raging and I don’t think we have not been given enough credit for that.
Why has the special Commission of Inquiry appointed by the President more than a year ago to investigate high profile killings and disappearances not yet completed any of its cases?
It has been almost a year but in comparative terms it is not too bad. Even in post conflict situations it takes Truth Commissions many years to get to the bottom of things, as we have seen in South Africa. Just look how many decades it took the British government to investigate “the bloody Sunday killings in Northern Ireland. However we are not shutting the door. We do have a capacity problem and we have asked for international assistance.
So if there is a capacity problem, why do you not accept the establishment of a UN human rights office as proposed by the High Commissioner?
This is not about capacity. It is about substituting and supplanting national institutions with international ones. We want an expanded role for the senior human rights advisor attached to the UN country team in Sri Lanka with an expanded staff. We don’t want to go it alone but we are not going to permit institutions that have taken decades to set up to be supplanted by non Sri Lankan agencies. Allowing UN monitoring missions and an extended UN field presence to go wherever they like in the country is not in keeping with our laws. We don’t want to be preached at by countries whose own human rights records are far from perfect.
Is the creation of an office a non-starter then?
Well (smiles), my rhetorical question is which part of the word ‘no’ do you not understand? We don’t feel the need to prove anything to the UN Human Rights Commissioner or to the EU. Due to our colonial history we are very sensitive to any large international presence and frankly, we are not going to allow large numbers of mediocre foreigners, many of whom have dodgy connections with western intelligence agencies to fan out over our country. We will take such suggestions for a UN Human rights office more seriously when international bodies become far more representative of the world at large, have transparency of funding, and agendas are not donor driven.
How do you feel about the increased scrutiny that Sri Lanka has come under by the Human Rights Council this year?
We have only come under scrutiny by the EU and the office of the High Commissioner. Western governments need to put their houses in order before they criticise us. In fact at this Council we have the overwhelming support of the majority of members who believe that it is national governments not international institutions that are best placed to deal with human rights issues.
December 12th, 2007
“Thank you, Mr. President, Madam High Commissioner. At the outset, I wish to associate myself fully and deeply with the sentiment of solidarity that you Mr. President extended to our colleague, Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, on the occasion of the terrorist attacks taking place in his county.
That tragic incident brings forth the context in which the discussion on human rights in Sri Lanka takes place. Just a week ago, there were three such terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka. By terrorist attacks, I mean attacks wittingly, knowingly aimed at civilian targets. The first, in the morning, was on an ethnic Tamil Minister. It was by a polio-handicapped suicide bomber and the Minister in question was our Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare who had signed Sri Lanka up to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Disabled.
By evening, there was an attack on a shopping center with no political or military target in the vicinity. This was followed within days by the attack on a bus, a civilian bus, which killed 15 civilians. This is not collateral damage Mr. President, these are attacks wittingly targeted at unarmed innocent noncombatant civilians.
We, as a country, are no less determined to root out terrorism than is any country represented in this assembly today. We, Mr. President, are as committed to vanquishing the secessionist cause which that terrorism serves, as great presidents such as Abraham Lincoln were when separatist challenges faced them in their own country.
So, it is in that historical context that our discussion on human rights takes place. Sri Lanka, Mr. President, is as flexible as it is firm, it is as firm as it is flexible on the matter of engagement with international mechanisms in the promotion and safeguarding of human rights. We are engaged in negotiations with the OHCHR and as the High Commissioner has correctly said, although we have not reached any agreement, we have been discussing a variety of models of cooperation.
This discussion, Mr. President, is informed by our consistent policy and that consistent policy has two components: the first is the primacy of the national, the second is international scrutiny, support and assistance. Tomorrow Dr. Walter Kalin, the Representative of the Secretary General on Internally Displaced Persons will begin his visit to Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. We have agreed in principle to a visit by Mr. Santiago Corcuera, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, sooner rather than later next year. We remain open to scrutiny by all the core treaty monitoring mechanisms to which we have subscribed.
This cooperation, continues Mr. President. However, we are also justly proud of our national institutions. In the immediate aftermath of the suicide bombings that I mentioned, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled that roadblocks and check points in Colombo, the metropolis, have to be dismantled temporarily because they are not fully in keeping with human rights and fundamental liberties. That is the extent of the independence of our judiciary, Mr. President, and of that we are justly proud.
Therefore, our negotiations with the OHCHR and international bodies will always be informed by a determination that national institutions and national processes shall be supplemented and supported by international assistance, but shall never be supplanted or substituted by the non-national. Thank you”.
[Full Text of Remarks by H.E. Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva, to the resumed Sixth Session of the Human Right Council on 11 December 2007]
December 11th, 2007
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