http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20120101_01
Last modified on: 1/1/2012 9:34:32 AM
We should step forward as a resurgent nation - President
Embracing all the victories we have achieved, we should step forward as a resurgent nation. This progress will be expedited by forging a political tradition that is based on new thinking. With regard to unity among communities we should act with new vision, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
"It is my belief that the development of the country now moving in new direction could be expedited by such vision and thinking. Similarly, our resolution for the New Year should be to work with tolerance, kindness, understanding and co-existence," President said in a New Year message.
Full text of the President's New Year message:
As the New Year dawns we look towards to the future with much hope and enthusiasm brought about by firm resolution, commitment and good expectations for the country. Thus the joy of the New Year would be equally shared by all.
In the past several years we achieved great victories for the country, building the nation with dignity and strength. These victories were made possible by a forward-looking approach and utilizing every available opportunity to bring honour and glory to the nation. While this led to a united country, it also saw the beginning of a new era of development with new ports, major irrigation schemes, new airports and expressways.
Embracing all the victories we have achieved, we should step forward as a resurgent nation. This progress will be expedited by forging a political tradition that is based on new thinking. With regard to unity among communities we should act with new vision. It is my belief that the development of the country now moving in new direction could be expedited by such vision and thinking. Similarly, our resolution for the New Year should be to work with tolerance, kindness, understanding and co-existence.
As we build a new country for the future by working together in thought and deed I call upon you to come forward with great resolve and fresh expectations.
I wish you all a Happy New Year.
Courtesy: PRIU
Saturday, December 31, 2011
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111226_02
LLRC report points out ways to defeat hostile diaspora groups
The Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) stated that the while some 'Tamil diaspora groups' seek to contribute constructively to broad based reconciliation efforts, some other diaspora groups, especially, thosedescribed by some as supporting the LTTE, seem to adopt an adversarial approach.
According to the Report released recently by the LLRC, these 'hostile diaspora groups' can potentially undermine the genuine efforts in Sri Lanka towards reconciliation.
Therefore, the report states that the Government together with the relevant stakeholders, especially civil society, should develop a comprehensive approach to harness the potential of the expatriate community.
Meanwhile the LLRC Report pointed out several steps that can be taken by the Government and civil society to defeat these adversarial 'Tamil diaspora groups'.
The Report recommends that the Government engage the elected representatives of the minority parties in a meaningful dialogue on devolution and other grievances.
Themost efficacious way to make the 'hostile diaspora groups' irrelevant will be to make the local minority parties relevant through a structured dialogue that has visibility and recognition at a high political level, the Report stated.
It goes on to note that the Government should take action to constructively engage those groups that still harbor adversarial attitudes and the LTTE approach of separation, and find space for those groups to contribute to the local reconciliation and development efforts.
Engaging in a proactive diplomatic initiative with the international community, especially those countries that host these diaspora groups, is another measure the LLRC recommends.
The Report went on to state that the purpose of this initiative should be to brief those countries on the meaningful dialogue referred to above and the effective and visible action being taken to address the post-conflict issues, including the implementation of recommendations of the present Commission.
It is by doing so that the Government can persuade the host countries to listen less to these hostile diaspora groups, while being more receptive to the information provided by the Government, said the report.
In addition, the report further observed, the Government must also be proactive in encouraging and supporting the work of the expatriates who do not advocate the discarded LTTE ideology of violence and separation and who espouse the democratic principles of ethnic harmony and consensual politics.
The LLRC report advised the Government that it must also have more liberal policies and attitudes towards those expatriates who wish to invest and work in Sri Lanka, for instance by making it easier to obtain dual nationality status, effect remittances and be able to travel throughout the country without undue restrictions.
These elements require a carefully worked outprogramme of action on a broad front here in Sri Lanka and through the Sri Lanka diplomatic missions and with civil society groups here and abroad, the Report noted.
In addition to these measures, the Report appealed to the Government to take the initiative to constructively engage its development partners in Sri Lanka and abroad in order to develop a self-reliant, future oriented community in the Wanni, with open minds to build on and sustain reconciliatory community relationships.
According to the LLRC report, this is an area where the Sri Lankan 'diaspora' can support the Government of Sri Lanka, working in cooperation with the development partners in areas such as housing, schooling, healthcare and livelihood activities.
The Reportalso recommends that the Government constitute a Multi -DisciplinaryTask Force that will include representatives from the Presidential Secretariat, ExternalAffairs, Defense, Foreign Employment, the Private Sector, and Academia.
This, the report adds, is to propose aprogramme of action to harness the untapped potential of the expatriate community,and to respond to the concerns of the so-called 'hostile diaspora groups,' and to engagethem constructively with the Government and other stakeholders involved in thereconciliation process.
Moreover, the report warns that if such a comprehensive approach is not adopted urgently, the current momentum towards creating a hostile externalatmosphere could grow, and those groups that advocate such a process would continueto promote polarization that will significantly impair the genuine efforts of others whoespouse reconciliation back home in Sri Lanka.
LLRC report points out ways to defeat hostile diaspora groups
The Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC) stated that the while some 'Tamil diaspora groups' seek to contribute constructively to broad based reconciliation efforts, some other diaspora groups, especially, thosedescribed by some as supporting the LTTE, seem to adopt an adversarial approach.
According to the Report released recently by the LLRC, these 'hostile diaspora groups' can potentially undermine the genuine efforts in Sri Lanka towards reconciliation.
Therefore, the report states that the Government together with the relevant stakeholders, especially civil society, should develop a comprehensive approach to harness the potential of the expatriate community.
Meanwhile the LLRC Report pointed out several steps that can be taken by the Government and civil society to defeat these adversarial 'Tamil diaspora groups'.
The Report recommends that the Government engage the elected representatives of the minority parties in a meaningful dialogue on devolution and other grievances.
Themost efficacious way to make the 'hostile diaspora groups' irrelevant will be to make the local minority parties relevant through a structured dialogue that has visibility and recognition at a high political level, the Report stated.
It goes on to note that the Government should take action to constructively engage those groups that still harbor adversarial attitudes and the LTTE approach of separation, and find space for those groups to contribute to the local reconciliation and development efforts.
Engaging in a proactive diplomatic initiative with the international community, especially those countries that host these diaspora groups, is another measure the LLRC recommends.
The Report went on to state that the purpose of this initiative should be to brief those countries on the meaningful dialogue referred to above and the effective and visible action being taken to address the post-conflict issues, including the implementation of recommendations of the present Commission.
It is by doing so that the Government can persuade the host countries to listen less to these hostile diaspora groups, while being more receptive to the information provided by the Government, said the report.
In addition, the report further observed, the Government must also be proactive in encouraging and supporting the work of the expatriates who do not advocate the discarded LTTE ideology of violence and separation and who espouse the democratic principles of ethnic harmony and consensual politics.
The LLRC report advised the Government that it must also have more liberal policies and attitudes towards those expatriates who wish to invest and work in Sri Lanka, for instance by making it easier to obtain dual nationality status, effect remittances and be able to travel throughout the country without undue restrictions.
These elements require a carefully worked outprogramme of action on a broad front here in Sri Lanka and through the Sri Lanka diplomatic missions and with civil society groups here and abroad, the Report noted.
In addition to these measures, the Report appealed to the Government to take the initiative to constructively engage its development partners in Sri Lanka and abroad in order to develop a self-reliant, future oriented community in the Wanni, with open minds to build on and sustain reconciliatory community relationships.
According to the LLRC report, this is an area where the Sri Lankan 'diaspora' can support the Government of Sri Lanka, working in cooperation with the development partners in areas such as housing, schooling, healthcare and livelihood activities.
The Reportalso recommends that the Government constitute a Multi -DisciplinaryTask Force that will include representatives from the Presidential Secretariat, ExternalAffairs, Defense, Foreign Employment, the Private Sector, and Academia.
This, the report adds, is to propose aprogramme of action to harness the untapped potential of the expatriate community,and to respond to the concerns of the so-called 'hostile diaspora groups,' and to engagethem constructively with the Government and other stakeholders involved in thereconciliation process.
Moreover, the report warns that if such a comprehensive approach is not adopted urgently, the current momentum towards creating a hostile externalatmosphere could grow, and those groups that advocate such a process would continueto promote polarization that will significantly impair the genuine efforts of others whoespouse reconciliation back home in Sri Lanka.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111231_01
LLRC report covers all relevant ground - Australian MP
* Good step in the right direction....
www.defence.lk">The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report sets the framework for practical reconciliation in Sri Lanka, said Australian Member of Parliament Telmo Languiller who is on a brief visit to look into the ground situation in post war Sri Lanka.
Addressing a media conference in Colombo yesterday he welcomed both the LLRC report and the government's response to it, stating that these provide a very good opportunity for Sri Lanka to build a peaceful country. He observed that the report has covered all relevant aspects and has included the comments of all relevant parties concerned. He also stated that it was a very good step in the right direction.
Referring to the statement by Leader of the House and Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva when tabling the report in Parliament, Languiller commended the government's willingness and readiness to carry out independent investigations over the each and every incident with regard to human rights issues.
He said that he would encourage the Australian government and his Parliamentary colleagues to continue to work positively with the authorities in Sri Lanka and its people, and to support the government's endeavour to rebuild post war Sri Lanka.
He observed that there is a massive improvement in the infrastructure facilities in the country compared with the situation during his previous visit about two and half years ago.
He noted that there is huge progress in the construction of roads, bridges, houses, hospitals and schools in places he visited, especially in Jaffna.
He said that the improvement of infrastructure in the country would help to attract more investments. Speaking on the challenges that lie before Sri Lanka, he observed that Sri Lanka should sort out the human rights allegations leveled against it before next Geneva Human Rights Council session in March.
He noted that working towards practical reconciliation and a political solution to the national issue which can be acceptable to all communities while achieving economic development should be given high priority. Responding to a question by a journalist he also said that from his meetings with high ranking army personnel in the North, he was convinced that the forces would not be stationed in those regions permanently and that they were willing to move as soon as possible.
During his visit Languiller also met the Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the External Affairs Ministry Secretary and many high ranking officials of the government.
The visit was organized by Sri Lankan expats in Australia
LLRC report covers all relevant ground - Australian MP
* Good step in the right direction....
www.defence.lk">The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report sets the framework for practical reconciliation in Sri Lanka, said Australian Member of Parliament Telmo Languiller who is on a brief visit to look into the ground situation in post war Sri Lanka.
Addressing a media conference in Colombo yesterday he welcomed both the LLRC report and the government's response to it, stating that these provide a very good opportunity for Sri Lanka to build a peaceful country. He observed that the report has covered all relevant aspects and has included the comments of all relevant parties concerned. He also stated that it was a very good step in the right direction.
Referring to the statement by Leader of the House and Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva when tabling the report in Parliament, Languiller commended the government's willingness and readiness to carry out independent investigations over the each and every incident with regard to human rights issues.
He said that he would encourage the Australian government and his Parliamentary colleagues to continue to work positively with the authorities in Sri Lanka and its people, and to support the government's endeavour to rebuild post war Sri Lanka.
He observed that there is a massive improvement in the infrastructure facilities in the country compared with the situation during his previous visit about two and half years ago.
He noted that there is huge progress in the construction of roads, bridges, houses, hospitals and schools in places he visited, especially in Jaffna.
He said that the improvement of infrastructure in the country would help to attract more investments. Speaking on the challenges that lie before Sri Lanka, he observed that Sri Lanka should sort out the human rights allegations leveled against it before next Geneva Human Rights Council session in March.
He noted that working towards practical reconciliation and a political solution to the national issue which can be acceptable to all communities while achieving economic development should be given high priority. Responding to a question by a journalist he also said that from his meetings with high ranking army personnel in the North, he was convinced that the forces would not be stationed in those regions permanently and that they were willing to move as soon as possible.
During his visit Languiller also met the Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the External Affairs Ministry Secretary and many high ranking officials of the government.
The visit was organized by Sri Lankan expats in Australia
Thursday, December 29, 2011
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111229_02
LTTE Human Right Violations and War Crimes against North East Muslims
(By: M.I.M. Mohideen)
www.defence.lk">Before the Ceasefire Agreement of 22nd February 2002
With the increased activities of the Tamil militants in the early part of 1985, the animosity and resentment of the Tamils towards the North East Muslims took a more acrimonious turn. Consequent to it, numerous incidents of extortions of money, robbing jewellry and other valuables at gun point, and threat to co-operate with the separatist movement took place.
The breaking point came when the Tamil terrorists tried, in the course of robbing a rich Muslim trader, to take his daughter as hostage in Akkaraipattu, a predominant Muslim Town, in the Ampara District. Angered by this, the Muslims registered their protest by a- peaceful hartal from 08th to 12th April 1985 and hoisted Sri Lanka National Flag in the bazaar, declaring solidarity of the Muslims with the government and their rejection of the division of the Country.
www.defence.lk">With this incident, the Tamil, Muslim ethnic violence swiftly spread to Kalmunai, Kattankudi, Eravur, Ottamawadi, Valaichenai, Muthur and Kinniya. Hundreds of Muslims were killed by the armed Tamil separatists and many billions of Rupees worth of properties belonging to both the Tamil and Muslims were burnt and destroyed. It is during the April 1985 riots, that the Tamil and Muslims fought each other as separate communities for the first time in the East.
About 26 Muslims were killed and another 200 were injured when the IPKF shelled Ottamawadi, a predominant Muslim Village in the Batticaloa District on 02nd December 1987. A Number of houses and shops belonging to Muslims were burned and destroyed. Some Muslims women were also reported to have been raped by the IPKF. About 14,000 Muslims became refugees and fled to the North - Central Province, Polonnaruwa.
Kattankudi, the home of nearly 60,000 Muslims, situated 4 miles down South of Batticaloa, was attacked by the armed Tamil separatists on 30th of December 1987. In this fierce attack, nearly 60 Muslims were killed and more than 200 were injured. Properties worth 200 Millions belonging to the Muslims were burned and destroyed by armed Tamil militants. All these happened in the presence of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces - IPKF. Although the attack lasted for two days, Kattankudi was under siege until the 8th of January 1988. During this period, all movements, in and out of the area were blocked by the armed Tamil militants while the IPKF was supposed to be in control of the area.
Ethnic Cleansing of Muslims by the LTTE
The Muslims from the Northern Province were forced to leave their homes in the third week of October 1990. The ultimatum in many places was that they should leave the region within 48 hours. Most Muslims refugees continue to live in abject conditions outside the North. Contrary to many other situations of displacement in the country, the majority of the displaced Muslims as a result of the ethnic cleansing by LTTE have not been able to go back to their places of birth in the North. At present, there are about 65,000 Muslim refugees living in the North-Western coastal region in the Puttalam district. The value of assets robbed by the LTTE during 1990 ethnic cleansing is more than Rs. 10,256 Million or US$ 110 Million. Houses damaged 11,110 Million. The lands forcibly occupied 30,400 Acres.
Nearly 63,000 acres of paddy lands belonging to Muslims of the Eastern province were forcibly taken over by the LTTE and agricultural produce confiscated. The lands that belonged to the displaced Muslims from the Northern Province continues to remain under the control of the LTTE. Besides, agricultural implements, motor vehicles and cattle were taken away by force by the LTTE. Under the law of property in force in the country, a land owner loses his or her right to possession if their property is occupied by usurpers for 10 years. It is now more than 21 years since Muslims in the North East have been forcefully displaced from their properties by the LTTE.
Economic Destabilization of Muslims in the North - East
A politico-military strategy of the LTTE has been to weaken the economic strength of the Muslim community. In order to realize this objective, the LTTE, as was the case with other Tamil militants, have targeted economic ventures and business places of the Muslims. Robbing of business goods and abduction of businessmen for ransom remain the common spectre in the North-East.
Denial of Fishing Rights
With the eviction of the Muslim community from the North East, a considerable section of the Muslim fisher-folk have been rendered unemployed. In areas such as Valaichenai, Ottamavadi, Eravur and other coastal areas in the East, boats and fishing gears were routinely robed by the LTTE. Many Muslim fishermen have also been killed while at sea by the sea tigers.
Non-respect for Religion and Culture
In many instances, in the North East, the cultural and religious symbols of the Muslim community have come under attack from the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups. The grenade attack on a mosque in Akkraipattu and massacre of Muslims at congregational prayer in Kattankudy and Eravur, as well as the cold-blooded murder of Hajj pilgrims returning in 1990 in Kaluwanchikudi, demonstrate the extent of intolerance shown by the LTTE and Tamil militants towards the religion and culture of the Muslims.
Summary of identified Muslim Civilians Killed by LTTE-Tamil Militants.
* 26 Muslims at Ottamawadi in December 1987
* 41 Muslims at Karaitheevu in November 1987
* 35 Muslims at Kinniya in April 1987
* 52 Muslims at Mutur in October 1987
* 21 Muslims at Sammanthurai Mosque in April 1989
* 67 Muslims at Valaichchenai from April 1985 to July 2002
* 67 Muslims at Kattankudy in December 1987
* 168 Muslims at Kattankudy in July 1990
* 147 Muslims at Kattankudy Mosque in August 1990
* 58 Muslims at Akkaraipattu in July 1990
* 14 Muslims at Kattankudy Mosque in July 1990
* 13 Muslims in November 1989
* 19 Muslims at Alimnagar in August 1990
* 126 Muslims at Eravur in August 1990
* 53 Muslims at Ambalanthurai in August 1990
* 23 Muslims at Sainthamaruthu in September 1992
* 15 Muslims at Addalachchena in May 1990
* 37 Muslims at Pallitthidal, Akbarpuram in October 1992
* 200 Muslims at Kalmuna, Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil in June 1990
* 33 Muslim farmers at Ampara in August 1990
* 186 Muslims in June 1990
* 147 Muslims at Alingippottanai in April 1992
* 30 Muslims at Pottuvil in June 1991
After the Ceasefire Agreement of 22nd February 2002
On Friday the 28th June, 2002; Valaichena Pradeshiya Sabha Office was set on fire and destroyed. In the grenade attack on Muslims returning from Friday "Jummah" prayers, 7 were injured - 2 critically. Additional troops and Special Task Forces were airlifted. The Batticaloa and Ampara Districts were placed under curfew.
On Sunday the 30th June 2002, two bodies were found by the police in Kalmadu Village in Valichena. They were the two Muslim cooks who went to the house of a Tamil in Valichchnai, on Wednesday the 26th June, to prepare the wedding meals. The LTTE cadres have abducted the two Muslims killed and threw them in a paddy field. The father and few members of their family went to identify the bodies. After the post-mortem, the police loaded the dead in a tractor trailer to be taken for the burial according to Muslim rites. But the LTTE cadres with arms objected to the removal of the bodies and insisted the burning of them at the site. The Army Major Hettiarachi contacted the Head Quarters and he was given the orders from Colombo to leave the bodies and avoid any confrontation with the LTTE. Then the LTTE cadres put the bodies on a heap of tyres and burned them in front of the Army and Police and. destroyed all evidence of the horrendous human rights violation of the LTTE during cease fire.
Soon after the ceasefire agreement, the Muslims went back and started paddy cultivation in their fields in Kurangupanchan, Kinniya. They renovated the Mosque as decided at a meeting held on 11.06.2003. LTTE chased the Muslims families resettled here and put up their military camp in the Mosque building.
LTTE War Crimes against the Muslims
When the LTTE closed the Mavillaru anicut the government and the Army never understood their true intention in order to capture Muthur. They strengthened the safety of the Mavillaru area neglecting the security of Muthur. The government removed around 400 security personnel who were deployed in Muthur and posted them in the Mavilaru area and this had made Muthur more vulnerable to LTTE attacks.
The LTTE carefully observed the situation and entered Muthur on 02nd of August 2006 without any resistance from the security forces. They disconnected the electricity. The Muslims without any protection were caught unaware. They vacated their homes and went into the mosques and Arabic College hoping that they will not be attacked in those places. However what happened was something else. The LTTE used the Muslims as human shields when the army attacked them. The Muslims got caught in the crossfire.
Since Muthur was totally surrounded by LTTE, the town could not function normally. Business came to a stop. People did not have means to acquire their daily food, children suffered without milk, patience both from the hospital and the casualties suffered without treatment. The Muslims had to struggle for their mere survival.
The Muslims while running for their lives with white flags were attacked by the LTTE on the way. The women and elderly were tortured and the youngsters were separated and murdered. LTTE has been trying various methods, first it was the Interim Administration in the North East, then the Sub-committee on De-escalation and Normalization (SDN) and later the Sub-committee on Important Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN). The primary object of all these arrangements was to transfer the powers vested with the Centre to North East or rather to LTTE with international recognition. By this Process the LTTE was trying to get legitimacy and international support for its role as the sole representative of the North-East - the area of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking peoples - Tamils and Muslims.
Courtesy: The Island
-The Ministry of Defence bears no responsibility for the ideas and opinion expressed by the numerous contributors to the “Opinion Page” of this web site-
LTTE Human Right Violations and War Crimes against North East Muslims
(By: M.I.M. Mohideen)
www.defence.lk">Before the Ceasefire Agreement of 22nd February 2002
With the increased activities of the Tamil militants in the early part of 1985, the animosity and resentment of the Tamils towards the North East Muslims took a more acrimonious turn. Consequent to it, numerous incidents of extortions of money, robbing jewellry and other valuables at gun point, and threat to co-operate with the separatist movement took place.
The breaking point came when the Tamil terrorists tried, in the course of robbing a rich Muslim trader, to take his daughter as hostage in Akkaraipattu, a predominant Muslim Town, in the Ampara District. Angered by this, the Muslims registered their protest by a- peaceful hartal from 08th to 12th April 1985 and hoisted Sri Lanka National Flag in the bazaar, declaring solidarity of the Muslims with the government and their rejection of the division of the Country.
www.defence.lk">With this incident, the Tamil, Muslim ethnic violence swiftly spread to Kalmunai, Kattankudi, Eravur, Ottamawadi, Valaichenai, Muthur and Kinniya. Hundreds of Muslims were killed by the armed Tamil separatists and many billions of Rupees worth of properties belonging to both the Tamil and Muslims were burnt and destroyed. It is during the April 1985 riots, that the Tamil and Muslims fought each other as separate communities for the first time in the East.
About 26 Muslims were killed and another 200 were injured when the IPKF shelled Ottamawadi, a predominant Muslim Village in the Batticaloa District on 02nd December 1987. A Number of houses and shops belonging to Muslims were burned and destroyed. Some Muslims women were also reported to have been raped by the IPKF. About 14,000 Muslims became refugees and fled to the North - Central Province, Polonnaruwa.
Kattankudi, the home of nearly 60,000 Muslims, situated 4 miles down South of Batticaloa, was attacked by the armed Tamil separatists on 30th of December 1987. In this fierce attack, nearly 60 Muslims were killed and more than 200 were injured. Properties worth 200 Millions belonging to the Muslims were burned and destroyed by armed Tamil militants. All these happened in the presence of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces - IPKF. Although the attack lasted for two days, Kattankudi was under siege until the 8th of January 1988. During this period, all movements, in and out of the area were blocked by the armed Tamil militants while the IPKF was supposed to be in control of the area.
Ethnic Cleansing of Muslims by the LTTE
The Muslims from the Northern Province were forced to leave their homes in the third week of October 1990. The ultimatum in many places was that they should leave the region within 48 hours. Most Muslims refugees continue to live in abject conditions outside the North. Contrary to many other situations of displacement in the country, the majority of the displaced Muslims as a result of the ethnic cleansing by LTTE have not been able to go back to their places of birth in the North. At present, there are about 65,000 Muslim refugees living in the North-Western coastal region in the Puttalam district. The value of assets robbed by the LTTE during 1990 ethnic cleansing is more than Rs. 10,256 Million or US$ 110 Million. Houses damaged 11,110 Million. The lands forcibly occupied 30,400 Acres.
Nearly 63,000 acres of paddy lands belonging to Muslims of the Eastern province were forcibly taken over by the LTTE and agricultural produce confiscated. The lands that belonged to the displaced Muslims from the Northern Province continues to remain under the control of the LTTE. Besides, agricultural implements, motor vehicles and cattle were taken away by force by the LTTE. Under the law of property in force in the country, a land owner loses his or her right to possession if their property is occupied by usurpers for 10 years. It is now more than 21 years since Muslims in the North East have been forcefully displaced from their properties by the LTTE.
Economic Destabilization of Muslims in the North - East
A politico-military strategy of the LTTE has been to weaken the economic strength of the Muslim community. In order to realize this objective, the LTTE, as was the case with other Tamil militants, have targeted economic ventures and business places of the Muslims. Robbing of business goods and abduction of businessmen for ransom remain the common spectre in the North-East.
Denial of Fishing Rights
With the eviction of the Muslim community from the North East, a considerable section of the Muslim fisher-folk have been rendered unemployed. In areas such as Valaichenai, Ottamavadi, Eravur and other coastal areas in the East, boats and fishing gears were routinely robed by the LTTE. Many Muslim fishermen have also been killed while at sea by the sea tigers.
Non-respect for Religion and Culture
In many instances, in the North East, the cultural and religious symbols of the Muslim community have come under attack from the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups. The grenade attack on a mosque in Akkraipattu and massacre of Muslims at congregational prayer in Kattankudy and Eravur, as well as the cold-blooded murder of Hajj pilgrims returning in 1990 in Kaluwanchikudi, demonstrate the extent of intolerance shown by the LTTE and Tamil militants towards the religion and culture of the Muslims.
Summary of identified Muslim Civilians Killed by LTTE-Tamil Militants.
* 26 Muslims at Ottamawadi in December 1987
* 41 Muslims at Karaitheevu in November 1987
* 35 Muslims at Kinniya in April 1987
* 52 Muslims at Mutur in October 1987
* 21 Muslims at Sammanthurai Mosque in April 1989
* 67 Muslims at Valaichchenai from April 1985 to July 2002
* 67 Muslims at Kattankudy in December 1987
* 168 Muslims at Kattankudy in July 1990
* 147 Muslims at Kattankudy Mosque in August 1990
* 58 Muslims at Akkaraipattu in July 1990
* 14 Muslims at Kattankudy Mosque in July 1990
* 13 Muslims in November 1989
* 19 Muslims at Alimnagar in August 1990
* 126 Muslims at Eravur in August 1990
* 53 Muslims at Ambalanthurai in August 1990
* 23 Muslims at Sainthamaruthu in September 1992
* 15 Muslims at Addalachchena in May 1990
* 37 Muslims at Pallitthidal, Akbarpuram in October 1992
* 200 Muslims at Kalmuna, Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil in June 1990
* 33 Muslim farmers at Ampara in August 1990
* 186 Muslims in June 1990
* 147 Muslims at Alingippottanai in April 1992
* 30 Muslims at Pottuvil in June 1991
After the Ceasefire Agreement of 22nd February 2002
On Friday the 28th June, 2002; Valaichena Pradeshiya Sabha Office was set on fire and destroyed. In the grenade attack on Muslims returning from Friday "Jummah" prayers, 7 were injured - 2 critically. Additional troops and Special Task Forces were airlifted. The Batticaloa and Ampara Districts were placed under curfew.
On Sunday the 30th June 2002, two bodies were found by the police in Kalmadu Village in Valichena. They were the two Muslim cooks who went to the house of a Tamil in Valichchnai, on Wednesday the 26th June, to prepare the wedding meals. The LTTE cadres have abducted the two Muslims killed and threw them in a paddy field. The father and few members of their family went to identify the bodies. After the post-mortem, the police loaded the dead in a tractor trailer to be taken for the burial according to Muslim rites. But the LTTE cadres with arms objected to the removal of the bodies and insisted the burning of them at the site. The Army Major Hettiarachi contacted the Head Quarters and he was given the orders from Colombo to leave the bodies and avoid any confrontation with the LTTE. Then the LTTE cadres put the bodies on a heap of tyres and burned them in front of the Army and Police and. destroyed all evidence of the horrendous human rights violation of the LTTE during cease fire.
Soon after the ceasefire agreement, the Muslims went back and started paddy cultivation in their fields in Kurangupanchan, Kinniya. They renovated the Mosque as decided at a meeting held on 11.06.2003. LTTE chased the Muslims families resettled here and put up their military camp in the Mosque building.
LTTE War Crimes against the Muslims
When the LTTE closed the Mavillaru anicut the government and the Army never understood their true intention in order to capture Muthur. They strengthened the safety of the Mavillaru area neglecting the security of Muthur. The government removed around 400 security personnel who were deployed in Muthur and posted them in the Mavilaru area and this had made Muthur more vulnerable to LTTE attacks.
The LTTE carefully observed the situation and entered Muthur on 02nd of August 2006 without any resistance from the security forces. They disconnected the electricity. The Muslims without any protection were caught unaware. They vacated their homes and went into the mosques and Arabic College hoping that they will not be attacked in those places. However what happened was something else. The LTTE used the Muslims as human shields when the army attacked them. The Muslims got caught in the crossfire.
Since Muthur was totally surrounded by LTTE, the town could not function normally. Business came to a stop. People did not have means to acquire their daily food, children suffered without milk, patience both from the hospital and the casualties suffered without treatment. The Muslims had to struggle for their mere survival.
The Muslims while running for their lives with white flags were attacked by the LTTE on the way. The women and elderly were tortured and the youngsters were separated and murdered. LTTE has been trying various methods, first it was the Interim Administration in the North East, then the Sub-committee on De-escalation and Normalization (SDN) and later the Sub-committee on Important Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN). The primary object of all these arrangements was to transfer the powers vested with the Centre to North East or rather to LTTE with international recognition. By this Process the LTTE was trying to get legitimacy and international support for its role as the sole representative of the North-East - the area of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking peoples - Tamils and Muslims.
Courtesy: The Island
-The Ministry of Defence bears no responsibility for the ideas and opinion expressed by the numerous contributors to the “Opinion Page” of this web site-
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111227_02
Russia hails LLRC
The Russian Government on December 22, said that the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will help accelerate the national reconciliation process and strengthen peace in Sri Lanka.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich in a statement said the commission has made serious work on all aspects of the conflict that ended in 2009.
The statement: "The final report of Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been revealed in Colombo. The Commission made serious work on all aspects of the long-standing conflict that had ended in Sri Lanka in 2009. "We are confident that the results of its work will make a great contribution to the acceleration of the national reconciliation process as well as to the strengthening of peace on the island.
"We highly appreciate the efforts of the Sri Lanka Government in solving the post conflict problems on the basis of state integrity, multinational consent and respect for the rights of all ethnic and religious groups of Sri Lanka.
"We are convinced of the sincere concern of the Sri Lanka Government in implementing the recommendations made by the LLRC."
Courtesy : Daily News
Russia hails LLRC
The Russian Government on December 22, said that the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will help accelerate the national reconciliation process and strengthen peace in Sri Lanka.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich in a statement said the commission has made serious work on all aspects of the conflict that ended in 2009.
The statement: "The final report of Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been revealed in Colombo. The Commission made serious work on all aspects of the long-standing conflict that had ended in Sri Lanka in 2009. "We are confident that the results of its work will make a great contribution to the acceleration of the national reconciliation process as well as to the strengthening of peace on the island.
"We highly appreciate the efforts of the Sri Lanka Government in solving the post conflict problems on the basis of state integrity, multinational consent and respect for the rights of all ethnic and religious groups of Sri Lanka.
"We are convinced of the sincere concern of the Sri Lanka Government in implementing the recommendations made by the LLRC."
Courtesy : Daily News
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111226_03
India welcomes LLRC report
India on Sunday (Dec 25) welcomed Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, which recommends measures to heal wounds of the conflict in the island nation even as it again underlined the need to ensure that an independent and credible mechanism is put in place to investigate alleged human rights violations in the country.
The report of the LLRC, set up against the backdrop of allegations of military excesses in the operation against the LTTE, was tabled in Sri Lankan Parliament by the government on December 16.
"The LLRC report has underlined that the present situation provides a great window of opportunity to forge a consensual way forward towards reconciliation through a political settlement based on devolution of power," external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said. The foreign ministry said in a statement that it expected Sri Lanka to "act decisively" to achieve meaningful devolution of powers to its provinces in the backdrop of the military operation against the LTTE in its first comments on the report just made public.
Pointing out that the LLRC report expects the government to provide leadership to a political process, Prakash said India hoped that Sri Lanka "recognizing the critical importance of this issue acts decisively and with vision in this regard". Prakash emphasized the implementation of the assurances given in the LLRC report to ensure speedy resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDP) would mark a major step forward in the process of reconciliation. "Implementation of assurances to ensure speedy resettlement and genuine reconciliation, including early completion of the process of the return of IDPs and refugees to their respective homes, restoration of normal civilian life in affected areas would mark a major step forward in the process of reconciliation," he said.
Welcoming the public release of the LLRC report, Prakash said India "takes note of the assurance given by the government of Sri Lanka in Parliament about implementation of many of its recommendations".
Courtesy: Government Information Department
India welcomes LLRC report
India on Sunday (Dec 25) welcomed Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, which recommends measures to heal wounds of the conflict in the island nation even as it again underlined the need to ensure that an independent and credible mechanism is put in place to investigate alleged human rights violations in the country.
The report of the LLRC, set up against the backdrop of allegations of military excesses in the operation against the LTTE, was tabled in Sri Lankan Parliament by the government on December 16.
"The LLRC report has underlined that the present situation provides a great window of opportunity to forge a consensual way forward towards reconciliation through a political settlement based on devolution of power," external affairs ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said. The foreign ministry said in a statement that it expected Sri Lanka to "act decisively" to achieve meaningful devolution of powers to its provinces in the backdrop of the military operation against the LTTE in its first comments on the report just made public.
Pointing out that the LLRC report expects the government to provide leadership to a political process, Prakash said India hoped that Sri Lanka "recognizing the critical importance of this issue acts decisively and with vision in this regard". Prakash emphasized the implementation of the assurances given in the LLRC report to ensure speedy resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDP) would mark a major step forward in the process of reconciliation. "Implementation of assurances to ensure speedy resettlement and genuine reconciliation, including early completion of the process of the return of IDPs and refugees to their respective homes, restoration of normal civilian life in affected areas would mark a major step forward in the process of reconciliation," he said.
Welcoming the public release of the LLRC report, Prakash said India "takes note of the assurance given by the government of Sri Lanka in Parliament about implementation of many of its recommendations".
Courtesy: Government Information Department
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111224_03
Norway: Loss of civilian lives during military action not IHL violation
In the wake of a section of the international community seeing holes in Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), NATO member Norway has acknowledged the impossibility in avoiding mistakes and civilian deaths during an intense military campaign.
Norway joined several countries, including the UK and France, in carrying out air attacks targeting Libya.
The Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo told The Island that a recent Norwegian language statement, attributed to Norwegian Defence Minister Espen Barth Eide, couldn't have come at a better time for the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) facing severe criticism over the conduct of its troops during the final phase of the conflict.
The Norwegian Minister was responding to a New York Times (NYT) exclusive that it had obtained evidence to prove the NATO air campaign claimed the lives of up to 70 civilians, including 29 women and children. The revelation has been made in the backdrop of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen declaring last month that there had been no confirmed reports of civilian losses.
He emphasized that Norway's aim was to operate within International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The minister went on to declare that it was wrong to assert IHL violated because of civilians losses unless something unacceptable took place during a conflict.
Responding to a query, diplomatic sources said that Minister Eide's statement had exposed the hypocrisy of those attacking GoSL over so-called accountability issues. Sources said that the Norwegian admission of civilian deaths should be used to highlight the difficulties in conducting large scale military operations amidst the presence of civilians.
The NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) quoted Minister Eide as having said that it was almost unthinkable that high intensity air campaign directed at Libya could take place without mistakes and civilian losses. The Norwegian declined to rule out the possibility of Norwegian bombs killing civilians during the campaign. Norway fired about 10 per cent of bombs, which targeted Libya in one of the bloodiest campaigns, which ended with rebels backed by Western powers executing the ousted Libyan leader.
A Norway-funded evaluation of its failed peace initiatives in Sri Lanka, with the focus on the disastrous bid (2002-2009) blamed President Mahinda Rajapaksa for depending on military action at the expense of civilian interests.
Citing human rights organizations, which had contributed to the NYT report, Minister Eide said as the NATO had done nothing illegal there was no formal responsibility on the part of the organization to make an exact count of civilians killed.
The media also quoted Eide as having said the NATO was in the process of evaluating its efforts in Libya to find out whether there were lessons to be learnt. Claiming that there had been no demands to investigate each individual loss of civilian life, Eide asserted that civilian losses wouldn't be one of the main points of the evaluation of the Norwegian effort. The minister said that the main point of their evaluation would be 'target achievement' during the campaign.
Sri Lankan sources pointed out that the Norwegian Minister had inadvertently revealed the poor state of intelligence available to NATO air forces in spite of having the most sophisticated surveillance equipment. "We should be grateful to the Minister for being frank in his assessment," a senior official said.
Minister Eide said NATO air missions, including some launched by Norway, had to be aborted due to given targets being something else than when the operations were planned.
Parliamentarian Eide explained that Norway was mostly concerned with achieving its Libyan targets. "That is how it is when you get a task from the UN. Here it was about destroying as much as possible of Gaddafi's military power, with the least possible negative consequences for the civilian population. And we have been much better at achieving that target in Libya than during earlier campaigns," he was quoted as having said.
Commenting on the number of civilians killed as reported by the NYT, the Norwegian politician said the actual number of non-combatants killed due to NATO air action could be even higher.
"In an armed conflict people die and one has the responsibility to make sure that one reduces to an absolute minimum that it is the wrong people. But it is not so that an exposure that civilians have been killed is itself not a big scandal."
Courtesy : The Island
Norway: Loss of civilian lives during military action not IHL violation
In the wake of a section of the international community seeing holes in Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), NATO member Norway has acknowledged the impossibility in avoiding mistakes and civilian deaths during an intense military campaign.
Norway joined several countries, including the UK and France, in carrying out air attacks targeting Libya.
The Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo told The Island that a recent Norwegian language statement, attributed to Norwegian Defence Minister Espen Barth Eide, couldn't have come at a better time for the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) facing severe criticism over the conduct of its troops during the final phase of the conflict.
The Norwegian Minister was responding to a New York Times (NYT) exclusive that it had obtained evidence to prove the NATO air campaign claimed the lives of up to 70 civilians, including 29 women and children. The revelation has been made in the backdrop of NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen declaring last month that there had been no confirmed reports of civilian losses.
He emphasized that Norway's aim was to operate within International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The minister went on to declare that it was wrong to assert IHL violated because of civilians losses unless something unacceptable took place during a conflict.
Responding to a query, diplomatic sources said that Minister Eide's statement had exposed the hypocrisy of those attacking GoSL over so-called accountability issues. Sources said that the Norwegian admission of civilian deaths should be used to highlight the difficulties in conducting large scale military operations amidst the presence of civilians.
The NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) quoted Minister Eide as having said that it was almost unthinkable that high intensity air campaign directed at Libya could take place without mistakes and civilian losses. The Norwegian declined to rule out the possibility of Norwegian bombs killing civilians during the campaign. Norway fired about 10 per cent of bombs, which targeted Libya in one of the bloodiest campaigns, which ended with rebels backed by Western powers executing the ousted Libyan leader.
A Norway-funded evaluation of its failed peace initiatives in Sri Lanka, with the focus on the disastrous bid (2002-2009) blamed President Mahinda Rajapaksa for depending on military action at the expense of civilian interests.
Citing human rights organizations, which had contributed to the NYT report, Minister Eide said as the NATO had done nothing illegal there was no formal responsibility on the part of the organization to make an exact count of civilians killed.
The media also quoted Eide as having said the NATO was in the process of evaluating its efforts in Libya to find out whether there were lessons to be learnt. Claiming that there had been no demands to investigate each individual loss of civilian life, Eide asserted that civilian losses wouldn't be one of the main points of the evaluation of the Norwegian effort. The minister said that the main point of their evaluation would be 'target achievement' during the campaign.
Sri Lankan sources pointed out that the Norwegian Minister had inadvertently revealed the poor state of intelligence available to NATO air forces in spite of having the most sophisticated surveillance equipment. "We should be grateful to the Minister for being frank in his assessment," a senior official said.
Minister Eide said NATO air missions, including some launched by Norway, had to be aborted due to given targets being something else than when the operations were planned.
Parliamentarian Eide explained that Norway was mostly concerned with achieving its Libyan targets. "That is how it is when you get a task from the UN. Here it was about destroying as much as possible of Gaddafi's military power, with the least possible negative consequences for the civilian population. And we have been much better at achieving that target in Libya than during earlier campaigns," he was quoted as having said.
Commenting on the number of civilians killed as reported by the NYT, the Norwegian politician said the actual number of non-combatants killed due to NATO air action could be even higher.
"In an armed conflict people die and one has the responsibility to make sure that one reduces to an absolute minimum that it is the wrong people. But it is not so that an exposure that civilians have been killed is itself not a big scandal."
Courtesy : The Island
Friday, December 23, 2011
Officers Enlightened on LTTE's Foreign Antics
With the objective of enlightening officers and other ranks on the status quo of the LTTE's
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111222_02
existing international connections, LTTE web portals and other networks, the Security Forces Headquarters, Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) held a special lecture session.
Major General Nandana Udawatta, Commander, SFHQ-KLN on the instructions of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development organized the awareness programme and delivered the inaugural address, giving a brief account of the updates.
Afterwards, 4 Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) Commanding Officer presented a detailed picture of the overseas LTTE networks and how they are continuing to dupe the international community. The officer also explained how the LTTE abroad, under the pretext of the Tamil Diaspora exploits foreign governments, International NGOs, Tamil community and foreigners to their hidden agendas in a very subtle manner.
All General Officers Commanding, Brigade Commanders and other relevant authorities attended the sessions.
With the objective of enlightening officers and other ranks on the status quo of the LTTE's
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111222_02
existing international connections, LTTE web portals and other networks, the Security Forces Headquarters, Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) held a special lecture session.
Major General Nandana Udawatta, Commander, SFHQ-KLN on the instructions of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development organized the awareness programme and delivered the inaugural address, giving a brief account of the updates.
Afterwards, 4 Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) Commanding Officer presented a detailed picture of the overseas LTTE networks and how they are continuing to dupe the international community. The officer also explained how the LTTE abroad, under the pretext of the Tamil Diaspora exploits foreign governments, International NGOs, Tamil community and foreigners to their hidden agendas in a very subtle manner.
All General Officers Commanding, Brigade Commanders and other relevant authorities attended the sessions.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111221_05
Commonwealth applauds transparency of LLRC report
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has welcomed the government's transparency in releasing the report.
Applauding the intent of transparency with which the Sri Lankan government tabled the full report of the commission before Parliament, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said in a statement that the recommendations in the report should be implemented in an objective, even-handed and forward-looking manner.
"We welcome the assurance given on the transparent and rigorous application of the law of the land," he added.
The government has assured that it will fully investigate the individual accounts of transgressions during the war and take appropriate legal action on anyone found guilty.
The statement further said that "While noting that the Commission was established to examine lessons learnt from the conflict and to promote reconciliation, we trust that with the assurances given, the report will also serve to advance the cause of accountability, as genuine reconciliation and accountability go hand in hand."
"It is for the government and people of Sri Lanka to chart their country's way forward after the military defeat of the forces of terrorism," Sharma said.
"The Commonwealth, as a partner of Sri Lanka, which is a founder member of the modern Commonwealth, remains ready to assist the government in dealing with the challenges of building a harmonious and sustainable peace," he has assured in the statement.
Commonwealth applauds transparency of LLRC report
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma has welcomed the government's transparency in releasing the report.
Applauding the intent of transparency with which the Sri Lankan government tabled the full report of the commission before Parliament, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said in a statement that the recommendations in the report should be implemented in an objective, even-handed and forward-looking manner.
"We welcome the assurance given on the transparent and rigorous application of the law of the land," he added.
The government has assured that it will fully investigate the individual accounts of transgressions during the war and take appropriate legal action on anyone found guilty.
The statement further said that "While noting that the Commission was established to examine lessons learnt from the conflict and to promote reconciliation, we trust that with the assurances given, the report will also serve to advance the cause of accountability, as genuine reconciliation and accountability go hand in hand."
"It is for the government and people of Sri Lanka to chart their country's way forward after the military defeat of the forces of terrorism," Sharma said.
"The Commonwealth, as a partner of Sri Lanka, which is a founder member of the modern Commonwealth, remains ready to assist the government in dealing with the challenges of building a harmonious and sustainable peace," he has assured in the statement.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111221_01
TNA's negative mindset tramelling discussions - President
* Not obliging by naming nominees to PSC
* TNA getting instructions from abroad
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been requested to name their nominees for the Parliamentary Select Committee, which will be entrusted with formulating a solution to the grievances of communities. However, the TNA has so far not obliged.
'They are proving to be as difficult as the LTTE in talks, adopting the same negative tactics, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the monthly breakfast meeting with newspaper Editors at Temple Trees yesterday.
He further said that the government has no problems with the TNA, but the TNA had a mindset problem. "They yet have a war mentality, this is getting in the way when talking to the government. They must get out of this, which is entirely shaped by the past" he added.
He said that during the conflict there was no one in the North who wasn't swayed by the LTTE and added that even today there are parties in the North that are intent on rousing communalism.
The President went on to say that the TNA is getting instructions from abroad and this was a considerable obstacle when it came to conducting fruitful negotiations with the government.
He also noted that an outstanding demand of the TNA for police powers to the North and East is not a practicable proposition.
He pointed out that such an arrangement was causing problems in India, for instance, where during a law and order crisis, the Indian centre has to liaise with the State Chief Ministers and this gets in the way of the centre in solving law and order problems in the states concerned quickly.
Clarifying issues further External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris said that the TNA has called for an international investigation into the issues raised by the conflict. "The TNA is the only party to do so and it should be evident that this could pave way for international interference in Sri Lanka's issues" he added.
Minister Peiris pointed out that even Lakshman Kiriella of the UNP had called for a probe on issues but it was not for an international one but for an internal one. "That the TNA is calling for an international probe is a matter for profound regret" he added.
He further said that the issues would be probed by the government, if there is evidence that the alleged irregularities took place.
The minister pointed out that an extensive census of the Northern population is carried out by the government and this is being finalised.
Courtesy: Daily News
TNA's negative mindset tramelling discussions - President
* Not obliging by naming nominees to PSC
* TNA getting instructions from abroad
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been requested to name their nominees for the Parliamentary Select Committee, which will be entrusted with formulating a solution to the grievances of communities. However, the TNA has so far not obliged.
'They are proving to be as difficult as the LTTE in talks, adopting the same negative tactics, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the monthly breakfast meeting with newspaper Editors at Temple Trees yesterday.
He further said that the government has no problems with the TNA, but the TNA had a mindset problem. "They yet have a war mentality, this is getting in the way when talking to the government. They must get out of this, which is entirely shaped by the past" he added.
He said that during the conflict there was no one in the North who wasn't swayed by the LTTE and added that even today there are parties in the North that are intent on rousing communalism.
The President went on to say that the TNA is getting instructions from abroad and this was a considerable obstacle when it came to conducting fruitful negotiations with the government.
He also noted that an outstanding demand of the TNA for police powers to the North and East is not a practicable proposition.
He pointed out that such an arrangement was causing problems in India, for instance, where during a law and order crisis, the Indian centre has to liaise with the State Chief Ministers and this gets in the way of the centre in solving law and order problems in the states concerned quickly.
Clarifying issues further External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris said that the TNA has called for an international investigation into the issues raised by the conflict. "The TNA is the only party to do so and it should be evident that this could pave way for international interference in Sri Lanka's issues" he added.
Minister Peiris pointed out that even Lakshman Kiriella of the UNP had called for a probe on issues but it was not for an international one but for an internal one. "That the TNA is calling for an international probe is a matter for profound regret" he added.
He further said that the issues would be probed by the government, if there is evidence that the alleged irregularities took place.
The minister pointed out that an extensive census of the Northern population is carried out by the government and this is being finalised.
Courtesy: Daily News
http://www.defence.lk/news/pdf/20111221_UnprofessionalisRevisited.pdf
UNPROFESSIONALISM REVISITEDChannel 4 News, Sri Lanka and “Fernando”Sri Lanka Media Watch, a project of Engage Sri LankaDecember 2011Sri Lanka Media Watch is a project of Engage Sri Lanka. It was established tomonitor coverage of, and reporting on, Sri Lanka in the international media. Sri LankaMedia Watch evaluates this coverage against universally accepted journalisticstandards of accuracy and impartiality and, where necessary, a right to reply.Engage Sri Lanka was established to make the case for the United Kingdom engagingmore closely with Sri Lanka. Britain has a close historical, cultural and economicrelationship with Sri Lanka and it is important that we maintain and develop ourconnection with one of our oldest partners. In an age of economic uncertainty, Britishbusiness should make the most of its reputation in Sri Lanka and expand itsinvolvement in the Sri Lankan economy. Sri Lanka’s commercial law is based on thatof the United Kingdom and this is coupled with a skilled work force. Britain is alreadythe second largest market after the United States for Sri Lankan exports. World Bankfigures show that the Sri Lankan economy is growing by 8 percent a year. Sri Lanka isalso a strategic partner for British business in South Asia and a key point of entry intothe rapidly growing Indian market. Sri Lanka has the highest ranking in the WorldBank’s ‘Ease of doing business’ ratings in the region. The United Kingdom needs toengage as fully and vigorously as possible with Sri Lanka. British business alreadyfaces fierce competition from China and other countries. Engage Sri Lanka will seekto analyse and where necessary challenge any obstacles to our country’s political andeconomic relationship with Colombo.<www.engagesrilanka.com>Copyright © Engage Sri Lanka 20111Unprofessionalism revisited:Channel 4 News, Sri Lanka and “Fernando”On 27 July 2011, Channel 4 News screened a programme in which they claimed to have testimony from aneyewitness, “Fernando”, who said he had seen systematic war crimes committed by Sri Lankan soldiers in thefinal stages of the 26 year-long civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the “Tamil Tigers”).1 Channel 4 claimed that “Fernando”, who as usualfor Channel 4 allegations about Sri Lanka was unidentified and disguised, was operating with Sri Lanka’s58th Division during the final assaults in question. Channel 4 News claimed that he said “men, women, andchildren were actively targeted with small arms by government forces”.Channel 4 reported him as stating:When I look at it as an outsider I think they’re simply brutal beasts. Their hearts are like that of animals, with nosense of humanity. They shoot people at random, stab people, rape them, cut their tongues out, cut women’sbreasts off. I have witnessed all this with my own eyes. I have seen small children laying dead. I saw a lot of smallchildren, who were so innocent, getting killed in large numbers. A large number of elders were also killed. Theywere shooting when a large number of civilians were crossing through a lagoon, including women and children.The soldiers were shooting at them.Channel 4 has already alleged that government forces deliberately shelled civilians in the final months of thewar2, claims rejected by the government.3 Channel 4 states that the “Fernando” testimony is believed to be thefirst eyewitness account to suggest civilians were actively targeted by troops on the ground, a claim the SriLankan government also denies. “Fernando” claimed troops were allowed to act with impunity. Channel 4’s“Fernando” claimed that Sri Lankan soldiers had turned into “vampires”:For the soldiers at the battlefront, their hearts had turned to stone. Having seen blood, killings and death for solong, they had lost their sense of humanity. I would say they had turned into vampires.“Fernando” claimed that these inhumane acts extended to acts of torture and mutilation: “I saw the nakeddead bodies of women without heads and other parts of their bodies. I saw a mother and child dead and thechild's body was without its head.”A very different picture of the Sri Lankan army and its behaviour on the ground in the last few weeks anddays of the war is provided by Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, and author of The Cage:The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, a controversial, anti-government, view of thelast few months of the war.4 Weiss is clearly no friend of the government. Weiss has been presented byChannel 4 as a credible commentator on Sri Lanka, and especially the final phase of the war. He wasinterviewed extensively on Channel 4’s June 2011 programme, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, making eightseparate appearances. 5It is a simple fact, albeit one possibly not totally acknowledged or even realised by Channel 4, that the LTTEand its supporters have a particularly active and well-honed propaganda machine, rooted within the Tamildiaspora. A western intelligence service has noted that “[t]he LTTE international propaganda war isconducted at an extremely sophisticated level.”6 In “The Sri Lankan soldiers ‘whose hearts turned to stone’”,it appears that Channel 4 was spoon-fed, and accepted at face value, questionable claims without even themost basic of fact checking. A basic check would have been to evaluate the claims made by “Fernando”against the observations of Weiss, as outlined in his book covering the same events. This was not the firsttime Channel 4 had accepted and broadcast what could easily be described as semi-digested propaganda:1 “The Sri Lankan soldiers ‘whose hearts turned to stone’”, Channel 4 News, 27 July 2011, available at<http://www.channel4.com/news/the-sri-lankan-soldiers-whose-hearts-turned-to-stone>.2 “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, Channel 4, 14 June 2011, available at <http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killingfields/4od>.3 See, for example, “Lies Agreed Upon”, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, available at “LiesAgreed Upon: Sri Lanka counters Channel 4 (Full Video)”, Uploaded by gihangamos on 1 August 2011 available at<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5O1JAfRXew>. For the government's history of the final phase of the war, see HumanitarianOperation Factual Analysis July 2006-May 2009, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, July 2011,available at <http://www.defence.lk/news/20110801_Conf.pdf>.4 Gordon Weiss, The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, The Bodley Head, London, 2011.5 “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, op. cit.6 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) International Organization and Operations - A Preliminary Analysis, Commentary No 77,Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ottawa, 1999, available at<http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/com77e.htm>.2Channel 4’s “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, screened a month before this news item, had broadcast veryquestionable narratives, presented very questionable witnesses and made equally questionable claims.The background to conflictThe Sri Lankan civil war was fought from 1983 until the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. The LTTE was amilitant organisation which sought to establish an independent Tamil state in the north and the east of theisland, separate from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority. The LTTE was internationally recognised to be aparticularly vicious terrorist group and was listed as a terrorist organisation by 31 countries. The Economistnoted that “The Tigers were as vicious and totalitarian a bunch of thugs as ever adopted terrorism as anational-liberation strategy.”7 After several failed rounds of peace talks and an internationally-mediatedceasefire agreement which failed – the government claimed the LTTE had violated the agreement over 10,000times – the war recommenced.8 The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government decidedthat it would bring the LTTE’s hold on parts of Sri Lanka to an end and to do that the government had toreoccupy the territory controlled by the organisation. Government action drove the LTTE out of the entireEastern province of Sri Lanka with remarkably few civilian casualties, and in 2007 the government launchedan offensive in the north of the country. Government forces gradually re-established control of the rest ofLTTE-controlled areas, including their de-facto capital Kilinochchi and the main LTTE military base atMullaitivu, in the Vanni region.9 From late 2008 onwards, as their area of control shrank, the LTTE illegallyforced 300,000 Tamil civilians to accompany their fighters as human shields.10 By 25 April 2009, the areaheld by the LTTE, a shrinking pocket of land on the north-east coastline, was reduced to some 10 squarekilometres in size. The government declared several “no-fire zones” to protect civilians. These werenevertheless caught up in the relentless fighting between government forces and the LTTE. The LTTEadmitted defeat on 17 May.It is against this backdrop that the allegations made by “Fernando” must be examined. The difficult of dealingwith the Tamil civilians being held and used by the LTTE as human shields was a stated concern ofgovernment forces. The Sri Lankan government has outlined the detailed protocol it devised to avoid civiliancasualties. 11 Weiss correctly notes that “[f]or the [Sri Lankan army], it made no tactical sense to killcivilians.”12 He also notes that “for thirty-seven months [the Sri Lankan army] had worked its waymeticulously across the territory controlled by the Tigers, at great cost to young Sinhalese soldiers”.13 Weissalso wrote of the dangers facing the Tamil civilians attempting to flee the LTTE controlled area: “if theysurvived the jungles, minefields, booby traps and shelling, and managed to cross the Tiger lines, they mightbe shot in error by government forces.” 14 [Emphasis added.]Weiss confirmed that the government was very aware of the need to prevent the deaths of civilians: “Up untilthe beginning of 2009, the army’s tactic of driving civilians away from the front lines had been relativelysuccessful in limiting the propaganda advantage that the Tigers might gain from images of dead civilians.”15He also noted that “[t]he SLA’s strategy...had limited the deaths of non-combatants for the previous twoyears.” 167 “Truth and consequences. Nationalistic fury is good for the government, terrible for Sri Lanka”, The Economist, 28 April 2011,available at <http://www.economist.com/node/18620572?fsrc=nwl%7Cwwp%7C04-28-11%7Cpolitics_this_week>.8 “Government takes policy decision to abrogate failed CFA”, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,Colombo, 2 January 2008, available at <http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080102_12>.9 The Vanni, also spelled Wanni, is in the northern part of Sri Lanka, and comprises parts of the districts of Kilinochchi (to the north),Mullaitivu (east), Mannar (west), and Vavuniya (south).10 For a detailed analysis by Human Rights Watch of the forced displacement of the civilians, see, for example, Sri Lanka - Trapped andMistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni, Human Rights Watch, New York, 15 December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/15/trapped-and-mistreated-0>, and Besieged, Displaced and Detained: The Plight of Civiliansin Sri Lanka’s Vanni Region, Human Rights Watch, New York, December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/22/besieged-displaced-and-detained>. See, also, “Britain accuses Tamil Tigers of using civiliansas human shields. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and his French counterpart said that Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka were usingcivilians as human shields, which was preventing them from leaving the conflict zone”, The Daily Telegraph, 16 April 2009, available at<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5161118/Britain-accuses-Tamil-Tigers-of-using-civilians-as-humanshields.html>, and “Civilians escape the Tigers. Sri Lanka's army enters the last redoubt of the Tamil Tigers”, The Economist, 20 April2009, available at <http://www.economist.com/node/13522269>.11 For the government's history of the final phase of the war, see Humanitarian Operation Factual Analysis July 2006-May 2009,Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, July 2011, available at<http://www.defence.lk/news/20110801_Conf.pdf>.12 Weiss, op. cit., p.103.13 Ibid., xxiv.14 Ibid., p.103.15 Ibid., p.108.16 Ibid., p.133.3By chance, Weiss provides a snapshot of the behaviour of the very unit of which “Fernando” claimed to havebeen a member:58th Division troops overran 20,000 civilians crouching in bunkers inside the No Fire Zone. Using loudspeakersas they inched forward through the jungles and across the rice paddy fields, troops summoned people towardstheir lines, despite the ferocious fighting and shelling all around...On the whole...the vast majority of people whoescaped seem to have been received with relative restraint and care by the front-line SLA troops, who quicklypassed them up the line for tea, rice and first aid. 17Weiss records that “the army probed the Tiger defences, and calculated how to separate civilians fromcadres.” That is to say to differentiate who, as LTTE fighters, were legitimate targets, and who as civilianswere not. And he notes further that in the last few days “[c]ommandos were fighting their way through a tentcity, hurling grenades, trying to distinguish Tiger fighters from civilians...Thousands of people streamedacross the lagoon to the safety of army lines as soldiers urged them on. Tiger cadres fired at both soldiers andcivilians.”18The contrast with the grotesque claims made by Channel 4’s unidentified witness “Fernando”, and the realityprovided by Weiss – could not have been starker:It remains a credit to many of the front-line SLA soldiers that, despite odd cruel exceptions, they so often seem tohave made the effort to draw civilians out from the morass of fighting ahead of them in an attempt to save lives.Soldiers yelled out to civilians, left gaps in their lines while they waved white flags to attract people forward andbodily plucked the wounded from foxholes and bunkers. Troops bravely waded into the lagoon under fire torescue wounded people threading their way out of the battlefield or to help parents with their children, and gavetheir rations to civilians as they lay in fields, exhausted in their first moments of safety after years of living underthe roar and threat of gunfire. 19Weiss, therefore, clearly states that civilians coming into contact with the army were able to enjoy “firstmoments of safety” in years. “Fernando” and Channel 4 would have the world believe that exactly theopposite took place. They claim that the Sri Lankan army were “simply brutal beasts”, that “[t]heir hearts arelike that of animals” and that they had “no sense of humanity”. Rather than going out of their way to savecivilians – as repeatedly reported by Weiss – Channel 4 claims that they instead shot, stabbed and raped them– and if that was not enough they also found time during the intense combat to “cut their tongues out” and“cut women’s breasts off”. One version comes from an opponent of the government. One version sounds likecrass propaganda.Weiss also provides another, very different picture of the last few hours – the very moments allegedlyfeatured in the Channel 4 news item – that differs in all respects from that claimed by “Fernando”:By most accounts, despite isolated cases of looting by soldiers, the army did their best to retrieve the wounded andtransport them to hospitals. One old man, left alone and with a wounded leg in the burning tent city, was retrievedby soldiers and was then able to notify his family that he was alive because he could recall his son's telephonenumber in Germany. There were many acts of mercy that emerged from the inferno of civil war. The bedraggledcolumns of civilians were massed and counted, fed as well as possible and then transported by truck and bus towaiting internment camps in Vavuniya. Front-line soldiers gave their own rations to the terrified civilians.20Weiss provides an additional description of the treatment of civilians as they encountered government forces:“The front-line soldiers who received the first civilians as they escaped to government lines, those whoguarded them in the camps and the civilian and military doctors who provided vital treatment distinguishedthemselves most commonly through their mercy and care.” 21There was an additional observer of events towards the end of the conflict, the University Teachers forHuman Rights (UTHR). Weiss describes the University Teachers for Human Rights as a “highly regarded”and “independent” human rights organisation.22 Like Weiss, UTHR has historically been very critical of thegovernment. Nonetheless, UTHR stated:In the context of the present war which took a heavy toll on the lives of soldiers, these ordinary men have shownremarkable restraint towards civilians when they come to contact with them. The civilians are uniformly scathingabout the LTTE, and frequently found the Army helpful and considerate...It is hard to identify any other Army that17 Ibid., p.181.18 Ibid., p.211.19 Ibid., p.217.20 Ibid., p.212.21 Ibid., p.186.22 Ibid., p.69.4would have endured the provocations of the LTTE, which was angling for genocide, and caused proportionatelylittle harm.23This attitude appeared to be across the services. It is also worth mentioning that the International Committeeof the Red Cross (ICRC) commended the Sri Lankan navy for its role in the medical evacuations by sea ofsick and injured civilians during the Vanni operation. The ICRC noted that the navy personnel “displayed astrict discipline and respect of rules of engagement and at the same time a very respectful and kind attitude tohelp those in need. In that regard in addition to all others who contributed to this medical evacuation, we wishto express our special thanks to the Director General for Operations, at the Navy HQ, the OfficiatingCommander Eastern Naval Command, in Trincomalee, and to the Deputy Area Commander North, in Jaffna.They spent many sleepless hours coordinating the operation and played a crucial role to make it a success.These days demonstrated that soldiering is a noble profession”.24 (Emphasis added.)The University Teachers for Human Rights also described the behaviour of the very Sri Lankan army unitreferred to by “Fernando”:Soldiers who entered the No Fire Zone on 19th April 2009 and again on the 9th and 15th May acted withconsiderable credit when they reached the proximity of civilians. They took risks to protect civilians and helpedacross the elderly who could not walk. Those who escaped have readily acknowledged this. 25Once again, this independent perspective, from a human rights organisation hostile to the government, totallycontradicts the claims made by Channel 4 and “Fernando”.Weiss additionally reports on the response of the rest of the Sri Lankan society – overwhelmingly Sinhalese –to the reception of the freed Tamil civilians: “As the injured evacuated by the ICRC ships began tooverwhelm the hospitals in government territory, hundreds of Sinhalese doctors and nurses were drafted infrom the south.” 26He notes that:In Colombo, as television images appeared of those civilians who had escaped and were not in internment camps,many dozens of private individuals, schools, banks, religious institutions, department stores and newspapers begandrives to raise money, food and clothing for the bedraggled ‘enemy’, to the considerable credit of a population thathad lived in fear of random Tamil Tiger terrorism for three decades.27This description also provides a marked contrast with the imagery presented by Channel 4 and “Fernando”.They claim that the government forces acted with “impunity”. If, as we will subsequently see, “Fernando’s”claims that the army were allowed to kill 50,000 civilians it would point to a clear policy of the army wantingto maximise Tamil civilian casualties and suffering. The positive attitude shown to the “enemy” both duringthe fighting and afterwards, as reported by Weiss, presents a very different picture.One further point must be made. The propagandistic nature of the claims made by Channel 4 and “Fernando”manifests itself in another important respect – which is what he chose not to say. If “Fernando” had fought hisway through the Vanni up to the final few days of the conflict, it is without question that he would havewitnessed or heard of a pattern of human rights abuse and war crimes committed by the LTTE.Weiss fills in what Channel 4 and “Fernando” chose to ignore:Disturbingly, it became increasingly clear from reports emerging from the combat area that the Tamil Tigerswere...exercising a brand of ruthless terror on their own people that defies imagination. As the combat area shrankand their desperation increased, their brutality increased exponentially. They would shoot, execute and beat todeath many hundreds of people, ensure the deaths of thousands of teenagers by press-ganging them into the frontlines, and kill those children and their parents who resisted.28Weiss notes that the LTTE shelled their own civilians.29 He also notes that the LTTE “shot many hundredswho tried to cross to the safety of government lines”. 30 In one instance alone, University Teachers for Human23 “A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding”, University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka, Special ReportNo. 32, 10 June 2009.24 “ICRC commended Sri Lanka Navy for evacuating Tamil civilians safely during the war”, Colombo Page, 21 June 2011, available at<http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11A/Jun21_1308594615CH.php>.25 “A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding”, op. cit.26 Weiss, op. cit., p.186.27 Ibid.28 Ibid., pp. 141-42.29 Ibid., p.109 and p.220.5Rights reported that, on 14 May, the LTTE killed 500 civilians near a palmyra nursery near NanthikadalLagoon as they tried to cross to the other side or to Vattuvakkal to the south.31 There were dozens of otherexamples. The evidence of these LTTE atrocities, in the shape of corpses, would have been staring“Fernando” in the face. He steadfastly ignored them.The death tollThe propagandistic nature of the claims made by “Fernando” and presented by Channel 4 is also manifestedin his claims about the numbers of civilian deaths towards the end of the war. “Fernando” alleges that“[m]assive numbers of children, women and men were killed in the final stages of the war.” “Fernando”claims that more than 50,000 civilians died and that he personally saw 50,000 of them buried.The United Nations put the death toll for the last few months of the war in question at under 6,500 as of 24April 2009. The US government reported a figure, which did not differentiate between civilians and LTTEfighters, which recorded 6,710 people killed and 15,102 people injured between January 20 to April 20.32Several thousand of the dead would have been LTTE fighters. “Fernando” would have the world believe that43,500 more civilians were killed by the government in the final 21 days of the fighting. “Fernando’s” claimis also seven times higher than the UN estimate. His claim is also deeply questionable in another respect. It isalso a general statistic that for any one death in a war, there are three to four people who are wounded. Thiswould mean that if one accepts “Fernando’s” death toll, then there would have been between 150,000-200,000 injured civilians. “Fernando’s” claimed figures simply do not add up. In December 2008, HumanRights Watch put the number of civilians in the Vanni, that is to say the total number of civilians that couldhave been affected in the fighting in question, at “between 230,000 and 300,000 civilians”.33 At the end ofJanuary 2009, the BBC reported that “[t]here are thought to be about 250,000 civilians in the area in whichthe rebels are still operating.”34 The government accepts that about 300,000 civilians were being held by theLTTE.35 Gordon Weiss also states that there 300,000 civilians in the area.36 The number of registereddisplaced civilians who emerged from the Vanni pocket at the end of the crisis was 294,000.37 If 50,000people had been killed, then there could only have been 250,000 registered IDPs rather than 293,000. Whilesome of them may indeed have been injured, 150,000-200,000 of them were not. The 293,000 figure wouldalso indicate 6,000 dead or missing people, which would tally with the UN figures.To place this into another context, the UN estimated that between eighty and one hundred thousand peoplewere believed to have died in the entirety of the 26 year-long civil war.38 This figure would have included tensof thousands of government servicemen, tens of thousands of LTTE fighters and tens of thousands of civilians– many of them killed as a direct result of LTTE violence. “Fernando” is claiming that more civilians died inthe last few weeks of the war than died in the entire course of the 26 year-long civil war, all of them killed bygovernment forces.There is another fly in Channel 4’s ointment. The US government report on events in the Vanni noted thatthere was considerable satellite surveillance of the area during the last few months - and especially the finaldays: “Numerous commercial imagery-based reports issued by UN agencies and non-governmentalorganizations identified evidence of shelling in the NFZ.”39 Weiss also describes the presence and use ofsatellites: “Despite satellite pictures...the true numbers of people trapped inside the Cage remained uncertain.For this reason alone, nobody would ever know how many were killed in the attempt to ‘rescue’ them.” 40 Asfar back as 1996, satellite surveillance was said to have documented the fate and the possible graves of 8,00030 Ibid., p.96.31 “Let Them Speak: Truth about Sri Lanka’s Victims of War”, University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka, Special ReportNo. 34, 13 December 2009.32 Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka, US Department of State, Washington-DC, 2009, available at<http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/131025.pdf>, p.15.33 Trapped and Mistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni, Human Rights Watch, New York, December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ltte1208web_1.pdf>.34 “‘Civilians die’ in S Lanka battle”, BBC News, 26 January 2009, available at<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7850603.stm>.35 “Lies Agreed Upon”, op. cit.36 “Hell Or High Water”, Journeyman Pictures, YouTube, Uploaded by journeymanpictures, 22 February 2010, available at<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iFvLKdr0ho>.37 See, “Sri Lanka: Resettlement of IDPs and challenging road to peace and economic recovery”, Asian Tribune, 14 April 2011, availableat<http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/04/14/sri-lanka-resettlement-idps-and-challenging-road-peace-and-economic-recovery>.38 See, for example, “Up to 100,000 killed in Sri Lanka’s civil war: UN”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News and Agence FrancePresse, 21 May 2009, available at <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-05-20/up-to-100000-killed-in-sri-lankas-civil-war-un/1689524>.See also“Sri Lankan army deaths revealed”, BBC News, 22 May 2009.39 Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka, op. cit., p.10.40 Weiss, op. cit., p.210.6missing civilians from Srebrenica said to have been killed en masse during the war in the formerYugoslavia.41 The technology is now considerably advanced and available commercially. Weiss points to thefact that UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, some of them hostile to the government, weremonitoring events on the ground by satellite. Whereas it might be possible that the US government might beaccused of withholding any imagery it might have had, it would have been easy for privately-commissionedcommercial satellites to record and document “Fernando’s” 50,000 deaths and burials had they occurred. Theimagery would have been released within days of the end of the conflict in May 2009. There has been no suchimagery.To say that “Fernando” is an unreliable witness is a gross understatement. His claims about the conduct of theSri Lankan army are categorically disproved by the observations of Gordon Weiss, Channel 4’s own SriLanka expert, and the UTHR. The UN, Weiss and common sense also refute the wildly sensationalist claimthat he could have personally seen 50,000 dead civilians. Channel 4 News comes out of this news item in aparticularly unprofessional light. Given the very serious claims that Channel 4 have been making about warcrimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka, and the statutory requirement to be balanced and fair, onewould have expected a duty of care on their part to fully research the claims they are making. Given thatGordon Weiss and his book The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, are theonly real source – albeit controversial and challenged by the government – did Channel 4 ask Weiss tocomment on the credibility of “Fernando”, especially given that the claims he made jarred so much withWeiss’s observations?ConclusionIn conclusion, Weiss states that with the “odd...exception” the Sri Lankan army “distinguished themselvesmost commonly through their mercy and care”, that Tamil civilians “seem to have been received with relativerestraint and care by the front-line SLA troops”, and that government soldiers risked their lives under LTTEfire “to rescue wounded people”. He notes that “[t]here were many acts of mercy” by government soldiers andthat “front-line soldiers gave their own rations to the terrified civilians”. The UTHR spoke of “remarkablerestraint”. Channel 4 and their unidentified “witness”, “Fernando”, would have the world believe that this wasnot the case, and that the soldiers were instead murderous, blood-crazed “vampires” who murdered, raped andmutilated all the civilians they encountered. On the subject of the number of civilians killed, the UnitedNations issued an unverified report which claimed that six and half thousand civilians may have died up tothree weeks before the end of the war. “Fernando” claims to have personally seen 50,000 civilians buried.This claim should have been treated with as much caution as his claim that Sri Lankan soldiers had turnedinto head-hunting vampires.It must be stated that there is no doubt that the army may have killed civilians, either in crossfire with theLTTE or through accidental challenges in what was obviously a hellish situation. There may also have beenwhat Weiss describes as “the odd cruel exception”.At face value the claims made by Channel 4 appear to be an echo of the sorts of “atrocity” propaganda seen inmost wars. They are strangely reminiscent of the sorts of claims made in the Bryce Report during the FirstWorld War. The distinguished British lawyer and diplomat Lord Bryce put his name to a report, published in1915 by the British government and translated into thirty languages, which alleged, amongst other things,mass rapes, bayoneting babies, and the cutting off of children’s hands and women’s breasts. While there is nodoubt that German forces were party to unacceptable behaviour, it is now evident that there were manyquestions about the accuracy of the Bryce Report. A Belgian commission of enquiry in 1922 was unable tocorroborate a single significant allegation made in the Bryce Report. It has subsequently been described as“largely a tissue of invention, unsubstantiated observations by unnamed witnesses, and second-handeyewitness reports, depending far more on imagination than any other factor.”42 The American historian H.C.Peterson called the Bryce Report “one of the worst atrocities of the war”.43It could quite easily be said that Channel 4’s claims about Sri Lanka also appear to be largely a tissue ofinvention, unsubstantiated observations by unnamed witnesses, and second-hand eyewitness reports,depending far more on imagination than any other factor. The question must therefore be why has Channel 4News been so unprofessional in its coverage of events in Sri Lanka? Why are they enthusiastically embracingclaims that are nothing more than superficial atrocity propaganda?41 “Probe in Bosnia Seeks ‘Echoes’ of Mass Killing”, The Los Angeles Times, 14 April 1996, available at<http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-14/news/mn-58546_1_bosnian-serb-leader>.42 See, for example, Peter Buitenhuis, The Great War of Words: Literature as Propaganda 1914-18 and After, B.T. Batsford Ltd,London, 1989, p.27, and Phillip Knightley, The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea toKosovo, Prion Books, London, 2000, p.87-88.43 H.C. Peterson, Propaganda for War: The Campaign against American Neutrality, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1939, p.58.
UNPROFESSIONALISM REVISITEDChannel 4 News, Sri Lanka and “Fernando”Sri Lanka Media Watch, a project of Engage Sri LankaDecember 2011Sri Lanka Media Watch is a project of Engage Sri Lanka. It was established tomonitor coverage of, and reporting on, Sri Lanka in the international media. Sri LankaMedia Watch evaluates this coverage against universally accepted journalisticstandards of accuracy and impartiality and, where necessary, a right to reply.Engage Sri Lanka was established to make the case for the United Kingdom engagingmore closely with Sri Lanka. Britain has a close historical, cultural and economicrelationship with Sri Lanka and it is important that we maintain and develop ourconnection with one of our oldest partners. In an age of economic uncertainty, Britishbusiness should make the most of its reputation in Sri Lanka and expand itsinvolvement in the Sri Lankan economy. Sri Lanka’s commercial law is based on thatof the United Kingdom and this is coupled with a skilled work force. Britain is alreadythe second largest market after the United States for Sri Lankan exports. World Bankfigures show that the Sri Lankan economy is growing by 8 percent a year. Sri Lanka isalso a strategic partner for British business in South Asia and a key point of entry intothe rapidly growing Indian market. Sri Lanka has the highest ranking in the WorldBank’s ‘Ease of doing business’ ratings in the region. The United Kingdom needs toengage as fully and vigorously as possible with Sri Lanka. British business alreadyfaces fierce competition from China and other countries. Engage Sri Lanka will seekto analyse and where necessary challenge any obstacles to our country’s political andeconomic relationship with Colombo.<www.engagesrilanka.com>Copyright © Engage Sri Lanka 20111Unprofessionalism revisited:Channel 4 News, Sri Lanka and “Fernando”On 27 July 2011, Channel 4 News screened a programme in which they claimed to have testimony from aneyewitness, “Fernando”, who said he had seen systematic war crimes committed by Sri Lankan soldiers in thefinal stages of the 26 year-long civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the “Tamil Tigers”).1 Channel 4 claimed that “Fernando”, who as usualfor Channel 4 allegations about Sri Lanka was unidentified and disguised, was operating with Sri Lanka’s58th Division during the final assaults in question. Channel 4 News claimed that he said “men, women, andchildren were actively targeted with small arms by government forces”.Channel 4 reported him as stating:When I look at it as an outsider I think they’re simply brutal beasts. Their hearts are like that of animals, with nosense of humanity. They shoot people at random, stab people, rape them, cut their tongues out, cut women’sbreasts off. I have witnessed all this with my own eyes. I have seen small children laying dead. I saw a lot of smallchildren, who were so innocent, getting killed in large numbers. A large number of elders were also killed. Theywere shooting when a large number of civilians were crossing through a lagoon, including women and children.The soldiers were shooting at them.Channel 4 has already alleged that government forces deliberately shelled civilians in the final months of thewar2, claims rejected by the government.3 Channel 4 states that the “Fernando” testimony is believed to be thefirst eyewitness account to suggest civilians were actively targeted by troops on the ground, a claim the SriLankan government also denies. “Fernando” claimed troops were allowed to act with impunity. Channel 4’s“Fernando” claimed that Sri Lankan soldiers had turned into “vampires”:For the soldiers at the battlefront, their hearts had turned to stone. Having seen blood, killings and death for solong, they had lost their sense of humanity. I would say they had turned into vampires.“Fernando” claimed that these inhumane acts extended to acts of torture and mutilation: “I saw the nakeddead bodies of women without heads and other parts of their bodies. I saw a mother and child dead and thechild's body was without its head.”A very different picture of the Sri Lankan army and its behaviour on the ground in the last few weeks anddays of the war is provided by Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, and author of The Cage:The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, a controversial, anti-government, view of thelast few months of the war.4 Weiss is clearly no friend of the government. Weiss has been presented byChannel 4 as a credible commentator on Sri Lanka, and especially the final phase of the war. He wasinterviewed extensively on Channel 4’s June 2011 programme, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, making eightseparate appearances. 5It is a simple fact, albeit one possibly not totally acknowledged or even realised by Channel 4, that the LTTEand its supporters have a particularly active and well-honed propaganda machine, rooted within the Tamildiaspora. A western intelligence service has noted that “[t]he LTTE international propaganda war isconducted at an extremely sophisticated level.”6 In “The Sri Lankan soldiers ‘whose hearts turned to stone’”,it appears that Channel 4 was spoon-fed, and accepted at face value, questionable claims without even themost basic of fact checking. A basic check would have been to evaluate the claims made by “Fernando”against the observations of Weiss, as outlined in his book covering the same events. This was not the firsttime Channel 4 had accepted and broadcast what could easily be described as semi-digested propaganda:1 “The Sri Lankan soldiers ‘whose hearts turned to stone’”, Channel 4 News, 27 July 2011, available at<http://www.channel4.com/news/the-sri-lankan-soldiers-whose-hearts-turned-to-stone>.2 “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, Channel 4, 14 June 2011, available at <http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killingfields/4od>.3 See, for example, “Lies Agreed Upon”, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, available at “LiesAgreed Upon: Sri Lanka counters Channel 4 (Full Video)”, Uploaded by gihangamos on 1 August 2011 available at<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5O1JAfRXew>. For the government's history of the final phase of the war, see HumanitarianOperation Factual Analysis July 2006-May 2009, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, July 2011,available at <http://www.defence.lk/news/20110801_Conf.pdf>.4 Gordon Weiss, The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, The Bodley Head, London, 2011.5 “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, op. cit.6 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) International Organization and Operations - A Preliminary Analysis, Commentary No 77,Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Ottawa, 1999, available at<http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/docs/com77e.htm>.2Channel 4’s “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, screened a month before this news item, had broadcast veryquestionable narratives, presented very questionable witnesses and made equally questionable claims.The background to conflictThe Sri Lankan civil war was fought from 1983 until the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. The LTTE was amilitant organisation which sought to establish an independent Tamil state in the north and the east of theisland, separate from Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority. The LTTE was internationally recognised to be aparticularly vicious terrorist group and was listed as a terrorist organisation by 31 countries. The Economistnoted that “The Tigers were as vicious and totalitarian a bunch of thugs as ever adopted terrorism as anational-liberation strategy.”7 After several failed rounds of peace talks and an internationally-mediatedceasefire agreement which failed – the government claimed the LTTE had violated the agreement over 10,000times – the war recommenced.8 The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government decidedthat it would bring the LTTE’s hold on parts of Sri Lanka to an end and to do that the government had toreoccupy the territory controlled by the organisation. Government action drove the LTTE out of the entireEastern province of Sri Lanka with remarkably few civilian casualties, and in 2007 the government launchedan offensive in the north of the country. Government forces gradually re-established control of the rest ofLTTE-controlled areas, including their de-facto capital Kilinochchi and the main LTTE military base atMullaitivu, in the Vanni region.9 From late 2008 onwards, as their area of control shrank, the LTTE illegallyforced 300,000 Tamil civilians to accompany their fighters as human shields.10 By 25 April 2009, the areaheld by the LTTE, a shrinking pocket of land on the north-east coastline, was reduced to some 10 squarekilometres in size. The government declared several “no-fire zones” to protect civilians. These werenevertheless caught up in the relentless fighting between government forces and the LTTE. The LTTEadmitted defeat on 17 May.It is against this backdrop that the allegations made by “Fernando” must be examined. The difficult of dealingwith the Tamil civilians being held and used by the LTTE as human shields was a stated concern ofgovernment forces. The Sri Lankan government has outlined the detailed protocol it devised to avoid civiliancasualties. 11 Weiss correctly notes that “[f]or the [Sri Lankan army], it made no tactical sense to killcivilians.”12 He also notes that “for thirty-seven months [the Sri Lankan army] had worked its waymeticulously across the territory controlled by the Tigers, at great cost to young Sinhalese soldiers”.13 Weissalso wrote of the dangers facing the Tamil civilians attempting to flee the LTTE controlled area: “if theysurvived the jungles, minefields, booby traps and shelling, and managed to cross the Tiger lines, they mightbe shot in error by government forces.” 14 [Emphasis added.]Weiss confirmed that the government was very aware of the need to prevent the deaths of civilians: “Up untilthe beginning of 2009, the army’s tactic of driving civilians away from the front lines had been relativelysuccessful in limiting the propaganda advantage that the Tigers might gain from images of dead civilians.”15He also noted that “[t]he SLA’s strategy...had limited the deaths of non-combatants for the previous twoyears.” 167 “Truth and consequences. Nationalistic fury is good for the government, terrible for Sri Lanka”, The Economist, 28 April 2011,available at <http://www.economist.com/node/18620572?fsrc=nwl%7Cwwp%7C04-28-11%7Cpolitics_this_week>.8 “Government takes policy decision to abrogate failed CFA”, Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,Colombo, 2 January 2008, available at <http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080102_12>.9 The Vanni, also spelled Wanni, is in the northern part of Sri Lanka, and comprises parts of the districts of Kilinochchi (to the north),Mullaitivu (east), Mannar (west), and Vavuniya (south).10 For a detailed analysis by Human Rights Watch of the forced displacement of the civilians, see, for example, Sri Lanka - Trapped andMistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni, Human Rights Watch, New York, 15 December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/15/trapped-and-mistreated-0>, and Besieged, Displaced and Detained: The Plight of Civiliansin Sri Lanka’s Vanni Region, Human Rights Watch, New York, December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/12/22/besieged-displaced-and-detained>. See, also, “Britain accuses Tamil Tigers of using civiliansas human shields. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and his French counterpart said that Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka were usingcivilians as human shields, which was preventing them from leaving the conflict zone”, The Daily Telegraph, 16 April 2009, available at<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5161118/Britain-accuses-Tamil-Tigers-of-using-civilians-as-humanshields.html>, and “Civilians escape the Tigers. Sri Lanka's army enters the last redoubt of the Tamil Tigers”, The Economist, 20 April2009, available at <http://www.economist.com/node/13522269>.11 For the government's history of the final phase of the war, see Humanitarian Operation Factual Analysis July 2006-May 2009,Ministry of Defence, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Colombo, July 2011, available at<http://www.defence.lk/news/20110801_Conf.pdf>.12 Weiss, op. cit., p.103.13 Ibid., xxiv.14 Ibid., p.103.15 Ibid., p.108.16 Ibid., p.133.3By chance, Weiss provides a snapshot of the behaviour of the very unit of which “Fernando” claimed to havebeen a member:58th Division troops overran 20,000 civilians crouching in bunkers inside the No Fire Zone. Using loudspeakersas they inched forward through the jungles and across the rice paddy fields, troops summoned people towardstheir lines, despite the ferocious fighting and shelling all around...On the whole...the vast majority of people whoescaped seem to have been received with relative restraint and care by the front-line SLA troops, who quicklypassed them up the line for tea, rice and first aid. 17Weiss records that “the army probed the Tiger defences, and calculated how to separate civilians fromcadres.” That is to say to differentiate who, as LTTE fighters, were legitimate targets, and who as civilianswere not. And he notes further that in the last few days “[c]ommandos were fighting their way through a tentcity, hurling grenades, trying to distinguish Tiger fighters from civilians...Thousands of people streamedacross the lagoon to the safety of army lines as soldiers urged them on. Tiger cadres fired at both soldiers andcivilians.”18The contrast with the grotesque claims made by Channel 4’s unidentified witness “Fernando”, and the realityprovided by Weiss – could not have been starker:It remains a credit to many of the front-line SLA soldiers that, despite odd cruel exceptions, they so often seem tohave made the effort to draw civilians out from the morass of fighting ahead of them in an attempt to save lives.Soldiers yelled out to civilians, left gaps in their lines while they waved white flags to attract people forward andbodily plucked the wounded from foxholes and bunkers. Troops bravely waded into the lagoon under fire torescue wounded people threading their way out of the battlefield or to help parents with their children, and gavetheir rations to civilians as they lay in fields, exhausted in their first moments of safety after years of living underthe roar and threat of gunfire. 19Weiss, therefore, clearly states that civilians coming into contact with the army were able to enjoy “firstmoments of safety” in years. “Fernando” and Channel 4 would have the world believe that exactly theopposite took place. They claim that the Sri Lankan army were “simply brutal beasts”, that “[t]heir hearts arelike that of animals” and that they had “no sense of humanity”. Rather than going out of their way to savecivilians – as repeatedly reported by Weiss – Channel 4 claims that they instead shot, stabbed and raped them– and if that was not enough they also found time during the intense combat to “cut their tongues out” and“cut women’s breasts off”. One version comes from an opponent of the government. One version sounds likecrass propaganda.Weiss also provides another, very different picture of the last few hours – the very moments allegedlyfeatured in the Channel 4 news item – that differs in all respects from that claimed by “Fernando”:By most accounts, despite isolated cases of looting by soldiers, the army did their best to retrieve the wounded andtransport them to hospitals. One old man, left alone and with a wounded leg in the burning tent city, was retrievedby soldiers and was then able to notify his family that he was alive because he could recall his son's telephonenumber in Germany. There were many acts of mercy that emerged from the inferno of civil war. The bedraggledcolumns of civilians were massed and counted, fed as well as possible and then transported by truck and bus towaiting internment camps in Vavuniya. Front-line soldiers gave their own rations to the terrified civilians.20Weiss provides an additional description of the treatment of civilians as they encountered government forces:“The front-line soldiers who received the first civilians as they escaped to government lines, those whoguarded them in the camps and the civilian and military doctors who provided vital treatment distinguishedthemselves most commonly through their mercy and care.” 21There was an additional observer of events towards the end of the conflict, the University Teachers forHuman Rights (UTHR). Weiss describes the University Teachers for Human Rights as a “highly regarded”and “independent” human rights organisation.22 Like Weiss, UTHR has historically been very critical of thegovernment. Nonetheless, UTHR stated:In the context of the present war which took a heavy toll on the lives of soldiers, these ordinary men have shownremarkable restraint towards civilians when they come to contact with them. The civilians are uniformly scathingabout the LTTE, and frequently found the Army helpful and considerate...It is hard to identify any other Army that17 Ibid., p.181.18 Ibid., p.211.19 Ibid., p.217.20 Ibid., p.212.21 Ibid., p.186.22 Ibid., p.69.4would have endured the provocations of the LTTE, which was angling for genocide, and caused proportionatelylittle harm.23This attitude appeared to be across the services. It is also worth mentioning that the International Committeeof the Red Cross (ICRC) commended the Sri Lankan navy for its role in the medical evacuations by sea ofsick and injured civilians during the Vanni operation. The ICRC noted that the navy personnel “displayed astrict discipline and respect of rules of engagement and at the same time a very respectful and kind attitude tohelp those in need. In that regard in addition to all others who contributed to this medical evacuation, we wishto express our special thanks to the Director General for Operations, at the Navy HQ, the OfficiatingCommander Eastern Naval Command, in Trincomalee, and to the Deputy Area Commander North, in Jaffna.They spent many sleepless hours coordinating the operation and played a crucial role to make it a success.These days demonstrated that soldiering is a noble profession”.24 (Emphasis added.)The University Teachers for Human Rights also described the behaviour of the very Sri Lankan army unitreferred to by “Fernando”:Soldiers who entered the No Fire Zone on 19th April 2009 and again on the 9th and 15th May acted withconsiderable credit when they reached the proximity of civilians. They took risks to protect civilians and helpedacross the elderly who could not walk. Those who escaped have readily acknowledged this. 25Once again, this independent perspective, from a human rights organisation hostile to the government, totallycontradicts the claims made by Channel 4 and “Fernando”.Weiss additionally reports on the response of the rest of the Sri Lankan society – overwhelmingly Sinhalese –to the reception of the freed Tamil civilians: “As the injured evacuated by the ICRC ships began tooverwhelm the hospitals in government territory, hundreds of Sinhalese doctors and nurses were drafted infrom the south.” 26He notes that:In Colombo, as television images appeared of those civilians who had escaped and were not in internment camps,many dozens of private individuals, schools, banks, religious institutions, department stores and newspapers begandrives to raise money, food and clothing for the bedraggled ‘enemy’, to the considerable credit of a population thathad lived in fear of random Tamil Tiger terrorism for three decades.27This description also provides a marked contrast with the imagery presented by Channel 4 and “Fernando”.They claim that the government forces acted with “impunity”. If, as we will subsequently see, “Fernando’s”claims that the army were allowed to kill 50,000 civilians it would point to a clear policy of the army wantingto maximise Tamil civilian casualties and suffering. The positive attitude shown to the “enemy” both duringthe fighting and afterwards, as reported by Weiss, presents a very different picture.One further point must be made. The propagandistic nature of the claims made by Channel 4 and “Fernando”manifests itself in another important respect – which is what he chose not to say. If “Fernando” had fought hisway through the Vanni up to the final few days of the conflict, it is without question that he would havewitnessed or heard of a pattern of human rights abuse and war crimes committed by the LTTE.Weiss fills in what Channel 4 and “Fernando” chose to ignore:Disturbingly, it became increasingly clear from reports emerging from the combat area that the Tamil Tigerswere...exercising a brand of ruthless terror on their own people that defies imagination. As the combat area shrankand their desperation increased, their brutality increased exponentially. They would shoot, execute and beat todeath many hundreds of people, ensure the deaths of thousands of teenagers by press-ganging them into the frontlines, and kill those children and their parents who resisted.28Weiss notes that the LTTE shelled their own civilians.29 He also notes that the LTTE “shot many hundredswho tried to cross to the safety of government lines”. 30 In one instance alone, University Teachers for Human23 “A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding”, University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka, Special ReportNo. 32, 10 June 2009.24 “ICRC commended Sri Lanka Navy for evacuating Tamil civilians safely during the war”, Colombo Page, 21 June 2011, available at<http://www.colombopage.com/archive_11A/Jun21_1308594615CH.php>.25 “A Marred Victory and a Defeat Pregnant with Foreboding”, op. cit.26 Weiss, op. cit., p.186.27 Ibid.28 Ibid., pp. 141-42.29 Ibid., p.109 and p.220.5Rights reported that, on 14 May, the LTTE killed 500 civilians near a palmyra nursery near NanthikadalLagoon as they tried to cross to the other side or to Vattuvakkal to the south.31 There were dozens of otherexamples. The evidence of these LTTE atrocities, in the shape of corpses, would have been staring“Fernando” in the face. He steadfastly ignored them.The death tollThe propagandistic nature of the claims made by “Fernando” and presented by Channel 4 is also manifestedin his claims about the numbers of civilian deaths towards the end of the war. “Fernando” alleges that“[m]assive numbers of children, women and men were killed in the final stages of the war.” “Fernando”claims that more than 50,000 civilians died and that he personally saw 50,000 of them buried.The United Nations put the death toll for the last few months of the war in question at under 6,500 as of 24April 2009. The US government reported a figure, which did not differentiate between civilians and LTTEfighters, which recorded 6,710 people killed and 15,102 people injured between January 20 to April 20.32Several thousand of the dead would have been LTTE fighters. “Fernando” would have the world believe that43,500 more civilians were killed by the government in the final 21 days of the fighting. “Fernando’s” claimis also seven times higher than the UN estimate. His claim is also deeply questionable in another respect. It isalso a general statistic that for any one death in a war, there are three to four people who are wounded. Thiswould mean that if one accepts “Fernando’s” death toll, then there would have been between 150,000-200,000 injured civilians. “Fernando’s” claimed figures simply do not add up. In December 2008, HumanRights Watch put the number of civilians in the Vanni, that is to say the total number of civilians that couldhave been affected in the fighting in question, at “between 230,000 and 300,000 civilians”.33 At the end ofJanuary 2009, the BBC reported that “[t]here are thought to be about 250,000 civilians in the area in whichthe rebels are still operating.”34 The government accepts that about 300,000 civilians were being held by theLTTE.35 Gordon Weiss also states that there 300,000 civilians in the area.36 The number of registereddisplaced civilians who emerged from the Vanni pocket at the end of the crisis was 294,000.37 If 50,000people had been killed, then there could only have been 250,000 registered IDPs rather than 293,000. Whilesome of them may indeed have been injured, 150,000-200,000 of them were not. The 293,000 figure wouldalso indicate 6,000 dead or missing people, which would tally with the UN figures.To place this into another context, the UN estimated that between eighty and one hundred thousand peoplewere believed to have died in the entirety of the 26 year-long civil war.38 This figure would have included tensof thousands of government servicemen, tens of thousands of LTTE fighters and tens of thousands of civilians– many of them killed as a direct result of LTTE violence. “Fernando” is claiming that more civilians died inthe last few weeks of the war than died in the entire course of the 26 year-long civil war, all of them killed bygovernment forces.There is another fly in Channel 4’s ointment. The US government report on events in the Vanni noted thatthere was considerable satellite surveillance of the area during the last few months - and especially the finaldays: “Numerous commercial imagery-based reports issued by UN agencies and non-governmentalorganizations identified evidence of shelling in the NFZ.”39 Weiss also describes the presence and use ofsatellites: “Despite satellite pictures...the true numbers of people trapped inside the Cage remained uncertain.For this reason alone, nobody would ever know how many were killed in the attempt to ‘rescue’ them.” 40 Asfar back as 1996, satellite surveillance was said to have documented the fate and the possible graves of 8,00030 Ibid., p.96.31 “Let Them Speak: Truth about Sri Lanka’s Victims of War”, University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), Sri Lanka, Special ReportNo. 34, 13 December 2009.32 Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka, US Department of State, Washington-DC, 2009, available at<http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/131025.pdf>, p.15.33 Trapped and Mistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni, Human Rights Watch, New York, December 2008, available at<http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ltte1208web_1.pdf>.34 “‘Civilians die’ in S Lanka battle”, BBC News, 26 January 2009, available at<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/7850603.stm>.35 “Lies Agreed Upon”, op. cit.36 “Hell Or High Water”, Journeyman Pictures, YouTube, Uploaded by journeymanpictures, 22 February 2010, available at<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iFvLKdr0ho>.37 See, “Sri Lanka: Resettlement of IDPs and challenging road to peace and economic recovery”, Asian Tribune, 14 April 2011, availableat<http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/04/14/sri-lanka-resettlement-idps-and-challenging-road-peace-and-economic-recovery>.38 See, for example, “Up to 100,000 killed in Sri Lanka’s civil war: UN”, Australian Broadcasting Corporation News and Agence FrancePresse, 21 May 2009, available at <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-05-20/up-to-100000-killed-in-sri-lankas-civil-war-un/1689524>.See also“Sri Lankan army deaths revealed”, BBC News, 22 May 2009.39 Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka, op. cit., p.10.40 Weiss, op. cit., p.210.6missing civilians from Srebrenica said to have been killed en masse during the war in the formerYugoslavia.41 The technology is now considerably advanced and available commercially. Weiss points to thefact that UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, some of them hostile to the government, weremonitoring events on the ground by satellite. Whereas it might be possible that the US government might beaccused of withholding any imagery it might have had, it would have been easy for privately-commissionedcommercial satellites to record and document “Fernando’s” 50,000 deaths and burials had they occurred. Theimagery would have been released within days of the end of the conflict in May 2009. There has been no suchimagery.To say that “Fernando” is an unreliable witness is a gross understatement. His claims about the conduct of theSri Lankan army are categorically disproved by the observations of Gordon Weiss, Channel 4’s own SriLanka expert, and the UTHR. The UN, Weiss and common sense also refute the wildly sensationalist claimthat he could have personally seen 50,000 dead civilians. Channel 4 News comes out of this news item in aparticularly unprofessional light. Given the very serious claims that Channel 4 have been making about warcrimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka, and the statutory requirement to be balanced and fair, onewould have expected a duty of care on their part to fully research the claims they are making. Given thatGordon Weiss and his book The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, are theonly real source – albeit controversial and challenged by the government – did Channel 4 ask Weiss tocomment on the credibility of “Fernando”, especially given that the claims he made jarred so much withWeiss’s observations?ConclusionIn conclusion, Weiss states that with the “odd...exception” the Sri Lankan army “distinguished themselvesmost commonly through their mercy and care”, that Tamil civilians “seem to have been received with relativerestraint and care by the front-line SLA troops”, and that government soldiers risked their lives under LTTEfire “to rescue wounded people”. He notes that “[t]here were many acts of mercy” by government soldiers andthat “front-line soldiers gave their own rations to the terrified civilians”. The UTHR spoke of “remarkablerestraint”. Channel 4 and their unidentified “witness”, “Fernando”, would have the world believe that this wasnot the case, and that the soldiers were instead murderous, blood-crazed “vampires” who murdered, raped andmutilated all the civilians they encountered. On the subject of the number of civilians killed, the UnitedNations issued an unverified report which claimed that six and half thousand civilians may have died up tothree weeks before the end of the war. “Fernando” claims to have personally seen 50,000 civilians buried.This claim should have been treated with as much caution as his claim that Sri Lankan soldiers had turnedinto head-hunting vampires.It must be stated that there is no doubt that the army may have killed civilians, either in crossfire with theLTTE or through accidental challenges in what was obviously a hellish situation. There may also have beenwhat Weiss describes as “the odd cruel exception”.At face value the claims made by Channel 4 appear to be an echo of the sorts of “atrocity” propaganda seen inmost wars. They are strangely reminiscent of the sorts of claims made in the Bryce Report during the FirstWorld War. The distinguished British lawyer and diplomat Lord Bryce put his name to a report, published in1915 by the British government and translated into thirty languages, which alleged, amongst other things,mass rapes, bayoneting babies, and the cutting off of children’s hands and women’s breasts. While there is nodoubt that German forces were party to unacceptable behaviour, it is now evident that there were manyquestions about the accuracy of the Bryce Report. A Belgian commission of enquiry in 1922 was unable tocorroborate a single significant allegation made in the Bryce Report. It has subsequently been described as“largely a tissue of invention, unsubstantiated observations by unnamed witnesses, and second-handeyewitness reports, depending far more on imagination than any other factor.”42 The American historian H.C.Peterson called the Bryce Report “one of the worst atrocities of the war”.43It could quite easily be said that Channel 4’s claims about Sri Lanka also appear to be largely a tissue ofinvention, unsubstantiated observations by unnamed witnesses, and second-hand eyewitness reports,depending far more on imagination than any other factor. The question must therefore be why has Channel 4News been so unprofessional in its coverage of events in Sri Lanka? Why are they enthusiastically embracingclaims that are nothing more than superficial atrocity propaganda?41 “Probe in Bosnia Seeks ‘Echoes’ of Mass Killing”, The Los Angeles Times, 14 April 1996, available at<http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-14/news/mn-58546_1_bosnian-serb-leader>.42 See, for example, Peter Buitenhuis, The Great War of Words: Literature as Propaganda 1914-18 and After, B.T. Batsford Ltd,London, 1989, p.27, and Phillip Knightley, The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker from the Crimea toKosovo, Prion Books, London, 2000, p.87-88.43 H.C. Peterson, Propaganda for War: The Campaign against American Neutrality, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1939, p.58.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/12/22/news11.asp
LLRC report receives Commonwealth plaudits
The Commonwealth hopes that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report will advance the cause of accountability, saying that genuine reconciliation and accountability go hand-in-hand.
Applauding the intent of transparency with which the government tabled the full report of the Commission before Parliament, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said the recommendations in the report should be implemented in an objective, even-handed and forward-looking manner.
"It is for the government and people of Sri Lanka to chart their country's way forward after the military defeat of the forces of terrorism," Sharma said, commenting on the report of the LLRC.
"The Commonwealth, as a partner of Sri Lanka, which is a founder member of the modern Commonwealth, remains ready to assist the government in dealing with the challenges of building a harmonious and sustainable peace," he said in a press release.
The LLRC report cleared the army of deliberately targeting civilians in the final stages of the war against the LTTE, though conceding that some isolated incidents could have occurred.
The Commission called for a political settlement of the ethnic conflict with the Tamils and asked the government to take the initiative for "a serious and structured" dialogue with all political parties, particularly those representing the minorities.
It asked the government to reach out to minorities and said that the Tamils should in turn reposition themselves in their role vis-a-vis the state. PTI
LLRC report receives Commonwealth plaudits
The Commonwealth hopes that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report will advance the cause of accountability, saying that genuine reconciliation and accountability go hand-in-hand.
Applauding the intent of transparency with which the government tabled the full report of the Commission before Parliament, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma said the recommendations in the report should be implemented in an objective, even-handed and forward-looking manner.
"It is for the government and people of Sri Lanka to chart their country's way forward after the military defeat of the forces of terrorism," Sharma said, commenting on the report of the LLRC.
"The Commonwealth, as a partner of Sri Lanka, which is a founder member of the modern Commonwealth, remains ready to assist the government in dealing with the challenges of building a harmonious and sustainable peace," he said in a press release.
The LLRC report cleared the army of deliberately targeting civilians in the final stages of the war against the LTTE, though conceding that some isolated incidents could have occurred.
The Commission called for a political settlement of the ethnic conflict with the Tamils and asked the government to take the initiative for "a serious and structured" dialogue with all political parties, particularly those representing the minorities.
It asked the government to reach out to minorities and said that the Tamils should in turn reposition themselves in their role vis-a-vis the state. PTI
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111220_02
Families of massacred policemen commend LLRC report
Family members of the missing policemen in Sri Lanka have welcomed the recommendation by a presidential panel for a full investigation into the alleged killing of six hundred policemen. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has recommended that the killing of nearly 600 policemen in the east who surrendered to Tamil Tigers in 1990, should be investigated.
The policemen were ordered by the government led by Ranasinghe Premadasa to lay down the arms and surrender to the LTTE. The Commission is of the view that this matter warrants a full investigation because of the nature of the crime and the bearing it has on reconciliation."
The parents of the missing policemen have said it is important for the families to find those responsible for the crime. One of the policemen who escaped has told the families that at least 130 policemen were taken away by abductees in three buses. Then their hands were tied, beaten and later burnt using used tyres.
The police department has been paying salaries of all policemen who are still officially regarded as missing. (niz)
Courtesy : Department of Government Information
Families of massacred policemen commend LLRC report
Family members of the missing policemen in Sri Lanka have welcomed the recommendation by a presidential panel for a full investigation into the alleged killing of six hundred policemen. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has recommended that the killing of nearly 600 policemen in the east who surrendered to Tamil Tigers in 1990, should be investigated.
The policemen were ordered by the government led by Ranasinghe Premadasa to lay down the arms and surrender to the LTTE. The Commission is of the view that this matter warrants a full investigation because of the nature of the crime and the bearing it has on reconciliation."
The parents of the missing policemen have said it is important for the families to find those responsible for the crime. One of the policemen who escaped has told the families that at least 130 policemen were taken away by abductees in three buses. Then their hands were tied, beaten and later burnt using used tyres.
The police department has been paying salaries of all policemen who are still officially regarded as missing. (niz)
Courtesy : Department of Government Information
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111220_01
Sri Lanka tourism achieves 800,000 arrivals in 2011
Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country's booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of 800,000th tourist in year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (19th Dec.) evening. This is the first time ever; the tourism industry has received number of arrivals exceeding 800,000 in any given year, making it a ground breaking figure in tourism records. Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism-Dr.Nalaka Godahewa and Managing Director -Mr. Rumy Jauffeur with a group of representatives from travel and tourism Industry warmly welcomed the guest who arrived via UL 501 Sri Lankan Airlines flight from London.
Sri Lanka Tourism offered a special gift and a complimentary package to the tourist who arrived today to visit country's well- known attractions. During year 2010, total number of tourist arrivals were recorded as 654,476 nos. as opposed to 800,000 in 2012 so far, which is a 33.1% annual growth. This year has seen a massive contribution to this total from India, Japan, Germany, U.K, France, Netherlands, Italy, and Middle Eastern countries. The month of November 2011 breaks another record being the month which received the highest number of tourists - 90,889 numbers in the history of Sri Lanka Tourism calender years.
The arrival of 800,000th tourist has turned everyone's eyes on country's fast growing tourism sector which has started sending positive signals of its promising future ahead.At the beginning of year 2011 Sri Lanka Tourism launched their marketing campaign named as "Refreshingly Sri Lanka - Visit 2011",with the aim of showcasing Sri Lanka as an Island of new found freedom; a place where the visitor can experience everything that is refreshing under the sun.With this new branding, Sri Lanka tourism promoted 8 segments encapsulating 8 wonderful experiences a tourist can enjoy within eight days such as: Pristine,Heritage Bliss, Thrills, Festivities, Essence, Scenic beauty and Wild Life. These eight experiences were further stretched into twelve sub-themes to promote each month of 2011, including beaches, sports & adventure, MICE, people & culture, religious tourism, weddings & honeymoons, body & mind wellness, heritage, nature & wildlife, community & education, culinary and shopping & entertainment.
Under the guidance of Minister of Economic Development - Basil Rajapakse, a five year strategic development plan has been launched for tourism sector for year 2011-2016, based on the Mahinda Chintana -Vision for the Future - Development Policy Framework. This strategic development plan of Sri Lanka tourism will achieve its core objectives serving the needs of all stakeholders and ensuring the economic benefits of the industry distributed to a larger cross section of the society from fisherman, carftman, farmer, street vendor, tour guide, tour operator, up to the Hotel industry. During this 5 year period the country targets to attract US$ 3,000 million worth Foreign Direct investment (FDI) from tourism sector most of which will be invested in tourism infrastructure development. There will be an increase in the foreign exchange earnings from US$ 500 million in 2010 to USD 2.75 billion by the year 2016. A huge increase is expected in the tourism related employment from 125,000 in 2010 to 500,000 by 2016.
www.defence.lk">
Courtesy : Department of Government Information
Sri Lanka tourism achieves 800,000 arrivals in 2011
Achieving another remarkable milestone in the country's booming tourism industry, Sri Lanka Tourism welcomed the arrival of 800,000th tourist in year 2011 at the Bandaranaike International Airport today (19th Dec.) evening. This is the first time ever; the tourism industry has received number of arrivals exceeding 800,000 in any given year, making it a ground breaking figure in tourism records. Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism-Dr.Nalaka Godahewa and Managing Director -Mr. Rumy Jauffeur with a group of representatives from travel and tourism Industry warmly welcomed the guest who arrived via UL 501 Sri Lankan Airlines flight from London.
Sri Lanka Tourism offered a special gift and a complimentary package to the tourist who arrived today to visit country's well- known attractions. During year 2010, total number of tourist arrivals were recorded as 654,476 nos. as opposed to 800,000 in 2012 so far, which is a 33.1% annual growth. This year has seen a massive contribution to this total from India, Japan, Germany, U.K, France, Netherlands, Italy, and Middle Eastern countries. The month of November 2011 breaks another record being the month which received the highest number of tourists - 90,889 numbers in the history of Sri Lanka Tourism calender years.
The arrival of 800,000th tourist has turned everyone's eyes on country's fast growing tourism sector which has started sending positive signals of its promising future ahead.At the beginning of year 2011 Sri Lanka Tourism launched their marketing campaign named as "Refreshingly Sri Lanka - Visit 2011",with the aim of showcasing Sri Lanka as an Island of new found freedom; a place where the visitor can experience everything that is refreshing under the sun.With this new branding, Sri Lanka tourism promoted 8 segments encapsulating 8 wonderful experiences a tourist can enjoy within eight days such as: Pristine,Heritage Bliss, Thrills, Festivities, Essence, Scenic beauty and Wild Life. These eight experiences were further stretched into twelve sub-themes to promote each month of 2011, including beaches, sports & adventure, MICE, people & culture, religious tourism, weddings & honeymoons, body & mind wellness, heritage, nature & wildlife, community & education, culinary and shopping & entertainment.
Under the guidance of Minister of Economic Development - Basil Rajapakse, a five year strategic development plan has been launched for tourism sector for year 2011-2016, based on the Mahinda Chintana -Vision for the Future - Development Policy Framework. This strategic development plan of Sri Lanka tourism will achieve its core objectives serving the needs of all stakeholders and ensuring the economic benefits of the industry distributed to a larger cross section of the society from fisherman, carftman, farmer, street vendor, tour guide, tour operator, up to the Hotel industry. During this 5 year period the country targets to attract US$ 3,000 million worth Foreign Direct investment (FDI) from tourism sector most of which will be invested in tourism infrastructure development. There will be an increase in the foreign exchange earnings from US$ 500 million in 2010 to USD 2.75 billion by the year 2016. A huge increase is expected in the tourism related employment from 125,000 in 2010 to 500,000 by 2016.
www.defence.lk">
Courtesy : Department of Government Information
http://reconciliationyouthforum.org/
The Sri Lankan Reconciliation Youth Forum is set up to disseminate information, exchange ideas, views and suggestions on the on going Reconciliation & Development process in order to build a better Sri Lanka.
What matters is not whether you’re Sri Lankan, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher but whether you’re passionate about working towards achieving long lasting Peace in Sri Lanka.
Come join with us, let’s Reconcile, Develop & Sustain this paradise for the betterment of our future!
The Sri Lankan Reconciliation Youth Forum is set up to disseminate information, exchange ideas, views and suggestions on the on going Reconciliation & Development process in order to build a better Sri Lanka.
What matters is not whether you’re Sri Lankan, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher but whether you’re passionate about working towards achieving long lasting Peace in Sri Lanka.
Come join with us, let’s Reconcile, Develop & Sustain this paradise for the betterment of our future!
Monday, December 19, 2011
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111219_03
LLRC shows the way - Island Editorial
"Unlike the UN Secretary General's advisory panel which took cover behind a wall of secrecy and hurriedly put together a report of sorts--which has been made out to be a UN document!--based on mere unsubstantiated allegations and LTTE propaganda, the LLRC has ensured transparency in the process of inquiry and presented both sides of the story complete with its observations and recommendations", states the Island Editorial on Monday (Dec 19).
Full text of the Island Editorial on 19th December, 2011.
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has, with its final report now in the public domain, made its critics including some international human rights groups that questioned its credibility, badmouthed some of its members, pooh-poohed its mission as a ruse and expected it to come out with a whitewash of the government so that they could justify their call for an international war crimes probe, eat their words. Equally, it has disappointed those who wanted it to echo the government's views on the war.
The LLRC Commissioners deserve praise for their good work exuding professionalism.
Unlike the UN Secretary General's advisory panel which took cover behind a wall of secrecy and hurriedly put together a report of sorts--which has been made out to be a UN document!--based on mere unsubstantiated allegations and LTTE propaganda, the LLRC has ensured transparency in the process of inquiry and presented both sides of the story complete with its observations and recommendations.
Most of the LLRC observations, however, are no revelations to those who were au fait with what really happened during the war. That Sri Lanka did not launch a war to kill civilians on the pretext of fighting terrorism is only too well known. Only the LTTE rump and Tiger sympathisers will seek to deny that fact. It had to fight a war that could not be avoided. Even India had failed to make the LTTE accept a political solution; having rejected out of hand President J. R. Jayewardene's Provincial Councils, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's offer of the entire Northern Province without elections for a period of ten years as well as her draft Constitution containing regional councils and finally federalism as envisaged in the Oslo Declaration during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government, Prabhakaran drove a coach and six horses through a Norwegian-crafted, flawed CFA. He, in defiance of even the US and the EU, resumed hostilities unilaterally by assassinating Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and killing security forces and police personnel with mine attacks. When the Tiger chief threw down the gauntlet by closing the Mavil Aru sluice gates depriving thousands of families of water, the government was left with no alternative but to pick it up. The rest is history.
As the LLRC has rightly said in its report (p 328) 'protection of civilian life was a key factor in the formulation of a policy for carrying out military operations'. However, the Commission is of the opinion that there have been 'specific episodes which warrant further investigation'. Pointing out that 'there is a duty on the part of the State to ascertain more fully the circumstances under which such incidents could have occurred', the LLRC urges the government to investigate any reported cases of deliberate attacks on civilians. "If investigations disclose the commission of any offences, appropriate legal action should be taken to prosecute/punish the offenders." (p 335)
As for the controversial Channel 4 video, the Commission finds that there are 'troubling technical and forensic questions of a serious nature that cast significant doubts about the authenticity of this video and the credibility of its contents' but calls upon the government to 'investigate it to establish the truth or otherwise of the allegations arising from the video footage'. (p 337) A detailed technical analysis of the video finds itself in the annexures.
The LLRC wants disappearances probed. As for the alleged shelling of hospitals, the Commission finds it difficult to pin the blame on either the military or the LTTE owing to the non-availability of primary evidence of a technical nature and for want of supportive civilian evidence sans equivocation (p 330).
The LLRC report contains observations and recommendations on a wide range of issues. It has stressed the need to protect journalists, safeguard freedom of expression and to legislate for ensuring right to information. Its recommendations on ridding the country of illegal arms and the restoration of the rule of law are of crucial importance. Its view that follow-up action should be taken on previous commission reports including the one on the killing of five students in Trincomalee and a group of ACF aid workers may not be to the liking of the government. People-centric devolution, the resettlement of the Muslims the LTTEdrove out of the North in 1990, the massacre of 600 policemen in the East, the establishment of a National Land Commission are among its recommendations. The government as well as all others desirous of bringing about national reconciliation should take cognisance of the LLRC's observations and recommendations and act accordingly.
The LLRC's contention that all political leaders should apologise to the people who have suffered due to the conflict has, no doubt, struck a responsible chord with all right thinking Sri Lankans. It is incumbent upon those politicians to put their heads together and find ways and means of clearing up the mess they themselves have made!
The reaction of the western powers to the LLRC report is not yet known. They are not likely to accept it because it is not supportive of the idea of an international war crimes probe they are obsessed with. If they really want to tame President Mahinda Rajapaksa for not being one of their puppets, let them be urged to try some other method, if at all; their war crimes witch hunt will only help the terrorist rump bent on avenging the decapitation of the LTTE, make a mockery of their campaign against global terrorism and, above all, jeopardise Sri Lanka's fragile reconciliation process. Having promoted terrorism either wittingly or unwittingly by supporting a flawed ceasefire agreement weighted in favour of the LTTE, which made the most of it to launch the so-called Eelam War IV and plunge the country into a bloodbath, they have blood on their hands. They must also apologise to the victims of war and help this country with rebuilding, rehabilitation and reconciliation. That is the least they could do.
Courtesy: The Island
LLRC shows the way - Island Editorial
"Unlike the UN Secretary General's advisory panel which took cover behind a wall of secrecy and hurriedly put together a report of sorts--which has been made out to be a UN document!--based on mere unsubstantiated allegations and LTTE propaganda, the LLRC has ensured transparency in the process of inquiry and presented both sides of the story complete with its observations and recommendations", states the Island Editorial on Monday (Dec 19).
Full text of the Island Editorial on 19th December, 2011.
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has, with its final report now in the public domain, made its critics including some international human rights groups that questioned its credibility, badmouthed some of its members, pooh-poohed its mission as a ruse and expected it to come out with a whitewash of the government so that they could justify their call for an international war crimes probe, eat their words. Equally, it has disappointed those who wanted it to echo the government's views on the war.
The LLRC Commissioners deserve praise for their good work exuding professionalism.
Unlike the UN Secretary General's advisory panel which took cover behind a wall of secrecy and hurriedly put together a report of sorts--which has been made out to be a UN document!--based on mere unsubstantiated allegations and LTTE propaganda, the LLRC has ensured transparency in the process of inquiry and presented both sides of the story complete with its observations and recommendations.
Most of the LLRC observations, however, are no revelations to those who were au fait with what really happened during the war. That Sri Lanka did not launch a war to kill civilians on the pretext of fighting terrorism is only too well known. Only the LTTE rump and Tiger sympathisers will seek to deny that fact. It had to fight a war that could not be avoided. Even India had failed to make the LTTE accept a political solution; having rejected out of hand President J. R. Jayewardene's Provincial Councils, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's offer of the entire Northern Province without elections for a period of ten years as well as her draft Constitution containing regional councils and finally federalism as envisaged in the Oslo Declaration during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government, Prabhakaran drove a coach and six horses through a Norwegian-crafted, flawed CFA. He, in defiance of even the US and the EU, resumed hostilities unilaterally by assassinating Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and killing security forces and police personnel with mine attacks. When the Tiger chief threw down the gauntlet by closing the Mavil Aru sluice gates depriving thousands of families of water, the government was left with no alternative but to pick it up. The rest is history.
As the LLRC has rightly said in its report (p 328) 'protection of civilian life was a key factor in the formulation of a policy for carrying out military operations'. However, the Commission is of the opinion that there have been 'specific episodes which warrant further investigation'. Pointing out that 'there is a duty on the part of the State to ascertain more fully the circumstances under which such incidents could have occurred', the LLRC urges the government to investigate any reported cases of deliberate attacks on civilians. "If investigations disclose the commission of any offences, appropriate legal action should be taken to prosecute/punish the offenders." (p 335)
As for the controversial Channel 4 video, the Commission finds that there are 'troubling technical and forensic questions of a serious nature that cast significant doubts about the authenticity of this video and the credibility of its contents' but calls upon the government to 'investigate it to establish the truth or otherwise of the allegations arising from the video footage'. (p 337) A detailed technical analysis of the video finds itself in the annexures.
The LLRC wants disappearances probed. As for the alleged shelling of hospitals, the Commission finds it difficult to pin the blame on either the military or the LTTE owing to the non-availability of primary evidence of a technical nature and for want of supportive civilian evidence sans equivocation (p 330).
The LLRC report contains observations and recommendations on a wide range of issues. It has stressed the need to protect journalists, safeguard freedom of expression and to legislate for ensuring right to information. Its recommendations on ridding the country of illegal arms and the restoration of the rule of law are of crucial importance. Its view that follow-up action should be taken on previous commission reports including the one on the killing of five students in Trincomalee and a group of ACF aid workers may not be to the liking of the government. People-centric devolution, the resettlement of the Muslims the LTTEdrove out of the North in 1990, the massacre of 600 policemen in the East, the establishment of a National Land Commission are among its recommendations. The government as well as all others desirous of bringing about national reconciliation should take cognisance of the LLRC's observations and recommendations and act accordingly.
The LLRC's contention that all political leaders should apologise to the people who have suffered due to the conflict has, no doubt, struck a responsible chord with all right thinking Sri Lankans. It is incumbent upon those politicians to put their heads together and find ways and means of clearing up the mess they themselves have made!
The reaction of the western powers to the LLRC report is not yet known. They are not likely to accept it because it is not supportive of the idea of an international war crimes probe they are obsessed with. If they really want to tame President Mahinda Rajapaksa for not being one of their puppets, let them be urged to try some other method, if at all; their war crimes witch hunt will only help the terrorist rump bent on avenging the decapitation of the LTTE, make a mockery of their campaign against global terrorism and, above all, jeopardise Sri Lanka's fragile reconciliation process. Having promoted terrorism either wittingly or unwittingly by supporting a flawed ceasefire agreement weighted in favour of the LTTE, which made the most of it to launch the so-called Eelam War IV and plunge the country into a bloodbath, they have blood on their hands. They must also apologise to the victims of war and help this country with rebuilding, rehabilitation and reconciliation. That is the least they could do.
Courtesy: The Island
Sunday, December 18, 2011
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111218_03
'LTTE had no interest in terminating conflict':
Norway's dual role led to CFA breakdown - LLRC
www.defence.lk">The Lessons Learnt and Reconcilliation Commission (LLRC) in its final report to the President which was tabled in Parliament last Friday criticised the role of Norway, that their actions contributed significantly to breakdown of the CFA.
It observed that the Nordic peace makers' dual role as the facilitator and the monitor of the peace process did not synchronise well and this decision to play two opposing roles led to a conflict of interest and failed strong action by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in instances of grave violations of the CFA, particularly by the LTTE.
"The Commission is of the view that Norway failed to effectively monitor compliance with the CFA on the basis that by such action its neutral role as the facilitator will be compromised. "
The members of the LLRC, after their over one and a half year sittings concluded the breakdown of the CFA was mainly due to the the 'disinclination of the LTTE to terminate conflict' and enter the political process to find a lasting solution and the Norway's conflicting dual role, too, contributed to this significantly.
It observed 'the LTTE was totally disinterested in a negotiated settlement short of a separate state and the peace process was a way of buying time to strengthen itself militarily for the next battle.'
The Commission blamed Norway and the then Government for not reading the LTTE properly. It said the CFA which categorised the country into two distinct areas helped the apparent legitimization of the territorial claims of the LTTE.
The members of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission were required to inquire into the matters or events that led to the breakdown of the 2002 CFA and the sequence of events that followed thereafter, in order to learn from the past experiences to avoid a repetition of the past.
The commission was chaired by retired Attorney General and President's Counsel C. R. de Silva.
The report also criticised that Norway had handed the Government a compromised text with the LTTE as a draft CFA, with a take it or leave it approach, violating established principles of such a process in order to keep the LTTE in the negotiating process.
The Commission called the 2002 CFA a 'largely unworkable and unrealistic goal and it failed to provide a platform for sustainable peace in the longer term' apart from a short lived respite for a nation battered by terrorism for decades. However on a positive note the Commissioners observed the CFA that kept the LTTE at the negotiating table for a considerable period, may have acted as a catalyst in the disintegration of the LTTE and the breakaway of the Karuna faction.
Courtesy : Sunday Observer
'LTTE had no interest in terminating conflict':
Norway's dual role led to CFA breakdown - LLRC
www.defence.lk">The Lessons Learnt and Reconcilliation Commission (LLRC) in its final report to the President which was tabled in Parliament last Friday criticised the role of Norway, that their actions contributed significantly to breakdown of the CFA.
It observed that the Nordic peace makers' dual role as the facilitator and the monitor of the peace process did not synchronise well and this decision to play two opposing roles led to a conflict of interest and failed strong action by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in instances of grave violations of the CFA, particularly by the LTTE.
"The Commission is of the view that Norway failed to effectively monitor compliance with the CFA on the basis that by such action its neutral role as the facilitator will be compromised. "
The members of the LLRC, after their over one and a half year sittings concluded the breakdown of the CFA was mainly due to the the 'disinclination of the LTTE to terminate conflict' and enter the political process to find a lasting solution and the Norway's conflicting dual role, too, contributed to this significantly.
It observed 'the LTTE was totally disinterested in a negotiated settlement short of a separate state and the peace process was a way of buying time to strengthen itself militarily for the next battle.'
The Commission blamed Norway and the then Government for not reading the LTTE properly. It said the CFA which categorised the country into two distinct areas helped the apparent legitimization of the territorial claims of the LTTE.
The members of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission were required to inquire into the matters or events that led to the breakdown of the 2002 CFA and the sequence of events that followed thereafter, in order to learn from the past experiences to avoid a repetition of the past.
The commission was chaired by retired Attorney General and President's Counsel C. R. de Silva.
The report also criticised that Norway had handed the Government a compromised text with the LTTE as a draft CFA, with a take it or leave it approach, violating established principles of such a process in order to keep the LTTE in the negotiating process.
The Commission called the 2002 CFA a 'largely unworkable and unrealistic goal and it failed to provide a platform for sustainable peace in the longer term' apart from a short lived respite for a nation battered by terrorism for decades. However on a positive note the Commissioners observed the CFA that kept the LTTE at the negotiating table for a considerable period, may have acted as a catalyst in the disintegration of the LTTE and the breakaway of the Karuna faction.
Courtesy : Sunday Observer
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111218_01
Diaspora's anti-deportation campaign losing steam
In spite of a conducting an expensive propaganda campaign targeting the Sri Lankan government over human rights issues, the Tamil Diaspora seems to be losing ground in Europe, with the UK stepping up deportations.
Senior External Affairs and Defence Ministry officials told The Sunday Island said that the international community shouldn't accommodate bogus political refugees and those entering countries using fraudulent travel documents.
Officials said that Friday's deportation of 58 Sri Lankans from the UK proved that the British government no longer took notice of propaganda carried out by various interested parties on behalf of those seeking to remain in the country on false pretexts.
British security personnel accompanied those deported on a special flight and handed them over to Sri Lankan authorities at the BIA. Among them were residents of several districts including the North, sources said.
They said that Sri Lanka should be grateful to Australia for taking a tough stand against bogus asylum seekers. The Australian position had contributed immensely to Sri Lanka's efforts to convince the international community to expose troublemakers.
Responding to a query by The Sunday Island, sources said that London based Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, British MPs and a section of the UK media had been campaigning against the deportations citing continuing human rights violations in post-war Sri Lanka. The Tamil Diaspora had even campaigned against deportations at cricket venues during Sri Lanka's last cricket tour of the UK.
Since last June UK Border Agency had carried out three large scale deportations to Sri Lanka amidst protests aimed at forcing the government to reverse its decision.
The UK has also tightened border controls this year and ordered punitive action against those seeking entry using fraudulent documents.
The Defence Ministry said that in the backdrop of thousands of terrorists released from detention facilities since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, claims of their being tortured sound ridiculous. In fact, the UK had provided considerable amount of funds in support of the ongoing rehabilitation and reintegration process handled by IOM (International Migration Organization).
Sources alleged that Sinhalese seeking asylum in the Europe and Australia cooperated with LTTE front organizations wanting to haul Sri Lankan government up before an international war crimes tribunal for alleged war crimes. Sources said that sending people abroad had been a lucrative business carried out by organized gangs.
In an attempt to halt deportations, LTTE front Tamils Against Genocide had lodged a petition in the High Court claiming the UK government failed in its obligation to review its deportations policy in light of new torture allegations.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the UK Border Agency has warned officials who are deciding on asylum claims that the NGOs have serious concerns about forcibly returned Tamils. However, the agency is also circulating a report which quotes senior Sri Lankan intelligence officials as saying Tamil detainees are inflicting wounds upon themselves in order to create scars that will support later asylum claims.
The Border Agency says it only deports individuals "when we are satisfied the individual has no international protection needs", and cites a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that not all Tamil asylum seekers are in need of protection.
Courtesy : Sunday Island
Diaspora's anti-deportation campaign losing steam
In spite of a conducting an expensive propaganda campaign targeting the Sri Lankan government over human rights issues, the Tamil Diaspora seems to be losing ground in Europe, with the UK stepping up deportations.
Senior External Affairs and Defence Ministry officials told The Sunday Island said that the international community shouldn't accommodate bogus political refugees and those entering countries using fraudulent travel documents.
Officials said that Friday's deportation of 58 Sri Lankans from the UK proved that the British government no longer took notice of propaganda carried out by various interested parties on behalf of those seeking to remain in the country on false pretexts.
British security personnel accompanied those deported on a special flight and handed them over to Sri Lankan authorities at the BIA. Among them were residents of several districts including the North, sources said.
They said that Sri Lanka should be grateful to Australia for taking a tough stand against bogus asylum seekers. The Australian position had contributed immensely to Sri Lanka's efforts to convince the international community to expose troublemakers.
Responding to a query by The Sunday Island, sources said that London based Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, British MPs and a section of the UK media had been campaigning against the deportations citing continuing human rights violations in post-war Sri Lanka. The Tamil Diaspora had even campaigned against deportations at cricket venues during Sri Lanka's last cricket tour of the UK.
Since last June UK Border Agency had carried out three large scale deportations to Sri Lanka amidst protests aimed at forcing the government to reverse its decision.
The UK has also tightened border controls this year and ordered punitive action against those seeking entry using fraudulent documents.
The Defence Ministry said that in the backdrop of thousands of terrorists released from detention facilities since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, claims of their being tortured sound ridiculous. In fact, the UK had provided considerable amount of funds in support of the ongoing rehabilitation and reintegration process handled by IOM (International Migration Organization).
Sources alleged that Sinhalese seeking asylum in the Europe and Australia cooperated with LTTE front organizations wanting to haul Sri Lankan government up before an international war crimes tribunal for alleged war crimes. Sources said that sending people abroad had been a lucrative business carried out by organized gangs.
In an attempt to halt deportations, LTTE front Tamils Against Genocide had lodged a petition in the High Court claiming the UK government failed in its obligation to review its deportations policy in light of new torture allegations.
According to the Guardian newspaper, the UK Border Agency has warned officials who are deciding on asylum claims that the NGOs have serious concerns about forcibly returned Tamils. However, the agency is also circulating a report which quotes senior Sri Lankan intelligence officials as saying Tamil detainees are inflicting wounds upon themselves in order to create scars that will support later asylum claims.
The Border Agency says it only deports individuals "when we are satisfied the individual has no international protection needs", and cites a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that not all Tamil asylum seekers are in need of protection.
Courtesy : Sunday Island
Friday, December 16, 2011
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201112/FINAL%20LLRC%20REPORT.pdf
The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva a short while ago
The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva a short while ago
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201112/20111216llrc_report_tabled_parliament.htm
LLRC report tabled in Parliament"Security Forces had not deliberately targeted civilians in the NFZs" - LLRC
The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva a short while ago. "In evaluating the Sri Lanka experience in the context of allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the Commission is satisfied that the military strategy that was adopted to secure the LTTE held areas was one that was carefully conceived, in which the protection of the civilian population was given the highest priority. The Commission also notes in this regard that the movement of the Security Forces in conducting their operations was deliberately slow during the final stages of the conflict, thereby evidencing a carefully worked out strategy of avoiding civilian casualties or minimizing them," the report stated in its Principal Observations and Recommendations.
FINAL LLRC REPORT:
Among the conclusions of the Commission is that "On consideration of all facts and circumstances before it, the Commission concludes that the Security Forces had not deliberately targeted the civilians in the NFZs, although civilian casualties had in fact occurred in the cause of crossfire. Further, the LTTE targeting and killing of civilians who attempted to flee the conflict into safe areas, the threat posed by landmines and resultant death and injuries to civilians, and the perils inherent in crossing the Nanthi Kadal Lagoon, had all collectively contributed to civilian casualties. It would also be reasonable to conclude that there appears to have been a bona fide expectation that and attack on LTTE gun positions would make a relevant and proportional contribution to the objective of the military attack involved." "Having reached the above conclusions, it is also incumbent on the Commission to consider the question, while there was no deliberate targeting of civilians by the Security Forces, whether the action of the Security Forces of returning fire into the NFZs was excessive in the context of the Principal of Proportionality. Given the complexity of the situation that presented itself as described above, the Commission after most careful consideration of all aspects, is of the view that the Security Forces were confronted with an unprecedented situation when no other choice was possible and all "feasible precautions" that were practicable in the circumstances had been taken," it further said.The report also states the process of reconciliation requires a full acknowledgement of the tragedy of the conflict and a collective act of contrition by the political leaders and civil society, of both Sinhala and Tamil communities. The conflict could have been avoided had the southern political leaders of the two main political parties acted in the national interest and forged a consensus between them to offer an acceptable solution to the Tamil people. The Tamil political leaders were equally responsible for this conflict which could have been avoided had the Tamil leaders refrain from promoting an armed campaign towards secession, acquiescing in the violence and terrorist methods used by the LTTE against both the Sinhala and Tamil people, and failing to come out strongly and fearlessly against the LLTE, and their atrocities practices. In May 2010, President Rajapaksa appointed the eight-member Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events in the period, Feb 2002 to May 2009, their attendant concerns and to recommend measures to ensure that there will be no recurrence of such a situation.
The LLRC held its first sittings on August 11, 2010. In November 2010, the President extended its mandate till May 15, 2011.
The Commission had regular public hearings in Colombo and in the former conflict affected areas of Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi. This included field visits to meet people directly affected by the conflict. It has received over 1,000 oral submissions and over 5,000 written submissions.
The government appointed an Inter-Agency Advisory Committee (IIAC) headed by the Attorney General of Sri Lanka to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations made by the LLRC during its inquiry.
The LLRC had made recommendations on action to be taken with regard to detention of suspects, land issues, law and order, administrative and language issues and socio-economic and livelihood issues.
Following recommendations by the Commission a special committee was appointed in January 2011, to study the cases of detained LTTE suspects and expedite legal action where necessary.
Implementing reconciliation measures suggested by the IIAC the government is gradually releasing lands occupied by the military as High Security Zones (HSZs) in the country, especially in the North.
The Sri Lanka Army officially handed over Subash Hotel on Victoria Road in Jaffna town in which the 52 Division Headquarters was established since December 1995, to its owner in March this year.
256 houses surrounding the Palaly HSZ have already been returned to civilians and another 2392 houses have been identified for civilian occupation in more than 2500 hectares of the land that was set apart for HSZs.
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission comprised Mr. Chitta Ranjan de Silva PC (Chair), Mr. Chandirapal Chanmugam , Prof. Karunaratne Hangawatte, M. T. M. Bafiq, Mr. Maxwell Paranagama, Mr. HMGS Palihakkara, Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera PC and Mrs Mano Ramanathan.
LLRC report tabled in Parliament"Security Forces had not deliberately targeted civilians in the NFZs" - LLRC
The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was tabled in Parliament by Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva a short while ago. "In evaluating the Sri Lanka experience in the context of allegations of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the Commission is satisfied that the military strategy that was adopted to secure the LTTE held areas was one that was carefully conceived, in which the protection of the civilian population was given the highest priority. The Commission also notes in this regard that the movement of the Security Forces in conducting their operations was deliberately slow during the final stages of the conflict, thereby evidencing a carefully worked out strategy of avoiding civilian casualties or minimizing them," the report stated in its Principal Observations and Recommendations.
FINAL LLRC REPORT:
Among the conclusions of the Commission is that "On consideration of all facts and circumstances before it, the Commission concludes that the Security Forces had not deliberately targeted the civilians in the NFZs, although civilian casualties had in fact occurred in the cause of crossfire. Further, the LTTE targeting and killing of civilians who attempted to flee the conflict into safe areas, the threat posed by landmines and resultant death and injuries to civilians, and the perils inherent in crossing the Nanthi Kadal Lagoon, had all collectively contributed to civilian casualties. It would also be reasonable to conclude that there appears to have been a bona fide expectation that and attack on LTTE gun positions would make a relevant and proportional contribution to the objective of the military attack involved." "Having reached the above conclusions, it is also incumbent on the Commission to consider the question, while there was no deliberate targeting of civilians by the Security Forces, whether the action of the Security Forces of returning fire into the NFZs was excessive in the context of the Principal of Proportionality. Given the complexity of the situation that presented itself as described above, the Commission after most careful consideration of all aspects, is of the view that the Security Forces were confronted with an unprecedented situation when no other choice was possible and all "feasible precautions" that were practicable in the circumstances had been taken," it further said.The report also states the process of reconciliation requires a full acknowledgement of the tragedy of the conflict and a collective act of contrition by the political leaders and civil society, of both Sinhala and Tamil communities. The conflict could have been avoided had the southern political leaders of the two main political parties acted in the national interest and forged a consensus between them to offer an acceptable solution to the Tamil people. The Tamil political leaders were equally responsible for this conflict which could have been avoided had the Tamil leaders refrain from promoting an armed campaign towards secession, acquiescing in the violence and terrorist methods used by the LTTE against both the Sinhala and Tamil people, and failing to come out strongly and fearlessly against the LLTE, and their atrocities practices. In May 2010, President Rajapaksa appointed the eight-member Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events in the period, Feb 2002 to May 2009, their attendant concerns and to recommend measures to ensure that there will be no recurrence of such a situation.
The LLRC held its first sittings on August 11, 2010. In November 2010, the President extended its mandate till May 15, 2011.
The Commission had regular public hearings in Colombo and in the former conflict affected areas of Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Kilinochchi. This included field visits to meet people directly affected by the conflict. It has received over 1,000 oral submissions and over 5,000 written submissions.
The government appointed an Inter-Agency Advisory Committee (IIAC) headed by the Attorney General of Sri Lanka to facilitate the implementation of the recommendations made by the LLRC during its inquiry.
The LLRC had made recommendations on action to be taken with regard to detention of suspects, land issues, law and order, administrative and language issues and socio-economic and livelihood issues.
Following recommendations by the Commission a special committee was appointed in January 2011, to study the cases of detained LTTE suspects and expedite legal action where necessary.
Implementing reconciliation measures suggested by the IIAC the government is gradually releasing lands occupied by the military as High Security Zones (HSZs) in the country, especially in the North.
The Sri Lanka Army officially handed over Subash Hotel on Victoria Road in Jaffna town in which the 52 Division Headquarters was established since December 1995, to its owner in March this year.
256 houses surrounding the Palaly HSZ have already been returned to civilians and another 2392 houses have been identified for civilian occupation in more than 2500 hectares of the land that was set apart for HSZs.
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission comprised Mr. Chitta Ranjan de Silva PC (Chair), Mr. Chandirapal Chanmugam , Prof. Karunaratne Hangawatte, M. T. M. Bafiq, Mr. Maxwell Paranagama, Mr. HMGS Palihakkara, Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera PC and Mrs Mano Ramanathan.
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111216_07
Colombo Magistrate orders to rehabilitate 15 disabled ex-combatants
Fifteen disabled LTTE suspects who had been arrested immediately after the humanitarian operation in connection with terrorist activities were ordered to rehabilitate by Colombo Majistrate today, (16 Dec).
Terrorist Investigation Division had arrested these suspects in Vavunia and produced them before the court raising charges against their active involvement in terrorist activities.
Further, the Police informed the court that the Attorney General also had directed the Police to rehabilitate the suspects.
The Colombo Magistrate ordered the Prison Authorities to take necessary steps to rehabilitate these ex-combatants for one year period.
Colombo Magistrate orders to rehabilitate 15 disabled ex-combatants
Fifteen disabled LTTE suspects who had been arrested immediately after the humanitarian operation in connection with terrorist activities were ordered to rehabilitate by Colombo Majistrate today, (16 Dec).
Terrorist Investigation Division had arrested these suspects in Vavunia and produced them before the court raising charges against their active involvement in terrorist activities.
Further, the Police informed the court that the Attorney General also had directed the Police to rehabilitate the suspects.
The Colombo Magistrate ordered the Prison Authorities to take necessary steps to rehabilitate these ex-combatants for one year period.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201112/20111215reconciliation_taking_place.htm
Sri Lanka working to rebuild
Published: 18 December 2011By: Paul Dobbyn
Sri Lankan visitor: Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Thisara Samarasinghe
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Thisara Samarasinghe was recently in Brisbane to speak to various audiences about his country's progress towards peace and reconciliation in the wake of more than 25 years of civil war. The State Government and members of Brisbane's Sri Lankan community, including Catholics, hosted the high commissioner.
The Catholic Leader has published stories recently on concerns among Church groups and individuals about human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. The Leader accepted an invitation to interview the High Commissioner for him to respond to such criticisms.
This is an edited version of journalist PAUL DOBBYN's interview with High Commissioner Samarasinghe in Brisbane on November 29
Question: Regarding the current situation in Sri Lanka's north and east - would it be possible for me as a tourist to visit these areas?
Answer: Yes of course - you are welcome to go north and east. There are definitely no obstacles, although you would not be permitted to enter any military bases. Standard travel advisories to Sri Lanka do apply as they do to places like Indonesia. I think the situation is much better than travel advisories indicate.
Question: What evidence is there that things are returning to normal in Sri Lanka after the ending of the 26-year civil war?
Answer: There is plenty of evidence: people are happy now. Our country was subject to an absolutely terrible time. People were subjected to a psychology of fear, uncertainty, doubt and mistrust as part of daily life.
Question: Is it possible all this can be swept away so quickly?
Answer: It is not being swept away quickly but there are some very, very positive changes. At one time, parents in Colombo wouldn't send two children in the same bus for fear of terrorist attacks ... a wife and husband wouldn't go in the same train or if they did, they sat in two separate carriages ... that was the extent of difficulties being experienced.People in the conflict area in the north and east were tormented by terrorists; people couldn't do what they wanted to; children were dragged away for child soldiery. People had to hand over money for protection. They were used as human shields by the military. They couldn't go fishing ... couldn't do farming as the fields were spread with mines.
Now all those people are today free. Reconciliation is taking place and mistrust leaving.
In fact one of the best indications is in Colombo. There the Sinhalese (ruling class) are a minority and Buddhists and Tamils a majority by about 75 per cent. So that is a clear indication that they are free, happy, content and safe to live with the rest of the Sinhalese. It's a model for the rest of the world to see how Colombo has evolved.Elections are occurring in the north and east. A former terrorist, one who was a child soldier, has been elected chief minister in an eastern province; another military cadre is a junior cabinet minister in federal government and, on top of all that, the infrastructure development is going on - roads, schools and hospitals are being done.What is critically important is people in the north and east require enough money to get purchasing power and they must be allowed to build their own religion and culture on their own.
These things are pursued genuinely by government and, as a result, the situation is improving beyond normal standards.
Question: If the war is over and the Tamil people have been rehabilitated, why does your government still refuse to allow internationally credible groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group free access to the Tamil areas?
Answer: I was wondering where these groups were before when terrorists were creating such atrocities - 10,000 civilians killed and injured...not just in the north and south, everywhere. Our seat of the economy, the bank, attacked, 100 people were killed in one day ... innocent worshipping Muslims and Buddhists were massacred.
Here the country has come out of the clutches of terrorism. For international bodies, there's no requirement to make investigations or assessments. It was an internal conflict ... you can go and meet anybody on the road and talk to them and find out what happened. Sri Lanka should be given a pat on the back for destroying the terrorist group.
We managed ourselves through our commitment, our courage, our sacrifices ... almost 6000 soldiers sacrificed in the last three years and civilians on both sides of the fence, Tamils and others too.
So I don't see any organisations should be coming on an investigative mission to my country.
Question: So don't you think these organisations have a right?
Answer: No, there's no right. It's a free country, but the question is whom are they trying to help? The country's functioning well with a democratically elected government.
People from our country are unable to comprehend how when things were down in our country, when people were being threatened, there were no such people around offering to help except for India in the 1980s - we appreciate that they lost about 1000 and 15,000 injured so this is not an issue of the last two years, three years.
Question: What is the timeline for withdrawal of troops from the north and east?
Answer: Why should they move out? It's our country. We may have to spread them around more. We need to see that maritime roads used to bring in arms are stopped. Aircraft, 150mm artillery pieces, radars, semi-submersible equipment ... how did they come to Sri Lanka? These are things Amnesty International must investigate. If not for that dirty blood money these things would not have come to Sri Lanka.Money was collected abroad - there were mechanisms, systems for collecting it. This money was paid to willing sellers. This equipment was put on board ships, not an easy task. Some things manufactured in Australia were found with the terrorists. This was an internationally orchestrated activity.
Question: What of reports of cultural genocide in Sri Lanka's north and east as regards the Tamil people?Answer: Rubbish. Tamil people ... will be permitted to exercise their religious practice in any way. People with vested interests are spreading these rumours. We have made 1100 terrorists confident to come to the government and rehabilitated most. We rescued 300,000 people. We have to give confidence to the people. I think confidence is slowly being gained by people. ... It will take time to heal the wounds.
The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) have still got money. They are still advocating separatism, that is the worst thing.
My mandate given to me by the president is to bring people together and I have done this right from day one.I have enough Tamil friends in this great country (Australia) ... I have employed Tamils in the high commissioner's office.
People unhappy (with Sri Lanka's progress) are making certain inroads. I'm sure the Australian Government will come to realise that this front organisation will not succeed. ... This has to be handled very delicately as the remnants of terrorist groups are trying to raise their ugly heads and must be nipped at the bud.
Sri Lanka working to rebuild
Published: 18 December 2011By: Paul Dobbyn
Sri Lankan visitor: Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Thisara Samarasinghe
Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Thisara Samarasinghe was recently in Brisbane to speak to various audiences about his country's progress towards peace and reconciliation in the wake of more than 25 years of civil war. The State Government and members of Brisbane's Sri Lankan community, including Catholics, hosted the high commissioner.
The Catholic Leader has published stories recently on concerns among Church groups and individuals about human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. The Leader accepted an invitation to interview the High Commissioner for him to respond to such criticisms.
This is an edited version of journalist PAUL DOBBYN's interview with High Commissioner Samarasinghe in Brisbane on November 29
Question: Regarding the current situation in Sri Lanka's north and east - would it be possible for me as a tourist to visit these areas?
Answer: Yes of course - you are welcome to go north and east. There are definitely no obstacles, although you would not be permitted to enter any military bases. Standard travel advisories to Sri Lanka do apply as they do to places like Indonesia. I think the situation is much better than travel advisories indicate.
Question: What evidence is there that things are returning to normal in Sri Lanka after the ending of the 26-year civil war?
Answer: There is plenty of evidence: people are happy now. Our country was subject to an absolutely terrible time. People were subjected to a psychology of fear, uncertainty, doubt and mistrust as part of daily life.
Question: Is it possible all this can be swept away so quickly?
Answer: It is not being swept away quickly but there are some very, very positive changes. At one time, parents in Colombo wouldn't send two children in the same bus for fear of terrorist attacks ... a wife and husband wouldn't go in the same train or if they did, they sat in two separate carriages ... that was the extent of difficulties being experienced.People in the conflict area in the north and east were tormented by terrorists; people couldn't do what they wanted to; children were dragged away for child soldiery. People had to hand over money for protection. They were used as human shields by the military. They couldn't go fishing ... couldn't do farming as the fields were spread with mines.
Now all those people are today free. Reconciliation is taking place and mistrust leaving.
In fact one of the best indications is in Colombo. There the Sinhalese (ruling class) are a minority and Buddhists and Tamils a majority by about 75 per cent. So that is a clear indication that they are free, happy, content and safe to live with the rest of the Sinhalese. It's a model for the rest of the world to see how Colombo has evolved.Elections are occurring in the north and east. A former terrorist, one who was a child soldier, has been elected chief minister in an eastern province; another military cadre is a junior cabinet minister in federal government and, on top of all that, the infrastructure development is going on - roads, schools and hospitals are being done.What is critically important is people in the north and east require enough money to get purchasing power and they must be allowed to build their own religion and culture on their own.
These things are pursued genuinely by government and, as a result, the situation is improving beyond normal standards.
Question: If the war is over and the Tamil people have been rehabilitated, why does your government still refuse to allow internationally credible groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group free access to the Tamil areas?
Answer: I was wondering where these groups were before when terrorists were creating such atrocities - 10,000 civilians killed and injured...not just in the north and south, everywhere. Our seat of the economy, the bank, attacked, 100 people were killed in one day ... innocent worshipping Muslims and Buddhists were massacred.
Here the country has come out of the clutches of terrorism. For international bodies, there's no requirement to make investigations or assessments. It was an internal conflict ... you can go and meet anybody on the road and talk to them and find out what happened. Sri Lanka should be given a pat on the back for destroying the terrorist group.
We managed ourselves through our commitment, our courage, our sacrifices ... almost 6000 soldiers sacrificed in the last three years and civilians on both sides of the fence, Tamils and others too.
So I don't see any organisations should be coming on an investigative mission to my country.
Question: So don't you think these organisations have a right?
Answer: No, there's no right. It's a free country, but the question is whom are they trying to help? The country's functioning well with a democratically elected government.
People from our country are unable to comprehend how when things were down in our country, when people were being threatened, there were no such people around offering to help except for India in the 1980s - we appreciate that they lost about 1000 and 15,000 injured so this is not an issue of the last two years, three years.
Question: What is the timeline for withdrawal of troops from the north and east?
Answer: Why should they move out? It's our country. We may have to spread them around more. We need to see that maritime roads used to bring in arms are stopped. Aircraft, 150mm artillery pieces, radars, semi-submersible equipment ... how did they come to Sri Lanka? These are things Amnesty International must investigate. If not for that dirty blood money these things would not have come to Sri Lanka.Money was collected abroad - there were mechanisms, systems for collecting it. This money was paid to willing sellers. This equipment was put on board ships, not an easy task. Some things manufactured in Australia were found with the terrorists. This was an internationally orchestrated activity.
Question: What of reports of cultural genocide in Sri Lanka's north and east as regards the Tamil people?Answer: Rubbish. Tamil people ... will be permitted to exercise their religious practice in any way. People with vested interests are spreading these rumours. We have made 1100 terrorists confident to come to the government and rehabilitated most. We rescued 300,000 people. We have to give confidence to the people. I think confidence is slowly being gained by people. ... It will take time to heal the wounds.
The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) have still got money. They are still advocating separatism, that is the worst thing.
My mandate given to me by the president is to bring people together and I have done this right from day one.I have enough Tamil friends in this great country (Australia) ... I have employed Tamils in the high commissioner's office.
People unhappy (with Sri Lanka's progress) are making certain inroads. I'm sure the Australian Government will come to realise that this front organisation will not succeed. ... This has to be handled very delicately as the remnants of terrorist groups are trying to raise their ugly heads and must be nipped at the bud.
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