http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201310/20131024au_commends_sls_support_to_curb_human_smuggling.htm

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised Sri Lanka for the support rendered in one of the major Australian national issues of human smuggling, which has drastically reduced illegal boat arrivals from Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Abbott made this comment when Sri Lankan High Commissioner Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister to formally hand over the invitation for CHOGM from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Prime Minister of Australia, the High Commission said in a statement.

“Mr. Abbott recalled on this occasion with gratitude the Sri Lanka’s President’s noble and friendly gesture of telephoning him within two days of his election victory,” it said.

The Prime Minister also recalled the savage and brutal terrorism that Sri Lanka had to confront even to the extent of losing the country’s President and key leaders and emphasised the value of eradicating the most ruthless terrorist organisation out of Sri Lanka and ushering peace to the country and its people.

Whilst appreciating the progress made within a short period of time, Australian Prime Minister said that he was very happy and enthusiastic to visit Sri Lanka for the CHOGM to see for himself the achievements and to interact and engage with Sri Lanka’s leadership and the other participating Commonwealth Leaders.

He took the opportunity to thank the Government of Sri Lanka for the support rendered in one of the major Australian national issues of human smuggling and that the government of Australia was grateful for the genuine and willing assistance which has drastically reduced illegal boat arrivals from Sri Lanka.
The High Commissioner in response conveyed Sri Lanka’s President greetings and Sri Lanka’s desire to welcome the Prime Minister and his delegation to Sri Lanka and thanked with gratitude the support rendered by Australia at various international fora, specifically the period leading to the CHOGM.
The High Commissioner explained Sri Lanka’s progress made in successful Northern elections and achievements in the fields of security, economic development, poverty alleviation, health, education, infrastructure, connectivity, rehabilitation, reconciliation and accountability under difficult conditions which the Prime Minister termed as fundamental requirements of progress. High Commissioner also expressed that Sri Lanka would continue to cooperate with Australia in the field of human smuggling.

The High Commissioner also had the opportunity of calling on Julie Bishop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia on 11th October and discussed CHOGM, human smuggling and other bilateral issues in a very friendly and cordial atmosphere. Julie Bishop also indicated that she was eagerly looking forward to her forthcoming visit to Sri Lanka for the CHOGM and also possible visit to the North and the East to observe to herself once again the post conflict achievements of Sri Lanka

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - 05.47 GMT

PM Singh should attend CHOGM and reaffirm first principles of India’s foreign policy – The Hindu Opinion

With six months or so to go for general elections, each step the Prime Minister takes today on the international stage will be seen in the context of the legacy he bequeaths on India’s foreign policy, The Hindu opinion said.Journalist Suhasini Haidar in her opinion wrote "Going to Sri Lanka would then be a reaffirmation of the first principles of India’s foreign policy that he has so often spoken of. It is equally significant, if coincidental, that Nehru outlined the Doctrine of Panchsheel that has guided India’s dealings with the world, at the Asian Prime Minister’s Conference nearly 60 years ago, in a city none other than Colombo. In the first line of his first speech on Indian foreign policy in 1946, India’s soon-to-be first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, pledged to adhere to the principle of “full participation in international conferences.” Nehru was referring to the fact that India, which was still not a full member of multilateral forums, would no longer be a colonial ‘dependent’ nation. Despite the different context today, it is that speech of Nehru’s made in the Constituent Assembly, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must pay heed to as he makes his decision on whether to travel to Colombo next month for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet. The events leading up to this CHOGM are what make it imperative for him to attend. Not for the Commonwealth organisation. Not even for Sri Lanka, or the fate of India-Sri Lanka ties, although they will be dealt a decisive blow if Dr. Singh decides to skip the visit. It is necessary for the Indian Prime Minister to attend the meet, in order to show India’s commitment to its own foreign policy principles. None of these principles is set in stone, but they have been the base on which India’s image in the world has been built. To begin with, there is the principle of supporting neighbours. In a speech to Indian Foreign Service probationers in June 2008, Dr. Singh said: “The most important aspect of our foreign policy is our management of our relations with our neighbours. […] We don’t know adequately enough of what goes on in our neighbourhood. And many a times our own thinking about these countries is influenced excessively by western perceptions of what is going on in these countries.” Some would argue that India’s thinking on Sri Lankan human rights violations is, in fact, educated by western countries. In the past two years, India has voted at the United Nations Human Rights Council against Sri Lanka on the basis of U.S. resolutions. Western organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are the main accusers in this regard, and the U.S.’s neighbour, Canada, remains the only country that has heeded their call to boycott CHOGM so far. After all, the Prime Minister has always made a point of attending multilateral forums when they are held in the subcontinent. He has done this in the past despite outstanding bilateral issues with the host country. Within two years of the Parliament attack and Operation Parakram, for example, Prime Minister Vajpayee travelled to Islamabad for the SAARC summit, and just three months after the end of the war against the LTTE in May 2009, when most of the human rights excesses occurred, Dr. Singh attended the SAARC summit in Colombo. To not go now would be a departure from his own practice of continuing to engage at the highest level with neighbours, ignoring calls to the contrary from the Opposition and others within the country. Terror is another major foreign policy plank for India, and the Prime Minister must consider the inconsistent message that his government would be sending out on this issue. On the one hand, Dr. Singh has made strong statements at the U.N. on Pakistan’s refusal to cooperate in shutting down terror camps operating from its territory. On the other hand, if one follows the logic of the Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution last week, it is for the offences committed during the shutting down of LTTE terror camps that India must penalise Sri Lanka. The war on the LTTE was something India assisted Sri Lanka with at the time, especially given the LTTE’s record of killing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and many other Indians. India’s case has already been weakened by the government’s failure to keep its promises to Bangladesh — where in return for the Sheikh Hasina government’s actions in shutting down HuJI terror camps, handing over more than 20 terrorists to India, and ending cross-border firing, New Delhi hasn’t yet ratified the Land Border Agreement or the Teesta water settlement. The immediate victim may be Ms. Hasina, who could lose the election to her anti-India rivals Khaleda Zia and the Jamaat-e-Islami. But in the long run, India will lose too, and may face another cycle of militancy being fomented in Bangladesh. In Tamil Nadu, there are worrying signs of the resurgence of the LTTE and Sri Lankan separatist Tamil groups like the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) that will eventually turn on India as well. In September this year, Tamil Nadu’s ‘Q’ branch said it arrested members of a sleeper cell of the LTTE in Pammal, including senior cadre responsible for recruiting Tamil youth as well as men with training in explosives. The dangers for India are obvious, but it is also important to study where the harbouring of such groups is in direct contravention of India’s Panchsheel principles that advocate “non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.” There is also the long-held principle of supporting democratic forces in our foreign policy. So far, India’s concerns about the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils post-war have been informed by the Tamil National Alliance, formerly a separatist opposition group, which joined the political mainstream in Sri Lanka. In the elections held in the Northern Province this year, where a massive 68 per cent turned out to vote, it is the TNA that won a clear victory, but proving in the process that the elections held were fair. At a time when the newly sworn-in Provincial Chief Minister, C.V. Wigneswaran, has rejected calls to boycott the Colombo CHOGM, and expressed hopes that Dr. Singh will attend, it will be hard to explain that India’s concerns for Sri Lankan Tamils outweigh the concerns of their own democratically elected government. One of the sore points for India’s relations with its other island neighbour, the Maldives, was that New Delhi ignored the pleas of Mohammad Nasheed’s elected government when it was ousted. Two years later, India has lost influence among all the political players there as a result of straying from the democratic principle, and even a visit by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh there last month did not succeed in ensuring elections. Finally, there is the principle that India’s foreign policy is the prerogative of the Centre, not the State. In the last four years, since the end of the war, India has been a key partner in Sri Lanka’s reconstruction process. It has achieved some success in providing homes to IDPs, building power and railway infrastructure, and nudging the Sri Lankan government on the elections in the Northern Province as well as on implementing the 13th Amendment. Despite this high level of engagement from the Union government, it would seem contradictory and counter-productive for the Prime Minister now to refuse to attend the Commonwealth meeting, bowing solely to pressure from the Tamil Nadu Assembly. http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201310/20131029pm_singh_should_attend_chogm.htm

http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201310/20131029waterloo_suresh_sentenced_two_years_helping_ltte.htm

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 - 09.54 GMT

‘Waterloo Suresh’ sentenced to two years for helping LTTE

Suresh Sriskandarajah, a Canadian man who pleaded guilty in the United States to a terrorism offence in connection with the Tamil Tigers has been sentenced to two years. Sriskandarajah who pleaded guilty in July to conspiring to provide material support to the LTTE, has already been in custody for about 10 months. Prosecutors in Brooklyn, N.Y., had wanted Sriskandarajah, known as "Waterloo Suresh," to serve the maximum sentence of 15 years, while he had argued for time served. The 32-year-old was arrested in 2006 along with PiratheepanNadarajah, of Brampton, Ont., and freed on bail three years later before his extradition to the U.S. in 2012. While in Canada, Sriskandarajah helped research and acquire aviation equipment, submarine and warship design software, night vision equipment and communications technology for the Tamil Tigers. Nadarajah is to be sentenced on Jan. 31, 2014, after admitting earlier this month to conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Several co-conspirators have also been convicted of terrorism offences. Last year an Ontario man was sentenced to time served for his role in LTTE. RamananMylvaganam — a computer engineering student at the University of Waterloo — pleaded guilty in the U.S. to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The arrests followed a joint investigation by the FBI and the RCMP into an alleged plot to buy weapons, launder money through front charities and smuggle equipment to the rebel group. The LTTE, notorious for suicide bombings and political assassinations was declared a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1997 and by Canada in 2006.

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2013/10/27/sec100.pdf

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=SL_Army_Denies_Allegations_of_Sexual_Violence_in_North_20131019_03

SL Army Denies Allegations of Sexual Violence in North

Colombo: The Sri Lanka Military has denied "in the strongest terms" allegations by the Minority Rights Group (MRG) and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) that sexual violence by its troops has been causing insecurity among women in the northern and eastern Provinces.

"Seven Personnel were reported as being involved in 5 incidents of sexual violence in north as against 125 allegations that were made" - BRIG RUWAN WANIGASOORIYA Military Spokesman

Military spokesman Brig Ruwan Wanigasooriya told the Media here on Friday that a study of incidents of sexual offences which had occurred in the North between January 2007 and May 2012 had revealed that during the conflict period (January 2007 - May 2009) seven security Forces Personnel were reported as being involved in five incidents of sexual violence in the North.

"This was out of a total of 125 persons accused in 119 incident in the entire Northern Province", he pointed out .The ethnicity of the victims of these cases was: four Sinhalese and one Tamil.

In the post conflict period (May 2009 - May 2012) ten Security Forces personal were reported as being involved in six incidents of sexual violence in the North. This is out of a total of 307 persons accused in 256 incidents in the entire Northern Province. The ethnicity of the victims was: 2 Tamils, one Muslim and three Sinhalese.

Only 11 incidents out of a total of 375 reported during the conflict and in the post conflict periods (January 2007-May 2012) could be attributed to the Security Forces, he pointed out. The involvement of Security Forces personnel as a percentage of the total accused stood at 5.6 percent in the conflict period and 3.3 percent in the post conflict period.

"The decline clearly demonstrates that the allegation that the presence of the SF in the North contributes to the insecurity of women and girls is a myth", Brig Wanigasooriya said.

As a percentage of the total number of accused (including civilian and military), 82.4 percent had been Tamils; 3.2 Sinhalese; 3.2 percent Muslim, and 5.6 percent of unknown ethnicity in the conflict period.

The corresponding figures for the post conflict period stood at 89.6 per cent Tamils; 2.6 percent Sinhalese; 1.6 percent Muslim; and 2.9 percent of unknown ethnicity.

"In a majority of cases, the perpetrators had been close relatives or neighbors of the victim and had been of Tamil ethnicity", the spokesman contended.

Courtesy : The New Indian Express

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=Canada_should_not_boycott_CHOGM_former_PM_20131021_03

Canada should not boycott the upcoming Commonwealth meetings in Sri Lanka, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has said.

Appearing on CTV's Question Period, he pointed out that if Canada was to boycott the Commonwealth because of illustrations of improper government or abusive treatment of people within some of the member countries. "Some days you wouldn't have too many people around that Commonwealth table for tea," Mulroney said.

"There's a lot of developing countries in there, countries with problems, and the best thing I think that we can do is be there at the table and illustrate, by our presence, the value of what we've learned as a country over 146 years and how we conduct ourselves with our democracy and with our generosity to friends internationally."

Mulroney said the 53-nation Commonwealth is a powerful group and Canada should work within it to make a statement. For example, the former Prime Minister pointed to the accomplishments of prime minister John Diefenbaker who, at the 1961 Commonwealth leaders' meeting, denounced South Africa's apartheid policy and joined forces with Asian and African government leaders to push through a resolution making racial equality a condition of Commonwealth membership. South Africa subsequently withdrew from the Commonwealth and was not re-admitted until its apartheid regime ended in the 1990s.

"Working within the Commonwealth, we were able to score more heavily than by sitting outside," Mulroney said.

Courtesy : President Media Unit