A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, June 3, 2017
Father Elil Rajan summoned to Police for 3rd in a week
Jun 02, 2017
Father Elil Rajan summoned for the third time in one week over commemorative event for civil war victims
On 20 May 2017, Father Elil Rajan was summoned by the police in
Mullaitivu, in the Northern Province, with regard to a commemorative
event held in Mullivaaikkal, where the names of Tamils who were killed
at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war were carved on rocks. Although
the authorities later withdrew the summons, they are investigating the
event and asked Father Elil to provide a list of the names that were
engraved on the rocks. Father Elil Rajan had already been summoned and
questioned on 16 May by the Mullaitivu Police and on 19 May by the
Vavuniya Police over the event he organised for Mullivaikkal Remembrance
Day on 18 May, a remembrance day observed by Tamil people to
commemorate those who died in the final stages of the civil war.
Father Elil Rajan is a human rights defender and Programme Director for
the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a non-profit think tank
working on accountability and non-exclusionary justice and
reconciliation initiatives. He is an advocate for the rights of Tamil
war survivors and families of victims, and is known for his engagement
and collaboration with Sinhalese activists from other parts of Sri
Lanka, the international community and the Sri Lankan government. In
2016, he served as the Vavuniya district Chairperson of the Zonal Task
Force of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, an
initiative of the Sri Lankan government. Father Elil Rajan organises
commemorative events in the North-East regions, considered to be Tamil
land, and is also the co-spokesperson of the Tamil Civil Society Forum.
On 20 May 2017, Father Elil Rajan was summoned in relation to a
commemorative event he organised near St. Paul’s Church in East
Mullivaaikkal, a village on the north-east coast of Sri Lanka which was
the scene of the final battle of the civil war. The event consisted of
placing rocks carved with the names of Tamil victims of this final
battle. While the police summons was withdrawn, the human rights
defender was asked to provide the list of names that was engraved on the
rocks. Father Elil Rajan had previously been summoned and questioned on
16 May by the Mullaitivu Police and on 19 May by the Vavuniya Police
over the event he organised for Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day on 18 May, a
commemorative day observed by Tamil people to remember those who died
in the final stages of the civil war.
The ongoing harassment of Father Elil Rajan is part of a broader
crackdown on Tamil civil society, which has been subjected to other
forms of harassment, intimidation and surveillance which hinder
non-exclusionary truth and reconciliation efforts by restricting the
recognition and remembrance of human rights violations suffered by Tamil
people during the civil war. Human rights defenders such as Father Elil
Rajan who work on Tamil issues and for the inclusion of the Tamil
perspective in truth and reconciliation efforts, are particularly
targeted through surveillance, and freedom of expression and assembly is
restricted in Tamil regions, especially in military-occupied
territories affected by the civil war. Police occasionally use excessive
force to disperse protesters, and the army has imposed some
restrictions on assembly in the North and East, particularly for planned
memorial events concerning the end of the war, which impact human
rights defenders working on violations perpetrated in the region both
during and after the civil war. These restrictions have
disproportionately affected Tamil people.
Front Line Defenders is concerned by the repeated summons of human
rights defender Father Elil Rajan, which it believes to be directly
linked to his peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights
and non-exclusionary truth and reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Sri Lanka to:
1. Immediately cease all further harassment of Elil Rajan, as Front Line
believes that his summonses are solely as a result of his legitimate
work in defence of human rights;
2. Cease targeting all human rights defenders in Sri Lanka and guarantee
in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate
human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all
restrictions including judicial harassment.