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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, July 18, 2017
President Sirisena must not delay upholding his promises to protesting families of the disappeared any longer
Abirami Premnath was taken by the army after having reached Menik Farm IDP Camp
By: Dharsha Jegatheeswaran* for Tamil Guardian | Jaffna-17 Jul 2017
“Maybe
if we all commit suicide then they’ll turn around to look at us lying
here and do something,” an amma says to me. “We are ready to die for our
children,” another amma adds. I’m in Kilinochchi, sitting once again
with the families of the disappeared at their roadside protest. As of
today, 148 days – that’s how long they have been sitting here. That’s
over 4 months of stifling heat, perpetual dust and roadside pollution
where these families have thought of nothing else beside the enforced
disappearances of their loved ones.
Over the past 4 months, (primarily) women across all 8 districts of the
North-East of Sri Lanka have commenced roadside protests with one simple
goal – to see their children again. Sri Lanka’s 30-year long war with
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resulted in over 60,000
enforced disappearances. Sri Lanka has the second-highest number of
cases submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary
Disapeparances – after Iraq (see here). To
date, the Sri Lankan government has failed to even criminalize enforced
disappearances – most recently choosing to indefinitely postpone a
debate about the bill to do so (see here). Women
across Sri Lanka and civil society are currently campaigning to get
that bill to criminalize enforced disappearances back into parliament
for debate and to be passed (see here).
For the women at this Kilinochchi protest in particular, most of their
loved ones were forcibly disappeared during the last phase of the war,
when they surrendered to the Sri Lankan army because they were
affiliated to the LTTE. Many of these mothers physically handed over
their children after the army had repeatedly told civilians crossing
over into army-controlled territory that anyone, even children who had
been taken into the LTTE in the last phase for even a few days, had to
be surrendered. The army told people that if they surrendered their
children and loved ones they would see them again in a matter of weeks.
But that if they didn’t and the army later found out about any possible
affiliation, the consequences would be dire. As a result, hundreds of
families in the Vanni, the last site of the war, surrendered their
children, siblings, wives, and husbands, believing that since the war
had ended they had no other option, and hoping that since the war had
ended the government might keep its word.
Muralitharan Nadesu, Kirishnakumari Muralitharan, Sariyan Muralitharan and Apitha
Muralitharan surrendered together on May 18, 2009, and haven’t been seen since.
Muralitharan’s amma is part of the Kilinochchi protest.
|
Wall of disappeared loved ones at families of disappeared protest site in Kilinochchi. Photo Credit: Author |
On May 30, 2017, the Kilinochchi protest reached its 100-day mark. Over
1000 families of the disappeared from across the 8 districts gathered in
Kilinochchi for a demonstration that blocked the A9 highway, the main
motorway connecting the North to the South (see here). In
response to this, the government finally responded and the Governor of
the Northern Province agreed to arrange a meeting between the President
and representatives of the families of the disappeared.
Families of the disappeared from across all 8 districts protesting in Kilinochchi on May 30, 2017, 100th day of Kilinochchi protest. |
Families met with the President on June 12, 2017 and handed over a petition (see here) with
a few clear demands: (1) release of a list of all those who
surrendered/were detained by the Sri Lankan armed forces during and
after the war, particularly during the last phase; (2) release of a list
of all secret detention centres, their status and list of detainees;
(3) release of a list of all detainees held under the PTA and detainees
held in detention centres; (4) release of these lists to representatives
from the families of the disappeared; and (5) release all reports by
commissions appointed over the years to address the issue of
disappearances in public and the Government’s response to those reports.
The President told families that he could definitely meet the first
three demands, and even promised that he would issue directives to the
National Security Council the very next day to release the lists of
surrendees/detainees.
Mothers coming out of meeting with President Sirisena on June 12, 2017. Photo Credit: Author |
However, since that meeting over a month ago there has been complete
radio silence. Families of the Disappeared from Kilinochchi have sent
follow-up letters to both the Governor and the Presidential Secretariat
and have still heard nothing.
Sujeepan Kandasamy was taken by the army in 2009 – his amma last saw him as he was telling her to take everyone and get out of the war zone while they could and that he would somehow make it out. She now sits hoping that he did make it out was true. |
Rather, the limited conversation about addressing enforced
disappearances in government seems to be mostly about setting up a new
body, the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) – a body that mothers in the
North-East have made clear they are extremely skeptical of and do not
believe will be any different from prior commissions. Their concerns are
warranted. The OMP Act passed last August, while containing certain
positive elements, has a large number of discretionary provisions that
leave the credibility of the office entirely in the hands of politically
appointed commissioners. In a country like Sri Lanka, that does not
bode well. Further, amendments made to the OMP after it was passed
suggest that Sinhala nationalist forces intend to block any
international involvement in the OMP, which is a key requirement from
the perspective of families of the disappeared for any investigatory
mechanism to have credibility. After all, they have already dealt with
numerous commissions set up domestically in the last 8 years alone that
have been extremely flawed and ultimately all failed to produce answers.
The government has still failed to undertake the confidence-building
measures required, such as addressing the demands of the families’
petition, that would inspire their trust in the proposed OMP.
And so now, in the lead up to the 150th day
of their roadside protest, these incredibly strong women are at their
wits’ end. Without meaningful government action on the issue of
disappearances, their references to possible self-harm are a dangerous
reality, given the state of their current mental health, and the levels
of frustration, anger and sadness they feel. Just two weeks ago, one of
the protesting mothers passed away, becoming the fourth mother to have
passed away since the protest started. Many around her said it was the
sorrow and stress of searching for a disappeared child that contributed
to her untimely death.
These women sitting on the side of the road in Kilinochchi in many ways
represent the epitome of the strength, resilience and perseverance of
the war-affected Tamil population. And today this government is failing
them. President Sirisena must uphold his word and provide the families
of the disappeared with answers to their petition of June 12, 2017
without any further delay. The international community must also hold
Sri Lanka to its commitments and pressure the government to fulfill this
demand. The government can no longer ignore and deny these women’s
appeals for answers about their disappeared loved ones without accepting
responsibility for the harm these women are experiencing. Every day
that this government continues to delay providing answers about enforced
disappearances is another day driving these women ever closer to
devastation.
*Dharsha Jegatheeswaran is the Senior Researcher and Research Coordinator of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a Jaffna-based not-for-profit think tank.