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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Backtracking on accountability measures will harm all Sri Lankans: Tamil leader
Colombo, September 19::Backtracking and tardiness in the implementation
of pledges in regard to accountability measures such as the ratification
of the international convention on enforced disappearances, will harm
all Sri Lankans, writes P.K.Balachandran in Daily Mirror.
Media reports state that, at the suggestion of President Maithripala
Sirisena, the parliamentary debate on the Bill to ratify the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearances (CPAPED) will not be held as scheduled on September 21.
The media also quoted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as saying that
the “Disappearances Bill” pertains only to future cases and not those
of the past (including disappearances which had occurred during the
war).
These two claims have pleased the Joint Opposition (JO) led by former
President Mahinda Rajapakse and Sinhala nationalists outside the JO
framework, because they imply that personnel of the tri-forces will be
let off the hook. But the minority Tamils are extremely disappointed, if
not livid. Of the two claims, the one made by the Prime Minister has
hurt the Tamils a great deal.
“The whole purpose of the Disappearances Act will be defeated if the
past is left out of its ambit,” said Mano Ganeshan, Minister for
National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages and leader of the
Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA).
“The very reason for the legislation is to inquire into the
disappearances during the conflict, especially the last few years of the
war. And most cases pertain to the Tamils,” he pointed out.
“We condemn the reported move to postpone the debate on the
Disappearances Bill and the Prime Minister’s interpretation of the
Bill’s applicability,” said M.A.Sumanthiran MP and top leader of the
Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
“If the disappearance of the Tamils during the conflict and war can’t be
inquired into, it means that the Tamils are not just second class
citizens, but are fourth class citizens,” he asserted.
Sumanthiran said that the Government had been dragging its feet on the
introduction of the Disappearances Bill and making the Office of Missing
Persons (OMP) operational because of a “lack of courage and political
will” in the face of opposition from the Rajapakse group.
“The reported decision not to hold a debate on the Disappearances Bill
on Thursday (after having postponed it once earlier) only shows the
Government’s pusillanimity,” the Tamil leader said.
According to Sumanthiran, if the Government issued a notification making
the OMP operational from September 15 and declared its intention to
re-introduce the Disappearances Bill on September 21, it was because
President Sirisena was going to be in the UN to address the General
Assembly on September 19.
Another reason was the recent speech made by the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra’ad bin Hussein, castigating Sri Lanka
for tardy and inadequate implementation of the resolution on
accountability and reconciliation which it had co-sponsored at the UN
Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September 2015.
This was what Zeid said about Sri Lanka on the opening day of the 36 th.
Session of the UNHRC last week: “I urge the Government to swiftly
operationalize the Office of Missing Persons and to move faster on other
essential confidence building measures, such as release of land
occupied by the military, and resolving long-pending cases registered
under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. I repeat my request for that Act
to be replaced with a new law in line with international human rights
standards.”
“In the North, protests by victims indicate their growing frustration
over the slow pace of reforms. I encourage the Government to act on its
commitment in Resolution 30/1 to establish transitional justice
mechanisms and to establish a clear timeline and benchmarks for the
implementation of these and other commitments.”
“This shouldn’t be viewed by the Government as a box-ticking exercise to
placate the Council, but as an essential undertaking to address the
rights of all its people.”
“The absence of credible action in Sri Lanka to ensure accountability for alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law makes the exercise of universal jurisdiction even more necessary.”
“The absence of credible action in Sri Lanka to ensure accountability for alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law makes the exercise of universal jurisdiction even more necessary.”
According to Sumanthiran, the Sri Lankan Government hopes that making
the OMP operational and fixing a date for a debate on the Disappearances
Bill will silence critics in the UN at New York and Geneva at least
during President Sirisena’s sojourn in New York.
But unfortunately for the Government, JO leader G.L.Peiris let the cat
out of the bag by claiming publicly, that the President had assured his
group that the debate on the Disappearances Bill will not be held on
September 21.
Postponement isn’t going to go down well with the powers-that-be in the UN and the international community, Sumanthiran warned.
He recalled what Zeid said about window-dressing for appearances’ sake.
Zeid said that the accountability and reconciliation measures taken so
far “should not be viewed by the Government as a box-ticking exercise to
placate the Council, but as an essential undertaking to address the
rights of all its people.”
Flawed OMP Gazette
Soon after the gazette making the OMP operational from September 15 was
issued, the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) pointed out that it
wasn’t constitutional, implying that it could be challenged in court.
Translating the legalese in CPA’s statement into common language,
Sumanthiran said: “As per 19A, the President can hold only two
ministerial portfolios – those of Defense and Environment. He cannot be
Minister of any other subject. But in violation of this constitutional
provision, he had made himself the Minister of National Integration and
Reconciliation. And then, now, in a further violation of the
constitution, he has issued an important notification setting up the OMP
as Minister National Integration and Reconciliation, a post he is
constitutionally barred from occupying. Anybody can challenge this
notification in the Supreme Court.”
“On this ground, the OMP may be scuttled,” Sumanthiran warned.
Disappearances Convention
Article 2 of the International Convention Against Enforced
Disappearances says that for the purposes of the Convention, “enforced
disappearance” is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or
any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by
persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or
acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the
deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of
the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection
of the law.”
This definition gives the impression that the Convention and the Bill to
follow, will be targeting the Sri Lankan Security Forces and not the
LTTE which is a non-State entity. This is a major worry among millions
of Sri Lankans who are grateful to the armed forces of ridding the
country of the scourge of terrorism.
But, as moderate Tamil leaders and even serving military commanders have
said, enforced disappearances outside the framework of the law, can’t
be permitted or condoned even if the perpetrator is a man in uniform.
This basic principle is for the good of the forces and the people of Sri
Lanka at large.
“If the Convention becomes part of domestic law ,then there will be no
reason for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to complain and go
on to say that it may be necessary to use the principle of Universal
Jurisdiction in Sri Lanka’s case,” Sumanthiran argued.
The Tamil MP added that incidents of the kind which happened in Brazil
against former Army Commander Gen.Jagath Jayasuriya (when he was
threatened with arrest fo alleged war crimes) would not happen if Sri
Lanka had a law banning enforced disappearances and trials were held.
The Convention will be useful to all except those who had indulged in abductions which the world considers heinous.
As regards the fear that the LTTE, which had abducted and executed
countless Sri Lankans, including Tamils, will be allowed to go
scot-free, Sumanthiran said that once the Convention is ratified, the
spirit of a universal legal principle gets embedded in domestic law and
cases against the LTTE can be filed and conducted.
Sumanthiran said that the TNA isn’t against LTTE cadres being proceeded
against for abduction, so long as the due process is followed in letter
and spirit and the application of the law is even handed.
(The featured image at the top shows Sri Lankan President Maitrhipala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe)