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
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Sunday, May 6, 2018
Will President Sirisena heed Naseby’s advise?
Lord Naseby and Prsident Sirisena
by Rajeewa Jayaweera-May 5, 2018, 6:49 pm
President Sirisena met with British Peer Lord Naseby during his recent visit to attend CHOGM in the UK.
In
October 2017, Naseby, after appealing to the British Information
Commissioner, obtain 39 pages of highly redacted confidential dispatches
from the British High Commission in Colombo during the last stages of
the Vanni campaign. During a debate in the House of Lords, he urged the
UK government to revisit the UNHRC Resolution 30/1. Despite redactions,
dispatches estimated 7,000 to 8,000 civilian deaths during the closing
phase of the conflict with around a quarter of them being LTTE cadre in
civilian clothing. One such document contained, "certainly there was no
policy to kill civilians by Sri Lankan army."
On the other hand, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
Resolution 30/1 is based on the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts
(PoE) report, also known as Darusman Report.It states; "Two years after
the end of the war, there is still no reliable figure for civilian
deaths, but multiple sources of the information indicating that a range
of up to 40,000 civilian deaths cannot be ruled out at this stage. Only a
proper investigation can lead to the identification of all the victims
and the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of
civilian deaths." (PoE Report p 41, sub-para 137). It accused government
forces of "(i) killing of civilians through widespread shelling (ii)
Shelling of hospitals and humanitarian objects" (Executive Summary p iii
para 5) deliberately targeting civilians.
Even six months after Naseby’s revelations, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe
administration has not requested a review of the Geneva Resolution.
During their recent meeting, Naseby had made some very sensible and
relevant suggestions to Sirisena on how to deal with the contentious
resolution.
He had suggested; (i) With the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) now
activated, it could proceed with the task of resolving the issue of
thousands of persons reported missing or dead during the conflict. (ii)
Replace the wartime Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with an Act more
appropriate for peacetime. (iii) The need for a Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC) as recommended by UNHRC. (iv) The government should
release monthly, or quarterly bulletins with details of occupied land
returned to owners in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The first suggestion is of enormous importance to Sri Lanka and requires
assiduous handling. The OMP office must necessarily embark on the task
of preparing a comprehensive list of missing persons. With such a list,
assistance need be sought from US, UK, other EU countries, Canada,
Australia, and India to reconcile with names of all those granted asylum
by said countries.
The PoE, between October 27, and December 31, 2010, received 4,000
submissions from more than 2,300 senders (PoE Report page 5, sub-para
17). The report does not contain the information if those submitting
information were only from members of Tamil community or included those
from the Sinhalese community, mostly JVP members who fled the country. A
list of missing persons mutually agreed by Sri Lanka and asylum
granting nations to Tamils and Sinhalese is vital due to the possibility
of those listed as missing or killed in Sri Lankan living under assumed
names in foreign countries. The workload of OMP would reduce
substantially in the event missing/dead persons are found to be alive.
Three examples of such cases which surfaced during the last decade are;
The film titled ‘Dheepan’ awarded the Palme d’Or, Festival in Cannes in
2015 is a true story. Dheepan was about an LTTE terrorist (referred to
as freedom fighter, refugee and immigrant in publicity material and
reviews). It begins with Dheepan, in LTTE uniform, at the funeral pier
of a fellow terrorist at the tail end of the conflict. After the
funeral, he destroys his uniform, obtains civilian clothing and decides
to flee, taking with him two total strangers – a young woman Yalini in
her early twenties and a little girl Illayaal, nine years old using
false documents. The ‘family’ travels from Northern Sri Lanka to South
India and finally to Paris. The group eventually obtains asylum as a
‘family’ based on false documentation and declarations. The film ends
with Dheepan and Yalini entering wedlock and having a child, with
Illlayaal as a family member, all moving to the UK. The French and
British governments need be requested to provide the real names of
Dheepan, Yalini and Illayaal and details of where they lived before
fleeing Sri Lanka,to ascertain if they are reported dead or missing.
According to a report filed by veteran journalist DSB Jeyaraj, a Tamil
engineer named Kathiravelu Thayapararajah had functioned as Director of
the LTTE operated Vanni Tech. He was a known LTTE activist but not a
combatant and disappeared in September 2009. A commonly believed theory
was, members of armed forces had abducted, tortured and murdered
Kathiravelu. The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), the
Australian Government Refugee Review Tribunal, Tamilnet and the European
Center for Constitutional and Human Rights among others blamed Sri
Lankan authorities for Kathiravelu’s disappearance. A Human Rights
organization took up the issue with Robert Blake, the then US Asst.
Secretary for South East Affairs and one-timeUS Ambassador to Sri Lanka
from September 2006 till May 2009 who had agreed to investigate the
matter through the US Embassy in Colombo. On May 06, 2014, Kathiravelu
was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police in Dhanushkodi together with nine
others including five children attempting to enter India without valid
travel documents.
One-time hardcore JVP activist Premakumar Gunaratnam, having fled Sri
Lanka after breaking out from Bogambara Prison in 1988 had been granted
asylum in Australia. He returned to Sri Lanka in September 2011 and was
involved in local politics as a member of Frontline Socialist Party, a
breakaway faction of the JVP. Having ‘disappeared’ sometime in early
April 2012, he ‘surrendered’ to Police a few days later claiming to have
been ‘dumped’ by his ‘abductors.’ The then Australian High Commissioner
in Colombo Robyn Mudie turned up with Australian passport N1016123,
claimed Gunaratnam was an Australian citizen named Noel Mudalige and
demanded his release. He was deported on April 10.
These are, but three examples of a dead or missing LTTE combatant and
two LTTE and JVP activists found to be living in overseas countries.
Nearly nine years have passed since LTTE was defeated and there have
been no signs of a resurgence of terrorism. PTA was a requirement during
the civil war, and there is merit in the suggestion to replace the Act
with one more suitable for peacetime. Its replacement must not be viewed
as a requirement to satisfy the international community but a necessity
for the citizens of this country.
Different types of Truth & Reconciliation Commissions have been set
up in several countries, tasked with discovering and revealing past
wrongdoing by governments and non-state actors in the hope of resolving
conflicts left over from the past. Some have contributed to healing
wounds from the past. The Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission
(LLRC) was unfortunately not adequately funded and many of its
recommendations not implemented. Therefore, a fresh initiative would be
essential to move forward with the reconciliation process.
Sufficient time has passed for the state to make up its mind on land
required in the North and East for national security purposes.
Indefinite occupation of private property does not in any way contribute
to reconciliation. In fact, it is a key irritant and adds to the notion
that the government is not sincere in its efforts in addressing the
national question. Some land has been returned since January 2015 but
not given adequate publicity. Therefore, it is time for a decision on
what can be released, and compensation paid for what cannot be
returned.Meanwhile, the publication of periodic figures, perhaps
quarterly, of land returned to rightful owners should be seriously
considered.
"Only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of all the
victims and the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number
of civilian deaths" stated in the one-sided PoE Report makes little or
no sense.
In preparing the report, they have not considered some very relevant
information/documents; (i) confidential cables from US embassy in
Colombo to State Department in Washington released by Wikileaks. (ii)
contents of a classified cable from the then US Ambassador to Geneva,
Clint Williamson after his confidential conversation with then ICRC Head
of Operations Jacque de Mio on July 09, 2009, clearing SL Army of
crimes against humanity, released through Wikileaks. (iii) views
expressed by British Lawyer and one-time UN Chief War Crimes Prosecutor
in Sierra Leon Sir Desmond de Silva and British military expert Major
General Holmes. (iv) reports from the then UN country team in Sri Lanka
and former UN media spokesman Gordon Weiss (v) dispatches by former
British Defense Attaché in Colombo, Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash. (vi)
Causality estimates of other credible organizations, i.e., 6,710 (US
State Department), nearly 7,000 (International Crisis Group), 7,721 (UN
Country Team) and 10,000 (Amnesty International).
In ignoring such crucial information, PoE members have displayed extreme bias and prejudice.
The Geneva Resolution ignored the Paranagama Commission Report which
called for a domestic judicial investigation, backed by international
technical assistance and foreign observers.
US and UK were key promoters of the Geneva Resolution. By not insisting
PoE members take all available material including confidential
dispatches from their respective representatives on location in Sri
Lanka in their deliberations indicates ulterior motives other than
professed humanitarian considerations. It also projects a lack of faith
in their representatives.
The OMP has it work cut out. The Paranagama Commission received 21,000
complaints (Executive Summary p xviii para 16) related to so-called
disappearances and extrajudicial killings.This readymade list of missing
and dead persons could be handed over to US, UK, other EU countries,
Canada, Australia, and India for reconciliation with details of those
granted asylum. States declining to cooperate could be reported to UNHRC
for hindering the implementation of item 4 in UNHRC Resolution 30/1.
The OMP is an independent commission not subject to government
direction. That said, there is no law against the commission requesting
the assistance of government agencies in carrying out their mandate.
Most importantly, what is required is the political will on the part of
the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration and for its leaders to
provide the political leadership necessary to address the issue at hand.
Furthermore, Sri Lanka must do what it takes to establish the truth
about the mythical 40,000 deaths during the Vanni campaign, so critical
in meeting the challenges of the Geneva Resolution.
Will President Sirisena heed Naseby’s advise?