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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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Sunday, December 30, 2012
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Kelaniya University Students Leader Attacked:Sri Lanka
According to the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF), the former leader was attacked at about 2 a.m today while returning to the university hostel after holding a protest, followed by a remembrance program for two students, Sisitha Priyankara and JanakaEkanayake, who had lost their lives.
The convener stated that the attack occurred roughly 2 km away from the Kelaniya University. Sanjeewa Bandara suspects that the two people who had attacked the student are security officials.
FMR. CHAIRPERSON FOR KELANIYA STUDENT UNION ATTACKED - IUSF
December 30, 2012
Former chairperson of the University of Kelaniya student union Suranjith Bandara has been admitted to the Ragama hospital after being attacked earlier today, Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) stated.
December 30, 2012Former chairperson of the University of Kelaniya student union Suranjith Bandara has been admitted to the Ragama hospital after being attacked earlier today, Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) stated.
IUSF convener Sanjeewa Bandara stated that the former chairperson was attacked at about 2 a.m today while returning to the university hostel after holding a protest, followed by a remembrance program for two students, Sisitha and Janaka, who had lost their lives.
The convener stated that the attack occurred roughly 2 km away from the Kelaniya University. Sanjeewa Bandara suspects that the two people who had attacked the student are security
officials.
Jaffna Arrests: Replaying The 1970s
By M. A. Sumanthiran MP-Saturday, December 29, 2012
November 27th this year marked an important milestone in the different phases of ethnic relations in this country. For those of us who still retain the memory of the events of 40 years ago, it was like Déjà vu. Students of the Jaffna University observed Heroes’ Day within the University premises.
The security forces invaded a female hostel; beat several students who protested the next day and the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police arrested four University students. Subsequently over 40 other youth have also been arrested and detained.
None of them have been produced before courts, except one Medical College student who was released. They seem to have been detained under the provisions of the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The Defence authorities say that these youth have been sent for ‘rehabilitation’ at their own request!
It is important to assess these developments in the backdrop of history and we cannot but notice the forty year cycle. In the early 1970s the Tamils of this country were alienated from national life in a very significant way.
The supposedly autochthonous Constitution was created by a majoritarian vote at the Navarangahala. Every single resolution proposed by the ITAK was defeated by the use of majority votes. The ITAK then walked out of the Constituent Assembly, leaving behind the All Ceylon Tamil Congress MPs Thiagarajah, Arulampalam and Anandasangaree.
The ITAK leader S. J. V. Chelvanayagam resigned his Parliamentary seat in protest and challenged the government to hold a by-election in order to demonstrate that the Tamil People endorsed their decision and that they rejected the First Republican Constitution. The government delayed holding the by-election by two years but when it was eventually held, he won with a massive majority.
Parallel to this there were other developments that took place around this time. The standardisation practised for admission to universities ended hopes of tertiary education for the Tamil youth. Many of them were sent to the UK for higher studies by their parents after selling or mortgaging their lands.
Frustrated by this alienation many of them started movements in the UK, which turned out to be first militant groups. General Union of Eelam Students (GUES) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) are examples of these. Note that both of these were student organisations! The LTTE which emerged a little later must be seen and understood as part of this evolutionary process.
In the mid-1970s the Tamil youth were radicalized, first by unfairly denying them higher education and then when they protested, mainly using democratic forms, by arresting them and incarcerating them under the then extant emergency law without charging them in courts.
Over 40 Tamil youths were held without trial for over four years and were released only after they went on a fast unto death in the prisons just before the Non-aligned summit held in Colombo. Mavai Senathirajah, MP and the present General Secretary of the ITAK, was one of those.
But the most accelerated form of militarizing them was by sending the army to the North under ‘Bull’ Weeratunga to ‘crush’ ‘terrorism’ in six months. Groups of Tamil youth congregating at junctions in the evenings were rounded up, beaten mercilessly and detained under the PTA and tortured.
Unable to defend themselves, many youths started joining the several militant organizations that had emerged and went under-ground. Several of them went to the Middle East and were trained in guerilla warfare.
They returned and engaged in hit and run attacks against the oppressive army. It was the large-scale violence that was unleashed against the Tamils in July 1983 that forced the Tamil youths in their thousands to join the different militant groups. This is an undeniable fact.
This shows that Tamil militancy as seen post 1983 was a direct result of Anti-Tamil pogroms of the State. This is not intended to exculpate any of the militant groups from responsibility for the terror they themselves unleashed, but certainly the State played a significant role in bringing this about.
Violence and counter-violence devoured thousands of Sri Lankans until May 2009, when the State used its military might to decimate not only the LTTE but also several thousand Tamil civilians for which it is still to be held accountable. After May 2009 there was no fighting between two forces, which gave the civilian population in the entire country some respite.
Other forms of violence however continued unabated mainly against the Tamil civilians. Over a hundred thousand displaced persons are yet to be permitted to resettle in their original places; heavy militarisation continues with its attendant evil consequences; land grabs by the military and the continuing detention of hundreds of detainees under the PTA, etc., are but some examples of such violence. A government that brooks no dissent even in the South of the country, does not tolerate any form of democratic opposition in the North.
Although there has not been a single act of violence against the State from the Tamil side as it were since May 2009, the government has continued to deal with the populace in an overly oppressive way. This includes the non-recognition of the democratically elected representatives of the Tamil People at the Parliamentary as well as local council levels in development and other activities.
If the imposition of the will of the majority on the Tamil People through sheer numbers was the form of oppression until 1970, actions that directly target the dignity and self-respect of the Tamil People, in addition to the physical violence that is being heaped on the Tamils is the form it takes now. This is exactly what was done 40 years ago and the cycle seems to be restarting again.
Once again the target is the youth in general and the student community in particular. The replay of events 40 years later has significant similarities. Again just over 40 youth have been arrested and without being produced in court, are being held under the PTA and are even purportedly being given ‘rehabilitation at their own request’ at the Welikanda Army Camp.
The fact that these detentions are wholly illegal somehow seems irrelevant to the government, which is focused on trying to show the world that the LTTE is now rising from the ashes. Ironically this is sweet music to the die-hard LTTE supporter! But in reality both sides are dragging the Tamil youth and the University students in particular down a slippery slope.
The presence of LTTE flags at the joint opposition May Day rally in Jaffna and other protest rallies, though laughable for their amateurish attempts, is an indication of what the government is trying to portray. Astonishingly, the extremist forces within the Tamil polity are their greatest allies in this.
The portrayal of the LTTE as having re-emerged may suit the different, if opposite, agendas of both sides.
But it is one that will do serious damage to any meaningful reconciliation being achieved. Right thinking people in both communities must thwart this attempt; Tamil youth must not fall into this trap wittingly or unwittingly.
We must often remind ourselves of history if we are to learn from it. Unfortunately the only consistent lesson that history teaches is that no one learns from history!
None of them have been produced before courts, except one Medical College student who was released. They seem to have been detained under the provisions of the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The Defence authorities say that these youth have been sent for ‘rehabilitation’ at their own request!
It is important to assess these developments in the backdrop of history and we cannot but notice the forty year cycle. In the early 1970s the Tamils of this country were alienated from national life in a very significant way.
The supposedly autochthonous Constitution was created by a majoritarian vote at the Navarangahala. Every single resolution proposed by the ITAK was defeated by the use of majority votes. The ITAK then walked out of the Constituent Assembly, leaving behind the All Ceylon Tamil Congress MPs Thiagarajah, Arulampalam and Anandasangaree.
The ITAK leader S. J. V. Chelvanayagam resigned his Parliamentary seat in protest and challenged the government to hold a by-election in order to demonstrate that the Tamil People endorsed their decision and that they rejected the First Republican Constitution. The government delayed holding the by-election by two years but when it was eventually held, he won with a massive majority.
Parallel to this there were other developments that took place around this time. The standardisation practised for admission to universities ended hopes of tertiary education for the Tamil youth. Many of them were sent to the UK for higher studies by their parents after selling or mortgaging their lands.
Frustrated by this alienation many of them started movements in the UK, which turned out to be first militant groups. General Union of Eelam Students (GUES) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS) are examples of these. Note that both of these were student organisations! The LTTE which emerged a little later must be seen and understood as part of this evolutionary process.
In the mid-1970s the Tamil youth were radicalized, first by unfairly denying them higher education and then when they protested, mainly using democratic forms, by arresting them and incarcerating them under the then extant emergency law without charging them in courts.
Over 40 Tamil youths were held without trial for over four years and were released only after they went on a fast unto death in the prisons just before the Non-aligned summit held in Colombo. Mavai Senathirajah, MP and the present General Secretary of the ITAK, was one of those.
But the most accelerated form of militarizing them was by sending the army to the North under ‘Bull’ Weeratunga to ‘crush’ ‘terrorism’ in six months. Groups of Tamil youth congregating at junctions in the evenings were rounded up, beaten mercilessly and detained under the PTA and tortured.
Unable to defend themselves, many youths started joining the several militant organizations that had emerged and went under-ground. Several of them went to the Middle East and were trained in guerilla warfare.
They returned and engaged in hit and run attacks against the oppressive army. It was the large-scale violence that was unleashed against the Tamils in July 1983 that forced the Tamil youths in their thousands to join the different militant groups. This is an undeniable fact.
This shows that Tamil militancy as seen post 1983 was a direct result of Anti-Tamil pogroms of the State. This is not intended to exculpate any of the militant groups from responsibility for the terror they themselves unleashed, but certainly the State played a significant role in bringing this about.
Violence and counter-violence devoured thousands of Sri Lankans until May 2009, when the State used its military might to decimate not only the LTTE but also several thousand Tamil civilians for which it is still to be held accountable. After May 2009 there was no fighting between two forces, which gave the civilian population in the entire country some respite.
Other forms of violence however continued unabated mainly against the Tamil civilians. Over a hundred thousand displaced persons are yet to be permitted to resettle in their original places; heavy militarisation continues with its attendant evil consequences; land grabs by the military and the continuing detention of hundreds of detainees under the PTA, etc., are but some examples of such violence. A government that brooks no dissent even in the South of the country, does not tolerate any form of democratic opposition in the North.
Although there has not been a single act of violence against the State from the Tamil side as it were since May 2009, the government has continued to deal with the populace in an overly oppressive way. This includes the non-recognition of the democratically elected representatives of the Tamil People at the Parliamentary as well as local council levels in development and other activities.
If the imposition of the will of the majority on the Tamil People through sheer numbers was the form of oppression until 1970, actions that directly target the dignity and self-respect of the Tamil People, in addition to the physical violence that is being heaped on the Tamils is the form it takes now. This is exactly what was done 40 years ago and the cycle seems to be restarting again.
Once again the target is the youth in general and the student community in particular. The replay of events 40 years later has significant similarities. Again just over 40 youth have been arrested and without being produced in court, are being held under the PTA and are even purportedly being given ‘rehabilitation at their own request’ at the Welikanda Army Camp.
The fact that these detentions are wholly illegal somehow seems irrelevant to the government, which is focused on trying to show the world that the LTTE is now rising from the ashes. Ironically this is sweet music to the die-hard LTTE supporter! But in reality both sides are dragging the Tamil youth and the University students in particular down a slippery slope.
The presence of LTTE flags at the joint opposition May Day rally in Jaffna and other protest rallies, though laughable for their amateurish attempts, is an indication of what the government is trying to portray. Astonishingly, the extremist forces within the Tamil polity are their greatest allies in this.
The portrayal of the LTTE as having re-emerged may suit the different, if opposite, agendas of both sides.
But it is one that will do serious damage to any meaningful reconciliation being achieved. Right thinking people in both communities must thwart this attempt; Tamil youth must not fall into this trap wittingly or unwittingly.
We must often remind ourselves of history if we are to learn from it. Unfortunately the only consistent lesson that history teaches is that no one learns from history!
Sri Lanka: State propaganda Vs reality
Hana Ibrahim
The Department of Police is the country’s chief law enforcement authority. When its spokesperson comes each and every day before the mass media and relates the numerous activities and their surrounding circumstances to the public, he is taken at his word. For, the word of the Police is the ultimate. Yet, what seems to be happening is just the opposite.
The government could not have asked for a more favourable setting, whether it was its own creation or if it was a result of converging social and political realities, for a total onslaught on their ‘perceived enemies’.
In the follow up to the recent shooting incident outside the house of the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Police Spokesman, SSP Prishantha Jayakody had reportedly claimed there was a contradiction in the statements taken with regard to the shooting, alluding to inconsistency in the evidence given.
Irked by the police backtracking, Rajapakshe, who has claimed the statement he had made to the police had been issued to the media erroneously, has threatened legal action against the police spokesman.
Rajapakshe has said when talking in Parliament regarding a case that is being heard in a court of law is prohibited, the statement such as the one made by the police spokesman amounts to a contempt of court, and charged such announcements indicate of manipulations by higher forces.
The police stance makes one wonder whether the rule of law in this country has been totally abandoned by those who govern the country.
To make matters worse, not just for the government and its main players but for the country at large, its image and the very survival of the independence of the Judiciary, a statement by ‘The Lawyers’ Collective’ deplored the ‘false propaganda’ against the Chief Justice deeming them not as isolated incidents, but “meticulously orchestrated attacks coerced and carried out at the behest of the highest in authority.”
It went on to state, “Among the false accusations intended to mislead the public, they (State-controlled media) have stated the Chief Justice had fixed the benches in the Court of Appeal. It is common knowledge the Chief Justice has no role to play in arranging any bench whatsoever in the Court of Appeal. Their insinuation the Chief Justice selected a bench to hear her case is an insult to the dignity and integrity of the Judges of the country’s higher judiciary.”
The manipulation of the news cycles is not something alien to any party in power. Yet when the State-controlled media are engaged in the manufacture of lies and half-truths and when that same State-controlled outlets are dominating a market share, and whose viewers and listeners are so gullible as has been proven time after time, one wonders as to what alternatives are left for the intellectually curious and even for those who hang around the threshold of rational inquiry.
The government could not have asked for a more favourable setting, whether it was its own creation or if it was a result of converging social and political realities, for a total onslaught on their ‘perceived enemies’.
To brand the sitting Chief Justice as an active politician and term the members of the Bar Association as conspirators is something beyond the pale. One can surely recall the malicious and utterly disingenuous campaign aired by the State-controlled television during the last Presidential Elections with grisly images of Idi Amin, the notorious Ugandan dictator. The messaging was quite obvious but in retrospect, one is invariably prompted to wonder as to what the real parallels are, if such parallels do exist.
Whatever the government has in its repertoire of capabilities, a well-oiled propaganda machine is certainly one of them. They know how to use it and drive home a point to the extent the people become accustomed to what is being produced on a regular basis by that machine. All the aces are held by the government, which has opened a ‘Pandora’s Box’. Only thing that is left for the Opposition and for the people is at the bottom of that box: ‘Hope.’
(The writer is the editor of the Ceylon Today, a daily based in Colombo, where this piece was originally appeared)
- SLG
Cartoon by Prageeth Eknaligoda, who was abduted and made to disapper 3 years ago
Hana IbrahimThe government could not have asked for a more favourable setting, whether it was its own creation or if it was a result of converging social and political realities, for a total onslaught on their ‘perceived enemies’.
In the follow up to the recent shooting incident outside the house of the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Police Spokesman, SSP Prishantha Jayakody had reportedly claimed there was a contradiction in the statements taken with regard to the shooting, alluding to inconsistency in the evidence given.
Irked by the police backtracking, Rajapakshe, who has claimed the statement he had made to the police had been issued to the media erroneously, has threatened legal action against the police spokesman.
Rajapakshe has said when talking in Parliament regarding a case that is being heard in a court of law is prohibited, the statement such as the one made by the police spokesman amounts to a contempt of court, and charged such announcements indicate of manipulations by higher forces.
The police stance makes one wonder whether the rule of law in this country has been totally abandoned by those who govern the country.
To make matters worse, not just for the government and its main players but for the country at large, its image and the very survival of the independence of the Judiciary, a statement by ‘The Lawyers’ Collective’ deplored the ‘false propaganda’ against the Chief Justice deeming them not as isolated incidents, but “meticulously orchestrated attacks coerced and carried out at the behest of the highest in authority.”
It went on to state, “Among the false accusations intended to mislead the public, they (State-controlled media) have stated the Chief Justice had fixed the benches in the Court of Appeal. It is common knowledge the Chief Justice has no role to play in arranging any bench whatsoever in the Court of Appeal. Their insinuation the Chief Justice selected a bench to hear her case is an insult to the dignity and integrity of the Judges of the country’s higher judiciary.”
The manipulation of the news cycles is not something alien to any party in power. Yet when the State-controlled media are engaged in the manufacture of lies and half-truths and when that same State-controlled outlets are dominating a market share, and whose viewers and listeners are so gullible as has been proven time after time, one wonders as to what alternatives are left for the intellectually curious and even for those who hang around the threshold of rational inquiry.
The government could not have asked for a more favourable setting, whether it was its own creation or if it was a result of converging social and political realities, for a total onslaught on their ‘perceived enemies’.
To brand the sitting Chief Justice as an active politician and term the members of the Bar Association as conspirators is something beyond the pale. One can surely recall the malicious and utterly disingenuous campaign aired by the State-controlled television during the last Presidential Elections with grisly images of Idi Amin, the notorious Ugandan dictator. The messaging was quite obvious but in retrospect, one is invariably prompted to wonder as to what the real parallels are, if such parallels do exist.
Whatever the government has in its repertoire of capabilities, a well-oiled propaganda machine is certainly one of them. They know how to use it and drive home a point to the extent the people become accustomed to what is being produced on a regular basis by that machine. All the aces are held by the government, which has opened a ‘Pandora’s Box’. Only thing that is left for the Opposition and for the people is at the bottom of that box: ‘Hope.’
(The writer is the editor of the Ceylon Today, a daily based in Colombo, where this piece was originally appeared)
- SLG
Gottabaya Rajapakse explicitly states, after rehabilitation students will be released.
Sunday , 30 December 2012
Defense Ministry Secretary Gottabaya Rajapakse has explicitly told, the arrested four university students detained cannot be released without undergoing rehabilitation. He made this statement to a special interview given to a Colombo media yesterday.
Gottabaya in his interview has said, this issue of not getting released without giving them rehabilitation has been already informed by me to Jaffna university Vice Chancellor including university society and they too have accepted.
He said the four university students who are arrested and detained can be released after undergoing rehabilitation and there is no possibility of releasing them prior to this.
Why Tamil National Alliance parliament members should enter the Jaffna University? What is the work they have there? They are going inside the university and instigating terrorism?
The past incidents have occurred in the backdrop of Tamil National Alliance youth group. We will prove it with evidence.
Students will be released after providing them rehabilitation and this issue has been already informed to Jaffna university Vice Chancellor including university society and they too have accepted it.
Legal action could be taken against the students, but we did not do that. Instead of that we are rehabilitating them was mentioned by him.
2009 Fundamental Right Chapter that was thrown in to dustbin by Rajapaksha regime
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2012
Following a decision of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights, the implementing arm of the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights, a Committee chaired by Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne was appointed by the then Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights to make proposals for a new Bill of Rights to replace the present chapter on fundamental rights in the Constitution.The report of the Committee and the proposed Bill of Rights was handed over to Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, then Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, in November 2009 and I was later told that the same had been handed over to the Presidential Secretariat. Nothing was heard about it thereafter.
The Committee was appointed by the Hon. Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, following a decision of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights, the implementing arm of the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights. The Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights and the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs were tasked with supporting the Committee.
Background
At the Presidential Elections held in 2005, His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa made a pledge in his election manifesto, the Mahinda Chinthana, as follows:
“Steps will be taken to include “The Charter of Rights” into the Constitution based on the Declaration of the United Nations and other international treaties to uphold and protect social, cultural, political, economic and civil rights of all Sri Lankans.”
It was in accordance with the above pledge that the Committee was appointed to make proposals for such a Charter of Rights. When the Committee met the Hon. Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights soon after its appointment, the Hon. Minister clarified that what was expected from the Committee was a draft chapter to replace the chapter on fundamental rights in the present Constitution.
Sub-Committees
The Committee divided itself to six sub-Committees and invited several specialists to serve in the sub-Committees. The six sub-Committees were:
Socio - Economic and Environmental Rights (Chair: Dr. Deepika Udagama)
Women, Children and Marginalized Groups (Chair: Mrs. Jezima Ismail)
Criminal Justice (Chair: Mr. Uditha Egalahewa)
Groups Rights ((Chair: Dr. Devanesan Nesiah)
Civil and Political Rights (Chair: Mr. V.T. Thamilmaran)
Enforcement (Chair: Mr. Javid Yusuf)
The reports of the sub-Committees were carefully considered by the Committee. The Committee’s burden was greatly lessened by the excellent work done by the sub-Committees. A list of members of the sub-Committees is annexed.
Sri Lanka’s international obligations and contemporary developments
The Committee took note of the contents of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the several international human rights instruments to which Sri Lanka is a party. Among them are -
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)
As mandated, the Committee has endeavoured to make its proposals based on Sri Lanka’s international obligations on human rights. The Committee also took note of developments in other countries and Constitutions that have modern Bills of Rights, especially in developing countries.
The proposed chapter on fundamental rights and other relevant provisions is annexed to this report.
Civil and political rights
It has been proposed that the right to human dignity, the inherent right to life, the right to recognition as a person before the law and the security of the person be recognized as fundamental rights. The scope of many rights declared in the present Constitution has been enlarged.
Regarding the death penalty, the Committee recommends its abolition. The Committee took note of the fact that no person has been executed in Sri Lanka since 1975 and that in both 2007 and 2008, Sri Lanka voted at the United Nations in favour of resolutions calling for a moratorium on executions as a step towards the ultimate abolition of the death penalty. The UN resolutions emphasized that the death penalty undermines human dignity, that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty and that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the implementation of the death penalty is irreversible and irreparable.
The Committee is not unmindful of public concerns that the crime rate in Sri Lanka is on the increase and that some persons convicted of grave crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment or long terms come out of prison quite early. The solution to this is judicial control of parole. The Committee recommends that in respect of those who are sentenced for long periods of imprisonment, legal provision should be made for the sentencing judge to make order that the offender’s term of imprisonment should not be reduced unless authorized by the court in the circumstances and manner and to the extent provided by law.
In the famous case of Makwanyane, the South African Constitutional Court stated that the greatest deterrent to crime is not the death penalty but “the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and punished. It is that which is lacking in our criminal justice system”.
The Committee has also recommended far-reaching provisions relating to personal liberty and rights relating to criminal procedure to bring rights recognized by the Constitution up to international minimum standards.
It has been proposed that the freedom to hold opinions and rights of access to information, the right to privacy and family life and the right to ownership of property be included.
In regard to the freedom to manifest religion, the Supreme Court has held that the right to propagate one’s religion is not included in the freedom to manifest religion as recognized in the Constitution, unlike in the Indian Constitution which expressly recognizes such right. All religions have spread by propagation and the Committee is of the view that such a right should be expressly recognized. However, there are concerns that the freedom to manifest religion is being misused to unethically convert persons to other religions. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights takes note of unethical conversions and declares in Article 18 that no person shall be subject to coercion which would impair the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of such person’s choice. The Committee has recommended the inclusion of a similar provision to assuage concerns that the freedom to manifest religion could be misused.
Family rights, children’s rights, social and economic rights
Following modern trends, the Committee has recommended the recognition of family rights and children’s rights in the fundamental rights chapter.
Several modern Bills of Rights recognize social and economic rights. In keeping with this trend and Sri Lanka’s own human rights obligations, the Committee recommends that rights relating to education, freedom from exploitation, labour rights, right to health, social rights and right to an adequate environment be included.
Restrictions on rights
While some rights such as the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, freedom of torture and the right to a fair trial are absolute, other rights such as the freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association may have to be restricted in the interests of society. However, permissible restrictions must not be over-broad and must be to the extent necessary in a democratic society. The Committee has so recommended.
Enforcement of fundamental rights Read more »
TWO PEOPLE ARRESTED FOR THREATENING AND DEMANDING 5 LAKHS
December 30, 2012
The suspects were arrested after the Matara police received a complaint. The suspects had told the retired bank manager that there was a contract to kill his family and demanded 5 lakhs to stop the killing.
Their actions were revealed after inspecting phone calls that came regarding the incident.
December 30, 2012
Muthumuni Siripala a.k.a. ‘Bomba Sira’, an underworld figure, had died after being admitted to the Kalubowila hospital at around 1.15 a.m. today.
‘BOMBA SIRA’ KILLED BY UNKNOWN GROUP
December 30, 2012 Muthumuni Siripala a.k.a. ‘Bomba Sira’, an underworld figure, had died after being admitted to the Kalubowila hospital at around 1.15 a.m. today.
The person was attacked by an unknown group after placing him on top of the railway line near Vihara Mawatha in Mt. Lavinia yesterday (29). The police had taken the person over to the hospital.
Police also stated that there were marks on the person that suggested he was bludgeoned.
The 56 year old victim resided in Ratmalana. The police are investigating regarding the issue.
SL 12th highest rank of asylum seekers: UNHCR
[ Sunday, 30 December 2012, 05:33.51 AM GMT +05:30 ]
Sri Lanka ranked 12th highest source country of asylum-seekers who claimed refuge in 44 industrialised countries last year, reports the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
It also reveals that more Sri Lankans were now seeking asylum abroad than the number of Sri Lankan refugees who were returning home voluntarily.There were 8,521 fresh asylum applications from Sri Lanka last year, said the ‘UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka’ report released on December 21.
This number is only slightly lower than in 2010, when Sri Lankans represented the 10th largest source country of asylum-seekers in the same 44 industrialised countries. That year, there were 8,874 new applications from Sri Lanka—only 353 more than in 2011.
The report also cited UNHCR’s Global Statistics was indicating that, at the end of last year, there were 136,605 refugees from Sri Lanka in some 65 countries. The majority of them were in India, followed by France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Malaysia, the United States and Italy.
It quoted Government records as saying that some 69,000 Sri Lanka refugees lived in India alone, distributed throughout 112 camps. A further 32,000 persons resided outside camps in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
“Despite the end of hostilities in May 2009, Sri Lankans who seek asylum abroad continue to outnumber the Sri Lankan refugees who opt for voluntary repatriation,” the UNHCR held. “The number of Sri Lankans attempting to leave Sri Lanka in an irregular manner on boats is reported to have increased significantly since the start of 2012.”
The UNHCR says it is difficult to ascertain the exact reasons for these attempts to depart. It observes that, “The motives are speculated to be mixed in nature.”
Meanwhile, 1,728 refugees returned to Sri Lanka from India through the facilitated voluntary repatriation programme. This scheme facilitated by the UNHCR, is supported by the Governments of India and Sri Lanka.
The report says this has declined compared with the previous year, when some 2,054 persons returned. Also, only “a handful of refugees” returned voluntarily with UNHCR assistance, from other countries of asylum—specifically Malaysia, Georgia and St. Lucia..
“The interest of Sri Lankan refugees in voluntarily repatriating continued to decline in 2012, with fewer than 1,300 individuals returning to the country through the UNHCR’s facilitated return programme from January to mid December 2012,” the report reveals. “As in prior years, most refugee returnees came from India, but a small number returned from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Cambodia.”
“In addition, the number of spontaneous refugee returnees who approached the UNHCR in field locations, has reduced by half, compared with 2011,” it says. Vavuniya is the district with the highest number of refugee returns, followed by Trincomalee.
All returnees under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme, undergo a questioning session by Immigration Officials for one to two hours upon arrival, followed by security interviews by the State Intelligence Service (SIS), which can take from 30 minutes to five hours.
“The UNHCR is not permitted to remain in the interview room during this process, but waits for the returnees outside the room,” the report says. But it adds that, returnees have been allowed to proceed to their destinations after the interviews.
“The UNHCR post-return monitoring data indicates that, in 2011, upon arrival in the village of destination, 75% of the refugee returnees were contacted at their homes by either a military (38%) or police (43%) officer for further “registration”,” it notes. “Twenty-six percent of these returnees were again visited at home for subsequent interviews, with a handful receiving a number of additional visits by the police or military.”
[ Sunday, 30 December 2012, 05:33.51 AM GMT +05:30 ]
Sri Lanka ranked 12th highest source country of asylum-seekers who claimed refuge in 44 industrialised countries last year, reports the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).It also reveals that more Sri Lankans were now seeking asylum abroad than the number of Sri Lankan refugees who were returning home voluntarily.There were 8,521 fresh asylum applications from Sri Lanka last year, said the ‘UNHCR Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka’ report released on December 21.
This number is only slightly lower than in 2010, when Sri Lankans represented the 10th largest source country of asylum-seekers in the same 44 industrialised countries. That year, there were 8,874 new applications from Sri Lanka—only 353 more than in 2011.
The report also cited UNHCR’s Global Statistics was indicating that, at the end of last year, there were 136,605 refugees from Sri Lanka in some 65 countries. The majority of them were in India, followed by France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia, Malaysia, the United States and Italy.
It quoted Government records as saying that some 69,000 Sri Lanka refugees lived in India alone, distributed throughout 112 camps. A further 32,000 persons resided outside camps in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
“Despite the end of hostilities in May 2009, Sri Lankans who seek asylum abroad continue to outnumber the Sri Lankan refugees who opt for voluntary repatriation,” the UNHCR held. “The number of Sri Lankans attempting to leave Sri Lanka in an irregular manner on boats is reported to have increased significantly since the start of 2012.”
The UNHCR says it is difficult to ascertain the exact reasons for these attempts to depart. It observes that, “The motives are speculated to be mixed in nature.”
Meanwhile, 1,728 refugees returned to Sri Lanka from India through the facilitated voluntary repatriation programme. This scheme facilitated by the UNHCR, is supported by the Governments of India and Sri Lanka.
The report says this has declined compared with the previous year, when some 2,054 persons returned. Also, only “a handful of refugees” returned voluntarily with UNHCR assistance, from other countries of asylum—specifically Malaysia, Georgia and St. Lucia..
“The interest of Sri Lankan refugees in voluntarily repatriating continued to decline in 2012, with fewer than 1,300 individuals returning to the country through the UNHCR’s facilitated return programme from January to mid December 2012,” the report reveals. “As in prior years, most refugee returnees came from India, but a small number returned from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Cambodia.”
“In addition, the number of spontaneous refugee returnees who approached the UNHCR in field locations, has reduced by half, compared with 2011,” it says. Vavuniya is the district with the highest number of refugee returns, followed by Trincomalee.
All returnees under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme, undergo a questioning session by Immigration Officials for one to two hours upon arrival, followed by security interviews by the State Intelligence Service (SIS), which can take from 30 minutes to five hours.
“The UNHCR is not permitted to remain in the interview room during this process, but waits for the returnees outside the room,” the report says. But it adds that, returnees have been allowed to proceed to their destinations after the interviews.
“The UNHCR post-return monitoring data indicates that, in 2011, upon arrival in the village of destination, 75% of the refugee returnees were contacted at their homes by either a military (38%) or police (43%) officer for further “registration”,” it notes. “Twenty-six percent of these returnees were again visited at home for subsequent interviews, with a handful receiving a number of additional visits by the police or military.”
‘Former military officer Jayakody threw acid’ Thuwarakeswaran complain
Sunday , 30 December 2012
Thuwarakeswaran after returning from Nallur Kandasamy temple fulfilling his religious obligations, while he was ready to get into his vehicle, acid was thrown over him.
Sunday , 30 December 2012
Former Hindu Cultural Minister Thiyagaraja Maheswaran’s brother and leading businessman Thiyagaraja Thuwarakeswaran aged 41, faced an acid attack on Saturday at Nallur.
He was severely wounded in the back and neck area was admitted to Jaffna Teaching hospital. However he had informed, due to dearth of safety at the Jaffna hospital, he got admitted to a hospital in Colombo.
This incident has occurred yesterday at 9.00 a.m in front of Jaffna Nallur Kandasamy temple.
Thuwarakeswaran after returning from Nallur Kandasamy temple fulfilling his religious obligations, while he was ready to get into his vehicle, acid was thrown over him.
He immediately had removed his shirt and had rolled himself in the stagnated rain water and after the burn sensation has got reduced he was immediately admitted to the Jaffna Teaching hospital.
Concerning this I have made a complaint to the Jaffna police station. I do not have security to get treatment at the Jaffna teaching hospital and I got admitted to a hospital in Colombo.
Due to acid attack his back area is severely wounded. Northern provincial Governor G.A.Chandrasiri’s personal secretary and former military officer Jayakody had thrown acid over him was informed by him to “Udayan” the print media. Jayakody after throwing acid immediately left the area in a motorbike.
Along with him, four persons accompanied him are suspected that they are from the military was further mentioned by Thuwarakeswaran.
He said, two days back when he went to Karainagar Sivan Temple, Jayakody was following him.
Regarding this he had made a complaint to the Jaffna police station.
Jaffna police Officer in Charge Saman Chickara was contacted concerning this incident, and he said, regarding the acid assault a complaint had been made. Thuwarakeswaran in his complaint had said that he suspects that Governor’s Personal Assistant Jayakody had thrown acid towards him.
Meanwhile Jayakody is behaving like this due to a disagreement. Previously too he was antagonized and I informed to Jaffna District Commanding Chief. I made a complaint to Colombo military head office. Currently a disciplinary action against Jayakody is processing. Hence he threw acid towards me was said by Thuwarakeswaran
Gotabhaya The Prophet And The State Of His Dreams
By Tisaranee Gunasekara -December 30, 2012
“The Solution was to establish terror as a normal condition of life.” Roberto Calasso (The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony)
A fortnight after the UPFA won the 2010 parliamentary election Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa gave an interview delineating his dream-state. His ideal Sri Lanka would be a state locked in a permanent political war with its many and varied ‘enemies’; a state in which every institution must function as a weapon-of-war and concepts such as judicial independence and human rights are considered inimically alien.Just two and a half years later, we know better. The term-limit provision is gone and, barring a miracle, Rajapaksa rule will last quite a long while. Currently we are living in a period of transition; Sri Lankais being transformed from an imperfect democracy into a patrimonial oligarchy, from within. Many recent developments, from the impeachment of the CJ and the multi-pronged attack on the judiciary to the destabilising repression unleashed on Jaffna university students, are the inevitable birth pangs of the Rajapaksa security state Gotabhaya Rajapaksa drew a word-picture of in his April 2010 interview.That was April 2010, a time when Rajapaksa excesses were seen by most people as conjunctural rather than structural. Consequently, Mr. Rajapaksa’s interview, despite its foreboding content, went largely unnoticed. In April 2010, the 18thAmendment existed only in the minds of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and his brothers. With the term-limit provision very much in place, there was every reason to believe that the Rajapaksa grip on power would be over in seven years. After all,JR Jayewardene’s term-limit provision had effectively terminated the Bandaranaike reign
in the SLFP;Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga did not want to retire from presidency or bow out of politics, but eventually the constitution compelled her to do both. In April 2010, there was no reason to believe that the same desirable fate would not befall Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In April 2010, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa identified the main challenge before post-war Sri Lankaas thwarting “a fresh attempt by separatists operating abroad to throw a lifeline to the LTTE (backed by) a section of the international community” (The Island – 17.4.2010). He advocated the launching of a total political war to defeat this ‘challenge’: “Suppressing the separatist movement and tackling its propaganda apparatus should be a major part of Sri Lanka’s strategy against the LTTE….. The new government should go all out against any local element promoting separatist sentiments regardless of political consequences” (ibid –emphasis mine).
Last week Mr. Rajapaksa identified the latest ‘local element’ which is ‘promoting separatist sentiments’ – the judiciary.
At a public function he spoke at length about “…..a conspiracy…..hatched by foreign elements to topple the Rajapaksa regime” and stated that “….the country was facing challenges similar to those that existed during the military conflict (Daily Mirror – 29.12.2012). He then animadverted on the ‘local agents’ of these ‘foreign conspirators’: “Everyone knows that school children, university students, university lecturers and trade unions were used to create trouble…. Today they are attempting to do it through the judiciary. They want to destabilise the country” (ibid; emphasis mine).
In April 2010, Mr. Rajapaksa said that his brother’s government “should go all out” against such ‘destabilising elements’ “regardless of political consequences”. Today the Rajapaksas are doing precisely that, with their inane impeachment, their efforts to fracture the Bar Association, their attempts to sabotage the annual gathering of judges and their attacks on the judiciary/legal fraternity. These moves are bound to have a shattering effect on public confidence in the Lankan state itself (the executive and the legislature at war with the judiciary is not the most inspiring sight), but the Rajapaksas do not care. Like Vellupillai Pirapaharan, they will not hesitate to kill in order to cure.
A Transition Foretold
Many of the anti-democratic moves made by the Rajapaksa administration since the parliamentary election of 2010 were foretold in Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s April 2010 interview – not because Mr. Rajapaksa is a seer but because he was articulating some of the plans being hatched by he and his brothers to create a state within a state, a ‘deep-state’ and to defend it by any means necessary.
So what would this new state, eternally at war with unending enemies, require to survive and thrive, according to Mr. Rajapaksa?
- “New laws to meet security requirements” (ibid).
- Knowing that “a section of officialdom could help the separatist cause by trying to appease foreign governments and some funding agencies” (ibid).
- Ensuring that the “the judiciary, particularly the Attorney General’s Department, support…the government’s efforts to suppress terrorism” (ibid).
- Ensuring that “Opposition political parties or constituent partners of the ruling coalition (are) not…allowed to engage in divisive politics” (ibid).
Given the Rajapaksa habit of equating themselves with the nation and their opponents with terrorists, ‘new laws to meet security requirements’ can be anything which promotes Rajapaksa rule, satiates Rajapaksa needs/desires and hounds Rajapaksa opponents. The 18th Amendment and the Expropriation Bill, though tailor-made to promote Rajapaksa interests, were presented as national security necessities; the same is being done with the equally Rajapaksa oriented Divineguma Bill. Future constitutional reforms, including downgrading/abolishing the 13th Amendment too will be presented in this disarming guise.
Preventing ‘a section of officialdom’ from helping ‘the separatist cause’ is a euphemism to destroying every last vestige of bureaucratic autonomy and making civil and military institutions of the state totally subservient to the Rajapaksas. The replacement of the democratising 17th Amendment with the despotic 18th Amendment was a pivotal great leap in this direction, as is the ‘Leadership Training Programme’. The Rajapaksas abhor and fear institutions which are not in thrall to them. Moving relentlessly to subvert/destroy those spaces which still retain a modicum of autonomy (such as the judiciary) is an important component of the Siblings’ state-building plan.
The third condition identified by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in his April 2010 interview explains the impeachment and other measures taken to replace the rule of law with the law of the rulers. The Rajapaksas need to transform the judiciary and the AG’s department into weapons in the Rajapaksa political war against Rajapaksa enemies. Within a month of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s April 2010 interview, his Presidential brother placed the AG’s Department – and the Legal Draughtsman’s Department – under his control. These two deadly moves barely caused a ripple even within the legal fraternity. This subjugation of two essential cogs of judicial independence enabled the Rajapaksas to use the AG’s Department as a rampart to protect their kith and kin and as a battering ram to hammer their enemies. It is thanks to this move that Duminda Silva remains a free man, despite repeated judicial orders for his arrest, while General Fonseka’s aged mother-in-law is being prosecuted by the state for not ratting on her fugitive grandson.
Once the Rajapaksas defeat the ‘Hulftsdorf coup’ and the judiciary becomes as much of a Rajapaksa tool as the AG’s Department, the Siblings will turn their attention to remaining democratic/anti-Rajapaksa holdouts, from those constituent parties of the UPFA which they deem insufficiently loyal/cowed to the opposition. Total control of everyone and everything is the foundation of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s dream state. And that dystopia is within reach.
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