Tamil activist killed in Ampara

Thursday, 31 January 2013

Seenithamby Premanathan (40 years old) was hacked to death by a group of unknown persons on the 28th between Malikaithivu and Malwattai when he was traveling home after visiting his brother. The incident had taken place in the Samanthurai police area. Premanathan is a father of two children and was an activist who protested against the arbitrary moves of delimitation in the provinces. Therefore, there are suspicions over the motive behind his murder.

The Rajapaksa government is trying to remap the divisional borders within the Ampara District in a bid to minimize the land mass of Tamil areas and to increase the lands allocated to Sinhala and Muslim areas. The Tamil people in the district are now facing the threat of losing their traditional lands.

The government is trying to arbitrarily conduct the delimitation work without consulting either the politicians or the people in the area.

Premanathan had actively campaigned against these moves and he was murdered while traveling back from his brother’s house in his three wheeler.

Several incidents against the Tamil people in the Ampara District had been recorded in the past few days.

Meanwhile, reports from the area state that the military intelligence is gathering information of Tamil societies and activists in the Ampara District and that Premanathan’s murder was directly linked to the military intelligence.

Political activists in the area say that the politicians and military intelligence are now engaged in silencing any opposition raised against the government’s arbitrary move to change the borders within the district.

Also, an army sub unit has been established in the area where the Oluvil harbour and Deegavapi have been combined.

An activist who spoke to us said that there was a strategic plan to remove Tamil people from the Ampara District.

He said that the government was using Muslim politicians in the area while intimidating and killing any Tamil activist who speaks against it. He added that the current move by the government would result in a massive social problem since the delimitation does not consider the socio-economic and political concerns of the people in the respective areas.

WikiLeaks: ‘Prabhakaran Thinks We’re As Monolithic As He Is’ – Dhanapala To US

By Colombo Telegraph –January 31, 2013

“In separate meetings with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Peace Secretariat head Jayantha Dhanapala on September 15, the Ambassador discussed prospects for resumed negotiations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). While Rajapakse expressed guarded optimism, Dhanapala offered a bleaker assessment, noting that in the lack of movement tensions between the Tigers and GSL security forces have increased in Trincomalee and Nagarkovil, while the small but vocal ‘anti-peace’ lobby in the South had become more strident. Dhanapala does not expect the visit of Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim to alleviate the situation, since he has returned to Sri Lanka with no new proposals from the LTTE. Dhanapala asked the Embassy to raise LTTE encroachments in Trincomalee with the ceasefire monitors. Both Rajapakse and Dhanapala agreed that the LTTE seems to have dropped the March defection of Eastern military commander Karuna as a pretext for refusing to negotiate.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.

A Leaked ‘Confidential’ US diplomatic cable, dated September 15, 2004, updated the Secretary of State regarding and a meeting Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead had with the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Peace Secretariat head Jayantha Dhanapala . The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Jeffrey J. Lunstead.

The ambassador wrote; “In a meeting with the Ambassador the same day, Jayantha Dhanapala, the head of the Peace Secretariat, sounded a more pessimistic note. Dhanapala opened the meeting by thanking the USG for its August 19 statement condemning LTTE violence, as well as for the firm line communicated by Coordinator for Counterterrorism Ambassador Cofer Black in the media coverage of his recent visit (Ref B). The indignant reaction to Ambassador Black’s comments by pro-LTTE TNA MPs and media show that ‘the penny has dropped’ and his words hit home, Dhanapala said. The Ambassador and Dhanapala agreed that the tough messages from the EU and the Japanese have also been helpful (Ref C). Nonetheless, Dhanapala said, the basic situation remains ‘congealed in a stalemate.’ In the impasse, the anti-peace lobby, which Dhanapala believes remains a tiny minority of the general population, is becoming more vocal and strident, appearing to dominate the discourse on this important issue and to overwhelm supporters of the peace process. Although the President is personally committed to recommencing talks, she has not, despite his urging, launched a pro-peace public relations campaign to fill the vacuum and to refocus on the benefits of peace, he said. The Peace Secretariat cannot mobilize public support for the peace process on its own, he observed; that must be done at the political level. “

“If the GSL succeeds in getting talks restarted, Dhanapala continued, that will dissipate some of the anti-peace lobby and ‘bring the JVP more earnestly on board’ once they see that negotiations are ‘a going thing.’ The GSL has already spent a good deal of time preparing its negotiating position, he said. Thus, if talks did resume, he believes an agreement on an interim arrangement could be reached quickly and discussion of a final arrangement begun. The window of opportunity is closing quickly, however, he warned. If the LTTE decides not to resume talks until it ‘cleans up’ the East, the JVP might take advantage of the lack of progress to engage with restive Muslim groups in the East, he suggested, and thereby increase pressure for a ‘de-merger’ of the North and East. Tiger supremo Prabhakaran does not understand the domestic political constraints the President is facing, Dhanapala said; ‘he thinks we’re as (politically) monolithic as he is.’” the ambassador further wrote.

Read the relevant part of the cable below;

Related posts to this cable;