These Lankan refugee sisters graduated from school, but they need your help

Image: Sri Lankan refugee camp/ By European Commission DG ECHO - Flickr

It was their father who had encouraged the girls to attend an English medium school.

Pheba Mathew| Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Eighteen-year-old Vashini lives in the Puzhal refugee camp on the outskirts of Chennai with her 17-year-old sister Yalini and mother. Fearing for their lives, her family had fled Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka during the civil war ten years ago.

“We were staying at our relative’s house in Jaffna and people started saying that Sri Lankan Tamils were being burnt alive by Sinhalese. Only our family escaped from there and reached India,” narrates Vashini.

Tragedy followed the family in India. Last Tuesday, Vashini’s father died after being electrocuted. It was also the same day the Class XII results were announced. Vashini scored 84.4 per cent in the Board Exams while her sister scored 887 out of 1200. A day of joy and celebration turned to one of grief and mourning.

It was their father who had encouraged the girls to attend an English medium school. With no permanent job, he worked as a driver to pay for his daughters’ education, dreaming of a bright future for them.  

But his death has crushed their dreams, as Vashini and Yalini feel a sense of hopelessness. Vashini had hoped to become a doctor but with their father being the sole breadwinner, she has to abandon her childhood ambition, unable to support her dreams. “Now, I want to just get a degree, I want to get into an engineering college or do microbiology,” says Vashini.

While a social worker at the Martha Foundation have promised to help the two students, financial problems are a major issue for those in refugee camps. “The youth who have graduated are not able to find jobs here. Many of them also drop out of schools and colleges in the camp due to peer pressure,” said a social worker.

Vashini and Yalini plan to move back to Sri Lanka after their graduation. They hope to re-unite with their family in Jaffna and rebuild their future in the country that was once home. 

To help the students, please call: 9677212477

Note: Sri-Lankan refugee sisters did not want their photograph to be published.

Winning For Whom?

[Featured image courtesy Amantha Perera, IRIN News

INDRANI BALARATNAM on 05/30/2016

Editor’s note: This poignant piece is the final of a series of poems submitted by the author as entry criteria for the Write to Reconcile Programme, which brings together emerging writers with the goal of writing fiction, memoirs or poetry on issues of conflict, peace, reconciliation, memory and trauma in Sri Lanka, post-war.]

“Catch it!” Two words that snap me into action,
The crowd cheering, my team turns and looks at me.
The adrenaline surges and I am out of my daydream.
Catch it, and we win,
Miss it, and nobody goes home.
Amma cooks for me after every match,
The smell of her food takes over my legs and I run.
So fast, I can never remember,
So determined, nothing else matters.

The cheer blurs into a loud, repetitive clap,
Edging me closer to victory, as I leap,
Slide across the grass, look up at the sky
and throw my hands out.
I can never see the ball against that bright sun.
I close my eyes.
Did I catch it? Did we win?

I’m in the temple.
Abandoned, empty, I try to silence
the thud of my boots against this mud floor.
My team are scattered.
My clothes give me belonging,
My gun gives me purpose.
“Be a better version of yourself,” they told me,
So I signed up and I never looked back.
I go home next week – my wife is due
It’s a boy, she told me; I will teach him to catch like I do.

A stream of light plays shadows with the statue beside me,
And through that light, a ball glides in silently.
The sound of the crowd is muffled
as it comes straight towards me.
I stare – this time, my legs won’t move.
This time, nobody shouted, “catch it!”
This time,
I’m frozen.

The crowd’s chanting rises, I know I have to run.
But I stare, I don’t blink and,
I don’t know how to flee.
The beat of the claps flood my ears,
a waft of Amma’s food hits me and I’m nauseous,
My son is laughing, catching a six…
Darkness.

I open my eyes to a flashlight above me
When I became a soldier they told me
I would be a better version of myself, and yet,
Here I am now.
They amputated both of my legs.
Cut off two of my limbs.
Everything else the Doctor said, faded,
And merged, with the distant cheer of the crowd.

My wife is nursing my wounds,
My son cries in the next room.
I can’t walk to him,
I can’t teach him,
I can’t protect him.
He looks after me.
As for my team – Where are they now?
Where is the crowd that once cheered so loud?
I can’t take anymore.
With the flashlight still shining above me,
I close my eyes.

Did I catch it? Did we win?

Murdered Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan remembered in Batticaloa

30 May 2016

The 12th anniversary of assassinated Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan was observed today in Batticaloa The remembrance ceremony was organized by the Eastern Provincial Journalists Federation and Jaffna Press Club.

Photograph:Tamil Guardian

Mr Nadesan, commonly known as ‘Nellai Nadesan,’ was shot dead by a paramilitary group when he was on his way to his office in 2004. As a profile journalist and a columnist, he worked for local Tamil dailies and international news agencies.

Speakers at the ceremony noted that even after twelve years, the perpetrators of this high profile killing are yet to be brought before law. A memorial lecture also was arranged with the participation of local journalists, academics and parliamentarians. 

Highlighting his valuable reporting skills and the services rendered to the community, Batticaloa TNA parliamentarian C.Yogeswaran said, Mr Nadesan was a fearless cadre with a pen in his hand to bring the injustices done to the Tamil and Muslim communities.

Mr Yogeswaran added that since 1990 at least 41 Tamil journalists were killed but there has been no legal investigations under way to arrest the culprits so far.

National unity for a just society - EDITORIAL

2016-05-29

ith the floods and landslides continuing into the third week yesterday, religious leaders have urged that we need to go beyond religious, racial, political or social and other differences in the mission for the provision of relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of more than half a million victims. Just as death is no respector of persons, so is a natural disaster. People of all races and religions were affected, though as usual the impoverished people were more vulnerable. So the recovery mission also needs to go beyond differences and be a national effort. 

For the past few months, a major irritant to national unity was the issue regarding the resolution approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) at its sessions in Geneva. The resolution, co-sponsored by the United States and Sri Lanka, called for an impartial probe on alleged war crimes with the mechanism involving not only Sri Lankan Judges but also foreign Judges or experts. This created a major controversy among the majority community and also concerned in the security forces. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking to high ranking Army officers at Temple Trees last Thursday assured that the probe mechanism would be domestic and no foreign Judges would be involved. 
Our sister newspaper The Sunday Times in an exclusive report yesterday said the Prime Minister’s assurance came ahead of the 32nd sessions of the UNHRC from June 13 to July 1. On June 14, the UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein is expected to refer to Sri Lanka in his opening remarks. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera is to make a statement on Sri Lanka’s performance record the same day. On June 29, Prince Zeid, in accordance with the mandate given to him by the Council, will present an oral update on the implementation of the resolution on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka.
 According to the report, more details of the arrangements for the domestic mechanism will be given by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera who accompanied President Maithripala Sirisena for the unprecedented meeting with the group of seven leaders in Japan last Thursday and Friday. They returned yesterday. 

The Prime Minister told Army Officers that the government believed there was a need to return more of the vast extents of private land taken over by the military during the war which ended in May 2009. According to statistics, in the Jaffna area outside is High Security Zone, 58.73 acres of private land are still being occupied by the military. This is besides an extent of 86.22 acres of State land that is over and above the extent where military installations existed, the newspaper report said. The Prime Minister also briefed Army officers on the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be set-up on the lines of South Africa’s TRC which won worldwide respect and praise. 
Some analysts believe that Sri Lanka extensively briefed the US and other key players on the practical and effective steps taken by the National Government for reconciliation, a just peace and a just society based on the hallowed precepts of equality and unity in diversity. 
Not surprisingly the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil diaspora represented by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), in their initial reaction, have opposed the move for a totally domestic mechanism. But with the international community, as seen especially during last week’s G7 Summit, firmly supporting the Sri Lanka Government, the Geneva issue is likely to be sorted out in a just and fair way for the common good of all. 

Another important step towards fulfilling some of the provisions of the UNHRC resolution was taken by the government last Tuesday, The Sunday Times revealed. Premier Wickremesinghe got Cabinet approval for the setting up of a high-powered Office of Missing Persons (OMP). It will be similar to a special commission of inquiry. According to the 18-page draft law, this office will provide assistance to relatives of missing persons and set up a database of missing persons. Essentially it will be based on the International Convention for the Protection of All People from Enforced Disappearance, to criminalise enforced disappearances and to issue certificates of absence to the families of missing persons as a temporary measure of relief. 
With this accommodation on the Middle Path, we hope there will be national unity to move towards the mission of reconciliation and a just peace, good governance, democracy, accountability, transparency and a just society. 

A Comment On The Proposed Office Of Missing Persons

By Basil Fernando –May 30, 2016

Basil Fernando

It seems no progress can be made in Sri Lanka on the attitude to murder. Murder is now regarded as normal and therefore not something to worry much about. And, this is exactly what should worry everyone. But hardly anyone seems to worry about it.

We see the same thing in the proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP). The simple fact about a missing person in Sri Lanka is that he or she is dead. Very rarely, does a missing person re-appear. As in the case of the dead, missing persons normally never appear again. At least that is case in Sri Lanka, what ever the case may be elsewhere off the Island.

When a person is dead, he or she, of course, goes missing. There is no paradox involved in this. However, it is quite a different case if we were to be told to assume that the dead person is merely a missing person. This means that we are expected to assume that the dead man or woman is not dead at all but only missing.

Why should the dead be assumed to be merely missing? The answer would be that there is no proof of death, as the dead body has not been found. The argument is that in the absence of a corpse, there is no proof of death. So this whole exercise is about proof.

If the corpse is available then we know person is dead. If the person is, in fact, dead but his body cannot be found, we are expected assume that the person is missing. However, what is really missing is not the person, but the corpse.

If an office were to be established to look for missing dead bodies, the task of the office would be different than of an office looking for missing persons.

The situation would differ even more, if one knows or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is not only dead, but, in fact, killed, and the corpse has been disposed of. Obviously in such a situation, there is no need to be looking for the missing body, as the body itself has been disposed, in order to hide the fact of a murder.

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Geneva-sanctioned Office for Missing Persons to succeed Paranagama Commission

By Shamindra Ferdinando-May 30, 2016, 12:00 pm 

The government has directed the Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons to hand over all its files to proposed Office for Missing Persons, thereby terminating the Commission.

Chairman of the Commission retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama yesterday told The Island that he had been to told to hand them over before July 15, 2016. Paranagama said that he had requested time till August 30 to finalise the process.

The Office of Missing Persons is one of four transitional justice mechanisms Sri Lanka has agreed to establish during the September 2015 Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa set up the Paranagama Commission during 2013.

Responding to a query, the retired High Court judge said that his commission had received approximately 19,000 complaints and was still in the process of inquiring into them. Paranagama said that now it would be the responsibility of the Office for Missing Persons established in accordance with an understanding reached in Geneva. Paranagama said that an investigating team headed by a retired High Court judge had been investigating into wartime disappearances and obtained oral evidence in respect of about 350 cases.

The Paranagama Commission, in its Second Mandate Report released after Maithripala Sirisena’s victory at January, 2015 presidential poll made a series of significant recommendations, including international expertise as well as foreign observers in case the government of Sri Lanka decided against obtaining the services of foreign judges. The Report had been prepared in consultation with an International Legal Advisory Council comprising Sir Desmond de Silva, QC (UK), Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC (UK) and Prof. David M. Crane (US). The Council had the support of a panel of international experts, including retd Maj. Gen. John Holmes, one-time commanding officer of UK’s elite Special Air Services (SAS) Regiment.

The Second Mandate Report, too, referred to cases of missing persons.

However, US based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found fault with Sri Lanka for setting up an Office for Missing Persons without consulting the families of the disappeared as promised at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last year.

The HRW was responding to a Foreign Ministry statement issued on May 25 in respect of a decision taken by the cabinet on the previous day. The FM statement: "The Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of an Office for Missing Persons. The Office will help several thousand families of missing persons across Sri Lanka to discover the fate of their loved ones, and the circumstances under which they went missing. The need to set up such an office is particularly acute as Sri Lanka has one of the largest caseloads of missing persons in the entire world – the result of uprisings in the South and the war lasting nearly three decades. This Office is the first of the four mechanisms dealing with conflict-related grievances that the new Government pledged to establish and legislation will soon be presented to parliament to make that commitment a reality."

Since 1948 – Sri Lanka’s deceptions continue!

by V. Kirubaharan, France

( May 30, 2016, Paris, Sri Lanka Guardian) A few days back – the Eelam Tamils, diaspora Tamils and the World Tamils commemorated the 7^th anniversary of Mullivaghzhal, in which thousands of innocent lives were lost – massacred in cold blood. I will avoid going into the history of this massacre. 

There is nothing to hide. It was done with the help of China, Pakistan, India and a few other counties, including the then state government of Tamil Nadu. I know that patriotic Indians will not like to see that I have included India in this list. But who is answerable to the ample evidence available, of Indian involvement in ‘bringing this war to an end’? India may justify its shameful support to Sri Lanka, but did it consider the innocent casualties caused by its counterblow? Has anyone challenged the Sri Lankan government on the figures it released at the time, saying there were only 70 to 80 thousand people living in the war zone, in the Vanni? At the end of the war, it was proved that they had downplayed the figures, attempting to prevent any ‘international interference’.

However, the war victory, in the name of “rescuing the Tamils from the clutches of the LTTE”, proved wrong in many aspects. In a recent interview, the Defence Secretary during the war said that, ‘It was not surprising that the defeat of Tamil Tigers strongly impacted the people who were brainwashed by Prabhakaran. This is because he was their hero’. I agree that the international diplomacy of any Sri Lankan government is highly effective.

Since, so-called independence from the British in 1948, bogus promises and time-buying statements made by every Sri Lankan government on the ethnic issue, worked well in their favour. Out of 68 years, only 26 years of war is given as a pretext to the international community, for not settling the political grievances of the Tamils.

Non-celebration of war victory

Some people with limited vision believe that non-celebration of the war victory this year by the government is a good gesture. This calibre of people should ask themselves whether the war that ended in May 2009 was between two countries. Otherwise, if this is to be celebrated annually, there should be two additional celebrations of winning against the JVP insurgency in 1971 and in 1989.

Let’s look at the ground realities. What has been done by the earlier and the present government in the Tamil Homeland, the North and East? Today, the North and East are colonised with people from the South and Buddhist Temples have sprung up in every nook and corner. Also the military has established businesses, narcotic drugs and made pornographic movies freely available with the intention of diverting the hearts and minds of the Tamil youth from political engagement.

Therefore everyone, including VVIPs in international institutions, should look into the ingredients of the cake, rather than the beautiful icing. Since 1948, the Tamils gained nothing, but have lost everything politically, socially, economically and culturally.

A Tamil expression goes, “A realist has many enemies”. We can’t stop communicating the reality, just because it doesn’t please or satisfy some. On that basis, we should look at what has been going on since 1948.

Even before 1948, leaders in the South had a master plan to convert the island into a Sinhala Buddhist

state. This thinking is based on a fictional Buddhist dogma known as the ‘Mahavamsa’. The cultural genocide of the Tamils as witnessed in the destruction of the Public Library of Jaffna comes into this, especially because it was set on fire by the government forces, accompanied by two government ministers. The debate about which ethnic group was in the island first can be argued in pages and for months. Those arguments have been made thoroughly in the past by many. I need not repeat them here.

Oppression in stages

It cannot be denied that Tamils were living in many parts of island before and during the time of Independence (1948), mostly in the forest and undeveloped from the South to Colombo and suburbs – as well as in the North and East. Under the master plan of converting the island into Sinhala Buddhism – stage one was carried out soon after independence. Tamils living outside their homeland, the North and Eas were violently and legally targeted. Tamils were chased back to the North and East from places like – Kataragama, Tissamaharama, Matara, Galle, Kalutura, Panandura, Colombo and suburbs. The same in Negombo, Puttalam, Chilaw, Uddappu and other areas. Whoever didn’t want to move back to the North and East changed their identity, in effect converting their ethnicity.  I wrote about this in detail in one of articles, “Kataragama to KKS” (South to North) published on 24 October 2010.

While stage one was progressing successfully, the second stage was initiated to target the Plantation Tamils who had been brought by the British to work in tea plantations in the Up-country

. Wherever the British colonised, they took labourers from South India to work in their plantations. This was the case in South Africa, Mauritius and Malaysia. In the stage twoprocesses, thousands of Tamils who lived and worked in the Tea plantations for more than one hundred years were disfranchised and repatriated back to India. In fact, this horrendous disfranchisement was done cleverly with the help of some selfish Tamil politicians.

While the violent attacks continued on Tamils, causing thousands of casualties and throwing their economy into ruin, Tamil political leaders failed to alert the international community and seek the help of their colonial masters. They continued fruitless negotiations and non-violent struggles, for decades.

Arson attack on evidence of Tamil history

When stage one and stage two had been successfully completed, their third stage began to take shape in the Tamil homeland, the North and East. While settling Sinhalese and establishing Buddhist temples, they initiated cultural genocide within the Tamil homeland. The Police violently attacked and killed nine and injured more than fifty during the 1974 World Tamil Research Conference in Jaffna.  As it was mentioned above – in June 1981, one of the biggest libraries in Asia, the public library of Jaffna was set on fire, destroying important documents of the evidence of Tamil history – more than 97,000 volumes of books and manuscripts ended-up in ashes. On the other hand discrimination/standardisation in Education also began; introducing what has been described as a form of apartheid system.

This motivated the Tamil youth to start militancy to protect their people from state terrorism. 

Surprisingly the state claims that the oppressed people are their ‘own citizens’.

The Sri Lankan government took this opportunity and allowed Tamils freely to seek shelter abroad, especially in Western countries, thinking that this approach would reduce the Tamil population in the North and East. It resulted in nearly a million Tamils seeking shelter in foreign countries, which eventually became counter-productive for both.

 As the war intensified and caused massive displacement in the North and East, those who could afford to live in the capital moved to Colombo. The government, which always waits for an opportunity, made propaganda claiming that 60 per cent of the Colombo population are Tamils. When this matter was raised during the sessions of the UN Human Rights Council – UN HRC in Geneva, we queried that, if this figure is true and correct, how many Tamil representatives from Colombo are in the Parliament? The government reps could not answer this question even today.

Rajapaksa hoodwinked those……

I will agree that the Sri Lanka government is good at its diplomacy. For example, six years after the war, former President Rajapaksa managed the International community including India with his bogus promises. He agreed to whatever the UN Secretary General wanted and told India that he would grant more than in the 13th amendment. He referred to it as 13-plus. Eventually, whoever helped to win the war was hoodwinked by Rajapaksa. As he won the 2010 Presidential election through jugglery, the hidden powers never allowed him to prolong his Presidency.  In my article in 2010, ““Kataragama to KKS (South to North)” I predicted the following: – 

“…………. But in our experience many politicians — presidents, prime ministers and monarchies have fallen into to the ‘laws of motion’ of Sir Isaac Newton – “To every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction” and “everything which goes up has to come down” because of the ‘gravity’ of earth. Let us wait and see the future of the Rajapaksas and Sri Lanka.” (Excerpt)

Also I said the following, “The President should be open, fair and impartial in his commitment. If he wants to prove his fairness and equal treatment of citizens, he should courageously resettle the Tamils from Kataragama to Kankesanthurai (KKS). This could be a stepping stone for a united Sri Lanka.” (Excerpt).

The present government is no different to earlier ones. The UN HRC resolution to which Sri Lanka is a co-sponsor moves at not even a snail’s speed.  The current President rejected any international involvement in the war crimes investigation, an important clause in the resolution.  As usual, the Prime Minister is using his diplomacy to adjust the hot and cold within the government. The constitutional council which intended to draft a new constitution has not even acknowledged that there is an ethnic conflict in the country. The talk show about a federal solution has already been rejected by many Ministers and supporters of the present government.

International community & India

At this juncture the best approach of the victims is not to rely on investing further confidence in this government. Each government of Sri Lanka has been buying time since 1948. As usual, the international approach and the high-profile lobby should continue. Presently the UK government as well as the opposition understand the dodgy agenda of the Sri Lankan government, especially on the ethnic issue. Canada and all European Union countries also.

In India, the Central government and the State government of Tamil Nadu have promised and made positive statements regarding a political settlement in Sri Lanka. The US which worked out the resolution is shuttling regularly between Washington and Colombo, pressuring Sri Lanka to implement the resolution in full. Now the US has begun to feel that they are on a ‘mission impossible’.  Like earlier governments, the present one is also buying time to enable their successful contribution towards converting the whole island into Sinhala Buddhism. They are brilliant in their diplomacy and have extensive experience in taking the international community for a ride.

They managed with India which they consider as a ‘disliked’ country, because of the Indian respect for Lord Buddha and Buddhism. Also the Sinhalese are not ready to excuse India for breeding Tamil militancy in India. Because of their animosity towards India, they even re-named ‘Mysore dhal ’ as red dhal’ and ‘Bombay onion’ as ‘big onions’. However with their strategic diplomacy, they won the war with the support of India. They gave a lesson to the world that anything is possible, as long as a country is good at diplomacy.

Now who is answerable to the Tamils? Is it the international community which passed several resolutions in the UN HRC or India which signed an accord with Sri Lanka on finding a political solution to the Tamils? Since 1948, Tamils have been cheated and lost their land, territory, economy, culture, kith and kin, etc.

Those who have hope in the present government should read what was predicted and written in the local media. Below I quote what was said by an independent writer:

“….President Sirisena appears willing to turn his back on his electoral mandate and do anything it takes to wrest back full control of the SLFP, at great cost to his presidential legacy. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe continues to adopt a see-no-evil approach while the actions of his party-men and advisors grievously damage and discredit his administration.

For both the President and the Prime Minister, this path is ultimately self-destructive. The benchmarks were set higher for them. Every deviation from their stated purpose is perceived as a grave betrayal. Their fall from grace will be steeper and more devastating.Elected as reformers, both men have made active choices to proceed with politics as usual. Rather than make difficult political decisions that would restore public faith in Government, they continue to pander and accommodate the most corrupt and inept within their ranks”. (Excerpt from ‘Something is rotten’, written by Dharisha Bastians on 26 May 2016, Daily FT)

STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: FAMILIES HIT BY FLOODS IN KILINOCHCHI

( Floods in Kilinochchi; Tamil Guardian Image)

by Easwaran Rutnam.-30/05/2016

Several families affected by the recent floods in Kilinochchi are looking at ways to survive after losing their crops. Jaffna based civil society said that most families in Kilinochchi depend on their paddy to earn a living.

However the heavy rain flooded the paddy fields in the area damaging over 3000 acres of paddy in the Kilinochchi district.

The Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit told The Sunday Leader that around 18,265 people from 5,467 families were badly affected by the floods. A spokesman at the Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit said that 16 houses were fully damaged in the floods and 251 houses were partially damaged.

He said the people displaced by the floods were housed in 12 centres but have now returned home since the water has receded. There was a concern that a lot of focus on sending relief to families in Colombo and Aranayake and very little to Kilinochchi.

However the spokesman at the Kilinochchi Disaster Management unit insisted that cooked food and dry rations had been given to the affected families in the area through the Disaster Management Centre.

“It is not true to say the people here have been ignored,” the spokesperson added.

The army said that on the direction of Major General K.A.D.A Karunasekera, the Commander of the Security Forces in Kilinochchi, troops assisted the local flood victims following the heavy rains in the Kilinochchi area.

The heavy rain resulted in the Mandagalaru bridge, which is located between the Jaffna and Mannar road (A-32), being affected disrupting transport activates. Troops from Army, Navy and Police were liaised with the fishers’ society in Pallikudha to help civilians to cross the bridge using boats.

The Nethilaru bridge which is located between Dharmapuram and Visuamadu on the A-35 road was also flooded and troops belonging to the 14 Sri Lanka National Guard (SLNG) Battalion placed sand bags to prevent the bridge from being damaged.

The Chief Coordinating Civil Affairs officer of the Security Forces Headquarters in Kilinochchi distributed lunch packs among the flood affected families in Ambalnagar while troops from the 16 (v) Sri Lanka Light Infantry (SLLI) also distributed meals for flood affected families at Marathanaga. In addition assistance was also given to the displaced people at Paranthankudiiruppu, Nadankudiiruppu and Umayalapuram.

Meanwhile, the army media unit said that on the directions of Brigadier Deepthi Jayatilaka, the General Officer Commanding of the 66 Division, troops of the 663 Brigade distributed relief parcels containing clothes, water bottles, dry ration, sanitary items and other essentials to the flood victims in Poonaryn with the support of the Unity Mission Trust Institute in Colombo.

The relief items were distributed to 74 families including 400 children at the Hindu Maha Vidyalaya, Paranthan and Mahadeva Child Home in Kilinochchi.

Sunday Leader

Behold The Crazy Guys Of Yahapālanaya

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –May 30, 2016

Shyamon Jayasinghe

Did any of you readers see the video of Deputy Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe going in a boat in a flood affected area in Colombo and distributing donations? Did you see the video of Minister Dayasiri engaged in cleaning up muck in a residential block somewhere? Both these gentlemen are well dressed with the cameras turned on them. Serasinghe,in shorts, looks like a Walawwe Hamumahattaya or like Loku Baby Mahattaya. Shifting to a serious note, aren’t you shaken up by Minister Rajitha Senaratne having an open duel with the doctors of the GMOA?

These blokes, (and I am sure there are many of them in the yahapalanaya government) if allowed to go on overdrive like this will surely blow up Yahapalanaya. Young Minister Harin Fernando mercifully apologised for his use of raw filth in Parliament.

The first two performances are all over Facebook and social media. One has to be thankful for these social media outlets. The word spreads like wildfire in a summer Australian bush country. At least social media is acting as a break where our civil society has gone to slumber. Democracy is predicated on one major premise,namely, that the broad populace are engaged with what politicians do. They watch them. They pull them up if they go wrong. Here, in Australia one reason why democracy works reasonably well is that civil society organisations and organised trade unions don’t let politicians off the hook. If even as simple as a prominent tree is felled down for “development” one witnesses hordes of protestors. The media,in turn, falls in line with a conscientious public.

Its not all lost in Sri Lanka, however. The Corruption Decade was brought down partly by Facebook and the civil society organisations. A huge salute to the memory of Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha! While other prominent monks were aligned directly and impliedly with the corruption regime this monk made the sacrifice. Praise to the monk and shame on others.

On the other hand when politicians like those three above dance the devil why don’t we have some civil society boys hooting them down. I remember in the old campus days boys hooted Sir John Kotelawala when he came as Prime Minister. A little hooting isn’t a dangerous thing especially when now we don’t have White Vans.

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The Complexity of Loss

DR. KALANA SENARATNE on 05/30/2016

Troubled by the burgeoning demands for accountability, the erstwhile Rajapaksa-government developed a homogenous narrative about how to respond to the cries of the war’s victims for truth and justice. Promoted as a ‘Sri Lankan approach’ to transitional justice, this narrative – the construction and promotion of which was ably assisted by key actors of the country’s legal profession – emphasized the importance of ‘restorative justice’ understood as giving prominence to forgiveness and tolerance when dealing with violence, and not to prosecutions of alleged perpetrators of crimes (‘retributive justice’). With a committed reluctance to investigate, the Rajapaksa-government which had successfully executed a war against the LTTE, had no other option but to promote such a narrative. Though less prominent today, its appeal has not yet diminished.

A recently published book effectively challenges this dominant narrative. In Confronting the Complexity of Loss: Perspectives on Truth, Memory and Justice in Sri Lanka (Law & Society Trust, 2015), Gehan Gunatilleke – a human rights lawyer, academic and civil society activist – provides an important account of the complexity of loss and the plurality of the narratives of loss which need to be taken into account in promoting justice to those victims of violence. Gunatilleke’s attempt is “to understand the attitudes of victims and survivors towards truth, memory and justice” (p. 2), and he does so by examining the views of victims of three events or episodes of violence: the victims of the JVP-insurrection (of the late 1980s); the victims of the war between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the LTTE; and the victims of human rights abuses of the post-war era.

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Gunatilleke begins his exploration, in Part I, with a brief overview of the context of ethnic and religious relations in Sri Lanka. While it introduces and discusses the key events of violence the participants of the study have had to confront, this part contains a brief dip into the history of ethnic relations (p. 9-20), which provides the backdrop to the violence that took place in Sri Lanka’s recent history, such as the war (concluded in 2009) as well as the more recent violence carried out by ultra-nationalist Buddhist groups in the south.

One of the key aspects targeted by Gunatilleke is the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist narrative. Relying on the works of historians and social scientists such as the late Prof. Leslie Gunwardana, Prof. Sasanka Perera et al, the book sets out a brief critique of the Mahavamsa (a historical chronicle which is often considered to be shaping much of Sinhala-Buddhist understanding of the relationship between the Sinhalese and the Tamils). In the course of this critique, Gunatilleke makes reference, for example, to the claim made by the Prof Gunawardana to the effect that the famous Dutugemunu-Elara war was merely aimed by the former at capturing territory, both from Elara as well as other regional rulers. “Yet the accounts contained in the Mahavamsa have dominated the consciousness of the Sinhalese majority…” (p. 11). Gunatilleke argues that this historical narrative which portrays the Tamil as ‘foreign’ has got accepted as fact, and that even history textbooks in schools draw “heavily and uncritically” from sources such as the Mahavamsa (p. 10). Tamil nationalism emerged as a reactive force to minority-marginalization – and though non-violent at first, became “fundamentally violent eventually.” (p. 20). He also refers to the complex relations between Sinhala-Buddhists and other religious groups, such as Christians and Muslims, and the struggle for both space and power that has been central to these relations (ibid).

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An angry call for a selective deluge

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Exasperated by the peccadilloes of the ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) administration in pulling back on its promises to punish the corrupt in the South and bring justice to those who had suffered in the North, a colleague of mine advocated this week in an angry communication that Colombo’s flood waters should have advanced further than merely retreating at the entrance of the Parliament.

‘If it rained only on Parliament and if the House was in session, this would have solved all of Sri Lanka’s problems in one fell swoop’ he enthused.

Continuation of the democratic deficit

Quite apart from these rather cruel musings, there is no denying that the country’ democratic deficit continues. Yet despite clear warning signals belying superficial promises, we are too quick to casually shrug our shoulders and too eager to believe that things may not appear as bleak as they may turn out to be. This relates to a streak of quite unfortunate frivolity in Sri Lanka’s South which co-exists alongside the ready willingness to help others in times of distress as was well seen during the floods last week.

This frivolity which goes beyond tolerance of the intolerable is a puzzling aspect of the national character, prevailing often than not as an integral part of the educated and seemingly elite mindset. Perhaps this comes from long generations of having had life a tad too easy in an island of lotus eaters, even despite the death and the destruction which has periodically been visited upon its people.

Indeed, we have examples galore from the past. The lackadaisical attitude of those who should have known better was precisely the reason why the judicial institution was dismantled with such consummate ease from 1999 onwards under the Kumaratunga Presidency. This was continued with greater strength during the Rajapaksa years even as Chief Justices themselves became political creatures and the Bar uselessly muttered within itself. At a point when critical intervention may have worked to pull the system back, we had only colluding lawyers currying political favours on the one hand and scared silence on the other.

Repeating the same mistakes

Even though this Government shouted from the rooftops last year that it had ‘made the judiciary independent again’ in a paradoxical cry to its removal of a sitting Chief Justice by executive fiat, this was an empty boast. Systemic reforms of the judiciary are yet to be implemented. There is little hope that the presently sputtering constitutional reform process will take that task forward. True, judges who are inclined to work independently will not be subjected to political pressure unlike during the Rajapaksa period.

However, that by itself does not suffice to build up the integrity and capacity of the judicial institution. What takes a short decade and a half to destroy will take generations more to rejuvenate if that eventuality is still possible. These are the same mistakes that are being repeated once again. We need only to look at the failures of Sri Lanka’s increasingly tattered ‘rainbow revolution’ to realize this stubborn truth. Very early on, it was evident that political choices were made by the coalition Government that came directly in conflict with their promises.

When increasingly critical appraisals of the ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) administration were being carried in these column spaces, there were murmurs of concern. ‘Give them time to perform’ it was pleaded. Now this government has been given time and plenty of it. Regardless, the results have certainly not been reassuring.

Lamentably bad appointment

Reports this week that former Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha Palpita has been appointed as an Additional Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, despite being indicted for misappropriation of State funds amounting to Rs 600 million before the High Court are an outrageous case in point.

It is a firm principle of law that a public officer must be immediately interdicted if an indictment is pending against him or her under paragraph 27 of Chapter XLVII of the Establishment Code. This is a principle that has been upheld in countless judicial decisions. In fact, the judges have been quick to safeguard an aggrieved public officer with sufficient protection in case the interdiction drags on for too long or there are delays in the legal process. This has been done by interpreting Article 12 (1) of the Constitution to mean protection of ‘liberty with livelihood’ (see Jayasinghe v AG, SCM 04.11.1994).

All these protections were painstakingly laid down and developed in established cursus curiae by the Supreme Court during the period when it was actively intervening to protect the Rule of Law. Indeed at one point, the National Police Commission in its first term and under the Chairmanship of the late President’s Counsel Ranjith Abeysuriya determined that any police officer who had been indicted in a court of law had to be forthwith interdicted. This practice too seems to have been abandoned and political favouritism followed instead. Legal principles were thrown to the winds in later years.

Shameful explanations proffered

While that may be the case, it was for correction of the status quo that this Government was elected to power last year. Therefore it is shameful that a Minister has sought to justify the appointment of Palpita (formerly a key official tasked by the previous regime to handle ‘troublesome’ websites) by claiming that this is all a furore created by the media. Appointment of an officer who is indicted for misappropriation to a public post goes against the very foundation of the Rule of Law. If this Government and this Prime Minister is serious about retaining whatever shreds of credibility attached to the administration, action needs to be taken not only in respect of cancelling the appointment but also disciplining the Minister concerned.

In the meantime, it is perplexing as to why the Ministry of Public Administration has reportedly written to the Public Service Commission (PSC) requesting disciplinary action against Mr Pelpita under the Administrative Service Establishment Code. Immediate corrective action should be taken within the Government itself. Why is the responsibility thereto being passed to the PSC?

Is there any wonder that the Government is being accused of ‘deals’ with the former regime? And should those who call for the heavens to selectively rain only upon Sri Lanka’s Parliament really be blamed?