A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Sunday, January 29, 2017
Sri Lanka: Task Force’s Recommendations — Opportunity to heal & prosper

The following statement issued by the Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka Inc.

Sri Lanka’s judicial system has long been a contentious subject with
many dispassionate legal experts from local and international bodies
calling for significant reforms – particularly upon the assumption of
power by the ‘Good Governance’. Recognising the need to build confidence
in the people of all communities of Sri Lanka in the local justice
system to deal with wartime human rights abuses committed by both sides
of the conflict, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe sought the advice and
guidance of the CTFRM, which concluded that the existing local
mechanisms lacked the trust of the people and competency.
It is in this context that the Justice Minister’s hasty and outright
rejection of the CTFRM’s Report has drawn widespread condemnation. His
statement that “… This report, at this juncture, is totally unwarranted. Therefore, we don’t have to follow these recommendations by the CTF” fly
in the face of not only international opinion, but also what the
Government of Sri Lanka claims to be trying to achieve –
Reconciliation. The Minister’s assertion that – ‘even the UN could not
force the government to include foreign judges, as it was against the UN
charter to force or to pressure member states’ – begs the question how
honest and serious is the State that co-sponsored a unanimous resolution
at the UNHRC in 2015, which affirmed ‘the
importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism,
including the special counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other
foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and
investigators’.
The Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka (AAGGSL) is of
the view that the members of the CTFRM have done an admirable job in
identifying the deep rooted suspicions of the victims and the many
confidence-building measures, including the repeal of the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (PTA) and the immediate release of persons held under the
PTA without charges, which can set the course of genuine reconciliation
in motion, albeit belatedly.
We also welcome the Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s pledge, made
once again on 11 January at the Chatham House, London, to “deal with the
past honestly and truthfully, accept that past, put it behind us, and
then move forward to build our Sri Lankan nation anew.”
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The candid
recommendations of the CTFRM should be taken seriously to establish not
only a Truth Seeking Commission and a Reparations Office, but also
deliver transitional justice for all affected parties, with
international participation, honestly and sincerely.
If Columbia – a country that was not long ago on the brink of becoming a failed state could be named The Economist’s
Country of the Year 2016 – even though its negotiated peace deal with
FARC is ‘incomplete and involves ugly compromises’, Sri Lanka can
certainly do better.
AAGGSL
calls upon all arms of the Sri Lankan Government and Opposition groups,
not to take confrontational positions, but to work together to build a
nation of peace and justice to all its peoples, with a prudent and
probing concern for the future. We urge the Sri Lankan leadership of all
political and religious persuasions to help implement the
recommendations of the CTFRM fully and expeditiously.
It is worth recalling the words of wisdom of Mümtaz Soysal, Deputy Chair – Amnesty International (1977). “Where there is injustice, there is the seed of conflict. Where human rights are violated, there are threats to peace.”