SLB- UPR PAPERS NO 02/2017: MILITARISATION AND ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

30/10/2017

Militarisation of the North in Sri Lanka

FACTS

Government has not implemented any promised security sector reforms in order to pave the way for de-militarisation of the former war zone.

Military presence in the Northern Province is hugely disproportionate. Large areas of land are being occupied for these camps.

Military is still engaged in various kind of business in the North using vast areas of land belonging to the Tamil people and the state. These businesses are taking away the livelihood opportunities of the people.

Military maintains hundreds of pre-schools, trains pre-school teachers and absorbs them in to civil defence force.  Military does not maintain pre-schools any other areas of the country.

Sri Lanka’s military is still occupying thousands of acres of land in the Northern Province that belong to the Tamil people. Promise after promise has been given to release them to the original owners but the process has been painfully slow.

Even 8 years after the end of war, there are Tamil detainees held under the PTA without any charges filed.
RECOMMENDATIONS

• Take steps for gradual reduction of military strength in the North.
• Take suitable steps as soon as possible to end the military engagement in business which affects livelihood opportunities of Tamil people in the North and East.
• Take immediate steps to transfer any educational activities carried out by the military in the North to the suitable provincial council or government agencies.
• Provide a timeline for releasing the people’s land occupied by the Military in the North and speed up the process.
• Release all detainees held under the PTA or charge them under the normal law.

Enforced Disappearances 

FACTS
Although president Sirisena has signed the Act to establish the Office of Mission Persons (Sep 2017), no date has been decided to operationalise it.

Families of the disappeared have been requesting the government to release the list of persons who surrendered to the security forces at the end of the war for over a year. But the list still remains in secrecy.

Relatives of the disappeared have been on peaceful protest for more than 200 days now requesting the government to tell the truth about their loved ones.

The LLRC recommended (Dec 2011) that a special commissioner should be appointed to investigate alleged disappearances and provide material to the Attorney General to initiate criminal proceedings as appropriate. This has not been implemented.

The LLRC recommendation (Dec 2011) that “necessary investigations should be carried out into specific allegations of disappearances after surrender/arrest, and where such investigations produce evidence of any unlawful act on the part of individual members of the Army, the wrongdoers should be prosecuted and punished” has not been carried out.
RECOMMENDATIONS.           

• Operationalise the OMP without delay and appoint credible & internationally recognised people as commissioners/ members.
• Make public the list of persons surrendered & rehabilitated at the end of war.
• Establish the promised judicial mechanism of the transitional justice process and prioritise the incidents reported by the LLRC.

Sri Lanka BRIEF / UPR Papers – 02/2017  Read as PDF SLB UPR Papers 02 Militarisation and Enforced Disappearances – 2017

Lord Naseby, the mythical 40,000 and the feel-good factor

By SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA-October 29, 2017, 8:29 pm 

"Engaging in arguments and debates in the international domain over the number of civilians who may have died at a particular time in the country will not help resolve any issues, in a meaningful manner, locally, except a feel good factor for a few individuals who may think that they have won a debate or scored points over someone or the other."

--Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne (The Island 27th October 2017)

Debates in the international domain are exactly how the international community, which includes the UN and other international organizations, strive to reflect pluralism, obtaining the multiple perspectives of their members in order to reach decisions, either by reaching consensus or through a vote. There are debates which may lead to negotiations and eventual consensus or arguments which lead to a decision through a vote. Debates and reasoned, fact-based argumentation are necessary procedures when a State defends itself as it must, against glaring falsehoods. It is not something a State can avoid, resentful that a few individuals may feel good about it.

The figure of forty thousand civilian casualties during the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka has been contentious from the moment it was asserted. Repeated use of it by those interested in pushing this unverified figure gained momentum until it became accepted as a credible number in most of the Western media, after it was mentioned in the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts’ report, aka the Darusman Report.

Most recently, Lord Naseby, speaking in the British Parliament on the 12th of October 2017 has disputed this figure which appeared in the Darusman report,while pointing out that most of the war crimes charges flowed from it. He refutes this figure and the claim that civilians were willfully targeted, using dispatches from the British Defense attaché Lt. Col Anton Gash stationed in Colombo, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London,together with the UN reports of the relevant period. The figures of civilian casualties cited are very clear, and they don’t exceed 8,000 (eight thousand). The difference between this and the forty thousand figure is a whopping 32,000 human lives.

Having presented the evidence,Lord Naseby says "I hope and pray that as a result of this debate, the UK will recognize the truth that no one in the Sri Lankan Government ever wanted to kill Tamil civilians."

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry’s assertion that "engaging in debates and arguments over the number of civilians who may have died at a particular time in the country will not help resolve any issues"is specious to say the least. "The number of civilians who may have died"has a critical impact as regards the principle of proportionality, which is relevant in arriving at an opinion on whether a State has deliberately used excessive force or used excessive force at all. Surely it is the duty of the Government to debate this issue in the international domain using the evidence presented by Lord Naseby just a few days ago,based on confidential documents even if massively redacted, which were not available in the public domain prior to this point?

The Marga Institute’s publication,Narrative Three-The Last Stages of the War in Sri Lanka, the principal author of which was the distinguished senior-most retired civil servant Dr. Godfrey Gunatilleke, states that the "estimates of civilian casualties hinge on the estimate of population in the Wanni before the war…" which the publication says were a "rough census" carried out by the AGA. Narrative Three concludes that "there are major inconsistencies in these estimates which have been pointed out by experts". It further reveals that these figures have been "challenged on the ground that they have been prepared under the direction of the LTTE and are highly inflated for the purpose of obtaining rations and assistance under government welfare programmes as well as magnifying the scale of the humanitarian disaster that could occur".

An extensive study of the casualties in the period January to May 2009 was carried out by an independent UK based group of scientific experts of Sri Lankan lineage, which resulted in a publication called The Numbers Game: Politics of Retributive Justice. This report was exhaustively discussed at a conference organized by the Marga Institute and chaired by Dr. Gunatilleke. After examining the available evidence including satellite imagery, the report estimated the total number of civilian casualties from January 2009 to May 2009 at a figure which did not even begin to approach the mythical 40,000.

The Paranagama Commission report has a section headed "The Myth of 40,000 Civilians Killed in the Final Phase of the War". Referring to the Darusman Report which stated that the figure of 40,000 "cannot be ruled out" but needs further investigation, the Paranagama Commission report concludes that "there was no reliable body of information consistent with other information that 40,000 civilians were killed." It goes on to call the attempt to spread this unsubstantiated figure "a "mischief" and the figure itself a "myth":

"This Commission takes the view that in light of what preceded and what followed this totally unsubstantiated estimate of the number of civilians killed, unsourced guess work has solidified into the factual acceptance of a myth…The mischief of this particular allegation of 40,000 civilian deaths becomes clear when there are other sources which give a lower estimate, but not all of the various competing accounts are mentioned in the Darusman Report."

The Paranagama Commission has also used the UN figure of 7,721 (seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-one) civilian casualties to dispute the 40,000:

"The UN Country Team figure of 7,721 civilian deaths (up until 13 May 2009) is mentioned in the Darusman Report but then disputed without any explanation as to how it comes to be that over 30,000 people could thereafter have been killed within five days, if the figure of 40,000 is ever to be correct and accurate…The Darusman Report provides no concrete evidence to support its considerable leap from the UN Country Team’s figure of less than 10,000."

The Paranagama report quotes anunclassified 2009 US Department of State Report to the US Congress which says:

"…one organization, whichdid not differentiate between civilians and LTTE cadres, recorded 6,710 peoplekilled and 15,102 people injured between January 20th and April 20th 2009. These numbers were presented with a caveat, supported by other sources, that the numbers actually killed and injured are probably higher."

The Paranagama report goes on to quote the International Crisis Group which said:

"UN agencies, working closely with officials and aid workers located in theconflict zone, documented nearly 7,000 civilians killed from January to April2009. Those who compiled these internal numbers deemed them reliable to the extent they reflected actual conflict deaths but maintain it was a work in progress and incomplete."

The Paranagama report also quotes Reuters which reports just over 6,000 killed:

"Some three weeks before the war ended, Reuters reported as follows: ‘A U.N. working document, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, says 6,432civilians have been killed and 13,946 wounded in fighting since the end of January’."

Furthermore it quotes Amnesty International which estimates that "…derived independently from eyewitness testimony and information from aid workers, are that at least 10,000 civilians were killed."

Considering that there are all these numbers from varied sources, apart from the 40,000 in the Darusman Report, which itself doesn't suggest it as a final figure, one would think that any new evidence that helps to arrive at the truth is certainly worthy of debate and engagement, especially at the UN Human Rights Council.

The Paranagama Commission report was produced well before UNHRC Resolution 30/1 was co-sponsored. However it was presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister only after Resolution 30/1 had been adopted, preventing its useful insights from being presented to the Human Rights Council in time. It is doubtful whether the detailed analyses contained in it have been used as yet by the Government to counter some of the inaccuracies circulating in the international arena regarding the last stages of the war.

Given his oft-repeated public stand, it is difficult to believe that President Sirisena is of the view that the numbers of civilian deaths should not be debated in the Council in Geneva despite Lord Naseby’s new and credible information (in that it comes from external i.e. non-Sri Lankan sources uninvolved in the conflict), when numerous civil society groups continue to insist at every UNHRC session that large numbers of civilians were deliberately targeted and killed, some even claiming genocide.

The Foreign Ministry seems to have decided not to use this information internationally until the government gets around to the "100 Day Programme (point 93)" and its "own set of national proposals for a transitional justice process" is eventually set up and gets going.

Is it the view of Foreign Minister Marapana and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Vasantha Senanayaka, that if there’s the slightest chance of bringing new evidence before the international community to assist it in arriving at the truth amidst a barrage of false propaganda against this country internationally, that they should refrain from doing so because the considered view of the Foreign Ministry is that it would not help "in any meaningful way, locally"?

It is fervently hoped that the Minister and the State Minister are able to figure out that a "national process" and active engagement with the international community are not mutually exclusive, and that it is the duty of the government to undertake both. This is especially so since Lord Naseby has appealed to the UK Government that it "must now get the UN and the UNHCR in Geneva to accept a civilian casualty level of 7,000 to 8,000, not 40,000."

While the national process is the more important, it is the Foreign Ministry’s responsibility to present Sri Lanka’scase credibly to the international community. It may lead to more than just a few individuals feeling good about it.

Jaffna Uni closes today in protest at detention of Tamil political prisoners

30Oct 2017

The University of Jaffna remained shut today in an act of protest against the ongoing detention of Tamil political prisoners in Sri Lanka. 

Students and staff at the university, along side Tamils across the North-East, have held a series of protests over recent months calling for those detained to be release immediately.

Related Articles: 

26 October 2017 : Colombo High Court acquits Tamil political prisoner detained for 10 years under PTA

25 October 2017 : Protests in support of hunger-striking political prisoners continue in Jaffna

23 October 2017 : Jaffna Uni students boycott classes and launch signature campaign in support of Tamil political prisoners

23 October 2017 : Tamil political prisoners continue hunger strike despite severe deterioration in health

22 October 2017 : Eastern and Jaffna Unis jointly demand release of Tamil political prisoners

21 October 2017 : TNA urges release of political prisoners in meeting with UN Special Rapporteur

17 October 2017 : Jaffna Uni students hold hunger strike in solidarity with political prisoners

SLB UPR PAPERS NO 01/2017: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY & ASSOCIATION

29/10/2017

Freedom of Expression.

FACTS.

Only a few investigations in to killings, abductions and assaults of journalists during the decade ending in 2015 have been initiated. No indictments served on any suspect so far.

No investigation has been initiated on killings, abductions and assaults of Tamil journalists and media workers. No investigation has been initiated regarding a single attack on media institutions that took place during the same period.

The present government is planning to establish a state sponsored media regulation mechanism disregarding the opposition by journalists’ organisations.

State owned media establishments continue to be politically controlled by the ruling coalition. All heads of these institutions are appointed on political loyalty.

Freedom of expression, including the media freedom has been re-established to some degree and these needs to be protected and promoted.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

• Expedite the investigations in to the killings, assaults, and abductions of journalists and media workers since 2005 without any discrimination on ethnic grounds.
• Strengthen and promote media self-regulation. Democratise state controlled media making them public service media.

Right to Peaceful Assembly

FACTS.
Government has used tear gas and water cannons indiscriminately to contain university students’ protests on many occasions within the last two years. During August 2016 – August 2017, as a result, at least 109 students have been injured and hospitalized. At least 17 students have been arrested. The Police has used tear gas at least on 09 occasions.

In July 2017, the striking workers of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) were attacked by a group of thugs and the Police gave protection to the thugs.

Photographing of protesting Tamil people in Northern Province by Police and military intelligence officers has been reported wildly. People are fearful that this footage may be used to identify and intimidate activists by the state agencies.

In general people have been able to make use of right to peaceful assembly to larger extent to highlight their grievances. This space needs to be protected and expanded.
RECOMMENDATIONS.

• Employ the dialogue and consensus building in dealing with peaceful protest marches of the citizens of Sri Lanka.
• Allow standing or fasting peace full protests by war affected Tamil people without police intimidation and photographing them.
• Protect and promote the democratic space people of Sri Lanka enjoying now.

Right to Association/Memorialisation.

FACTS.
Tamil people’s right to memorialisation has been accepted by default not by policy. Under the previous regime memorialisation events organised by the Tamil people were blatantly suppressed.

Day for memorialisation for all victims of war, as proposed by the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission has not been materialised yet.

Sir Lanka police obtained a stay order from the Mullaitivu Magistrate’s Court against the memorialisation event organised by the Tamil civil society scheduled to be held on 18th May 2017.

 Father Father Elil Rajendran who organised the event of placing stones with names of dead Tamils during the war at a private land was harassed by the Police repeatedly. Finally allowed the commemoration at a nearby church, but upheld the ban on events at the memorial where stones were placed.

In 2016 and 2017 number of memorialisation events took place in the North and East of Sri Lanka, sometimes under close watch of state intelligence agencies.

RECOMMENDATIONS.   

• Implement the LLRC recommendation of declaring a day for memorialisation for all victims of the wars in the North and the South and build a common place.
• Allow, as a policy, the memorialisation of Tamil victims of war, including the armed militants of all groups.
• Initiate an inquiry in to the harassment of Fr. Elil Rajendran for organising a memorialisation event.

Sri Lanka BRIEF; UPR Papers – 01/2017 Read as a PDF SLB UPR Papers 01, Freedom of Expression, Peaceful Assembly & Association- 2017

Breaking Down The Interim Report

GROUNDVIEWS-on 10/30/2017

October 30 marks the beginning of a Parliamentary debate around the recently released draft interim report on constitutional reform by the Steering Committee in the Constitutional Assembly.

In order to better inform the commentary around the debate, Groundviews is releasing a series of short videos deconstructing the content of the draft interim report. View the first in this series below, framed by a short list of frequently asked questions around the constitutional reform process.


Q: What is the process that has gone into drafting a constitution for Sri Lanka, thus far?

A: On March 9, 2016, the Parliament of Sri Lanka passed a resolution so that all members of Parliament could sit as a body called the Constitutional Assembly. The resolution was passed unanimously with support from all parties.

To help prepare a Draft Constitutional Proposal, the Constitutional Assembly appointed a Steering Committee to examine a number of core subject areas and six Sub-Committees to examine the specific subject areas of Fundamental Rights, Judiciary, Law and Order, Public Finance, Public Service, and Centre-Periphery Relations. The members of these Committees are all MPs.

To further help with the process, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed the Public Representations Committee for Constitutional Reforms (PRC) composed of various academics and public figures nominated by the political parties. The PRC held public consultations throughout the country seeking public submissions on a range of issues. The PRC provided two reports to the Constitutional Assembly summarising these submissions and making recommendations in May and July 2016.

The Sub-Committees then released their reports in November and December 2016, and the Steering Committee published its Interim Report in September 2017.

Q: A few weeks ago, the Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly’s Steering Committee was released. Is this the final report? 

A: No. Following debate on the Interim Report, the Steering Committee will prepare a final report accompanied by a draft proposed Constitution for Sri Lanka. This Final Report will take into account the Interim Report, the reports of the six Sub-Committees and the views of the public.

Q: Whose recommendations are included in the Interim Report? 

A: The Interim Report contains the recommendations of all 21 members of the Steering Committee which represents the leadership of all political parties in Parliament. The Interim Report represents the recommendations made in consensus by its members.

It also has attached to it the individual observations of a number of political parties, which differ in various areas from the recommendations in the Interim Report itself.

Q: What next steps need to be taken after the release of this report?

A: The interim report will be debated by the Constitutional Assembly from October 30 to November 1.
The Steering Committee will then have to draft a final report, with an attached draft constitution. The Constitutional Assembly could potentially have several debates before the final report is drafted.

After the final report of the Steering Committee, the Constitutional Assembly will debate and vote on this draft constitution. If more than two-thirds of the Constitutional Assembly Members approve the draft Constitution then it will be sent to the Cabinet of Ministers. If only a simple majority of the Constitutional Assembly Members approve, then Parliament has one month to vote by two-thirds for the draft constitution and send it to the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Cabinet of Ministers will certify whether they intend the draft constitution to be passed only by a two-thirds majority or by two-thirds majority and a referendum. The Bill will then be published in the Gazette at least two weeks before it can be placed on the order paper of Parliament.

If the Cabinet of Ministers certifies that the Bill is to be passed without a referendum, any citizen can, within seven days from the date the Bill is placed on the order paper of Parliament, petition the Supreme Court to ask for a direction that it also be approved by the people at a referendum.

Parliament will then debate and vote on the draft Constitution. If a referendum is also required (either as certified by Cabinet or on the Supreme Court’s direction) it will be held after the Constitution is approved by Parliament with a two-thirds majority.

Q: What is the role that religion will play in the new Constitution, and Buddhism in particular? 

A: There are two options presented in the interim report. The common part of both options is, “Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana,”

Option 1: Whilst assuring to all religions the rights granted by Article 10 and 14 (1) (e) [present Article 9]

Option 2: Whilst treating all honour and beliefs with honour and dignity, and without discrimination, and guaranteeing to all persons the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
This is the first in a series of videos which will be posted shortly. 

ReportE CRR-THE CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY.pdf by Thavam on Scribd

 

Constitution making and erudite bigotry

Major General Kamal Gunaratne presenting a copy of ‘The ‘Road to Nandikadal’ to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

 Tuesday, 31 October 2017 

Minorities are different. They must accept majority hegemony. They are less entitled than the majority. Once you buy this proposition, unacceptable behaviour becomes patriotic. Defeating the enemy is the highest moral imperative. Dehumanising of the enemy dehumanises the patriots. Prejudiced perceptions lead to discrimination. From then on it is a short walk to abuse. Much shorter than walking from Maradana station to Ananda College.

Has Ananda of Olcott turned in to an Orwellian animal farm? How did the Ananda purpose ‘Appamado Amathapadan’ – ‘Diligence leads to Perfection’ – construct perfectly maniacal minds, bent on an apocalyptic pursuit of plastered patriotism?

Who shocks you more? The Buddhist soldier running berserk or his applauding audience that includes a heavy cadre of ‘Proud to be Anandians’?

This is not about Major General Kamal Gunaratne. This is about the phenomenon ‘Viyath Maga’. The label is a stroke of evil genius that appeals to a Sinhala centric elite. It is a ‘call to arms’ directed at literate bigotry. Viyath Maga means Erudite Path.

His pitiless pronouncement of exterminating those whom he disagrees with should not shock us.

Kamal Gunaratne has not said anything new. The man has painstakingly exposed the Sinhala savage and beastly bigot that lurks in him, in his self-aggrandising war memoir ‘Rana Maga Ossey Nandikadal’ – ‘A Warrior’s Way to Nandikadal’.

In disarming detail, he has shared his prejudices, antipathies and his capacity for abominations in the book written in Sinhala and later translated to English where they are far more muted.

He is no solitary beast on the prowl. He took great pride in announcing that he, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Nalaka Godahewa were products of Ananda College – greeted with applause.

It is for other Ananda alumni to embrace or reject the ‘Viyath Maga’ ideology of murder in democratic debate.

At some point in the 68 years after independence, we have learnt to equate villainy and virtue. Gota beautified Colombo. So what if he petrified shanty dwellers? Gota created Diyatha Uyana near Parliament. So what if he ordered a firework display from a Navy barge in ‘Diyathauyana’ on the night Parliament was coerced into an unjust impeachment of a chief justice? Gota shut off access to critical websites? So what? He imaginatively converted disused colonial period warehouses to house enterprising software producers.

He trimmed the grass lawns around Colombo regularly and may have trimmed a few prisoners and one or two journalists infrequently. Democracies evolving from autocracies face one principal peril – reminiscing the orderly order of management!

Viyath Maga has invaded the public discourse on constitutional reforms, peddling deceitful propaganda. Viyath Maga threatens death unless we accept their dictates in sheep like servility.

Its mastery of erudite nonsense, its access to financial resources and its grip on puritan fanatics both lay and ordained makes Viyath Maga a movement that we ignore at our peril. They preach to a blinkered generation that needs to be reminded that the objective of a successful war was to defeat an armed call for separatism. Its ideology can be defeated only by redefining the boundaries of governance by redrawing the boundaries of competing cultures. It is not about geography or numbers. It is about the natural law of human dignity.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Nalaka Godahewa and Kamal Gunaratne represent the core evil that enveloped post-war Sri Lanka. It was a coalition that reshaped our environment – natural, financial and managerial. Now they wish to comeback.

The possibility is frightening. If he makes it, will Gota allow dissenters to seek redress from the Supreme Court for possible infringement of fundamental rights. Unlikely.

Viyath Maga claims to be a “network of academics, professionals and entrepreneurs who love the country and wish to contribute actively towards the development of a prosperous Sri Lanka where all citizens can live in peace and harmony”. (viyathmaga.com Professionals for a better future)

The Viyath Maga is puppetry in grand scale. The former Defence Secretary is the grand puppeteer. He commands a substantial Sinhala Buddhist Constituency. He is clearly the choice of the Buddhist clergy. Viyath Maga is expected to give him the competitive edge by enlisting the professionals, academics and entrepreneurs.

Principal marketer of Viyath Maga is Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, former Head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now heads a corporate consultancy firm. He is a multi-qualified business professional. His LinkedIn profile attests that he “has a proven track record in transformational leadership”.

As stated earlier, this is not about the retired soldier Major General Kamal Gunaratne. It is an attempt to understand the phenomenon that brutalises Sinhala Buddhist soldiers, academics, professionals and entrepreneurs who can sanguinely applaud killing those whom they disagree with politically.

This is about unravelling the warped minds of otherwise accomplished people who are ready to follow a once upon a time soldier who on reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel obtained his release from the army and migrated permanently to the United States at the height of the war.

Ananda is, no doubt, a great school. It has produced outstanding scholars, professionals, academics and soldiers. But it has in parallel spawned a Sinhala cultural DNA that is parochial and intolerant in its world view.

Determining life values is a process. In reacting to a situation, we unconsciously apply our life experiences gained at home, in school and in the community. Looking back, we realise that the sharpest life experiences etched in us are those from school.

Ananda has moulded opinions and imparted values. In defining Sinhala Buddhist ethno-religious identity, Anandians hold an exclusivist point of view. By itself it is odd, but we can live with it. Then they go a step further. They not only defend their opinion but simply fail to comprehend how anyone else could think differently.

Sri Lanka is not the only country where the post-colonial nation state is grappling with the task of constructing a single sovereignty where before colonial conquest there existed multiple sovereignties or multiple autonomies. Identity politics is common to emerging democracies such as ours and the so-called discoverers of the process. Those lands struggle to reconcile with diversities of their own making. We are struggling to come to terms with diversities bequeathed by colonials who classified an otherwise harmonious polity for administrative, exploitative convenience.

According to retired Major General Kamal Gunarathne, the bodhi poojas conducted by his dear wife at the Bellanwila Temple made him march to victory. He does not explicitly state that the soldiers under his command did less. His primitive tribal mind tells him that it was his wife’s supplications at the Bo tree at Bellanwila temple that mattered more.

Now, the poor soldier patriot is further fortified in his folly. Most Venerable Professor Dr. Bellanwila Wimalarathene has warned that power devolution will prompt a Northern Province Chief Minister to scrap the Poya holiday. Science dismisses lunar lunacy. Viyath Maga wouldn’t.

Needless fears about constitutional reform

By Harim Peiris-October 29, 2017, 8:33 pm 

Recent weeks have witnessed expressions of heightened concern from various quarters of society, including senior religious dignitaries, regarding the on-going process of constitutional reform., while the proponents of the same have sought to alley these concerns and address the issues raised; though such responses by the protagonists have been done in a much quieter and less publicized manner than the louder voice of the antagonists. Listening to the arguments put forward by the opponents of constitutional reform, one discerns several common threads and these issues deserve to be addressed.

Unitary state and foremost

place to Buddhism

The government leaders, both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and indeed even Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, for good measure, have repeatedly assured the country at large, that the unitary status of Sri Lanka’s existing constitution, and the foremost place accorded to Buddhism as stated in the present constitution, would remain as it is and that the proposed reforms are built around these constants. Accordingly, the above assurance and guarantee forms the crucial context for the constitutional reform process. Those skeptical of the government’s repeated assurances in this regard, should take comfort in the inclusive and representative institution and structure of the whole Parliament of Sri Lanka being the Constitutional Council, and that every party officially represented in Parliament is included in the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Council.

An argument made by some antagonists of reform is that there is no need for constitutional reform and even if there was a need, now is not the time for the same. However, this contention belies two key points rooted in Sri Lanka’s recent political history. Firstly, the need for reforms of the Sri Lankan State have been going on almost for as long as Sri Lanka’s post-independence history, and specific proposals to ensure that the state accommodates the full diversity of Sri Lankan society was what was included in both the Bandaranaike- Chelvanayakam pact and the Dudley – Chelvanayakam pact. So, political dialogue on reforms predated the outbreak of armed conflict and actually continued throughout the conflict years, beginning with President Jayewardene’s All Party Conference, with the same process followed by President Premadasa who also faced the second JVP insurrection, President Kumaratunga’s national consultation process on a devolution package which led to the draft constitution of August 2000, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s All Party Conference (APC) and its executive arm the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) headed by Prof.Tissa Vitharana,, and of course since the national unity government of 2015, the Constitutional Council (CC) process, unanimously approved by the entire legislature in early 2016. As President Sirisena, so rightly observed publicly, this is a problem we have been talking about for seventy years and now would be good time to resolve it.

Regarding the issue of timing, as demonstrated above the state reform process is as old as independent Sri Lanka. There was merit in the argument that during the war years, the middle of a war, is not the period to reform a state. However, once a war is over, a society is in transition from a war footing to a peaceful environment. It definitely does require that the state trappings for war be reformed with what is required and suitable for peace. It is exactly a society that has put a violent past behind it, and is looking forward to and heading down a different path that require reform and changes, to ensure we tread a path different to the failures and causes that brought us decades of violent conflict and endless grief.

Devolution will lead to separation

The other strong opposition by antagonists of reform is to the devolution of political power to subordinate state units, such as provincial councils, which are closer to the grassroots and more representative of regional diversity. However, Sri Lanka now has a three-decade experience with provincial administration, for almost half its post-independence history and it is clear that the provincial councils are not the bogey and a catastrophe which was feared when the institutions were created through the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Some of the political leaders who protested provincial councils under the Pettah Bo-tree are still amongst us, while others are no more. But surely the same arguments and fears expressed thirty years ago cannot be just repeated ad nauseam, as if we have not moved forward since then on devolution in terms of political dialogue and processes, administrative and executive experience and jurisprudence.

Strong Executive Presidency

The other argument over constitutional reform, is regarding the office of the executive president. Those antagonistic towards reform argue for a strong and highly centralized presidency, closest in political experience to the Roman dictators elected by the Roman Senate during the declining days of the Roman Empire in a desperate attempt to prevent the collapse of the empire, though of course to no avail, or, to that of an absolute monarchy with only the barest checks and balances on the absolute right of the monarch, rather like the monarchy of the Kandyan Kingdom; our national historical experience has been, that absolute power has usually weakened the state through rebellion whether against our monarchs or against our strongest centralized presidents. On the contrary, it can be argued that it is checks and balances on absolute political power, and it is social inclusion and political pluralism that create, foster and strengthen social cohesion and national loyalty, and ultimately strengthens the social compact that undergirds the nation state.

‘LANKA TAMILS AGREEING TO CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSALS HISTORIC’ – SAMPANTHAN

Image:Tamil National Alliance’s M A Sumanthiran .

30/10/2017

Colombo, Oct 30 Tamil political representatives’ acceptance of proposals in the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly represents a “historic” moment for Sri Lanka, a senior TNA legislator told parliament here today.

The Tamil National Alliance’s M A Sumanthiran was addressing the House when it met as the Constitutional Assembly started discussions on the interim report of the all-party steering committee in order to formulate a new Constitution to replace the existing 1978 charter.

“This is a historic moment that Tamil party representatives have agreed to the proposals made in the interim report. Let all join and support this,” he said.

The three-day debate is aimed at discussing the interim report against which majority Buddhist religious leaders have already expressed opposition.

Senior Buddhist monks have claimed that the new Constitution would pave the way for the division of the country, a goal of the former LTTE during the brutal three- decade civil war to create a Tamil homeland.

Sumanthiran said the Tamils want the final solution to be a federal one, adding that the founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) S W R D Bandaranaike in 1926 had stated that federalism was the best solution.

The SLFP, currently led by President Maithripala Sirisena, forms part of Sri Lanka’s ruling alliance.
“Treat us (Tamils) as equals, we are Sri Lankan,” Sumanthiran said adding that “to erase the bitter past there must be dignity, equality of all in the country”.

He said there was unanimity in the steering committee among all political parties to this report, adding “No one raised any objections”.

The joint opposition backers of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa said they would reject the report’s contents as it endangered the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

Sri Lanka: Wheeler Dealer Muslim Politicians

Helpless and Voiceless Muslim Community

by Latheef Farook-Oct 30, 2017

( October 30, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The island’s Muslim community continues to suffer from political and religious leadership crisis .Unless the civil society come forward and rescue, the community is heading towards a potentially disastrous future.

Under the existing circumstance the community cannot afford to hand over its destiny to corrupt politicians and equally corrupt religious leaderships. This is in view of the growing animosity towards the community by small groups of Sinhala racist mercenaries with their own agendas. It becomes worse with government indifference and the presence of global forces which are raping and ravaging Muslim countries all over.

The irony is that most Muslim parliamentarians do not represent the community as they entered into deals with winning parties and secured positions.

For example Muslim parliamentarians opposed the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Bill pointing out how and why it was detrimental to the interest of the community. However they voted in favor of the Bill saying their suggestions were accepted though these changes were of no use to the community.

On the other hand they are expected to submit their proposals for the delimitation commission by 2 November 2017 to demarcate boundaries for the provincial councils.

Instead of preparing the report they, all in smiles, had accompanied President Maithripala Sirisena in his official visit to Qatar. Perhaps President Sirisena wanted to show the Qatari Emir that Sri Lankan cabinet is full of Muslim ministers.

Minister Faizar Mustapha who submitted the Bill in the parliament does not represent the Muslim community. His loyalty is to those who made him a minister . In the same way SLMC and it’s more than half a dozen splinter groups of sell outs also struck deals and got positions.

This was the sorry state of affairs that Muslim politicians have brought upon the community at a time when nationalists and neo-nationalists from the majority community are hell-bent on implementing their agendas against the Muslim community.

Muslim parliamentarians are so bankrupt that one of the ministers asked the All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema to summon a conference to discuss the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Bill.

The history of Muslim parliamentarians, since the emergence of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, SLMC, and the shifting of the leadership to the east, has been that of mere opportunism seeking positions at the expense of the interest of the community. Here are some incidents to cite;

In the east as early as 2002 Muslims were enraged with SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem for his failure to protect the interest of Muslims in the Ceasefire Agreement, and with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe for ignoring the Muslims when he signed the CFA in February 2002.
Muslims were also angry with Ranil Wickremasinghe government for turning a blind eye to LTTE atrocities against them and many questioned why did the SLMC joined Ranil Wickremasinghe’s government?

Once again dissension started brewing within the party after the Pottuvil massacre. Then came LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham’s death and Rauf Hakeem’s condolence message infuriated the Muslims further.

Into this mess the SLMC once again joined the People’s Alliance government in early 2007 and Rauf Hakeem was made Minister of Posts and Telecommunications. They negotiated as individuals and groups and got ministerial portfolios.

The community was raging with anger at the SLMC and its splinter groups for refusing to leave former President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government despite its atrocities towards the Muslims culminating in the Aluthgama pogrom.

Earlier Hakeem also stated that his party thought that the“18th Amendment which took away the good governance, was only to give the incumbent President few more chances to run for the Presidency, but the section with regard to repealing the 17th Amendment was brought in at the last minute.
However in the eleventh hour they supported Maithripla Sirisena during the presidential context on 8 January 2015 Sirisena camp –perhaps for a better deal.

This very same discredited lot has got into parliament now through UNP.

The efforts of many Muslim individuals and organizations to bring these Muslim parliamentarians together to jointly deal with issues that threaten the livelihood of Mutur Muslims proved futile.

The SLMC came with the slogan of Islam, unity and claimed that its constitution is based on the Holy Quran and Hadees. Those who voted for the SLMC expected impeccable moral principles and integrity, as emphasized by Islam, from their leadership. The SLMC should have set an example to other national parties for honesty, integrity, moral character, dedicated services and all such values which their slogan, “Islam” propounds.

However to the contrary the SLMC today, Known for allegations of corruption and opportunism, greed for power and positions, factional fighting, shameful sex scandals and the tendency to betray their own colleagues for positions, has become community’s tragedy and liability.

This was the sorry state of affairs that Muslim politicians have brought upon the community at a time when nationalists and neo-nationalists from the majority community are hell-bent on implementing their agendas against the Muslim community.

Muslims expected them to highlight the atrocities committed on them as their main reason for leaving the Rajapaksa government. However, in his resignation letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa minister Hakeem stated that “I will always carry the fond memories of your gracious personal attributes as an exceptional political leader of our time. The immense value of your support I received as a Minister of your Cabinet makes my departure a painful experience. I believe that our nation has made great strides under your leadership. I leave with a deep sense of gratitude and hope.”

They say to be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise. This is what Hakeem’s words about former President convey. Although irrelevant to the issues of resignation, Hakeem appears to have taken out adequate and far sighted insurance cover for a rainy day – to return to the fold as a prodigal whenever the situation warrants.

This also applies to Faizar Mustapha who refused to criticize President Mahinda Rajapaksa or Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa for their failure to prevent the atrocities on Muslims specially the organized attacks on Aluthgama, Dharga Town and Beruwala Muslims. On the contrary he went on to praise defeated president Mahinda Rajapaksa and the defense secretary for helping him to control the pogrom.

However Muslims who voted for President Maithripala Sirisena remain a disturbed and disillusioned lot . They voted in the hope of solutions to their burning problems and not reward their discredited politicians with ministerial portfolios.
Some of these burning issues were;

1- Around 130,000 Muslims, according to some latest estimates, evicted from north by the LTTE quarter century ago, are still awaiting resettlement.

2-In the east around 30,000 acres of Muslim owned cultivable lands forcefully taken over by Tamils during the LTTE war are yet to be returned. However no one is interested and the victims continue to suffer.

3- Muslims who lived in small villages around Batticaloa during the ethnic war moved to Batticaloa for safety. These Muslims wanted to return to their lands, but unable to do so with no one taking any interest in their plight. There are such disputes in many areas awaiting settlement.
4-Land issue, involving more than 30,000 acres, remains the most burning one in the entire east affecting relations between communities and thus the urgent need for settlement to pave the way reconciliation.

5-This situation was further aggravated by Rajapaksa government’s sinister Sinhalisation program under which Muslim owned lands were acquired by armed forces under the guise of security purpose.

6- Muslim owned land acquired by the armed forces in Pulmoddai and the hardships caused to them there. Muslims in the area also explained the implications involved in the utilization of these lands for various purposes.

7- Muslim owned land forcibly acquired in other areas.

6- Five hundred houses built by Saudi government for Muslim tsunami victims in a model village in the Akkaraipattu district gather dust covered with growing jungle as they were not allowed to occupy. It was built as a model village with all facilities. However the project remains a symbol of discrimination and chauvinism. This was especially so in the context of the shameful and heartless robbing by the system of billions of dollars of aid flowed into the country to help tsunami victims .There are Muslim tsunami victims still living in huts ignored by all?

7-Fishermen in the area face numerous problems due to obstacles they face ever since Oluvil Harbour was built .This issue needs immediate solution to ensure fishermen’s livelihood.

Muslims expect solutions to these problems and so far no Muslim minister or parliamentarian took up these issues. This is the reason why the Muslim community is convinced that ministerial portfolios are of no use to them.

In the 17 August 2015 parliamentary elections SLMC and its splinter groups entered parliament through UNP- Muslim votes. Commenting on the performance of the recent elections Dr Ameer Alai who hails from the east and now resides in Australia had this to state in an article;

“If members of a political party surrenders that party’s original manifesto and symbol and embrace those of another party to win entry to the legislature, and possibly to the cabinet, what does it convey to that party’s dedicated supporters and to the supporters of the party that now accommodated them? Aren’t they a bunch of traitors to their own party and birds of passage to the accommodating party? Who can trust these instant-party-switchers or turn coats?

Today Muslims feel betrayed by their politicians and exploited by all to suit their agendas. They have brought nothing but disaster to the community during the past quarter century.

The need of the hour is for the civil society to free the community from the current deceptive political representations. The question is whether the civil society will rise to face challenges posed by changes taking place in many fields which would decide the destiny of the community for years to come.

Ends

Myanmar: Who is fanning the flames?

 2017-10-30 

Reports on a recent incident in a Colombo suburb, where a refugee centre housing a group of Rohingya was attacked by a mob led by a Buddhist monk, present a number of points that remain unexplained. 

There was a mismatch between the monk’s branding of the Rohingya refugees as ‘terrorists,’ and the impression that came across in video footage which showed some poor, frightened looking men, women and children including infants being escorted out of a safe-house by police.  These events took place a month after reports of a terrorist group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) having attacked police posts and an army base in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, sparking a security crackdown on the community. But the Rohingya who were targeted in Sri Lanka hardly corresponded to the image of radicalised militants that the monk sought to project.

Although it was on September 26 that the group stormed the building and smashed windows and furniture, it turned out that the 31 refugees had been in Sri Lanka since April under the protection of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHRC).  The attack was staged after five months had elapsed, in the aftermath of the violence in Myanmar that spurred an exodus of refugees to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. Akmeemana Dayarathana, a monk heading a radical group called Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa (Sinhalese National Force) was arrested in connection with the episode and later released on bail.

The public may also have noticed that the monk in his remarks to the media asserted that the UN Human Rights Council has given the Rohingya shelter.  Nowadays most people in Sri Lanka would be aware that it is the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and not the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that deals with refugee issues.  The UNHRC however is the more controversial agency, having adopted an unpopular resolution against Sri Lanka in 2015.  

The ultra-nationalist monk’s rhetoric is not very different from that of the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Force), another group of hard-line monks accused of having been behind anti-Muslim violence in the southern coastal town of Aluthgama in June 2014.  Though they remain on the fringe of the political landscape and are not representative of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority, it appears that these groups are fighting for the same piece of political turf.  It is possible that the BBS may have lost some ground to Dayarathana’s followers. If there are hidden benefactors, the question arises as to whether they have changed their preferences. 

Social media sites associated with the arrested monk have posted banners depicting Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and expressing solidarity with Myanmar’s leadership ‘on behalf of the world’s Buddhists.’ Myanmar’s radical Buddhist monk Ashin Virathu – linked to tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar that resulted in violence in 2012 - established ties with BBS when he visited Sri Lanka in September 2014.  Addressing a BBS convention in Colombo during his visit Virathu is reported to have said they would ‘work together to protect their common religion.’  
Further hints of possible attempts to stir up sectarian strife in Myanmar have emerged, in reports that Hindus too were attacked, and that the victims who initially said Myanmar’s military and Rakhine Buddhists attacked them later changed their position to blame Muslims:

"The ultra-nationalist monk’s rhetoric is not very different from that of the BBS, another group of hard-line monks accused of having been behind anti-Muslim violence in the southern coastal town of Aluthgama in June 2014"

“At first, they (Hindu refugees who fled) blamed the Myanmar Army’s agents or Rakhine Buddhists or a combination of the two. Then they changed the tune the very next week or ten days after saying that Rohingya Muslims and the Islamic terrorist Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) were the hooded men in black dress who attacked and murdered Hindus in villages like Fakira Bazaar.” (P. K. Balachandran - ‘Mystery over killing of Hindus in Myanmar,’ Daily Mirror 3.10.2017).

While issues concerning the Rohingya community have been festering in Myanmar for years, their targeting in Sri Lanka raises concerns as to whether there are forces at work that seek to spread flames cross-nationally and regionally. Despite having lived in Myanmar for generations the Rohingya are denied citizenship, making them a ‘stateless’ community and therefore easy targets. There is a lack of clarity regarding the origins of the relatively new terrorist group ARSA which staged attacks on security posts.  Its leader does not appear to be a ‘home-grown’ insurgent, with reports saying he has links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.  It remains murky as to who was responsible for setting fire to villages in Rakhine state. Some reports blame the terrorists while others accuse the military.  

Tony Cartaluuci, for one, has pointed out that “Saudi-backed ‘Rohingya militants’ no more represent all Rohingya than ISIS represents all Sunnis.” He says that Suu Kyi’s movement, anti-Rohingya violence, and alleged ‘backlash’ all come with ‘foreign-footprints,’ creating a situation that “places in jeopardy not only the majority of the people in Myanmar - Buddhist and Rohingya alike - who wish to live in peace, but the entire region ...”

Cartalucci argues that while some say violence targeting the Rohingya was bound to provoke a violent reaction, armed insurgencies do not spontaneously emerge. “Isolated acts of violence, organized gangs with very limited capacity are possible, but the violence the Wall Street Journal is describing is not “backlash,” it is foreign-funded politically-motivated militancy operating under the cover of “backlash” he writes, in an article published online by Global Research.  “The current client regime presiding over Myanmar - created and perpetuated by American cash and support - is being intentionally pitted against a militancy funded and organized by America’s closest ally in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia.”

• Buddhist monk-led mob was behind Rohingya refugee attacks in SL

• There was a mismatch between the monk’s branding of the Rohingya refugees as ‘terrorists

• Having lived in Myanmar for generations the Rohingyans are denied citizenship, making them a ‘stateless’ community

From a geopolitical point of view it is interesting to note that China has substantial interests in Myanmar, just as it does in Sri Lanka.  Cartalucci draws attention to the fact that Rakhine state is the starting point of one of several of China’s One Belt One Road projects, connecting Sittwe Port located there to infrastructure leading to Kunming in China.  “Not only does the violence in Rakhine state threaten Chinese interests, it also helps set a pretext for direct US military involvement - either in the form of “counter-terror assistance” as is being offered to the Philippines to fight US-Saudi-backed militants from the Islamic State, or in the form of a “humanitarian intervention.” In either case, the result will be US military assets placed in a nation directly on China’s border - in South-east Asia, just as US policymakers have sought to do for decades” he says.

There have been calls for intervention in Myanmar based on R2P (‘Responsibility to Protect’) – the concept underlying US-led interventions taking place already in Sri Lanka, through a UNHRC resolution.  R2P advocate Ramesh Thakur said in a newspaper article that ASEAN and the UN bore responsibility for protecting ‘all of Myanmar’s people’ and that the matter must be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if independent, impartial investigations and prosecutions are not forthcoming domestically. 

Adding weight to arguments that see external forces at work behind Myanmar’s communal tensions, Gearoid O. Coleman writing in the American Herald Tribune says:  “The strategic objective of Western imperialism in Asia is to exploit those tensions by stoking sectarian hatred - a Huntingtonian ‘clash of civilisations’ which provides the pretext for ‘humanitarian’ intervention’ or ‘anti-terrorist’ counter-insurgency operations by the United States and its allies. The growing Buddhist/Muslim tensions provide the US with the pretext he (sic) needs to counter the rise of China. Only in that context can one begin to understand imperialism’s new humanitarian cause- the Rohingya.”

The attack on a centre housing Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka - whose presence few even knew about till an ugly incident brought them into the media spotlight - would seem to add to the concerns of analysts that the growing religious tensions in the region are not random or isolated. 
Courtesy  ‘InvestigAction’