Should Sri Lanka’s Youth Get Ready To Confront Armed Intervention Two Years After The War?

 *groundviews journalism For citizens

2 Sep, 2011 Kalana Senaratne

Image from Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The proposal (decision?) made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to repeal the Emergency Regulations (ER) was a hopeful one. It was a significant proposal (decision?) which marked a significant moment in Sri Lanka’s post-war history. One’s heart swelled with joy; the rain had ceased, it was bright and sunny, there was a rainbow somewhere in the distance too.

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ripples over alleged chinese spy ship

FRIDAY, 02 SEPTEMBER 2011

SL Navy says nosuspicious ship in Colombo port

In the latest development over the continuing concern by India over the heavy Chinese involvement and presence in Sri Lanka, the Indian media quoting Indian government sources alleged yesterday that a Chinese spy ship disguised as a fishing trawler which was tracked in the Indian Ocean recently by the Indian Navy had moved towards Sri Lanka and docked at the Colombo port.

According to Indian media reports the ship was detected near the coast of Little Andaman. It is believed that the ship had spent more than 20 days in the sensitive location before Indian radars could locate it.     
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Thursday, September 1, 2011

TNA demands repeal of PTA, amnesty for political prisoners

September 1, 2011, 8:59 pm 

By Pabodha Hettige

The government should immediately repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and grant a general amnesty to all the political prisoners and the detained ex LTTE cadres, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says. "If necessary action is not taken to repeal the PTA it will be a hindrance to the national reconciliation process," TNA MP, M. K. Shivajilingam said.

Not repealing the PTA would suggest that the government was planning to establish a military regime as evident in the northern and eastern regions, he said.

The government allowed the state of emergency to lapse last week ahead of United Nations Human Rights Council confab scheduled to take place in September and the PTA was kept in force.

The PTA was a threat to democracy at a time the Tamil community was ready to accept the concept of a united Sri Lanka, he said.

Shivajilingam also said that there were nearly 800 political prisoners including men, women and children in the custody of the government. The TNA believed that there could be about 10,000 prisoners of war in custody, he said. "The government claims that only about 6,000 are still under arrest and no comments have been made about the remaining 4,000 people," he said.

However according to the reports the government had so far released nearly 5,000 such detainees, he said.

"The government must have lifted the emergency to avoid the pressure from the international community and to demonstrate that a genuine attempt was being taken to address the concerns of the world," Shivajilingam said.

The Deadly Duo

 Crucial evidence linking Chandraswami to the Rajiv case went missing from Rao's PMO. Outlookinvestigates.

• File No. 8-1-WR/JSS/90/Vol.III—containing notings of bureaucrats regarding security arrangements for Rajiv Gandhi from November '89—was lost from the PMO in '91. Later, it was doctored and reconstructed by the Narasimha Rao government before it was submitted to the Jain Commission.
• File No. 1/12014/5/91-IAS/DIII reported missing since 1995. It pertained to the terms of reference of the Verma and Jain commissions of inquiry.
• File containing intercepted messages from foreign intelligence agencies, said to be addressed to Chandraswami and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, destroyed by senior officials in the PMO.
• File on IB's assessment of the role played by Zail Singh and Chandraswami in 1987 to topple Rajiv Gandhi missing.
• File with records of official briefings by intelligence agencies on the assassination to Rao's home minister S.B. Chavan missing. The former minister con-firms he was briefed orally.
• The April 20, 1991, wireless intercept with the leading question—should Rajiv be killed in Delhi or Madras?—missing.
• File relating to the Rao government's attempt to wind up the Jain Commission is still withheld from the panel.

DO these files/messages and other sensitive information—categorised as untraceable, missing, destroyed or "cannot be revealed" due to security reasons—hold the key to the mystery that shrouds Rajiv Gandhi's assassination? The Jain Commission thinks so. The AICC has been pressing for these files and documents. And intelligence officials admit in private that vital evidence seems to have been suppressed to ensure that the larger conspiracy behind the May 21, 1991, assassination does not come to light.
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Sri Lanka to probe human rights violations by its army personnel

Sri Lanka to probe human rights violations by its army personnel

www.ndtv.com

Over two years after Sri Lanka's final war against the LTTE, the Mahinda Rajapakse government has for the first time indirectly admitted that some of its army personnel may have indulged in human rights violations in the final phase of the war. They add that these army personnel may therefore be ind...Full Story>>>

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Sri Lanka to probe human rights violations by its army personnel

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Sri Lankan city bidding against Gold Coast caught up in Wikileaks controversy

couriermail.com.au   September 02, 2011

couriermail.com.au   September 02, 2011

THE Sri Lankan city bidding against the Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games has become the centre of a WikiLeaks controversy as the vote to decide the host nation nears.

A leaked email published on WikiLeaks claims the US Government believes the Chinese Government is bribing Sri Lankan officials to win contracts linked to the redevelopment of port city and potential Games host, Hambantota.

Hambantota has a population of about 10,000, about the size of Warwick, and on face value seems an ill-equipped rival to the Gold Coast.    Full Story

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UNP alleges lifting of emergency ruse to deceive int’l community

Demands MR explains extraordinary gazette issued on Aug. 6

August 31, 2011, 9:27 pm 

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The UNP alleged that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s much publicized lifting of emergency was nothing but a transparent move to deceive the international community ahead of the forthcoming Geneva Sessions of the UN Human Rights Council.

Deputy Secretary General of the UNP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, in an interview with The Island yesterday lashed out at the SLFP-led UPFA government for playing politics at the expense of the country.      Full Story>>>

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Lanka building Buddhist viharas in place of temples: Lankan MP

PTI | 08:09 PM,Sep 01,2011

Rajapalayam (TN), Sept 1 (PTI) A Sri Lankan Member of Parliament has charged that the Lankan government was not permitting rebuilding of Hindu temples destroyed or damaged during the war and was instead building Buddhist viharas in their place. "The original structure of the temples are being razed and Buddhist viharas and coming up in their place," claimed Seenithambi Yogeswaran, of the Sri Lankan Tamil National Council, here yesterday. So far, more than 1,400 Hindu temples had been affected, he said, adding the destruction of the temples threatened the culture of the native Tamil people itself. Yogeswaran claimed that even basic amenities had not been provided in areas where the Tamil population lived. He also rejected the Mahinda Rajapaksa government's claim that the civil war had come to an end, saying that so far no political solution had been found for the Tamils. Even the relief materials sent from India were not given to the Tamil people, he alleged. Yogeswaran claimed India had given the Lankan government funds to construct 50,000 houses, but the island nation government had not even completed 1,000 houses. He stressed on the need to implement the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardene accord, giving autonomy for Tamil areas.PTI COR/SSN ARP

Tamil Mothers: Help us find our children

AsiaNews.it  09/01/2011 09:42  

by Melani Manel Perera
The appeal launched for the World Day of the disappeared. The women are asking the government to investigate a case without looking at ethnicity or religion. With 12 thousand missing persons, Sri Lanka is the second country with the highest number of disappearances in the world. 

Colombo (AsiaNews) - "Help us to find our children, without looking at our ethnicity or religion." This is the appeal launched by Tamil mothers, yesterday, on the occasion of World Day of the disappeared. A collective of various civil society groups, mostly Christians, has organized a commemoration in Colombo, to demand the government of Sri Lanka investigate and reveal the truth about the disappearance of the children of these women, during the long years of ethnic conflict.     Full Story>>>
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Emergent uncertainty

Sep 3rd 2011 | from the print edition

Repressive wartime measures linger

MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA, Sri Lanka’s president, did not tell his ministers why he required them to attend parliament on August 25th. But an Indian newspaper put them out of their misery, breaking the news online that he was going to announce a lifting of Sri Lanka’s state of emergency. And yet, when he strode into the assembly carrying a sheaf of papers, even members of his own benches craned their necks to sneak a glance at what they contained.
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Libya, Sri Lanka and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

 *groundviews journalism For citizens 

Muammar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader, speaks at an equestrian show at the Tor di Quinto cavalry school in Rome, Italy, on Monday, Aug. 30, 2010. Italy’s 2008 apology to Libya for three decades of colonial rule is paying dividends for Italian companies including Eni SpA and Finmeccanica SpA. Photographer: Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg via Getty Images Libya is the model of the new interventionism and is the latest, successful mode of application of the doctrine of R2P says Paddy Ashdown, writing in The Times. “…This is what the future probably looks like. Better get used to it” according to Mr Ashdown, who posits it as “a new way of intervening and giving strength to a new strand of international law… Many of us thought R2P would never be more than a piece of well-meaning rhetoric. But Libya has given R2P both form and precedent… Now Libya has offered us a third option. Support R2P with force where it’s possible. Find other means where… 

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Modern Dictatorships through the Mirror: Time for us to be Conscious

 *groundviews journalism For citizens 

25 Aug, 2011
In legal and political literature, the term ‘dictatorship’ includes








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Sri Lankan introduces new 'anti-terror' legislation

South Asia

31 August 2011 Last updated at 13:41 ET Emergency laws have been in place for much of the last three decades

The Sri Lankan government has introduced new legislation allowing it to continue holding terror suspects without charge.The move came as the country’s controversial emergency laws were brought to an end on Tuesday night.The laws - which were first introduced in 1971 - were reintroduced during the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
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The Rajapakse way

Sep 01, 2011

To most Sri Lankans, Anna Hazare’s name would be unfamiliar, his Jan Lokpal Bill even more so. But the veteran social activist’s marathon fast did have an (unintended) effect on Sri Lanka.

India’s preoccupation with the Hazare crisis turned the much-hyped discussion of the Lankan issue in the Rajya Sabha into a damp squib. In the electric atmosphere of the fast, the problems of Lankan Tamils would have seemed rather distant and insignificant to most Indian parliamentarians.

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