EXCLUSIVE: Interview with TNA MP Suresh Premachandran on the LG elections, Parliamentary Select Committee and Political Solution

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Groundviews caught up with TNA Member of Parliament Suresh Premachandran, who spoke to us about the nature of election violations that occurred in the Northern Province prior to the 23^rd of July and on Election Day, which included intimidation, assault, bribery, voter transportation, continuous campaigning and reports of the systematic and forced appropriation of ballot and identity cards by ‘armed actors’. Premachandran asserted that the result of the election delivered two messages to the Government; firstly, the Tamil people require development, but also ‘a political settlement’ and secondly, that there is a consensus on the need for an ‘investigation’ and ‘some sort of accountability’. Premachandran also spoke about the Government’s insistence on a Parliamentary Select Committee for drawing up a political solution, which he simply dismissed as a ‘delay tactic’.
On the issue of negotiations with the Government for a political solution, Premachandran stated that there was ‘no progress on devolution matters’. Furthermore, in what appeared to be a fit of idiosyncrasy Premachandran stated that the TNA did not provide ‘any comprehensive proposals as such’, but instead submitted ‘notes for discussions’. What ‘comprehensive proposals/report’ were Mathiaparanan Sumanthiran and Mavai Senadhirajah talking about a few months ago? It is hard to believe that when dealing with an intransigent and duplicitous government, Premachandran could deny the existence of ‘comprehensive proposals’ submitted by at least the TNA, particularly when the Long-term Reconciliation Committee – the unfortunate title given to the collective from the Government negotiating with the TNA – appears to have absolutely no concrete mandate or framework that delineates the basis for negotiations.
It is also interesting to note that Premachandran felt that the TNA might have to expand its mandate in order to address issues such as militarisation in the south and thereby fill the void created by the lack of effective opposition politics given the imbroglio of the UNP. While this does seem ambitious and perhaps even unrealistic, it does reinforce certain opinions expressed about the TNA being the only opposition alliance with the political backbone to challenge this government on critical post-war issues.
There is also growing concern about whether adequate funds will be provided to local government bodies in the Northern Province and with racist apparatchiks of the Government challenging the TNA to ‘develop the north’, it does seem as though the TNA will find it increasingly difficult to exercise effective administration, particularly if the Government adopts a retributive agenda in light of its significant defeat in the region. Premachandran ends ominously by stating that ‘if they [the Government] are not going to have a proper settlement through discussion[s] with TNA, then of course we have to take the struggle diplomatically…we will have to mobilise our people, we will have to start non-violent agitation…so that will continue’.

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with TNA MP Suresh Premachandran by Sanjana Hattotuwa

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'Withdrawal of funds' from north

27 July, 2011

	TNA says that the government is trying to negate TNA's victory

The major Tamil political party in Sri Lanka warns that the government is planning to withdraw funds to a majority of local governing bodies in the north.

Tamil Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran told BBC Sandeshaya that the challenge by Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to develop the north on its own is clear evidence of that plan.

Power and Energies Minister Ranawaka commenting on the TNA landslide victory in the north told journalists on Tuesday that it is the responsibility of the winners themselves to rebuild the area.

"It was not the Sinhalese who destroyed the tanks, electricity and railway lines," he charged.

'Undemocratic means'

TNA MP Sumanthiran in response said, "the government is trying to negate the Tamil people's democratic will by economic force".

	The minister says that it was the LTTE that destroyed the north

He alleged that the ruling coalition failing to win the north by force during the local government elections is now resorting to undemocratic means.

Earlier, the the secretary general of the ruling party said that it has received more votes than in the last elections.

"We will start by building upon our 57 members who have been elected," said United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) Seceretary General Minister Susil Premjayanth.

Minister Ranawaka has also said that the TNA with the new found support should not demand police and land powers or federal status.

"This threat to democratically elected bodies sends a wrong signal that the Tamil people cannot achieve their democratic aspirations through the ballot," said Mr Sumanthiran.

Sri Lanka 'war crimes' soldiers ordered to 'finish the job'

Wednesday 27 July 2011 

Exclusive: two Sri Lankans who witnessed the violent final showdown of the country's 26-year civil war claim a top military commander and Sri Lanka's defence secretary ordered war crimes.

Warning: You may find parts of this report distressing.

One of these eyewitnesses, an army officer, accuses Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa - the president's brother - of ordering Brigadier Shavendra Silva to execute Tamil rebel leaders, whose safe surrender had been guaranteed by the president.
The other new witness, who was also operating with Brigadier Shavendra Silva's 58 Division on the front line during the final assault, claims the Brigadier was ordered by the defence secretary "to finish the job by whatever means necessary."
'Licence to kill'
He said this was interpreted by the soldiers as a licence to kill. He described how he had watched as Sri Lankan forces shot dead unarmed Tamil women and children. It is the first time this allegation has been made.
The war was won by Sri Lankan government soldiers two years ago. The rebel leadership was virtually wiped out.
As the army closed in, around 130,000 Tamil civilians had been trapped on an ever-shrinking shard of land on the north-east of the island alongside the besieged rebel fighters, who are accused of using them as human shields.
The Sri Lankan president said no civilians were killed by the army during the final assault. But the United Nations now believes that up 40,000 civilians were killed during the last few weeks of the conflict. Others estimate the toll to be higher.

More from Channel 4 News: The Sri Lankan soldiers 'whose hearts turned to stone'

Most are thought to have died as a result of gun and mortar fire allegedly directed on them deliberately by government forces.
After repeated requests for an interview with Shavendra Silva - now retired and promoted to the rank of major-general - Channel 4 News went to confront him with these allegations in New York, where he serves as Sri Lanka's deputy ambassador to the UN.    Full Story>>>

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Sri Lanka 'war crimes' soldiers ordered to 'finish the job'

Wednesday 27 July 2011 

Former Sri Lankan President denounces current government
The latest revelations on Channel 4 News came after the former president of Sri Lanka condemned the current government in a speech in Colombo. Chandrika Kumaratunga warned that the country could descend into anarchy following the civil war between the govenment and Tamil rebels. Speaking in Colombo, Mrs Kumaratunga said her children had reacted with 'shock and horror' to Channel 4's 'Killing Fields' documentary which alleged war-time atrocities. "My 28 year-old son called me, sobbing on the phone to say how ashamed he was to call himself a Sinhalese and a Lankan," she said. Mrs Kumaratunga served as President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005. She is the country's only female President to date.Kumaratunga suffered permanent nerve damage and lost vision in her right eye following an assassination attempt by the Tamil Tigers at her final election rally in Colombo in 1999.


Full Story>>>

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The Sri Lankan soldiers 'whose hearts turned to stone'

Wednesday 27 July 2011Exclusive: As the Sri Lankan war approached its endgame, 130,000 civilians were trapped along a small strip of beach. An eyewitness recalls the bloodshed that followed and how civilians were targeted.

This report contains details some readers may find distressing.

Over the last two years Channel 4 News has broadcast footage that the UN says constitutes "credible evidence of war crimes" in Sri Lanka.
In the final stages of 26 years of civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, and better known as the Tamil Tigers), the United Nations estimated up to 40,000 civilians were killed.
"Fernando" was operating with Sri Lanka's 58 Division during the final assault. He has risked his life as well as the lives of his family to speak out about the horrors he witnessed. He told Channel 4 News that men, women, and children were actively targeted with small arms by government forces.



 The Sri Lankan soldiers 'whose hearts turned to stone'                                                              
   Full Story

‘Live and Let live’message delivered by Tamil people -Mano Ganesan

Wednesday 27 of July 2011
 
(Lanka-e-News -25.July.2011, 8.00PM) Live and let live is the message delivered by Tamil people in the north and east to the government says Democratic Peoples Front leader Mano Ganesan in a statement issued by DPF media office. DPF supported TNA at the recently concluded elections. Ganesan who personally took part in TNA election campaign in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts in the north says further in the statement,

Government played the development slogan explicitly in its campaign in the north. Minister Weerawansa went to east and openly said that they wanted Tamil people on their side to face the international community. TNA has repeatedly said that it is prepared to share power within united Sri Lanka. Tamil people living in the north and east have echoed this position of TNA by rejecting government overtures and positions.

Tamils in the north and east demand the extension of the same and equal civil status enjoyed by the Sinhalese in the south. They need their villages and towns to be developed with bridges, roads, schools and hospitals. But they have rejected the development decisions made in Colombo. The verdict at the elections clearly state that Tamil people needed political power onto their own hands to make their own decisions to develop their own regions.
This verdict of the Tamil people in north and east has to be now respected. We joined hands with TNA to strengthen democracy in the Tamil regions. TNA victory is the victory for democracy in north and east. Government should now stop deliberately mixing up the demands of the LTTE and TNA. Instead we call upon the government to make use of the talks with TNA to arrive at a fair solution to share political power.

On Friday, Jonathan Rugman reported from Mogadishu for Channel 4 News on the thousands of refugees who have risked everything to escape famine in Somalia.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Reblogged from unicefuk

On Friday, Jonathan Rugman reported from Mogadishu for Channel 4 News on the thousands of refugees who have risked everything to escape famine in Somalia.
Read about UNICEF’s work in Somalia.

Local Elections in the North and East: Rebuking the Regime

 

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

The results of the second phase of the 2011 local government elections reveal a north/ south divide with the ruling UPFA winning comfortably outside of the north and east and the TNA capturing the overwhelming majority of local bodies in those areas.  These results need serious analysis by all political parties as an indication of the trajectory of politics to come.  For the UNP and the JVP in particular, deep soul searching and political strategizing is in order.  They failed miserably and may well claim that local bodies invariably go to the party in government. However, there has been enough out there in the public realm to latch on to and capitalize upon in respect of corruption and financial mismanagement to mount a fight back in earnest.  Were they to ignore the message of the electorate, there is the danger that the elections to municipal and urban councils to come, could spell their irrelevance as political forces to be reckoned with.       Full Story>>> 
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What South Africa can do to help with reconciliation in Sri Lanka

Louise Arbour, The Sunday Times  |   24 Jul 2011

 

As South Africa knows better than most, a country cannot begin to overcome decades of internal conflict without a sustained effort at revealing the truth of the past and a committed push for reconciliation. If only Sri Lanka could learn that lesson.

It has been more than two years since the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a war whose final months saw both the Sinhalese-majority government and the rebels contribute to the massive loss of Tamil civilian lives. Rather than starting on the slow, painful path towards a more democratic and equal society, however, the post-war policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his powerful brothers have further undermined the country’s damaged political institutions and deepened the ethnic divide.      Full Story>>>

TNA challenged to "develop north if possible"

26 July, 2011

Sri Lanka’s ruling party has challenged the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to bring about development if possible to the north.

Minister Ranwaka posed this challenge with referance to the landslide victory of the TNA at the local polls in the North.

Federal system

President of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka talking to media on the recently concluded local government elections said that local government election results do not reflect that there should be a federal system in the country.

Tamil National Alliance with other Tamil parties won twenty local government bodies in the North on Saturday’s elections.
unitary state

Minister Ranawaka said that the ruling party has now received a total of 56 percent of votes in the local government bodies including the north for a unitary state of the country.

The minister warned that under this background; winning a few local bodies, TNA should not try to challenge the majority by demanding lands rights and police powers.

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New Democratic MPs behind Layton, Mulcair says

CBC News Canada    Jul 26, 2011

Support continued to pour in Tuesday for NDP Leader Jack Layton following his announcement a day earlier that he is battling another form of cancer. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair says the whole party is standing behind Jack Layton in his fight against cancer.

Layton stepped down as party leader Monday to concentrate on his health, recommending the party's federal council choose Hull-Aylmer, Que., MP Nycole Turmel as interim leader.
Mulcair said he supports that recommendation, pointing out he was there to help announce Turmel's candidacy.      Full Story>>>

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TNA insists on police, land powers

Tuesday, 26 July 2011
By Sandun
A. Jayasekera
The Tamil National Alliance(TNA) which swept the board in Saturday’s local council elections in the North said yesterday it would be impossible to reach a political solution and bring about lasting peace, justice and democracy in the North without the devolution of police and land powers.
Jaffna district parliamentarian and TNA spokesman Suresh Premachandra told Daily Mirror the TNA which won 18 of the 23 local councils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces was in a stronger position to negotiate with the government at the ongoing talks following the overwhelming mandate it received from the Tamil-speaking people.
“It’s unfortunate that the government has failed to understand fully and correctly the real  problems facing the Tamil community and their aspirations. I wonder whether the government even realises the impact of the TNA’s electoral victory,” Mr. Premachandra said.
With regard to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s stance that police and land powers are non-negotiable, Mr. Premachandra said these two subjects were extremely necessary for lasting peace, justice, democracy and northern development.
“If the government continues to be adamant on police and land powers I do not see the need to continue the current dialogue,” Mr. Premchandra said. “The TNA is ready to accept a dignified solution to the ethnic problem within a united Sri Lanka. We need a serious dialogue with the government and the sad part of this is that the government has not understood this properly. I do not know how we could convince the government.”
With regard to allegations of war crimes during the last stages of the war, Mr. Premchandra said the government must heed the requests of the United Nations, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and the international community by setting up a credible local mechanism to investigate these allegations.
“If this is not done, no one can prevent Sri Lanka being called a ‘Pariah State’ in the eyes of the international community and organizations,” Mr. Premachandra said.
He emphasised the futility of appointing a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to work out proposals to resolve the national question apart from it being a time-wasting exercise.
“Arriving at an acceptable solution will be impossible with Sinhalese extremists like the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in parliament,” he said.
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Setback for Rajapaksa's reconciliation

Jul 27, 2011 By Sudha Ramachandran

BANGALORE - Local election results in Sri Lanka indicate that while President Mahinda Rajapaksa can still count on solid support in the Sinhala south, his post-war development strategy to address Tamil alienation has failed to cut ice with Tamils in the north and east.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) exceeded expectations to take control of 18 of 26 local bodies in the north and east in the polls on Saturday. Another Tamil party, the Tamil United Liberation Front, took two local councils - both in Killinochchi district - where it was reportedly backed by the TNA.   
Full Story>>>

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