PTA prisoners continue hunger strike demanding amnesty

By Gandhya Senanayake - A group of prisoners arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are continuing a peaceful hunger strike, demanding a general amnesty, Prisons commissioner, Major General V. R. Silva told Daily Mirror online. He added that so far legal action has not been taken against 196 prisoners and 364 of those remanded have been sent for rehabilitation.

He added that the legal process for these inmates has been stepped up but it was a lengthy process. The Attorney Generals department had to consider individual cases and decide whether to take legal action or not and this took time. Furthermore two teams have also been appointed, one by the Attorney Generals department and another by the IGP to look into this matter and speed up the process.

© Daily Mirror

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On board the Tamil asylum boat

By Atika Shubert - They are home movies of a different sort. Children scamper across the wooden deck. Parents lie on woven mats trying to fend off boredom. A handful of men share a single hose as a shower at the back of the boat.

This is daily life aboard the Indonesian fishing boat carrying more than 200 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers to Australia.

Video and pictures chronicling their daily life, were given to CNN by Sanjeev Kuhendrarajah, one of the asylum seekers. He calls himself Alex.

He was raised in Canada and is now on board with a camera and a laptop. He has become, he says, a reluctant spokesman.

"I am not the leader of this ship and I am not God. I cannot save lives," Alex said us in a broadband interview with CNN. We're at the point where we don't know what to do anymore."

Since Sri Lankan forces routed Tamil rebels seeking an independent state last year, thousands of Tamils have been seeking asylum -- mostly in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

Alex and his fellow passengers were trying to reach Australia when they were intercepted by the Indonesian navy, at the request of Australia. They have now been parked off the coast of West Java for about two months.

With his laptop, Alex beams out what he says are deteriorating conditions aboard the boat. He claims disease is spreading and access to medical care is minimal.

He shows us video of a man having a seizure on board. In this case, an ambulance came to take him to an Indonesian hospital. But another asylum seeker was not so lucky. Alex says his friend Jacob, died after days of vomiting blood.

"I tried my best to save this man. But I couldn't save Jacob. I tried to do whatever I can for him." He says before breaking down in tears. 'Jacob went through a lot of pain and in my eyes died of criminal negligence."

Indonesia says it is providing food and medical attention but the asylum seekers not only refuse to leave the boat, they won't allow Indonesian officials on board to assess their condition or process their requests for asylum with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.

"They don't allow us access to check the medical situation on board. They are always refusing us entry to the boat even just to see how the situation is like" says Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry. "By refusing, they actually are doing more harm to their own people."

So, why not leave the boat or give officials access? Alex was convicted of illegal weapons possession in Canada and deported to Sri Lanka. A youthful mistake, he says, of getting involved with a gang.

He has already had run-ins with the Sri Lankan authorities. Now, the Sri Lankan government accuses him of being a member of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam -- a terror group fighting for Tamil independence in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government also says Alex is a wanted human smuggler. Allegations he denies.

"I don't know anything about the LTTE. I don't sympathize with them at all. I don't know anything about them to support them," he says. "I don't understand. What proof do they have of that? I paid $15,000 to get on this boat. Why would I want to pay to smuggle myself out. And I wouldn't bring 250 people with me."

He fears leaving the boat will mean deportation and jail back in Sri Lanka. He wants the UNHCR to give him a shot at asylum.

"My life is now so public," Alex said. "People hate me. I did something in Canada that was childish and immature and I'm paying the price 9 years later. I deserve a break. I'm only human."

For now, however, Alex and the other asylum seekers on board are in a stand-off with Indonesian authorities. UNHCR is unable to process their asylum requests until Indonesia has cleared them and verified their identities.

Alex left behind a wife and four children, including a baby boy born while he was aboard the boat. He had hoped to reach Australia, claim asylum and then bring them afterwards. That does not seem likely now.

"What people should understand is that the situation in Sri Lanka is riskier than going to hell itself," he says. I don't know when the Tamil people will find peace, when we'll find a country but of all the things in my life, I will go as far as it takes to find these 250 people refuge, to find them a national anthem and a country they can call their own."

© CNN

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World Agenda: will the hammer of the Tamils nail the President?

Catherine Philp - A few weeks ago Sri Lanka’s upcoming general election looked like a walk in the park for the incumbent, President Rajapaksa, who was riding high on the kudos of ending the country's long-running civil war.

While Western human rights groups and governments railed at his abuses of power, at home the folksy President spoke confidently of his re-election in the first fully nationwide poll to be held in Sri Lanka for more than three decades.

That was before his own general, Sarath Fonseka, who led the offensive that crushed the Tamil Tigers, turned on the President and put himself forward as the candidate for the opposition. That motley coalition of parties has only one goal: to beat Mr Rajapaksa.

And so, in a bizarre twist, General Fonseka, the hammer of the Tamils, has won the support of the Tamil minority. A competition is now on between the President and his disillusioned general over who should take the credit for winning the war and get the chance to win the peace.

Tamil refugees are starting to trickle home after months imprisoned in detention camps because of harsh government measures ostensibly aimed at rooting out rebel fighters. Their votes have never counted in the way they promise to in this election because in the past the Tamil Tigers ordered them to boycott official polls.

Tamils make up about 12 per cent of the electorate but other groups — including Muslims descended from Arab and Malay traders and so-called Estate Tamils originating from India — bring the total "minority" proportion up to 25 per cent.

Sri Lanka’s other minorities have watched in alarm at the treatment of Tamils following the end of the civil war, and at the bellicose Sinhalese nationalism employed by the President and his allies.

The announcement by the Tamil National Alliance that they will back General Fonseka will send a powerful signal to other minorities that this might be their best chance of representation too.

General Fonseka has won Tamil support in part by alleging that the President himself was behind extrajudicial killings of Tamil Tiger rebels that the army chief did not authorise. He has also made much of Mr Rajapaksa’s failure to bring political reconciliation to Sri Lanka.

He has played up Mr Rajapaksa’s cronyism – three of his brothers are in his cabinet – corruption and economic failings in his pitch to the Sinhalese majority.

So far Mr Rajapaksa has led the field but support has recently started to shift towards the former general, influenced by allegations about state sabotage of his campaign.

Mr Rajapaksa’s defeat of the Tigers shows he has no qualms about fighting dirty and General Fonseka is a dangerous man – he holds the key to any future war crimes charges.

Whoever wins, Sri Lanka may not be big enough for both of them. The battle for the nation is not over.

© Times Online

Related Links:
Tamils throw weight behind general who crushed them - The Independent
"These candidates are largely to blame for destroying our people" - The Independent
All Ceylon Tamil Congress to support Fonseka - Express Buzz
Majority of TNA MPs back Fonseka - Tamil Net

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IDPs 'resettled' to another camp

Over two hundred internally displaced people (IDPs) had been relocated to a camp in Killinochchi instead of resettling in their homes, says one of the refugees who spoke to the BBC.

He told the BBC Sinhala Service, that they were taken from Vavunia to Killinochchi to be put in another camp.

"We were brought here from the Arunachalam camp in Vavunia. They told us that we would be permanently resettled in our own homes," he told the BBC.

Tamil inmates from Vavunia say that they are frustrated about the situation.

Home nearby

"We had been here in this camp for over a month now. We were promised that we would be going home within days. Latest we heard is that it will happen in a month".

The refugee who spoke to the BBC from Killinochchi, said there are fifty two families in this camp situated at Killinochchi Central School.

"Once we arrived, we were given dry rations, now we get cooked food like any other camp. The perimeter of the school is guarded by the Army,"he said.

"My house is only 800 metres away from this camp. We are kept in the school while there is an army camp where my house was. This is a new camp established since the end of the war".

The refugees are not allowed out by the authorities, he says.

"After days of protest, they took us in a bus for a hair cut. The barber was only one hundred metres down the road. We were taken back to the camp immediately after the haircut".

The IDPs in Kilinochchi are waiting to go back to their homes says the refugee who spoke to BBC Sandeshaya.

© BBC Sinhala

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DUBLIN GOES IN FOR THE KILL : PERMANENT PEOPLES' TRIBUNAL ON SRI LANKA

By Munza Mushtaq - An elite panel of 11 judges will decide if the President Mahinda Rajapaksa led government and its armed forces were instrumental in carrying out gross violations of human rights and involved in war crimes against innocent civilians in the Northern Province during the run up to its significant yet controversial victory over the ruthless rebel outfit, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

With an impressive jury hailing from across the globe, the highly revered Milan based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) will attempt to put an end to months of controversy over the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka, at an international tribunal which will thoroughly investigate allegations that the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during its final phase of the war with the LTTE.

The international hearing will be held on January 14 and 15 at the Trinity College, Dublin, with the provisional findings from the tribunal scheduled to be announced at a public meeting on January 16, 2010.

The Tribunal will be co-hosted by the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin and the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. The event is being organised by the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL).

The government has however shrugged off the Dublin Tribunal terming it as yet another concerted ‘international conspiracy’ against Sri Lanka.

Members of the Panel of Judges of the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka are:

1) François Houtart – UNESCO awardee for non-violence and tolerance, Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic Recession, Prof. Emeritus, University of Louvain, Belgium.

2) Rajinder Sachar – Former High Court Judge of Delhi, headed the Sachar Committee appointed by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in India.

3) Nawal al Saadawi – Egyptian writer, trained as a medical doctor, known for her outstanding work for women’s rights in Egypt and in the region. She has been imprisoned for her activities and writings in Egypt. She has also been United Nation’s Advisor for the Women’s Programme in Africa (ECA) and Middle East (ECWA) from 1979 to 1980.

4) Sulak Sivaraksa – Thai Buddhist peace campaigner and writer, initiator of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements and organisations in Thailand. He was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award).

5) Denis Halliday – Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He resigned from his 34 year old career in the UN because of the economic sanctions imposed over Iraq by the Security Council. Laureate of the Gandhi International Peace Award.

6) Gianni Tognoni – Secretary General, People’s Permanent Tribunal, Milan, Italy.

7) Daniel Feierstein – Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, and Professor in the Faculty of Genocide at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

8) Mary Lawlor – Director, Front Line – The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Dublin, Ireland.

9) Oystein Tveter – Norwegian Scholar of International Law and member of the People’s Tribunal on extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights in the Philippines

10) Eren Keskin – Kurdish-born lawyer and a human rights activist in Turkey, vice president of the Human Rights Association, Istanbul. She co-founded the project “Legal Aid For Women Who Were Raped Or Otherwise Sexually Abused by the National Security Forces”, to expose the abuses happening to women in Turkish prisons. In 1995, she was imprisoned for her human rights activities and was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

11) Francesco Martone – Ex Senator in Italy, a leading activist in the non-governmental sector and an ecologist.

Organisers of the tribunal told The Sunday Leader that the judges for the hearing have been chosen from across the globe — south to the north in order to transcend geopolitical barriers and to ensure that its findings are both credible and ethically binding.

Ireland has been chosen because of its historical status as a post-colonial nation, the success of the Northern Ireland peace process, and its traditional policy of neutrality.
“The People’s Tribunal will investigate the allegations that the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during its final phase of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“The Tribunal will also examine violations of human rights in the aftermath of the war and the local and international factors that led to the collapse of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement,” a press release from the organisers said.

Several legal and human rights groups from Asia, the European Union and the United Nations are scheduled to submit reports on alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against peace in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, although a formal invitation was extended to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London, Nihal Jayasinghe, the organisers have received no response from Jayasinghe and so a lawyer will present the Sri Lankan government’s position at the hearing.

“Evidence will be given by individuals and groups who have first hand knowledge about these crimes,” organisers told The Sunday Leader via email.

Meanwhile, the IFPSL citing reasons for such a tribunal emphasized that the war saw a ‘terrible human cost’ and was a ‘war without witnesses’ due to the fact that journalists and other potential witnesses like aid workers were prevented by the government from remaining in the conflict area.

By April 2009, according to United Nations’ internal documents, the air raids and use of heavy weapons were resulting in the death of approximately 116 people a day.

During the last weeks of the war, according to reports in the British and French press, over 20,000 people were killed when the Sri Lankan armed forces allegedly used heavy artillery fire against hundreds of thousands of Tamil people crowded in an extremely small area.

According to Human Rights Watch, hospitals were bombed 30 times between December 8, 2008 and May 2, 2009 and, according to a French medical team, cluster munitions and white phosphorous have been used against these civilians.

“There has been media evidence of torture, summary executions, rape and sexual violence, and of food and water being used as a weapon of war against civilians by the Sri Lankan military,” the Forum said.

Meanwhile the Government’s Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella vowed to defeat what he termed as an ‘international conspiracy’ against Sri Lanka and its sovereignty.

He claimed that an ‘international conspiracy’ was in place to bring disrepute to Sri Lanka and despite such conspiracies, his government will not waiver but will instead fight till the end to protect the nation and its sovereignty.

Pooh-poohing the tribunal in Dublin, Rambukwella said, “These are all part of the international conspiracy, we have defended these allegations before and will do so in the future.”

He emphasized that despite his government defending itself against war crimes allegations in the past including at the United Nations, conspiracies were still very much prevalent and cited the Dublin hearing as one such conspiracy.

“We won’t bow down to these conspiracies, we will fight and defend our nation and sovereignty,” Rambukwella declared.

He added that although Sri Lanka will not be formally present at the hearing, it had the intelligence apparatus to gather the necessary information which comes out from the Dublin Tribunal scheduled for mid this month.

© The Sunday Leader

Related Links:
Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT) - Wikipedia
When People Judge: The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal - Corporate Watch
Why a tribunal on Sri Lanka? - Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka
PPT on the genocide of the Armenians - Armenian News Network
PPT in Colombia - Upside Down World
PPT on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights - pan-uk.org
PPT in Lima - Enlazando Alternativas
PPT on European Transnational Corporations in Latin America and the Caribbean
PPT on Philippines - International Association of Democratic Lawyers

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S.Lanka's main Tamil party backs ex-general

Sri Lanka's main minority Tamil party on Monday backed the main opposition presidential candidate, Sarath Fonseka, who as army chief led the offensive that crushed Tamil rebels last year, officials said.

Fonseka, a former four-star general who quit in November following differences with his political boss President Mahinda Rajapakse, pledged in a letter to end a state of emergency if he was elected in the January 26 vote.

The moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) agreed to back Fonseka's campaign after he signed a three-page programme that he hopes to implement in the island's former war zone, a party official said.

"We have decided to support General Fonseka, but a formal announcement will be made on Tuesday," said the TNA official, who declined to be named. The TNA has 21 seats in Sri Lanka's 225-member parliament.

In his letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Monday, Fonseka promised to free Tamil detainees within a month if no charges had been brought against them.

The former military chief, who is credited with leading the military drive against the separatist Tamil Tigers, also promised to establish a completely civilian administration.

"Full restoration of all institutions of civil administration from the office of village headman upwards will be free from military, police and political interference," the letter to the TNA said.

The TNA was at one time seen as a proxy of the Tamil Tigers who were crushed in May with the elimination of the rebels' military leadership after 37 years of fighting.

Fonseka pledged to end the state of emergency which had been in force since March 1983, largely to deal with Tamil rebels as well as militants among the majority Sinhalese.

The emergency gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without trial. France has led international calls on Sri Lanka to end the emergency after the ethnic conflict ended in May.

Rajapakse called the January poll in a bid to capitalise on the victory over the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who launched their campaign for a Tamil homeland in 1972.

Fonseka and Rajapakse have been at loggerheads since the end of the conflict. Fonseka quit after accusing the government of sidelining him and falsely suspecting him of trying to stage a coup.

© AFP

Related Links:
"I will not accept partition of the country" - Gen.Fonseka - Tamilnet
General offers amnesty for LTTE - BBC Sinhala
Tamils a force in Sri Lankan polls - Asiaone News
UNP invites TMVP for “secret” talks to garner support - Daily Mirror

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Diplomats Summoned For Election Work

By Munza Mushtaq - Controversy surrounds the summoning of some 14 Sri Lankan diplomats, some lodged at plush five star hotels and condominium complexes to carry out President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidential election campaign.

The diplomats who are allegedly carrying out the President’s propaganda work include Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington DC, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Ambassador to Italy Hemantha Warnakulasuriya, Consul General for Toronto, Bandula Jayasekara, Ambassador to Iran M. M. Zuhair, Ambassador to Korea Asitha Perera, Ambassador to Philippines N. Bennett Cooray and Ambassador to Myanmar Newton Gunaratne.

It is learnt that Ambassador Wickramasuriya, a close relative of President Rajapaksa, is residing at a luxury condominium situated in a five star hotel compound, from where he along with two other diplomats are carrying out campaign work.

The other ambassadors have been assigned to carry out the campaign work at a special election office which comes under the direct purview of the President’s brother, Basil Rajapaksa.

This office, it is learnt, is located on the top floor of a building constructed recently within the compound of Temple Trees.

“Due to this sudden recall, the ambassadors are unable to carry out the diplomatic responsibilities they were originally entrusted with,” Foreign Ministry sources said. All the expenses, including the apartment rent and other incidentals of these ambassadors will be borne by the Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Hemantha Warnakulasuriya who is in Sri Lanka denied any involvement in the government’s election campaign. He told The Sunday Leader that he came to Sri Lanka after obtaining duty leave of his own will and will return as soon as his leave expires. “I am hoping to go back before elections and I am staying at my residence and not at a five star hotel,” he added.

© The Sunday Leader

Related Links:
CaFFE charges plans to rig vote - CaFFE
Political storm over STF ‘circular’ - The Sunday Times

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Fonseka campaigns in N. Sri Lanka, may be tried for war crimes

Andrew Moran - At the end of the month, Sri Lanka will be holding Presidential elections between current incumbet Mahinda Rajapaksa and former military chief Sarath Fonseka and so far Fonseka is winning over voters.

On Saturday, Presidential opponent to incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in January’s election, General Sarath Fonseka, toured the northern city of Jaffna for his election campaign, while meeting with local and religious leaders, according to AFP. Fonseka also addressed a rally being held and met with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jaffna Thomas Savundranayagam.

Fonseka is no stranger to the northern region as he served as the district’s special security forces commander during the military conflict with the Tamil Tigers, which ended last year. Both Rajapaksa and Fonseka claim credit for defeating the Tigers.

The Fonseka campaign fear that the Sinhalese vote will be split, therefore, he felt compelled to gain support from the Tamil electorate. The former military chief even promised the residents of Jaffna a better future by developing economic and infrastructure measures for the region, reports Xinhua.

Some Toronto Tamils, however, are not supportive of either candidate. Senthan Nada, a Toronto spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the War in Sri Lanka, told Digital Journal in an e-mail on Sunday that Tamils in Sri Lanka are like “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” because both candidates were partnered together during the military operations.

Both “pressed for a brutal military solution where at least 20,000 were massacred another 50,000 maimed at least from the account of the Times Online to what is essentially a peaceful political solution for the past 61 years of Tamils’ struggle for equality.”

Nevertheless, according to Nada, Tamils in Sri Lanka feel like they need a change in government and now the contest is the island nation is between the “Rajapaksa family and the common candidate Fonseka.”

Although Fonseka may gain Tamil support, the General could face legal action over war crimes against the Tigers, according to the Hindustan Times. Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters, “We are looking into taking some sort of legal action against general Fonseka in line with the constitution and the laws of the country.”

The Sri Lankan government is looking into this because Fonseka brought back the issue of war crimes throughout his campaign, which they believed has been dealt with by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Nada concluded that he feels the election will be close and the Tamils will have the power to tip the balance, “I think The Tamils have to choose between the lesser of the evils. Tamils are considering Sarath Fonseka as a common opposition candidate and lesser evil of the two evils.”

Digital Journal reported last month that the Tamils voted in large numbers across the globe in favor of a separate state for the Tamil people within Sri Lanka.

© Examiner.com

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Jaffna IDPs 'should be sent home' - Dr.Vickramabahu

A leftwing presidential candidate in Sri Lanka's forthcoming elections says that refugees in Jaffna still lack basic facilities and struggling to find a way of living.

Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, the leader of the Left Front, currently visiting the northern Sri Lankan town as part of his election campaign said that over 300 families in the Manalkadu camp needs to be sent to Vanni where they come from.

He told BBC Sandeshaya that the military was reluctant to allow him to visit camps for the internally displaced people (IDPs) in Jaffna but later allowed on his insistence that the presidential candidates have a right to campaign throughout the island.

No income

"Although the camps are in the vicinity of the sea they are not allowed fishing and the IDPs have to depend on the food rations," Dr. Karunaratne said.

The refugees are held in a military camp environment, he said.

Jaffna that has been under the military and the LTTE for time to time, was last captured by the government security forces in 1995.

Hundreds of IDPs are still kept in Jaffna, but journalists or independent visitors are not allowed to visit the camps.

Dr. Karunaratne, one of the few to gain access, told BBC Sinhala service that the IDPS requested authorities to resettle them in their original lands as soon as possible.

But the government insists that the full resettlement will only be carried out after the de mining in the north is completed.

© BBC Sinhala

Related Links:
Wickramabahu, Sivajilingam in Jaffna - Daily Mirror
The struggle of Tamils will be continued - Lanka News Web
We will continue with the struggle of Tamils - VoteBahu.blog

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Colombo Not Investigating Missing Tsunami Aid

By Raisa Wickrematunge - The government is unlikely to carry out a formal investigation to determine the fate of millions of rupees of tsunami aid which went missing or was used for unrelated projects.

Lal Sarath Kumara, a media spokesman for the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said to his knowledge no investigations were being done on the matter.

The comments came following a statement from Transparency International (TI) on December 26 charging that 603.4 million dollars, meant for tsunami relief following the devastating tsunami of 2004, had instead been used for unrelated projects.

An additional 471.9 million dollars appeared to be missing, TI alleged. They have called for an audit to explain the discrepancies in figures.

Executive Director of Transparency International (Sri Lanka) J.C Weliamuna said that the organisation had brought the issue of misappropriation of tsunami relief funds to the notice of the authorities.

Weliamuna said that as a civil society organisation, TI did not have the executive powers to ensure a proper investigation was done. “We have no mandate to sue, but can only bring these issues to the notice of the authorities, and hope they are addressed accordingly,” Weliamuna told The Sunday Leader.

Secretary, Ministry of Nation Building, W. K. K Kumarasiri, said he was not aware of the TI statement which was highly publicized in both local and international media.

© The Sunday Leader

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