Spotlight on Jaffna as Nirupama visits Lanka

By Sutirtho Patranobis | Hindustan Times
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The highlight of foreign secretary Nirupama Rao’s three-day visit to Sri Lanka beginning on Monday would be her trip to Jaffna — the first ever by an Indian foreign secretary in decades. In Jaffna, the heartland of Sri Lankan Tamils, Rao is expected to meet both government officials including the governor and mayor and members of the civil society and academics.

On her way back, Rao would be visiting Kilinochchi, where the administrative headquarters of the Tamil Tigers was located, and Mullaitivu, once the rebels’ military nerve centre. It was near Mullaitivu, on the north-east coast where the final battle between the LTTE and government troops was fought. Her visit would be rounded of witha trip to the east coast town of Trincomalee.

Rao’s visit — to be followed by foreign minister SM Krishna’s Sri Lanka visit in September — to Jaffna and her interaction with non-government actors is being seen as India’s way of reaching out to the community, which has had close, and ancient, links with South India.

India’s non-interference in the final stages of the civil conflict, when the LTTE was surrounded and finally decimated by the army, was interpreted by many in the north as a betrayal. Former Indian envoy to Lanka, Rao’s visit is an attempt to change that view and send across the message that India was against the LTTE but will never abandon the Tamil civilian population.

Accompanied by a team of Indian diplomats, Rao would take stock of the rehabilitation of the 300,000 displaced Tamils. She would also review development projects India is funding in northern districts.

© Hindustan Times

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Different approach to Tamil refugees needed

Watch part 2 & part 3 of the interview

By Seth Klein | Times Colonist
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If the 492 Tamil asylum-seekers who recently arrived by boat are "queue-jumpers," then I guess my parents were too. They came as Vietnam War draft dodgers from the U.S. in 1967.

Like a couple of the Tamil women who just arrived, my mom was pregnant with me. My parents did not seek advance permission from the Canadian government to immigrate. They did not fill out any paperwork before arriving. And they could no more seek permission to leave from their home government than these Tamils could, for what they were doing was, as far as the U.S. was concerned, illegal and would result in my father's arrest.

Of course, that's the thing about being an asylum-seeker -- you don't get into a queue. When you've got to go, you've got to go. My folks didn't even know Montreal, where they landed, was a predominantly French-speaking city.

So they just showed up. The difference, however, was that, in those days, they got landed immigrant status in 20 minutes at the airport. Over the course of the Vietnam War, about 100,000 American war resisters came to Canada (many with less formal education than my folks and thus unlikely to score particularly well under today's immigration point system).

Among the common reactions to the arrival of the MV Sun Sea is the proposition that Canada's allegedly lax immigration laws make us a global sucker -- a target for many of the world's migrants. This is an absurd notion.

World conflicts, environmental disasters and a global economic system that keeps billions impoverished has resulted in millions upon millions of refugees and displaced people. In Pakistan alone, the current flooding has produced upwards of 14 million internally displaced people. Globally, according to the UN, there are over

43 million "forcibly displaced people," of which about 15 million are refugees.

The vast majority of these people are not being absorbed by wealthy countries, but rather internally or by neighbouring poor countries -- the places least able to afford the costs and with the bleakest economic prospects.

The number of refugees accepted by Canada has declined in recent years, and last year we accepted fewer than 20,000 -- just over 0.1 per cent of global refugees. Surely when a few hundred people arrive on our shores, we can afford to treat these people with respect and grant them due process.

The real and much more significant Canadian immigration story of recent years (at least numerically) isn't about refugees. It's about the explosion in temporary foreign workers. The number of temporary foreign workers coming into Canada each year now exceeds 200,000 and surpasses the number of immigrants.

But the Harper government hasn't been sounding the alarm about this. On the contrary, the federal government has been promoting and facilitating the massive growth in this category of migrants.

Why? Because unlike regular immigrants and refugees, these workers are being specifically requested by employers, their indentured status makes them unable to exercise key employment rights and leaves them highly vulnerable to exploitation and unsafe conditions and they are unable to make the same claims to the social and economic rights that Canadians take for granted.

© Times Colonist

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Sri Lanka cabinet backs change for president

Agence France-Presse
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Sri Lanka's cabinet on Monday backed changing the constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term, opening the way for a vote in parliament.

Rajapakse, who oversaw the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year after decades of civil war, has a firm grip on power and has been criticised for crushing dissent and opposition media.

The cabinet approved a proposal to remove the two-term limit for presidents, which would mean Rajapakse could stand again when elections are scheduled in November 2016.

"The cabinet backed a move to amend the constitution," an official at the president's office said, declining to be named.

Rajapakse came to power in 2005 and won a second presidential term in January.

He has enough support in parliament to secure the two-thirds majority required to pass constitutional changes, but any amendment must also to be approved by the Supreme Court.

Several of Rajapakse's family hold key positions within the government, and the island's key aid donors, including the United States and Japan, have pushed him to enact political reform and to share power with minority ethnic Tamils.

© AFP

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Mannar - Tamil misery continues

By a special correspondent | BBC Sinhala
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Broken, torn buildings tower over the tiny UNHCR tents on the gardens and court yards. Hanging clothes, pots and pans and carry bags scattered around the land show signs of civilian life.

Thirty years of war has taken a lot from the lives of the Mannar farmers and they still await a sense of security.

“Be careful and watch your mouth. The government security forces are vigilant and they do not like us talking to outsiders," my hosts warned.

The alert and watchful eyes of weary soldiers scanned every vehicle passing through the checkpoints.

They are tired but seem to be friendly. Especially after the moment they identify someone as a Sinhalese visitor from the south.

They are eager to share their war stories, explain the fighting and hardship they have undergone in the area. They see themselves still as victors.

'Tragic' civilian life

Civilian life is still a tragedy to many. There is nothing left on the ground for the people who return from the camps where they were interned until recently.

“We left with a tractor full of stuff in 2006 and came home with two shopping bags”, Mr A told me.

When the Tigers retreated, Mr A had to leave his village near Madu Church with his three children and wife and follow the orders of the LTTE.

He managed to escape to the army controlled area in 2009 just before the war ended.

“The Army sent us to Manik farm and we were there for year and two months. We got our land back but the house was razed to the ground” A said.

He lived in Murunkan and was brought up by a Sinhalese woman. Fluent in Sinhala Mr A worked in the south. Now he is labouring for 600 rupees a day.

“We get oil, rice, lentils, flour and sugar. We do not have money to buy vegetables. We feed our kids with a pulp made out of murunga (drums sticks) leaves and flour. Sometimes we go on hunting. We do not have guns and the jungles are full of mines. So we have to live on iguanas and other small animals”.

The story is same for many returnees. Many houses were razed to ground. Some live on tiny tents right next to their ruined houses.

They all have to begin their lives from scratch and according to them the support they need is not readily available.

'Extend the suffering'

“The Government promised us they will build our house, but still they did not do anything” Mr A told me.

According to the reports from the area the government redevelopment plan costs about 650,000 rupees per house but only 325,000 rupees is available.

“The aim is to build non permanent houses and extend the suffering of the Tamils” a prominent Tamil leader told me.

“There is no planning, no consultation from local communities or leaders about resettlements, this is worse than the Tsunami but no one is doing anything to ease the suffering of the people” he added.

“If the government is not able to deliver services then it should allow non governmental agencies to intervene, but the Government is not doing that because they are confiscating land and conducting a so-called resettlement plan with a view to implement colonising projects”.

Near Arippu, Muslims have been resettled and local Tamils show their displeasure saying “Kachal” meaning it is disturbing the peace in the area.

Locals say that displaced Muslims were resettled before the Tamils in the area.

In Tirukeshwaram Sinhalese constructors are busy mending roads and reconstructing the damaged temple structures.

The brilliant glossy colours of the nearby Mahathitha Vihara are an example for resurgence of Buddhist temples in the former strong hold of the LTTE, a symbol that does not sit well with local Tamils.

Constructed and maintained by the military Mahathitha Vihara has two resident monks. According to security service personnel, the former leader of the Hela Urumaya, archaeologist Ellawala Medhananda Thero, has confirmed the historical existence of Mahathitha Vihara.

“Now the Tirukeshwaram Temple is challenging the claim as they say we have built the temple in their land” says a member of the military who is stationed in the temple.

Sinhala road names

The propagation of Buddhist shrines is evident throughout roads I followed to Jaffna. Not only that streets and roads were named after heroic Sri Lankan servicemen.

I saw a road named after Gamini Kularathne – Hasalaka Viraya in Vedithalative. Despite the local civilian population being Tamil, the signs of the road were in Sinhala only.

“The army and navy confiscated lands on the grounds of security and they are trying to wipe out our culture and heritage from the area” a person who wants to remain anonymous told me.

The defeat of the LTTE is bringing more miseries to the already wounded Tamils. Local residents who almost lost everything do not have any energy, political organisation or civil movements to oppose such moves.

“People lack basic goods to sustain their day to day life so they cannot bother about the politics” a leading clergyman in the area told me.

It is apparent that Tamils are forced to accept what the Colombo administration wants but the strong resentment to such impositions inevitably delay the prospects of peace in Sri Lanka.

The government is reconstructing the roads and improving the infrastructure. It is widening the roads and building the bridges to link the South.

Yet bunkers located every 500 meters and the continuous presence of the military give an air of a military state without any bridges to link the communities.

I felt that the watchful eyes of the security personnel and the weary manner of the civilians both ask the same question of how long the guns will remain silent.

© BBC Sinhala

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Sri Lanka: Diplomatic postings to military men

By Ranga Jayasuriya | Lakbima News
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There is nothing extraordinary, be it in the local or global context, in appointing military men to diplomatic postings—though the proposed appointment of Major General Shavendra Silva, former General Officer Command of the 58 Division, has caused ripples in some quarters, especially among those aligned to human rights lobbies and some articulate sections of the Tamil diaspora.

The proposed diplomatic appointments include former Navy Commander, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the United Kingdom, Major General Prasanna Silva, who commanded the 55 Division during the final Eelam war as the Military Advisor to the Sri Lankan High Commission in UK and Major General Shavendra Silva as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Major General Prasanna Silva will succeed former Special Force Commander Brigadier Nirmal Darmaratne, who is currently the Military Advisor of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. Former military spokesman Major General Prasad Samarasinghe was Brigadier Darmaratne’s predecessor in London.

Meanwhile, the proposed appointment of Shavendra Silva has already been challenged by diaspora lobbies on the grounds of purported “war crimes.”

General Sarath Fonseka’s earlier remarks to the Sunday Leader - which he later retracted - that Gen Shavendra Silva received orders to shoot surrendering Tiger leaders is at the root of “war crimes” charges against Sri Lanka.

Activist website, Inner City Press, which increasingly echoes Tamil Diaspora sentiments, reported that it asked Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, about the reported appointment of Shavendra Silva.

“While Nesirky said he wouldn’t comment on hypotheticals, when Inner City Press asked if Ban would have some discretion to not accept credentials when presented, Nesirky said he would look into it.”

“Shavendra Silva is clearly a witness to the war crime events about which Ban has appointed a (stalled) three member panel to advise him. Would appointing him an ambassador give him de facto or de jure diplomatic immunity?” the website asked.
Diplomatic postings to military men serves two purposes.

For some, especially for the outgoing military commanders, they are a farewell gift by their civilian political superiors, to spend their retirement in the luxury of diplomatic mansions at state expense. Lt General Rohan Daluwatta, who was the commander of the army from 1996- 1998, was appointed Sri Lankan Ambassador to Brazil after his retirement from military service. His successor Sri Lal Weerasuriya was appointed High Commissioner to Pakistan. Lt General Shantha Kottegoda, who was Gen Sarath Fonseka’s predecessor, succeeded Daluwatta as the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Brazil.

Army Chief of Staff, the late Major General Janaka Perera, who was overlooked by President Chandrika Kumaratunga at the behest of Deputy Defence Minister Anurudda Ratwatte to be promoted commander of the army, was later offered a consolation prize: the post of Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia. Janaka Perera’s appointment provoked protests by Diaspora Tamils over his alleged involvement in “war crimes.” Gen Perera however served his full term as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia and was later appointed our man in Indonesia.

The second category of military men in diplomatic postings include military attaches posted in diplomatic missions to liaise with military agencies in host countries and engage in intelligence missions of suspected LTTE activities. Military Intelligence Officer Captain Nilam whose cover was blown after the millennium city raid was appointed as the military attache‚ in Indonesia. Nilam disappeared at the end of his term and, reportedly, sought asylum in the United States.

An increasing number of military men were posted in diplomatic missions in countries where the LTTE is active after the government decided to engage the overseas activities of the Tamil Tigers.

Military misadventures too

Major General Udaya Perera, the former director operations of the army, was sent to Malaysia as the Deputy Ambassador of the Sri Lankan mission. He had a specific mission: nab the new LTTE leader, Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP.

Former Head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Major General Amal Karunasekara was appointed as the charge de affairs of the proposed Sri Lankan diplomatic mission in Eritrea. His mission was to hunt down LTTE assets in the East African country. Amal Karunasekara was later recalled as the military investigated the killing of the Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, who was assasinated when Major General Karunasekara was heading the Directorate of Military Intelligence.

The Eritrean adventure was a flop. Another, Major General Jagath Dias, who commanded the 57 Division during the fourth Eelam war, was appointed Sri Lanka’s Deputy Ambassador of Germany. Jagath Dias’s appointment has now been challenged by a plethora of Tamil Diaspora associations who have filed a petition at the European Court of Human Rights against the Federal Republic of Germany for accepting Gen Dias’s appointment.

Former Air Force Commander and Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera was, a few months back, appointed Sri Lanka’s maiden ambassador to Israel. Air Marshal Perera waded into troubled waters in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, when he said: “We back Israel’s war on terror.”

He advised Israel how to tame Hamas, drawing lessons from Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil Tigers.

“In case the other side shows it is not interested in a compromise, (Israel) must move on to the military phase with full force. (The government) will have to explain to the citizens that (Israel) is headed for a long and difficult struggle that will exact a heavy price, but at the end of this struggle the country’s situation will be much better,” said the ambassador.

“Once you have the public’s support, you should fight relentlessly until all of the terror hubs are destroyed. There is no going back,” he added. Back home, Air Chief Marshal Perera’s remarks caused ripples in pro Palestinean lobbies. He later wrote to Yedioth Ahronoth to clarify the matter, outlining Sri Lanka’s support for the two-state solution.

Diplomats enjoy immunity from arrest and detention and are not susceptible to litigation and lawsuits under the laws of the host country, as guaranteed by international law and the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations of 1963. Therefore, it is a fair conjecture that the Diaspora orchestrated hullabaloo over the appointment of Shavendra Silva and other military men is intended to malign the Sri Lankan government and its war effort. But, if history is any guide, as the case of Gen Janaka Perera would tell, the protests would die down after a couple of futile attempts.

© Lakbima News

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Indian Army chief to visit Sri Lanka

Deccan Herald
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Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao’s visit to Sri Lanka this week will be followed by that of Indian Army chief, Gen V.K. Singh, early next month.

The general’s visit will be part of a series of high-level visits that have been pencilled in for the next few months. Also on the anvil are the visits by Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik and defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, in that order. The Indian Navy chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma, visited Sri Lanka in June.

External affairs minister S.M. Krishna is expected to visit Colombo later this year. His Sri Lankan counterpart, G.L. Peiris, is scheduled to visit India in October for delivering a lecture here, on the margins of which he can be expected to hold consultations with the Indian government on the progress of the decisions arrived at in Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit here in June.

These visits are expected to lay the foundation of a robust framework of bilateral cooperation in the post-LTTE era, in areas such as defence and security cooperation, trade and investment, infrastructure development, people-to-people ties, and rehabilitation of the war-ravaged northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Besides an annual defence dialogue, India and Sri Lanka would be looking to step up maritime-security cooperation and increase the level and frequency of defence exchanges.

A proposal on the table is to have more interactions between the middle-level officials in the armed forces of the two countries, so that the future decision-makers are familiarised with the actual state of play in the bilateral relationship.

© Deccan Herald

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Defeating terrorism: Sri Lanka to share experience with the world

The Island
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Army Commander Lt. General Jagath Jayasuriya says the Sri Lanka Army is ready to share its experience in defeating the LTTE with SAARC countries.

Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya, the senior officer in charge of all fighting formations deployed in the Vanni during the largest ever combined security forces campaign, says army headquarters had recently received Defence Ministry approval to invite military contingents from the SAARC region.

Addressing the officers and men after declaring open a monument at Minneriya in memory of those who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the battle against terrorism, the Armoured Corps veteran said that other countries too would be given an opportunity to learn from Sri Lanka’s experience.

© The Island

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Not a single IDP registered: 14,000 IDP families will lose voting rights

By Rathindra Kuruwita | Lakbima News
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Nearly 14,000 IDP families will lose their voting rights in the coming local council elections. Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) claim that not a single IDP has been registered three months after the Department of Elections commenced its 2010 voter registry revision and that 14,184 IDP families will lose their chance to vote in the coming local council elections if immediate action is not taken.

“The department commenced the revision on June, 1, 2010. After three months the officials have made dismal progress in the North and the East with less than 10% of the Grama Niladari divisions in the Jaffna District completing the process to date. We must realize that Jaffna district is the better administrated district in the North,” Keerthi Tennakoon, Director CaFFE told Lakbimanews.

He added that at this pace the voter registration revision in Mullativu and Kilinochchi Districts will not be completed in time for the local council election. 20% of Grama Niladari posts in both districts are vacant while Grama Niladaris who are already there are ignorant of the voting process.

“The department of elections cannot keep on extending deadlines for voter registry revision, because there is not much time left for the local council election. Ultimately they will use the 2009 voter registry which is incomplete. A large number of people in the North and East lost their voting rights in the presidential and general elections this year and it will be unfortunate if there is a repeat performance two years after the war has ended”,he said.

© Lakbima News

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