Sri Lanka: Media activist seeks international probe

BBC Sinhala
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A journalist union leader who was abducted and tortured by yet unidentified group says he will seek international justice as authorities in Sri Lanka have failed to bring the culprits to books.

Poddala Jayantha was one of the remaining journalist leaders in Sri Lanka when he was abducted, beaten and alter thrown away from a vehicle on 01 June 2009.

The former President of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), Mr. Jayantha has since left the country on security grounds.

Police have recently informed the court that the investigation is no longer active as no suspects have been found.

Rule of law

"I don't believe the police are incapable of finding the suspects," he told BBC Sandeshaya while in exile.

He said the police in Sri Lanka have been very efficient when it comes to finding suspects who attacked or harmed powerful people in the society.

"Is it I myself who has to find evidence and produce before courts?" Mr. Poddala asked.

The Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) says that abduction happened "in a systematic manner that prevails in many cases of abductions with white vans."

"Supremacy of the law remains the fundamental basis for any democracy. The rule of law is the governing principle in a democracy." The AHRC said in a statement.

© BBC Sinhala

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Sri Lanka readies for the ‘Rajapaksa dynasty'

Express News Service
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The Sri Lankan cabinet on Monday approved the constitutional changes that President Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to bring about.

The proposed changes are: Removing the two-term limit for a President; diluting the 17th amendment on appointments to high offices with a view to safeguarding the constitutional powers of the President; and introducing the First Past the Post system in a limited way in elections to the local bodies.

The amendments will be introduced on September 7 and voted upon on September 9. The government now has the support of 147 MPs in a House of 224 and, therefore, slightly short of the required two-thirds majority. However, cabinet spokesman Maithripala Sirisena told newspersons that the government would eventually get 160 votes.

© Express Buzz

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China warships dock in Burma, rattling rival naval power India

By Ben Arnoldy | The Christian Science Monitor

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Two Chinese warships docked at a Burmese port Sunday, highlighting China’s expanding naval presence near Asia’s other rising giant, India.

Chinese news agency Xinhua described the friendly port call as a first-ever in Burma – also known as Myanmar – by Chinese warships. It comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and New Delhi, including India's reported suspension of military exchanges with China.

Though the two Asian heavyweights share a disputed border in the Himalayas, the Indian Ocean could become a more serious flashpoint for their overlapping ambitions. Beijing is developing ports around India to help secure Chinese maritime routes while India’s security establishment is debating how best to assume leadership in the Indian Ocean.

“With this particular port of call I don’t think there is anything that needs to be done. Just watch very closely,” says P.K. Ghosh, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and a retired Navy officer. But China, he says, is sending a signal. “The underlying message is a strategic message: ‘Look, we are in the area and we can operate in the region.’ ”

China's 'string of pearls'

In recent years, China has expanded port facilities in countries that border India, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Burma. Indian strategists refer to the projects as a “string of pearls” encircling India in its strategic back yard.

Dr. Ghosh points out that the ports are commercial structures, not designed to be naval bases. But, he adds, “if a push comes to a shove, they can definitely use it for a base.”

The Indian Ocean will only grow in importance for both India and China as their interconnectivity with the global economy grows. The Indian Ocean is the Silk Road of the 21st century, moving Gulf oil and African minerals to the world’s two most populous nations.

The securing of the sea lanes – once the province of Great Britain, then the US – could evolve cooperatively, rather than competitively, to include India and China. Indeed, both countries have participated in a global effort to protect ships from pirates off Somalia.

But for India to realize its ambition to be able to project its Navy over a distance to secure economic access abroad, it will need access first to regional ports – some of which are now under Chinese expansion.

“We saw that happen in Sri Lanka. When Delhi slept over Colombo’s invitation to build a new port at Hambantota, China stepped in,” said C. Raja Mohan, the strategic affairs editor of the Indian Express, at a talk given before a packed public audience in New Delhi last month.

India and China: a complicated relationship

Compounding the issue is the wariness in New Delhi about China. While the two Asian giants have found common cause over climate change and expansion of bilateral trade, diplomatic tit-for-tats dating back to the 1962 Chinese invasion continue to hamper better relations.

The two countries failed to resolve their border disputes in the Himalayas earlier this decade, prompting India to beef up border infrastructure in the face of Chinese incursions.

Recently, Beijing denied a visa to an Indian general who planned to join a military delegation to China – reportedly because he oversaw Army operations in Indian-controlled Kashmir. An Indian newspaper reported Saturday that India had responded by suspending military exchanges. When asked by the Associated Press, China said this was news to them while India refused to comment.

Meanwhile, the Indian Express reported Saturday on Page 1 that the state-run People’s Daily posted in a discussion forum an article titled “How likely is China’s launch of a limited war against India?”

While the Indian press plays up Chinese “provocations,” officials in Delhi tread lightly, taking care to avoid direct clashes with Beijing.

India's next steps

But among Indian naval experts, China’s moves have spurred along a debate over how India should assert itself in the Indian Ocean.

During his talk in New Delhi last month, Dr. Mohan argued for a more assertive approach that includes basing agreements and naval assistance to “weaker states of the Indian Ocean littoral.”

“No great power has built a blue-water navy capable of projecting force without physical access and political arrangements for ‘forward presence,’ ” said Mohan. “This would mean creation of arrangements for friendly ports and turnaround facilities in other nations that will increase the range, flexibility, and sustainability of Indian naval operations.”

Mohan says this makes Indian strategists uncomfortable. For decades they have rejected anyone building “foreign bases” in the Indian Ocean – something India itself must now do, Mohan argues.

Ghosh argues against becoming the big brother of the region. In 2008, he helped organize the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, a forum for talking and cooperation on common issues between the naval chiefs of 28 Indian Ocean nations.

“Initially there was a lot of apprehension in the minds of a lot of countries as to what was the hidden agenda,” says Ghosh.

India, he says, went to great lengths to explain this wasn’t an effort to become big brother but to create a forum with the Indian Navy – the largest in the region – as the “unintrusive fulcrum.”

For now, that’s the right posture for India, argues Ghosh.

“I firmly believe that if you’ve got to carry a big stick, please talk softly,” he says. “I think there are a lot of negativities associated with being visualized as a hegemon.”

© The Christian Science Monitor

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Sri Lanka: Undermining reconciliation

Himal South Asia
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Over a year after the end of the war, the Sri Lankan regime is continuing the politics of confrontation, undermining the possibilities for reconciliation in the post-war period. There remains an urgent need for reconciliation between multiple actors: between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities, polarised by nationalist mobilisation; between the state and minorities who have faced majoritarian discrimination; and between the government and the United Nations, which have become increasingly estranged.

The challenge before Sri Lanka now is whether it can move forward as a genuinely multi-ethnic polity and an accepted member of the international community, particularly when local participation and international support are both vital for the reconstruction and development of the war-ravaged society. Since the end of the brutal conflict 15 months ago, Sri Lanka has also completed two national elections, ensuring the political stability of Mahinda Rajapakse’s government and strengthening his hand. However, the president’s actions on the ground, and his administration’s response to international engagement, would have one believe that the conflict was not over.

In recent weeks, the government has restricted the freedom of movement of NGOs into the north, while extending requirements for Defence Ministry clearance for nationals and journalists to visit the area. Organisations providing psycho-social care have been denied permission to work in the north, with the government’s priority on reconstruction remaining focused exclusively on physical infrastructure, despite the continuing trauma of a war-affected population. This paranoia towards the north is worrying, for an overly security-oriented approach will only further alienate the already-sullen Tamil community. Indeed, any serious approach towards reconciliation needs to begin with demilitarisation, while ensuring democratisation with the full participation of the local population. The roots of the conflict lie in the political grievances of the minorities, which need to be addressed through a political settlement that reforms the majoritarian centralised state through the genuine devolution of power to the provinces and power-sharing at the Centre.

Instead, the government’s current approach is focusing solely on the physical resettlement of those displaced from the Vanni, in the north – over 300,000 people caught in the wrong place in the last phase of the war. Thereafter, it wants to move forward with large development projects, in what seems to be intended to bring in billions of dollars in donor funding. The problem, of course, is that resettlement is not merely about physical return, and must include rehabilitation and the resumption of social and economic daily life. Neither is the current displaced population limited to those who were forced to move during the last phase of the war. Rather, this also includes those northern Muslims who were forcibly evicted by the LTTE from the north as far back as 1990, as well as individuals moved out of military-designated High Security Zones, Sinhalese villagers from border villages, and refugees who have gone to India. The resettlement of such a wide range of people can cause conflict on a range of issues, including access to land and state resources, and requires a sensitive approach to both the different forms of displacement and the common issues that underlie such experiences.

Growing estrangement

Days after the end of the war in May 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Sri Lanka, where he made a joint statement with President Rajapakse. Many of the issues outlined in that communiqué have been points of contention over the last year, and might well be at the root of escalating estrangement between the government and the UN.

In the statement, President Rajapakse and Secretary-General Ban agreed to the following:

"the United Nations will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the IDPs [internally displaced people] now in Vavuniya and Jaffna. The Government will continue to provide access to humanitarian agencies. The Government will expedite the necessary basic and civil infrastructure as well as means of livelihood necessary for the IDPs to resume their normal lives … Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations. The Secretary-General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances."

Particularly important here was the emphasis on a process of accountability. Reconciliation with its own people, in relation to Sri Lanka’s obligations set by international law, involves tackling the difficult issues surrounding accountability for abuses during the conflict. But the overly militarised approach of the government and the claims, reminiscent of ‘war on terror’ rhetoric, that defeating extremism can justify any cost to civilians, have put the government on a confrontational path with the UN.

This was the context in which Secretary-General Ban announced, on 22 June, that he would appoint a panel to advise him on reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka, and whose advice he expected the government too to take into consideration. However, the very next day Foreign Minister G L Peiris condemned the appointment of the advisory panel, stating that visas would not be issued to the panel’s members to visit Sri Lanka. Wimal Weerawansa, a prominent minister and Sinhalese-nationalist ideologue, organised a protest in front of the UN headquarters, launching a ‘fast unto death’ and blocking the movement of UN staff – both actions that seemed to have the tacit support of the president. Thereafter, President Rajapakse did not accept the subsequent token resignation of Weerawansa, and it was he who personally went to the protest and gave him water – initiating a face-saving retreat from the farcical fast. The fiasco led to Secretary-General Ban, in an unprecedented move, recalling the UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne.

The Sri Lankan government is clearly intent on alienating itself further from the minorities in the country, even as it isolates itself from the international community. These developments can have longer-term consequences for the economy and population. It is only if sections of the Sinhalese voter base – whom alone the president and government seem to care for – take stock of these developments that Sri Lanka could ultimately move onto the true path of reconciliation. One hopes that President Rajapakse will soon realise that the war is over, and that he will reach out to the Tamils and mend fences with the United Nations.

© Himal

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Arrests made in maid's nail torture, Sri Lankan officials say

By Iqbal Athas | CNN
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ASaudi employer and his wife, who are accused of torturing a Sri Lankan housemaid by hammering nails into her body, have been arrested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, officials at the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry said Monday.

Saudi Arabian authorities could not be reached immediately for verification. No further details were available.

The two suspects have not been named.

Doctors at a Sri Lankan hospital operated for three hours Friday to remove 18 nails and metal particles allegedly hammered into the arms, legs and forehead of a maid by her Saudi employer.

Dr. Kamal Weeratunga said the surgical team in the southern town of Kamburupitiya pulled nails ranging from about 1 to 3 inches from Lahadapurage Daneris Ariyawathie's body. He said doctors have not yet removed four small metal particles embedded in her muscles.

"She is under heavy antibiotics but in a stable condition," Weeratunga said.

Sri Lankan officials, meanwhile, met with Saudi diplomats in Colombo to urge an investigation into the incident.

"It was cruel treatment, which should be roundly condemned," said L.K. Ruhunuge of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.

He said the Sri Lanka government has forwarded to Saudi authorities a detailed report on the incident, including statements from Ariyawathie.

Ariyawathie left Sri Lanka on March 25 to work as a housemaid in Riyadh after the bureau registered her as a person obtaining a job from an officially recognized job agency.

She was held down by her employer's wife while the employer hammered the heated nails, Ruhunuge told CNN. She apparently had complained to the couple that she was being overworked, Ruhunuge said.

The nails were hammered into her arms and legs while one was on her forehead, he said.

"Most of the wounds are superficial but five to 10 are somewhat deep," said Dr. Prabath Gajadeera of the Base Hospital. "Luckily, none of the organs is affected. Only nerves and blood vessels are affected."

Ariyawathie, 49, is a mother of two children who were opposed to their mother's journey to Saudi Arabia for work.

Several countries across the Middle East and Asia host significant numbers of migrant domestic workers, ranging from 196,000 in Singapore to about 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia, according to a report published earlier this year by Human Rights Watch.

Many of the domestic workers are poor Asian women from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Nepal. Widespread abuse has been documented by global human rights groups.

Common complaints include unpaid wages, long working hours with no time for rest and heavy debt burdens from exorbitant recruitment fees, said the Human Rights Watch report.

Isolation and forced confinement contribute to psychological and physical abuse, sexual violence, forced labor, and trafficking, the report said. The abuse often goes unchecked because of a lack of government regulation and protective laws.

Ruhunuge said the registration of the local job agency that placed Ariyawathie has been cancelled.

"We have also asked [them] to pay compensation to the victim," he added. "We want to bring those responsible for justice. We are doing our best in this regard," he said.

He said his office was ready to accompany Ariyawathie to Saudi Arabia to testify if a case is brought against her former employers.

Ariyawathie's dream was to one day return to Sri Lanka and build a house with the money she saved.

"We are looking at the possibility of helping her to do this," Ruhunuge said.

Karu Jayasuriya, deputy leader of the main opposition United National Party, visited Ariyawathie in the hospital and said he was appalled.

"We want the government to raise this issue at the highest levels with the Saudi government. We cannot imagine that such crude and uncivilized things are happening to our workers," he said.

© CNN

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