Security Concil's Big Five send senior-level naval delegations to Colombo

By Shamindra Ferdinando | The Island
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An international naval gathering in Colombo, including senior representatives of the UN Security Council couldn’t have come at a better time for Sri Lanka, says Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

In an interview with The Island on Sunday (Dec. 12), Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that their presence at the SLN’s 60th anniversary celebrations had meant international recognition and appreciation of Sri Lanka’s victory over the LTTE.

The Defence Secretary said of the five permanent Security Council members, Russia (Udaloy-class Destroyer Admiral Vinogrado) and China (Missile Destroyer Lanzhou) had sent warships. The US, UK and France, too, had sent senior-level naval delegations, the Defence Secretary said, adding "the country wouldn’t have attracted the ‘big’ five if we had still been at war. In fact, many countries would have been reluctant to send warships had we been bogged down on the northern front."

The LTTE collapsed on May 19, last year on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon after a three-year-long non-stop combined security forces offensive.

The Defence Secretary said the world had expressed solidarity with Sri Lanka amidst a treacherous bid to charge the political and military leadership with war crimes over the conduct of the SLA during the last phase of the offensive. Responding to a query, the former Gajaba veteran said that their participation would never have been possible without approval at the highest level of the respective governments.

India sent its Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Warma, though Indian service chiefs never visit the same country twice in one year. Appreciating the India Navy Chief’s presence, the Defence Secretary said that the attendance of the Pakistani Navy Chief Admiral Noman Bashir was an honour.

The Indian and Pakistan naval chiefs had an opportunity to meet in Colombo.

The Defence Secretary said that almost all visiting delegations had appreciated Sri Lanka’s victory over terrorism. Whatever the unsubstantiated criticism directed at the Sri Lankan military, the world couldn’t ignore the country’s success in anti-terrorist war.

The Russian and Chinese warships were joined by PNS Zulfiqar, INS Mysore, BNS Umar Farooq, HMTS Chonburi, IRID Alvand and sail ship INS Tarangini.

Navy headquarters spokesman Captain Athula Senarath said that naval chiefs from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Australia and the Maldivian Coast Guard commander had been present along with high-level delegations from Russia, US, China, UK, France, Canada, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and UAE

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that there couldn’t have been a better example than the Colombo gathering to highlight the need for international cooperation to fight cross-border terrorism.

The SLN destroyed eight LTTE ships in four separate confrontations on the high seas in 2006 and 2007. The SLN deployed Indian and US Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), Israeli Fast Missile Vessels (FMVs) and the Chinese Landing Ship Tank (LST) to hunt down LTTE ships. In the absence of ships with capacity to refuel the fleet, the SLN used a vessel received from France (521) following tsunami and craft (521) allegedly used for human smuggling operations to re-fuel ships. The US went to the extent of providing intelligence to the SLN to destroy four of the eight vessels, including the largest.

The Defence Secretary said that on-going naval operations directed at Somali pirates by powerful navies underscored the need for cooperation among UN member states to fight those threaten world stability.

© The Island

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Legal limbo Tamils beg for mercy or trial

By Swaminathan Natarajan | BBC Tamil
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Hundreds of Tamils detained for years on charges of helping the Tamil Tigers have asked Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to show mercy or grant them a trial.

The detainees were arrested under prevention of terrorism legislation introduced as a temporary law in 1979 and made permanent two years later.

Under the act, suspects can be held for up to 18 months without charge or trial.

But some detainees have spent more than 10 years in jail, with cases still pending in courts.

Human rights activists say more than 650 Tamils, including about 50 women, are suspended in legal limbo in Sri Lankan jails.

A few of the detainees, whom the BBC interviewed by phone, said they want the president to look into their plight.

"The Sri Lankan government has so far released more than 5,000 LTTE [Tamil Tiger] cadres who had surrendered to the army during the final phase of the war. We are begging the president to show us the same leniency," said one inmate.

He said he was arrested on suspicion of aiding the LTTE from the eastern town of Batticaloa in 1997.

Tamils held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act are detained in separate jail cells.

Another man, who said he has been in prison since 1999 accused of involvement in a bomb blast, says there has been little progress in his case.

"After my arrest the police tortured me and forced me to sign many papers," he claimed.

"I have been going to court for the past nine years. The only evidence the prosecution has is my confession paper."
No family visits

He said his family is too scared to visit him for the fear of being noted by security agencies.

Government officials deny torture has been used during interrogation.

Most of these detainees were arrested on suspicion of having gathered intelligence for the LTTE or providing logistics for its covert operations.

But activists say the Prevention of Terrorism Act has been widely misused.

Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, a well-known Tamil labour leader from the tea-growing region of central Sri Lanka, was detained under the act for a brief period.

After his release he went on to become an MP and a cabinet minister.

But many others ended up spending long years in prison.

Last month, a Tamil man, Satyavel Thilangeswaran, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the attempted assassination in 1999 of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Twenty-eight people died in the blast; Mrs Kumaratunga survived, but was blinded in one eye.

Recently, Thilangeswaran, 30, who has always denied the attack, pleaded guilty to the charges, hoping it would lead to his release.

"I was advised by my lawyer that if I plead guilty I will be given a maximum of 15-year imprisonment," he told the BBC.

"Since I have already spent 10 years in prison, I accepted his advice. But the court has given 30 years."

Speaking to BBC through an intermediary, Thilangeswaran said he regretted his decision.
'Presumed guilty'

He still maintains he is innocent and hopes to get justice in the appeal court.

Colombo-based human rights activist Mekala Shanmugam said there is no need for this draconian law now the civil war is over.

"Some of these prisoners might have helped the LTTE. But now the war has ended. A former LTTE commander [Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan] is now a minister," she said.

"The government has given general amnesty to thousands of former cadres. Government should release these prisoners or speed up their trial."

Political analyst DBS Jayaraj blames the nature of the anti-terror law for their long wait for justice.

"The basis of law is that one is presumed innocent until or otherwise proven guilty," he said. "But under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, one is presumed guilty until proven innocent.

"This leads to distortion of justice. It seems their cases have fallen through a crack."

Amnesty International, too, has called upon the Sri Lankan government to speed up the trial.

Yolanda Foster, a spokeswoman for the human rights organisation, says not many lawyers are willing to appear for these detainees because they fear repercussions.

The Sri Lankan government admits there is a huge delay, but says it has yet to decide whether to release or charge the detainees.

The new Justice Minister, Rauf Hakeem, recently said he had told the attorney general to review the cases of the Tamil political prisoners.

But for many suspects who have spent anywhere between a third to half of their adult life behind the bars, the wait is unbearable.

"We are routinely taken to courts and brought back to prison," said one inmate. "I feel it is better to die than to suffer like this for years."

© BBC News

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Sri Lanka Tamils concerned over national anthem

Agence France-Presse
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Sri Lanka's Tamils expressed concern on Monday over a media report suggesting that the government was set to ban singing the national anthem in their language.

The main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said it was seeking clarification from the government, which is dominated by the majority Sinhalese ethnic group.

"At a time when the government is talking about ethnic harmony and national integration, this national anthem is an unwanted issue," TNA legislator Suresh Premachandran told AFP.

"If we can't sing the anthem in Tamil, we will be driven to boycott the anthem."

The Sunday Times newspaper in Colombo reported that the cabinet of President Mahinda Rajapakse decided last week to order that only Sinhala should be used for the anthem.

The government's information department and the president's office were unable to confirm the report when contacted by AFP.

Separatists battled for a homeland for Tamils in the north of the Indian Ocean island for nearly 40 years.

Their violent campaign was finally crushed last year by government forces, but a legacy of polarisation and mistrust remains between the communities and Rajapakse made reconciliation a plank of his re-election campaign in January.

Language and discrimination were key issues used by the Tamil Tiger separatists to gain popular support for their campaign.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka: State sponsored brutality against opposition

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka | Press Release
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Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) unreservedly condemns the attack on journalists and political activists at Colombo International Airport on the 07th of December as the latest state sponsored violence against dissenting voices in Sri Lanka.

While the police looked on passively, a mob assaulted the MTV / Sirarsa Katunayaka correspondent, Prema Lal, and Lankaenews journalist, Shantha Wijesuriya, as they went to cover the arrival of the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) General Secretary, Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, from the United Kingdom. Members of the NSSP, rights activists and trade unionists were at the airport to welcome Dr. Karunaratne, who had publically expressed his opposition to the government and the war against the Tamil Tigers.

Although Dr.Karunaratne’s views expressed in the UK were almost completely censored at home in the Sri Lankan media, the Rajapaksa government used the state media and government ministers to incite racial hatred against him and opposition MP, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena. Dr. Jayawardena was assaulted in the parliament by senior government ministers, while supporters of a deputy minister launched a premeditated attack at the airport. The government has already made it clear that it is going to prosecute Dr. Karunaratne for what it calls 'bringing disrepute to the nation'. It is probable that the rule of law will not be applied to those employed for violence by a government minister. Ironically this latest attack took place, soon after Sri Lankan officials, including the Sri Lanka external affairs minister GL Peiris, invoked the concept of freedom of expression while responding to the Oxford Union’s cancellation of President Rajapaksa's speech.

This attack at the airport is a clear demonstration of the Rajapaksa regime’s unhindered war against freedom of expression, that particularly targets those who stand up for the rights of Tamils who are now marginalised from the decision making processes. More than a year and a half since the Sri Lankan military’s victory over the Tamil Tigers, JDS believes the government has once again demonstrated its unwillingness to tolerate dissent or grant rights to the country’s minorities.

Therefore, we call upon all forces both within Sri Lanka and abroad who cherish freedom and democracy to do what they can to stop this extremely dangerous trend that threatens democracy.

Executive Committee
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
12 December 2010

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