OFFICES OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT SITE BURN IN SRI LANKA

Associated Press | Yahoo News
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A group of men broke into the offices of a website critical of Sri Lanka's government and set fire to it Monday, a journalist from the publication said, adding that he suspected a government role in the attack.

Bennett Rupasinghe, news editor of LankaeNews.com, said the fire destroyed everything in the offices. He said the attackers could have been sent by the government as punishment for the website's critical articles.

Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella denied the allegation.

"If they just say it is the government without an iota of evidence it is very unfair," Rambukwella said.

He said authorities were investigating the cause of the blaze.

LankaeNews continues to be operated by its editor, who lives in exile in Europe, but the website said computers, a library of 3,000 books and newspapers from 20 years have been destroyed.

There have been a series of attacks against media workers and offices in Sri Lanka in the recent past but no arrests have been made. Last July, a media company whose owners were opposition supporters was destroyed in a similar attack.

Prageeth Ekneligoda, a columnist for LankaeNews, disappeared a year ago and is suspected to have been abducted.

His wife wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon earlier this month, saying that the government has showed no interest in investigating the case. She said she suspected the government was complicit in her husband's disappearance.

Media rights groups say Sri Lanka silences dissenting journalists with threats. Amnesty International says at least 14 Sri Lankan media workers have been killed since the beginning of 2006 and each case remains unsolved.

Gnanasiri Kottigoda, president of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association, said he saw Monday's attack as an "extension" of the anti-media violence of the recent past.

"These are well-planned attacks and the authorities have not taken any interest in investigating," he said. "This raises the question whether the government is responsible directly or indirectly."

© AP

Related articles

• Website office attacked in Sri Lanka; Rajapaksa orders probe (The Hindu)
• Offices of anti-government website burned by assailants in Sri Lanka (The Canadian Press)
• Sri Lanka news website office set on fire (Colombo Page)

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Sri Lanka literary festival discusses journalist's plight

Read the full text of the leaflet handed out at the GLF

By Charles Haviland | BBC News
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During a lunchtime session at the Galle Literary Festival, one isolated-looking teenager sat among the audience.

He watched for a while before getting up and joining his mother standing at the back.

They were the 16-year-old son and the wife of Prageeth Eknaligoda, a journalist-come-cartoonist missing since 24 January 2010.

They visited the annual festival to lobby its participants on his plight - a plight which has inspired some to call for a festival boycott and provoked a debate in Sri Lanka.

Mr Eknaligoda, who had written articles critical of the government, was apparently abducted on his way home from the office and has not been seen since.

'Not given chance'

After the session, Sandhya and Sanjaya Eknaligoda handed out leaflets to as many people as they could.

In the pamphlets, Sandhya said that her husband - a Sinhalese - worked ceaselessly to expose human rights abuses against minority Tamil civilians during the war against the Tamil Tigers "including the use of chemical weapons against civilian communities by government forces".

The government denies using such weapons. It also denies any involvement in Mr Eknaligoda's disappearance but says it has made no progress in investigating it.

The family gave out more leaflets at the festival's cafe before returning to Colombo.

"I'm not 100% satisfied with our trip to Galle as I expected to speak to the whole crowd, at least for five minutes," Sandhya Eknaligoda told the BBC.

She didn't get the chance to do that, but managed to give out some leaflets.

"I'm happy we spread some awareness at least," she said.

Two groups - the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Berlin-based exile group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) - urged writers to stay away from the Galle festival because, they said, many writers in Sri Lanka were being attacked, threatened or intimidated because of what they wrote.

The government, however, denies victimising journalists.

Mrs Eknaligoda said she thought it was up to individuals to decide whether or not to attend.

She felt a boycott might have helped highlight human rights issues. But she hoped that those attending would try to intervene in her husband's case or get their governments to do so.

'Legitimising status quo'

During the festival in the quaint 17th century fort town, there has been much talk about the call to boycott.

Dozens of writers had to make a quick decision on whether to pull out.

The only one who did so explicitly heeding the stayaway message was South Africa's Damon Galgut.

Canada's Lawrence Hill addressed an audience on his novel that draws on his own father's ancestry as a slave in America.

"It's shocking what has happened to this disappeared journalist and so many other people who died or were made to disappear during the war or after," Mr Hill told the BBC.

But he decided to support the festival as he believed it was a forum for free speech.

He thought he could fulfil the family's request that he return home and "spread word of these abuses and speak about them with a little more authority and credibility, having been here".

But the organisations calling for a stayaway say that having so many renowned authors in Sri Lanka will sustain the government's message that all is well in the country - something they say is not the case.

If they "failed to express their concerns about the precarious conditions faced by the fellow writers and journalists... it simply legitimises the status quo," the JDS said last week.

Political overtones

The festival's founder, Geoffrey Dobbs from Britain, said he "really sympathised" with Mrs Eknaligoda and the criticisms of the human rights situation.

But, he said, rights issues would not be solved through "a call to go to the barricades and shut down an event".

"I think what the festival does is it does promote discussion," he told BBC News.

He said participants from countries like Nigeria, Ukraine and China had all raised issues relevant to post-war Sri Lanka.

Some, though by no means all, of the festival events had political overtones.

Sri Lankan poet Vivimarie Vanderpoorten read from her works, including a horrified reaction to the still unsolved killing of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunga.

In a further discussion, three Sri Lankans read from their own novels, highlighting the events of July 1983 in Colombo when Tamils were burnt to death because of their ethnicity.

There was an airing of topics and opinions that often fail to get publicity in Sri Lanka - a country where meetings or seminars regularly get cancelled either by the authorities or by organisers, fearing a negative reaction from the state.

But this was not a conference and there was never going to be a unified statement of concern of the type that human rights groups might have liked.

© BBC News

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Hunger and despair in Sri Lanka

Al Jazeera
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Recent flooding in eastern Sri Lanka destroyed thousands of homes, devastated the rice crop and drowned thousands of livestock. A million people, 40 per cent of them children, are at risk of serious hunger as a result. Some of the worst-affected areas were only just recovering from decades of conflict and the tsunami when the floods hit, and the people who live there are facing their third humanitarian emergency in less than 10 years.

Among those at risk of the impending food crisis is Pakyarani, a 32-year-old farmer's wife and mother of four. She lives with her family in a remote village in Batticaloa, one of the districts most affected by the floods. She tells her story:

"I live with my husband, Ravicandran, and my four children: Ravikumar is 13, Nivedika is eight, Rujanika is six and Mohana is two.

We own a paddy field and that is the main source of income for our family. My husband also works as a brick-maker and sometimes as a daily labourer. For many years our village was caught up in the war and we often had to run from shelling and hide in the ditch for safety. Once, during the shelling, my husband fell and broke his leg. We were not able to get proper treatment and he has not been able to work properly since.

After the war ended, things got better for us. We were able to start growing crops and we bought two cows. Although some people in our village moved into brick houses, we didn't. We stayed in our two-roomed clay hut until earlier this month, when the floods came.

The rain started on January 6. It didn't stop for days - there was thunder and lightning, and the wind was blowing extremely hard. I was sure there would be a cyclone. Eventually we were warned that the rivers and lakes were about to burst their banks. We were afraid that we would be caught in the flood, so we decided to leave.

First we moved to a brick house nearby, which was empty. We thought we would be safe there, but before we could move our things, the flood water started to rise and we decided to leave the area. It just wasn't safe.

We took the children and headed for the school, where people whose homes had been flooded were staying. As we ran, I heard an enormous crash and when I turned, I saw that one wall of our house had collapsed. It fell on the exact spot where we usually sleep.

We were given dry rations at the school and we stayed for a few days. Then, on the 14th, the rain stopped. It didn't take long before we were asked to leave; they wanted to prepare the school for lessons again. We had nowhere to go so we returned to what was left of our home. As we left, we were given a bag of rice - a couple of kilos - but it's not enough to feed my family.

All the rice in our field has been ruined by the floods. It will be May before we can sow new rice seeds, and July before we can harvest. We have no savings to buy food, let alone to repair our house. It's not safe to live like this; the area is full of snakes, and if my children get bitten we have no transport to take them to the nearest hospital, which is 10 kilometres away.

I hope that my husband will be able to earn some money. We really need it. Before the floods, I'd taken loans to help with our farming, but now our crops have been destroyed, I have no way of repaying them. At the moment we are only eating one meal a day. We really need help to survive."

© Al Jazeera

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Military to sell weapons made in Lanka

By Damith Wickremasekara | The Sunday Times
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The Sri Lanka Army is to offer for sale to foreign countries some of the military hardware which it has developed based on its experience gained in fighting the Tiger guerrillas, Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya said. He said items for offer included a mini-UAV developed by the Army. This could be used for monitoring of security at public events or meetings.

Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya said the army had also developed bullet-proof jackets, additional security features in bullet-proof vehicles and weapons which had been modified. He said years of experience gained in fighting the Tiger guerrillas had been made use of by the army after the completion of the military operations against the LTTE to develop these weapons and equipment.

The Army Chief said these items would be on display for the invitees who would be here for the international seminar organized by the Army from May 31 to June 2 where the Army hoped to share its experience gained in defeating the LTTE.

Besides the Army, the Navy and the Air Force will also be putting on exhibition certain items which they have developed after the conclusion of the military operations and would be available for sale.

Navy Spokesman Athula Senarath said they had developed a Small Attack craft which could be used in security operations. He said the Wave Rider inshore Patrol Craft and another craft known as the Arrow Craft were other inventions of the Navy.

Weapons fitted to Dvora craft had also been invented by the Navy. Meanwhile, the Air Force is expected to announce details about its developments during its 60th anniversary celebrations in March.

© The Sunday Times

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Sri Lanka leader sued in US

AFP | Yahoo News
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Members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority have filed a lawsuit in the United States against the island's president, seeking $30 million in damages over alleged extrajudicial killings.

Activists from the Tamil diaspora spearheaded legal action after President Mahinda Rajapakse quietly traveled to the United States, in a test of how much deference US authorities show to visiting heads of state.

Bruce Fein, a prominent Washington lawyer, said he filed the suit on behalf of three plaintiffs under a 1991 act that allows for action in the United States against foreign officials over torture and extrajudicial killings.

"President Rajapakse will not escape the long arm of justice secured by the Torture Victims Protection Act by hiding in Sri Lanka," Fein said after the filing in the US District Court in Washington on Friday.

Fein said he wanted a reply from Rajapakse and otherwise would seek a ruling without him.

The lawsuit seeks $30 million on behalf of three plaintiffs who said their relatives were killed in three incidents, including the Sri Lankan army's offensive in 2009 against the final holdout of the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels.

The United Nations has said at least 7,000 civilians perished in the final months of fighting, while international rights groups have put the toll at more than 30,000.

Sri Lanka has denied any civilian deaths and has rejected calls for an international probe. The Tigers were known for devastating suicide bombings during their decades-long campaign for a separate Tamil homeland.

The Sri Lankan embassy in Washington declined comment, but in Colombo, a spokesman for President Rajapakse dismissed the action as a publicity stunt.

"We have no time for mercenaries funded by the LTTE who want media attention," said Bandula Jayasekera, the director general of the president's media unit and Rajapakse's spokesman.

Rajapakse's office earlier dismissed as "frivolous and mischievous" a call by Amnesty International for the United States to investigate the head of state during his trip.

Rajapakse came to the United States last week on what Sri Lankan officials called a private visit. Tamil diaspora groups, which strongly oppose Rajapakse, said they believed he was visiting family in Texas but has since left.

A US-based activist group calling itself Tamils Against Genocide, which is leading the suit, said in a statement it was "alarmed and disappointed" that US authorities allowed Rajapakse to visit without questions on his actions.

The group said it was testing the law in the wake of the June 2010 Samantar decision by the Supreme Court, which found that countries -- not individuals -- enjoyed diplomatic immunity from lawsuits in the United States.

In the case, the top court ruled unanimously that Mohamed Ali Samantar, a former prime minister of Somalia who now lives in the United States, may be sued over alleged torture during his rule.

© AFP

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South African author Galgut boycotts Sri Lanka's literary fest

AFP | Yahoo News
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South African award-winning novelist and playwright Damon Galgut has boycotted a literary festival in Sri Lanka because of concerns over the country's rights record, organisers said Thursday.

Galgut, a winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2003 for "The Good Doctor", set in post-apartheid South Africa, declined to take part in the Galle Literary Festival despite arriving in Sri Lanka this week, organisers said.

"We are sorry to announce that Damon Galgut has decided to lend his support to the ongoing international campaign by rights activists to highlight shortfalls in human rights here," Shyam Selvadurai, the festival curator said.

"It's an unfortunate situation for us that Damon heeded this ridiculous campaign," Selvadurai told reporters. "But the festival will go on, with over 60 writers participating."

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and a Sri Lankan right group last week asked foreign writers to boycott the five-day Galle festival because of alleged rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

Galgut, whose latest novel, "In a Strange Room," is shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, was not immediately available for comment.

RSF said Wednesday that "hundreds" of Internet users had signed a boycott petition led by Noam Chomsky, Arundathi Roy, Ken Loach, Antony Loewenstein, Tariq Ali, Dave Rampton and R Cheran.

Nobel laureate Turkish-born Orhan Pamuk and his partner, fellow writer Kiran Desai, last week pulled out of the festival.

Pamuk's agent in India declined to give a reason while festival organisers said their absence was unrelated to the RSF campaign.

Pamuk, author of "Snow" and "The Black Book," attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in India last week.

Despite the international campaign, hundreds of local and foreign book lovers flocked to the festival that is held inside a colonial-era sea-front fort in Galle, 72 miles (115 kilometres) south of Colombo.

© AFP

Related articles

• War crimes: SA author to give Galle fest a miss (Hindustan Times)
• SA's Galgut boycotts Sri Lanka (Times Live)
• Author Damon Galgut boycotts Sri Lanka book fair (BBC South Asia)

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Sri Lanka search for missing continues

Prerna Suri | Al Jazeera
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It's been a year since Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to power after defeating his one-time military general in a presidential vote.

The Tamil Tiger rebels had just been defeated and Rajapaksa promised reconciliation between the country's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.

But as Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reports, one year on, many Tamils are still looking for relatives that disappeared during the final days of the civil war.

© Al Jazeera

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Sri Lanka military to share war tips at forum

AFP| Google News
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Sri Lanka's army Wednesday announced plans to share with other countries its success in crushing ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels and ending the island's 37-year-old separatist war.

Army chief Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said they were inviting heads of military and defence establishments in 54 countries to a three-day forum starting in Colombo from May 31.

"After the war ended many countries have requested us to share some of our strategies with them," Jayasuriya told reporters in Colombo. "They want us to share our experience and expertise with them."

Many field commanders will make presentation at the forum titled "defeating terrorism -- the Sri Lankan experience," Jayasuriya said.

"The objective is to tell the whole story to the world. We have nothing to hide," he said.

Sri Lanka's military campaign has been marred by allegations of war crimes by both sides and provoked US-led calls for an independent international investigation.

The United Nations has estimated that at least 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of fighting while three international rights groups have placed the figure at more than 30,000.

Sri Lanka insists that it was involved in a "humanitarian operation" to free Tamil civilians dominated by the Tiger rebels and claims that no civilian was killed by its forces.

Colombo has refused to allow any foreign investigation into the military crack down. Fighting between 1972 and May 2009 is estimated to have claimed up to 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

© AFP

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Terror campaign against Tamils reemerges

By S. Jayanth | World Socialist Web Site
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Death squads operating in collusion with the military have once again begun to terrorise Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka despite the end of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009.

During December, a spate of killings, abductions, disappearances and robberies has occurred in the northern Jaffna peninsula. Similar incidents also have been reported from the Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Mannar districts that were previously held by the LTTE.

After President Mahinda Rajapakse restarted the war in mid-2006, hundreds of people, including politicians and journalists, were abducted or murdered by such hit squads, typically operating with white vans or on motorbikes. Invariably, despite the heavy wartime military presence, the killers escaped and were never brought to justice.

The list of recent attacks includes:

* The chief priest of the Murukamoorthy temple, Nithiyananda Sharma, 56, was shot dead in the temple at Chankaanai and his two sons were injured by an armed gang on December 11. The gun used to kill him was similar to those issued by the army. Jaffna security forces commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe denied any army connection, but he later admitted that an army corporal had been involved.

* Markandu Sivalingam, a deputy director of education in the Valikaamam Zone, was shot dead at his home at Urumpirai in Jaffna by an armed gang on December 26. The police have not arrested anyone. Tamil National Alliance MP, E. Saravanabavan, told parliament that Sivalingam could have been slain because of his opposition to forcing Tamil school students to sing the national anthem in Sinhala during the recent December 2004 Tsunami Remembrance Day in Jaffna.

* Mahendiran Selvam, 28, was found dead at Meesalai last month. His family had received calls demanding 8.5 million rupees ($US76,000) in ransom after he had disappeared. Rasiah Chandrasiri, 42, was found hanged three days after his disappearance in Jaffna on December 30.

* On New Year’s Eve, postal worker and environmentalist Ketheeswaran Thevarajah, 28, was killed by an armed gang in his home at Vadamaraadchi on the Jaffna peninsula. On January 3, Mahalingam Amirthrasa, 35, a father of five, went missing in Urumpirai.

* In Mannar on January 6, six people were abducted by a gang in a white van. Others tried to rescue them, but were threatened by the abductors who shot into the air. Several people followed the van, which was allowed to pass a military checkpoint without being searched. Five of the six were handed back to their families by police the next evening, after being taken to Colombo.

* On January 20, the newspaper Veerakesari reported that an unidentified gang in a white van had grabbed two students in Manner and beaten them. The abductors asked one of the students about his father, a businessman who was reported missing four years ago. The students were released on January 17.

The military is also actively collecting details about former LTTE supporters who have been released and are living in Jaffna. After the war, the military arrested about 12,000 Tamil youth and sent them to secret detention camps, where they held without trial and interrogated. The government recently claimed that it had released about 5,000 detainees. But they have been ordered to report to the detention camps weekly or even daily and are still in danger.

Some former detainees have complained to the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) branch in Jaffna and sought protection. On January 10, a judge ordered a 32-year old man to be placed in protective custody after he asked for the HRC’s help. He had been hounded by a pro-government gang because of his earlier affiliation to the LTTE.

The Jaffna peninsula is under tight military control. A force of about 40,000 soldiers is deployed, with troops manning every junction and patrolling in vehicles. Paramilitary forces from the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), one of the government’s coalition partners, operate with the military. Tens of thousands more soldiers have been deployed in the Vanni district. The killings and abductions cannot possibly take place without the military’s knowledge.

Facing growing public discontent over the criminal attacks, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, a government minister, attempted to deflect attention from his organisation’s activities. Speaking in parliament on January 4, he called on the security forces “to bring to justice those who are responsible for these murders”.

Major General Hathurusinghe, the Jaffna commander, also denied the responsibility of the security forces, blaming “criminal activities by civilians” and “personal disputes” for the murders and disappearances. At the same time, he declared: “The army is also continuing to look for pro-LTTE elements in the peninsula.”

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella absurdly told a media briefing on January 7 that the killings were the responsibility of “anti-government elements” who were trying to tarnish the government’s image. He provided no evidence for the assertion.

The attempt by the government and military to deny responsibility flies in the face of a series of reports by international human rights organisations over the past four years that have provided considerable evidence for the operation of pro-government death squads who have been able to adduct and kill with impunity.

A secret US diplomatic cable recently published by WikiLeaks demonstrated Washington’s knowledge of the Sri Lankan government’s collusion with paramilitary groups. Former US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, sent a memo in May 2007 to the US State Department identified the EPDP and other paramilitary groups as involved in extra-judicial killings along with a range of other criminal activities including prostitution, drug running and extortion to which the government and security forces turned a blind eye.

The cable reported that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president’s brother, ordered Jaffna military commanders to “not interfere with the paramilitaries on the grounds that they are doing ‘work’ that the military cannot do because of international scrutiny”—in other words extra-judicial killings and other illegal activities. The defence ministry also instructed top officials “not to interfere with operations of military intelligence”, which worked closely the paramilitaries. The paramilitaries also operated in Colombo, where, according to Blake: “Frequent abductions by paramilitaries keep critics of the GSL [Government of Sri Lanka] fearful and quiet.”

The escalating death squad activities over the past month take place amid rising public dissatisfaction over the government’s driving down of real wages, social spending and living standards in order to implement budget-cutting measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund. Living conditions and the lack of basic democratic rights impact especially on Tamils in the war torn North and East of the island.

The government is seeking to whip up anti-Tamil sentiment, accusing the remnants of the LTTE of conspiring internationally against it. The communal campaign is not only aimed at dividing working people, but justifying the continued state of emergency in the country and the military occupation of the North and East.

In another chauvinist provocation, the cabinet recently adopted a proposal by President Rajapakse that the national anthem should be read in the Sinhala language in every part in the country. It was customary to sing a Tamil translation of the anthem in the North and East, where the overwhelming majority of people do not speak or understand Sinhala.

Far from the military annihilation of the LTTE in May 2009 leading to a new period of peace and prosperity, as the government claimed it would, communal repression has continued to deepen, with far-reaching implications for the basic and democratic rights of the entire working class.

© WSWS

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Sri Lanka: East reels under triple whammy

By Amantha Perera | Inter Press Service
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The name Mawilaru will be indelibly linked to the history of over 25 years of civil strife in Sri Lanka, especially its bloody end. It was here that the final phase of the war was triggered in June 2006.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fighting for a separate state for the island’s minority Tamils, closed an important sluice gate here depriving water to farmers from the majority Sinhala community who lived north of the gate. Then, after a few weeks of posturing, the government launched a military operation and gained control of the gate. The operation to regain Mawilaru would set off a series of other far larger military operations that would end the LTTE presence in the country by mid May 2009.

Recently there was yet another military intervention at the sluice gates. This time soldiers were brought in to battle nature. When floodwaters rose to alarming levels - threatening to burst from the sides of the Mawilaru canal - soldiers reinforced the banks with sandbags.

Unfortunately, the floodwaters found other routes, crashing through paddy fields, roads, bridges and anything that stood in its path. The waters from the Mahaweli, the country’s longest river that flows through the region, and the incessant heavy rains from Jan. 8 till 11 cut off some villages for over five days.

"It was battle alright, a battle we lost," Ponnambalam Thanesveran, the top public official at Verugal, a nearby village, told IPS.

Thanesveran was stuck in his office for five days and was forced to work from the second floor as floodwaters inundated the ground floor in six feet of water. He arrived and left the office building by boat while coordinating the relief effort for his divisional secretariat, all the time wearing a life jacket. "What we gained in the last three years has been washed away, we are probably worse off than we were in 2006," he said.

At least his office has survived, a little moist and disorganised, but it is still here. The same is not true of the road that runs in front of the office. Parts of road have been washed away. It is one of the three dozen or so ‘A’ grade roads in the country that fall under the purview of the central government. Tagged A 15, it links the eastern town of Batticaloa with Trincomalee, the scenic beach town north of Verugal.

Over 950,000 people of the over 1 million affected by floods live in the three coastal districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.

No vehicles can travel beyond Thanesveran’s office as several small streams were flowing through the road creating three-foot deep canals. About three kilometres from the office, the road simple disappears into a large stream. The large river now flows where an old bridge once stood and enterprising villagers have tied thick ropes onto trees on either side, assisting others across the water for a fee.

Rani Vigneswaran now has to take a small boat and walk three kilometres to catch her bus until a new bridge is built. "This is our plight, we had the war, we were hit by the tsunami, somehow we were getting our lives together and now this," she said.

The damage in the area is severe. Thanesveran had gathered details that showed 250 temporary shelters used as homes by families returning post- conflict had been washed away. He estimates 15 kilometres of the main road needs repair, plus 35 kilometres of other minor roads. Two bridges in his division are gone, 10 kilometres of irrigation canals need immediate attention and over 10,000 farm animals have been washed away.

The biggest loss is that of over 6,400 acres of paddy and other crops. Thanesveran says the loss of the paddy crop will be severely felt. "It was good year and people were expecting a good harvest, now it will be worse than during the war," he said.

Farmers were expecting to make about 1,000 dollars per acre, with a 30 percent profit margin. The loss to Thanesveran’s division is approximately 500,000 dollars from the loss of the paddy crop.

"The average ten-year old in eastern Sri Lanka has lived through conflict, the tsunami and now risks facing a food crisis in the coming weeks caused by these floods," Gareth Owen, emergencies director of the UK humanitarian agency Save the Children said. Save the Children has sent out a 1.6 million dollar appeal to facilitate assistance of an estimated 400,000 children facing food shortages.

For Thanesveran there is sense of déjà vu. "Whenever we get going we seem to be stumped by nature or man," he said. "Maybe this time will be the last."

© IPS

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Sri Lanka: Hunger haunts the nation’s rice bowl

By Romayne Anthony | CARE International
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Two and a half months ago KD Majjid was a man whose ultimate dream was about to be realized after 10 long painful years. Separated from his wife, Majjid was forced to leave his job as a watchman in a nearby mill in order to take care of his elderly mother. Paddy farming was always a livelihood Majjid was eager to delve into but had never had the resources to initiate on his own. A majority of paddy farmers in Ampara are land owners and are treated as the richer members of their community. Majjid’s opportunity to join this league came when he was identified as a beneficiary for a livelihood project initiated by CARE Sri Lanka for vulnerable families in the Akkaraipattu area.

In a region where farmers own hundreds to thousands of acres paddy land Majjid carefully chose two acres to cultivate his precious crop. “I have been trying to have my own paddy field for 10 years - since 2000- finally in 2010 CARE helped me to make my dream come true so I worked hard at it and then the flood came.” The anxious wait to reap his first harvest turned into an anguished walk through dead or dying sheaves of paddy left in the wake of the floods which covered most parts of Ampara in January.

“We have to reap the harvest twice a year - we started cultivating two months ago and this month we were to harvest it - I was expecting 50,000 rupees from this harvest as profit! But today I can’t even cover the cost of the day labourers who would have reaped the harvest - They won't come to cut this kind of paddy.”

“The paddy seed opens up and when it starts raining it closes up - and when it rains the seed sticks to the one next to it and the rice inside it doesn’t grow. Nothing can be salvaged - Water just turns the whole thing black.”

Holding the blackened paddy in his hands Majjid rubs them together and watches the empty paddy crackle and fall from his hands with a look of despair and disappointment only matched by the dark cloud that now hangs over his immediate plight.

“I have no other means of earning money so I might do some labour work until then - I can’t even eat this paddy - so I have no means of eating or income.”
He may have lost his first ever harvest but Majjid is determined to stay with his dream. He will start the next season in April and reap the harvest in August he insists “I don't have money to clear the land so I’m just going to leave it like this - The cows and wild animals will eat up the crop and I will restart planting. This is the only thing I can do and I’m not going to give it up.”

In response to the floods, CARE has provided food and emergency supplies for nearly 16,000 people in Batticaloa, Ampara and Polonnaruwa Districts, and is working to supply water and water purification tablets to help families have access to safe drinking water. CARE, which has worked in Sri Lanka since 1950, is coordinating closely with the United Nations, other aid agencies and government agencies as part of the relief effort. CARE is appealing for additional funds as we work to scale up our relief response.
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© CARE International

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Sri Lanka: The anniversary of Prageeth's disappearance and the Galle Arts Festival

Photo courtesy: The Psychedelic Illusionist | Flickr

By Basil Fernando | Asian Human Rights Commission
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Prageeth Eknaligoda's wife and a small group of faithful supporters met representatives of the United Nations yesterday on the occasion of the first anniversary of Prageeth's disappearance. That the family had to meet representatives of the United Nations and not representatives of the Sri Lankan state is symbolic. It is after any hope has been lost of a genuine inquiry into Prageeth's disappearance that the family had to resort to the United Nations to seek its help. The nation itself was little concerned about this disappearance. The people of Sri Lanka have become accustomed to such tragedies. Such is the psychological conditioning of the nation. Powerlessness before cruelty is the condition in which the citizen lives his or her life.

Meanwhile an Arts Festival is being celebrated in Galle. Some may say that the two events, the disappearance and the festival have no connection. And many will treat the situation as having no connection. That too reflects the mentalities that have grown in the midst of repression and violence that affects the nation. In such circumstances life and art are disconnected. The so-called arts try to be oblivious to the actual realities of life and try to create a festival even when the people are facing the funeral of the freedoms. Such disconnectedness is again the condition under which the people live in Sri Lanka.

Under such circumstances the controversy that has arisen about some prominent international writers boycotting the festival is quite interesting. What is there to be surprised about in such a boycott? However, some are irritated about the boycott as if people in other lands are under some kind of obligation to come and participate in this so-called festival. Even the freedom of people to chose as to whether they want to attend or not is little understood. The state ideology supported by some appears to be that the festival must go on and that everyone should come and participate. That kind of mentality is also symbolic of the kind of delinkage between the actual realities and the so-called festivities that are created artificially under the conditions of repression.

Hypocrisy and creativity

The eternal theme of creative art is the contradiction between hypocrisy and the genuine capacity to reflect, to speak out and to depict the human condition. The greatest obstacle to Sri Lankan creativity and the creative arts is the deep seated hypocrisies that prevail within the nation, particularly among the more articulate and sophisticated sections of society. The desire to portray a great civilisation deeply contributes to this hypocrisy. To deal with the sheer cruelties that the state perpetrates on the people which in turn create the cruelties among the people themselves are difficult themes for the local mind to deal with. To those who wish to deal with such themes there is no audience. The hue and cry against exaggeration is made against those who try to depict the actual realities of their fellow beings and this of course, includes themselves.

The romanticised concept of nationalism affects even those who are at times, critical of the circumstances under which they live. There is some kind of religious attachment to the idea of the greatness of the nation and the civilisation. In order to preserve this belief it is necessary to deny the actual realities, the actual experiences of people in the real nation as it has been experienced in the lives of the people. This contradiction reflects itself in the various ways by which the creative mind finds various routes of escapism.

It is only the type of creative artists like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that can really reflect and break the intellectual paralysis that has grown up out of the deep seated hypocrisies of the Sri Lankan nation. Such a person will not be welcome by the sophisticated art elite of Sri Lanka. They all want to say that Sri Lanka is no gulag. By denying the existence of our prisons, our death camps our capacity to cause large scale forced disappearances of our fellow beings; the need to deny the torture that goes on in every police station every day of the year; the cruelties that the teachers perpetrate on young children by way of ill treatment; the hypocrisy that we have in relationship to dealing with the freedoms of women and on matters of sexuality, all these act as barriers to the development of the sensitivity towards the deeper problems that the nation is faced with. In the absence of such sensitivity no worthwhile creative achievements can be made.

So we will worship the Lord of the Flies when the lawless nation is unable to deal with its own problems. We will celebrate the festival of the fools when the nation is in such a deep abyss and wants to keep on believing that there are things to celebrate.

The rest of true development of art will the increase of number of persons to stand in support of the family of Prageeth and the like. When the walls of hypocrisy are broken, the walls of repression will also break. Till then a few will have their fun and festivities, when many weep in silence.

It was these contradictions that I reflected in my poem, written in July 1983, which is reproduced below:

Yet another incident in July 1983

Burying the dead
being an art well developed in our times
(Our psychoanalysts having helped us much
to keep balanced minds whatever
that may mean)
there is no reason really
for this matter to remain so vivid
as if some rare occurrence. I assure you

I am not sentimental, never having
had a break down, as they say.
I am as shy of my emotions
as you are. And I attend to my daily
tasks in a very matter-of-fact way.
Being prudent, too, when a government says:

"Forget!" I act accordingly.
My ability to forget
has never been doubted. I’ve never
had any adverse comments
On that score either. Yet I remember
the way they stopped that car,
the mob. There were four
in that car: a girl, a boy
(between four and five it seemed) and their
parents, I guessed, the man and the woman.
It was in the same way they stopped other cars.
I did not notice any marked
Difference. A few questions
in a gay mood, not to make a mistake
I suppose. Then they proceeded to
action. By then a routine. Pouring
petrol and all that stuff.

Then someone, noticing something odd
as it were, opened the two left side
doors; took away the two children,
crying and resisting as they were moved
away from their parents.
Children’s emotions have sometimes
to be ignored for their own good, he must have
thought. Someone practical
was quick, lighting a match
efficiently. An instant
fire followed, adding one more
to many around. Around
the fire they chattered
of some new adventure. A few
Scattered. What the two inside
felt or thought was no matter.
Peace-loving people were hurrying
towards homes as in a procession

Then, suddenly, the man inside,
breaking open the door, was
out, his shirt already on
fire and hair, too. Then, bending,
Took his two children. Not even
looking around, as if executing a calculated
decision, he resolutely
re-entered the car.
Once inside, he closed the door
Himself I heard the noise

distinctly. Still the ruined car
is there, by the roadside
with other such things. Maybe
the Municipality will remove it
One of these days
to the capital’s
garbage pit. The cleanliness of the capital
receives Authority’s top priority.

Basil Fernando is executive director of the Asian Legal Resource Centre, based in Hong Kong. Born in Sri Lanka, he graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Ceylon, Colombo, in 1972. His early career included teaching and practicing law at the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. He has held several United Nations-related posts, including appeals counsel under the UNHCR for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, officer-in-charge of the Investigation Unit under the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia and chief of legal assistance at the Cambodia Office of the U.N. Center for Human Rights. He is the author of several books on human rights and legal reform issues. He was awarded the Kwangju Human Rights Prize in 2001 in South Korea.

© AHRC

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Sleepless in Sri Lanka

Photo courtesy: Galle Literary Festival 2010 | Flickr

Sutirtho Patranobis | Hindustan Times
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If governments have the power to ban, the rest of us have the inalienable right to boycott. So, Reporters Sans Frontier (RSF) was well within its right to call for the boycott of the upcoming Galle Literary Festival (GLF) as taking part in it could mean endorsing a government with a dubious human rights record and more than contempt for journalists.

But journalists and rights activists here thought that RSF was wrong in making that call. Because, they said, boycotting the event, where local and international authors read out their books and chat-up on issues ranging from war to peace, could mean shriveling the limited liberal space available here.

It’s an interesting debate, one which has divided the same people who have together fought for free speech in a country too casual – and often too cold-blooded – in treating the moderate and liberal.

The RSF statement called the GLF a ``conference that does not in any way push for greater freedom of expression inside that country.’’ But assuming that not a single author turns up for the event – and even if the government’s tourism board and the national carrier suffer some financial loss – how much will that help the cause? Will that humiliate the government? Unlikely. In fact, the government might even have a quiet chuckle at the bickering among its critics; it has already wriggled into the crack created between the two sides by issuing a statement dismissing the ban.

The RSF was supported in its call by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS). It’s a group of Lankan journalists working in exile and they are genuinely worried about the situation here. But as noted human rights activist, Sunila Abeysekera, wrote to a signatory to the boycott appeal: `` ``I wish that colleagues of the JDS and RSF … had spoken to me, and others involved with the GLF 2011, before making their statement. It would have given us all an opportunity to be more strategic about how we could use the opportunities afforded by the GLF to draw attention to our common concerns regarding human rights and media freedom.’’

But one thing’s for sure, it’s only among the liberal that such a debate can take place; among the rest, disagreement only means dissent.

© Hindustan Times

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Sri Lanka army's ex-chief loses appeal

AFP | Google News
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Sri Lanka's jailed former army chief Sarath Fonseka, who tried to unseat the president in elections, on Tuesday lost an appeal to retain his parliamentary seat.

The Supreme Court ruled that a court martial verdict in September finding him guilty of arms procurement offences meant that he was no longer qualified to be a member of parliament.

Fonseka led the army to victory over the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, ending decades of bloody ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

But he then fell out with the government and unsuccessfully tried to oust Mahinda Rajapakse in January 2010 presidential election.

After being jailed, he won a seat in the following parliamentary elections which were won by Rajapakse's party.

"The supreme court ruled that the court martial is recognised by the constitution," a court official said.

Fonseka was arrested two weeks after his defeat in the presidential elections and is serving a 30-month jail term.

He has said the government is seeking revenge for his decision to stand against the president.

Fonseka has also angered the government by saying he would testify before any international war crimes tribunal into Sri Lanka's separatist war.

© AFP

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Sri Lankan army accused of making parts for landmines

By Andrew Buncombe | The Independent
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Activists have accused the Sri Lankan military of manufacturing components for landmines while the government was involved in an internationally-sponsored ceasefire with Tamil rebels and receiving millions of pounds in aid for de-mining projects.

The Tamil activists claim to have obtained classified documents they say show the Sri Lankan military sought tenders from several suppliers in Colombo and bought parts to produce remote-control detonators for Claymore anti-personnel mines. The documents, which have been seen by The Independent but which cannot be independently verified, have been dismissed by the military as fake. According to experts, the use of Claymore mines detonated by remote control would not be in breach of the comprehensive Ottawa Treaty of 1997. However, the activists claim that given Sri Lanka has always denied it manufactured parts for anti-personnel mines, the purported revelations about the detonators demand investigation.

The Reverend SJ Emmanuel, president of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), which said it obtained the documents from a senior Sri Lankan military source, asked that a panel established by the UN examines whether both the army and Tamil rebels manufactured mines. "How much more evidence do we have to produce for the international community to act upon?" he asked.

The documents date from summer 2006, when the Sri Lankan authorities were involved in a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire with the Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). One of them says: "Project D2 is a remote control device which is designed to detonate Clamor [sic] mine using a T7G and R7G transmitter receiver modules." Others detail a list of 42 items required to manufacture the devices. Another document appears to be an invoice from a supplier in Colombo for a series of items, many matching those on the previous Project D2 list. The invoice, made out to the Sri Lanka Signal Corp and dated August 8, 2006, was for a total of 398,393 Sri Lankan rupees (around £2,200).

At the time, Sri Lanka was receiving considerable sums to fund projects for clearing hundreds of thousands of mines, the legacy of a decades-long conflict with the LTTE, which had launched a brutal war to secure a separate Tamil homeland. In 2004, Sri Lanka received around £15m for de-mining projects. Even now, more than 18 months after the Sri Lankan army defeated the remnants of the LTTE, many Tamils are still unable to return to their villages as they wait for them to be de-mined.

While Sri Lanka is not a party to the Ottawa Treaty, the authorities have publicly supported its humanitarian aims and since 1996 voted in favour of all resolutions at the UN General Assembly that call for a ban on the use, stockpiling or production of anti-personnel mines. The army claimed to have stopped using such weapons in 2001. Despite this, there have been repeated allegations that covert units within the Sri Lankan army continued to use them. In March 2008, K Sivanesan, a Tamil MP was killed by a Claymore – an attack his party blamed on the army, though this was denied.

Last night, a spokesman for the army, General Udaya Madawala, dismissed the GTF's allegation. He said Sri Lanka had not manufactured any such devices and that between 2002 and 2008 the authorities were focused on de-mining. Asked whether the documents might be fake, he said: "Absolutely. They've done this sort of stuff before."

© The Independent

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USA opens American Corner in Jaffna, welcomes writers festival in Galle

Tamil Net
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The US ambassador in Colombo Patricia A Butenis on Monday opened American Corner, a US outfit in Jaffna city, to function at the premises of a local NGO, Jaffna Social Action Centre. The Deputy High Commissioner of the Indian High Commission in Jaffna, SL colonial commander in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe, the Sri Lanka Government Agent in Jaffna and the mayor participated the diplomatic event that follows the opening of the Deputy High Commission of India in last November. Meanwhile, on the same day the US embassy in Colombo has also welcomed the controversial ‘Literary Festival’ in Galle and has donated money to bring students and teachers to the meet.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka mooted by progressive Sinhalese, the Reporters without Borders (RSF) and Leading global intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy and many others have condemned the context of the Galle Literary Festival.

“This is not the right time for prominent international writers like you to give legitimacy to the Sri Lankan government’s suppression of free speech by attending a conference that does not in any way push for greater freedom of expression inside that country,” they said in an appeal.

Heeding to the appeal, some star participants including a Nobel laureate withdrew from the festival.

But in a press release Monday, the US embassy in Colombo said that it supports the Galle Literary Festival and "events like this one can help bring about fuller freedom of expression in Sri Lanka."

The US embassy donated money to bring students and teachers from the University of Ruhuna, Southeastern University, Sabaragamuwa University, and the University of Jaffna to the festival at Galle.

“They will attend a full schedule of events at the festival, meet both national and international writers, and participate in special team-building sessions while in Galle,” the US embassy press release said.

Speaking in Jaffna, the US ambassador recollected the 200 years old relations between the US and Jaffna through the American missionaries. The first printing press, the first Tamil language newspaper anywhere and the first medical school of the island were the contributions of the Americans in Jaffna, she pointed out.

She said that during her previous visit in June she had visited the cemetery of the founder of the Uduvil Girls College, the first girls’ boarding school in all of Asia. This lady, Ms. Harriet Winslow, is the great grand mother of one of the renowned diplomats of the US and its former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, who too had visited the cemetery at Uduvil, the ambassador said.

“The opening of the American Corner today is a symbol of our sustained commitment to the people of Jaffna. And, with its opening, we add another American "first" to the list – the American Corner is the first facility in Jaffna to have an operating ADSL internet connection,” Ms. Butenis said.

According to the ambassador, the Corner is a small library similar to the ones the US is having at Colombo, Kandy and at Oluvil, to connect Jaffna with the rest of the island and with the outside.

“The American Corner is only one of the ways we are engaging with the people of Jaffna. The U.S. Agency for International Development created 20,000 full-time jobs in the North and East through an innovative series of partnerships with private companies.”

"The centre is part of the close relationship of the US with the people of Jaffna. The management services of the US have hitherto arranged 20,000 job opportunities in the North and East," the ambassador said.

The Jaffna Social Action Centre is an ideal partner organization, with a deep commitment to community-level support and youth-based initiatives, she further said.

Both the USA and India are keen in laundering the agenda of the genocidal state of Sri Lanka and defuse the national aspirations of the Eezham Tamils. By their actions, both the powers seem to be confirming the colonial subjugation of Eezham Tamils under Sri Lanka. But, whatever that comes in the name of development without freedom of the concerned people cannot be their development, commented an academic of the University of Jaffna.

Ms. Butenis should also look at the other side of the native responses of the people of Jaffna to American missionaries even when their mission was non-colonial, but operating under the colonial administration of the British, the academic further said.

© Tamil Net

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Many deaths reported in Sri Lanka Prison protest

Colombo Page
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A protest by a group of prisoners staged on the roof top of the Anuradhapura Prison has ended today in a shoot out that resulted in at least one death and injuries to more than 20 prisoners and prison officials.

The Anuradhapura police said one person has died and 21 others were injured when a clash broke out between protesting prisoners and prison officials at the Anuradhapura prison this evening. The injured have been rushed to the local hospital.

The State-run radio SLBC said 8 of the injured are prison officials.

However, a BBC report citing an inmate who wished to be anonymous said at least four people were killed.

"Four people were shot dead in front of me. Many others are injured in the shooting," BBC quoted the inmate.

The prisoners have also set fire to several prison cells during the incident, SLBC reported.

However, the fire and ambulance unit of Anuradhapura has been able to completely control the fire.

Local media citing the Anuradhapura Hospital Director said that some of the injured have been assaulted.

Earlier today a group of about 20 prisoners have commenced a protest fast on the roof of the Anuradhapura prison against several court decisions that have been issued with regard to their bail applications.

© Colombo Page

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Sri Lanka second hotel eyed by Shangri-La: report

Lanka Business Online
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Hong Kong based Shangri-La hotels is looking for a coastal property to build a resort hotel, after buying state land in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo for a hotel, shopping and apartment complex, a media report said.

Bloomberg, a newswire quoting Treasury secretary P B Jayasundera said Shangri La was looking for 100 acres of land in Sri Lanka's southern coast to build a 150-room hotel.

It has already acquired state land by the capital's 'Galle Face' beachfront to build a 500 million dollar hotel and property project paying 125 US dollars for a 99-year lease.

A second block of land has been given to China National Aero- Technology Import and Export Corporation which is also planning a 500 million dollar development.

Economic minister Basil Rajapaksa had said that about 1.5 billion US dollars of projects are expected to start this year.

© LBO

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Prageeth: Missing for one year - wife hands over petition to UN office in Colombo

The Associated Press | Yahoo News
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The wife of a Sri Lankan journalist believed to have been abducted a year ago has urged the United Nations to help trace him, saying she believed the government was complicit in the crime.

Prageeth Ekneligoda was critical of the government's conduct during its civil war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who fought for 25 years for an independent homeland.

Prageeth's wife, Sandya, handed a letter to the world body's office in Colombo on Monday that accused the government of having no interest in finding her husband.

Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody rejected the allegation.

Sandya says in her letter that Prageeth had been outspoken about alleged use of chemical weapons in the civil war and was gathering evidence on the subject.

© Yahoo News

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• "If Prageeth is not missing, government should prove it" - SLWJA (JDS Lanka)
• No sign of Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda one month on (JDS Lanka)
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JDS explains stand on GLF Appeal

Photo courtesy: Fazal | Flickr

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka | Lakbima News
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The Colombo based English language weekly "Lakbima News" sent a set of questions via email requesting a clarification of JDS position regarding the international appeal launched by JDS and RSF. The answers were published in full (while slightly altering the questions) as a sub section for an article that severely criticizes the JDS campaign. We publish the full interview along with the original questions we received. Interviewed by Ranga Jayasooriya:

I find your appeal to boycott GLF is absurd and counter productive. Can you tell me why is the Journalists for Democracy along with RSF is appealing for the boycott of GLF?

The international appeal launched by RSF/JDS does not ask anyone intending to attend the GLF, to boycott the event. If the renowned writers failed to express their concerns about the precarious conditions faced by the fellow writers and journalists, while attending a literary festival in a country where journalists/writers are killed and imprisoned simply for writing stuff that offends the regime, it simply legitimizes the status quo. Therefore, what the appeal calls for is “to consider Sri Lanka’s appalling human rights record and targeting of journalists” and to “ask in the great tradition of solidarity that binds writers together everywhere, to stand with your brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka who are not allowed to speak out” by “sending a clear message that, unless and until the disappearance of Prageeth is investigated and there is a real improvement in the climate for free expression in Sri Lanka, you cannot celebrate writing and the arts.”

As a matter of fact, nearly 23 media workers (including journalists) have either been killed or disappeared since December 2005 (To see the full list of names click here). That excludes Prageeth Eknaligoda, who went missing on the 24th of January 2010. So far not a single perpetrator has been brought to book and no single case has been investigated in a satisfactory manner. Anyone, who is intending to attend a literary event in Sri Lanka in such a context, needs to make sure that his or her fame could not be used to strengthen the intensive state propaganda campaign to promote the country’s image as a ideal tourist destination where normalcy reigns and free space for cultural interaction exists. It is their moral obligation to make a stand to show that they are aware and are really concerned about the fate of their fellow writers and journalists who have fallen victim to repressive policies. If not, their glamor and passive appearance would provide the legitimacy that the state desperately needs to cover up the recent past, which is buried in a sea of corpses. That is the essence which lies at the centre of the campaign. Does it sound too sympathetic towards Tigers? Well, as far as the facts are concerned, we take the liberty to totally disagree with such narrow minded assumptions.

Are you aware it is not a state sponsored project, rather a community project to showcase heritage of English literature of Sri Lanka?

We are well aware that the event is not directly organized by any state institutions. If that had been the case, we wouldn’t have hesitated to call for a boycott in plain and clear terms. We do have great respect towards some of the people involved in the event, whose commitment to democracy and human rights is admirable.

Nevertheless, it does not prevent us from looking at the bigger picture and inviting others to do likewise. The Galle Literary Festival, either intentionally or not, overlaps with the massive propaganda drive of the Sri Lankan government aiming to promote Sri Lanka as a peaceful tourist destination where a considerable liberal space for free cultural life flourishes without any interference of the state. You describe it as a “ community project to showcase heritage of English literature of Sri Lanka”. Going through the programme itself shows that it is a misconception. If there is any community involved in setting this up, it is clearly the business community.

As for the heritage of “English literature of Sri Lanka,” we don’t see much showcased in the programme. However, the main thrust of the event is clearly promoting the virtues of a ‘free land’ where life is normal. Going through the list of sponsors and what they offer clearly calls upon the visitor to indulge in many luxuries which neither the ordinary writer/ reader or journalist can enjoy due to the poverty of the nation and the prevailing culture of insecurity.

Do you think your boycott of anything associated with Sri Lanka would help better the media situation in this country?

There were many who believed that the media situation in the country will be better following the military defeat of the Tamil Tigers. Forgetting the dead and not meting out justice does not auger well at any time for media freedom. It also questions the level of civilization. Lasantha was killed during the war and Prageeth went missing after the government declared the land to be under one rule. These two incidents are evidence that the situation has not improved. We as an organization will take every opportunity to raise the dire situation the country is faced with on its human rights and media freedom record. That Orhan Pamuk and Kiran Desai have already pulled out shows that there are people on this earth who have a conscience and are prepared to take action to improve the situation anywhere in the world. It is rather frustrating that some who have stood for freedom of expression in the past is now shooting the messenger rather than using the discussion to call for speedy accountability.

Have you guys turned to be a cat-paw of the Tiger sympathizers? Some can't help, but feel so...

It has become a fashion statement of the state to call any dissenter a ‘tiger paw’. When a senior journalist too uses that term on an organization, it speaks volumes of how far the suppression and censorship goes. RSF and JDS have been in the scene for some time highlighting the HR issues in Sri Lanka and you would recall that it is not the first time both these organizations were called Tiger lovers. It is not the feeling that matters when one is faced by the truth, but the real facts. The facts being, Sri Lanka is run by a regime that does not value human rights or freedom of expression among other wrongdoings and this will be not the last time that it’s record will be brought to question. Therefore we call upon all freedom loving people at large and Sri Lankans in particular to raise your voice to make Sri Lanka a place where justice and freedom prevails. If there is no effective mechanism to raise these issues within our country for obvious and terrifying reasons, we would not hesitate to highlight the issues in whatever forum possible.

Anything else as to why you want to boycott the GLF?

Not answered.

© Lakbima News

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• The Galle Fraud; or, Where have all the Writing Gone? (In Love with a Whale)
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• If You Don’t Boycott, then Go Ahead and Geoff It — Cos this ain’t Cricket (In Love with a Whale)
• Writing against the RSF/JDS appeal (Groundviews)

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