Over 200 Sri Lankan FTZ workers remain in hospital

Photo courtesy: Unions.lk

Sunday Times Online
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More than 200 Free Trade Zone workers were still in hospital after being injured in clashes with the police on Monday while five of the workers are in police custody, a spokesman for the Trade union said.

The workers are planning a major protest tomorrow (01). Fifteen policemen were also injured in the clashes.

The FTZ at Katunayaka will remain closed tomorrow as well.

© Sunday Times Online

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Sri Lanka: Police used live bullets against workers

By Nabbeela Hussein | Daily Mirror
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The Inter Company Employees Union today alleged that live bullets were used to disperse protesters against the private pension scheme in Katunayake this afternoon.

ICEU President Vasantha Samarasinghe said that Trade Union action will be taken and called for the release of protesters in police custody.

More than 40 persons were injured in the police attack and being treated at the Ragama and Negambo hospitals, the ICEU said. The union said that they would continue to escalate action if the government did not withdraw the bill.

The Union also said that the attack was a planned attack and that they had provoked the employees who in turn had retaliated by staging a walk out. The Union said that the employees were then dispersed using tear gas and batons by the police and STF.

Meanwhile Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya stated that a special investigation has been initiated by the CID and a team has been sent to probe the clash which took place in Katunayake.

© Daily Mirror

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Sri Lanka: Free Trade Zone shut down, pension scheme suspended

Sunday Leader Online
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The Government Information Department has stated that Central Committee of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has decided last evening to suspend the proposed private pension scheme for the private sector.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to shut down the free trade zone (FTZ) in Katunayake today.

The government has said the decision was made to establish industrial peace in the zone following yesterday’ protest.

© Sunday Leader Online

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Over 100 hurt in Sri Lanka workers' protests

AFP | Yahoo! News
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More than 100 factory workers were hurt in Sri Lanka on Monday as police fired fired live bullets and used teargas to break up protests in the country's main free trade zone, officials said.

Workers pelted stones when police moved into disperse protesters demanding the withdrawal of a controversial pensions bill, a police official said.

"At least one person is in a very serious condition and more than 100 people have suffered injuries," the police official, who did not wish to be named, said. Fifteen constables were also injured.

The teargas upset hives of wasps and caused more mayhem as they stung both protesters and police at Katunayake Free Trade Zone, just next to the country's only international airport, police said.

The street battles blocked the main access road to the airport and forced air travellers to take lengthy detours, police said.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka shares war tactics as war crimes alleged

Photo courtesy: R.K. Radhakrishnan | The Hindu

AP | Seattle PI
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Sri Lanka is sharing the counter-terrorism strategies it used to win a decades-long civil war as it hosts an international defense seminar amid allegations it committed war crimes.

Nearly 60 senior military officials from 42 countries are attending the three-day seminar starting Tuesday, but leading invitees including the United States, Britain and Australia were absent. Human rights groups called the seminar a farce.

Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the participants the seminar will help not only to study the tactics that proved successful in Sri Lanka but also to question war crimes allegations.

"Over the next few days you will meet many field commanders involved in the operations, who will be able to discuss the tactics used to achieve victory," Rajapaksa said.

"At a time so many countries the world over are facing the problem posed by domestic and international terrorism, we believe that sharing lessons learnt from the Sri Lankan experience ... is important," he said.

A U.N. investigator's report released Monday said videos showing the army executing captured men and women in May 2009 are authentic and prove war crimes took place. Sri Lanka says the videos are not real.

A previous report compiled by three U.N experts said allegations were credible that both government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious human rights violations.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the conference only "seeks to legitimize the unlawful killing of thousands of civilians" and urged the invitees to stay away.

"Sri Lanka's self proclaimed 'model' of counterinsurgency included repeatedly shelling civilians, targeting hospitals, and trying to prevent the world from finding out about it," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch in a statement last week.

"This conference is nothing more than a public relations exercise to whitewash abuses. No professional, law-abiding military should take part in this farce."

The reasons why the U.S., Britain, and Australia were absent from the conference were not given.

The U.N. has estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people may have been killed in the 26-year civil war, but rights groups say the number could be much higher. According to U.N. documents, at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final months alone.

Christof Heyns, a South African law professor who is also the U.N.'s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings, said Tuesday the video first aired by Britain's Channel 4 television provides prima facie evidence for war crimes and should be used to start legal proceedings.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he would need a mandate from either the Sri Lankan government or the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, Security Council or General Assembly to initiate a war crimes inquiry.

© AP

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Sri Lanka claims UN probe on execution video biased

Photo courtesy: UN News & Media

AFP | Google News
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Sri Lanka sought Tuesday to discredit the findings of a UN expert who concluded that a video allegedly depicting Sri Lanka troops executing Tamil Tigers was authentic.

"It is respectfully submitted that the process adopted in regard to the publication of the videos and subsequent steps taken ... is tainted with the fundamental vice of bias and partiality," said Mohan Pieris, Sri Lanka Attorney-General.

"The facts that the contents of the video were not made available to the Sri Lankan government by Channel Four lends support to the suspicion that the broadcast of the videos was for a collateral purpose," he added.

Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, had concluded after examining a video provided by Britain's Channel Four, that the footage was authentic.

His investigation drew from findings by a forensic pathologist, two forensic video analysts, as well as a firearms expert, and came to the same conclusion as that of his predecessor Philip Alston, who had earlier looked at extracts of the video.

Pieris drew attention to the experts consulted by Heyns, noting that three out of four were the same as those used by Alston. The attorney-general claimed that engaging the same experts could have led to a "general reaffirmation of the conclusions" of Alston.

He took aim particularly at one of the experts, saying that he is a technical representative for a software brand "which was used to enhance the 2009 video."

"This procedure does not augur well for the concept of independence as after all justice... should not only be done but should appear to be done," he said.

Pieris also complained that the images contained in Heyns' report were "blurred and illegible" and "not of a quality that could be examined and therefore precluded the government from making a proper assessment."

The footage shot during the final stages of the Sri Lankan army's battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists, is available online on the special rapporteur's webpage.

It depicts naked, blindfolded men being executed by soldiers in an open field.

The disturbing images also pan over bodies of several men, as well as showed a soldier removing the cloth covering the upper body of a female corpse. Another segment has the camera focusing around the genital area of another partially naked female corpse.

Asked how he could be sure that the video was indeed shot in the conflict area in Sri Lanka, Heyns noted that the language spoken by the soldiers in the video is Sinhalese, and that one of the victims is a known Tamil journalist.

In addition, the Sri Lanka government has not disputed the location where the footage was claimed to have been shot.

"The only thing that has been placed in dispute in interaction with the government, is aspects of the reports of specialists.

"If there are issues with, say the background that is being used, the vegetation, those sort of things could be picked out if it is not authentic to the particular area.

"None of that has been placed on the table. The only thing placed in dispute is comparison of what the experts say and of what they say on their side," said Heyns.

"The combination of all these different factors together indicate to us that there is at least a prima facie case, a case that must be answered, that this happened indeed as it has been claimed in that particular conflict," he added.

The UN expert also urged Sri Lanka to carry out a credible probe into the video, saying that it has thus far done little more than poke holes at the UN's report.

"The approach of the government has largely been to look for holes in our report. What we're certainly asking is for the government to undertake its own investigation," said Heyns.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka war atrocities video credible: U.N. envoy

To read the report of the Special Rapporteur click here

By Barbara Lewis | Reuters
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Video footage of summary executions apparently committed during the Sri Lankan civil war appears to be convincing evidence of "serious international crimes," a U.N. special envoy said on Monday.

The charge adds to pressure on Colombo to submit to an international inquiry into allegations that thousands of civilians were killed at the end of its 25-year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lankan authorities have rejected the video as falsified and responded angrily to U.N. criticisms, accusing the body of bias and of meddling in Colombo's domestic processes.

It has acknowledged some non-combatants were killed, but says the numbers have been inflated by LTTE supporters.

A video provided by Britain's Channel 4 television shows naked people with their hands tied behind their backs being executed against a backdrop of corpses of other men and women.

Since late last year, the United Nations has studied the video that allegedly showed acts committed during the civil war that ended in 2009.

"I conclude on the basis of the extensive technical evidence we obtained from independent experts that what is depicted in the video indeed happened," Christof Heyns, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva. "I believe that a prima facie case of serious international crimes has been made," Heyns said. The evidence should be investigated by an international panel, he said.

He did not say what he meant by serious international crimes, which can be war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The video is a five-minute version of a minute of footage previously studied by the United Nations. Heyns said the longer version resolved "unexplained elements" in the first video.

Propaganda War

Sri Lanka and the pro-LTTE diaspora have engaged in a propaganda war since well before the conflict ended, with numerous groups offering what they say is realistic footage or photographs of atrocities. Many later proved to be doctored.

The United Nations in April published the findings of a three-member panel Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appointed to advise him on "issues of accountability."

The Sri Lankan government on Monday again accused the United Nations of seeking to pre-empt its own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which it noted predated the U.N. panel.

"It is disconcerting to note the haste with which some have sought to usurp the government of Sri Lanka's prerogative in deciding its domestic process," Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe, the head of the Sri Lankan delegation, told the Human Rights Council.

"We firmly believe that our home-grown process is capable of addressing the nuances of our unique situation," he said.

He also said the U.N. system needs to be free from bias.

"It is of paramount importance that high offices of the U.N. system are scrupulously impartial, independent and transparent and are seen to be so," he said.

Barely a month after the civil war ended, Sri Lanka shocked Western governments by engineering the adoption of a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution that praised its victory over the Tamil Tigers, a group on more than 30 nations' terrorism lists.

That defeated a European-backed resolution condemning the civilian deaths at the war's end, pushed by nations angry that Sri Lanka refused pressure for a ceasefire in the final months.

The United States has warned that failure to investigate credibly the allegations and establish genuine reconciliation could lead to an international war crimes investigation.

Diplomats involved with Sri Lanka see that as unlikely, given the backing it has from China and Russia on the U.N. Security Council, but the Human Rights Council could still move for an inquiry.

© Reuters

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Sri Lanka: Lawyers for Democracy urges independent verification of facts contained in UN Report

Press Release | Lawyers for Democracy
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The war in the North and East has come to an end. Due to the blanket censorship on conflict related news, local and international media did not have the freedom to cover the conflict. Consequently,the public only received one sided information and in general, the public was kept in the dark. In the absence of independent access for journalists, the sources of information were the military and the LTTE, both of whom were obviously biased.

The Report recently released by the UN concludes that the serious allegations of war crimes that have been made against the Government and the LTTE are credible. There is thus an overwhelming need to verify the accuracy of these allegations. Such verification is essential if the country is serious in guaranteeing long lasting reconciliation to its citizens.

Lawyers for Democracy (LfD), an active collective of representative lawyers, are saddened by the counter- productive and unprofessional responses from the political leadership, key individuals and professional bodies to the Report. Their responses are generally marred by their political affiliations and emotions. We have also watched a buildup of state sponsored moves at all levels to discredit the Report without responding to the allegations in a reasonable manner. Many professional bodies have also adopted resolutions guided by emotions and without considering the legal implications of the Panel Report. In doing so they have ignored the adverse consequences of their responses for Sri Lanka's international relations. LfD is of the view that professionals, including in particular legal professionals, to first understand the international legal obligations arriving out of the Report. This will be a constructive contribution to helping the political leadership and the country to come to terms with the Report and its recommendations.

As professionals, we have seen the deterioration of the institutional integrity and rule of law in this country for many years. As lawyers we have, from time to time, urged the succeeding governments to protect human rights of the citizens and establish Rule of Law. We are of the view that there is an overwhelming collective duty on Sri Lankans to ensure that Sri Lanka respects rule of law and democratic rights of the citizens, within its legal framework and in accordance with the international human rights obligations. There is thus an urgency of establishing internal mechanism in conformity with internationally accepted standards to address the accountability issues, which is perhaps the best response to the UN Report.

The issues raised in the Report are essentially alleged breaches of human rights and humanitarian law. Thus we are reminded of the words of late Mr. H.L. de Silva, President's Counsel and former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, -which needs to guide legal professionals in particular at this hour-

"Our own sense of national pride, our sense of self esteem and the respect accorded to us by the rest of the world depend on the extent to which we respect human rights and freedoms of all people everywhere as well as in our own land."

Lawyers of Democracy (LfD) is a representative body of legal practitioners and include Lal Wijenayaka, Chandra Kumarage, K.S.Ratnavale, V. Sumanthiran, Sudath Nethesinghe, L. Jothikumar, Ranjit Wijekoon, Sujeewa Lal Dahanayake, J.C.Weliamuna and Sudarshana Gunawardena

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Sri Lanka president defends troops on war crime claims

AFP | Google News
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Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday vowed to defend his military from war crimes allegations as the island marked the second year of its victory over Tamil Tiger rebels.

"We will not betray you to the world," Rajapakse told troops during a colourful military parade at Colombo's seafront Galle Face promenade to commemorate the war success.

Colombo is under pressure from the West, the United Nations and international rights groups to submit to a probe into alleged war crimes committed during the final stages of the war in 2009.

The United States has warned that Colombo's failure to credibly investigate the allegations and establish genuine reconciliation with its ethnic Tamil minority could lead to an international war crimes probe being imposed.

However, Sri Lanka has the backing of China and Russia at the UN security council to thwart a possible international inquiry.

A report by a panel of experts appointed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon said last month that there were "credible allegations" that both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels had been guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

Sri Lanka has reacted furiously to the claim and has repeatedly denied the findings.

Flanked by armed forces chiefs, Rajapakse did not directly refer to the UN, but said accusations against Sri Lanka were aimed at discrediting the military and sowing mistrust between the majority Sinhala and minority Tamil ethnic groups.

He said that Sri Lanka has restored "genuine human rights" for its 21 million people by "eliminating terrorism" that engulfed the nation for 37 years and claimed some 100,000 lives, according to UN estimates.

"Human rights cannot be guaranteed only by including it in the constitution. People will have to be liberated to enjoy it," the president said.

At the end of the month, Sri Lanka will host a three-day meeting called "Defeating Terrorism - Sri Lanka Experience" where it hopes to share its experience of defeating its separatists.

Fourty-two countries are expected to attend, including Russia, China and India, while most Western countries will stay away.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has called the event "a public relations exercise to whitewash abuses."

© AFP

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From South Africa to Sri Lanka, no room for complacency

By Janet Heard | Lanka Independent
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January 8 is a day of celebration in our household. It is my 15-year-old son’s birthday. After meeting exiled Sri Lankan journalist Sonali Samarasinghe about two years ago, the day became known for something else. On January 8, 2009 Sonali’s husband, Lasantha Wickrematunge was assassinated in Colombo while driving to work at the Sunday Leader.

I recall hearing about Wickrematunge’s murder seven months before meeting Sonali. His chilling “Voice from the Grave” leader in which he predicted his death was circulated via email around our newsroom in Cape Town.

Wickrematunge’s death didn’t make big news around the country, save for a snippet in a few papers and perhaps a brief mention on the television news. But it made me sit up and take more notice of events unfolding in Sri Lanka. The devastating effects of the December 2004 tsunami had been given considerable coverage. However, the protracted civil war was covered sporadically and often superficially.

Sonali and I met in the United States while on a journalism fellowship at the Nieman Foundation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We struck up a friendship, swapped notes about sambal and curry recipes and also our country’s mutual passion for cricket.

More profoundly, through Sonali, I was given a crash course in the complex political landscape of her country, and how brave journalists risked their lives daily.

One day, Sonali, US journalist Beth Macy and myself crossed the Charles River to explore Boston. We stumbled upon the open New England Holocaust Memorial, its six luminous glass towers set on a granite path. We strolled through symbolic gas chambers amid suffocating steam, with tattooed numbers of the deceased on the walls. Then we came to Martin Niemöller’s chilling Dachau poem: “First they came for the Jews,…Then they came for me.”. It was a harrowing experience. For Sonali, at this point, it was unbearable. These were the words that her husband repeated in his editorial published days after his death.

As a journalist I realised how comparatively “normalized” South Africa had become. I had entered journalism during the last decade of apartheid. I negotiated my way through a myriad repressive media laws, a state of emergency and a flagrant abuse of human rights by the government. Then the country fought for – and won – press freedom. It was enshrined in the constitution at the dawn of democracy in 1994.

This was something else for Sonali and myself to swap notes about.

Sonali had joined the Nieman fellowship as a journalist in exile, just like a number of journalists from South Africa during apartheid, starting with the late Lewis Nkosi – an outspoken Drum writer – 50 years ago. Other outspoken journalists often flew to the sanctuary of the Nieman Foundation after being detained, banned and harassed.

In tribute, a handful of South African journalists have been honoured with the Nieman Foundation’s Louis Lyons Award for conscience and integrity, all during the apartheid era. Recipients include Max du Preez (1991), Zwelakhe Sisulu (1987), Allister Sparks (1985) and Joe Thloloe (1982).

In the year of our fellowship, Wickrematunge was honoured with the Louis Lyons award, securing a unanimous vote by our group of fellows (won jointly with Afghanistan journalists).

I returned home to South Africa after our fellowship ended last July. Sonali remained in the US, still fearing harassment if she returned to Sri Lanka.

In Cape Town, Sri Lanka has all but fallen off the news pages, except for a brief period this year during the World Cup Cricket tournament.

At the Cape Times, where I work, news about Sri Lanka rarely makes more than a brief, even though the paper stands apart from its competitors when it comes to international news. The reality is that space constraints have limited the paper to one dedicated page for world news.

But Sri Lanka is on the radar in journalistic circles. At last count, there were 19 journalists forced into exile, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. It is ranked fourth on the CPJ’s 2010 Impunity index, a ranking of countries where journalists are regularly murdered and governments fail to solve the crimes.

According to the CPJ: “Ten Sri Lankan journalists have been murdered over the past decade for their coverage of civil war, human rights, politics, military affairs, and corruption, but not a single conviction has been obtained. Most of those killings have come during (Mahinda) Rajapakse’s time as prime minister and president.”

According to Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index 2010, Sri Lanka is towards the bottom of the list, at 158 (with the worst being Eritrea at 178).

South Africa is relatively high up, at number 38, though it has slipped five positions since the previous year.

I write this as South Africa falls under the threat of censorship – unprecedented in the new SA. Politicians are showing increasing disdain for the media, the craft of journalism and the quest for truth. We face a statutory media appeals tribunal to monitor and regulate the press, we face new regulations in the form of a Protection of Information bill, which will censor state information, and the ANC-led government has stepped up its verbal attacks on the media, thus threatening to tarnish the country’s image as a bastion of press freedom.

Seventeen years into democracy, journalists are engaged in a new battle. The hard-fought freedoms that I was so proud of and felt so privileged to enjoy during my sabbatical in the US as recently as a year ago are now under attack.

These warning signs are a reminder that an open society can never be taken for granted. Press freedom is always under threat from the rich and the powerful. Threats are carried out in different ways, from censorship and banning to harassment and murder. We can never become complacent. Journalists from around the world – from Sri Lanka to South Africa – need to stand together to keep up the pressure.

Janet Heard is assistant editor, head of news at the Cape Times (http://www.capetimes.co.za) and a 2009/10 Nieman fellow of journalism.

© Lanka Independent

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Sri Lanka: Reflections on the Report of the UN Advisory Panel and Colombo’s Response

By V. Suryanarayan and Ashik Bonofer | South Asia Analysis Group
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Sri Lanka had been at war with itself for several years and sections of international community are getting sensitized to the horrendous crimes which took place in the island during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War. The Report of the UN Secretary General’s panel of experts on accountability in Sri Lanka - not an investigative panel, but only an advisory group – has triggered off an intense debate within the island as well as the wider world. Unfortunately in India, especially in Tamil Nadu, the publication of the report has not resulted in a healthy debate.

This essay is intended to provoke a lively discussion. It also makes a plea that India should revise its stance on the human rights issue. As and when the report comes up for discussion in the United Nations, India, unlike previous occasions, should not bail out Sri Lanka.

Few preliminary observations are in order. If one takes an overview of the convulsions that have taken place in Sri Lanka since independence, one fact becomes clear. Violence in Sri Lanka was not confined to Tamil areas alone. During 1988-90, aptly characterized by many perceptive observers as Bishana Samaya (massive repression), the two rivers of exquisite beauty in southern Sri Lanka, Kelaniya Ganga and Mahaveli Ganga, were clogged with dead bodies and foamed with blood. And violence in Sri Lanka degenerated from inter-ethnic violence to intra-ethnic violence. As the distinguished Anthropologist Valentine Daniel has pointed out, “violence is no longer inter-ethnic, but intra-ethnic, with Tamils killing Tamils, Sinhalas killing Sinhalas and the State killing the most, Sinhalas and the Tamils”.

During the second JVP revolt which broke out after the signing of the India-Sri Lanka Accord and the induction of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), the Janata Vimukti Peramuna (JVP) capitalized on the Sinhala backlash, became the champion of Sinhala extremism and spread its own form of violence in southern Sri Lanka. Gradually the Sri Lankan Army got the upper hand and decimated the Sinhala youth, without any qualms of conscience. A young Sinhala politician left the shores of Sri Lanka, camped in Geneva and pleaded for UN humanitarian intervention to save his people. He was ably assisted by two comrades in arms, Vasudeva Nayanakkara and Tissainayagam. This politician is none other than the present Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I am sure Mahinda Rajapaksa would not like to be reminded of his earlier commitment to human values and his plea for UN intervention to save Sri Lanka from genocide.

The UN Advisory Panel came into existence following UN Secretary General’s visit to Sri Lanka. In a joint statement issued at the end of the visit, the Secretary General “underlined the importance of an accountability process” and the Government of Sri Lanka agreed that “it will take measures to address those grievances”. The Panel consisted of Marzuke Darusman (Indonesia) who was the Chairman, Steven Ratner (United States) and Yasmin Sooka (South Africa). The Panel formally commenced its work on 16 September 2010. The Panel was not a fact finding mission, it only made an assessment of the “nature and scope of alleged human rights violations”. In subsequent paragraphs, in certain places, we have referred to the UN Panel Report as Darusman Report.

Sri Lanka, it may be mentioned, is a signatory to several UN Human Rights Treaties and Conventions. Among the Treaties and Conventions which Sri Lanka has ratified mention should be made of 1) International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination; 2) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 3) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 4) Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women; 5) Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment; 6) Convention on the Rights of the Child; 7) Convention on the protection of the rights of the migrant workers and 7) Convention on the rights of the persons with disabilities. It is, therefore, obligatory on the part of Sri Lanka to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations. The responsibility of Sri Lanka is to uphold the “the right to truth, the right to justice and the right to reparations, including institutional guarantees of non – recurrence”.

Since the advent of independence, the Government of Sri Lanka had appointed several commissions to enquire into human rights violations and take action against the guilty. To mention a few of these, the Samsoni Commission of 1977; Kokkaddicholai Commission of 1991; the Presidential Truth Commission of 2001 on ethnic violence and the 2006 Presidential Commission of Enquiry. In 2010 the Government of Sri Lanka has appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. What happened to these enquiry commissions? In some cases, the commissions did not submit any report, in few others their reports were shelved without publication and the Government did not act upon it. The reports rarely criticized the government functionaries. According to perceptive observers, the same fate will befall the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

The UN Advisory Panel submitted its report on April 12, 2010. Before it was formally published, a leaked version of it appeared in the Sri Lankan media and a chorus of vehement protests against the UN followed. Speaking in the Sri Lankan Parliament, the Minister for External Affairs Prof. GL Peiris underlined the views of the Sri Lankan Government. He maintained it was not a UN Report and it was constituted at the private initiative of the UN Secretary General. It has no investigative power, it is not a fact finding body. The Advisory panel has no formal nexus with the United Nations. Prof. Peiris claimed that while Colombo was involved in a reconciliation process with the Tamils, the Advisory Panel Report would sharpen the “dividing lines between the Sinhala and the Tamil communities”.

Major Findings

At the outset, it is necessarily to highlight the fact that the Darusman Report is highly critical of both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. The concluding part of the report sums the human rights violations of both parties. The human rights violations committed by the Tigers in the final stages of the war include using civilians as a human buffer, shooting and killing of civilians who were trying to escape from the LTTE control, forcibly recruiting children into the baby brigade and using military equipment in the proximity of civilians and forced labour. Since the Tigers have been decimated and Prabhakaran killed, naturally attention will be focused on the violations perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government and its continuing attitude of defiance and repression.

The Darusman Report highlights the following violations by the Sri Lankan Government. The killing of civilians by widespread shelling, savage attacks on hospitals and humanitarian objects, denial of humanitarian assistance, human rights violations suffered by victims and survivors of the conflict, including the IDPs and suspected Tiger cadres and violations outside the conflict zone including the media and political opponents. The Darusman report emphatically maintains that during the final stages of the war what happened was in stark contrast to what the Government of Sri Lanka was asserting before the international community. The position of the Government was that it was conducting “humanitarian rescue operations” with a policy of “zero civilian casualties”.

The Advisory Panel report has highlighted the fact that the withdrawal of the UN personnel and the international NGOs from the war zone meant that there was no way to ascertain what exactly was happening in the Kilinochi area. The report quotes the statement issued by two doctors working in the conflict zone, Dr. Sathiamurthy and Dr. Varatharaja, that “Most of the hospital deaths could have been prevented if basic infrastructure facilities and essential medicines were made available… We have been supplied with no antibiotics and not even a single bottle of IV fluid, leaving us in a desperate situation of not being able to provide even life saving emergency surgery”.

While there is no way to find out the number of exact casualties, the report adds that taking into consideration several factors including the reports of the UN country teams, “a number of credible sources have estimated that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths”. What is more, the cadres of the LTTE “were executed after being taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Army”. The UK based Channel 4 News released video footage of the summary execution of LTTE cadres by the Sri Lankan Army with their hands tied behind the backs. The Report further adds that “rape and sexual violence” against Tamil women are “greatly under reported”.

According to the UN Advisory Panel, between September 2008 and 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan army advanced its military campaign into the Vanni, using large scale and widespread shelling causing large number of civilian deaths. To quote, “The campaign constituted persecution of the population of Vanni. Around 3, 30,000 civilians were trapped into an ever decreasing area, fleeing the shelling but kept hostage by the LTTE. The Government sought to intimidate and silence the media and other critics of the war through a variety of threats and actions, including the use of white vans to abduct and to make people disappear”. The Government shelled on a large scale in “no fire zones” where it had encouraged the civilian population to concentrate. The Government also gave the assurance that it would cease the use of heavy weapons. The Government shelled the “United Nations hub, food distribution lines and near the ICRC ships that were coming to pick the wounded and their relatives. All hospitals in the Vanni area were hit by mortars and artillery, some of them hit repeatedly, despite the fact that their locations were known to the Government. The Government also systematically deprived people of humanitarian aid, in the form of food and surgical supplies, adding to their suffering.

The Report describes continuing obstacles to accountability being created by the Sri Lankan Government like the continuation of the State of Emergency, which is being extended month after month, the prevention of Terrorism Act, which continues to be still in force, lingering militarization of the Conflict Zone and continuing restrictions on the media.

The Report highlights that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by the President in May 2010 will not be able to deliver goods “due to lack of independence and impartiality”. To quote, the LLRC “is deeply flawed, does not meet international standards for an effective accountability mechanism and, therefore, does not and cannot satisfy the joint commitment of the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary General to an accountability process”.

The Way Forward

The Advisory Panel report asserts that the Sri Lankan Government’s approach to accountability “does not correspond to basic international standards that emphasise truth, justice and reparations for victims”. The claim of the Sri Lankan Government that it was pursuing a “humanitarian rescue operation” with a policy of “zero civilian casualties” stands thoroughly exposed. Therefore, the Report adds that an “independent international approach is imperative”. The panel has also recommended that the UN Human Rights Council should reconsider its May 2009 resolution regarding Sri Lanka.

The ball is in the UN Secretary General’s court. One must wait and see what UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon does and how much support he gets from powerful international actors. On the last occasion, during the 11th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on 26-27 May 2009, when the question of Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka was discussed, Colombo was able to muster the support of China, Russia, Pakistan and India. It is imperative that India this time should not bail out Sri Lanka in the United Nations. On the contrary, it should raise its voice in support of the suffering Tamils in the island. Their feelings of anguish and agony should be reflected in the utterances of the Indian representatives in the United Nations.

Prof. V. Suryanarayan had the opportunity to visit Jaffna in January this year. He met a cross section of people – academicians, students, political leaders, representatives of NGO’s and ordinary people. All of them were unanimous that India, especially Tamil Nadu, did not do anything constructive to prevent the killing of innocent civilians during the last stages of the Fourth Eelam War. A feeling of despair and helplessness was visible in their eyes. The famous lines of Pablo Neruda in Water Song Ends came to his mind:

"Perhaps this war will pass like others which divided us
leaving us dead, killing us along with the killers,
but the shame of this time puts its burning fingers in our faces,
who will erase the ruthlessness hidden in innocent blood?"

© SAAG

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Sri Lankan government to amend EPF and ETF Acts amidst trade union concerns

Photo courtesy: Perambara.org

Colombo Page
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Amidst concerns raised by trade unions in Sri Lanka, the government has decided to amend the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees' Trust Fund (ETF) Acts.

Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara has said the EPF and ETF Acts would be amended to make provision for the proposed pension scheme for the private sector.

The Finance Ministry is currently re-drafting the legislation to formulate the proposed pension scheme and the amendment of the EPF and ETF Acts are to help its implementation.

Following the amendment of the two Acts, funds from the EPF and profits from the ETF could be transferred to the proposed pension fund.

Meanwhile, trade unions have objected to the amendment of the EPF and ETF Acts claiming the government was trying to pilfer monies from the two funds.

© Colombo Page

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Sri Lankan university teachers demand pay rise

By Panini Wijesiriwardena | World Socialist Web Site
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Despite mounting threats by the government, Sri Lankan university teachers have embarked on industrial action to demand a substantial pay increase. Lecturers and professors resigned en masse from administrative positions on May 9, crippling many university functions, and have resolved to boycott the GCE Advanced Level examination scheduled for August.

Sri Lankan academics are among the poorest paid in Asia, with monthly salaries as low as 20,700 rupees ($US190) for a junior lecturer and 57,000 rupees for a professor. They have not received a rise since 1996, and in 2006 the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse cut their academic allowances from 30 percent to 25 percent of their monthly salary.

The Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) has called for a “dignified salary increment” in monthly salaries of up to 200 percent. It is also urging the creation of a special professional category for university teachers and the trebling of the budgetary allocation for education from 2 percent to 6 percent of gross domestic product.

In a bid to crush the campaign, the government has instructed universities to withhold May’s salaries from all those taking part—an estimated 90 percent of the country’s 4,000 university teachers. Ministry of Higher Education Secretary Sunil Jayantha Navaratne also declared that “those who resigned from all voluntary posts would not be offered any position in the university system in future”.

Academics have resigned as heads of department, faculty coordinators, hostel wardens and student counsellors. They have not withdrawn from conducting lectures, but their protest action means that the universities cannot function properly.

Most students are sympathetic to the teachers’ struggle. Over the past year the government has also increased its repression of students, seeking to suppress opposition to the privatisation of university education and deteriorating conditions on campuses.

Since 2008, the government has repeatedly rejected the academics’ pay claims, despite two one-day strikes, last August and in March. FUTA chairman Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri told the media that union officials met Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake on April 17, seeking an “effective response” to their demands, but to no avail.

Dissanayake falsely claimed that the government had increased salaries by 36 percent in the 2011 budget. The budget rise was just 5 percent of basic salary, with other increases in research and study allowances.

The union has unsuccessfully appealed for talks with President Rajapakse. Instead, at a weekly meeting with newspaper editors on May 10, Rajapakse attacked the academics’ protest as “politically motivated”, without elaborating.

Rajapakse revealed the government’s actual concerns when he stated that if the increase were awarded to university lecturers, other sections of the public sector would demand a similar pay hike. The government is acutely aware of deepening resentment among workers, both public and private, whose wages have been effectively frozen since 2006 despite soaring food and living costs.

Committed to International Monetary Fund austerity measures, including deep budget cuts, the government is not about to concede wage rises. As in other countries, the government is intent on restructuring economic and social conditions to impose the full burden of the global economic crisis on the working class.

Dissanayake claimed that “some groups may attempt to use the strike by university academic staff to destabilise the government and gain support for the UN report on Sri Lanka”.

The reference to the UN report, which documents the war crimes of the government and the military committed in the final months of the country’s protracted civil war, is intended to intimidate the academics. The government claims that the report is part of an “international conspiracy” to undermine its grip on power and slander the military.

Despite the government’s aggressive stance, the FUTA leaders are looking for a compromise. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Dewasiri reiterated the union’s willingness to “engage in a negotiated settlement”.

From the outset, the FUTA has appealed to the government on the basis that, far from being political, its campaign is essentially in line with the government’s own economic program. The union has declared that granting its demands would represent a victory for government’s efforts to “transform Sri Lanka into the next Asian miracle in the next five years or so, making it a knowledge hub in the region”.

The government’s slogan of making Sri Lanka an Asian miracle has nothing to do with improving the conditions of working people. It is a strategy based on turning the island into a cheap labour platform and commercial centre for big business and foreign investors. The “knowledge hub” concept is aimed at attracting private foreign universities, as well as overseas fee-paying students.

The government is deliberately running down public universities as part of its efforts to privatise university education, a policy that the FUTA has not publicly opposed.

Several teachers spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the problems they face, and the general decline in university education. One lecturer explained: “To get a 25 percent research and development allowance you have to submit a research paper. This must be approved by a board and you must carry out the research without obstructing your duties. Actually, you can’t do this without taking leave.”

Another lecturer said that during the 1950s and 1960s, there was a pro-intellectual and cultural environment in university education, and academies had conducted very valuable research with the participation of students. “Now we can’t do the research since our salary is not enough even for day-to-day expenses. Students are now trained just for exams. As a result, they gradually drift from their own studies and become dependent on the notes of lecturers.”

Together with the students, academics are facing poor conditions, including crowded lecture halls, and a lack of staff, laboratories, adequate libraries and other facilities. The lecturer explained: “In many universities, there are no quarters for lecturers. We have to pay big house rents to live decently.”

The government’s threatening response to the academics demonstrates that they will not be spared from Rajapakse’s assault on the living conditions and democratic rights of students and working people.

© WSWS

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Under war crimes pressure, Sri Lanka to begin new rights probe

By Ranga Sirilal | Reuters
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Sri Lanka said on Thursday its dormant human rights commission would begin hearing new complaints, as the Indian Ocean nation remains under mounting Western pressure to investigate war crimes allegations made by a U.N.-appointed panel.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, which has no judicial powers beyond recommending government authorities take action, said it will begin a probe of serious rights violations nationwide, including those from the war.

"We propose to appoint a panel of retired judges to look into all the pending important cases," commission chairman Priyantha Perera told Reuters. "We want this panel of judges to look into more serious violations in every part of the country."

Western governments led by the United States have pushed Sri Lanka to establish a believable probe into the panel's finding of "credible evidence" government troops killed thousands of civilians at the end of the country's civil war in 2009.

Sri Lanka says the accusations parrot propaganda from supporters of the defeated Tamil Tiger separatists, and dismisses the panel's findings as groundless and biased. It denies troops targeted civilians.

The government said reactivation of the commission and appointment of the panel was not done to appease anyone.

"There was no special reason to reactivate now. Since the war is over, there was a need to activate," acting cabinet spokesman and deputy minister of economic development Lakshman Yapa Awbeywardene told reporters.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has said the separate Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is already implementing reconciliation moves shaped by testimony taken from those affected by the war.

Critics say the LLRC lacks independence, and is likely to go the way of four decades' worth of Sri Lankan probes into rights abuses since the first of three violent insurgencies began in 1971, and find nothing and hold no one responsible.

Washington has warned that failure to credibly investigate the allegations and establish genuine reconciliation could lead to an international war crimes probe.

Most diplomats involved with Sri Lanka see that as a remote possibility, given Chinese and Russian backing for Sri Lanka on the U.N. Security Council. The U.N. Human Rights council, meeting next week, may take up the matter.

Sri Lanka will hold a military parade and memorial for fallen soldiers on Friday to mark the second anniversary of the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, which ended a quarter-century civil war.

© Reuters

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UN report on Sri Lanka not transmitted to Geneva

By Matthew Russell Lee | Inner City Press
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Not only has UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon not asked for any Security Council, General Assembly or Human Rights Council action on the UN Panel of Experts report on war crimes in Sri Lanka -- he hasn't even transmitted it to Geneva, his spokesman acknowledged to Inner City Press on Tuesday:

Inner City Press: This is just a factual question that somebody has raised. That report of the Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka… I mean, rather, has the Secretary-General transmitted this report in some sort of a type of a formal fashion to either the High Commissioner on Human Rights or to the Human Rights Council in the run-up to its June session?

Spokesperson Martin Nesirky: As you know, we have said that the Secretary-General is studying the recommendations in the report that was submitted to him. That’s the first thing. The second is that he is also awaiting a response from the Sri Lankan authorities, an official response. In the meantime, he has already said that he will take up the recommendation that was made with regard to looking at what there is to learn internally about the UN’s response to what happened in Sri Lanka. And that mechanism of whatever form it takes will be going ahead in due course. With regard to the specific points you’ve made, the report is publicly available, in its entirety. It was published as you know, and is available for Member States and for the different parts of the UN system to see.

Inner City Press: I don’t know why the UN works that way, but there seems to be some expectation of a formal transmittal from New York to Geneva, and I just wanted to know… I mean, maybe I am wrong, but has that… has that taken place or will it be taking place?

Spokesperson: Well, as I say, it’s in the public domain. It’s publicly available and many Member States and others have seen it and I am sure that they are taking it rather seriously.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka has invited countries to come and learn its counter terrorism techniques, which are described in the UN Report.

© Inner City Press

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Sri Lanka: Confronting the killing fields

By Steve Crawshaw | The Jakarta Post
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A hard-hitting UN report has found compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka in spring 2009.

In the face of repeated government denials, the report’s authors reckon that up to 40,000 died in just a few terrible months in spring 2009 — kept out of the sight of television cameras, and out of the politicians’ minds. The report calls for an international investigation, which could have far-reaching consequences.

Members of the Non-Aligned Movement, as they meet in Bali this week, have a critical part to play in ensuring these terrible abuses never happen again and that survivors of the conflict can seek justice, thus laying the groundwork for reconciliation.

They should encourage the UN and the government of Sri Lanka to implement the panel’s recommendations on accountability, including the panel’s call for the Secretary General to establish an independent mechanism to investigate these allegations.

In the lead-up to second anniversary of the end of the conflict on May 19, governments have praised the report — and then seemed ready to bury it. A different ending can, however, still be achieved.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commissioned the report, but he and governments alike have so far failed to act on its main recommendation, a commission of inquiry — despite the fact that Ban and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa jointly promised accountability.

The report, which talks of “a grave assault on the entire regime of international law”, provides a chance to achieve reconciliation through truth and accountability, providing the stability that post-conflict Sri Lanka badly needs. It corroborates the evidence that human rights groups have been putting forward for the past two years.

If its recommendations are acted on, it may be possible to ensure accountability for the crimes committed by both sides. Conversely, the failure to act would be a missed opportunity on a grand scale.

The authors document violations by the rebel Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces alike. The UN Panel of Experts, who wrote the report, comprise a strong body of experience and expertise: Marzuki Darusman, former Indonesian attorney-general; Steven Ratner, professor at the University of Michigan and an expert on the laws of war; and Yasmin Sooka, who was a member of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Crimes included the Tamil Tigers’ use of human shields and the shooting of civilians who tried to escape the deadly trap in which they were caught, and the targeted shelling by Sri Lankan forces of crowded hospitals and civilian encampments inside an area which the authorities macabrely called a “no-fire zone”.

Despite all this, governments have stood back. Robert Blake, US assistant secretary of state, argues for an internal Sri Lankan inquiry instead of the international investigation that the report calls for. Others have not even gone that far.

A credible domestic investigation would be welcome — but the word “credible” is the sticking point. The UN report concludes that the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission, which the government set up to look into the war and its aftermath, is “deeply flawed” — in short, a continuation of what a 2009 Amnesty International report described as twenty years of make-believe.

An international inquiry, by contrast, would help Tamils and Sinhalese alike accept the reality of the charges leveled against the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces, where there is currently too much denial.

In different contexts around the world, we have seen that acknowledging the truth of violations on both sides is a first step towards reconciliation.

The Sri Lankan government talked of “zero civilian casualties”, even while the bloodbath (to quote UN on-the-ground spokesman Gordon Weiss) was under way.

Some took the Sri Lankan declarations at face value, despite abundant evidence to the contrary. As a human rights advocate in New York at that time, I remember a Security Council ambassador explaining that he hoped Sri Lanka would “continue” its policy of minimizing civilian casualties — a policy which, he implied, had enjoyed success so far.

Ban Ki-moon, contradicting his own panel of independent experts, suggests he can only establish an investigation with the consent of the government concerned.

That would set a sad precedent in terms of diminishing the moral authority of the Secretary-General’s post. Ban, who faces re-election later this year, can still show leadership on the issue (just as he did by creating the Panel in the first place), not least by urging that the UN Security Council should act on the report’s recommendations.

Some conclude that the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians somehow don’t matter, as long as the Tamil Tigers — a group which was listed as a terrorist organization in many countries — were defeated.

The world’s generals and politicians alike must understand, however, that there can be no justification for war crimes and crimes against humanity. What the UN report describes as the “discourse of triumphalism” finally needs to be confronted.

The UN report is not published in isolation. A Channel 4 television documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, will be broadcast early in June in the UK.

The one-hour program looks set to include footage not previously broadcast, as well as a shocking video of summary execution and rape-murder which Channel 4 News already aired (the video was denounced by the Sri Lankan government as a fake, and later authenticated by UN experts).

The UN report gives governments — at the Security Council in New York, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the gathering of the Non Aligned Movement in Indonesia on May 23-27 — a wake-up call to ensure a measure of accountability. That historic opportunity must be seized.

The writer is international advocacy director of Amnesty International.

© The Jakarta Post

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Militarization of Sri Lankan society?

By Feizal Samath | Saudi Gazette
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Just as government troops prepared this week to celebrate the second anniversary of the decimation of Tamil separatist rebels, thousands of young, new entrants to national universities across Sri Lanka on Monday began entering military camps for a three-week training course that has triggered an intense debate as to whether the country is heading towards a militarized society.

“Militarization of society? That is already happening,” noted Prof. S.I. Keethaponcalan, Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Colombo, echoing the views of many civil society leaders.

Sajith Premadasa, co-Deputy Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) accused the government of “further” militarizing the society despite the conclusion of the war in May, two years ago. Soldiers have been rehearsing for a “victory” celebration to be held in Colombo on Friday, May 27 to mark two years of the end of a nearly three-decades battle with the rebels in which thousands of combatants and civilians died.

Two weeks ago the government said the 22,000 students, whose university career starts around August, would be asked to follow a compulsory leadership and “positive development” course at 28 army camps aimed at instilling discipline and to wean them away from violence, ragging and political activity on campus.

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, who handles the universities, and his officials have been at pains to explain that this is not a political program and not any kind of military training. Higher Education Ministry Secretary Sunil J. Navaratne denied that the students were being forced into military training saying the army camps were selected for this purpose because they had the space and accommodation facilities for large groups of students.

However the increasing influence of the military in the governance of Sri Lanka with senior military officers being appointed as ambassadors, handling urban development and to various government institutions, has led many people to infer that the latest scheme is an attempt to instill military-type discipline into university students and that similar training for students in national schools could be the next step in the militarization of institutionalized structures.

This is the first time university entrants are receiving this kind of pre-entry training. According to Prof. Siripala Hettige, a senior sociologist attached to the Colombo University, the Colombo campus has always had its own orientation training for new entrants. “We provide them guidance on various aspects of university life and also career guidance,” he said.

Responding to the military-type training scheme, he said very little is known about this scheme “other than what has been reported in the newspapers”. He said, “It’s not right to comment on a program that we have little knowledge about. What should have happened is that there should have been transparency in this scheme which has not been discussed, as far as I am aware, with the university and its staff.”

Political affairs Professor Keethaponcalan looks at it at two levels. “One is that at a national level, political parties have been competing with each other for the support of university students. With this move the government appears to be taking everyone to their side and wants them on their side. Secondly there is little resistance within the majority Sinhala community,” he said adding that this is an issue for students from the minority Tamil community.

“This may be an ethnic agenda because I’m positive that many Tamil students will drop out since going to army camps is an issue for them,” he added. Over the 30-odd years of conflict, scores of Tamil youth and other Tamils have been questioned or detained in military camps mainly in the northern province where the Tamils mostly live.

Army camps in the north, in those days, instilled a sense of fear, as parents often spent endless hours or days at these camps trying to locate a son or daughter who had gone missing, only to be told that the missing person was not there.

However in this case, even Sinhala parents are reluctant to send their university-entrant children to army camps. “By making this training mandatory, Higher Education Ministry authorities are being unjust to the parents and students. My youngest daughter has to travel far away for the training program,” Nalani Ganegoda, a concerned parent from the north-central district of Anuradhapura was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times newspaper.

Another parent was quoted in the same newspaper as saying he feared sending his daughter to the training camp. “My daughter was not into sports and physical activities; she was only interested in studies. We come from a conservative family and my concern is that the ministry does not explain the type of outdoor activities,” he said.

Residents in the northern town of Jaffna, the former seat of the Tamil insurgency, said many of the university entrants headed to their training camps over the weekend. “There doesn’t seem to be any worries among the students and parents over this kind of training,” one resident said.

The People’s Liberation Front or JVP, a former revolutionary group-turned political party, also urged parents not to send their children to army camps to undergo what it described as military training. JVP Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake told reporters that the government could not take legal action against students who do not take part in the training as there is no legal provision to bar them from university if they do not attend the program.

On Friday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the program and the court requested the government to consider postponing the program for a week till this case is concluded. But the government went ahead with the program saying students were already heading for the camps and millions of rupees have been already been spent on the plan.

© Saudi Gazette

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Sri Lanka anti-terror seminar faces boycott call

AFP | Lanka Business Report
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A leading human rights group urged governments on Tuesday to boycott a conference on fighting insurgents organised by Sri Lanka, which wants to share its experience of defeating separatist militants.

Sri Lanka will host the three-day meeting "Defeating Terrorism - Sri Lanka Experience" in the capital Colombo next Tuesday and has invited 54 countries of which 42 have agreed to attend.

China, Russia and South Asian nations Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan are among those who will send military delegations, while Western nations have decided to stay away, Sri Lanka's army chief said on Monday.

"This conference is nothing more than a public relations exercise to whitewash abuses," Human Rights Watch's Asia Director Brad Adams said in a statement.

"No professional, law-abiding military should take part in this farce," he added.

International rights groups have accused Sri Lankan forces of killing thousands of civilians and blocking humanitarian access to the affected population during the climax of its battle with Tamil separatists in 2009.

The outlawed Tamil Tiger group fought for 37 years for a homeland for ethnic Tamils before being crushed in a giant government offensive that has since been dogged by war crimes allegations.

Among those who declined to send military delegations were the United States, Britain, France, Australia and Switzerland -- all of whom have criticised Colombo over alleged rights abuses.

Sri Lanka's top arms supplier, China, is co-sponsoring the conference and two Chinese companies will also exhibit military hardware on the sidelines.

The meeting is being held amid mounting pressure for a war crimes investigation after a panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last month that there were "credible allegations" against Sri Lankan troops.

The UN estimates up to 100,000 people were killed in fighting between 1972 and 2009 while at least 7,000 civilians perished in the final months of the war.

© LBR

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Global powers to participate in Sri Lanka defence seminar on defeating terrorism

Colombo Page
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Several powerful countries are sending delegations to participate in a seminar organized by the Sri Lanka Army to share its experience on defeating the three decades long terrorism in the country.

Sri Lanka Army will host a three-day seminar from May 31 to June 2 on 'Defeating Terrorism - The Sri Lanka Experience' at Colombo Galadari Hotel.

The Russian Federation, plagued with terrorism in Chechnya will send six delegates, the highest number of participants from one country, to the seminar.

India will send three Colonels to take part in the seminar while a Major General will lead the Pakistan delegation. A Lieutenant General is to lead the Bangladesh delegation.

China, the emerging global power will have two of its defence companies Chinese Poly technologies and China Electrical and Technologies Corporation displaying their products at the three-day event.

The two Chinese companies have sponsored a major portion of the cost of the seminar which is about 45 million rupees, the Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya has said.

As many as 54 countries have been invited initially and 42 of them are sending over 300 delegates including defence personnel, commanders, experts, professionals, academics and senior military officials, the Army Commander said at a press conference held today.

"To date, a total of 42 countries have so far confirmed their participation. More are expected to respond within the next few days," he added.

Several eminent speakers including terrorism experts are scheduled to address the seminar. During these sessions Sri Lanka Army will elaborate how it conducted the Humanitarian Operation with all the field commanders at hand.

Over 25 international media organizations have already confirmed their participation to cover the event.

"Everything is transparent and media is at liberty to meet any of those contributors on the sidelines of the seminar," the Commander added.

Lieutenant General Jayasuriya said the sessions would contribute to broaden understanding and exchange of knowledge among delegates with relevance to the Sri Lankan perspective.

"The speakers will elaborate on lessons learnt and reasons that led to the military success," he added.

Some topics of the sessions will be themed on 'Challenges and Prospects of Counter Terrorism', 'Evolution of LTTE and International Networking', 'Overview of Counter Terrorism in Sri Lanka', 'Humanitarian Operations', 'Force Multipliers in Counter Terrorism', 'Combat Service Support and Evolution of Training', 'IDPs Resettlement', and 'Rehabilitation, Reintegration and De-mining'.

© Colombo Page

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Sri Lanka: Thousands of workers take to street over proposed pension scheme

News First
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The movement of vehicles along the Colombo Katunayake Road has been hampered due to a protest organized by a group of employees from the Free Trade Zone against the proposed pension scheme.

Police said that nearly 2,000 employees had engaged in a protest near the Katunayake police at around 8 a.m. this morning and then marched towards the 18th mile post.

While this had resulted in severe traffic congestion, the Police are taking measures to ease this situation at present, according to police sources.

Meanwhile, General Secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union Anton Marcus said that members of his union will be the most affected by the proposed bill.

When Newsfirst made inquiries in this regard Minister of Labour and Labour Relations Gamini Lokuge said that certain groups are engaging in such protests due to a lack of understanding of the bill in question.

© News First

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‘Defeating terrorism - Lankan experience’ : Forty-two countries confirm participation

By Sandasen Marasinghe | Daily News
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A total of 42 countries have confirmed their participation in the international seminar, ‘Defeating terrorism - the Sri Lankan experience’ organized to share Sri Lanka’s experiences as the first country in the 21st century to have defeated terrorism, said Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya.

Addressing the media at a press conference held at the Army Headquarters yesterday, the Army Commander said that the Army also has sent invitations to the Defence Minister of Senagal and the Army Commander after they made a request for participation in the three-day seminar which is to commence on May 31.

Army Commander Jayasuriya further said that preparations for the seminar under the guidance of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa organized to share Sri Lanka’s experience on the road to military defeat of the LTTE which was identified as the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization.

He added that the seminar will pay special focus on global terrorism, terrorist trends, predominance of both political and military efforts, reconciliation, threats to national and international security concerns, nation building, resettlement, effective counter mechanism, prevention of resurgence of violence, re-evaluation of traditional approaches etc.

Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya also stated that the seminar, the first of its kind to be held in Sri Lanka will be attended by delegates including several world renowned experts, professionals, academics and military officials. Although military participants of few countries such as Australia, France, Japan, Netherlands etc have regretted their non participation, delegates such as their ambassadors and researchers have confirmed their participation.

Sri Lanka Army during these sessions is to elaborate how it conducted the humanitarian operation, with all minute details, while contributing to broaden understanding and exchange of knowledge among delegates with relevance to the Sri Lankan perspective.

The speakers will elaborate on lessons learnt and reasons that led to the military success. The keynote address will be delivered by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Dr David Killcullen the author of Accidental Guerrilla, Dr Ahamed Hasheem, Dr Rohan Gunaratne, External Affairs Minister Professor G L Peiris and many other experts will deliver lectures.

© Daily News

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