Sri Lanka - India to sign Sampoor power plant agreement in September

By Rohan Abeywardena | The Island
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An Indian delegation headed by the Secretary to their Power Ministry will be in Sri Lanka from Sept. 05 to 07 finally to sign the joint venture agreement with the Ceylon Electrify Board (CEB) to build the country’s second coal power plant at Sampoor, Trincomalee.

Authoritative energy sector sources said the crucial agreement was now tentatively scheduled to be signed on Sept. 06. During their three-day stay the top level Indian delegation is also scheduled to visit the site of the proposed plant at Sampoor.

Despite the Rajapaksa administration taking the bold decision to go ahead with coal power plants to meet Sri Lanka’s growing power demand disregarding protests from certain vociferous sections, the negotiations to clinch the joint venture between the National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC) and the Ceylon Electricity Board dragged on since the signing of the initial memorandum of understanding in December 2006 till finally Power and Energy Ministry Secretary M. M. C. Ferdinando early this month initiated its all-important Implementation Agreement in New Delhi with his counterparts there.

According to sources, out of at least five different agreements pertaining to the 500 MW first phase of the project running to hundreds of pages had been held up since they were finalised more than a year ago, over some terms.

Officials are tight-lipped as to what really caused such a long delay while the country, grappling with serious power shortages, was forced to turn to costly thermal power in the interim to meet the shortfall.

The Island learns that the greater part of the delay was due to the Attorney General’s Department going through all terms with a fine-tooth comb, probably because of the harm that had befallen the country owing to the blind signing by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) of Hedging Deal.

But, CEB officials simply explained it as being due to differences over technical and legal jargon.

The previous regimes of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe made matters worse for the country by simply cancelling all previous plans to build coal power plants fearing protests by vested interests.

CEB sources said yesterday immediately after the joint venture agreement with NTPC for the US$ 500 million project was signed early next month, the joint venture company would be incorporated within a week and that company would sign the balance agreements with the relevant parties.

Under the proposed agreement, the NTPC and the CEB each will invest US $ 75 mn as equity capital, while the balance US $ 350 mn would be raised from banks as loan capital.

Although the original target date to commission the plant was in 2016, sources said due to the unexpected delays in finalising the deal it was now expected to be completed in about 2017.

They, however, said there was a slight brighter side to the delay as costs of building coal power plants had since come down slightly and the local plant might now cost anything between US $ 450 mn and US $ 475 mn.

Among the other agreements involved in this deal, The Island learns, are the 500-acre land lease, coal supply pact with Lanka Coal Supply Co, Ltd., power purchase agreement, the BOI status deal, which will assure it, among other things, a 25-year tax holiday and the loan agreement with the funding banks.

CEB sources said negotiations with the lending bodies had already commenced unofficially and once the agreements were signed clinching bank finances would not be a problem

The CEB has already acquired and secured the necessary 500 acres for the project, bulk of which came from state lands in the region, while the balance requirement lying mainly in the periphery is in the process of being acquired from private owners. It is also in the process of getting the other necessary infrastructure in place like building a jetty to unload coal, doing up access roads to the site and the building of the new connecting power lines from the project to the national grid via Habarana.

© The Island

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In Sri Lanka, a 'negative peace' prevails

Photo courtesy: Steve Chao /Al Jazeera

By Kate Mayberry | Al Jazeera
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Seriously injured in a shell attack, his Tamil Tiger comrades dead, Mano (pseudonym) tried to end his own life by biting on the cyanide pill that, like all hardened fighters, he wore around his neck. But an elderly woman nearby rushed to give him water and he survived. Alone, he languished on the sand for six days, surrounded by the bodies of his friends and the ruins of war.

"There wasn't anybody there, not a drop of water. I was just lying there in the sun," he said as he recalled the final days of the fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military. "Then I heard voices and, 200m away, saw soldiers advancing. They took me away."

More than 11,000 people were detained by the Sri Lankan authorities at the end of the war on suspicion of being members of the Tamil Tigers, who fought a 26-year battle for an independent Tamil homeland. Some gave themselves up, but no detainees have access to lawyers and few are charged, their families left to find out for themselves the location of their loved ones. More than two-thirds have now been released, but amid a pervasive military presence many struggle to resume a normal life.

"A sense of impunity and that the worst can happen is still prevalent," said Jehan Perera, Executive Director of the National Peace Council in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. "There's been no break with the past."

Mano spent nearly a year in a government-run rehabilitation camp and has been living with his family in the northern town of Vavuniya since his release in April 2010. The rehabilitation programme includes psychological counselling as well as skills training. Although some former LTTE members have found good jobs in government-run reconstruction projects, many find it hard to get regular work. Mano occasionally works in a shop but relies mainly on his family for support.

With a continuous military presence in the former conflict zone, few are prepared to risk association with former LTTE members, and LTTE families don't advertise their past. There are numerous bases along the A9 road north to Jaffna and smaller camps spread among civilian villages across the Vanni. Military approval is required for large gatherings, and soldiers will often enquire about smaller meetings. Few of those interviewed for this story wanted to reveal their identities and would meet only at a "safe" house.

Markandu Arulananthan is an exception. He's been displaced numerous times in the course of the Sri Lankan conflict and now lives with his wife, daughter and two sons in a rented house in Jaffna. But his eldest son, Ayengaran, who was taken by the Tigers in 2002, is missing and Arulananthan's search for him has yielded little but a growing record of his fruitless search.

He's alerted the ICRC and the Human Rights Commission, visited known detention centres, army camps and police stations, noting diligently the details of every meeting in a small Red Cross notebook. Arulananthan is convinced Ayengaran is still alive but the search and the uncertainty has exhausted him, and his family.

No safety in peace

Having lost a son and her husband - both members of the Tigers - to the fighting and with another son in detention, Mathi is searching desperately for her remaining son who went missing in the final stages of the conflict.

It happened in Mullivaikal, a village squeezed onto a narrow spit of sand between the Nandikadal lagoon and the Indian Ocean on the island's northeastern coast, a place declared a civilian "safe zone" by the government. As the Sri Lankan army advanced, the coconut husks and palmyra leaves littering the ground caught fire. It was in what Mathi describes as an "inferno" and under almost constant bombardment, that her son disappeared. Like Arulananthan, she has kept a file of her increasingly desperate search.

"It's important that we should be told where he is," Mathi said. "Whether he's injured or whether he's dead he would ultimately be with the military because there was nobody else there. They must know."

But even those who've found their family members still struggle. Few can afford the cost of travelling to detention centres for visits or the costs of legal advice. In their desperation, some find themselves cheated.

Vidhya (pseudonym) lives with her sister and brother-in-law in the village where she was born. Her family and her lawyer are the only ones who know that her husband was a Sea Tiger and surrendered to the army at the end of the war.

It took Vidhya two months to find out where he was but she's now heavily in debt, having borrowed 500,000 rupees and pawned her sister's jewellery to pay people who convinced her they could get her husband freed. The jewellery will be forfeited if Vidhya, who has no income, doesn't pay by the end of this month.

"Without him, I don't have anyone to talk to, anyone to share my problems with," she says. Her four-year-old son, sitting on her lap, gently wipes the tears from her face as she speaks.

"People say we have peace but the peace we have is a negative peace - the absence of war and violence," said Perera. "We don't have a peace where there's reconciliation and trust. That's what we need to work towards."

The Tamil National Alliance, which swept recent local elections in the Northeast, has asked the government to release the names of all those in custody and their place of detention, but it has yet to do so.

In some ways, Mano's family was lucky. Their son was returned to them.

© Al Jazeera

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JAFFNA: BRUTAL ASSAULT OF CIVILIANS IN NAVANTHURAI

Watchdog | Groundviews
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Around 100 young men from Navanthurai, a village in the Jaffna District, were detained in an operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army around 1.15am on 23rd August 2011. The villagers were severely beaten by the army and dragged to the main road near the Navanthurai Army Detachment located around 300 meters from the village. The men were loaded onto buses and handed over to the Jaffna police around 4 am and taken to the Jaffna courts by 10 am and produced before the Jaffna District Judge at around 1 pm the same day (23rd August).

Despite their injuries, the men were held without treatment for over 8 hours. 20 of the most seriously injured were admitted to the Jaffna General Hospital after 10 am, on orders by the District Judge. The rest were denied treatment until around 7.30 pm when we received information that all detainees had been admitted for treatment to the Jaffna Hospital. According to media reports, around 100 people have been admitted for treatment to the Jaffna Hospital on 23rd August[i].

Grease Devils in Navanthurai – Confrontation between Military and Villagers

At around 8 pm on 22nd August, villagers spotted five “grease men” in the Navanthurai area. Three men were seen inside the Navanthurai church and two others on trees. When the villagers surrounded and tried to capture the men, they ran into the Navanthurai Army Detachment.

The villagers gathered at the entrance to the Army camp and demanded that the Army produce the grease devils who had run into the camp. The Army refused. A short while later, the villagers saw the grease men being driven out of the camp in an army jeep. They had changed into military uniform[ii] and one man even brandished a knife at the villagers from inside the jeep. Agitated by the protection given by the military to the grease devils the villagers threw stones at the jeep. They head shots being fired by the Army and the crowd was dispersed by around 9.30 pm.

Army operation in Navanthurai

At around 1.15 am on 23rd August, the army entered Navanthurai and detained between 100 – 120 young men from the village[iii]. According to eye witnesses including two Catholic nuns, between 6-12 Army officers entered each house in the village and dragged out men who were sleeping with their families and children. The men were brutally and indiscriminately beaten with rifle butts and iron rods and dragged along the road towards the Army detachment located around 300 meters from the village. Women and children were also beaten in the attack.

When we visited the village that evening, we saw bullet holes in the walls of houses where shots had been fired. Doors and windows had been broken in several houses and villagers said that the army had destroyed furniture and goods inside each house. Many said that valuables including jewelry, phones and money had been taken by the military during the operation[iv].

We saw the bloodied shirt and banyan of a boy who is said to have been beaten inside his home and taken away. We saw blood stains on the road near houses where people were attacked. We also saw a jeep belonging to a villager, the jeep had at least three bullet holes and it appeared that shots had been fired from inside the vehicle. The owner of the jeep who is disabled was also badly beaten.

One villager who is a local businessman said that the army came to his house four times that night and each time they severely beat the men who were inside the house. His 16 year old son was beaten and dragged on to the street by the Army. The men and young boys of school going age were beaten inside their houses and again on the street while being dragged up to the Army Camp. A group of people who had gathered in the village for a funeral vigil, were also beaten, detained or witnessed the attacks.

According to one woman, a man who was carrying a young child was pulled out of his house by the Army. The child he was carrying was flung to aside and the man beaten and dragged away.

The villagers were unable to tell the exact number of officers who entered the village but state that it was well over a 100 officers. There are still conflicting estimates of the exact number of persons detained in the operation. The men were believed to have been held near the Army Camp till around 4 am when they were taken away in buses and handed over to the Jaffna police.

Magistrates Court Jaffna on 23rd August

Around 100 men were produced by the police in the District Court Jaffna. The men were brought to court in their injured state at around 10 am. They were not given access to their relatives until the District Judge intervened and ordered the police to allow one family member to visit the detainees. Several catholic priests, nuns and local civil society activists were also present at the Court. According to those present, the men had visible injuries and showed signs of being severely beaten. The District Judge ordered 18 of those seriously injured to be admitted to hospital and for the medical certificates to be produced in Court. The men were produced before the District Judge Premashankar in batches after lunch at around 1 pm. We were informed that the rest of the detainees were admitted to hospital only at around 7.30 pm based on the order of the District Judge.

Lawyers for the villagers submitted that the villagers had chased the grease men from their village who had entered the Army camp. The people grew agitated by the Army refusing to produce the men and this was the reason for the confrontation between the military and the villagers. In response, the military had entered the village early morning on 23rd August and mercilessly beaten the villagers[v].

The ASP Jaffna Police, in his submission to Court, accused the villagers of unlawful gathering, disturbing the peace, destruction of public property, attacking the police, injuring a policeman and damaging police vehicles

In the evening on 23rd August, the Jaffna District Court Judge ordered all 95 persons who were arrested by police in Navanthurai, to be remanded till August 26. The Judge also ordered all detainees to be admitted to hospital for treatment and for the medical certificates to be produced in Court. 24 lawyers will appear for the detainees on August 26.

Jaffna General Hospital

At around 5 pm, we visited the Jaffna hospital with two Catholic priests and a Buddhist monk from the inter-religious council in Jaffna. In total 20 persons had been admitted to hospital by Court Order.

We met around 7 of the men injured in the attack and their families. Many were still being brought back to the ward from surgery. All the men we spoke to had suffered fractured bones in their arms and legs, some had head injuries and all showed signs of torture or severe beating.

Each person we spoke to had been sleeping inside their homes or in a vehicle when they were pulled out and beaten by the Army. We also met a young woman who was visiting relatives in Jaffna with her husband, who had also been injured in the attack.

We were told that several more were still held at the Jaffna court without treatment. At around 7 pm we received information that a further 35 persons had been admitted to hospital for treatment. The rest are believed to have been brought to hospital for treatment at around 7.30 pm.

Increased Military Presence in Navanthurai Village

According to Jaffna area commander, Major General Hathurusinghe, the military has ‘increased troops and were conducting foot and mobile patrols in the area to assist the police’. When we visited the village at around 5.30 pm, there was an increased military presence around the village. We also saw several women and children with bags leaving their homes. We were told that almost all the men in the village had been taken away by the military or were in hiding and the women were worried about staying at home alone in the night with Army officers still patrolling the village.

The people expressed fear and insecurity due to the heavy military presence and specifically asked for police protection to be given to the village and for Tamil speaking policemen sent to the village. The Buddhist monk spoke to the ASP Jaffna and special police officers were stationed in the village on 23rd night to look after the security of the people.

Statements by Government officials, MPs, Military and the Police

Speaking to a gathering of Muslim Representatives from Ampara, Batticaloa and Puttalam on August 23rd, Defence Secretary, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse said that, ‘the Government will not tolerate those who disturb the peace and law of the country… Severe action will be taken against those who try to take the law into their hands’. Mr. Rajapakse also said that ‘the Government is trying to build a weaponless society and any person who tries to disturb that will be severely dealt with’. ‘Severe action will be taken against people who have attacked the military and army camps and that the Government will not hesitate to treat those who enter the military camp as terrorists’ (translated from Tamil).[vi]

Mr. Rajapakse denied the existence of the grease man and said that these were all constructed in an attempt to discredit the Government. Responding to allegations that the Government was instigating these incidents in order to extend Emergency Regulations he said that this was not their intention and the president has all power to extend or cancel emergency. Extending or withdrawing Emergency will not be influenced by external pressure from India, the US or the UK and not by the Grease man’.

Major General Hathurisinghe, Area Commander for Jaffna said that, this incident was an attempt by politicians and people to disturb the harmony between the military and the people. He said that the military could not tolerate or sit by while people took the law into their hands. There is no such thing as a grease man and these are fabricated stories and no complaints have been made in the police stations. When the police tried to control the situation, people threw bottles and attacked the officers with chains, batons, tube lights and iron bars. People also damaged a police vehicle. As a result the police asked the military to help. Despite this the people attacked the military and we have arrested 100 persons. This is a well planned incident and the people came ready to attack the military and the police[vii].

Major General Hathurusinghe also said that the people will not succeed in removing the military through protests and attacks. This is a matter to be decided by the Defence Ministry and the people have no say in this.

Minister Douglas Devananda said that those caught disturbing the peace will be punished regardless of who they are. He went on to say that village level vigilance committees will be set up to maintain the peace.

TNA MP Mr. Sreedaran stated in parliament on 23rd August that the people had clear proof that the grease men were really the military officers who were attacking the villagers. He said that in Jaffna Navanthurai, Vadamarachchi, Polikanty, and Vathurai and in Killnochchi, Bharathipuram, in the night people have entered their houses and disturbed them. When the villagers tried to catch them they have entered the military camps. In Killnochchi, Barathipuram, when two people entered the house, people tried to catch them but the military helped them to escape. In Jaffna, Navanthurai, the people tried to catch the man, while the military entered their houses and beaten people indiscriminately and arrested 118 people[viii].

Note: The report is based on interviews with 7 men and 1 woman receiving treatment at the Jaffna Hospital and their families; discussions with villagers at the Navanthurai village on 23rd August and Reports in the Uthayan, Thinakural and Valampari newspapers on 24th August.

Footnotes:

[i] Thinakural Newspaper, 24th August p.1 – District Judge ordered 100 persons to be admitted to hospital and for medical certificates to be submitted to Court; Valampari Newspaper, 24th August p.1 – District Judge orders 100 people including 18 seriously injured to be admitted to hospital; Uthayan Newspaper, 24th August p.1 – judge ordered 100 persons to be admitted to hospital. 18 persons seriously injured admitted to hospital after 10 am (Translated from Tamil)

[ii] Thinakural, 24th August p.1, ‘Unannounced Curfew in Navanthurai: People in Fear’ – the villagers submitted to court that the grease men ran into the army camp. They asked the army to produce the grease men but the Army refused. While this was going on they saw that the man had changed his clothes into military uniform. During this time the army brought a lot of military reinforcement s and they heard the sound of shots being fired (translation from Tamil)

[iii] The villagers we spoke to on 23rd August believed that around 150 men may have been detained and that many are still not accounted for. Thinakural on 24th August quotes TNA MP Sreedharan that 118 persons were detained in the military operation; Daily Mirror online on 24th August states that 95 persons were produced in court; Thinakural and Valampuri state that the Jaffna District Court ordered 100 persons to be admitted to hospital on August 23rd.

[iv] This was also mentioned in Thinakural, 24th August, p.1 ‘Jewels stolen during the conflict in Navanthurai’.

[v] Thinakural, 24th August p.1, ‘Unannounced Curfew in Navanthurai: People in Fear’ – report on proceedings in court.

[vi] Thinakural, 24th August ‘Gotabhaya Rajapakse says ‘don’t play with the military and the police’’, p.1.

[vii] Valampari, 24th August, ‘Navanthurai Incident a fabrication’; Uthayan, 24th August, ‘People cant get rid of the military through protests’

[viii] Thinakural, 24th August, Sreedaran MP says that people have clear witnesses to prove that the military are the grease men

© Groundviews

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Sri Lanka scraps emergency laws

By Amal Jayasinghe | AFP
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Sri Lanka's president announced Thursday that he was scrapping draconian emergency laws imposed nearly 30 years ago to deal with the armed Tamil separatist movement.

"I am satisfied that there is no need to have the state of emergency any more," President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a speech to parliament.

The laws, which give security forces sweeping powers of arrest and detention, have been renewed on a monthly basis -- with only brief breaks -- ever since they were first imposed 28 years ago.

The move comes as Sri Lanka faces growing pressure over its human rights record, particularly with reference to the Tamil conflict.

Rajapakse's announcement means the regulations will lapse at the end of August, but similarly tough powers remain available to authorities under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe welcomed the decision, but said it had come too long after the final military victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.

"For the past one year, we have been asking the government to end the state of emergency," he said.

The government decision comes ahead of next month's United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva which is expected to discuss Sri Lanka's performance on human rights.

The United States has been leading international calls for a war crimes investigation into the island's crushing of the rebels.

Sri Lanka has so far managed to stave off censure from UN bodies thanks to the support of strong allies China and Russia.

But Asian neighbours, including India, have been nudging Colombo in recent months to remove restrictions on civil liberties in a bid to deflect Western criticism.

Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, who spent three days in Colombo last week on an official visit, described Rajapakse's announcement as a "bold and far sighted move".

The independent Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank in Colombo said it was waiting to see how the government deals with those currently detained under the emergency laws.

"I suppose it is a response to the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva... but in any event, it is a good sign," director Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu told AFP.

He voiced hopes that the government would not simply resort to the PTA as a fall-back.

Tens of thousands of civilians perished in the final months of fighting against the Tamil Tigers, and the United Nations has said there are "credible allegations" of war crimes committed by both sides.

Colombo has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and resisted foreign calls for a probe.

The Tamil Tigers had spent four decades fighting for an independent homeland for the island's ethnic Tamil minority.

Opposition parties in Sri Lanka have accused the government of using the emergency laws to crack down against its political opponents, including student leaders and the independent press.

It was not immediately clear how many people are currently being held under emergency laws, and whether they would be freed or re-detained under the PTA once the emergency is allowed to lapse at the end of this month.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka : "No breakdown in relations with the US Pacific Command"

Photo courtesy: Master Sgt. Cohen Young | DVIDS

By Shamindra Ferdinando | The Island
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Government sources told 'The Island' that in spite of the US declining to participate at a recent Defence Ministry symposium to share Sri Lanka’s experience in defeating the LTTE, there hadn’t been a breakdown in relations with the US Pacific Command recently hosting a joint programme with the SLN to enhance cooperation.

A five-day ‘Pacific Air Lift Rally 2011’ is underway in Sri Lanka with the participation of the US as part of its overall efforts to enhance co-operation among countries in the Pacific region.

Such an exercise wouldn’t have been contemplated during the conflict due to LTTE threats.

A Sri Lankan military official yesterday told The Island that the joint exercise was a sign of post-war stability in spite of various interested parties seeking to undermine the country. The exercise got underway yesterday (22) with representatives from 20 countries, including India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore moving to Ratmalana and Ampara air bases, while 42 officers gathered at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel for a written exercise.

This is the largest such exercise carried out in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, it takes place in the wake of the recent controversy over US fighter jets launched from aircraft carriers, violating Sri Lankan air space, an allegation which was later found to be baseless.

Responding to a query by The Island, SLAF spokesman Group Captain Andrew Wijesuriya said that the highlight of the exercise would be a cargo drop over Ampara district tomorrow, (Aug. 24) involving C-130s engaged in the ‘operation.’ This will take place between 10 am and 4 p.m.

On the following day, SLAF and US aircraft will carry out a paratroop drop over Ratmalana between 2 p.m and 4.30 pm.

Wijesuriya said that about 150 SLAF personnel were involved in the exercise aimed at preparing regional air forces to meet the challenging task of disaster relief.

The C 130 group comprises three US aircraft and one each from Sri Lanka, Australia and Malaysia. All six aircraft are based at Ratmalana, the main support base during the conflict.

© The Island

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Sri Lanka seeks $40 mln Chinese loan for port rock removal

By Shihar Aneez | Reuters
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Sri Lanka's port authority on Tuesday said it has asked China for $40 million loan to demolish a massive seabed rock obstructing the entrance of its new $1.4 billion Hambantota port, due to start commercial operations this year.

The island nation launched the port in August 2010 with an initial target of handling 2,500 ships annually, as a cornerstone of a $6 billion drive to rebuild infrastructure that was neglected during a 25-year civil war.

But large ships are yet to call on the port and the country's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has pointed to the rock as a sign of government mismanagement.

Although the port is in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's home district in southern Sri Lanka, along the ancient "Silk Route" trading path, the rival UNP first proposed it.

"This rock was identified before we started the port construction," Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told Reuters. "We need just below $40 million to blast it. We have requested the amount from China."

Sri Lanka is banking on the port to help fuel growth targets of 8-9 percent in its $50 billion economy.

It has increasingly been relying on China, Russia, India and to a lesser degree, Brazil, for the financing and expertise required for its post-war rebuilding plans.

Beijing on commercial terms loaned a combined $1.24 billion to build the port and a 4 million metric tonne fuel bunkering facility, all of it built by Chinese engineers -- much to the chagrin of neighbouring India.

Hambantota is about 2 km from one of the world's biggest east-west shipping lanes, and is bidding to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The government is building Sri Lanka's second international airport there, and a master-planned city.

"Normally ships don't call at once. They need time to study business opportunities," Wickrama said. "We have to develop secondary facilities at the port and once we have them along with bunkering facilities, we can get ships to Hambantota."

In June, Wickrama said the ports authority had secured around $1 billion in investment into port facilities, including warehousing.

The fuel bunkering terminal is expected to start operations next month, four months behind schedule.

© Reuters

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'Emergency, our baby' says SL Defence Secretary

The Sunday Leader Online
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Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says the state of emergency will not be removed to make India, the US or UK happy. He says the President will decide what’s best.

India has been pushing Sri Lanka to repeal the emergency laws which were in place mainly as a security measure during the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.

With the defeat of the LTTE two years ago the Indian government has continuously said that the emergency laws should be withdrawn.

Several human rights groups had alleged that the emergency laws were being misused by the security forces in Sri Lanka to suppress opposition to the Sri Lankan government.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told reporters this evening (Tuesday) that President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows what’s best for the country and only he will decide on the emergency laws with the support of the Sri Lankan parliament.

He also dismissed as rumors that the “grease devil” character was something created by the government to extend the state of emergency.

Several violent incidents have been taking place in Sri Lanka over the past few weeks with angry mobs attempting to arrest suspicious men with grease on their body, known by locals as “grease devils”.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the security forces and the police were not “grease devils” and such characters will be arrested.

He also warned that action will be taken against anyone who attempts to take the law into their own hands.

© The Sunday Leader Online

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Sri Lanka: The surreal politics of ‘grease devils’

By Dr. Kumar David | South Asian Analysis Group
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A large number of areas outside the big cities of Sri Lanka have been gripped for the last one month by a most extraordinary panic verging on mass hysteria. The localities of Akaraipattu, Ampara, Puttalam, Kandy, Baticaloa, Kurunegala, Kinya, Trincomalee, Badulla, Nawalapitiya, Muthur and many more have been affected. The police force is on heightened alert, troops have been deployed (though this may be counterproductive as I will explain), accusations and counter accusations are traded and the government is scrambling to salvage what’s left of its reputation. The worst affected are areas of Muslim concentration though there is as yet no explanation, rational or irrational, why this should be so. Police brass dismiss talk of ‘grease devils’ (GD) as pure myth and fantasy, President Rajapakse says there is a plot to destabilise his government and the Defence Secretary has put mosques in affected areas under military protection.

First the story line before comments and analysis. Remember the Ninja terror that gripped East Timor in Indonesia in 2002 when strange creatures in black skin-suits (actually killers planted by the Indonesian military) spread terror in the populace? Well the parallel is not far wrong except that Lanka’s villagers do not invoke the supernatural to explain the manifestation. It is true, as the police chief explains that from time to time there have always been unexplained attacks on women and unsolved break-ins, but what started off the current hysterics on a big scale was the rape and murder of five women, about a month ago at Kahawatte, to satisfy a grudge borne by an army officer. Though the two low level operatives were apprehended it did nothing to quell the proliferation of incidents and the spread of panic to an ever increasing number of rural areas. It is hard to make an accurate estimate, but skimming through the newspapers it seems that there have been well over 25 to 30 incidents in the last four weeks.

Proliferation of incidents

Though there have been more incidents in Muslim areas than elsewhere, there is no known communal angle to the occurrences (many victims have been Sinhalese women, homes and villages) and it is not clear why Muslim areas are being targeted more frequently. A senior security officer in a public company has described to me the mood of panic in the Muslim populated Eastern Province outside the city centres. The streets empty by early evening, businesses close down by dusk because sales dry up, women cloister themselves and fear to venture out for water or firewood, and families huddle together in a single house for the night. It’s really weird he says, and there is no way of convincing people that GD talk is mass hysteria, and that it’s just criminals and pranksters whose exploits are blown out of proportion.

The so-called GDs are men, nude or semi-nude, who coat their bodies with oil or grease and waylay women, groping, scratching, molesting, and sometimes allegedly raping the unwary. Apart from the first incident I mentioned above, to the best of my knowledge there have been no other rapes or murders. Actually the few murders that have taken place are of suspected GDs trapped by villagers, or of policemen attacked for allegedly protecting arrested GD villains. Apart from attacks on women there are many reports of GDs breaking into houses, terrifying people by peering in through windows and climbing on roofs. It is not possible to tell whether, in hard statistical terms, there has been an increase in breaks-ins and nuisance exploits above the normal, but robbery does not seem to be a motive, and lubricating the skin for easy getaway is frequent though not invariable.

In the central hill areas, villagers and estate workers are running amok, pouncing on strangers and hitch-hikers and beating up men they don’t recognise. There is pandemonium spreading across the island, but we are entertained to inane utterances that take our breath away from the top police officer of Batticaloa. “The evil forces of the Tamil diaspora, resentful of the President’s development programme” are behind the GD hysteria and are stirring up trouble in the country (Sunday Times, 21 August)! Thus law enforcement makes a comedy of itself and is distrusted in every home and hamlet, and when the judiciary’s reputation for impartiality has suffered grievously - even in the words of former judges and chief justices – then it comes as no surprise that the mob is taking the law into its own hands. Sri Lanka is well on the way to a breakdown of the rule of law more widespread than during the anti-Tamil civil war and the government is palpably unable to get a grip on things.

Charges and counter-charges

It is the spreading out of incidents of a similar style across swathes of rural territory and the large number of such incidents that is troubling; it may be daft mass hysteria or it may be something more sinister, even the sober minded find it hard to tell as yet. The most widespread conspiracy theory in the public mind, and quite explicitly publicised by the JVP, the UNP and other critical analysts, attributes the phenomenon to the military, the government, or a conspiracy of collaboration between the two. UNP Kandy District MP Lakshman Kirelle alleges in an article in the Daily Mirror of 23 August that “villagers in Kandy have seen GDs being dropped-off by government vehicles”.

Neither the government nor the military want the state of emergency lifted; the government because it uses the regulations to manipulate elections and keep up other impositions, the army because it does not wish to lose its far-flung power, have military camps dismantled and its numerical size cut down. Therefore the allegation is perfectly plausible as a conspiracy of two arms of the state intended to prolong the state of emergency in the face of mounting local and international pressure to have it lifted.

When a government loses public credibility and has no residue of transparency, then understandably, the worst interpretation of every incident takes possession of the public mind. Hence, while it is not possible to discount the likelihood that the government or the military may be behind the GD outbreak, one also cannot discount the possibility that these two institutions are simply getting their just deserts for past transgressions.

Protesters across the board are demanding the closure of army camps and withdrawal of troops from their neighbourhood, such is their mistrust. If the military was indeed behind the events the exercise has clearly boomeranged. Several police stations have been stormed by angry villagers or local Muslims and there have been more than half a dozen clashes violent enough to become the tip of an iceberg if public confidence is not quickly restored. Local people suspect that police stations are safe-houses for apprehended GDs and demand that the culprits be lynched summarily. Two travelling salesmen where chopped up and burnt in an upcountry area and a bunch of official elephant enumerators where snared by people living in a remote locality and all but tarred and feathered before they were rescued by the police.

President Mahinda Rajapakse claims that there is a conspiracy to discredit him and his government but has still not produced a shred of evidence or said who is responsible. Nor have the authorities made the identity and connections of those who have been apprehended available. This too is troubling because, though certainly innocents like the hapless travelling salesmen and the elephant enumerators may have been caught up in the cross fire, there is justified suspicion that military or ex-military personnel may be among the mysterious others. Whatever the truth, there is little sympathy for the government at this time on this matter.

Manhohan Singh has learnt too late that turning a studiously blind eye to mountains of political corruption has jinxed him now, when finally, under the turbulent pressure of the streets, he wants to act. Rajapakse senses that the GD issue has gone out of control, so he has decided to appoint vigilante committees, headed by government party MPs in all areas, to eradicate the grease devil menace. Anyone familiar with the soiled reputation of his government MPs will tell him that he is jumping, with his eyes wide open, from the frying pan into the fire. Manhogan Singh has appointed a Group of Ministers to look into the Lokpal Bill (thank goodness he has not made the former Telecoms Minister the Group Chairman!). When will these people in power, the Singhs and the Rajapakses of this world, ever learn? Thankfully in democratic societies we have solutions short of the way Gaddafi had to be shooed out.

© SAAG

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"Grase Devils" take refuge in Police, Army camps" alleges Mosque Federations

By Zacki Jabbar | The Island
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Amidst the death of two civilians and a policeman resulting from the ‘Grease Devil’ menace, the government yesterday denied that it or the security forces were involved.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, addressing a gathering of persons representing the Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Puttalam Mosque Federations, who were specially flown to Colombo, said that allegations being levelled against the government and security forces were baseless and the harassment of Muslims in the Eastern Province and Puttalam, was the work of certain bad elements living in the respective areas, who wanted to create chaos and stall the development process.

While admitting to having received complaints of Muslim women being scratched by the ‘Grease Devils’, he said that an inquiry would be conducted and those found guilty punished, but cautioned that it did not give the victims the right to take the law into their hands.

A special police team would be assigned to investigate, while the STF will be deployed to maintain law and order in the affected areas, Gothabaya said.

The Defence Secretary said that a policemen and two innocent civilians had been killed as a result of the disturbances and the extent of violence was not justified.

Responding to complaints that the Police had failed to act, he admitted that it was wrong for them to have neglected their duty and assured that the culprits will be found. However, civilians should not surround army camps, because it was a serious offence and the soldiers could react to the situation.

Representatives of the Mosque Federations alleged that the ‘Grease Devils’ having harmed women, took refuge in police stations and army camps.

An allegation that the culprits scratched women who do not eat pork, with a view to obtaining their blood to perform a pooja for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was laughed off by Gotabhaya who said that if it was the case, he could offer his own blood for the purpose.

He also dismissed another theory that the ‘Grease Devils’ were searching for Dutugemunu’s sword as "funny" because history does not record him as having visited those areas.

The Mosque Federation delegations were led by M. I. M. Zubair from Batticaloa, Abdul Jabbar from Ampara and Jaufar Moulavi from Trincomalee, while the Sri Lanka Muslim Council delegation was headed by N. M. Ameen.

© The Island

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More than 100 arrested in new Sri Lanka "Grease Devil" clash

Photo courtesy: Tamilnet

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal | Reuters
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Sri Lankan authorities on Tuesday arrested more than 100 people that threw rocks at police and soldiers who stopped them from chasing men thought to be "grease devils," or nighttime prowlers who have sparked an island wide spate of deadly violence.

At least five people including a police officer have been killed over the past two weeks in bouts of vigilantism and clashes, prompting deployment of the army and opposition accusations that the government may use the panic to keep wartime emergency laws in place.

Roughly 40 "grease devil" incidents have been reported in nine districts of the country, mostly in areas inhabited by minority Muslim or Tamil people as the government and opposition trade blame over the crisis.

Traditionally, a "grease devil" was a thief who wore only underwear and smeared grease over his body to evade capture.

But it became known as a nocturnal assaulter after a series of ultimately unrelated murders of elderly women arose in a southern area populated by the majority Sinhalese people.

The latest clash, in the military-controlled northern city of Jaffna, followed a familiar pattern. People chased unidentified men thought to be "grease devils," and then threw rocks at security forces who stopped them from pursuit.

"When the police searched the area for grease devils, people reacted angrily. So police took 100 people for questioning," military spokesman Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi said. A total of 102 were later arrested.

Nevin Pathmadeva, senior superintendent of police in Jaffna, said 22 people including four police officers were injured.

Three area residents told Reuters the army shot into the air when they tried to chase the men, who ran into a nearby military camp. Police and soldiers later beat them with batons.

"I saw black-coloured grease men with bare bodies and underwear running into the army camp when the military blocked us from chasing them," one of the three residents told Reuters.

All three spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of angering the authorities. The government has warned of severe punishment for anyone spreading "grease devil" rumours.

"Do not joke with the forces"

Jaffna has been under military control since 1995, when the army wrested it back from the Tamil Tiger separatists. Sri Lanka defeated the Tigers in May 2009, ending a 25-year civil war.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother and a decorated infantry officer who was the architect of the war victory, said the security forces had nothing to do with the "grease devil" mayhem.

"Surrounding military camps and attacking the forces are terrorist acts. Our forces are capable of facing any threat after facing a 30-year brutal terrorist war. So do not try to joke with the forces," he said at a meeting with leaders of mosques, which the government has said it will protect.

Sri Lanka has suffered from widespread impunity that has flourished amid three insurgencies since 1971, and public anger at ineffective policing has frequently turned violent.

"People in frustration have sought to take law in to their own hands," the Women's Action Network, a body of women's groups working with victims of sexual violence in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, said in a statement.

© Reuters

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Sri Lanka deploys military to ‘Grease Devil’ towns

Reuters | Khaleej Times
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Sri Lanka on Monday deployed soldiers to quell unrest sparked by a fear of nighttime prowlers known as “Grease Devils”, after at least five died over the past two weeks in a wave of vigilantism and clashes with police across the island nation.

Sri Lanka’s army also set up a new brigade in Kinniya near the eastern port of Trincomalee, where thousands of angry people last week besieged a government office after fighting with the navy in pursuit of suspected “grease devil”.

The increased deployment came a day after a mob killed a police officer in the northwestern town of Puttalam. Troops have remained out in force since Sri Lanka’s government won a 25-year civil war in May 2009 with the Tamil Tiger ethnic separatists.

“The military and the police are doing the patrols in the towns and the areas affected by the incidents in the east, northwest and north,” military spokesman Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi said.

More than 30 incidents of violence and vigilantism have been reported in eight districts of the country, primarily in areas inhabited by minority Muslim or Tamil people as the government and opposition trade blame over the phenomenon.

Traditionally in Sri Lanka, a “grease devil” was a thief who wore only underwear and covered his body in grease to make himself hard to grab, but the new iteration has a more sinister reputation as prowling attacker of women.

“It is a new kind of fear psychosis,” lawyer Gomin Dayasiri, who has often supported the government’s more nationalistic positions, told Reuters. “It is certainly an organised fear psychosis to destabilise the society.”

The government has said the “grease devil” panic started with criminals taking advantage of traditional beliefs in spirits and devils in Sri Lanka’s rural areas, but has been hijacked by political opponents trying to spread mayhem.

It blamed the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, which led bloody insurrections in 1971 and 1988-89 stoked among the rural population, for spreading the panic.

The JVP denies it is behind it, and has suggested in parliament that government-linked forces may be responsible, saying female blood was required to find an ancient gold treasure or help prolong President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule.

Opposition parties have also said the government may be stirring up pandemonium as an excuse to extend tough wartime emergency regulations, amid Western pressure to lift them.

“This government can justify the continuation of the emergency only by showing that the police can’t control civil life, that to maintain law and order it needs military on the ground,” an opposition-linked analyst told Reuters on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from authorities.

Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne this month told parliament the government may lift the emergency laws, but is awaiting the recommendation of Rajapaksa’s national security council.

© Khaleej Times

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Human scars of Sri Lankan war neglected

Al Jazeera
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Two years after the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, the north's roads, railways and homes are being rebuilt. But little attention has been placed on helping a population suffering from the trauma of being caught in the middle of decades of fighting.

Mental health workers have told Al Jazeera that not only is the treatment of post-traumatic stress not a priority for the government, but that in some cases the military has refused to allow counsellors in to reach affected people.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao was granted special permission to report in the still sensitive area of northern Sri Lanka.

© Al Jazeera

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Police officer killed in Sri Lanka "Grease Devil" riot

By Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez | Reuters
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Angry Sri Lankans killed a police officer on Sunday in the latest outbreak of violence sparked by a fear of nocturnal prowlers known popularly as "Grease Devils" that has gripped rural areas in the island nation over the past two weeks.

Another officer and five other people were hurt in two separate incidents in the northwestern Sri Lanka town Puttalam, after residents gave chase to a suspected "grease devil," police and witnesses said.

Traditionally, a grease devil was a thief who wore only underwear and covered his body in grease to make himself hard to grab, but the modern iteration has a far more sinister reputation as prowling attacker of women.

Five people have died in outbreaks of violence related to the grease devil panic so far, including Sunday's incident.

More than 30 incidents of violence and vigilantism have been reported in eight districts of the country, primarily in areas inhabited by minority Muslim or Tamil people as the government and opposition trade blame over the phenomenon.

"Some people had attacked a policeman on traffic duty in Puttalam town and he died after being admitted to the hospital," police spokesman Prashantha Jayakody said.

Jayakody said that in a separate incident in Puttalam, people assaulted a police constable who went to the village. He declined to say what prompted the attacks.

Residents told Reuters that people had spotted an unidentified man and given chase, but policemen on duty fired in the air and later toward the crowd.

"At least five people were injured including a 13-year-old child," said an area resident told Reuters by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of angering the authorities.

The government has said "grease devils" are merely criminals taking advantage of traditional beliefs in spirits and devils in Sri Lanka's rural areas, and have vowed to punish those responsible for spreading panic about them.

On Saturday, in the nearby town of Kalpitiya, a government hospital refused treatment to a suspected "grease devil" who was brought by the navy after area residents attacked him.

Hospital officials were angry at damage caused to the building after residents and navy sailors who kept the man from being lynched got into a clash, local media reported.

© Reuters

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US - Sri Lanka co-host Pacific Airlift Rally 2011

Photo courtesy: Sri Lanka Air Force

13th Air Force Public Affairs| Pacific Air Forces
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Pacific Airlift Rally 2011, co-hosted by the U.S. and the Sri Lanka Air Forces will take place at Ratmalana Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Pacific Airlift Rally (PAR) is a biennial, military airlift symposium sponsored by U.S. Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) for states in the Asia-Pacific region. This year marks the eighth iteration of the PAR exercise series which began in 1997. PAR 11 will focus on enhancing airlift interoperability among 21 regional militaries in support of multilateral humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) operations. Exercise-related events include informational seminars and expert briefings, a command post exercise that addresses military airlift support required during natural disasters, and a field training exercise that builds upon the command post exercise.

Tabletop exercise participants include: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, United States and Vietnam. (Brunei's participation has not been confirmed.)

Field training exercise participation will include three United States Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Airlift Wing, Japan; and one C-130 each from the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force and the Sri Lanka Air Force.

Seventy-eight members from the 36th Airlift Squadron at Yokota will test their humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief abilities in the Airlift Rally which is held every two years and is sponsored by Pacific Air Forces.

"This exercise will help enable the nations involved to deepen their relationships with one another, build trust and strengthen their desire to mutually support one another," said Capt. Anthony Felix, 36th AS assistant pilot flight commander. "Our involvement with the exercise will inspire trust with all nations that are located in the Pacific region."

"The Airmen from Yokota that are participating have a lot of experience going in," said Capt. Bryan Huffman, 36 AS Pacific Airlift Rally mission commander for Yokota. "This training exercise will help improve Yokota's readiness by having us fly airdrop and airlift missions in different scenarios."

The first component of the air rally involves flying exercises, testing the abilities of pilots and crews to perform tasks normally executed in humanitarian relief efforts.

The second part of the rally involves command post operations in which operators and logisticians from several participating countries train on performing the correct actions in the event of a ground-based scenario.

For Captain Huffman, preparing Yokota to respond to mother nature's mood swings is what the Pacific Airlift Rally is all about.

"It's a great opportunity to have a hand in improving Yokota's readiness and ability to provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief if needed," he said.

© Pacific Air Forces

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• 36th AS takes to the skies during Pacific Airlift Rally (Pacific Air Forces)
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• 'War crimes push aimed at ousting Sri Lanka government' says SL Defence Secretary (JDS Lanka)

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Tamil anger at army's influence in Sri Lanka

Al Jazeera
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Two years after the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, many minority Tamils in the north say the military retains too strong a hold over their daily lives.

Al Jazeera was granted special permission by the government to travel and see how the path to peace is progressing.

Steve Chao reports from Jaffna, the capital of Northern Province.

© Al Jazeera

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60,000 acres of forest land goes to US multinational

The Island
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Environmentalists accuse the government of encouraging big time businessmen to destroy forests. A group of environmental activists, disclosed, at a press briefing held at the Library Services and Documentation Board in Colombo on Thursday (18), that over 60,000 acres of virgin forest land in various parts of the country would be given to Dole Food Company, a US based multi-national company.

Armed with photographs including aerial pictures and documentary evidence, EF Convener Ravindra Kariyawasam pointed out the areas that had come under Dole’s banana cultivation project included 15,000 acres from Chunnakkadu Reserve in Kantale, 11,600 acres in Kandakaduwa in Somawathiya National Park, 3,000 acres in Uva-Kudaoya in Lunugamwehera and 500 acres in Wekandawewa in Buttala. "In most of these areas forests have been cleared and cultivation has commenced. In Wekandawewa, an ancient tank has been encroached on thus cutting off its access to the villagers," Kariyawasam said claiming that Galle, Puttalam, Dambulla and Hingurakgoda were likely to lose forest land to Dole banana project in future. Citing an FAO report, Kariyawasam claimed that Sri Lanka had been ranked the 4th worst country in the world in terms of deforestation for the period 2000-05.

Sajeewa Chamikara of the Sri Lanka Nature Forum said that the sections 5 and 6 of the Amended Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance No. 22 of 2009 had been blatantly violated through the project and his organisation was seeking legal advice. Clearing the Somawathiya National Park in the Kandakaduwa area would further aggravate the human-elephant conflict, warned Chamikara. He said that in some areas land under the purview of the Wildlife Department was now being managed by the Ministry of Defence.

Kaudulle Jayatissa of the Progressive Peasants’ Association spoke of hardships faced by the rural farmers owing to the ‘mono-culture’ agricultural projects. Soil erosion, loss of soil fertility, depletion of the water table, loss of biodiversity and excessive use of agro-chemicals were identified as some of the adverse side effects associated with large scale commercial agricultural enterprises. Referring to the Rajarata Kidney Disease prevalent in the North Central Province, Jayatissa warned that the proposed banana cultivation projects was fraught with the danger of creating similar problems.

© The Island

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Fr. Jim Brown and Mr. Vimalathas: Five years after disappearance

By Ruki | Groundviews
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Fr. Jim Brown, a Catholic Priest from diocese of Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka and his associate, Mr. Vimalathas, a father of five, seem to be just two names and statistics in the long list of disappeared in Sri Lanka, particularly after the escalation of violence and war in the North since 2006.

I didn’t know either before they disappeared, but had got to know about them and the families after they disappeared. I remember the empty and distraught looks on the children of Vimalathas in their small house, who had not realized they will not see and hear from their father again for so long. I remember the hope the parents of Fr. Jim Brown always shares whenever I meet them that their beloved son will return.

Background to the disappearance:

Fr Jim Brown and Vimalathas went missing on 20 August 2006 amid escalated warfare between the security forces and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). They were last seen on a motorcycle at a checkpoint in Allaipiddy, an area tightly controlled by the security forces.

Fr. Jim Brown was a young priest who had loved and served the people of the Allaipiddy parish selflessly. In the face of intense shelling on the night of 12th August 2006, he had offered the church as a place of refuge to people. However, breaking international humanitarian norms, the church had also been shelled in the early hours of 13th August, and more than 20 were reported as killed that night and many more injured. Having miraculously escaped death and injury himself, Fr. Jim Brown was at the forefront in trying to lead the people, particularly the injured, to safety. He pleaded with the Navy to let the people leave. According to Catholics priests in Jaffna, Fr. Jim Brown had been threatened by the Navy officers of the area as being LTTE supporter, due to his relentless efforts to protect and support the civilians of his parish. Based on all accounts I had heard from people of Allaipiddy and priests in Jaffna in the last 5 years, Fr. Jim Brown’s disappearance is linked to his efforts to intervene with the Navy to safeguard and assist people affected by the shelling in the area.

Memories of Fr. Jim Brown:

All the people of Allaipiddy were displaced in this incident and when I met some of them in Jaffna some months after the displacement, I remember what one elderly gentleman told me “If not for Fr. Jim Brown, many more of us would have been killed, he sacrificed himself to save us”.

Later, when the first group of displaced people was allowed to return to Allaipiddy, I went to visit them. Access was highly restricted to outsiders, but thanks to pleas of the priest who took me and goodwill of an officer at the check point, we were given a “one hour visa” by the officers at the same check point that Fr. Jim Brown was last seen. The priest taking me had warned me not to say the word “Fr. Jim Brown”. We proceeded to the church that was destroyed and abandoned. We were apprehensive, noting that we were followed by officers from the checkpoint, and remembering that Fr. Jim Brown and Vimalathas were probably also followed from the check point. But despite military presence, the few people who were staying in broken houses and tents flocked to the destroyed church as we entered. Although me and the priest deliberately didn’t say or ask anything about Fr. Jim Brown, the people had a lot to say about him. The lasting memory of that one hour in Allaipiddy was the testimony of several people that some of them would not be alive if not for Fr. Jim Brown’s willingness to provide them with shelter and pleading with the Navy.

The search for Fr. Jim Brown and investigations:

Appeals by church leaders and local and international human rights groups have also not yielded any response. The Commission of Inquiry established by the President in November 2006 listed this case as one of the 16 cases. During the 1st year commemoration of Fr. Jim Brown’s disappearance in Colombo, and in front of his family and the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, one of the Commissioners mentioned that the case not yet been taken up for inquiry.

Fr. Jim Brown is not the only Catholic Priest who disappeared. Now, it is more than two years, since the disappearance of another Tamil Catholic Priest from the North, Fr. Franis Joseph, who had tried to negotiate the safe surrender of several LTTE leaders in the last days of the war. Several eye witnesses had seen him with the Army just before he disappeared.

Both these cases have also been raised at the hearings in Colombo and North, of the latest Commission appointed by the President – the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). After one priest in North raised this at a LLRC hearing, he got a threatening call the next day, asking him whether he knew Fr. Jim Brown and whether he would like the same thing to happen to him.

Priests are amongst the 25 persons in humanitarian service that have been reported as disappeared between 2006-2009 in Sri Lanka. Thousands of civilians have also disappeared. It is not known how many have been found, and whether justice has been done for even one case.

Fr. Jim Brown’s family is also amongst the families of disappeared who faced threats, intimidation and harassments.

Amongst the principles lesson I learnt (or re-learnt) from LLRC hearings is that it is very easy to make people disappear in Sri Lanka, and that it is also equally easy to make investigations and justice disappear! And related lesson is that those who look for those disappeared and justice, will be threatened and also face risk of disappearing!

Do we need to remember the disappeared?

I remember Fr. Jim Brown’s parents question to the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, “We entrusted our son to your care to serve the Lord and his peoples, what has happened to him?” Sinhalese Catholics – laity, youth, women, priests, sisters, Bishops – who often claim that they can play a important role in reconciliation by building better relations with Tamil Catholics, appear to have forgotten about Fr. Jim Brown, Vimalathas and others, or perhaps they don’t care.

Every year, a few friends together with parents, brother and sister of Fr. Jim Brown, have tried to faithfully remember Fr. Jim Brown. From the hundreds that attended the first commemoration we organized, we had seen over the years that interest had declined. Perhaps there are so many disappeared to be commemorated. But can we afford to forget them?

Will we ever know what happened to Fr. Jim Brown and Vimalathas and thousands of others who have disappeared? And will those responsible be ever identified and brought to justice?

Can we really have reconciliation without acknowledging what has happened to Fr. Jim Brown and Vimalathas and the thousands like them? Could we even have reconciliation within the Catholic Church? What does reconciliation mean to their families and friends of Fr. Jim Brown and Vimalathas and countless other families of disappeared people?

© Groundviews

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Sri Lanka: FTZ workers complain about harassment by CID officers

Photo courtesy: vikalpa.org

Colombo Page
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Trade unions affiliated to the free trade zones (FTZs) in Sri Lanka have written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) condemning the conduct of CID officers with regard to the FTZ employees and unions that protested against the government's proposed private sector pension bill.

Trade unionists charge that union members who were involved in the protest campaign are being intimidated and harassed.

The Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ and GSEU) has informed the IGP that the CID officers were acting in violation of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions.

Secretary of the FTZ and GSEU, Anton Marcus has said the matter was also brought up at the last meeting of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) held on August 5 under the patronage of Labour Minister Gamini Lokuge.

Marcus has said that CID officers had intruded trade union offices in Katunayake on July 29th and had searched, rummaged files and documents and questioned the officials present.

The FTZ and GSEU has also sent copies of the letter to the IGP to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, all trade union members of the National Labour Advisory Council and all trade unions in the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA).

© Colombo Page

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Sri Lanka shares down; still Asia's best amid recession fears

Reuters
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Sri Lanka's shares fell more than 1 percent on Friday, following the global trend, but became Asia's top performer as other regional markets nosedived on looming fears of another recession with deepening debt crisis in the U.S. and Europe.

Globally stocks plummeted on Friday due to mounting concerns over the U.S. economy heading into another recession while some European lenders facing a short-term funding crunch, highlighting the risk of a banking crisis.

The island nation's main share index fell 1.13 percent or 79.21 points to 6,951.64. But it became Asia's best performer with a return of 4.76 percent on the year as top markets like Indonesia and Thailand suffered heavy losses on Friday.

"Selling pressure stemming from profit taking continued to drag the indices lower with heavy retail participation on speculative counters," JK Stockbrokers said in an investor note.

After the war, Sri Lanka's bourse turned Asia's best performer in 2009 and 2010, gaining 124 percent and 96 percent, respectively, but has touched negative territory this year.

Brokers said large investors sold blue chips as speculation overwhelmed market fundamentals despite retail investors snapping up select shares after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday relaxed the ban on margin trading by retail investors.

The bourse jumped over 3 percent on Tuesday after the regulator's move, which was in response to brokers' complains.

The bourse witnessed a foreign fund outflow of 218.7 million Sri Lanka rupees ($2 million) on Friday, taking the net outflow to 2.8 billion rupees in 19 straight sessions.

Thus far in 2011, foreign funds have sold 10.45 billion, and in 2010 a record 26.4 billion.

Traders said retail investors dumped healthcare share Lanka Hospitals after several days of speculative buying. The share plummeted 24 percent on Friday.

The day's turnover was 3.18 billion rupees, well above last year's average of 2.4 billion and this year's 2.7 billion.

Friday's total volume was 138.7 million, against a five-day average of 145.4 million. The 30-day and 90-day average trading volumes were 101.2 million and 115.6 million. Last year's daily average was 67.9 million.

The rupee ended weaker at 109.98/110.00 a dollar from Thursday's close of 109.94/95 on importer dollar demand, dealers said.

© Reuters

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