Sri Lanka faces new calls for Tamil inquiry

Simon Tisdall - A year after Sri Lanka's Sinhalese nationalist leadership finished off the Tamil Tigers in a bloody showdown that killed unknown thousands of civilians, calls have been renewed for an independent, UN-led international inquiry into allegations that war crimes were committed during the conflict. But rather than be penalised for its actions, the Sri Lankan government appears to be getting off lightly so far – and to have created a model other repressive regimes may follow.

In a report coinciding with the end of the fighting, the International Crisis Group, a non-partisan NGO, said it had uncovered new credible evidence suggesting that between January and May last year "tens of thousands of Tamil civilian men, women, children and the elderly [were] killed, countless more wounded, and hundreds of thousands deprived of adequate food and medical care, resulting in more deaths".

The report goes on: "The evidence also provides reasonable grounds to believe Sri Lankan security forces committed war crimes with top government and military leaders potentially responsible. There is evidence of war crimes committed by the LTTE [the Tigers] and its leaders as well, but most of them were killed and will never face justice.

"An international inquiry into alleged crimes is essential given the absence of political will or capacity for genuine domestic investigations, the need for an accounting to address the grievances that drive conflict in Sri Lanka, and the potential of other governments adopting the Sri Lankan model of counterinsurgency in their own internal conflicts."

Citing eyewitness testimony, photographs, video, satellite images, electronic communications and documents "from multiple credible sources", the ICG report highlights the alleged shelling by government forces of civilians concentrated in so-called no-fire zones, the "intentional shelling" of hospitals and humanitarian relief operations, similar smaller-scale actions against civilians by the Tigers, and "the execution by security forces of those who had laid down their arms and were trying to surrender".

The Sri Lankan government has strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing during the denouement of the war, and maintains no civilians were killed. Responding in part to international protests, including a critical US state department report and the threat of punitive EU measures, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed an advisory panel of "local experts" to look into war crimes allegations. But the move was widely seen as window dressing, a view reinforced when the panel's secretary, SM Samarakoon, complained it lacked legal powers to investigate fully.

In an apparent bid to pre-empt the ICG and another congressionally mandated US report next month, Sri Lanka announced today it would allow another inquiry by a newly formed "lessons learnt and reconciliation commission".

Speaking in London, Louise Arbour, ICG president and a former chief prosecutor of the international tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, held out little hope that the new inquiry would be adequate or impartial. "This is not a substitute for the incapacity of that government to put its own conduct under independent scrutiny," she said. Arbour dismissed out of hand the government's assertion that no civilians had been killed, and said only an independent outside investigation would suffice.

Given the almost total absence of effective international action to curb or punish the Sri Lankan government, either during the conflict or since it ended, Arbour warned that countries facing violent internal opponents such as Israel, Burma, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Colombia and the Philippines may be increasingly interested in copying the Sri Lankan "force works" model.

Arbour said the model's "ingredients" were deliberate refusal to differentiate between combatants and noncombatants, in defiance of the Geneva conventions; a policy of "keeping the world out" by excluding the media, humanitarian organisations, and foreign officials from the combat zone, so no one could bear witness to what happened; going on the attack as rapidly as possible, employing "absolute scorched earth" tactics; then subsequently denying forcibly and consistently that anything untoward has occurred. By failing to allow an accounting from which reconciliation might flow, Sri Lanka risked renewed conflict in the future, she added.

The ICG report gives one other reason why Sri Lanka's government seems to have got away with it so far: "Sri Lanka co-opted the language of the 'war on terror' from the Bush administration and took it to its limits by insisting there should be no restraints in its fight against the Tigers. A complex political issue was reduced to a problem of terrorism."

© Guardian

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SRI LANKA SLAMMED OVER CIVILIAN DEATHS

Read the full ICG report

The Sri Lankan government killed thousands of its civilians by shelling "no-fire zones" in the last months of the country's decades-long civil war that ended a year ago, an independent group said Monday.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group urged the United Nations and Sri Lanka's aid donors to press for a war crimes investigation into the military offensive that finally crushed the separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

The ICG said the military encouraged hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians to move into government-declared "no-fire zones" and then subjected them to "repeated and increasingly intense artillery and mortar barrages."

"This continued through May despite the government and security forces knowing the size and location of the civilian population and scale of civilian casualties," the ICG charged.

It repeated allegations that government troops also intentionally shelled hospitals as well as aid operations run by international relief agencies.

"The consequences of the security forces' shelling were made substantially worse by the government's obstruction of food and medical treatment for the civilian population," it added.

The report, released on Monday, said Sri Lanka's leaders must be held accountable for the civilian deaths, and it also blamed the Tamil Tigers for war atrocities.

"The substantial body of evidence collected by the Crisis Group since August 2009 offers a compelling case for investigation of the conduct of hostilities and the role of the military and political leadership on both sides," it said.

The ICG said it had collected eyewitness statements as well as hundreds of photographs, videos, satellite images, electronic communications and documents from multiple sources to support the charges.

© AFP

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Sri Lanka Forces blamed for most civilian deaths

Read the full ICG report

By Lydia Polgreen - Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians died in the last, bloody months of Sri Lanka’s civil war, the International Crisis Group said in an investigative report to be released Monday, most of them as a result of government shelling of areas that were supposed to be safe zones.

The report, which cites witness testimony, satellite images, documents and other evidence, calls for a wide-reaching international investigation into what it calls atrocities committed in the last months of the Sri Lankan government’s war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency.

The war ended a year ago, when the Tigers’ top leadership was killed on a narrow strand of beach in northeastern Sri Lanka, capping a two-decade armed struggle by a group that pioneered some of the ugliest insurgent tactics in the world, including female suicide bombers and child soldiers.

Because the government barred independent journalists and most humanitarian workers from the war zone, the death toll of the final months of fighting, when at least 300,000 Tamil civilians were pinned down on a beach, caught between the rebels and government forces, is not known.

United Nations workers counted about 7,000 dead in the last weeks of April, just before the last phase of the fighting, but diplomats, aid workers and human rights activists have long argued that those figures far underestimated the dead and did not include the final weeks of battle. Government officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly denied singling out civilians, and have said that the total number of people killed is much lower.

Sri Lankan officials declined to comment on the report, saying they had not yet seen it.

The report by the Crisis Group, an advocacy organization based in Brussels and Washington that seeks to resolve and prevent armed conflicts, said that despite its promises to protect civilians and aid workers as it made its assault on the Tigers, the Sri Lankan government had bombed relentlessly in areas where it knew unarmed people were present.

“Evidence gathered by Crisis Group provides reasonable grounds to believe that during these months the security forces intentionally and repeatedly shelled civilians, hospitals and humanitarian operations,” the report said. “It also provides reason to believe that senior government and military officials were aware of the massive civilian casualties due to the security forces’ attacks, but failed to protect the civilian population as they were obliged to under the laws of war.”

The report said that the insurgents, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also committed atrocities, particularly in choosing to corral as many people as possible around its fighters, hoping to maximize civilian casualties and force international intervention.

“Their calculation, ultimately an incorrect one, was that escalating civilian casualties would eventually get the attention of the international community to broker a cease-fire so the L.T.T.E. could regroup or perhaps enter negotiations,” the report said, using initials the Tamil Tigers are also known by.

Instead, the Sri Lankan government pressed the rebels to the bitter end. Tamils who tried to escape were killed, children were forced to fight, and the sick and wounded were left to die, the report said.

But it was the Sri Lankan government, the report concluded, that carried the greatest responsibility for the killing.

“All but a small portion of these deaths were due to government shelling,” the report said.

© The New York Times

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A fortnight gone, Tissa not yet pardoned

By Susitha R. Fernando - Two weeks had gone but formalizing the Presidential Pardon granted to senior journalist J. S. Tissainayagam is yet to be finalized. Jailed journalist J. S. Tissainayagam who is on bail is still awaiting the completion of the legal procedure to obtain the President’s pardon issued on him officially.

The Attorney General Mohan Peiris last week said that the procedure with regard to the Presidential pardon on jailed journalist would be finalized during the course of the week. The Attorney General had also said that the pardon would be effected simultaneous with the withdrawal of appeal filed by Tissainayagam before the Court of Appeal.

The AG also assured that it would not be necessary for journalist Tissaiinayagam to go back to prison even though the appeal from which he was bailed, is withdrawn.

“We would workout a way to effect the pardon simultaneous to withdrawal,” AG Peiris had said. When contacted yesterday a senior officer from the Attorney General’s Department said that a meeting had been held with the attorneys of journalist Tissainayagam and pardon would be effected in “a couple of days” from the withdrawal of the appeal from Court of Appeal.

“Once the Appeal is withdrawn necessary formalities will be done to officially handover the pardon,” spokesman who wants to remain anonymous told the Daily Mirror. Exactly two weeks ago, on May 3, External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiries announced that J. S. Tissainayagam would be freed on a Presidential Pardon.

Minister Peiries made this announcement on the World Press Freedom Day at a press conference where a large number of foreign and local media were gathered.

Subsequently the news that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to pardon journalist Tissaiinayagam was given much publicity both locally an internationally.

Tissaiinayagam who was sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment was granted bail on January 11 following an application filed by him. In August 2009 Tissaiinayagam was convicted under three charges of conspiracy and violating the Prevention of Terrorism Act and emergency regulations. Tissainayagam was arrested in 2008 and charged with inciting violence in articles for his magazine. While media rights organizations rallied on behalf of Tissainayagam throughout his arrest and detention, eight media organization including Editors’ Guild on last September wrote to the President urging that Tissainayagam be given a pardon. Last September, Tissainayagam was given an award for courageous and ethical journalism by the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and he was also named the first recipient of the Peter Mackler Award.

© Daily Mirror

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Sri Lanka: Life is still miserable for resettled northerners

By Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe - “When they say we have been resettled, people of this county think that we are living a happy, decent life. But, that’s far from the truth. We are still the under privileged people without proper shelter and proper settlement plan. We shed tears everyday”, say the war victims who are now resettled.

Lakbimanews toured the North to find out how these people have learned to survive after the war came to an end.

Kamala Raja Maidilee, a 28-year-old resident from the Kanda area of Kilinochchi lives with her family in a house that can hardly be called a house. We met her during a journey we took to inspect the situation of the resettled people in Kilinochchi, Mankulam, Kanagarayakulam and Puliyankulam areas, after a year since the LTTE were crushed last year.

“There are four members in my family,” she said, ‘’which includes her mother, father, and her younger brother’’. “My father worked for the Irrigation Department. I passed the A/Ls but did not get sufficient marks to enter the university. My brother passed the O/Ls and he is doing A/Ls now. I worked for some time as a Development Officer in Kanda for the Red Cross. However, as the tensions of war were escalating, we had to live essentially in hiding for two years; we thought that the LTTE would kidnap me and my brother. Now we are safe here. On April 22, 2009, we were asked go to a Displaced Persons Camp. We were given the chance to go back to our villages on the April 29, 2010 after one year. We had to live in displaced camps under several restrictions and we were wordlessly happy when we were told that we would be sent back to our villages. However, it was the worst experience ever, when we returned to the villages. We, in fact, thought that we had come to the wrong place. Our houses remained where they were ... but all were destroyed. We had no place to stay. We only had the 12 aluminum sheets that the government provided; it seemed that the displaced camp was better,” she said tear filled eyes.

The house which was destroyed during the war, was about to collapse any time. It had no doors, windows or a roof. Maidilee lives in this house after having constructing a tiny shelter with the aluminum sheets she received from the government. She lives here with her parents and brother.

“Although my father worked for the government, he didn’t even get a pension. My parents are old now and they are unable to do anything. As my brother is still studying, I have to earn for them. When I was in the displaced camp, I was teaching in a primary school. I was paid Rs.3000 by a NGO and Rs.2000 by the government. Yet, when I left for resettlement, I lost this job.’’

“The roads are built, and we have electricity and telephones. But, these are not the basics; we need employment, proper housing and other facilities. Our dream is to rebuild our destroyed house. How can I do this all by myself?” she said. Having no one to share her grief she looked so helpless. However, she is very happy about the end of the war and goes on to say that the death of Prabhakaran has given them eternal peace.

“The war is now over and we’d rather not talk about it anymore. We had to endure all these troubles as a result of the war and if the war resumes, I will commit suicide,” she recounted her ordeal with this strong remark.

We travelled passing the Omanthai check point on A 9 to see how the resettled people live there. We could sense that these people were striving hard to re build their lives. The displaced community had cultivated their lands and paddy fields being an example to the whole country.

“When we came to the village from the camps, we did not have a place to rest, and we had to find shelter under trees and stones” says S. Jeyaruwan, a 49 year old resident of the Puliyan Kulam- Paraenkulam. We met him at a cement distribution centre.

“We can now live happily in our villages. Even though it was told that we had been resettled, we had no house to stay as our houses were flattened during the war. We were given only 12 aluminum sheets to build our house. How can we re-build a house with only 12 aluminum sheets? We had no toilets or water facilities. At the least, they should have provided us with basic facilities before resettling us.’’ Jeyaruwan was not blaming the government, but pointed out the flaws in the procedures. On the contrary, Jeyaruwan agrees that the people of Vanni are living happily even sans the basic facilities since the war was the big headache. He is also of the view that this state of freedom can be further enhanced by creating employment to the people of Vanni.

House instead cement

We also met Y. Padmarubi, the Grama Niladari of the North Puliyankulam. She was guiding the procedure of distributing cement and mentioned that in her area alone, there were 216 resettlements. “They returned to their dwellings on 5th December last year but they were not provided with sufficient facilities during the resettlement; however now things are falling into places gradually” said Ms Padmarubi.

We also spoke to some people who were in a queue to get their share of cement. When asked what will they do with the cement, one person replied, “Will keep it as it was given to us”, “Will cement my floor”, “Will build a house when I get the sand and stones,” said others...

These answers show that even though they have been provided with cement, they have no plans for real use of the stuff, because they did not have the other building materials.

“How useful it would be if the government had built some houses rather than distributing these cement bags in such a manner” queried Krishnasami, a resident of Mutthumari Nagar in Puliyankulam. He went onto say that this activity could have been well planned with the support of the police or army. He is also of the view that unplanned activities lead to unsuccessful results. “I made a living when some people hired me as a labourer. I am unable to work anymore due to my old age and illness. I have to make a living with the support of another,” said Krishnasami.

According to Sinnasami, his birth place is Matale. He lived at the Wariyapola tea estate when he was young. He came to Vanni to work as his income was not sufficient. He has a good rapport with the Sinhala people from the South and agrees that the people of the North require the support of the people from the South. He also mentioned that the younger generation in the South must take the initiative to work shoulder to shoulder with the people of the North to develop the country.

On a daily basis, on the A 9 Road, there are thousands of vehicles heading towards the North from the South carrying passengers to Nagadeepa and Jaffna. On some weekends, more than 100,000 people travel on this road.

Even though the resettled community built tea kiosks for the travellers, travellers from the south prefer to use the hotels built by the army. We also witnessed how these people of the South walking towards hotels built by the army ignor the small shops run by the replaced community.

© Lakbima News

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Sri Lanka: UN must investigate human rights violations

Amnesty International today called on the United Nations to set up an immediate and independent investigation into the massive human rights violations committed by both government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam forces, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, during the country’s recent civil war. The call came a day before the first anniversary of the end of the conflict (18 May).

The failure to act so far has left victims of human rights violations with no access to justice, truth or reparations. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans displaced at the end of decades-long conflict languish in camps or struggle to rebuild their shattered communities.

Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Asia-Pacific, said:

“The UN never revealed what it knew about the final days of the conflict, acknowledged the scale of the abuse that took place, or pushed for accountability.

“At the end of the war, atrocities against civilians and enemy combatants appeared to be fueled by a sense that there would be no real international consequences for violating the law.”

Instead of investigating and prosecuting those suspected of violations during the war and providing reparations to victims, in the past 12 months the Sri Lankan government has jailed critics and clamped down on dissent.

“Many thousands of civilians died. However, attempts by the government to cover up the full extent of the violations by prohibiting independent monitoring means that the numbers of deaths may even be in the tens of thousands,” said Madhu Malhotra.

One year on, the situation for civilian communities caught up in the conflict shows no sign of improving:
· 80,000 people remain in camps with little access to water, decent sanitation and medical supplies;
· 300,000 displaced civilians who have tried to resettle remain vulnerable and struggle to survive in communities where homes and infrastructure were destroyed;
· Thousands of people detained for suspected links to the Tamil Tigers remain in detention without access to the courts;
· The government continues to extend the state of emergency, restricting many basic human rights and freedom of speech;
· And no meaningful action has been taken to investigate reports of war crimes.

On this first anniversary of the end of the conflict, Amnesty International is focusing worldwide attention on the continuing impunity in Sri Lanka and demanding justice for victims and the families of those killed, with members around the world holding events today and in the coming weeks.

© Amnesty International

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'Setting deadline for resettlement of Tamils is unrealistic': Lankan Foreign Minister

By Naveen Kapoor - Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Professor G.L. Peiris has said that setting a deadline to rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils is "unrealistic".

In an exclusive interview with the Asian News International, the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister spoke in detail about the growing concerns of India on the rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka.

When asked if the Sri Lankan Government has set any deadline for the rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils in its country, Peiris said: "It is unrealistic to talk of deadline."

He said there could be "nothing more destructive of credibility than to set deadlines. I don't think that is the right way to say about it; not to tie yourself with the rigid deadlines."

"In a spirit of goodwill, perseverance, to try hard to do it as soon as possible that is very much the aim of the Sri Lankan government. [While] dealing with its own people, nobody can be more concerned than the Government of Sri Lanka," he stated.

Ironically, last May, just after the defeat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), when the election season had just begun, President Rajapakse had set six-month deadline for resettling the displaced Tamils. However, the Sri Lankan government failed to fulfill its commitment.

The minister further said: "With the help of friendly countries like India" they can do their best for the people, who have suffered so much from the conflict that lasted for so long.

Peiris said: "We started with about 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which is down to less than 50,000 and even out of these 50,000 keep moving in and out. So very considerable progress has been made with regard to that."

Sri Lankan government has come under severe criticism for ignoring and neglecting the human rights of the displaced Tamils, But Peiris disagreed and said: "Government of Sri Lanka is sending food, medical supplies. India has been immensely helpful with regard to that. Recently, they have sent a large quantity of roofing sheet. So the Government of India and other governments have been very helpful in this regard and the humanitarian aspect of things is being catered for it's improving very rapidly."

"The Government of Sri Lanka has an obligation. They are our people. We are determined to do the best we can," Peiris said and added: "I would say, in near future, we would expect them all to be settled." (ANI)

© Sify News

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On Commission and Omission

by Dr. P. Saravanamuttu - The first anniversary of the end of the war approaches and we are into a celebratory heroes’ week. Whilst the regime will not fail to remind us ad infinitum of the great service it did us in defeating the fascist and ferocious LTTE and continue to accrue political capital on account of it, there is no denying the widespread relief felt over the defeat of the LTTE and the end of the war. There is no denying either, that this was achieved through military victory by the armed forces and accordingly, there will be gratitude and appreciation expressed to the armed forces and the political leadership for this and the celebration of victory, year in and year out.

It was a bloody, costly war. Soldiers and civilians alike lost their lives, their limbs and livelihoods. Not every one gave them voluntarily for the unity or unitary status of the country or out of unbridled patriotism. Many civilians had no choice and many of them who signed up to the forces may well have done so because of economic necessity. Yet their sacrifice has played its part in the post-war situation we now find ourselves in.

Is the triumphal pomp and circumstance of the march past the fitting memorial to them too? Is there not a crying need to pay tribute to their sacrifice, that of the civilians in particular, through acts of remembrance that do not require displays of military hardware and re-enactments of battle in this our blessed land of all the great religions of the world? Will there be a call from on high for a minute’s silence and for the believers, at least, will religious leaders hold an inter-faith service of remembrance at Independence Square?

Perhaps, not. Perhaps the regime believes that reconciliation and healing is to be pursued through economic development and the latest commission to be announced – that on Post- Conflict Study and Reconciliation. The terms of reference of the Commission are yet to be announced –likewise the members. From what has been made public, it will also look at allegations of violations of international standards and will be comprised of eminent Sri Lankans at home and abroad.

Sadly, commissions and committees are a dime a dozen in Sri Lanka. Set up with much fanfare, they deliberate, recommend and report, only to be consigned to the dustbin of history or some locked drawer in the presidential secretariat. Take the last commission on human rights entitled the Presidential Commission to Investigate and Inquire into Allegations of Serious Abuses of Human Rights, popularly known as the COI to which was the attached the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP). The IIGEP left in frustration and despair, the COI soldiered on and reported to the President and was disbanded in 2009. Apart from what could only have been selected leaks of its findings to the kept press, victims, witnesses and the citizens of this country are yet to be informed of its recommendations and conclusions. Or take the All Party Representatives Committee, the APRC. It has reported. Apparently, end of story.

The international community bought the APRC and COI as evidence of the regime’s bona fides – in the first instance with regard to a political settlement of the ethnic conflict and in the second with regard to reversing the culture of impunity in respect of human rights violations. The settlement is yet to be mooted and the constitutional reform reported to be imminent, is about the electoral process, removing the time bar on the presidential term and a second chamber. The latter may well have some tangential connection to the APRC deliberations, but as sure as night follows day, it is unlikely to be anything beyond a token gesture to power sharing at the centre. As for the culture of impunity, it is very much in place. What of the brutal slaying of the Trincomalee Five and the ACF atrocity? More recently, why is there no police action on the disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda or on the alleged PSD assault of a journalist of this newspaper?

Given this record, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that this commission along with the Tissanayagam pardon at this point, and the lifting of certain emergency regulations whilst other draconian ones are reinforced to remain in place, amount to yet another attempt to placate the international community, especially those pompous hypocrites from the West and even across the Palk Straits, who harp on rights and governance and other such irrelevant drivel! National sovereignty and the tenets of the “We did it our way” and “Go to hell” foreign policy aside, salvaging GSP+ and not through litigation as well as staving off Mr Moon’s Panel of Experts, have everything to do with this ostensibly human rights friendly, change of face and heart, by the regime.

Whatever the reason, these developments are to be welcomed if they are serious and sincere. Human Rights Watch has referred to the regime’s game of smoke and mirrors to describe its penchant for procrastination amounting to prevarication on this score. Will the regime pull out of its hat, a “home –grown”- much beloved adjective of regime- speak – plucky, sturdy rabbit of a refutation of this charge? There is some hope and one hopes it lies with the eminent Sri Lankans who will be appointed to the commission and on whose eminence and credibility, the credibility of the commission itself, in large part rests.

Is it too much to ask of them to refuse to serve unless the findings of the COI, for one, are made public and demonstrable action taken to reverse the culture of impunity in respect of, at least, the cases that came before that commission?

This may well be seen as an act of defiance. Yet on this first anniversary of the end of the war and with the post-conflict challenge of peace, reconciliation and unity still ahead of us, this may be all that the ordinary victims and witnesses of human rights abuse have – the courage of the eminent -in the absence of official acknowledgement and effective action in respect of their pain and suffering. What remains is to look beyond our shores for relief, truth and justice and risk the charge of undermining national sovereignty – a crime the Defence Secretary is on record as saying, deserves capital punishment.

© Groundviews

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Sri Lanka: Thought crime, torture and kingly fiat

Vidya Cumaraswamy - The detention, trial, imprisonment and subsequent pardon of the journalist Tissanayagam reveals that the rule of law no longer applies in Sri Lanka. Tissanayagam’s almost two and a half year ordeal by law sets out the extent to which the law in Sri Lanka has become an instrument of political and ethnic coercion rather than the guarantor of justice, rights and stability.

After months of mounting international pressure, it appears that Tissanayagam will finally be pardoned by Presidential decree - an outcome that does little to restore faith in the system whilst revealing that Sri Lanka’s legalised capacity for violence and coercion can only be restrained by international intervention.

The conditions of Tissanayagam’s detention as well as the charges that were laid against him violated all the fundamental principles that guarantee the law’s compliance with the principle of the rule of law. Despite all of this Sri Lanka’s legal system delivered a verdict of guilty and in accordance with its own distorted principles sentenced him to twenty years of imprisonment.

Kept in detention for months without charge Tissanayagam and the other Tamil journalists were subject to abuse including the extraction of forced confessions. They were denied proper access to defence and police officers supervised the few meetings the defendants were allowed with their lawyers.

Not only was Tissanayagam finally convicted and sentenced on the basis of a forced conviction, the charges of ‘inciting communal hatred’ were also a clear violation of universally applicable norms regarding the reasonable expression of political dissent.

He was charged on the basis of articles and editorials that appeared in the English language North East Herald that reported on Sri Lanka’s military campaign from a Tamil perspective as a fundamental threat to Tamil lives, security and integrity of the Tamil polity.

Although there was nothing in this that could reasonably be interpreted as inciting communal hatred, it was of course fundamentally at odds with the mainstream Sri Lankan media’s depiction of the war as an epic struggle against terrorism which would finally liberate the Sinhala motherland from the clutches of LTTE separatism.

The legal system’s ability to convict Tissanayagam on the basis of a confession obtained under torture on charges that amount to accusations ‘thought crime’ reveal that Sri Lanka has fully departed from the principles of the rule of law.

The Sri Lankan president’s reported decision to pardon him does not restore legality or a sense of fairness to the conduct of this case. A presidential pardon is not the same as a legal acquittal and Tissanayagam’s life and freedom has ultimately been decided by presidential whim rather than the normal operation of an impersonal but just set of legal mechanisms.

The Presidential pardon echoes medieval forms of justice dispensed as royal patronage and is in keeping with Sinhala leaders’ proclivity for styling themselves as mythical Sinhala rulers.

Rajapakse associates himself with the fabled Duttugemunu, his predecessor Chandrika chose to mark the Sinhala military’s capture of Jaffna in a ‘royal’ style ritual in which she received the Tamil city that was renamed in Sinhala as ‘Yappapatune’. Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s first executive president Jeyawardene penned a treatise entitled ‘Golden Chains’ in which he presented himself as the latest in a 2,000 year line of Sinhala chieftains.

Not only does the pardon fail to exonerate Tissanayagam of the chilling charges of ‘thought crime’, it also fails to address the sinister provision of Sri Lanka’s anti terrorism legislation that leaves Tamils at the mercy of an ethnically biased legal system.

In June 2009 a report by the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association found that Tamils were left ‘unprotected’ in Sri Lanka’s legal system as the legal aid system, funded by the UN, operated a policy of not providing assistance to cases involving terrorism legislation. This has left many Tamils incarcerated for years at a time without hope of legal redress.

In October 2009 for example a Colombo based human rights group found a twenty nine year old Tamil youth in Welikada prison who had been detained for fifteen years, since the age of fourteen, under the terrorism legislation. He had not been charged or brought before a court and had been deprived of fifteen years of his youth for no apparent reason except that he was Tamil. There are possibly countless others in a similar situation.

Tissanayagam’s freedom was finally assured by his international profile which led to sustained pressure on his behalf. Tellingly it was Sri Lanka’s external affairs minister, G. L Pieris, who announced the pardon to the gathered international media. The pardon is clearly an act of Sri Lanka’ international diplomacy, an act made possible by the complete absence of the rule of law as an operating principle in its legal system.

Sri Lanka may hope that pardoning Tissanayagam will ease the international pressure, perhaps reversing the European Union’s suspension of preferential tariffs on the island’s key export, garments. However, the international community can no longer afford to be bought off with such superficial gestures.

Royal pardons have no place in a state that must now grow up and become a stable, inclusive and constitutional democracy. Sri Lanka’s legal, administrative and constitutional systems require a radical overhaul. As the outcome of Tissanayagam’s legal ordeal demonstrates, the only way this can be achieved is through sustained and ongoing international intervention.

© Tamil Guardian

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'Traitors should be given Capital punishment': Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa says the LTTE rump is exploring every avenue to avenge Prabhakaran's killing on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon last May.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says anyone seeking to undermine Sri Lanka's sovereignty should be treated as a traitor regardless of his or her position.

It will be a grave blunder on the government's part to pave the way for the so-called international community to interfere in Sri Lanka, he says.

The Defence Ministry says that any Sri Lankan promoting an agenda which is detrimental to the country is nothing but a traitor who should be ready to face the consequences.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa told The Island in a brief interview that traitors deserved capital punishment and no one should shed crocodile tears over them.

He emphasized that the armed forces had paid a heavy price to bring the LTTE to its knees last May and nothing could be as loathsome as producing officers, who had spearheaded the offensive before an international tribunal.

He said that a recent statement, which had been attributed to Oxford Chancellor Chris Patten as reported in yesterday's issue of The Island, underscored the need to be vigilant to external threats. The last British Governor of Hong Kong is reported having said that the UN should have intervened politically and diplomatically under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Sri Lanka's campaign against the LTTE.

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said that former Army Commander General Fonseka, in the run-up to January 26 presidential election, alleged the Army had executed LTTE cadres, who gave themselves up on the Vanni front. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa said: "Although Fonseka had subsequently said that the Army did not massacre surrendering LTTE cadres, though being ordered by me, it paved the way for international intervention."

Defence Secretary Rajapaksa alleged that those bent on destabilizing the country would now exploit Fonseka's parliamentary privileges to fast track their sinister campaign. Now that terrorists no longer retained a conventional fighting capability, the LTTE rump would strive to isolate the country, he said. The fastest way to achieve their goal was to use MP Sarath Fonseka to justify their baseless allegations, he said. He emphasized that anyone throwing his or her weight behind an anti-Sri Lanka conspiracy would be considered a traitor and people should be na‹ve to believe such behavior could be tolerated.

Responding to a query by The Island, the war veteran said that the conclusion of the war last year had brought a sense of relief to all communities. Although petty minded politicians may not realize the ground situation as yet, in the absence of the LTTE factor, the Opposition would be powerless, he said. The bottom line is that the Opposition may not have an issue big enough to exploit as a rallying point except unsubstantiated war crimes charges.

During the war, interested parties, including the media, had accused the Navy and Air Force, too, of indiscriminate attacks on civilians and in some instances Indian fishermen. Had they bothered to follow the media coverage of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, they would accept Sri Lanka's extraordinary efforts to minimize civilian loss of life. He said that even at the height of the war on the Vanni front, the ICRC was allowed to evacuate the wounded out of LTTE-held territory. He said that the government could have finished off the LTTE in a much shorter time if the military ignored the civilian factor.

© Ministry of Defence - Sri Lanka

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