Sri Lanka's security forces held an unprecedented parade in Jaffna, on the country's 69th Independence Day. 

Sri Lanka's military is thought to have committed mass atrocities on a large scale and maintains a heavy presence in the Tamil-dominated North-East of the island. Impunity prevails 8 years after the end of the armed conflict and suspected war criminals remain amongst the forces in the Tamil region.

The South Indian film industry successfully ensured that the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) held in Colombo between June 3 and 5 was flat, with most of the big stars giving it a miss.

The event has been marred by controversy and protests since the organisers announced the host country, which has been accused of killing civilians and engaging in an ongoing genocide.

The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), Tamil Nadu Theatre-Owners Association and Tamil Nadu Producers’ Council are some of the associations who raised the outcry against holding IIFA in Colombo.

They requested that the event be postponed and the venue changed, and threatened to boycott the movies of the stars that do attend IIFA. While the event was not cancelled, many Bollywood stars and personalities heeded the call and avoided Colombo.

A statement issued by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce had said that southern stars and filmmakers would boycott all Bollywood stars who attend the IIFA in Colombo.

They have been campaigning against holding the event on the island due to the killing of civilian Tamils and the commission of war crimes by the government during the conflict between Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers.

The film industry in the state of Tamil Nadu stayed away from the event with superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajnikanth, actors Vijay, Ajit and Surya and director Mani Ratnam also giving it a miss.

Many of the Tamil Nadu actors had genuine work compulsions, but some reports suggested that a few of the actors feared they would lose out on popularity in film-crazy Tamil Nadu by attending the event.

However, many of the actors took a principled stance against the awards being held in Colombo, with Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth openly calling for the boycott of the event.

At the forefront of the protests against the hosting of IIFA in Colombo were the recently-found groups Naam Tamilar (which staged a demonstration in front of Amitabh Bachchan’s bungalow and Salman Khan’s house) and Iyakkam (meaning ‘movement’), and the Vaiko-led party MDMK. The main Tamil Nadu parties, DMK and ADMK, did not express their stand on the issue.

Iyakkam staged a demonstration in front of Kamal Hassan’s house, asking him to resign as chairman of Ficci’s Media & Entertainment Business Conclave. This, despite the actor saying he had no intention of going to Sri Lanka.

“The event was earlier scheduled to be held in Seoul in South Korea. We do not know why it was shifted to Sri Lanka. But we are sure the event would not have been shifted without Ficci or Kamal Hassan knowing it,” Iyakkam’s Thirumurugan Gandhi told DNA.

“We strongly object to Ficci describing Sri Lanka as New Sri Lanka, when international human rights forums have accused the Lankan government of war crimes.”

Few stars

Many of Bollywood’s famous names chose to stay away from the Colombo event. While they often cited work commitments, there was little doubt that the issues raised by the southern Indian film fraternity had been heeded.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan stayed away from the event, even though he is the brand ambassador for the IIFA. The 67-year-old megastar had skipped the IIFA weekend amidst protests from the Tamils in India and the southern film industry.

The Big B, who had visited Colombo in April to announce the IIFA, chose to shoot a promotional advertisement for Gujarat tourism instead of attending the function. Responding to a fan’s query on his Twitter, Amitabh Bachchan said: “I will not be attending IIFA.”

The Bachchan family had declared their absence from the awards soon after the controversy over the venue began. Actors Abishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan cited work commitments and gave their excuses. “I didn’t skip the IIFA awards. I have been shooting in Istanbul for one of my films called ‘Game’ so unfortunately I couldn’t attend it,” Abhishek said in a message to his fans.

Similarly actor Shah Rukh Khan, who was supposed to be the star attraction at the IIFA awards, gave the event a miss. “I don’t think I will be able to come for IIFA…too much work here, will miss Colombo,” he said in a Tweet announcing his decision. Apart from upping the function’s star power, he was also supposed to captain the Bollywood team in a friendly cricket match against the Sri Lankan team.

Other film personalities who did not attend included Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Karan Johar and John Abraham.

However, some Bollywood stars did attend the event, and FEFSI is calling for a boycott of their future films. Salman Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Anil Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Ritesh Deshmukh, Boman Irani and Sanjay Dutt were among the Hindi actors who made it to Colombo.

Only Salman Khan commented on the protests surrounding the hosting of the event in Sri Lanka. "We are here to do something good, something that will help people. Why should anyone talk about negative things?" he was quoted by Times as saying.

Sinhala protests

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was ecstatic about hosting the awards ceremony in his country, reported the Tonight entertainment site, but even he stayed away from the final awards night, as did many Sinhala film personalities.

"Thank you IIFA for choosing my country as the venue for this extravagant event. It will help us in bridging the gap between the two nations in a simple manner," Rajapaksa was quoted as saying.

But the Sri Lankan President’s absence from the event on Saturday June 5 was noted. President Rajapaksa was scheduled to attend the award show as the chief guest.

While a section of the local media maintained that Rajapaksa did not attend the event as the majority of the Bollywood stars did not make an appearance at a brunch hosted by him on the Saturday morning, the President's Secretariat insisted that he was never scheduled to attend the event.

“Certain media had reported that President Mahinda Rajapaksa kept away from International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards' night along with almost all of Sri Lanka's cinema personalities," a statement from the Secretariat said, adding that the "news is without any basis of truth as the President was not scheduled to be present at this event".

"There is also an attempt to seek credibility for this incorrect news item by stating that: 'No formal reason was given for the President's non-appearance despite his security detail being present at the venue last night'."

"The security detail present at the venue was that provided for the First Lady Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa," the release added.

Sri Lanka Prime Minister D M Jayaratne, President's wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa and his son Namal Rajapaksa had attended the glittering function on Saturday night.

Separately, many of the island’s local film personalities also avoided the final night. They were “miffed with organizers” over the “step-motherly” treatment they received reported The Hindu.  

“A number of representatives of the local media were not issued passes by the organisers to cover the event and the well-known film personalities of Sri Lankan cinema were asked to collect their entry passes only at the last minute,” the paper reported.

Several local artistes complained they were “hurt” and “angry” at the way the organisers treated members of the Sri Lankan Film and Art industry giving top priority to the Indian artistes, reported the Sunday Times.

“Sri Lanka's cinema queen Malini Fonseka, ranked one of Asia's 25 best actors ever in a CNN survey, a position none of the Indian Bollywood stars present in Colombo could boast of, said she was not attending the event for health reasons,” the paper reported.

“The popular actress, now a Member of Parliament, however, was hale and hearty earlier in the day to attend the tea party hosted by the President for the visiting Indian stars at ‘Temple Trees,” the weekly said.

It quoted the local actor and former MP Ravindra Randeniya as saying that invitations to local media personalities were sent to the local artistes in an “insulting manner.”

Financial disaster

The event itself was deemed a financial disaster for the government, with estimates of the cost to the government ranging from Sri Lankan Rs. 500 million to 850 million.

The government had gone out of its way to make IIFA-2010 a big success in the hope that it would serve as a good platform to showcase post-conflict Sri Lanka as the ideal destination for tourism and investment, but at an extravagant cost.

Sri Lanka spent a total of Rs 1.1 billion Sri Lanka rupees to host the awards reported The Sunday Times, of which over Rs 850 million has been provided by the Treasury while the balance came from sponsors.

The Sri Lankan government had spent over Sri Lankan Rs. 500 million on the event and made available most of the facilities to the organisers at no or minimal charge, reported The Hindu.

Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told a press conference that the government spent Rs 850 million of which Rs 400 million was approved by the Treasury as an expense. He added that another Rs 400 million was spent on renovating the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium including fixing a new air conditioning system and cushioning around two thousand seats in the auditorium.

“But he didn’t reveal that this part of the expense came as a loan from a state bank,” noted The Sunday Times.

Additionally the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) spent Rs. 75 million to prepare the city through repairing and renovating roads and roundabouts, a senior CMC official. The Ceylon Electricity Board and the Defence Ministry bore the cost of providing power to the Stadium and handling security arrangement for celebrities.

Ongoing controversies

Meanwhile, the actress Asin is in potential trouble, after the shooting for her next Hindi movie ‘Ready’ was shifted from Maritius to Sri Lanka.

Her co-star Salman Khan was allegedly “so impressed by the scenic beauty of the country” that he requested the producers to change the shoot location from Mauritius to Sri Lanka, according to Galatta.com.

As a result, the south Indian film industry has allegedly decided to launch a non-cooperation motion against the movie.

Asin’s next Tamil movie, ‘Kaavalkaran’ opposite Vijay is due out in the Tamil cinemas soon, and the reaction of FEFSI is awaited.

Separately, the screening of Mani Ratnam's ‘Raavana’ resumed in Batticaloa despite threats by an unidentified group demanding the boycott of the bilingual film.

A cinema hall planning to screen the movie was torched by the group, which is protesting Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya and director Ratnam's decision to stay away from the IIFA awards held in Colombo after South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce called for a boycott of the event.

The group had sent hand bills to cinema owners, saying that the boycott of the IIFA event by Indian artistes had brought disrepute to Sri Lanka and therefore retaliation was just and appropriate.

"The group, which threatened the cinema owners in Batticaloa, has been arrested after we intervened in the matter," a Sri Lankan Film Corporation official said as he announced that the movie would be screened.

They were jailed in Indonesia, stranded in Romania and rescued by Australia off the coast of Sumatra, all in the last eight months.

So it was a big relief to Nisanth Segaranantham and his friends when they landed in Oakland last month. The 27-year-old Sri Lankan refugee is savoring his freedom to roam the city, shop for his own groceries and look for a job.

"We can go anywhere, anytime, anyplace, no problem," he said.

Segaranantham was one of 78 Sri Lankans who crowded aboard an Indonesian fishing boat and set sail for Australia in October. As ethnic Tamils, they faced discrimination in Sri Lanka and hoped to find political asylum in Australia. But the ship began sinking on the way.

"We thought we were going to die," said Rajmohan Sivabalasundaram, 25. "We phoned to Australia, emergency section, and asked them to rescue us. More and more water was coming inside the boat. "... We tried to close the hole. Two times, we closed the hole."

Australia did send help — a customs patrol vessel called the Oceanic Viking. Once rescued, however, the Sri Lankans refused to get off the customs ship and demanded assurance Australia would welcome them to its shores. Some threatened to jump to their deaths in the Indian Ocean if they did not find refuge.

The result was a weeks-long diplomatic row between Indonesia and Australia, neither of which wanted to take custody of the migrants. So controversial was the impasse that it dented the popularity of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and fueled a war of words in the Parliament. A weak response, Rudd's critics said, would send hundreds more asylum-seekers sailing to Australia in rickety boats.

That controversy continues, but Segaranantham and Sivabalasundaram are not looking back. They are thrilled to be in the United States.

"I need a job and I want to study, learn English and study," Segaranantham said.

He and five other Sri Lankan refugees, all 20-something bachelors, arrived at Oakland in late May. Three of them had spent weeks last fall aboard the Oceanic Viking. Another was picked up by the Indonesian Navy in a separate boat rescue last year.

With the help of the International Rescue Committee, which contracts with the government to assist incoming refugees, they settled in two apartments in Oakland's San Antonio district and are quickly getting adjusted.

"We have to eat. So we learn how to cook," said Sivabalasundaram, who is mastering seafood dishes that remind his friends of family meals in Jaffna, their hometown in northern Sri Lanka.

They never intended to come to America, but their failed trip to Australia put them on a roundabout path to Oakland. At first, they thought Australian authorities would take them to Christmas Island. A remote prison complex there houses many of Australia's asylum-seekers.

Instead, after a month aboard the Oceanic Viking, they ended up in a detention center in the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pinang, where the United Nations refugee agency looked for places that would take them in. The United States accepted 28 refugees, granting them permanent legal residency in the country. Others were sent to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe. Those heading to North America spent several weeks waiting in a refugee camp in Romania, a transit point where international organizations determined their final destination.

"We searched San Francisco on Google. We thought it was a beautiful place, so beautiful," Sivabalasundaram said. "We'd like to stay here permanently. We don't like Sri Lanka."

Sri Lanka's 25-year-old civil war ended in May 2009, when government forces defeated the Tamil Tigers, whose rebel forces had waged a brutal guerrilla war to create a separate state. Tens of thousands of people died since fighting began in 1983.

Ethnic Tamils, who represent less than 20 percent of the Sri Lankan population but are a majority in the north, were often caught in the middle – especially young men suspected of being rebels. Humanitarian groups say they still face persecution.

"The government says the war has ended, but Tamil people did not get freedom," Sivabalasundaram said.

Of the six friends in Oakland, three lost their fathers to violence at an early age. One has a brother who disappeared five years ago. Segaranantham was 6 when he witnessed his father shot and killed at the family's grocery shop.

"At that time, so many Tamils were killed," he said. "So many of our friends have lost their fathers and elder brothers."

The East Bay is home to just a few hundred Sri Lankans today, but some of those here say they will welcome the refugees – even if their families were on opposite sides of the ethnic conflict back home.

"Almost everybody who's immigrated, who left the island since 1970, it wasn't directly because of the war, but that's a big part of it. It's really limited the opportunities," said Oakland rapper Ras Ceylon, 29, who was born in Los Angeles to Sri Lankan parents.

California is home to nearly one-third of the roughly 30,000 Sri Lankan immigrants in the United States, with most living in Southern California, according to census estimates. Many belong to Sri Lanka's ethnic Sinhalese majority. Even in a new country, Ceylon said, some Sinhalese still harbor negative feelings about Sri Lankan Tamils, and vice versa, divisions he believes are rooted in the British colonial occupation of the island.

Ceylon, whose real name is Sanjev Desilva, comes from a Sinhalese family but sympathizes with Tamil people who suffered because of the war. He said he wants to help out the Oakland refugees.

"There's 2,000 years of history of us living together peacefully," he said. "People are people."

CHINA has loaned US$290 million (S$405 million) to the Sri Lankan government to build an airport and expand the island's railway network, according to Sri Lanka's foreign ministry.

The Export-Import Bank of China loaned $190 million to construct a second international airport in Sri Lanka's south and $100 million to develop the island's railways.

The loan agreement was signed in Beijing last week and the two countries also discussed more funding for highways in the island's war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Officials in India, Sri Lanka's neighbour and China's rival, fear Beijing is trying to undermine Delhi's influence in the region through its economic assistance.

India, for its part, has just announced a credit of $70m to help upgrade Sri Lanka's southern railway line. The two countries are vying for contracts in Sri Lanka following the end of more than 20 years of civil war.

However, analysts say India is playing a losing game.

Sri Lanka successfully played off its larger neighbours against each other during the war to obtain military and monetary assistance needed to sustain the war. However since the end of the war, although Sri Lanka praises India as its closest ally, China has won all the key development projects in the island clearly indicating Sri Lanka has strategically aligned itself with China for political and economic support in the post war period.   

The new airport will be near a vast sea port at Hambantota, which is largely being funded by the Chinese government's lending arm, the Export-Import Bank. Both projects have the same Chinese state-owned company as contractor, says the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka received further funding assistance from China to build a flood protection system for parts of the capital Colombo, a government minister said.

Colombo suburbs of Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Maharagama, Kesbewa and Moratuwa will be protected from storm water flooding by the project, minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said.

The 6,800 million rupees (59 million US dollar) project will be financed with a loan from China Construction Bank.

China, which is a key military and political ally of Sri Lanka, loaned the island $1.2 billion in 2009.

The projects Beijing is financing in Sri Lanka include a host of road improvements in the formerly war-torn north, a huge theatre in the capital and coal power plants.

Sri Lanka's Election Commission has turned down the demand for presence of foreign poll observers at the counting centres for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

The demand was made by some opposition parties including United National Party (UNP) which said that such a presence would ensure accuracy in election results. The opposition request comes in the backdrop of allegations of malpractices in the vote count for Presidential elections.

Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake did not outright reject the proposal but said that the political parties should have made such a request on the nominations day.

The main Opposition United National Party (UNP) has sent a written request to the Election Commissioner asking for the presence of foreign poll observers at the counting centres to ensure accuracy of election results.

Meanwhile, Rohana Hettiarachi, Director of People's action for Free and Fair elections (PAFFREL), said the organisation has sent several letters and reminders to the EC regarding the appointment of observers at the forthcoming general elections without avail.

"The Elections Commissioner did not even dwell on the subject, it was pointed out, the UNP website claimed.

There is little doubt the war crimes issue would have any impact on this parliamentary election. The April 8 election has nothing serious on its platforms. It’s all about athletes, film stars, cricketers, journalists and also lumpens, and more about these “wonderful” personalities.

What is nevertheless important is how the Rajapaksas would avoid facing war crimes investigations. This leads to the question whether General Fonseka would play a role in complicating the situation. The issue of war crimes and crimes against humanity is up again with UN Secretary General (SG) Ban Ki-moon deciding to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka.

“I made clear to President Rajapaksa that I intend to move forward on a group of experts which will advise me on setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability concerning Sri Lanka,” Ban Ki-moon told the media in New York. He qualified his reference on Sri Lanka by saying, “I had a frank and honest exchange of views with the President.”

That accountability Ban Ki-moon talked of, concerns possible breaches of international humanitarian law or abuses of human rights carried out during the final phase of the war against the LTTE. The worst affected in this war were women and children. A sneaked camera by British Channel Four into the wired IDP camps in Vavuniya in August 2009 that then held over 250,000 displaced Tamil people, revealed the agony and humiliation young girls and women underwent with interrogating male security persons. Channel Four again topped that story with the now controversially famous video clip they aired which claims, stripped and unarmed youth were shot to death at close range. Certified as authentic footage by three international experts, the case against Sri Lanka on war crimes gained a new impetus.

What Ban Ki-moon politely wraps up as “accountability” is all about those war crimes touted once more in international human rights circles and by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navenetham Pillai.  Yet the SG is considered as lacking “a moral voice and authority.”

“Another example of weak handling from the Secretary-General’s side is the war in Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General was a powerless observer to civilians in their thousands losing their lives and being driven from their homes……..the Secretary-General’s moral voice and authority have been absent,” says a Norwegian diplomatic report in 2009 August, stamped “highly confidential” by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, but “leaked” to a leading Norwegian news paper, the Aftenposten.

Written by Norwegian deputy ambassador to the UN, a senior career diplomat Ms. Mona Juul, the highly confidential but damning report notes with a dry tone, “at a time when solutions by the UN and multilateral agencies are more necessary than ever to resolve global conflicts, Ban and the UN are conspicuous in their absence.”

It was obvious therefore the Sri Lankan government and the President would reject the SG’s decision on Sri Lanka and its accountability. President Rajapaksa was reported as having told Ban Ki-moon that the SL position on the proposed advisory panel would be sent in writing. Now it is said, by no other than the SG himself that the proposed advisory panel will only be appointed after Under Secretary General of Political Affairs Lyn Pascoe makes an early visit to Colombo, a visit he was expected to make in February, but never did.

The UN and its SG are an important factor in taking Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as Sri Lanka is not a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In fact, none of the SAARC member countries except Afghanistan have signed the Rome Statute that has 110 state parties. The ICC can only initiate proceedings against citizens of state parties that have signed the ‘Rome Statute.’ Therefore the Sri Lankan case has to be referred to the Hague based ICC by the UN Security Council.

The Indian “People’s Union for Civil Liberties” (PUCL) argued this position in its in early May, 2009 addressed to all members of the Security Council (SC) requesting the SC to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It is often said and the French diplomat at the UN, Gerard Araud had gone on record telling “Inner City Press” that the UN and the SG have been slow in taking up Sri Lankan issues due to pressure from member countries. First is India and then China.

The Indo – China rope could be strong enough for President Rajapaksa to hold tight in the UN. But the issue of war crimes and crimes against humanity does not stop with UN and other international lobbying. The Rajapaksa regime has created its own “devil” at home by targeting their former Army Commander turned common opposition presidential candidate against Rajapaksa. The two have gone beyond any possibility of compromise with General Fonseka now detained and investigated upon, for breach of army law and possible indictment on other issues in a civil court.

This egoistic conflict may not end the way the Rajapaksa regime would want it to end, if on April 8, a sizeable number of Colombo voters decide to elect Fonseka to parliament. While his image as a war hero and as a man with integrity had been badly chewed up with regular news reports to the contrary, he still has a sympathy vote that may elect him to parliament. That would not be something the Rajapaksas would be able to handle to their advantage with media campaigns.

If elected, his bitter animosity frothing in continued detention, may prompt him to use parliamentary privileges to make statements against his former friends adding more fuel to international lobbying. His statements on war related crimes if made in parliament, would not be  retractable as those made to the media. What then would this government do as damage control?

Accusations and counter accusations for sure would provide more ammo for international lobbying against Sri Lanka. But what purpose, what satisfaction would it be for all those innocent Tamil people, who lost all things dear to them in their hard earned life? To at least those 300,000 Tamil civilians who were herded into barbed wire camps, without basic facilities and with no privacy and safety? For how long would they have to wait for any justice to be meted out, as the world calls for war crimes investigations?

Former Army General and presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, was produced before a secret court martial and charged with preparing to challenge President Rajapakse in the January presidential election, whilst in the army and violating regulations for purchasing military equipments during the war.

Engaging in politics whilst in uniform is illegal in Sri Lanka.

Fonseka has denied all charges against him and claims that "none of the accusations are true." President Rajapaksa, he says “is jealous of me as I got more votes than him although he rigged [the election] he knows that I can challenge him... but I will never give up."

Meanwhile, President Rajapakse ruled out any chance of a military pardon for  Fonseka. In an interview with Singapore’s Straits Times, he dismissed Gen. Fonseka as a “fool” and ruled out an early pardon for his rival.

"But if I pardon him what about army discipline? What about the court martials of other officers? What can I do? This is the British law. They gave it to India and us," Rajapaksa said.

"Fonseka himself put thousands of soldiers under court martial. At one time the figure was 8,500. I shouted at him and I had to release them." Rajapaksa added.

Questioned about the alleged coup plotted by Fonseka, Rajapakse said: "There was something going on. I cannot discuss all details as inquiries and legal proceedings are on."

Fonseka's court martial was conducted by a panel of 3 military officers, all of whom were previously subordinates of the former general. The hearing has been adjourned until April 6 as the officers themselves disputed the validity of the panel for both cases, arguing that they are not clear on whether it is legal for the panel to preside over both hearings.

The neutrality of the panel was also questioned as two of the three military judges had previously been disciplined by him. The third officer is a close relative of Gen. Fonseka’s replacement as head of the Army, who also initiated the court martial.

Media was excluded and only given limited information.

"This is very bad. This is the first time in Sri Lanka's history that an army commander has been court-martialled," Mr Fonseka's wife, Anoma, told The Independent last night from Colombo.

"A year ago he was the most popular army commander in the world and now [they say he is] just like a terrorist."

The spokesperson for Gen. Fonseka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has accused the tribunal of delaying tactics.

"The army judges did not wake up this morning and discover that they have been appointed to both courts," the spokesman said. "They knew it from the day they were appointed." Dissanayake said, adding this is a ploy to prevent Gen. Fonseka from contesting in the forthcoming general elections.

Gen. Fonseka was arrested in February, on dubious charges. Critics say that his statements over war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan forces is the real reason behind his arrest, but the government has consistently denied this and has said that Gen. Fonseka was planning a coup and the arrest of President Rajapakse.

Since his arrest he has spoken of his fear of being assassinated. In a recent letter smuggled out and handed to British broadcaster Channel 4, Fonseka complained of being denied access to hot water and lack of air conditioning.

The Sri Lankan Government in turn used the opportunity to accuse him of collaborating with the “voice of the Tigers”, Channel 4.

Gen. Fonseka is leading the Democratic National Alliance, which includes various parties including the JVP, at the upcoming parliamentary elections. But with him under arrest it is unclear how the party will be led. Currently his wife Anoma is presiding over party events and reports suggest that she will stand in for him at the general election.

President Rajapaksa has been accused of waging a personal vendetta against the former Army General, and has been urged by the international community to guarantee his safety.

Last month, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon expressed concern over events in a conversation with President Rajapaksa.

A UN statement said Ban "expressed his concern (to Rajapaksa) about recent developments in Sri Lanka", brought up Fonseka's arrest and "urged the government to respect the due process of law and guarantee (Fonseka's) personal safety."

The outcomes of Sri Lanka’s forthcoming parliamentary elections are inconsequential to the island’s future. April’s polls will merely further consolidate the island’s already entrenched majoritarianism and state structures of Sinhala oppression. The emphatic – and utterly predictable - outcome of the Presidential election makes this clear. The Tamils, meanwhile, will continue to resist Sinhala oppression. Moreover, the turn to armed struggle in the seventies came after three decades of increasingly meaningless parliamentary Tamil politics.

Notably, with just over a week to go before the polls, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Mr. David Miliband, has released a video-statement outlining what London considers Sri Lanka’s priorities ought to be “in the months and years ahead”. He began his statement by obliquely criticizing Tamil armed resistance. It was “through politics, … not violence” that “social and economic change occurs,” Mr. Miliband opinioned, adding that “violence doesn’t serve any of the communities in Sri Lanka.”

This is all well and good. But the problem in Sri Lanka, as the Tamils have repeatedly made clear, is the utter impossibility of peaceful change from within the entrenched Sinhala ethnocracy.

To begin with, the Tamil-speaking Northeast accounts for less than thirty seats in the 225-seat Parliament. The Sri Lankan Parliamentary system is thus not intended as a mechanism for resolving contradictions in society, but is deliberately geared towards the perpetuation of Sinhala majoritarianism. Any constitutional change, moreover, needs a two thirds majority – and a popular referendum. And the one thing the Sinhalese are united on is not sharing power with Tamils. Since independence from Britain, the Sinhala people have consistently voted for the party that more convincingly makes the case for advancing Sinhala dominance. The ‘Sinhala Only’ vote of 1956 is emblematic.

Secondly, the state has since shortly after independence been restructured to serve Sinhala interests, which include weakening and dismantling Tamil and Muslim socio-economic capacity. At a basic level, the state civil service has largely been purified of Tamils, especially in its centres of power. The military has been entirely Sinhala since well before the war began in the eighties.

The point of repeating these often-made points is to underline the irrelevance of looking for opportunities for ‘peace’ in gradual changes from within, and especially, in the outcomes of Sri Lanka’s elections: whatever the outcome, for six decades, Sinhala majoritarianism has advanced. In short, the Sinhala state is not just unconcerned by Tamil grievances, its very raison d’etre, as set clearly set out in the constitution, is to ‘protect and foster’ Buddhism’s ‘first and foremost’ place in the island’s social and political life.

Especially in this context, but as ever, the Tamil political parties matter little to the island’s internal dynamics. Thus, even if a free and fair election was possible in this violent ethnocracy, the only purpose served by the Tamil people electing any representatives to Sri Lanka’s Parliament is to represent, yet again, their long-standing political aspirations to the international community. This, lest it be forgotten, was precisely why the people voted so enthusiastically for the then newly formed Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the 2001 and again in 2004.

In this context, rather than engage in hair-splitting debates over possible constitutional models or the definitional nuances of ‘nation’, ‘nationalities’ and so on, aspirant Tamil representatives should, in seeking (re)election, firstly, make clear what the Tamils’ legitimate political aspirations are and, secondly, focus on concrete strategies to secure decisive action by the international community. If they can’t, or won’t, such representatives are not fit for purpose.

Even after sixty years, intensified Sinhala repression has only led to intensified Tamil resistance. This cycle will not be broken from within, but from outside the state’s political and constitutional system. All Tamil actors, including those surviving as extensions of Sinhala rule, know this well. The Tamil armed struggle (the LTTE, lest it be forgotten, was not the only armed movement to emerge) was a vehicle of extra-parliamentary politics.

As conflict-sites all over the world have proved time and again in recent decades, the smothering of armed resistance by overwhelming state violence is no bar to its reignition, especially when no meaningful peaceful means to address grievances and achieve aspirations are available. In other words, as Clauswitz put it, war is the continuation of politics by other means. His dictum also underlines the idiocy of referring to situations such as today’s Sri Lanka as ‘post-war’.

In short, amid Sri Lanka’s ongoing, even deepening, conditions of racialised oppression, international exhortations or demands that Tamils renounce and do not resort to violence are meaningless without concrete, and decisive, external action to defend them and secure their rights against Colombo’s chauvinism.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon plans to setup a panel of experts to advise the world body on "accountability issues" relating to possible human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, Reuters reported quoting UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky.

In a telephone conversation with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday, March 4, Ban informed he intended to "go ahead with the establishment of a panel of experts," Ban's spokesman Nesirky told Reuters.

"He also explained that such a panel would advise him, the secretary-general, on the way forward on accountability issues related to Sri Lanka," Nesirky said.

Rights groups and Western governments are pressing for some kind of accountability for thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of the island's 25-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which aimed to create a separate homeland for the island's Tamils.

Human rights groups have accused Sri Lanka of war crimes during the conflict's final phase and they have demanded an independent probe of the allegations, as has U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial executions Philip Alston.

Alston publicly urged Ban to appoint an international panel to investigate presumptive war crimes in Sri Lanka. These include the urging of LTTE leaders to emerge with white flags, after which they were executed. Ban's chief of staff, the Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar, was a go between conveying the Rajapaksas' message that emerging with a white flag held high would ensure safety.

However, it is not clear if Ban's expert panel would go as far as human rights groups would like, reported Reuters. The concern arises due to Ban's past actions, or the lack of it,  in relation to Sri Lanka and the UN's failure to follow through even on what few commitments it made about Sri Lanka.

Following what even the UN called the "bloodbath on the beach," Ban visited Sri Lanka in May 2009 and issued a statement about reconciliation with the Tamils and accountability for war crimes. But in the months that followed he took no action.

Inner City Press reporting on Ban's inaction over Sri Lanka's activities during the war said "it is important to note that what Ban is belatedly doing about 30,000 deaths in the first half of 2009 is less and later than what he did for 160 deaths in Guinea in September."

Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in International Law, earlier noted that the UN Secretary General has the power to order and publish not only investigations into the violations of member countries in the conduct of war, but also the "entire role played by the United Nations Organization and its Officials," during the wars.

"The previous UN Secretary General Kofi Annan so ordered two separate investigations concerning the roles played by the United Nations during the genocides in Rwanda and Srebrenica, respectively," Boyle noted.

Observers have asserted, however, that ban on media and eviction of international NGOs from battle zones, while the slaughter was in progress, and for months after the conclusion of the battles, have provided enough space for the Sri Lanka Government to destroy material evidence from battle zones that can establish Sri Lanka's culpability in such crimes.

Spokesperson for the US-based pressure group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said, "United Nations has a moral obligation to be more proactive in conducting investigations into war-crimes allegedly committed by member countries that are not signatories to the Rome statute. Non-signatory countries enjoy some level of protection, and options to obtain justice in International Criminal Court (ICC) for victims who suffered egregious rights violations by non-signatory member countries are limited, and available only if the Security Council initiates the investigation, or an "active" prosecutor exercises his proprio motu powers under Article 15 of Rome Statute. However, prosecutor Moreno Ocampo has, in a recent interview at the CNN, expressed reservations on using his own powers to investigate Sri Lanka.

"Non-signatory status does not create a positive right to commit jus cogens norms violations," TAG spokesperson added.

At a time when the future of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), an amalgamation of 4 Tamil political parties is in doubt, several organisations, academics and intellectuals from within Sri Lanka and from the Diaspora have called upon the TNA to maintain unity, enunciate its policies clearly and to be the true voice and champions of Tamil aspirations.

According to Colombo reports, the TNA denying nominations for 9 former members of parliament has led to some of these members joining the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the ruling party and others, the Left Liberation Front led by Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne.

The members who were left out of nomination are said to be Thangeswari Kathiraman, Pathmini Sithamparanathan, M.K. Sivajilingam, N. Sri Kantha, S. Kajendran, S.Jeyanandamurthy, Sivanathan Kishor and T. Kanagasabai, S. Sathasivam.

According to state controlled Daily News newspaper, Thangeswari Kathiraman will be contesting under the UPFA, whilst M.K. Sivajilingam and N. Sri Kantha will be contesting with the Left Liberation Front.

TNA member Suresh Premachandran speaking to Daily Mirror newspaper explained the party position on exclusions stating former MPs S. Kajendran and Pathmini Sithamparanathan failed to live up to expectations of the Tamil people during their period in Parliament, and as a result, they were not given a chance.

“We were not happy with the political performance of Ms. Kathiraman. Her political intentions were clear to us. She failed to remain committed to the TNA policies. So, how can we give her nomination for the second time?” Premachandran questioned.

Former MPs N. Sri Kantha and M. K. Sivajilingam too had not received nominations because they defected from the party at the Presidential election, according to Premachandran.

According to Premachandran, former MP for the Batticaloa district, T. Kanagasabai has declined to contest this time citing health concerns whilst S. Jeyanandamurthy had been out of the country for the last three years, and therefore the TNA had no logical basis to accommodate him on board again.

He also accused Kishor of ‘dilly-dallying’ with the government instead of sticking to the TNA policies in the interest of Tamil people.

Tamil political observers expressed their frustration at the development and noted the importance for Tamil National Alliance to provide strong political leadership and to champion the Tamils’ aspirations for a separate state at this crucial juncture in the history of the island.

The importance of strong Tamil leadership was reinforced by comments made by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse during an interview with the Hindu newspaper on Friday, February 19.

“Soon after these parliamentary elections, I will call all the leaders of the political parties and start talking to them. They must understand that there is no option for them but to talk. I’m the President of the country…they must come and negotiate with me, have a dialogue with me. If they think they can’t cope with me, new leaders will come up and I will have to deal with them.”

Citing Rajapakse’s comments, one Tamil political observer stated that divisions within the Tamil political leaders now would allow Rajapakse to talk to puppets he installs as Tamil leaders and deny any meaningful political solution to the Tamil people.

Realising the importance standing united, several organisations in Jaffna including those of the students and intellectuals have called upon Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to make public its proposed solution for the ethnic issue well before the forthcoming parliamentary election, sources in Jaffna said. The call comes in the wake of rumours that TNA stands divided.

Meanwhile, TNA is also being urged to state their policy clearly as it was done in 1976 in the first National Convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) where the Vaddukoddai Resolution was proclaimed, the sources added.

Most of the TNA parliamentarians are now in Jaffna actively engaged in the selection of candidates and other matters related to the parliamentary election.

TNA parliamentary leader R. Sampanthan and parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran are said to be busy drawing up a solution for the ethnic issue and the organizations want them to reveal the proposed solution before the election, they added.

Some prominent persons among the intellectual community in Jaffna who have intentions of contesting the parliamentary elections are said to be willing to reconsider their decisions if TNA comes out with its proposal for a solution for the ethnic issue, they further said.

TNA is being strongly urged to act on the lines of Vaddukoddai Resolution by all factions in Jaffna peninsula, the sources said.

Meanwhile, in an open letter to TNA leaders, Rev. Prof. Dr. S.J. Emmanuel, the former Vicar General of the Catholic diocese of Jaffna urged the TNA to maintain its unity in being the true voice and champions of Tamil aspirations.

“At a time when Colombo and its collaborators try their best to erase out the national aspirations of Tamils, the Tamil National Alliance has the noble responsibility to maintain its unity in being the true voice and champions of Tamil aspirations”, Rev. Prof. Dr. S.J. Emmanuel, urged an open letter addressed to TNA leaders Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam.

Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance, has announced that it will support former army general Sarath Fonseka in forthcoming presidential elections.

TNA Parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district MP Rajavarothayam Sampanthan on Wednesday January 6 said majority of 18 members of the alliance who were present at lengthy deliberations were of the view that the "only meaningful way" to thwart the desire of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to seek a mandate to hold office for a further term would be urging the Tamils to vote for the joint opposition candidate General (retd.)

Sarath Fonseka.

Sambanthan further added Sarath Fonseka had given "satisfactory" assurances about finding a political resolution to Sri Lanka's ethnic question and promised to consider Tamil demands for a meaningful devolution of power to the provinces, according to the BBC.

"The Tamil people have been itching for a change of regime and the Tamil National Alliance decision is reflective of that desire," Sambanthan told BBC Tamil.

Following TNA’s announcement of support for Fonseka, the Sri Lankan government accused Fonseka of signing a secret pact with the Tamil political party in return for its backing in the upcoming election.

Sri Lanka’s Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene said according to the information they received that agreement contains several conditions such as releasing hardcore LTTE terrorists in the custody, removing all high security zones in North & East, reducing the number of military camps and Police Stations in both provinces, re-merging of North and East provinces and closing of State Intelligence Unit.

Abeywardene said those conditions are very harmful to country’s national security and therefore it is the utmost duty of the Gen. Fonseka to make public that agreement completely, if he is a “clean man” as described by his own camp.

Reinforcing government accusations, one TNA Member of Parliament acknowledged the existence of an agreement in an interview with the state media, claiming that TNA’s support for opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was extended only after getting him to agree to those conditions.

K. Thurairetnasingam told the state-owned Vasanthan FM, a Tamil Radio channel, that Fonseka had agreed to comply with all their conditions and the party signed an agreement with him covering these issues.

However, speaking to reporters, Sambandan said that neither he nor anyone else from their alliance signed any agreement with General Fonseka or with any of his representative.

Whether a secret pact exist or not, neither candidate has detailed their approach to resolving the decades long Tamil national question in their manifesto.

Mahinda Rajapakse’s manifesto promises an undivided state with honorable peace. Rajapaksa’s promise of a honorable peace in his 2006 manifesto led to death of tens of thousands Tamils.

According to his allies, devolution of powers under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution would be Rajapaksa’s political solution to the national problem.

Like Rajapakse, Fonseka also has stayed away from offering political solution and focused normalization, which he labels as “process of national reconciliation”

“I will help all Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese affected by the war. A program of immediate relief measures for war affected persons and areas will be implemented which will also address the burning problems of Tamil speaking persons. All remaining IDPs will be immediately re-settled and the grant for resettlement will be increased to a minimum of Rs. 100,000 per family and assessed upwards based on need.”

“Within the first month I will take steps to register all other persons displaced due to the war and see that they are re-settled without further delay. All detainees in relation to terrorism will be prosecuted, rehabilitated or released. I will promote and foster our Sri Lankan identity based on our ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. I will ensure the freedom of worship without any hindrance or discrimination" states Fonseka’s manifesto.

Although Fonseka’s manifesto details concretes steps to return the war ravaged North-East to some semblance of normalcy, it also proposes continued investment in the Sinhala security the apparatus.

On national security, despite the LTTE being defeated as a conventional fighting force, Fonseka’s manifesto  promises to create a state of the art, highly disciplined professional and committed Tri forces, Police and Civil Defence Force capable of safe-guarding the country and its citizens from external and internal threats and boost naval and coast guard capabilities to thwart smuggling of humans, weapons, drugs and all other illegal activities that compromises national security.

An interview by TNA MP Suresh Premachandran shows that such contradictions have not escaped the TNA.

Speaking to Dialy Mirror newspaper Premachandran said: “We’re not mad to believe that Sarath Fonseka will deliver everything- We believe the parties supporting him will send him in the right path.”

It should not be forgotten, not long ago Fonseka in an interview with Canada’s National Post newspaper said: “I strongly believe that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese, but there are minority-communities and we treat them like our people ... They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things.”

Guards dealt out cruel punishments, while many suspected of links to the LTTE were taken away and have not been seen since

Tamil women interned after escaping the horrors of the civil war in Sri Lanka were sexually abused by their guards who traded sex for food, a British medic has revealed.

Vany Kumar, who was locked up behind barbed wire in the Menik Farm refugee camp for four months, also claims prisoners were punished by being made to kneel for hours in the hot sun, and those suspected of links to the defeated Tamil Tigers were taken away and not seen again by their families.

Kumar, 25, from Essex, was released from internment in September, but has waited until now to reveal the full scale of her ordeal in the hope of avoiding reprisals against friends and family held with her.

They have now been released after the Sri Lankan government bowed to international pressure and opened the camps.

The Sri Lankan government confirmed to the Observer that it had received reports from United Nations agencies of physical and sexual abuse within the camps, but maintained that it had not been possible to substantiate the allegations. It denied that prisoners had disappeared.

In response, a UN spokesman accused Colombo of "doing everything it could" to obstruct attempts to monitor the welfare of the hundreds of thousands interned in the camps.

Kumar, a biomedical graduate, was incarcerated in May in what she describes as a "concentration camp", along with nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians who managed to escape the slaughter which accompanied the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, who had been fighting for 25 years for a separate state on the island.

Working amid heavy shelling in an improvised field hospital, she had spent months helping save the lives of hundreds of civilians wounded as they were caught between advancing government soldiers and the cornered Tigers.

Sri Lanka has consistently denied mistreating the detainees, but Kumar's damning new evidence will bolster the claims of human rights organisations which have repeatedly criticised the government in Colombo.

Speaking at the family home in Chingford, she accused the Sri Lankan government of persecuting Tamils as it sought to round up rebels who had escaped the fighting.

"It was a concentration camp, where people were not even allowed to talk, not even allowed to go near the fences," she said.

"They were kept from the outside world. The government didn't want people to tell what happened to them, about the missing or the disappearances or the sexual abuse. They didn't want anyone to know.

"Sexual abuse is something that was a common thing that I personally saw. In the visitor area relatives would be the other side of the fence and we would be in the camp. Girls came to wait for their relatives and military officers would come and touch them, and that's something I saw.

"The girls usually didn't talk back to them, because they knew that in the camp if they talked anything could happen to them. It was quite open, everyone could see the military officers touching the girls," she said.

"Tamil girls usually don't talk about sexual abuse, they won't open their mouths about it, but I heard the officers were giving the women money or food in return for sex. These people were desperate for everything."

She said prisoners who complained about their treatment were singled out by the guards.

"One time I saw an old man was waiting to visit the next camp and this military officer hit the old man. I don't know what the argument was, but the officer just hit him in the back.

"In the same area people were made to kneel down in the hot weather for arguing with the officers. Sometimes it lasted for hours."

Sometimes white vans appeared in the camp and took people away. White vans hold a particular terror in Sri Lanka, where they are associated with the abduction of thousands of people by death squads.

"They were asking people to come in and take their names down if they had any sort of contact [with the Tamil Tigers]. They did an investigation and then a van would come in and they would take them away and nobody would know after that. I know people still searching for family members."

Kumar said that on arrival at the camp, near the northern town of Vavuniya, she was put in a large tent with several people she did not know. The camp was guarded by armed soldiers and ringed with high fences and rolls of razor wire.

"The first two or three days I was alone there still scare me. When I arrived at the camp I put my bag down and just cried. That feeling still won't go. I just don't want to think about those two or three days in the camp, the fear about what was going to happen to me.

"For the first few days I didn't eat anything. We didn't know where to go to get food. I thought, 'Am I dreaming or is this really happening?' I never thought I would end up in a camp."

Tens of thousands of people were crammed into flimsy tents which provided little respite from the intense heat. Toilets and washing facilities could not cope with the demands and food and water were in short supply.

"You have to bathe in an open area in front of others, which I find very uneasy. I stayed next to the police station, so every day I had a bath with the police officers looking at me, men and women. Everyone can see you when you are having a bath. So I would get up early in the morning about 3.30am, so it was dark," she said.

Kumar was held in the best-equipped part of the camp, but even there conditions were dire.

"It is not a standard a human being can live in. The basic needs like water and food [were] always a problem. Most of the time you were queuing for water.

"The toilets were terrible, and there was not enough water, so we could not clean them. There were insects and flies everywhere. After two or three days of continuous rain, the sewage was floating on the water and going into the tents and everyone [was] walking through it, up to knee height."

She was finally released into the custody of the British High Commission in early September.

The Sri Lankan government says it is aware of allegations of sexual abuse and punishment of prisoners, but denied large-scale abuse.

Rajiva Wijesinha, the permanent secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said "there was a lot of sex going on" inside the camp, but he claimed that most reports involved abuse by fellow detainees.

"I can't tell you nothing happened, because I wasn't there," he said. "Individual aberrations could have happened, but our position is 'Please tell us and they will be looked into'."

He said he was aware of one report from a UN agency, but claimed that establishing the facts was very difficult.

"We received a report that a soldier went into a tent at 11pm and came out at 3am. It could have been sex for pleasure, it could have been sex for favours, or it could have been a discussion on Ancient Greek philosophy, we don't know."