Sri Lanka has been named as a country where genocide and other mass atrocities are underway or risk breaking out.

                          

The New York-based Genocide Prevention Project, in a report published December 9, includes Sri Lanka as one of eight "red alert" countries.

 

The report also includes a comprehensive list of 33 countries where genocide is a possibility.

 

The report was published to mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nation's convention on the prevention of genocide, and 20th anniversary of the ratification of the treaty by the United States.

 

"Red alert" countries include Afghanistan, and Iraq alongside regions currently experiencing genocidal conflict such as Sudan's Darfur and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

These and Myanmar, Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka all made the list's top eight because they appear in each of the five "expert" indexes.

 

The next 25 "orange alert" countries appear in at least three of the indexes. They include China, Colombia, Philippines and Indonesia as places where ongoing or simmering violence could flare to genocidal proportions.

 

"It is possible to identify early indicators of mass atrocity crimes. But what happens now is the international community sees what's going on, gets paralyzed and, if it acts, really only acts after the fact," said Jill Savitt, project executive director.

Savitt states three factors that are likely to change the "political will" lacking in the past.

 

First, the stated determination of Susan Rice, U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's choice for U.S. ambassador to the UN, to prevent future genocides after witnessing the after-effects of the 1994 Rwanda slaughter.

 

Second, current discussion around the 60th anniversary of the genocide prevention convention, which calls on countries to prevent and punish actions of genocide.

 

And third, the public "guilt" over what occurred in Rwanda and Bosnia, and what Savitt called public "hunger for a response" to the Darfur crisis.

 

Meanwhile, a task force led by Madeleine K Albright, former Secretary of State, and an advisor to Obama and Clinton, released a report on world genocide threats which will likely be used by the Obama administration as a guide post to prevent developing genocides.

 

"Preventing genocide is an achievable goal," the Albright report, released on December 8, says.

 

"Genocide is not the inevitable result of ancient hatreds or irrational leaders. It requires planning and is carried out systematically. There are ways to recognize signs and symptoms, and viable options to prevent it at every turn if we are committed and prepared," the Washington Post said, quoting from the Albright report.

"My husband was a fisherman. About three years ago, when he returned from a fishing trip, somebody checked his identity card and shot him dead," says Jeyarulai Puwanendran, weeping.

 

The single mother, 23, is a resident of Kiran, Batticaloa, in Sri Lanka's eastern region.

 

"I have a four-year-old daughter. I don't get help from the government or anybody else. My parents are the ones who look after me and my daughter. My father is a labourer. They have six other children apart from me," she says.

 

Ms Puwanendran is among an estimated 33,000 women who have been widowed in Eastern Province during nearly three decades of war between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers.

 

Similar stories can be heard all over the east. The case of 30-year-old Vadivel Shanthi, a mother of three young children in a camp for displaced people in Batticaloa, is typical.

 

Her family left their home in Trincomalee district after her husband, a farmer, was shot dead by unidentified people.

 

"One day my husband went to the paddy field but did not return. After seven days his decomposed body was found in a paddy field. I was left with no option other than to hand over two of our children to an orphanage," she says.

 

Women's rights activists argue that widows are still suffering despite the government recapturing the east from the Tamil Tigers more than a year ago.

 

Visaka Dharmadasa, of the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) recently visited the region.

 

She says that fear still prevails in the region and killings continue despite government claims that the area is safer now.

 

The husband of 24-year-old mother Karthiga, Selvaratnam Ramesh, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at their home in Valaichchenai, Batticaloa, on 27 November.

 

"It was about 7.30pm in the evening. I was at home with my husband. Suddenly I heard a sound like a cracker exploding. When I looked at my husband, he was on the floor with gun wounds," she said.

 

"My husband was a mason. We did not have a penny when he was killed. I have a seven-year-old daughter and I am now seven months pregnant. I don't know how to get on with my life," she says.

 

Although the government has identified the problem, activists say it lacks the commitment to help these women to rebuild their lives.

 

A spokeswoman for the chief minister of Eastern Province is reported to have told the AWAW that while the provincial council recognises the urgency it does not have funds to implement projects to help it.

 

"She expressed serious disappointment that no money was allocated, though many projects are planned to uplift the lives of these women," said AWAW spokeswoman Visaka Dharmadasa.

 

The government, however, sees things differently.

 

According to Nation Building Minister Susantha Punchinilame, action is being taken to help widows, the overwhelming majority of whom are under 30.

 

Basil Rajapaksa, the younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is a senior adviser to the president on a plan to provide more assistance to the bereaved women in the east.

 

"Actually this problem was only recently highlighted and we are currently conducting a study on the situation and the figures relating to widows," he says.

 

"The authorities are committed to helping thousands of widows," Mr Rajapaksa says.

 

"We are working to help them find opportunities for self-employment, foreign jobs and jobs in the livestock and agricultural sector."

 

Mr Rajapaksa insists that the government is co-ordinating with the Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) on development work.

 

"This year, for example, the EPC approved the biggest development budget from the money offered by the government and the foreign donations transferred through the government," he says.

 

Mr Rajapaksa says he hopes that the provincial authority will receive more funds as the EPC re-establishes a financial and tax system in the area and many currently defunct industries restart work.

 

But critics such as Ms Dharmadasa argue that there are few positive developments in recent months for widows in the east.

 

Widows are seriously affected by the war, she says, and are left to cope without official help.

Political leaders of Tamil Nadu condemned Sri Lanka Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka for his derogatory comments on Tamil Nadu leaders in an interview to a Sri Lankan state-owned newspaper.

 

The Sri Lankan army chief had labelled Tamil Nadu leaders, who were seeking a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, as 'political jokers' and accused them of being 'corrupt'.

 

Fonseka's comments to the Sunday Observer newspaper followed an all party delegation to New Delhi headed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi seeking a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

 

Fonseka had expressed confidence that the Indian government "is not interested in a ceasefire in Sri Lanka" as it has listed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.

 

He said that the Indian Government would never influence Sri Lanka to restore the ceasefire with the LTTE and it would not listen to the "political jokers" of Tamil Nadu whose "survival depends on the LTTE".

 

When asked by the newspaper reporter about allegations of Sri Lankan security forces' disregard for civilian casualties, Fonseka replied: "These allegations are made only by the corrupt politicians in Tamil Nadu who have been bribed by the LTTE. Though they are very much aware that the civilians are not getting killed in any of these military operations they try to utter some words on behalf of the LTTE as their survival depends on the LTTE."

 

"This is the time for them to realise the truth. And they should also realise their attempts to save the LTTE would not be successful as the LTTE is on the brink of extinction. Most importantly, they should realise that LTTE is an internal problem of Sri Lanka and need to honour the sovereignty of Sri Lanka."

 

Warning that the LTTE's separate state ideology is a "threat" to India, the Sri Lankan Army chief said: "If you consider the overall thing, the LTTE's separate state ideology is a threat to India, because this ideology will spread in Tamil Nadu too. It is now proved by Tamil Nadu by staging protests against the Indian government and seeking help to take the side of the LTTE".

 

This is not the first time for the SLA commander to come up with such remarks.

 

In an interview to Canada's National Post in September this year, Sarath Fonseka had said he "strongly believed that Sri Lanka belongs to Sinhalese," and that the other communities "must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

 

The SLA commander failed to extend a public apology despite his comments drawning protest from many political quarters.

 

Meanwhile, Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi president Thol. Thirumavalavan urged the Indian government to change its foreign policy on Sri Lanka. The government should recognise the establishment of Tamil Eelam, which alone would be the durable solution to the ethnic question, the leaders argued.

The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai.

 

The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.

The focal issue of the delegation from Tamil Nadu was to request the Indian government to take immediate steps to stop the war waged by the Colombo government against Tamils.

The Indian government is on record for abetting the war in the island by providing arms, training, intelligence, technical assistance and even personnel to the Sri Lanka government.

On earlier occasions at least as a matter of formality the Indian Establishment used to come out with the rhetoric that there was no military solution to the crisis. But nowadays even the rhetoric is conspicuously missing.

The Tamil Nadu delegation on Thursday was a result of an extraordinary uprising of angered masses in Tamil Nadu, in support of Eezham Tamils, demanding the Indian government to take action to stop the war and killing of Tamils in the island immediately.

The delegation was also a follow up of unanimous resolutions enacted in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, Human Chain Protest, relief fund collection and two All Party Meetings, initiated by the Chief Minister.

Earlier on Tuesday, 34 Members of Parliament from Tamil Nadu and Puduchery submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister to take effective measures to stop the war in Sri Lanka against ‘civilian Sri Lankan Tamils’.

When the delegation met, the Indian Prime Minister silently listened to them but didn’t respond anything positively, journalistic circles said.

A Congress member of the delegation while agreeing that something has to be done expressed concern about ‘LTTE sympathisers’ getting benefited by the campaign, it is learnt.

Other members countered him by saying that they had gone there only to convey the will of the people of Tamil Nadu and not to talk about the LTTE.

Another member of the delegation reportedly pointed out to the Prime Minister about the need for always upholding a universal etiquette not to encourage war and to call for stopping it. But the PM was silent, it is said.

It was Kalignar Karunanidhi who finally suggested the PM to send Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo for talks. It was accepted by the PM but what to talk was not specified. It looked as though the decision was primarily meant for giving an impression that there was some outcome from the delegation, said media circles.

Later on that day, speaking to media after a brief bouquet presentation meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Mr. Karunanidhi said that Mr. Pranab Mukherjee will take up the matter with the Colombo government, but media persons didn’t fail in noticing the lack of zing in the countenance of the Chief Minister.

The people of Tamil Nadu may have to further pressurize the governments of Chennai and Delhi said D. Pandian, the state secretary of CPI in a press meet on Friday after returning from Delhi.

Tamil Nadu people and politicians have every right to demand the Congress President Sonia Gandhi to stop playing puppetry and to come out open on the question of Eezham Tamils was the comment on the sidewalks by a politician from Tamil Nadu.

Media circles in Tamil Nadu indicate that the post November 26th scenario in India, the stand off between India and Pakistan, millions of people taking to streets in the Indian cities protesting the Mumbai killings, the mood created by the visiting US and Russian dignitaries – all have considerably diminished the importance of the plight of Eezham Tamils.

They also indicate the need for Delhi to woo Colombo in case of an escalated crisis between India and Pakistan. One may guess what Pranab will be actually talking in Colombo.

How the Eezham Tamil struggle is an altogether different phenomenon from the Pakistan-linked threat to India and even from the crisis in Kashmir, which from the very beginning a military situation internationalized than a national question, have to be made clear to the Indian public to avoid manipulation of national and international elements of vested interests, said some political circles in Tamil Nadu.

It is not new to Eezham Tamils that whenever their crisis needs concentrated involvement from India, some forces coordinate the situation with larger geopolitics and hijack it. Indra Gandhi’s 80s are a good example.

Encouraged in every respect and unchecked, the Colombo government has embarked upon bold air and artillery attacks on civilians using prohibited weapons of mass destruction in Vanni, stepped up killings in the East and arrests in the South, and has intensified all efforts needed for physical and structural genocide of Tamils.

By using Cluster Bombs on known civilian targets, that too when the war-torn population was suffering a natural disaster, the Colombo government and its abettors seem to pass a message, i.e., ‘surrender to us’. It may look a folly to expect a people struggling for a cause for decades to surrender, after all their sacrifices, without the sight of any solution.

The Colombo government is reportedly having a large stockpile of cluster bombs. Except some powers the vast majority of the civilized world has decided to ban the weapon for deployment. As an emotionally charged IDP at Tharmpuram said on Thursday: “There are elements to supply this weapon to Colombo, knowing that it will be used against the people of a national struggle. Those who voiced against child recruitment are silent when children are killed by state terrorism. We are puzzled, wondering who the international terrorists are.”

In the meantime, an obviously unhappy Chief Minister Karunanidhi reiterated the public in his typical literary way of his relentlessness in safeguarding Tamils.

But the reality is that the power centres never yield in, unless the arms are twisted.

The impressive delegation from Tamil Nadu consisted of the following representatives of political parties and social movements:

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and senior leader Anbazhakan representing DMK, K. V. Thangabalu and D. Sudharsanam of the Tamil Nadu Congress, Dr. S. Ramadoss and K.K. Mani of PMK, D. Pandian of CPI, Thol Thirumavalavam of VCK, K. Veeramani of DK, RN Veerappan of MGR Kazhagam, Vijaya T. Rajendar of AILDMK, Tirupur Al Dab of TN Muslim League, Bishop E. Satkunam of Social Justice Movement, Kadar Moideen and Abdul Fasid of Indian Muslim League, P. V. Kathiravan of FB, Radhika Saratkumar of AISMK, L. Ganeshan of PMDMK, Dr. Krishnasamy of Puthiya Thamizhakam, Hydel Ali of TMMK, Jagath Ratchakan of JMK, and Jaganmoorthy of PB.

The AIDMK of Ms. Jeyalalitha, Vaiko’s MDMK, CPI (M) and Actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK were not represented in the delegation.

On November 25, 18 people were killed within 24 hours in Batticaloa District alone. Following a claymore mine attack which killed two Sri Lankan military personnel in Eruvil, three members from the same family were killed (grandmother, father and a son) in the village.

 

On the same day, in Kaluthawali, a village close to Eruvil four members from another family were shot dead (young parents with their two kids). A vegetable vendor was killed in Kurukalmadam and a young woman was shot dead in Karuwakkerny.

 

A youth from Kimpankerney (Karadiannaru) was shot and later declared as a LTTE suspect. Another youth from Selvanagar Arayampathy was shot by the road side. Later that day in Manmunai West there were three incidents reported: A youth killed in Monkeycattu (Vavunatheevu) and three youth killed in Karravetti. A farmer was shot dead in the paddy field in Maheladditheevu. This - is a day in the 'liberated east.'

 

Deepening tension

Reports of these killings and other abuses come at a time of deepening tensions and violent infighting within the TMVP, particularly between factions loyal to Karuna Amman, the founder, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as Pillayan.

 

Instead of holding the group accountable, the Rajapakse government has provided unqualified support. No independent investigations into all these serious human rights violations have been opened nor perpetrators held accountable.

 

While the government is on the one hand announcing triumphantly an end to conflict and strife, the war with its creation of zones of 'liberation' and 'occupation' has exacerbated the issue of landlessness, narrowing down opportunities for recovery and economic development in multiple ways that include drastic curtailment of cultivation, fishing, trade and infrastructural and social and cultural development programmes.

 

Changes

Of course there have been qualitative changes that have taken place since the military's capture of the east. With the defeat of the LTTE in the east, the threat of war has receded offering people the possibility of rebuilding their lives from the debris of war. Especially for communities that lived under LTTE control the sensational words of liberation and development, do have some meaning; a new road, banking facilities, and housing assistance programmes.

 

But despite these dramatic changes, violence and fear loom large, threatening to aggravate old wounds and grievances, and in many ways, producing new tensions and crises.

 

The Coalition of Muslims and Tamils for Peace and Coexistence (CMTPC) say they are deeply concerned that short term military imperatives of the central government and a disregard for the principles of coexistence and democracy are creating a situation of worsening ethnic relations; increasing the sense of insecurity felt by Tamil and Muslim communities in the region.

Why? We are compelled to ask. The government and its apologists, including people from the left and some sections of civil society to varying degrees, are largely silent on the issue of escalating violence in the east; citing it as a fall out of a time of conflict, predicting better times ahead.

 

A pyrrhic victory

For the government, a military victory over the LTTE is what matters most. Unfortunately the government has not capitalised on the moral victory it could have had over Tamil nationalist sentiments by pushing the agenda of peace and reconciliation in the east.

 

In the attempt to establish its control and command over the east in the short term, it has made politico-military alliances based purely on the need to control the Tamil people. So, we have the break-away LTTE group, TMVP in an unholy alliance with the government.

 

The TMVP, despite breaking away from the LTTE, is steeped in the violent culture of the LTTE. Even though the TMVP inducted, and even coerced, members of the general public as candidates for local government polls and to assist it in administration, the rank and file behaves with scant respect for the structures of democratic governance and are a law unto themselves. In the direct words of the people, "different name, same people."

 

Governance

At one level, there has been no fundamental change in the form of governance since the time of LTTE control, real or perceived. 'Taxation' has abated but kidnappings for ransom, crude intimidation by armed youth, and the spectre of abductions of children and adults continue. Killings in homes, paddy fields, by the road side or seaside, near check points, by temples, mosques, universities and hospitals continue.

 

Nor has there been any attempt at building upon the goodwill of the people following the elections on the part of the government. On the contrary, the government to all appearances has been actively promoting violent groups and political forces and alliances that are seeking to increase hostility among people.

 

Instead of encouraging the TMVP to embrace democratic politics and shed its LTTE practices, the government is determined to keep the TMVP as a paramilitary group.

 

It also appears the government is determined to divide the TMVP by setting up Karuna as an alternate eastern leader to Pillayan. As the two factions battle it out for control in the east, we can only expect the fratricide in the Tamil community to worsen.

 

The killing of Pillayan's Secretary Kumaraswamy Nandagopan, alias Ragu on November 14 is perhaps the most telling instance of this vicious struggle for power. The government seems to fundamentally distrust its own ally, which might end up forcing the TMVP back into the arms of the LTTE.

 

A region under siege

The LTTE in particular has been responsible for decimating rivals in other militant groups, political parties and allies of the state, and independent Tamils. This bloodbath has left a deep scar on Tamil society.

With the split in the LTTE in 2004, Eastern Tamils found themselves under attack as the two groups eliminated perceived enemies. This state sponsored fratricide may get worse as the internal struggle within the TMVP is hitting a crisis point, particularly with Karuna attempting to re-establish control. 

 

The CMTPC maintains the violence following the provincial council elections in May this year demonstrated a possible trajectory that ethnic relations could take. The killing of two TMVP cadres in Kathankudi resulted in the TMVP retaliating in a brutal manner against Muslim civilians. The violence rapidly escalated with both Tamils and Muslims becoming subject to violence and displacement.

 

Some instances included attacks on Muslim shops in Batticaloa Town; Tamils living in Saukadu displacement camps were forced to flee; a Muslim woman was shot dead in Eravur.

 

Pattern

A day before Ramazan a grenade went off near the mosque by the main road injuring 24 persons. A month later, on October 24, another grenade set off near Hussainmiyah Mosque near the Kathankudy-Manjanthoduvai border injured about six persons, one critically.

 

While the violence seems mindless, there is an insidious pattern, logic, to its ethnicised nature. The logic of violence pivots on the logic of ethnic divide, calculated to aggravate the fragile peace that exists between communities.

 

In recent months there have been targeted killings of Sinhalese in the east. On October 20 three Sinhala youth involved in construction work, part of the Negenahira Navodaya programme were shot dead in Kokkaddichcholia, Batticaloa. Why were they killed? Was it just because they happened to be Sinhalese?

 

On October 16 two Muslim and two Tamil men were killed in a paddy field in Waddamadu, Akkaraipattu. It remains unclear as to who killed them and why. Was it the LTTE, TMVP, military or another interested party? Was it because they had crossed an ethnic boundary which prevents certain ethnic communities from accessing lands which they claim?

 

Under siege

The Eastern Province is under siege from all sides. While the government is showcasing the region as one that is returning to normal, the people are still caught in a vicious cycle of violence.

 

The harthal called by Karuna to protest Indian intervention is part of the circus of intimidation and a show put on by forces allied to the government. In a throwback to the Pongu Thamil events organised by the LTTE in the north and east, the TMVP forced large numbers of people from far flung areas like Komari and Thirukovil into buses for a rally in Batticaloa on October 26 as a show of strength.

 

This time though the state is backing the intimidation of Tamil civilians - the buses are state-owned and armed forces and police watched as TMVP cadres forced people at gun point to close shops. The state's connivance in this abuse is absolute.

 

'Colonial' Development

Within this context the idea of development such as building roads, and rebuilding tanks are critical for the rehabilitation and development of the east. There are other ambitious plans of constructing factories, coal power stations and highways.

 

But where the local people fit into this programme of Negenahira Navodaya is still open to question. Concerned parties have been told construction companies are from the south, and bring their work force along with them.

 

Add to this the proposals for providing land for Sinhalese and the restoration

of Buddhist sites and the scene is set for unnecessary tension. In two previous reports the CMTPC focused on the fears of the local communities of state sponsored colonisation efforts in the militarised region.

 

The government website carries a page on its programme for the next three years for cultural and archaeological preservation which is almost wholly of Buddhist sites. The CMTPC says not a single Muslim site has been earmarked for cultural preservation or as a heritage site. Also, the omission of Koneswaram Temple in Trincomalee, parts of which ancient Pallava structure lie destroyed in the nearby sea bed is telling.

 

Boundaries marked in blood

Boundaries are being marked in blood. Individuals who have crossed ethnic borders and administrative divisions to carry out livelihoods as they have or had done for years pay the ultimate price.

 

The identity of the killers and their motives may remain unknown but it is speculated that four farmers were killed in Akkaraipattu, two Tamil and two Muslim for trying to cultivate paddy land which had been declared off bounds by one or other of the Tamil militant groups.

 

A group of 26 Muslim wood collectors from Pottuvil found themselves at the mercy of the STF. There are rumours that they were beaten up in the camp and were accused of assisting the LTTE. On September 24, one of the incarcerated Muslims died in jail.

 

Militarising education

On November 16 Palithakumara Pathmakumar, a doctor serving in Naavatkaadu Hospital in Vavunatheevu was killed within the hospital premises. As a result the GMOA went on strike demanding better protection for doctors in the north and east.

 

This killing highlighted the crisis of violence in the east. At the same time it also showed how security is understood by the various actors.

 

The Health Minister called for only Tamil doctors to serve in the north and east while the GMOA called for more security. The presence of police officers or armed military personnel or militant groups do not result in greater confidence as each community has fears and violent memories of each of the armed actors.

 

Political violence permeates and controls the actions of civil society. The Eastern Province boasts two universities; one in the Batticaloa District, located in Vantharamullai and the other, South Eastern University in Oluvil in the Ampara District.

 

Site of conflict

The Eastern University has been a site of conflict and battleground for long years now. Over the years various armed groups attempted to establish their presence in the university, with the LTTE taking extreme measures to control the expression of staff and students.

During the split in 2004 in the ranks of the LTTE, academics and others came under extreme scrutiny; academics, journalists and others suspected of being loyal to this or the other side were abducted, cautioned and on occasion murdered.

 

With the establishment of control by the army and police and TMVP, the university has come under increased surveillance from these quarters aligned to the state. In an effort to establish control of the Eastern University the TMVP abducted the Dean of the Arts Faculty in late 2006. Then the Vice Chancellor, Prof. V. Raveendranath disappeared in broad daylight from the heart of Colombo city, from an area marked for its high security check points. The TMVP is believed to be behind this abduction. The Vice Chancellor is believed to be dead.

 

The South Eastern University is also facing similar problems. The university has a 90% Muslim majority student population. During the Ramadan holiday in September, the government placed a new security system in the university, with many checkpoints and over 60 police personnel guarding the entrance alone in addition to STF and armed military patrolling the surrounding area round the clock.

 

Outside force

It is within this situation, that on August 22 of this year Sucharitha Pasan Samarasinghe, a fourth year Sinhalese student at the Eastern University was killed, purportedly by a force from outside the university.

 

A Tamil student was taken in for questioning after this incident and to date he is being detained by the CID without any charges.

 

When the University Grants Commission Chairman visited the Eastern University in August this year he talked to the Sinhala students and assured them of their safety. He did not see the need to allay the fears of the Tamils or Muslim students.

 

Hopes and fears

While we write, the war rages on in the north. But none of the political forces, none of the leading left wing activists who support the war have voiced their concern about the lack of political will on the part of the government to devolve power to the east and north.

In 2006, an internationally brokered ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke down. Since then the government has been determined to win the civil war that began 25 years ago and has cost well over 70,000 lives.

 

On the battlefield, the Sri Lankan army has been remarkably successful. The Tamil Tigers have been pushed out of their traditional strongholds in the Eastern province and are now fighting for survival in the remote north. Their goal of an independent state for the ethnic Tamil minority seems further away than ever.

 

But in the pursuit of victory and in order to exert control over the recently captured east, the government has controversially turned to former Tamil Tigers who changed sides. The Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal or TMVP broke away from the rebels in 2004.

 

It has now become a political party, and in an alliance with the government, was elected to head the Eastern Provincial council.

 

Human rights groups have accused the TMVP of widespread human rights abuses, including abductions and extrajudicial killings.

 

White van syndrome

"His hands were tied up behind his back and he was beaten. I could see that he was beaten. Sometimes we believe he will come back, sometimes we believe he is no more."

 

A mother-in-law describes seeing her daughter's husband in a TMVP camp after being detained by the group in eastern Sri Lanka.

 

That was a year ago, and he has not been seen since. The family do not know if he is alive or dead.

 

Sunila Abeysekera, a prominent Sri Lankan human rights activist says abduction is now common practice. She explains that in the east, the Tamil civilian population was forced to engage with the Tigers as they were in control of the area for many years. Now that the rebels have been defeated, she says, the civilians that interacted with the LTTE are being targeted.

 

Tamil men have also disappeared in Colombo, Sri Lanka's main city. We met another woman who said her husband disappeared when he went to Colombo to get a passport, on 12 January 2007. Unidentified men came to his hotel and bundled him off in a white van.

 

According to her, during the same period around 30 to 40 other people were abducted in Colombo in a similar manner.

 

Reports of Tamil men being taken off in this way never to be seen again have become so common on the island that Sri Lankans have nicknamed the phenomenon "white van syndrome."

 

Sri Lanka's government says many of these stories are false, intended to discredit it and its allies.

 

Redemption

The man many people believe to be ultimately responsible for abductions and killings in the east is Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, aka Col Karuna Amman.

 

Col Karuna tells us he was the Tamil Tigers' military commander until he broke away in 2004, taking with him a rebel army that became the TMVP political party.

 

In November 2007, Col Karuna was arrested in the UK on immigration violations and served nine months in prison.

 

While in jail, human rights groups lobbied the British government to prosecute him for human rights abuses. However, after an investigation, the British Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough evidence to try Col Karuna and he was released.

 

Today, Col Karuna has been installed as an MP by the Sri Lankan government and he is guarded by soldiers that not long ago he was trying to kill.

 

Col Karuna denies any involvement in abductions and killings and says he is willing to work with human rights groups.

 

For the government, the TMVP's journey from rebel fighters to political office is one of redemption.

 

Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella does not accept that the TMVP is responsible for the wave of abductions and killings and strongly refutes any accusations that the government has turned a blind eye to such activities or that elements of the security forces have taken part in them.

Instead he emphasises the repentance the former Tamil Tigers have shown and believes in giving them a chance.

 

He is aware that certain incidents have taken place, but feels that nonetheless Eastern Province is on the right track.

 

"Obviously for 25 years there has been terror, gun culture. And in a couple of months it will not be tickety-boo or come back to normal.

 

"We are heading for total democracy and total development and total peace. But it's not there yet. I hope that tomorrow will be a happier day minus all these things."

 

Work in progress

The offensive by government forces against the Tigers remains widely popular with the Sinhalese who make up three quarters of the island's population.

 

For years people in Sri Lanka have endured the everyday danger of suicide bombings and attacks blamed on the Tamil Tigers.

 

Such attacks are a constant threat in Sri Lanka and many see victory in the war as the only way to peace.

 

The Sri Lankan government says it will be magnanimous in victory, and democracy in areas taken from the rebels so far is a work in progress.

But the government's human rights record during the war, and TMVP's unsavoury activities in the east, will not have helped build much needed trust among the Tamil minority.

Warning that the LTTE's separate state ideology is a "threat" to India, the Sri Lankan Army chief says he is confident that New Delhi would not listen to "political jokers" in Tamil Nadu to force Colombo to broker a ceasefire with the LTTE.

The Indian Government would never influence Sri Lanka to restore the ceasefire with the LTTE and it would not listen to the "political jokers" of Tamil Nadu whose "survival depends on the LTTE" which killed one of the most respected Prime Ministers of India, Rajiv Gandhi, Sri Lankan Army Chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka told the 'Sunday Observer'.

Fonseka, whose tenure was extended by another year, said that the LTTE had caused much problems in Tamil Nadu and the outfit's separate State ideology would cause damage to the sovereignty of India.

Fonseka said that Lanka had taken all efforts to maintain "zero casualties" during military offensive, but blamed "corrupt politicians" in Tamil Nadu for making "false" allegations against the island nation's security forces.

"If the LTTE is wiped out, those political jokers like Nadumaran, Vaiko and whoever who is sympathising with the LTTE will most probably lose their income from the LTTE", he was quoted as saying.

"This is the time for them to realise the truth. And they should also realise their attempts to save the LTTE would not be successful as the LTTE is on the brink of extinction. Most importantly, they should realise that LTTE is an internal problem of Sri Lanka and need to honour the sovereignty of Sri Lanka."

INTERNALLY Displaced persons in Vanni who were receiving the humanitarian supplies sent by the people of Tamil Nadu, while expressing their gratitude for the timely help, urged the leaders of Tamil Nadu to help them to win their freedom by voicing for the political aspirations of Eelam Tamils.

 

TamilNet correspondent recorded expressions from the IDPs who were gathered at Karaichchi Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society, one of 23 supply centres in Vanni, on Thursday, December 4.

 

The IDP families in Vanni were receiving humanitarian supplies sent from Tamil Nadu, through the co-operative societies with active monitoring by the ICRC.

 

Vananthan Prema, a 27-year-old mother of three children aged 8, 2½ and 9 months, displaced first to Jeyapuram and then to Aanaivizhunthaan, Murippu and now living in a makeshift camp in Kaddaikkaadu said, described the plight of her baby struggling without milk. "Earlier, I managed to feed my children by doing chores in houses, but now it is impossible to find any work here."

She had to rely upon the lentils she got in the World Food Program (WFP) humanitarian ration to feed her elder children. One of them got ill being fed only on lentils, she said.

"I do not have the money to take them to the hospital. I cannot breast feed my child and our life in the makeshift camp is miserable with the continuing rain and floods making everything drenched in water," Prema told TamilNet correspondent.

Murugesu Thavarajah, an IDP who received humanitarian supplies for his family, said he had lost his properties many times in the war.

 

"Every time, after losing our places and properties, we build our lives again from the scratch," he said. What was different this time was that the people of Tamil Nadu, from all the corners of their state, with a clear understanding of the intention of the Rajapaksa regime, said Thavarajah. "From the common people of Tamil Nadu who joined hands in the human chain, amid heavy rains, to the poets and cinema artists, the entire Tamil Nadu has realised the real picture of the Rajapaksa regime," he said.

"The Tamil Nadu people should continue to struggle forward till they win the recognition for Eelam cause, I am sure they will succeed," he added.

The Sri Lankan government had only allowed 50 lorries carrying relief packages sent by the people of Tamil Nadu to reach Kilinochchi district.

 

Officials said that the supplies that have reached them were adequate to cover immediate relief requirements of 40,000 IDP families in Vanni. At least 51,200 families, comprising more than 230,000 individuals, are in need of urgent aid, according to the officials. The officials were forced to prioritise families with children on Thursday.

"We thank the people of Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi and all the other leaders for their generosity," Rasamani, an elderly woman displaced from Uriththirapuram on October 18 due to intense artillery shelling, said. "We hope that a better future will dawn with their help," she added.

The distribution of the relief packages began Thursday in 23 branches of the Multi Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) in Kandaavalai Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division in Kilinochchi district.

The first distribution began around 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the branch of Karaichchi MPCS located near Tharmapuram No.1 School.

People displaced due to Sri Lanka military offensives, and staying in temporary shelters, had gathered in large numbers at the cooperative retail shops as early as 5:00 a.m.

Thavarathinam Kamalahasan, 32, a day labourer displaced from Mallaavi to Tharmapuram due to the bombardment by the SLA and the SLAF expressed his gratitude to the people of Tamil Nadu for the relief food. He complained that the World Food Program (WFP) supplies that didn't reach them on time for many weeks, were inadequate to meet the demand, but said the supplies from India was a great relief for the time being. "600 gram rice, 500 gram flour and 300 gm lentils were the only food relief items that we got earlier. We received it irregularly in bulks as the supplies were not allowed to reach Vanni on regular basis," he said.

 

"The food packages from there sent on 15 November have reached us only now. The clothes sent by the people of Tamil Nadu are yet to reach us. The few clothes that we had, been washed away in the recent floods and we hope that the clothes sent to us from Tamil Nadu will reach us soon," Kamlahasan who is presently living in Kaddaikkadu after being displaced from Mallaavi first and from Kanthapuram and Ki'linochchi said.

Representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and the ICRC Economical Relief Branch officer Mr. Harry Mewa Chilaffia visited the cooperative branches to ensure orderly distribution of the limited relief food that was allowed in by the Sri Lankan government.

Hundreds of IDPs, including the singles who had lost their family members, had to return empty handed after waiting for hours.

The IDPs who did not receive relief registered complaints with the ICRC.

Despite Sri Lanka refusing to cooperate with European Union’s (EU) investigations into human rights violations, it was announced that a European trade concession scheme for the garments industry in Sri Lanka would be extended for a year whilst the probe take place.

 

The Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) which allows Sri Lanka to export 7,200 items duty free into the EU and is credited with helping to boost Sri Lankan exports, had been due to expire at the end of the year, and the EU recently warned it may not renew the concessions scheme after it expires in December because of continuing human rights abuses stemming from Sri Lanka's civil war.

 

In October, the EU proposed a probe into Sri Lanka’s human rights violations to determine the latter’s eligibility for GSP plus.According to the latest announcement, the GSP plus concessions will remain in place while the EU completes the human rights probe, even though the Sri Lankan state has made it clear that it will not cooperate with the probe.

 

Sri Lanka’s Commerce Department said that an extension of GSP plus had been confirmed  and will be available for local exporters at least until mid 2009 - if not longer.

 

Sri Lankan officials say the facility will continue to be available for an additional six months, after the investigation, even if the findings go against Sri Lanka.

 

“According to their regulations, during the period of investigation, even in 2009, the GSP plus will continue to be available for Sri Lanka. The investigation itself should finish within a 1-year period,” said the Director General of Commerce, Chulabhaya Magedaragamage.

 

“But, even if the investigation ends well before 1-year and the findings are negative, we will still be given a 6-month ‘notice period’ before the GSP plus is withdrawn. So the GSP plus will be available at least up to around middle of next year, but probably longer,” said Mr Magedaragamage.

 

Secretary for the ministry of export development and international trade, S Ranugge, whilst confirming that Sri lanka will continue to enjoy the trade concessions until the investigation is completed, said the government would not cooperate with investigators if the EU sends them to Sri Lanka.

 

"That has been communicated to the E.U. by the government. Sri Lanka will cooperate with the investigations, but not with the investigators," Ranugge said.

 

In October, Minister of Export Development and International Trade, G.L Pieris rejected the probe demand, saying it was a betrayal of the country.

 

"What the cabinet has decided is not to agree with investigations that are required by the EU to renew GSP Plus," Peiris told reporters at a press conference held on October 20, at the Central Bank to brief the media on the GSP Plus Scheme.

 

Pieris added that the Government will not betray Sri Lanka's sovereignty to obtain economic benefits from other countries.

 

"The Cabinet has decided to reject the investigation and we have instructed our Ambassador in Brussels to inform relevant authorities on our decision. We are ready for open discussions with the Commission regarding the issue,"

 

An E.U. spokesperson in Colombo said the rights probe started in October and must be completed within a year.

 

"We cannot say it will be six months or a year. Until a decision is made afterward, Sri Lanka will continue with GSP Plus," the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.