Sri Lanka Army Media Director V.U.B Nanayakkara, USP has sent the following response to an article which appeared in The Sunday Times under the headline “Life in Jaffna: The seen and the unseen, the told and the untold”

“Major General G.A. Chandrasiri, Security Forces Commander in Jaffna, contrary to what has been said in the article, stated in the referred press briefing that there are approximately 1000-1500 Tiger terrorists operating ahead of their own Forward Defence Line in Muhamalai and Nagarkovil - not within the peninsula - as stated in The Sunday Times report.

“Similarly, the Jaffna Commander commenting on the operational activities taking place ahead of their own Forward Defence Lines in Muhamalai and Nagarkovil categorically stated that approximately 10-15 Tiger terrorists are killed daily as a result of limited operations carried out by troops in those areas.

“On the contrary, the writer has stated about 10-15 Tiger terrorists are killed on a daily basis in the region; meaning the Jaffna peninsula where normality prevails, as the report itself stated.

“This is totally misleading and factually incorrect. In other words, the report, while trying to state there prevails normalcy in the Government controlled area, also gives the wrong impression at the same time, in a subtle manner, that there does not exist normalcy in the region.

“Likewise, efforts taken by this headquarters in Jaffna to provide maximum security to the visiting team of journalists have also been belittled and conveniently forgotten in this report. It is relevant to note here that these journalists were taken to specified areas close to Muhamalai and Nagarkovil where sporadic LTTE artillery attacks are taking place.

“It is also pertinent to state here that such security measures were taken for the best interest of the visiting journalists and not for any other purpose as indicated in this writer’s report.”

OUR REPORTER SAYS: The Brigadier has lost sight of the fact that Muhamalai and Nagarkovil areas are within the Jaffna peninsula. Instead, he has said that the two areas are not within. That is a misrepresentation of geographical facts. They do not change.

Major General Chandrasiri did say during the news conference that 1000 to 1,500 Tiger guerrillas are still within the peninsula. He also said that 10 – 15 are killed per day. The Sunday Times reported Major Gen Chandrasiri’s comments. It quoted him saying that normalcy has returned to the region.

Therefore the claim by the Brigadier that the report tries to give a wrong impression and that normalcy does not exist is not correct. That is clear to even the most dumb witted though the Military Spokesman is unable to comprehend.

Contrary to claims made by Brigadier Nanayakkara, mention had not been made about the security provided to the team of journalists during their visit to Jaffna from April 5 to 7.

The Sunday Times reported about the security provided to journalists during this conducted tour arranged by the Media Centre for National Security. Here again, unfortunately, Brig. Nanayakkara has been unable to comprehend the facts.

Norway last week urged India to play a more proactive role in the Sri Lankan conflict by mediating between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and said it stands ready to fully support such an initiative.

However Sri Lanka dismissed any Norwegian involvement in future peace efforts and said it will not issue a special invitation to its ‘big brother’ to play the role of mediator.

Speaking to Indian media on the sidelines of a Conference on Peace and Reconciliation in South Asia, organised in Oslo by Art of Living Foundation of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Norway's special envoy to Colombo Jon Hanssen-Bauer said that India was to be the "main partner" for Sri Lanka in the future, and that Oslo was in regular touch with New Delhi over the issue of peace process in its neighbouring country.

India will play the "most decisive" role in the peace process in Sri Lanka being the "best-placed regional power" to help the island nation, Baur said.

The top Norwegian diplomat, who was appointed the special envoy in 2006, said: "India is the main neighbour to Sri Lanka and they are always taking a keen interest in helping Sri Lanka. I think India will play the most decisive role in the peace process,"

"India is Sri Lanka's big trade partner, it is also a political partner for a long time and they (India) would be the best-placed regional power to actually help Sri Lanka in the best way,"

Stressing that Norway was having "very open communications" with India on the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka, the envoy said: "We are consulting with them very frequently because we think India has a lot of good advice to give."

Norwegian peace role

Bauer also insisted it is still not the end of the road for the Norwegian’s as facilitators to the conflict and says they will resume their mediation if an invitation is extended by the parties in Sri Lanka.

Norway brokered the now-defunct ceasefire treaty between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel LTTE in 2002 and mediated six rounds of talks between the warring parties.

“We have always supported the Sri Lankan government and are hopeful that an invitation will soon be extended to us by both parties to re-enter the facilitation process”, Bauer added.

“It will turn out to be vital if India can mediate and get both the Government and the LTTE back to the peace table. Norway has never abandoned the Sri Lankan Government and if India mediates, we will fully support them”

Bauer further said no “externally designed solution” would end Sri Lanka’s dragging ethnic conflict and Oslo would be more than happy to back “any solution endorsed by the Sri Lankan people. One should not be tempted to impose externally designed solutions to conflicts, but assist the parties in defining a domestic one.

“The common understanding between the Government and the LTTE has been that talks are aimed at finding a political solution that is acceptable to all communities in the country.”

“For Norway, any solution endorsed by the Sri Lankan people is acceptable” he claimed.

Although Sri Lanka has withdrawn from the Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement of 2002 with the LTTE, Oslo remains the designated facilitator between the two sides.

Sri Lanka rejects peace role

Reacting to Norway’s offer to continue its mediating role, Government Defence Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the Sri Lankan government would not re-extend an invitation to Norway to enter the country as mediators.

He also said that the Sri Lankan government will not issue a special invitation to India to play the role of mediator.

“We do not need to offer any special invitation to India. The moment we get our friends involved in the Sri Lankan conflict, it turns out to be volatile as the LTTE does not want peace in this country,” Rambukwella told the Daily Mirror newspaper.

Rambukwella added, India has always been involved in the Sri Lankan conflict by offering its assistance to the Sri Lankan government when required and as such there was no need to invite them for any direct involvement.

Call for Indian involvement

The two-day conference held in Oslo was attended by H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, one of the founders of the IAHV, Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Secreatary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOOP), Ms. Erika Mann, General Secretary of Marumalarchchi Dravida Munneatta Kazhakam, Vaiko, Member of European Parliament, Arumugam Thondaman of Ceylon Workers Congress and a minister in the UPFA government, Jayalath Jayawardene, opposition UNP MP, Venerable Brahmanawatte Seevali Nayaka Thero from Amarapura Mahanikaya, Venerable Maduluvave Sobitha Nayaka Thero from the Nagavihara Kotte, Prof. Indra de Soysa from PRIO in Oslo and Nirj Deva, Member of European Parliament.

Vaiko, Thondaman and Jayawardene also called for increased involvement from India to end the conflict in the island nation.

“India is the regional superpower. Nothing can be done in Sri Lanka without the blessings of India. India needs to get involved,” Minister for Youth Empowerment and Socio-Economic Development Arumugam Thondaman said at the end of a two-day international conference held in Oslo last week.

UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardene also called for an “active role” for India in Sri Lanka. “India is our big brother. We expect a very, very active role by India along with Norway to bring about peace in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Tamil Nadu leaders, including Chief Minister of the state called on the Indian government to stop supplying weapons to the Sri Lankan state and assist in finding a last solution to decades long ethnic conflict.
Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi suggested that India organise negotiations between the warring parties in Sri Lanka to bring peace to the island nation.

"To bring about peace in Sri Lanka, the Union government should come forward to organise useful negotiations so that a proper political solution is thrashed out," he said in an interview to The Times of India.
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader S. Ramadoss, also reflected similar sentiments when met the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Ramadoss said he had also brought to Singh’s notice the genocide of innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka.
“The Prime Minister sympathised with the plight of the Tamils and said the government would take all measures to restore peace and tranquility in Sri Lanka. India would not supply to Sri Lanka any arms and weapons which would be offensive in nature.”
He also drew the attention of Singh on the frequent "attacks" on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and asked the government to take measures to stop them.

The general secretary of Tamil Nadu’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Vaiko on Thursday met Indian Premier Manmohan Singh in Delhi and requested the Indian government to mount diplomatic pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop its military offensive and initiate peace talks for a workable solution to fulfill the aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Vaiko met Indian PM to brief him on his meeting with Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Oslo and the outcome of the conference organised by the International Association for Human Values (IAHV) in Norway's capital last week.

Vaiko told the Prime Minister that the situation in Sri Lanka was becoming grave day by day, endangering the life and security of Tamils. Innocent Tamils were being killed by the military. He explained the plight and misery of Tamils living in jungles without food and medicine. While seeking the government’s intervention, he requested that India should not provide arms to Sri Lanka.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told Vaiko who met him Thursday in New Delhi that there is no truth in reports on Indian supply of arms to Sri Lanka.

Vaiko said the Prime Minister told him about India’s stand —that there could be no military solution to the problem. Singh assured him, saying: “We are not supplying arms to Sri Lanka. I will discuss the matter with the
Foreign Minister and see what best can be done.”

The MDMK leader also urged the Indian Prime Minister to prevail upon Colombo to abide by its earlier pledge to honor the contiguity of the traditional homeland of Tamil speaking people in a merged NorthEast.

He also brought the grave human rights situation in Sri Lanka, where Tamils are subjected to a systematic genocide, to the attention of the Indian PM.

He reminded the Indian PM on his earlier promise, in a meeting with him on March 10, 2007, to facilitate the transport of humanitarian supplies through the ICRC to Eelam Tamils who are heavily affected by the war and the blockade by the Government of Sri Lanka. The humanitarian supplies were collected from Tamils in Tamil Nadu.

Urging the Indian Prime Minister to take immediate steps to dispatch humanitarian supplies he also requested Mr. Manmohan Singh to withdraw the radar equipments supplied by India to the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which has been responsible for many attacks on Tamil civilians. Many Tamil children have been killed and seriously injured in the attacks carried out by the SLAF, Vaiko told the Indian PM.

He later met the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his residence in Delhi.

Mukherjee told Vaiko that India had repeatedly reminded Colombo that military solution was not the option to solve the Tamil question.

Vaiko urged Mukherjee to prevail upon Colombo to cease all military hostilities as it was the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) which was responsible for the aggression.

Prior to his visit to Delhi, Vaiko was in Oslo attending a conference, titled "Peace and Reconciliation in South Asia," organized by the International Association for Human Values.

In Oslo, Vaiko met Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer, the Norwegian Special Envoy and held discussion relating to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Expressing gratitude on behalf of the Tamils in India to the Royal Norwegian Government for its engagement as facilitator to the CFA and its continued interest in facilitating to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, his visit to Norway gave him a unique opportunity in bringing the concerns of more than 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu, to Norway.

The International Community should be made aware that the Norwegian facilitated CFA had collapsed as the Sri Lankan Government seriously violated the CFA, clause by clause, and systematically scuttled it fully, before unilaterally withdrawing from the ceasefire, he said.

The International Community, which had failed to apply timely pressure on the GoSL to honour the CFA, while the agreement was still in force, should now re-evaluate its approach to Sri Lanka based on the past experiences and adopt a strategy, which will result in restoring the diplomatic balance between the protagonists to the conflict so as to create and sustain a conducive environment for negotiations.

Despite continuing human rights violations including intimidation of media personnel, abductions and killings attributed to state security forces, the US has announced $ 12 million in aid to Sri Lanka.

The U.S. government announcement comes, even as the U.S. congress ruled out Sri Lanka for a debt cancellation programme due to its human rights situation.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded a five-year, $12 million contract to support regional government in Sri Lanka's eastern and north central provinces.

Prior to the Pradeshiya sabha elections, US Ambassador Robert Blake raised his concerns of a stage managed 'election' in the Batticaloa District and emphasized the urgent need to disarm all armed groups operating in the East. He also publicly warned that US aid to Batticaloa would not be forthcoming if the elections were not free and fair.

The elections conducted under in an atmosphere of fear and violence were won by Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), an armed paramilitary group. However deviating from its initial position the U.S. has now decided to fund the regional government headed by the paramilitary group, accused of numerous rights abuses including torture, extortion, kidnapping, and killings.

According to USAID, the investment will expand the agency's democracy and governance work by helping to improve the areas of security, local government accountability and conflict resolution.

"USAID remains committed to its assistance programs in Sri Lanka despite the renewed conflict," said Rebecca Cohn, USAID/Sri Lanka mission director. "We're confident our new partnership with ARD will support our goal of helping Sri Lanka and apply the best governance practices from around the world."

The program, called Supporting Regional Governance, will build on USAID/Sri Lanka's successful democracy and governance efforts, designed several years ago to address development needs resulting from the on-going ethnic conflict after the ceasefire agreement. The new program also aims to improve regional government in eastern Sri Lanka by increasing citizen participation.

In the meantime, the United States Congress is expected to endorse a legislative proposal shortly urging for the cancellation of debts owed by some of the world’s poorest countries but nations including Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Laos have been singled out due to their human rights situation and other financial management standard issues.

Sri Lanka’s debt to the United States alone amounts to a whopping Rs. 53 billion while the total foreign debt is a massive Rs. 1.3 trillion according to the Central Bank 2007 Annual Report released last week.

Jubilee USA Network, a group representing more than 80 religious denominations, development agencies, and human rights organisations from across the United States are spearheading the campaign calling for the cancellations of the debts.

The network is of the view that the lending practices of international financial institutions are responsible for the suffering of the poor in developing nations.

“Twenty-two countries have already received close to 100 percent cancellation of their debts to the IMF, World Bank and regional development banks,” the network disclosed.

Sri Lanka falls under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) programme but according to reports, the island does not meet the Jubilee Act standards in human rights and financial management standards.

“The proposed legislation calls for ‘greater responsibility’ in lending and borrowing in the future. Supporters of the bill say current lending practices are hampering development initiatives in many countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America,” a report filed in OneWorld stated.

The legislation calls on the US Treasury Department to negotiate with the IMF and World Bank for an agreement for debt cancellation for several poor nations that need financial help to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by world leaders in 2000, the report added.

Sri Lanka’s garment industry is worried that the duty free access it enjoys to European markets will soon be cut due to the gross human rights violations related to the government’s pursuit of a military solution to the long-standing ethnic conflict.

An end to European Union (EU) trade concessions, known as Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), according to some estimates, will result in the direct loss of at least a 100,000 jobs in the pivotal garment industry and many more, indirectly.

The GSP+ scheme allows duty free exports of almost all major Sri Lankan products, into the EU, but the garment industry has been the main beneficiary, which generates an annual revenue of $1.6 billion per year.

Concessions linked to human rights record

The existing concession comes up for review in later this year, in October and earlier this year a visiting EU delegation linked trade concessions to human rights record and said that the extension of the GSP+ concessions for Sri Lanka were yet to be considered.

The EU has indicated that continuance of the GSP+ depends on how well the Sri Lankan government is seen to be implementing 27 international conventions on human rights, labour rights and environmental standards.

"It is totally based on fulfilling these conventions. This (current review) is a technical exercise on compliance with these conventions. This means not just having the laws, but also implementing them," said Julian Wilson, head of the European Commission (EC) delegation to Sri Lanka.

The EU has been severely critical of the government’s human rights record. There is fear that such issues as the harassment of journalists and rising political abductions, could be used as a reason to discontinue the GSP+ scheme.

As one of the four Co-Chairs of the 2003 Tokyo Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka, the EU helped raise pledges for post-conflict rehabilitation and development worth 4.5 billion US dollars -- but this was tied to progress in the peace process.

Wilson denied that the EU is using the GSP+ as a political tool. "We have a commercial relationship with Sri Lanka that spans 300 years. This is not to be thrown out on a whim. So the entire exercise will be undertaken with absolute professionalism. There will be no political games.’’

Government action

“The extension of the GSP Plus scheme appears to be an uphill task since Sri Lanka did not fully satisfy the conditions set out by the EU such as Human Rights, good governance and environment,” according to Chairman of Sri Lanka Apparel Institute, Professor Lakdas Fernando.

Whilst the garment industry is fearful of an end to concessions, the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse is less worried and has taken the view that compliance with international human rights laws could lead to infringement of sovreighnity.

Speaking at the launch of the Central Bank Annual Report 2007 the President insisted that although the government is taking every possible measure to receive the GSP+ concessions, compromising the sovereignty of the country is not one of its principles.

“If the influences of the treacherous parties in the country succeed and the European Union rejects the concessions. Our private sector should be able to increase their productivity and face these external challenges as well”.

However, worried about the prospect of losing the concessions, last month, the government appointed a four-member ministerial team to work with the garment industry and dispel some of the concerns raised by the EU.

In mid-March, trade minister Prof. G.L. Peiris led delegation to Europe for a series of meetings, including one with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, on the issue.

According to reports, Ferrero-Waldner, indicated to Pieris in no uncertain terms that Sri Lanka would qualify for GSP plus benefits only if the human rights record was put in order.

She was also rather critical of the ongoing ethnic war and even told the Minister that; “the war will never solve any problem in Sri Lanka.”

In January, the government unilaterally ended a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire accord with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and embarked on a military campaign to defeat the LTTE.

According to Sri Lankan media, even as Peiris returned to the country after a failed mission in Brussels to convince the EU officials of Sri Lanka’s compliance to human rights laws and good governance, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ajith Nivard Cabraal told the BBC that the GSP+ facility was not really necessary.

He not only dismissed the concessions as disposable but also said he had personally advised the government the concessions were not essential to the garment industry.

Non-compliance

In 2005 when GSP+ came up for renewal, Sri Lanka made a plea for extension on compassionate grounds as the country had been badly hit by the December 2004 tsunami and was also recovering from the end of garment quotas offered by the United States.

Under the original agreement between the EU and the government in 2003, Sri Lanka was obliged to 'ratify and fully implement' a set of 27 international conventions including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

While most or all of these convenants were ratified by Colombo, far ahead of countries like China or India, it's the implementation that concerns workers. "Yes we have ratified these covenants but the implementation is the problem," Anton Marcus, general secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees' Union said.

Union Support

Last month, the government gained unexpected support from local trade unions, which once said that employers and government violated core labour conventions and therefore should not be benefit from the GSP+.

"They don't comply by the labour standards but if Sri Lanka loses the GSP+ the impact will be on the workers. So we do not want to see the GSP+ being taken away. But we do want some indication that core labour standards will be adhered to," said Marcus, last month.

Marcus said the labour groups met a EU delegation visiting Colombo last month and said that they would back the government request for an extension of the special concession if the roadmap is implemented and international trade unions are also appointed as monitors in this process.

"We have no problem in supporting this as long as the workers get their rights," he said, adding that one of the issues in the roadmap is the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

"This is a key element in the core labour standards agreed by the government in 2003 to the EU which is yet to be implemented," Marcus said.

US concerns

Last week, U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake told a meeting of the garment trade, that while Sri Lanka is trying to convince U.S. policy makers to give preferential trade treatment, on the grounds of being a vulnerable economy and on the basis of ethical manufacturing standards, the country's negative human rights image 'eclipsed' everything else.

The U.S. is the biggest market for Sri Lanka’s garment industry which expects to bring in three billion US dollars this year.

Escape again

Whilst Sri Lanka continues to commit gross human rights violation, it may, as in the past, yet again escape from any punitive measures or sanctions by the international community.

According to local media, Roshan Lyman, EU Economic and Trade Advisor in Sri Lanka, has sent out an optimistic note to the country, informing that Sri Lanka still has plenty of opportunities to improve her human rights situation.

“We have to first do an evaluation of all the applications and that will start only in October. Certainly, Sri Lanka has time till October”

“We have a legal department in Brussels and only when they get all the documents for evaluation, the department will release its final results. And this will be on December 15, or so. It is after December 15 that the legal department of the EU will give out the list of countries that qualify for GSP plus benefits,” he has said.

High global food and fuel prices are damaging Sri Lanka's economic growth more than its ongoing civil war, the central bank governor said on Tuesday, but shrugged off suggestions it could miss a 7 percent target.

The Asian Development Bank said earlier this month growth would probably slow to 6 percent this year and next on high interest rates and global economic weakness.

But governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters rebuilding and new growth in areas of the island's east recaptured from Tamil Tiger rebels last year would help keep growth at or near the target from 2007 6.8 percent.

"It should be 7 percent or about that," he said in a telephone interview while on a visit to London. "Even with the war, 8 percent would be possible if it were not for the oil price and food price. I would say the growth was curtailed from the high oil and food prices much more than the war."

The east would hopefully grow to provide one percent of gross domestic product from 0.25 percent now, he said. It would be by agriculture, fishing and the building of coal power plants including one on a former Tiger stronghold and ethnic Tamil settlement near the port of Trincomalee.

Sri Lanka's annual inflation rate on a 12-month moving average hit 17.7 percent in March, its highest for five years, with consumer prices 23.8 percent up in March from a year earlier in contrast to a targeted 10 to 11 percent.

Cabraal said the target would be reachable if oil prices retreated to around $85-$90 a barrel, which was what the government had planned for. On Tuesday, they hit a new peak near $114 a barrel.

"We are only in the fourth month of the year and some analysts believe the price will come back down," he said. "If it does then the targeted 10 to 11 percent is achievable. Otherwise, if it stays where it is now it will be very tough."
He would not say what inflation would be if prices remained at current levels. Rocketing global food prices were also outside the government's control, he said, although would at least benefit the island's rural poor who were food producers.

He would not comment on whether rates should be further tightened, but said the central bank's focus was on controlling inflation through money supply.

Sri Lanka's $27 billion economy had some exposure to a global downturn, he said, but the key textile sector was likely to be more resilient than industries on which some other countries rely such as vehicle manufacturer or electronic goods.

Given global market conditions, he said Sri Lanka had no intentions of following last year's Eurobond issue with another.

Cabraal said the Asian Development Bank's predictions of a downturn were because they "did not have much information", and blamed a ratings downgrade from agency Fitch on the fact they had been embarrassed to be caught out by giving good ratings to major Western banks that then hit trouble.

He said the island's foreign direct investment was at its highest level ever at $450 million in the last year, coming from China, Asia, Australia and Europe amongst other places -- but with increasing volumes coming from emerging Asian economies.

Investors seemed largely unconcerned by the collapse of a 2002 ceasefire, he said, as well as a series of reports from human rights groups on worsening trends in abductions, torture and killings as the two-decade-old war resumed.

"In a conflict of this nature it is inevitable the stories are going around," he said, saying any "hot-headed moments and excesses" were being investigated. "But we find those who are investing are doing it only on economic grounds. If you look at some other countries where there are lots of human rights violations they are attracting a lot of investment."

As the polling day for the Provincial Council election nears, election related violence is on the increase according to media reports.

Complaints regarding at least 49 incidents of violence related to the forthcoming provincial elections have been lodged at various police stations in Eastern province until Saturday, May 3, according to the Police.

The highest number of incidents was recorded in Ampaarai district where police have been notified of 26 violent incidents. In Batticaloa 18 complaints have been received while 7 incidents were reported in Trincomalee.

However Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa dismissed complaints of election related violence and said that there is no election violence in east as claimed by opposition parties.

Earlier, Peoples Action for Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), an election monitoring group reported that 32 complaints of election related violence including two killings have been reported till Friday, May 2 from the three districts of the east since the nominations closed for the provincial council election which is scheduled to be held on May 10.

The police has announced it would deploy about 10,000 police personnel in the east for election duty to curb violence and maintain law and order during the election period and on the polling day.

In the meantime, according to reports from Batticaloa, paramilitary members of Pillayan group have warned the residents in Kaluvaagnchikkudi located in Manmunai South and Eruvilpattu division of the Batticaloa district of adverse consequences if they fail to attend and vote for ruling UPFA alliance in the forthcoming elections for the Eastern Provincial Council.

The group has referred to the low percentage of votes polled in the local elections and said such low attendance would 'not be tolerated' by the top hierarchy of the outfit.

Only 48% of the voters had participated in the local elections held in March. Of these, 13% of the voters had cast invalid votes.

A panel of top international legal luminaries told Sri Lanka's government on Tuesday to clean up its human rights record, saying an escalating war against Tamil Tigers had brought with it grave abuses.

The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), headed by the former Indian chief justice J N Bhagwati and comprising 10 experts from Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, France, Netherlands and the United States blamed the Government of Sri Lanka for "absence of will" in the present Inquiry to "investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question."

"The IIGEP has... found an absence of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka in the present inquiry to investigate cases with vigour, where the conduct of its own forces has been called into question," the panel said.

"Summary executions, massacres, disappearances, wanton destruction of property, and forcible transfers of populations can never be justified. No efforts should be spared to uncover responsibility, including recognition of command responsibility, for such actions."

Following international pressure, in September, 2006, President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that his government would "invite an international independent commission to probe abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings."

However, within days of his announcement, he deviated from the claim and said, that he would invite a group of international experts to act as observers of the activities of the Presidential Commission [consisting of Sri Lanka nationals] which will investigate alleged abductions, disappearances and extra judicial killings.

The IIGEP was setup in February 2007, to observe the work of the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Alleged Serious Violations of Human Rights (“the Commission”), which was established in November 2006. The Serious Violations referred to in the Warrant establishing the Commission were 16 cases dating from 1 August 2005 until 16 October 2006.

However, in early March, the IIGEP announced its decision to quit, saying there was no cooperation from the authorities and the effort was virtually a sham to deflect international criticism.

Announcing the decision to quit IIGEP said: “The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP.”

The latest IIGEP report gave the following reasons for its decision to terminate the mission "with profound regret that more could not have been achieved."

- A conflict of interest in the proceedings before the Commission
- Lack of effective victim and witness protection
- Lack of transparency and timeliness in the proceedings
- Lack of full co-operation by State bodies
- Lack of financial independence of the Commission

"Sections of popular opinion suggest that human rights and respect for the rule of law should take second place to measures necessary to repel these hostilities," the panel said.

"The IIGEP rejects this opinion."

Sri Lanka's Attorney General C. R. de Silva, however, hit back at the panel as "flawed" and a source of "unnecessary inconvenience to the government."
The panel's report said military operations and respect for civil liberties were not incompatible.

"It should be emphasised that respect for human rights and the conduct of military operations in strict accordance with international humanitarian law are powerful weapons in the struggle against dissident forces and terrorism," the IIGEP report said.

The group also asked the Sri Lankan government to ensure that senior military officers were held responsible for the actions of lower ranks, set up a witness protection mechanism and end a culture of impunity for perpetrators.

In its report, the IIGEP made following particular recommendations:
- That the President should ensure that all State bodies comply with international norms and standards and his directive to provide full disclosure of information and cooperation to the Commission.

- The Government should respect and implement the internationally agreed doctrine of command responsibility as part of the law of Sri Lanka, whereby superiors of those who have committed criminal acts may also be held responsible.

- The Government of Sri Lanka should establish, as a priority, a workable, effective and permanent system of victim and witness protection. The Commission should endeavour to train the staff of its victim and witness protection unit in order to provide the optimum level of security and assistance to potential witnesses. The IIGEP also calls for the establishment of a facility whereby essential witnesses, who have left Sri Lanka, and who can continue to give first hand evidence as to some of the events under examination by the Commission, can give their oral evidence to the Commission by video-links under conditions of complete safety. In this respect, international support to the Commission has proven critical.

- The Commission of Inquiry should include in the course of its inquiries an examination of the reasons for systemic failures and past impunity in relation to the cases under review, and consider the making of recommendations for the eventual appointment of independent special prosecutors in cases in which the security forces have been involved in serious human rights violations.

- The Government of Sri Lanka should provide the immediate and necessary financial resources to the Commission of Inquiry,and place adequate funds at its disposal, to enable it to fulfil its mandate.

- The Government of Sri Lanka should not entrench the role of the Attorney General as counsel assisting the Commission of Inquiry through legislation.

Among the cases being probed by the Commission of Inquiries and monitored by IIGEP was the August 2006 massacre of 17 local aid staff working with a French charity in the island's northeast. The evidence in this case has pointed to the involvement of security forces and a state cover-up.

Colombo pulled out of a tattered 2002 truce with the LTTE in January this year in the belief that it could crush the LTTE and regain areas under its control.

A French aid agency that operated in conflict areas in Sri Lanka and lost 17 of their local workers in a single incident two years ago has labeled the massacre as a ‘war crime’ and decided to withdraw from Sri Lanka.

Action Contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger) in a press release issued on Friday, April 18 said the execution style killing of the aid workers, mostly Tamils, could not be considered as collateral damage and the massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

“The Muttur slaughter can't be considered only as a "collateral damage" during the Muttur battle: our team has been specifically and deliberately targeted, their death has been organised execution style with bullets shot in their head. Everything was consciously and brutally planned: the victims were kneeling, unarmed and defenceless. The culprits of this massacre are the ones who were carrying the arms. We can assert that this massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions”, the ACF statement read.

The 17 local aid workers were killed when the military was taking over the LTTE controlled area of Muttur, 260 kilometres north east of the capital on August 4, 2006.

Explaining its decision to quit Sri Lanka the aid agency said, the decision by International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), a group of international experts observing the proceedings of a presidential commission probing 15 violent incidents including the killing of the aid workers has made them lose confidence in the dragging inquiry process.

The Paris based ACF added, it considered the presence of the IIGEP as an essential condition for the credibility in the investigations into the killing of its staff in Muttur and now doubted whether the Commission of Inquiries would respect international standards.

Last month, the IIGEP, headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, told the Sri Lankan government they were withdrawing from the inquiry because of official interference and lack of internationally acceptable standards.
In a statement released at the time, the IIGEP said: "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP,"

Declaring that a massacre of so many NGO workers has never happened in the history of humanitarian organizations, the ACF said its overall aim was to help the affected population particularly during crises like natural disasters, wars or internal conflicts and to avoid humanitarian crises and massive displacements.

“ACF carries out its role in regions like Darfur and Chechnya, but no accident such as the one that happened in Mutur has ever been reported,”

Founded in 1979, the non-profit-making organisation has programmes in 43 countries worldwide and its vocation is to save lives by fighting hunger, especially those of malnourished children, and to work with vulnerable populations to preserve and restore their livelihoods with dignity, ACF added.

Nordic truce monitors, from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission at the time blamed Sri Lankan security forces for the massacre - at the time the worst attack on aid workers since a 2003 bomb attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad.

Rev. Father M X Karunaratnam, the chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), was killed in a Claymore attack carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army on Sunday, according to initial reports from Tamileelam Police.

Officials at the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in a press release issued Sunday, expressed "profound shock and loss," and condemned the assassination of NESoHR's chairman, Fr. M. X. Karunaratnam.

Press release said, he "worked tirelessly championing the Human Rights of the Tamil people. He travelled to the United States, Canada and Geneva meeting with Foreign Governments and Organizations concerned in Human Rights. Rev. Fr. Karunaratnam pioneered the work of NESoHR in the field of psychological counseling of the war and tsunami affected people in the Tamil Homeland."

The attack took place on Mallaavi - Vavunikkulam Road in Vanni around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, according to initial reports.

Fr. Karunaratnam frequently uses the road as his residential prayer and counseling center is located in Vavunikkulam. His vehicle is known to everyone in the area, residents said implying that the Claymore attack has specifically targeted him.

The attack took place near Kuzhanthai Jesus Church at Vannivilaangkulam while his vehicle, which had broken down on his way back to his residence from Maangkulam Church, was being towed and he was seated in the driver seat steering it. A shrapnel hit his head, causing brain injuries and he died on the spot. His body was brought to Kilinochchi hospital.

Fr. Karunartnam was the foremost Human Rights activist in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam controlled Vanni. NESoHR was the only body in Vanni to report and voice for the Human Rights of the Tamil people in the NorthEast.

Fondly called as 'Kili Father,' he also played a key role in providing psychological support for those in the NorthEast affected by the war and the 2004 Tsunami disaster.

NESoHR was launched, in July 2004, as part of the Norwegian-facilitated 2002 Peace Process to strengthen the human rights protection mechanisms in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka.

Karunaratnam led a NESoHR delegation to Geneva in October 2004 and met with several European organizations involved in rights issues. Officials and diplomats visiting Kilinochchi had also made it a practice to meet Fr. Karunaratnam to discuss the humanitarian situation during their missions to Vanni.

In his latest report, issued on April 5, 2008, he noted:

"The [Sri Lankan] local mechanism to ensure good governance with respect for human rights has miserably failed and there is widespread call for the establishment of a UN body to monitor human rights violations. Sri Lanka’s claim that establishing such a body is an infringement on the sovereignty and integrity of the state does not hold water as long as series of mass murders and disappearances of Tamil people during communal pogroms and military offensives are not investigated by neutral agencies and perpetrators brought to book in a transparent manner. Diplomatic manipulations and unquestioned rhetoric by Sri Lanka in the world body should not be allowed to white wash the grim ground reality."

In his latest report, he also said: "NESoHR as the Human Rights body of the Tamil people had high hopes in the UN Human Rights session in view of the buildup of opinion against human rights violations committed by state actors in Sri Lanka."

"Most disappointingly we find that Sri Lanka was able to hold fort and technically defend its totally unacceptable human rights record in spite of the many adverse reports on human rights violations against the Tamil people."

This is the advantage rogue states have over unrepresented people in the UN. NESoHR has the responsibility to voice the concerns of an unrepresented people in the UN who have been deceptively made a minority in their land of birth to depend on a majority with a supremacist psychosis by the colonial powers when they left the island," he had noted.

Two of the eleven founder members of NESoHR and parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have been killed in Sri Lanka Army backed paramilitary attacks earlier.

A. Chandra Nehru, a founder member of NESoHR and former TNA Parliamentarian for the Ampaarai District was killed by paramilitary in February 2005.

Joseph Pararajasingam, a senior TNA MP from Batticaloa and a founder member of the NESoHR was shot dead on the Christmas Eve of 2005.

The other founding members of the NESoHR are: K. Sivapalan, an attorney-at-law from Trincomalee, now exiled in Norway, TNA parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, whose father Kumar Ponnamapalam was allegedly assassinated by the Sri Lankan establishment in January 2000, the general secretary of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) T. Mahasivam, Dr. K Sivapalan, Ms. Sri Arulananthan, Mr.S. Achsuthan, Dr. N. Malathy and Dr. S Sriskandaraja.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that a combination of poor rice harvest, rising global food prices and the escalating civil war are increasing food insecurity for hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans.

In a statement released on 9 April 2008 the UN agency said, only half the country’s 20 million people are receiving the minimum daily calorie intake of 2,030, according to the latest poverty assessments compiled by the government.

“An average poor person in Sri Lanka receives only 1,696 kcal per day while a non-poor person receives 2,194 kcal,” according to the Department of Census and Statistics, in a report entitled Poverty Indicators - Household Income and Expenditure Survey - 2006/07, released in March 2008.

Officials at the UN World Food Programme (WFP) told IRIN that high levels of under-nourishment prevail, especially in rural areas and those regions in the north and east affected by more than 25 years of conflict.

“The highest rates of under-nourishment are in the north and east as well as parts of the dry zone towards the centre of the island,” Jean-Yves Lequime, the deputy head of WFP in Sri Lanka, said.

“Our information shows that these areas are some of the poorest on the island, with very high under-nutrition rates, poor education levels and poor sanitation, all of which contribute to under-nutrition,” Lequime said.

Poverty and high energy requirements were also common in the rural agrarian areas, Gordon Weiss, chief of communications at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Colombo, the capital, told IRIN. “Especially in the agricultural areas, they engage with heavy work, so they need more calories. Most of the agricultural-based areas are considered poor areas.”

Child nutrition

“Sri Lanka has a significantly higher child underweight rate than would be expected on the basis of its [annual] per capita GDP [of US$1,599],” Lequime said. “Indeed, Sri Lanka has a child underweight rate that may be three times as high as what would be expected from a country with Sri Lanka's level of infant mortality.”

UNICEF said 14 percent of children under five in Sri Lanka showed signs of wasting (acute underweight) and stunting (chronic underweight) while 29 percent of children younger than five were underweight for their age.
However, districts that have been affected by conflict record even higher rates, according to UNICEF’s Weiss.

WFP said the continuing conflict between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had also raised concerns regarding overall food security and nutrition levels in the conflict zone.

“Food insecurity levels are high in areas affected by the conflict, according to the Integrated Food Security and Humanitarian Phase Classification conducted by WFP in April 2007,” Lequime said. “Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Mannar and parts of Vavuniya [districts] are classified as acute food and livelihood crises. Jaffna and Batticaloa are classified as a humanitarian emergency.”

There are also fears that national nutritional levels will deteriorate further due to rising food prices caused by inflation running at a record high of 17.5 percent, the WFP official said.

“Heavy unseasonal rainfall over much of Sri Lanka, including the conflict-affected areas, has destroyed much of the main ‘Maha’ rice harvest, which when combined with global price rises and food shortages may indicate major problems for the future,” according to Lequime.

Humanitarian agencies say hundreds of children in the North are suffering from severe malnutrition, with essential supplies, including therapeutic food supplements given to severely malnourished children, yet to reach them.

According to the Kilinochchi District Hospital, more than 500 children below the age of five in the Kilinochchi District, suffer from severe malnutrition.

Nutrition screening in Jaffna has identified a further 407 children suffering from 3 SD or Severe Acute Malnutrition, a UN affiliated agency said.

The Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) quoted the Kilinochchi District Secretary as saying that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had not given permission to transport food items for consumption by the general public, through the Omanthai crossing point into Kilinochchi, in the months of February and March.

“MPCSs report that food stocks in the district are running low. Wheat flour shortages have been reported from some villages in the north-east of Kilinochchi District. The Regional Divisional Health Services (RDHS) office-in Kilinochchi reports that no MoD permission had been given to bring in essential drugs from the stores in Vavuniya for the first quarter of the year. This is further exacerbating the lack of essential medicines in government run medical facilities,” IASC said.

The Kilinochchi District Secretary reports that 4,025 acres of paddy that was ready for harvesting had been destroyed by floods brought on by un-seasonal rains.

Meanwhile, the Jaffna RDHS had forwarded a supply request, through the Director General of Health Services in Colombo, for the supply of BP 100 (the therapeutic food supplement used for severely malnourished children), in order that the Nutrition Rehabilitation Programme may continue, as stocks were running low.

“Nutrition screening identified 407 children to have 3 SD,” IASC said.

Interestingly, in January this year, a UNICEF consignment of BP 100 destined for malnourished children in the north, was seized after the government claimed the high protein biscuits were used by combatants as rations.

The stocks were however subsequently released to UNICEF, but sources at the agency fear the delay to get the consignment to Kilinochchi may have contributed to the malnutrition experienced in the district. The Military was not available for comment on the issue.

I had a rare opportunity to come to know closely of the details of a Black Tiger Thurairathinam Kalairaj (Ilam Puli), who became a Martyr, when the Anuradhapura Air Base was attacked by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Ilama Puli was born on 13.10.1981 in a fishing village called Myliddy. His father was a prosperous fisherman, who owned a big motor boat. Ten people were employed by him and led a very comfortable life having his own stone built house, a motor cycle and all the other paraphernalia that go with prosperity. He had three children with Ilam Puli sandwiched between two sisters.

Ilam Puli was very much attached to both the sisters and particularly to the younger one Kaviarasi. He had his education at the Nadeswara College in Myliddy until the tragedy struck their family through the invasion of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in 1995. This family was among the several lacks of people, who left the Jaffna peninsula in an exodus. They left behind all their belongings except what they could carry in their bare hands. Since the motorbike was in a garage, they had to leave that also behind. Unfortunately they had no bank accounts and all their savings were only the jewels the ladies were wearing. They lost everything – the boat, the engine, the motorbike and all what were left behind in the house. Even the house was subsequently washed away by the tsunami. A one time rich family was made as refugees within a matter of hours.

They reached Nagarkovil by foot and lived in a temporary shed; what a contrast from a big stone built multi-roomed house. Ilam Puli and his sisters continued their education at the Nagarkovil Govt. Tamil Mixed School. Incidentally this is the school that was bombed by the SL Air force in 1995. Ilam Puli and his siblings escaped miraculously from that bomb attack.

His father being a good fisherman got hold of a few logs of wood and made a Catamaran to continue fishing in the coasts of Thalayadi. But their problems propped up again, when the SLA commenced shelling the Vadamaradchchi East, which constituted Nagarkovil as well. All those from the nearby villages had to be moved out further into Vanni. They finally reached Mallavi.

Again another shed housed all the five inmates of the family and with no fishing possibilities in the heartland of Mallavi they were left at the mercy of the handouts given to them by the International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). But that was hardly sufficient to feed five mouths. The father was earlier shot and injured severely by the IPKF and one of his lungs and a kidney were affected. Hence he could not do any hard manual labour. Hence it was Ilam Puli’s mother who had to find work as a coolie in the neighbourhood.

Mallavi is not a very prosperous area either. There were days when none of the members of the family had anything to eat. Yet they managed somehow and Ilam Puli with his siblings joined the Mallavi Maha Vidhyalayam. He and his younger sisters did exceptionally well at school. He attained such good results at the Advanced Level that admission to the university was open for him. But his love for his family was eating into him. He just could not leave them behind. Besides he could not even dream of a University Education due to the high costs involved.

I was told that he kept telling his friends that the cause for their present plight was the Sri Lankan Government (GoSL). He felt sorry for the rest of the refugees. Their misery was hurting him. This antagonism made him decide to do what he thought was best and that was to join the LTTE and fight the enemy who was ruining the lives of several thousands of people. Without the knowledge of the parents he joined the LTTE in 1999.

His exemplary service and meritorious qualities were straight away spotted by the higher-ups in the LTTE. He was swiftly absorbed into the medical division and taught medicine. Within four years he qualified as a medical practitioner and everyone addressed him as Doctor. He exemplified himself in his duties and exhibited his devotion and dedication to that noble profession. I was told that he did several surgical operations under very primitive circumstances and saved so many lives and limbs. Very senior doctors and surgeons admired his skill in surgery. He was a committed doctor and cared for the patients with love and devotion. He saved so many people that he made several friends. One Cholan (fictitious name), whose life was saved by Ilam Puli, became his thickest chum. It is Cholan who now takes good care of the family after the demise of Ilam Puli.

Heart of hearts Ilam Puli’s intention was always to become a Black Tiger. So he made his application to the Leader Mr.V.Pirapakaran but got no response. He made another attempt after one year. He was called in by the Leader after a long wait of another six months and the Leader told him that he could not take him in simply because Ilam Puli was the only son in the family. It touched my heart when I heard of this from Kaviarasi. Mr.V.Pirapakaran who is characterised as a “Ruthless leader” in several quarters has such a soft and tender heart embedded in him.

But Ilam Puli returned with a broken heart. He got a day’s leave from work and visited his parents. I heard that he was unusually very moody on that day. They did not know why. Normally when he comes home he used to sit beside his mother holding her hand and putting it intermittently on to his eyes. He also does not fail to put Kavi (as Kaviarasi is called by him) on the other side. And before he leaves he always touched the feet of his parents (Patha Namaskaram).He was so attached and devoted to the family.

His mother told me that Ilam Puli once wrote to them to get him a small radio, which they did when they visited him next. But when they met him after three months he did not have the radio with him. His explanation was that he had given it away to another LTTE cadre from Batticaloa as he had no parents or any relations. This is a symbol for Richness in Poverty.

Ilam Puli never gives up until he attains his goal. He kept applying until one day when he was finally taken as a Black Tiger. He told no body about this, which is typical of the Black Tigers. Neither his best friend nor any of the members of his family including his mother, whom he loved so much, knew of this development.

Now looking back the motherly instinct tells her that it was several months before the attack that her son must have become so. This is because his usual visits that were once quite frequent gradually became rare and rare. Even when he visited them he kept a distance from his mother and his dear little sis Kavi. Apparently he was cutting himself off from the family in the interest of both the parties. Only he knew what was in store.

Kavi told me last week that Ilam Puli once came with her photo where her picture was decorated with Red Roses. When she asked him for the reason he seems to have said “It is because you are a Rose to me.” She couldn’t control her emotions and was sobbing when she narrated this. I wouldn’t disagree with his statement as she is as pretty as a rose.

It was more than six months since he visited his family last. It was only when the “News” was brought to them by Karikalan that they came to know the whole story. During his visits Ilam Puli seems to have asked his parents for a few things. One was that in case of his death they should treat those who bring the message of his death, lovingly and give them tea. The other was to decorate his coffin with Red Roses, which I trust, symbolized his sister Kavi. Another day Kavi told me that Ilam Puli use to call her as Kavi and not Kaviarasi. When she asked him as why he calls her so, he seems to have said “because you are a poem to me” and of course she broke down after that too.

But I give credit to his mother. I did not see her cry even on the day of the funeral or on the 41st day ceremony. When I met her ten days back to prepare this article I asked her the reason for it. She said that she did cry a lot when the “News” was broken to her but within a matter of hours she pulled herself together, because she remembered what Ilam Puli had told her once. It was that none of them should cry over his demise.

Kaviarasi despite the very trying circumstances she was in, yet she got a B and two Cs in the Advance Level exam. But poverty, the atrocities by the army and the fact that she is a sister to a Black Tiger prevented her from joining the University in Jaffna. What a pity.

Both at the funeral and on the 41st day there were present several from the LTTE cadre who had been treated by Ilam Puli. They were full of praise for the care and dedication he devoted in treating the injured. Their words filled with emotions spoke of the great respect they have for him.

Even though Ilam Puli was a qualified doctor yet the photo of the hut where his parents live, will portray the poverty of the parents. Their faces are intentionally not shown for obvious reasons. It is in this small hut that his parents live with their daughters. The elder daughter is married and has a child as well. In spite of his being a doctor he was not paid any remuneration, which is the practice with the LTTE, whose cadres are unpaid volunteers sacrificing their lives for the betterment of our community.

When our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters are sacrificing their lives for us, the question that props in my mind is “what am I doing for them?”