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  • Violence round up – week ending 15 April

    Apr 24
    15 April
     
    ● Armed men shot dead S. Gajendran, 21, at point blank at his house in Marakarampaarai, Vavuniya.
     
    ● The whereabouts of the Tamil youth, abducted by unidentified persons in a three-wheeler in Murunkan, are not known. However, Murunkan Police recovered the three-wheeler allegedly used in the abduction of Jesurajan Roshan, 21.
     
    ● The body of Kanthiah Manonmani alias Mala, 22, of Jeevapuram, Paalaiyadiththoni, who was beaten to death, was found buried at Paalaiyadiththoni, Santhivelin in Eravur, Batticaloa. She had been missing since Saturday, after leaving her house. Relatives looking for her found her partly buried body in shrub land next to a school.
     
    ● Two students who went swimming in Kaththankudy Sea died and another two were rescued in serious condition. Seven friends who went together swimming confronted dangerous currents, and five of them were rescued by area fishermen close to the Aeththukkal beach.
    Subaitheen Barshath, 16, a student of Kaththankudy Central College and Atham Lebbai Riswan, ex student of the College, died.
     
    14 April
     
    ● A Karuna Group paramilitary cadre was shot dead in Aarumukathan Kudiyiruppu, Eravur, Batticaloa. He had been returning to the Karuna Group office in Chenkaladi after visiting his mother's residence near Kaali temple in Aarumukathan Kudiyiruppu when he was shot dead, 50 meters from his mother's house. A young pedestrian, K Nireshkumar, 17, was also injured in the shooting.
     
    ● A six month old infant injured two weeks ago during artillery shelling by the SLA towards LTTE controlled Paduvankarai, Batticaloa, succumbed to her injuries. Saththary Thilliampalam was initially admitted to Batticaloa Hospital for treatment of a heart injury, and later transferred to a privately owned medical institution in Colombo for further treatment. Her internally displaced parents, presently residing at the Welfare Centre at Urani, had sought the assistance of the office of the Batticaloa regional office of Church of South India to obtain additional medical treatment.
     
    ● Armed men called a Tamil youth from his house at Anpuvallipuram, Trincomalee, and shot him.  Sounthararajan Thayalan, 22, who had been working in a biscuit manufacturing company in Mawanella as a driver, was seriously injured. He had gone to his native Anpuvallipuram to celebrate the Tamil / Sinhala New Year with his parents.
     
    13 April
     
    ● Five people were shot and killed by a group of Sri Lankan troopers at Kanapathipillai village in Chenkaladi, Eravur, Batticaloa. The soldiers, who had taken cover alongside a road, had opened fire on two men, suspected to be carrying weapons, and killed them. Another three were caught in the fire and died, but the Sri Lankan military in Colombo claimed all 5 victims were civilians and blamed the Tigers for the killings. One of the victims, M. Ratnasingham, 60, succumbed to his injuries at hospital. A female, identified as Ms. Thamilchelvi, was admitted at the hospital. A 3-year-old boy and a 15-year-ld girl were also killed.
     
    ● Twenty-three people, majority of them Tamils, were taken into custody in cordon and search operations in Trincomalee town and its suburbs by SLA soldiers. The arrested were detained in police stations and interrogated because they allegedly failed to prove their identity.
     
    ● Armed men in a white van abducted Gopalasamy Kosalan, 20, a fisherman from Kolumbuththurai, Jaffna, relatives complained at the Jaffna SLHRC.
     
    12 April
     
    ● Seven Sinhala villagers, including a boy and 6 women, were shot and killed by unknown gunmen at Awaranthalawa, Vavuniya. The Sinhala civilians, who were settled in the village before 1983, had resettled in the village after the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002.
     
    ● A young married man has been missing from his residence on Potpathi Road, Kudaththanai, Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna, according to a complaint filed by his wife at the Jaffna SLHRC. Selvaraja Mugunthan, alias Suresh, 34, father of one, had left his house on April 3and has not been seen since.
     
    ● Eravur Police arrested and detained 12 Tamil youths, including a woman, in a cordon and search operation at Division No 5 of Eravur, Batticaloa. A large number of police officers sealed off the entire area and conducted a door to door search for several hours, questioning every individual and scrutinising identity cards.
     
    ● Nine Tamil civilians were arrested in Iruthayapuram, a Tamil village in Muthur, during a cordon and search operation by security forces. All of the arrested were handed over to Muthur police for further questioning, on suspicion of being members of the LTTE.
     
    ● SLA and paramilitary cadres forcibly entered a house at Sivapuram in Kanguveli, Muthur south, and shot and killed the owner, Thamotharampillai, 50, a farmer.
     
    ● Following the ambush of a SLA foot patrol in Sakkotai, Vadamaradchy north, Jaffna, SLA soldiers cordoned off and searched large areas in Valvettiturai and Udupiddy. SLA soldiers in Buffel APCs, and soldiers of SLA's field bike units participated in the search. This followed searches of Sakkottai and Polykandy villages, along northern Vadaramaradchy where the attack took place, the previous afternoon following the attack.
     
    ● Armed men on motor cycles shot dead a young family man and seriously injured his friend at a house at Saanthai, Chankanai, Jaffna. Thavarasa Moorthy, 24, was on his way home with Manikkam Mathanaraja, 21, a tailor. They were returning from hospital where Moorthy had given blood to his wife who had been operated on after delivering their first child. The killers chased Moorthy and shot him dead at point blank range as he tried to escape into his house while his friend was injured but managed to escape.
     
    11 April
     
    ● The LTTE said they recovered eight bodies after repulsing a SLA ground operation that attempted to move towards Paalamoddai, Vavuniya. Three LTTE fighters were also killed.
     
    ● The SLA was busy deploying military hardware and additional troops towards FDLs in Jaffna. Cell phone link to the peninsula, operated via Palali base, was also cut off. Truck loads of supplies were rushed from Palali military base towards the Northern Front throughout the day.
     
    ● A group of armed men, alleged to be paramilitary cadres working for the SLA, shot dead three persons and injured two others at Kumankulam in Vavuniya. Chandrakumar Rajakopal, 20, was on his way to buy groceries. Arulappu Ketheeswaran, 48, was shot when he went out to make a telephone call. The third victim was identified as Subramaniam Chandramathy, 68. The attackers had hit a shop owner in the vicinity with gun butts. There have been at least five similar killings where 10 persons have been killed in the villages surrounding Veppankulam military camp. Relatives allege the killers were Tamil speaking paramilitary cadres employed by the SLA. Vavuniya Police had claimed that three LTTE cadres were shot dead in a playground in Kumankulam. The police had further claimed that they had recovered arms from the victims.
     
    ● Armed persons opened fire on a SLA patrol unit at Sakkottai, Polykandy in Vadamaradchy north. Following the attack, the dead and injured were air lifted to Palay SLA Base hospital twice in a military helicopter. SLA troopers cordoned off and searched Sakkottai, Polykandy villages. The number of SLA troopers dead or injured is suspected to be high.
     
    ● The bullet ridden body of young married man was discovered by his wife in an abandoned house in a border village in a SLA HSZ in Ampanai, Alaveddy in Valigamam North, Jaffna. Balasubramaniam Sivaganeshan, 31, a father of three and a resident of Sithankerny, Ulavaththai of Vaddukoddai, left for work the previous morning and had not returned. The victim is believed to have been abducted by unidentified men and tortured before being shot dead.
     
    ● A close friend of Balasubramaniam Sivaganeshan, also a resident of Sithankerny, Vaddukoddai, surrendered himself at the Jaffna SLHRC office seeking protection for his life. He complained that he and the deceased have been receiving death threats in the recent days.
     
    ● The SLN, engaged in setting up a large guard post at Point Pedro Munai (light house), has ordered 33 resettled families affected by 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, to vacate their new homes. The SLN officials had told the villagers that the Sri Lankan Government would provide alternate accommodation elsewhere. However, the officials at Jaffna District Secretariat were not aware of any initiative for alternate accommodation for the affected families. District Secretariat officials coordinating tsunami resettlement in the peninsula have expressed fear that the move could affect hundreds of resettled families in the area. The fishermen expressed fear that they would be left without any viable alternatives, as thousands of families, already affected by the military HSZs in the peninsula, were not provided any alternative arrangements by the Sri Lankan government.
     
    ● Masked armed men opened fire with a T56 rifle, killing a trader and seriously injuring a youth, at the trader's house in Eravur, Batticaloa. The trader was identified as A. K. Aslam, 28, a father of two and a resident of Kudiyirrupu in Eravur. The wounded was identified as Jahnkir, 18. The masked killers disconnected the electricity supply to Aslam's house and entered the house where they locked up the rest of the family in a room before opening fire on the victims.
     
    ● Armed men forcibly entered a house and shot dead a family man, seriously injuring his wife, at Aathimoddai, Samballthivu, Trincomalee. The victim was identified as M. Srikantha, 48, a father of two, and a resident of Aathimoddai, in Sambalthivu.
     
    ● Armed men opened fire on a SLA sentry post in Thiriyai, Trincomalee, injuring two troopers. The SLA cordoned off and searched the area immediately after the attack but no one was arrested.
     
    ● Armed men shot dead Sithamparapillai Muraleetharan, 27, a family man, in Pandiruppu, Kalmunai, Amparai.
     
    ● The Education Ministry Secretary of the de-merged East Provincial Council (EPC), L. S. C. Siriwardene, who was a former Government Agent of Amparai district, was arrested in his office in Orr's Hill, Trincomalee town, by a team of Bribery and Corruption Commission officials when he was allegedly accepting a bribe. Commission officials arrested Mr. Siriwardene on a complaint that he had demanded fifty thousand rupees for appointing a volunteer teacher on permanent basis as teacher-assistant. Mr. Siriwardene earlier served as the Secretary of the Health Services Ministry of the merged North East Provincial Council (NEPC) till it was de-merged three months ago on an order by the Supreme Court.
     
    ● The UNP parliamentarian for Kurunagala district, Johnston Fernando, who had criticized Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, complained to the Police and to the Speaker of parliament that he received death threats over the telephone. One anonymous caller had threatened Mr. Fernando that he would face the same fate as the sacked UPFA minister Sripathi Sooriyarachi.
     
    10 April
     
    ● Two Tamil youths from Jaffna, arrested and detained in Colombo on suspicion that they were members of the LTTE, were released on the instruction of the Colombo Chief Magistrate. Fort Police took them into custody on April 2 when they were walking along a road. The Police submitted a report to court that the youths, identified as Gunaratnam Rajkamal, 20, and Poopalasingham Gajendran, 22, of Jaffna, were not involved in LTTE activities and were staying in Colombo to go to Saudi Arabia for employment.
     
    ● An Arts Faculty student of Jaffna University, abducted in Jaffna city Monday, was released the next night along a desolate roadside after severe torture. The abductors, travelling in a white van, had released Nagenthiram Rajaluxman, 25. He told hospital authorities that he was waylaid outside his home and abducted by the SLA military intelligence (MI) section and later interrogated and tortured in a military camp before release. Mr. Rajaluxmanm, a resident of Naavalar Veethi, Ariyaalai, is a 3rd year art student of Jaffna University.
     
    ● Persons, believed to be SLA soldiers, abducted a family man riding in motor bike from in front of Skanthavarothaya College, Chunnakam in Valikamam North, Jaffna. His wife lodged a complaint with the Jaffna office of the SLHRC saying relatives had witnessed her husband being taken away by SLA soldiers. She visited all SLA camps in the region in search of her husband, Pathinathan Christie Gnanaroopan, 25, a father of one, but she was not successful in locating him.
     
    ● The SLA and police took away 6 Tamils in a search in 4th, 5th and 6th Unit areas in Pavatkulam in Vavuniya, in which all males in the areas were transported to Varikuttiyoor junction on Poovarasankulam-Chettikulam road, where they were produced before a person whose face and head were hooded. The hooded person identified five local males and one internally displaced person by nodding his head and the SLA and police took the six civilians to Vavuniya. T. Venugopal, 21, Ganeshan Uthayan, 26, and Packiyarasa Puvi, 26, are being detained at Vavuniya police station for further interrogation.
     
    ● Two ambulances from Kilinochchi district hospital, carrying 11 patients in need of urgent medical transportation to Vavuniya hospital, were forced to return to Kilinochchi as the ambulances were not allowed to proceed beyond Omanthai SLA checkpost due to the closure of the entry point. Exchange of artillery fire following Sri Lankan troops attempt to move into LTTE territory had caused the closure of Omanthai gateway. The patients denied access to treatment included Vinijia Sarojini, 41, Rajendran Kantharuby, 34, Vinayagamoorthy Vasanthy, 46, Kunaratnam Rajeswary, 58, in one ambulance, and Maheswary's baby, Thinninayakam Annalaxmy, 76, Mohanaraj Kavithas, 6, Selvananthan Sinthuja, 21, Nagalingam Sarojini, 35 and Paramalingam Sinthija, 10, in the other ambulance.
     
    ● Unidentified persons abducted Kuttan Piraruban, a fifteen year-old student and a member of a resettled family, in Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee. He had been studying in Thiriyai Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam in Year 9. Unidentified persons had entered his house and took him away forcibly, according to a complaint filed with the police and SLMM.
     
    ● Thirty passengers were killed and 41 injured when a passenger bus collided with a container lorry at Induruwa, Galle. The bus had been heading to Colombo from Udugama along A 2 while the container which was carrying beer was heading from Colombo to Galle.
     
    ● Thalaimannar police arrested a man following a complaint by parents of a missing person that he had been murdered by fellow fishermen. Earlier, Nelson Tharcius was reported disappeared on April 5 when the SLN fired at the boat he was travelling on with two others. The suspect, identified as Wimal, had told Police he, along with Nelson Tharcius and Rajan, transported refugees to Tamil Nadu from Pesalai on April 5 and the SLN had fired at the boat when they were returning to Pesalai. Nelson Tharcius died due to gunshot injuries and they threw his body into the sea, according to Wimal’s statement. However Tharcius’ parents told the Police that he did not die due to Navy firing, but was killed by his fellow fishermen, Wimal and Rajan. The police later recovered a sharp knife buried in a sandbank in Talaimannar Sea and are now taking steps to arrest Rajan.
     
    9 April
     
    ● A diplomatic van belonging to the Indian High Commission, on it's way to receive a diplomat from the International Airport in Colombo, was hijacked and the driver of the vehicle, Mr. S. Vishvanathan, was abducted by two attackers Seeduwa, southeast of Katunayake Airport. The driver, badly beaten by the attackers, lost his two teeth and was released early the next morning. The vehicle which left Colombo around 11:00 p.m., had been chased by a car from Peliyagoda and obstructed near Dandugama bridge. The attackers in the car bound Mr. Vishvanathan, and took him away in their car. The van was driven away by one of the men. In 2005, Indian Deputy High Commissioner A. Manikkam's Jeep was robbed at gun point at Abeypussa rest house. The vehicle was never recovered.
     
    ● A ten year old girl in Mankumaban, an islet off the coast of Jaffna, was raped by two SLN soldiers. The girl had just gone outside her home to play when she was grabbed by the Navy soldiers and raped. When her parents attempted to leave the islet and go to Jaffna, they were threatened and prevented from leaving Mankumban by the SLN.
     
    ● A triangular area covering East Ariyaalai, Naavatkuzhi and Kaeratheevu in Jaffna was targeted by LTTE artillery guns when exchange of artillery fire was reported along the FDLs in Jaffna. The SLA suffered heavy casualties in artillery shelling by the Tigers. Although local SLA command put the casualty figures at 6 wounded, 3 military ambulances were seen transporting wounded troopers after imposing an unusual block halting all civilian traffic along Jaffna - Palaali Road for more than an hour.
     
    ● Four armed men in military fatigue, riding in a white van, forcibly abducted a young labourer at gun point from his residence in Koyyaththoaddam, Jaffna. The father of Rajendram Uthayakumar, 24, in his testimony to the SLHRC in Jaffna, said he was prepared to identify the perpetrators if an identity parade is held and alleged that the perpetrators were SLA soldiers.
     
    ● In Vavuniya, one SLA soldier was killed and three others wounded near Omanthai entry - exit point during an exchange of artillery fire between the SLA and LTTE.
     
    ● Gnanaseelan Ravi, 24, a carpenter by profession from Crusoe Road in Chundukuli, Jaffna, has been missing since he left for work to Jaffna town on his motor cycle.
     
    ● Rajenthiram Uthayakumar, 26, from Navatkuli housing scheme, was abducted, according to a complaint lodged with the Jaffna SLHRC
     
    ● The annual celebrations at the historic Panrithalaichi Amman Temple in Manthuvil, Thenmaradchy, Jaffna, was disrupted when SLA soldiers conducted a cordon and search operation. Thousands of devotees who thronged the area were prevented from proceeding towards the temple. "Pangunithingal" festival is conducted each year after the cultivation is over and when the agricultural crops are at their peak production. The feast draws around twenty five thousand devotees from areas throughout the peninsula. The public bring in their farm produce to the temple and cook meals in the premises where many of them stay overnight. In a pre dawn operation, thousands of SLA troops searched Madduvil, Chavakachcheri, Sarasalai, Kangampuliyady Junction and desolate shrub lands in Kapoothu areas, preventing devotees from proceeding towards the temple.
     
  • Arrested youth seeks release, compensation
    A Tamil has filed a fundamental rights application with Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court challenging his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
     
    M. G. L. Vass states that he was arrested on March 13, at his residence in Kaduwela, by Gampaha Police on suspicion that he had been an important leader of the Liberation Tigers.
     
    He was handed over to the Terrorism Investigation Department on March 23 and has since been detained under the PTA without being produced in court.
     
    Vaas states that the police who came to his house to arrest him saw a photograph, displaying him in military uniform and carrying arms, hanging in his house.
     
    The police mistook that he was a leading figure in the LTTE and released that photograph to the media stating that they had arrested an important leader of the LTTE who was hiding in Kaduwela area to launch a major attack, the application states.
     
    Vaas claims that he worked for a security firm in Iraq and the photo depicted him after he had received military training from the US Defence Ministry.
     
    He claims his training included the use of a sniper rifle, and that such military training was provided to a lot of people working in Iraq after the US invasion.
     
    Vaas also claimed in his application to have been in possession of a permit to use arms, which was issued by the US Defence Ministry while he was in Iraq.
     
    Vaas states that he was arrested and being kept in detention illegally because he is a Tamil, and claims the police violated his fundamental rights. He states that he was earlier married to a Sinhalese.
     
    Vass asks for his release and compensation in the amount of 100 million rupees and cites the Director of the Terrorism Investigation Department, Officer-in-Charge of the Gampaha Police Station, Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Gampaha region, Deputy Inspector General of Police for the Western province, Inspector General of Police, Defence Ministry Secretary and Attorney General in his application.
  • Eleven killed in SLA Vavuniya advance
    Some of the weapons recovered by the LTTE following the Sri Lankan soldiers hasty retreat.
    The LTTE said they repulsed a fresh ground operation by the SLA that attempted to move towards Paalamoddai, northwest of Vavuniya, on April 11.
     
    SLA troopers on retreat left behind dead soldiers, arms and ammunition, including a Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher and 15 automatic guns, according to the military spokesman of the Tigers, Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
     
    Eight bodies of SLA troopers were located by the Tigers who were clearing the area after the SLA retreat.
     
    Three LTTE fighters were killed when Tigers forces confronted the SLA, Mr. Ilanthiryan said.
     
    The LTTE liaison officer for NGOs, Mr. Thiyagarajah, handed over the bodies of seven SLA troopers to the ICRC on April 12.
     
    Only seven were returned as one of the eight bodies recovered was in a decomposed state.
     
    ICRC Kilinochchi Official Katja Loren accepted the bodies from Mr. Thiyagarajah.
     
    Vavuniya ICRC Protection Officer, Paulin Kabayiza, was also present during the handing over of the bodies.
     
    The SLA had launched the operation after intensifying MBRL and artillery barrage on Vavuniya Mannar border villages between Mullikkulam and Valayankaddu.
     
    Tiger commandos carried out a pre-dawn counter-operation and successfully thwarted the SLA troop movement, Mr. Ilanthiryan said.
     
  • Karuna Group terrorizes eastern Muslims, Tamils
    Sri Lanka Army backed paramilitaries are running amok in government controlled Muslim village of Pottuvil, terrorizing residents and extorting money, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
     
    Gunmen from the Karuna Group are roaming freely with weapons, threatening and extorting money from people in Pottuvil, a predominantly Muslim village in Ampara, the paper said.
     
    “They go around with weapons on motorbikes and are said to be threatening people on the streets. They have also extorted money from people,” a resident has told the Daily Mirror.
     
    “All this is happening while the police and the STF stand around doing nothing,” the resident said, referring to the Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter-insurgency arm of the police.
     
    According to the Peace Secretariat for Muslims (PSM), a peace coordinating body formed by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the National Unity Alliance, the country’s two main Muslim parties, the matter had already brought up with the international community as a matter of urgency.
     
    “We have already brought the Pottuvil crisis to the attention of the co-chairs and are awaiting speedy action,” a PSM spokesman said.
     
    “Maintaining law and order is the duty of the police, and in special cases the Army too has a role to play. But in Pottuvil the police including the STF and the Army have become mere by-standers while the Karuna group is running the writ through the town” said a PSM spokesman.
     
    The Karuna Group is an anti-LTTE paramilitary group set up by a renegade LTTE commander, Karuna, who defected to the Sri Lankan military after his six-week rebellion was crushed in an LTTE offensive in early 2004.
     
    It is officially known by its political party name - Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP).
     
    Reporters who are able to visit the districts of the eastern province say gunmen and child soldiers of the Karuna Group are brazenly wandering about Sri Lankan government controlled areas in plain sight of the security forces.
     
    But when the Daily Mirror contacted the Karuna Group, spokesman Azad Maulana denied their cadres were roaming the town with weapons in government controlled area.
     
    The paper said that some Muslim youth in Pottuvil are threatening to take up arms for self-protection if Karuna Group cadres are not brought under control.
     
    Meanwhile, the Karuna group, which is accused by international human rights agencies for forcibly recruiting children with the assistance of the Sri Lankan security forces, was this week accused of paying off parents in an attempt to reduce the number of complaints.
     
    Human rights agencies said the paramilitary group was paying up to Sri Lanka Rupees 6000 per month to parents of children it forcibly recruits to ensure their compliance and not report the abduction to human right organizations.
     
    The sum is a considerable amount for many people in the impoverished eastern districts.
     
    According to UNICEF, there were 45 reported cases of Karuna child abductions in three months – 10 in December, 24 in January, and 11 in February. Among these were three children abducted by Karuna cadre from camps for internally displaced persons in Batticaloa district.
     
    The actual number is likely to be far higher because many parents are afraid to report cases or have been paid off, human rights groups say.
     
    Despite promises to investigate abductions of children by the pro-government Karuna group, Sri Lankan authorities have taken no effective action and abductions continue, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last month.
     
    “The Karuna group is doing the government’s dirty work,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said. “It’s time for authorities in Colombo to stop this group from using children in its forces.”
     
    In a wider attempt to stamp its authority in the eastern province the Karuna Group is demanding people to bring their concerns to their offices instead of the police.
     
    The Karuna Group has also written to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the eastern districts to register with them.
     
    In a letter sent to international and local humanitarian agencies the paramilitaries demanded that the recipients complete and returns a detailed questionnaire by April 31.
     
    In a pointed threat, they also warned that if the recipient did not comply it “would not be responsible for their safety.”
     
    The letter which was written in broken English posed questions such as – “Are you trying to help LTTE?’, ‘Are you try to show, you are the man of humanitarian?’, ‘Are you try to help separate this country?’, ‘Are you want to be a LTTE hero?’, ‘Are tried to help LTTE propaganda?”
     
    It was signed by the “Intelligent (sic) unit, Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Party.”
     
     
  • Sinhala colonisation in Muslim areas
    The de-merger of the northeastern province by a Sri Lanka Supreme court order has posed a fresh threat to the minority Muslims in the east.
     
    Muslims in general fear the sudden spurt of state aided colonisation in the predominant Muslim areas in the east. They fear that this turn of event might change their life overnight.
     
    The de-merger has aggravated the state sponsored colonisation and Muslims in particular are getting prepared for a showdown.
     
    The Sri Lankan government is actively engaged in grabbing every inch of unutilised lands in the Ampara District and some adjoining areas to ensure occupation of Sinhalese from the South.
     
    The Muslims who have already been clamouring for a Muslim majority district in the Ampara District that comprises Pottuvil, Sammanthurai and Kalmunai are now disillusioned.
     
    Some Muslim traders based in the east said Muslims who never resorted to carrying arms might be compelled to do so, like the Tamil Tigers, if the government failed to understand their sentiments.
     
    “We are a very patient lot. But if we are provoked, we can react violently,” they warned.
     
    The Nation learns that state aided colonisation is fast progressing in Pottuvil, Deegavapi, Norachcholai and Akkraipattu and this has irked Muslims who have been at the receiving end from the brutality of the LTTE and the armed forces.
     
    The colonisation according to them is on a steady process and they charge that if the local politicians failed to address this issue or take it up with the President, they will start agitations.
     
    The recent Supreme Courty court order to de-merge the north and east has apparently blocked every opportunity that was available for the Muslims to push for a separate Muslim District through peace negotiations.
     
    Muslim political parties that were looking for an opportunity to place this issue before the government and the LTTE during the peace talks and receive a positive answer from both, now say they lost that chance due to the court order.
     
    The SLMC continues to insist that the Muslims too must be considered a main stakeholder of the peace talks and The Nation understands the party’s goal is to place before both the government and the LTTE its proposal for the creation of a separate Muslim district.
     
    “We foresaw that this was going to happen,” says the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, part of the ruling coalition.
     
    “Colonisation is not new in Sri Lanka. Even in some of the Tamil dominated areas there has been colonisation. But if this time the matter is left unheeded, it will end in disaster.”
     
    “We will take the matter up with the President soon. In every letter we exchanged with the President prior to joining [his government], we made very clear that there should not be any state colonisation.”
     
    Meanwhile some of the Muslim traders pointed out that it is only the Muslims in Sri Lanka who do not have any authority over any particularly demarcated area. “This country has 24 districts and six out of them are administered by the Tamils. How about Muslims? Nothing,” they observed.
     
    They argued that they too should deserve at least one district to reflect on their sentiments and to practice their own traditions.
     
    “How is our future generation going to recognise the ethnic or religious identity when we do not have a single district? It is essential that we too enjoy control over a particular land so that we could preserve our own culture and traditions. Certainly we are not demanding for a separate state as such. This must be understood by the government,” Muslim traders said on the condition of anonymity.
     
    They further pointed out that their request was a reasonable one given the current trend to devolve powers to the peripheries.
     
    Meanwhile they also supported National Heritage Minister Anura Bandaranaike’s statement made last week in Parliament that the north and east should be merged again.
     
    “We actually did not like the merger of the north and east. But we thought the de-merger would take place at a different forum- preferably at the peace talks. But this sudden court decision to de-merge north and east has really upset all of us,” traders pointed out.
  • Life in embattled Batticaloa
    Batticaloa district in 2007 has acquired a reputation which it did not have in the last 25 years of the military conflict in North East Sri Lanka.
     
    This relatively peaceful Eastern Sri Lankan district has become a very dangerous place to visit, making even seasoned journalists wonder if it is safe.
     
    The reason is the change in weaponry and tactics used in the conflict. There is now an overwhelming reliance on long distance fighting with artillery, 'arty' mortars, Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRL) and jet fighter bombers.
     
    And the shelling from the ground and the air is incessant, like it never was ever before.
     
    However, one decided to go. The situation was getting worse and not better. And it was feared that the roads might be closed indefinitely if the government pursued its plan to take over the entire East, on a priority basis, for pressing political reasons. A "now or never" situation had arisen.
     
    After zipping through the lush green landscape of the blissfully peaceful Sinhalese-majority district of Polannaruwa, one entered Batticaloa district.
     
    In a trice, the landscape had changed. The barrenness of Western Batticaloa was as depressing as it was striking. There was no sign of any economic activity for as long as the eye could see.
     
    And soon, the other aspect of the grim reality in Batticaloa presented itself. Signs of war appeared in the form of checkpoints, searching questions by a motley mix of Sri Lankan police commandoes, regular troops and Karuna's men, all armed with T-56 assault rifles, bullet proof vests and huge ammunition pouches.
     
    Karuna, who was one of the ace commanders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) till March 2004, had broken away from LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, and had since been functioning as an adjunct of the Sri Lankan armed forces in Batticaloa and Amparai.
     
    As one went further in, one could hear the sound of shelling by a wide variety of long range area weapons - 81 mm 'arty' mortars, 122 mm artillery and the most dreaded and the noisiest of them all, the Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL).    
     
    The towns in Batticalao district like Chengalady and Eravur, looked battle-scarred, with half demolished buildings and shops, pock marked houses, road blocks and diversions.
     
    Steel helmeted and armed men were evident every few yards. Road intersections were manned by callow Tamil youth with deadly weapons.
     
    Clearly, these were recent recruits of the Karuna faction. Some of the gun-toting boys were so small that they were dwarfed by the T-56s they were carrying.
     
    One dreaded the thought of a child soldier pulling the trigger in a fit of excitement. The boys were also small enough to be playful with that instrument of death.
     
    Karuna's presence was ubiquitous, though locals said that the extent of the presence did not match popular support. "Support for him may be about 5 per cent," said a school teacher," who did not wish to be named, for obvious reasons.
     
    "If Karuna had … helped the Tamil refugees, we would have embraced him. But he is doing precious little," said a Christian priest, involved in relief work.
     
    There was not a town in the government-held areas which was not dotted with Karuna's offices or camps, which significantly, were almost always close to the camps of the government forces.
     
    The TMVP's offices are located in opulent houses, many owned by Tamils who had fled to the West apparently.
     
    "The TMVP has the ability to acquire any property it fancies!" said a resident with a mischievous smile. Locals alleged that houses are commandeered and rents are not paid.
  • No going back until peace is restored, refugees say
    Tamil refugees in Batticaloa district say that they will not go back to their homes unless the shelling stops completely and lasting peace is brought about.
     
    "We'll go back only when peace is restored. We can't go back when shelling is on," affirmed Thangavadivel a farmer from Mutur East in Trincomalee district, who has been living with his family in the Vettukadu camp in the outskirts of Batticaloa town for the past 11 months.
     
    This is a tall order, given the fact that the Sri Lankan government is determined to pursue the LTTE, and drive it out of the Eastern districts.
     
    And clearing the East is going to take time, though the powers-that-be in Colombo believe that the entire North and East can be cleared within three years.
     
    Asked what the problem was when the government had said that people would be rehabilitated only after the designated re-settlement area was cleared of the LTTE, and the mines planted by it were removed, Thangavadivel said that fighting could break out at any time even in the "cleared" areas.
     
    Echoing the refugees' fears, a local religious dignitary, who did not want to be identified, said: "The Tigers are bound to bounce back. Fighting will go on if there is no move for a political settlement. I see no light at the end of the tunnel."    
     
    Informed sources in Batticaloa attributed the refugees' reluctance to go back to their homes to the change in weaponry and tactics of the Sri Lankan forces.
     
    The nature of fighting has undergone a sea [of] change. Earlier, both sides relied essentially on small arms and mortars, with the security forces using choppers also, and occasionally, aircraft.
     
    Now the state uses long range weapons and the Air Force liberally, making these its main strike weapons. Even the LTTE now prefers long range weapons to ground movement and hand to hand fighting.
     
    The refugees have grown up in the midst of war for close to twenty years. But their previous experience in dodging gun fire proved to be useless this time round.
     
    Sarangapani a coolie from Vavunathivu said that earlier, people had time to take shelter in peace zones like schools, temples and churches. The fighting forces by-passed these shelters.
     
    But now, no place is safe. "We don't know when an artillery shell or an aerial bomb will fall in our area. The attacker can't be seen. There is no warning that he is going to come. There is no escape!" he said.
     
    "We fled carrying nothing with us except the clothes we were wearing," he recalled.
     
    Thangavadivel had moved from one place to another four times because shells would catch up with him wherever he tried to settle.
     
    There was no report of any significant killings as a result of the shelling. No refugee mentioned it. 
     
    Apparently, the shells fell on places with no people in close proximity. But death due to shelling had been a constant threat, a real, everyday possibility. That is why the people fled.    
     
    A woman inmate in Vettukadu said that people who had been taken back to their villages by the government, had found that there were "no people, only the army" there.
     
    Clearly, the refugees do not like the army breathing down their necks.
     
    The places had also been destroyed and looted, other refugees said.
     
    Nirmalai, a music teacher from the Tamil-Muslim town of Mutur had a different problem. She said that she did not want to go back because there would be too many Muslims there.
     
    "Tamils can't trust them," she said. Muslims are seen as being pro-Army.      
     
    The refugees' refusal to entertain the thought of going back, is worrying Tamil leaders who believe that if they do not go back, their places will be taken by non-Tamils, like Sinhalas and Muslims, especially the former, with the help of the state.
     
    A leading Catholic religious figure is telling the refugees to go back, if allowed to. He is reminding them that the ethnic conflict began in the 1950s with "state-aided colonisation" of the Tamil areas of the North-East by the Sinhalas, the majority community in Sri Lanka.
  • LTTE airstrike: human capital, gathered against the odds
    Asserting that Monday’s airstrike on Katunayake “indicates a quantum leap in the LTTE’s technological base,” Professor Kumar David, an engineering specialist, argues that “the LTTE’s aviation technology is far behind that of the Sri Lanka Air force..that it has taken the first step is quite telling.”
     
    In a op-ed in The Island, he cautions Colombo that the human capital gathered against massive odds by the LTTE renders a military solution unviable. Meanwhile, a columnist in the Tamil Guardian points out the LTTE acquired the know-how and materials for an air force in the harshest international climate for armed movements.
     
    "In a modern knowledge-based world the true measure of progress is the sophistication of human resources capital; technology is not things, not machines, gadgets and electronics, rather technology is the knowledge and ability inside people’s heads," Prof. David wrote.
     
    He points to the vast array of different human skills, beyond simply flying a light aircraft that need to be acquired and brought together to accomplish recent airstrike on Katunayake.
     
    "It is not just a matter of smuggling in a light aircraft kit or two and assembling them in the jungle. They have to be test flown; they have to take-off and land; be maintained and serviced, the bomb bays loaded and the frame structurally balanced,” he says.
     
    “To fly from some god-forsaken part of the Vanni over Katunayake, drop a payload and get back safely in the dead of night needs some minimal avionics and navigational tools and the ability to use them.”
     
    “But most important of all it needs the flight crews, the engineering personnel and the ground crews to carry out the operation.”
     
    “Make no mistake about it, if every LTTE aircraft, runway and hanger is destroyed but the skilled personnel remain, then the battle has only just begun," he warns.
     
    Prof. David, Dean of Hong Kong’s largest and best known engineering school. pointed out that his analysis is based on forty years of engineering experience.
     
    Meanwhile, an op-ed in the Tamil Guardian says the crucial message that the LTTE has sent Colombo with its heavily publicised airstrike Monday is “not only is the LTTE now able to conduct such raids; it has been able to acquire this ability despite the pointed efforts of the Sri Lanka government and its allies to prevent it.”
     
    “There is nothing inevitable about the emergence of the ‘Air Tigers.’ In fact there is every reason for such an endeavour to be nigh impossible now,” Suren Manoharan wrote.
     
    “Indeed, the post 9/11 era, with its attendant global anti-terrorism drives, has arguable been the most difficult period in which the LTTE has had to develop any of its military capabilities.”
     
    “This period coincides with the most concentrated and extensive effort by the Sri Lankan government and its international allies to squeeze the LTTE’s ocean going supply lines and shut down its financial and other operations around the world.”
  • US, India unruffled by LTTE airstrike
    Asked for the United States’ reaction to the LTTE airstrike on the military airbase at Katunayake last Monday, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’ Blake said: “The LTTE’s successful deployment of an offensive air capability is a matter of great concern.”
     
    Asked by Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News if the LTTE attack changed the US view about the conflict, he said: “We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict. Rather, both sides should cease hostilities so talks can take place on a negotiated settlement.”
     
    Asked if the US has changed its travel advice to Americans as a result of this attack, Mr. Blake said: “There has been no substantive change in our advice. The U.S. Embassy does not perceive a specific threat to our citizens.”
     
    The unruffled US reaction to the LTTE mirrored that of India, whose Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon, when asked about the LTTE attack said: "We are very concerned at the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka in the last few weeks. The incident is one part of the violent incidents that we have seen.”
     
    "To pick on an individual incident of violence will not help solve the root cause of the problem," he said.
  • Aid flows despite abuses, violence
    Sri Lanka’s worsening human rights record and hardline militaristic approach to the ethnic question has not deterred international donors from continuing to fund the Sinhala-dominated state.
     
    In March 2007 the Japanese government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) awarded a total of US$ 620 million to Sri Lanka.
     
    And whilst some donor countries like Germany and the United Kingdom have linked aid to improved human rights and de-escalation of violence, no significant reduction in fund flow has been noted.
     
    The ADB approved a US$ 300 million loan towards expansion of Colombo port which it considers to be a key trans-shipment hub in South Asia while the Japanese government provided its largest yen loan package to Sri Lanka - US$ 320 million - under its Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan scheme.
     
    This is the 38th loan package Japan has extended to the Sri Lanka. Japan is the single largest donor to Sri Lanka in terms of the total amount of assistance since 1986, and Sri Lanka is one of the largest recipients of per head assistance from Japan in the world.
     
    The loaned funds is to be spent on infrastructure projects identified by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapkse’s election manifesto and is aimed at building infrastructure.
     
    According to the ADB, Colombo port which is now capable of handling 3.3 million containers would be able to handle 5.7 million containers following the expansion.
     
    Prodyut Dutt, a senior transport specialist with ADB's South Asia Department, said: "In recent years, Colombo Port has lost market share in trans-shipment because it does not have the operating capacity or depth required to berth the latest generation container ships."

    Recent military offensives against the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan government in defiance of the 2002 ceasefire agreement has increased risk violence spreading to the south and according to ADB the expansion plan incorporates stepped up security measures.
     
    Sri Lanka whilst borrowing heavily has significantly increased its defense budget for 2007 to US $1.4 Billion. An increase of 46% over the previous year and 23% of Sri Lankan state’s total income.
     
    On April 2, a coalition of about 200 Sri Lankan civil society groups called South Asian nations to cut defense spending and increase funding for socio economic development to curb poverty in one of the world’s poorest regions.
     
    “We realize that the lavish spending on weapons by poor South Asian countries is one of the major causes of rampant poverty in the region,” Arjun Karki, a coordinator of the coalition, told a news conference.
     
  • Oil exploration to step up
    US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake (l) and Sri Lankan Secretary for the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dr. P.B. Jayasundera sign an agreement on a US grant of $474,000 for oil exploration. Photo TamilNet
    Sri Lanka is seeking bids to develop oil fields in the Mannar basin, in the northwest of the island, having allocated one of five blocks in the Mannar basin to India and another to China.
     
    The biding process for the remaining three blocks will open on May 1 2007 and licenses will be awarded in early 2008, according to Neil De Silva, Sri Lanka’s Director General of Petroleum Resources Development.
     
    Meanwhile the United States is to award a grant of US$474,000 to Sri Lanka’s ministry of Finance and Planning to develop the country’s oil and gas sector.
     
    The blocks being put up for bids are estimated to contain 1 billion barrels of oil and would significantly alter the country’s energy sector and economy.
     
    According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the country imports about 15 million barrels of crude each year, and also buys about 15 million barrels of oil products from abroad annually.
     
    The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce says “the oil and gas industry has the potential to change the destiny of Sri Lanka.”
     
    “Escalating oil and gas prices have not only led to the increase in the cost of living but also the reduction of competitiveness of Sri Lankan exports,” a CCC press release added.
     
    However analysts feel the escalating conflict and the frequent sea clashes between the Sri Lankan Navy and the Sea Tigers off the northwestern coast would dampen the enthusiasm among major international players.
     
    “Security is a real issue, and with there being so much exploration activity happening elsewhere, major international players could prioritize in safer areas,” says Tony Regan, consultant with Nexant Inc. in Singapore.
     
     Meanwhile in a ceremony two weeks ago US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’Blake signed an agreement to grant of US$474,000 to the Sri Lankan ministry of Finance and Planning.
     
    The grant is to fund technical assistance to the Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development in support of “its efforts to develop a comprehensive oil and gas regulatory system and establish an organizational structure for the regulatory authority.”
     
    "A well-developed regulatory structure is essential to attracting and keeping high-quality investors in the oil sector," Mr. Blake said.
     
    "We hope our assistance will help Sri Lanka establish an open and transparent regulatory system that both protects Sri Lanka's interests and gives investors confidence that they can earn a worthwhile return on their investment."
     
    In addition to developing the oil and gas sector in Sri Lanka India and China are also assisting development of other energy sectors by building coal-fired power plants.
     
    The Chinese government is helping Sri Lanka build its first coal-fired power plant at Norocholai, north of capital Colombo, as the island seeks cheaper electricity.
     
    India's largest power company, in December 2006 signed an agreement to build a 500 megawatt coal-fired power plant in the northeast of Sri Lanka.
     
    However there are disagreements between Sri Lanka and India on the location of this plant in the increasingly violent warzone.
     
     
  • SLFP proposals in May, but so what?
    Sri Lanka’s ruling party will finally present its proposals for resolving the island’s ethnic conflict to an all-party forum on May 1, but contrary to media hype, the move does not herald a major step towards peace.
     
    The General Secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Mithripala Sirisena says the party will submit its proposals for consideration by the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) on May 1.
     
    Sections of Sri Lankan media have hyped the importance of these proposals, but the optimism is misplaced: these are only the proposals by one of the APRC’s members, albeit the ruling party.
     
    And with the main opposition UNP and Sri Lanka’s third largest party, the JVP, having pulled out of the APRC, the committee is long way away from finalizing a set of proposals to for negotiations with the Tamil Tigers.
     
    And there is no reason to believe a southern consensus is in the offing amid Sri Lanka’s continuing fractious politics.
     
    Moreover, the state owned Daily News this week quoted Sirisena, who is also Agriculture Minister as saying the SLFP’s proposals will be based on Mahinda Chinthana, the hardline Sinhala nationalist manifesto on which President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected in November 2005.
     
    “Mahinda Chinthana accepts the devolution of power within one country and the proposals will be entirely based on Mahinda Chinthana and formulated within Mahinda Chinthana,” he said.
     
    According local media the SLFP proposals are based on the existing provincial system. It proposes the province as the basic unit of devolution with some power to be devolved to provinces and others to district divisions.
     
    In addition, the SLFP also proposes the abolition of the executive presidency and solely an executive parliamentary system with a prime minister.
     
    In recent weeks the Sri Lankan government has widely publicized the imminent publication of its proposals with the President Rajapakse and his foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama , repeatedly promising the international community that a proposal to resolve the conflict would be available “within weeks.”
     
    But with the main opposition UNP (United National Party), and the nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) boycotting the APRC, the whole process is seen as an exercise by President Rajapakse to buy time for his military onslaught against the LTTE to progress.
     
    Future steps regarding the SLFP proposals will be decided after presenting them to the APRC and obtaining the opinion of all, Sirisena added.
     
    The Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil political party wasn’t even invited to the APRC till several months after it began meeting.
     
    With the publishing of the ruling party proposals on May 1 the President would be in better position to deflect international pressure for his government to pursue a political solution and instead blame the boycotting opposition parties for the delay in coming up with southern consensus to resolve the conflict.
     
    The UNP put forward its own proposal to the APRC in January this year but in February announced that it would not participate in further APRC deliberations following President Rajapakse’s engineering of the cross-over of 17 MPs from its ranks to the SLFP.
     
    President Rajapakse heads the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which has a slender majority in Parliament, having cobbled together a mammoth alliance with other smaller parties and several defectors from the main opposition United National Party (UNP).
     
    Even whilst announcing the SLFP’s imminent submission, Sirisena attacked the UNP.
     
    “At the moment the UNP and [its] Leader are trying to weaken the Government but we will not let them do it and it will remain only a dream. We will walk forward with the UNP group that joined with us and will take forward this county and its people,” he said.
     
    In December 2006 the JVP also withdrew from the APRC after a panel of experts associated with the APRC unveiled a number of reports, including one which suggested a federal model.
     
    The JVP says it is boycotting the APRC as it is not interested in formulating a political package based on federalism. The JVP wants the current unitary state to be the basis for any political solution to the conflict.
     
    So does President Rajapakse and the SLFP.
  • Buying time for war
    Despite its stated intent to the contrary, the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) is proving an effective means by which the Sri Lankan government can avoid coming up with a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
     
    And the international community is going along with this delaying strategy.
     
    Soon after Mahinda Rajapakse won the 2005 Presidential elections vowing to defend the unitary nature of the state and defeat the LTTE, the international community put intense pressure on him to forge a southern consensus with the main opposition UNP on the ethnic question.
     
    The objective was to come up with a position on which to negotiate an end to the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.
     
    Rajapske neither wanted to negotiate with the LTTE nor, for that matter, with the UNP. Rather he wanted to weaken both – the LTTE by renewed military action and the UNP by political maneuver.
     
    In a bid to escape international pressure, President Rajapakse setup the APRC in early 2006.
     
    He rationalized the move through the logic of ‘inclusiveness’ – now a popular term amongst international actors in Sri Lanka.
     
    The APRC included all the Sinhala parties including the centre-right UNP and the ultra-nationalist JVP as well as anti-LTTE Tamil party-cum-paramilitary groups. (The TNA, which swept the elections in the Northeast, wasn’t even invited.)
     
    But Rajapakse knew full well that bringing together parties with such diverse and hard-line views would make the exercise of consensus building a futile one.
     
    It would, however, buy him time to pursue a military onslaught against the Tigers.
     
    Rajapakse knew that as long as the LTTE was being gradually weakened, international pressure to negotiate with it would decrease accordingly.
     
    In fact, he correctly guessed, there would be increasing international support for his military project instead.
     
    Prof. Tissa Vitarana of the LSSP, an ally of Rajapske’s ruling SLFP, was appointed chair of the APRC.A panel of constitutional experts, appropriatedly including Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, was also formed to support the APRC.
     
    However, whilst the UNP put forward its proposals to the APRC for solving the Tamil question, the SLFP has pointedly desisted from providing its own.
     
    As if to underline that the whole exercise is to buy time, the SLFP’s submission, whilst being repeatedly promised, has been postponed numerous times.
     
    Meanwhile, as Sri Lanka has slid ever deeper into all out war, there have been a chorus of international calls for the government to come up with a political solution to form the basis of peace talks.
     
    During his visit to India last year Rajapakse promised restless Indian leaders that his government’s proposals would be produced within two months.
     
    Four months later, when Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama visited Washington he made a similar promise to the US leaders saying that the government’s proposals to resolve the conflict would be put forward “within a few weeks.”
     
    Rajapakse made an identical promise to South Asian leaders at the SAARC summit last week.
     
    One of the first tasks the APRC participants undertook was to visit India to study the governance model there. Not the power-sharing model between the Centre and the States but, rather, India’s third tier of governance – the Pachayat Raj. A village level governing body.
     
    As he has repeatedly indicated, this is Rajapakse’s idea of a solution to the decades long ethnic conflict.
     
    Meanwhile, after a year of deliberations, the APRC is nowhere near a consensus.
     
    Even the seventeen member expert panel tasked with producing a set of proposals to form the basis of discussions for the APRC could not agree on the fundamentals of the Tamil question and ended up releasing four separate sets of recommendations last December.
     
    One of the reports signed by the 11 members of the expert panel – and hence called the ‘Majority Report’ - called for asymmetrical devolution through legislative provincial council system.
     
    A provincial level power sharing falls far short of the federal solution that the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE agreed to explore during the much celebrated peace talks in 2003.
     
    But even this suggestion proved too much for the Sinhala nationalist parties. The JVP walked out of APRC and even the government quickly distanced itself from the reports- Rajapakse himself lambasted the experts for releasing their report to the press.
     
    Meanwhile, the UNP, for its part, wants hold on to its position as the favourite of the West-led international community in Sri Lanka and has been lackadaisically attending APRC.
     
    Even this month, the United States, once again, publicly put its hopes in the APRC producing a negotiating position to put before the LTTE.
     
    It is in this context that the SLFP General Secretary, Mithripala Sirisena, announced last week that the ruling party’s proposal would be put forward on May 1.
     
    But he warned that the proposals would be in keeping with President Rajapakse’s hardline election manifesto - ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ (Mahinda’s Thoughts).
     
    That nationalist manifesto denies the existence of a traditional Tamil homeland in the island’s Northeast and espouses a strong unitary state.
     
    Simply submitting ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ to the APRC is not a step towards negotiations with the Tigers. In fact the submission is neither a proposal for talks nor is it likely to unite the APRC into a consensus around one.
     
    But in the past year, Rajapakse has been aggressively pursuing his main project: the renewed war against the LTTE.
     
    The recent military offensives which led to the LTTE withdrawing from large swathes of the east has not only convinced many Sinhalese that a military solution is feasible, but many key international actors too.
     
    There is a big difference between an end to a war and a just solution to one.
     
    The international community is not interested in a just solution per se. It is primarily interested in stabilization of the region and the state prevailing over its non-state actor challenger. This is the basic logic of ‘fighting terrorism.’
     
    So the international community is tacitly backing Rajapkse’s war against the LTTE while loudly calling for a negotiated solution - and, tellingly, endorsing the manifestly ineffectual APRC.
     
    The Sri Lankan state’s engineering of mass displacement of the eastern Tamils through indiscriminate bombardments is an integral part of this internationally-backed strategy.
     
    The Tamils are being forced to a point where any solution, no matter how unjust, is preferable to the deprivations of war.
     
    Irrespective of the contents of the proposal that Colombo finally puts to the Tamils, whether it satisfies even the basic demands of the Tamils or not, the international community will in all likelihood express support for it and encourage the Tamils to accept it.
     
    According to international community’s calculations, a weakened LTTE will either have to accept the proposals as a basis for talks or reject it and invite further deprivations on the hopefully war weary Tamils.
     
    Knowing full well that the LTTE will not accept any proposals that do not satisfy core Tamil demands, Sri Lanka is expecting to receive continued assistance for its renewed war.
     
    The recent comments attributed to Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse – the President’s brother - that the war will continue for another three years should be seen in this context.
     
    Even if the LTTE agrees to discuss the proposals that the APRC may one day produce, the Tigers will undoubtedly demand the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) be fully implemented to ensure normalcy for the Tamils is first restored.
     
    But President Rajapakse, who has been opposed to the CFA from the outset, has ensured the truce’s irrelevance since coming to power.
     
    Yet he does not want to formally abrogate the pact and openly declare war. Not without an explanation the international community cannot dismiss.
     
    This is why the idea of a referendum to nullify the CFA is being floated now.
     
    Following a systematic campaign against the CFA and the government’s project of recent territorial gains in the east as major successes in crippling the LTTE, the Sinhala electorate will undoubtedly reject the CFA.
     
    Indeed all these calculations by Sri Lankan government and its international allies are based on a growing confidence that the LTTE can be militarily weakened if not destroyed.
     
    But this is not the first time this assumption has underpinned strategy in Colombo and other capitals.
     
    And when lessons of the past are not learnt, history has a habit of repeating itself.
  • Amnesty’s Sri Lanka campaign on a sticky wicket
    Amnesty International’s efforts to build support for international monitoring of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka using the topical theme of cricket drew the fury of the Colombo government and, in a rare moment of southern solidarity, the main opposition United National Party (UNP) party joined the Sinhala hardline Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in denouncing the group’s move.
     
    Capitalising on the interest around the World Cup, Amnesty last week launched a publicity campaign - using the slogan ‘Play by the Rules’ - to urge Sri Lanka’s warring parties to respect human rights and consent to an international body to monitor abuses.
    The campaign, launched in the Caribbean – where the World Cup competition is being staged – as well as in Europe and South Asia (but not in Sri Lanka), envisages getting celebrities and members of the public to sign foam cricket balls bearing the words: “Sri Lanka, play by rules.”
     
    Explaining their choice of theme, Amnesty's deputy Asia Pacific director, Tim Parritt said: "just as all cricket teams need an independent umpire to make objective decisions, so too does Sri Lanka need independent human rights monitors to ensure the government, Tamil Tigers and other armed groups respect the rules and protect civilians caught up in the conflict."
     
    "Currently all parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka are breaking international law by killing civilians, destroying homes and schools, or forcibly disappearing people,” he said in a statement.
     
    “The situation has got far worse over the last year, and we decided it was time to take action.”
     
    "The campaign is in no way aimed at the Sri Lankan cricket team," Amnesty also said.
     
    Sri Lanka cried foul at Amnesty’s ‘Play by the rules’ campaign
    But the hardline government of President Mahinda Rajapakse reacted angrily, denouncing the campaign as essentially an effort to demoralise Sri Lanka’s cricket team.
     
    "One expects international human rights organizations to respect the spirit of cricket and not intrude the game with such slurs,"
    Lucian Rajakarunanayake, director of the Sri Lankan president's Media Division, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
    "One would like to ask Amnesty International whether it plans to take up the issue of human rights violations by the U.S. government in Iraq or in Guantanamo Bay at the Super Bowl match or the National Basketball League championship," he said.
     
    And now Sri Lanka’s opposition parties have waded into the fray.
     
    The Sinhala ultra-nationalist JVP was the first to raise the issue in Parliament, saying “the aim of this sinister move was to demoralize our cricket team while tarnishing the country’s reputation,” the Daily Mirror reported.
     
    The leader of the main opposition UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said his party also “condemned this act by Amnesty International,” the paper reported.
     
    Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying, the UNP “however, would not mix politics with the game because cricket is played between teams, and not governments.”
     
    Wickremesinghe also attacked the government, saying the UNP and the cricket team “had to undergo such suffering as a repercussion of the government violating human rights as much as the LTTE,” the paper reported.
     
    Meanwhile, the JVP’s powerful propaganda secretary, Wimal Weerawansa, alleged Amnesty, along with NGOs depending on foreign funds, “are trying through this act to project the Sri Lankan team as a set of players from a country which does not abide by the rules.”
     
    The JVP, Sri Lanka’s third largest party, charged “these foreign NGO activists belong to certain countries that assist the separatist LTTE,” the Daily Mirror reported.
     
    Amnesty’s objective is to deny the Sri Lankan government’s right to save the nation from the clutches of LTTE, Mr. Weerawansa, said, calling for a joint effort by all parties to defeat this “conspiracy.”
     
    “Lets make use of this opportunity to get together and not allow any one to lay their hands on our country,” he said.
     
    Chief Government Whip, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said Mr. Weerawansa had raised an important issue that deserves attention by all parties.
     
    Earlier the government vowed to launch a massive effort against Amnesty’s campaign “to demoralize the Sri Lankan cricket team at the World Cup.”
     
    “Sri Lankan Cricket has already informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe is to inform the United Nations and the international human rights bodies of this unethical move by Amnesty International,” the Daily Mirror Monday quoted “a highly placed government source” as saying.
     
    “The government is also planning to collect one million signatures from the public against the AI decision, Besides nine floats will be sent across the country and a television and print media advertisement campaign is also to be launched to create awareness about the AI decision,” the paper reported.
     
  • Human rights group deplore Sri Lanka abductions
    A chorus of human rights groups appealed last week to Sri Lanka's government and the Liberation Tigers to halt a rash of rights abuses and abductions.
     
    Sri Lanka's Human Rights Commission says hundreds of people have 'disappeared' so far this year, on top of 1,000 last year.
     
    Some see a terrifying parallel between recent abductions in well-guarded, government-controlled areas and a spate of disappearances in the late 1980s when the government crushed an uprising by hardline Marxists.
     
    "One worry for many human rights activists is maybe we are back to the dark days of the late 80s, where disappearances torture and all forms of grave abuses have returned with a vengeance," said Ahilan Kadirgamar of expatriate rights advocacy group the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum.
     
    Kadirgamar – a cousin of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was shot dead by a suspected LTTE sniper in 2005 – said both sides were violating the terms of a now-tattered 2002 truce, and urged them to find a political solution to a conflict that has killed around 68,000 people since 1983.
     
    The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission last Thursday published a list of 81 people who have 'disappeared' since August, voicing concern at the state's apparent inaction in addressing the problem.
     
    Relatives of disappeared people protested in the capital last week to demand their safe return, many of them accusing the security forces of abductions. Many of those reported disappeared are ethnic Tamils.
     
    "Five unknown people came with a white van and took my husband, saying they were taking him for a CID (police) inquiry," said 32-year-old ethnic Tamil housewife Clancy Maxibontan.
     
    "My daughter asks every day 'where is my father?'," she added. "I believe the government must take responsibility for my husband's abduction."
     
    The government says statistics of disappearances and abductions are overblown, and says many of those alleged are cases of young lovers eloping or other private issues.
     
    "Certain people who have come from the north and east, they come from (LTTE stronghold) Kilinochchi and certain places. They stay in Colombo, and suddenly they come and complain that somebody is missing," said Lakshman Hulugalle, Director General of the government's Media Centre for National Security.
     
    "We found certain girls going away with a boy ... There are many incidents like that," he said, adding that some people arrested on suspicion of links to the Tigers under anti-terrorism laws were also often erroneously included in lists of abducted.
     
    A U.N. envoy has accused elements of the military of helping a group of renegade rebels called the Karuna Group, who analysts say are allied to the government, to abduct children as fighters.
     
    UNICEF and other aid groups say both the mainstream Tigers and the Karuna Group continue to abduct children, particularly in the island's restive east.
     
    "The levels of killings, disappearances and abductions make clear there is a growing climate of impunity," said Yolanda Foster, Sri Lanka researcher for Amnesty International.
     
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