In a statement released on Friday, the Tamil Refugee Council have strongly rejected comments made by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia that groups calling for a boycott of Sri Lanka’s cricket tour have “terrorist” connections.

TRC spokesman, Mal Bala said,

“The Admiral’s comments are not just laughable. It is insulting to these people to be told they are connected to terrorism”.

Responding to comments by the High Commissioner that he has brought up the planned leafleting campaigns and protests against the cricket tour with “relevant authorities”, Bala responded,

“Thanks to freedom of speech here we can do it. But if you did it in Sri Lanka you would quickly be disappeared into the bowels of a torture centre.”

See the full text of the statement below.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT BY TAMIL REFUGEE COUNCIL

DECEMBER 14, 2012

WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS, SAYS TAMIL REFUGEE ADVOCATES

MELBOURNE, Friday -- The Tamil Refugee Council strongly rejects the claim by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia that Tamils in Australia have terrorist connections.

TRC spokesman, Mal Bala, said the high commissioner, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, had cast unjust and unp
roven aspersions upon many groups that have spoken out against the murder and persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

These groups, including refugee advocates, church groups, journalists, ordinary citizens and Australian Tamils, were doing no more than stating the truth and trying to help people in desperate need.

“The Admiral’s comments are not just laughable. It is insulting to these people to be told they are connected to terrorism.” Bala said today.

“The Admiral always claims that everyone else who presents the facts about the Sri Lankan Government’s killing and ethnic-cleansing of Tamils -- and this includes such independent bodies as the United Nations --are telling lies,” Bala said.

“I think he needs to step out of his world of propaganda and into the real world.”

Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe said in an ABC Radio Australia interview on Wednesday that terrorist organisations around the world – including Australia -- were still advocating for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

He said that a planned protest to call for a boycott of Sri Lankan cricket on Boxing Day at the MCG was helping terrorists and, in a quote that inferred freedom of speech was denied in Sri Lanka, he said that protesters were taking advantage of Australia’s freedom of expression laws.

Admiral Samarasinghe also indicated he wants to stop the protest. “I have taken up the matter with the relevant authorities (about) these allegations and these planned events, distributing leaflets, having demonstrations. These are all part of a long-term plan and game plan,” he said.

“This (protest) is a way of bringing discredit to the country. People with vested interests are still active. These situations are playing into the hands of such terrorist organisations which are smarting at their defeat (in the civil war in 2009),” Admiral Samarasinghe said in the interview.

He was then asked which specific terrorist organisations were duping the protesters.

“The terrorist organisations operating in the rest of the world in different names and different forms are still trying to propagate and advocate separatism in our country,” he replied.

He was then asked whether he was referring to a revived grouping of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).

“Terrorism is not present in Sri Lanka. But the Tamil Tigers, they are propagating. It is there for everybody to see in various parts of the world.
“The so-called diaspora is agitating. There are calls for separatism still, including on Australian soil. Taking advantage of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, these organisations are collecting money openly; say, $1 a week or $50 a year concept and this has been conveyed. This situation does exist.”

Bala commented: “Thanks to freedom of speech here we can do it. But if you did it in Sri Lanka you would quickly be disappeared into the bowels of a torture centre.”

Please contact Mal Bala (0404 431 913), Tamil Refugee Council, for any further information.

A 21-year-old student from Jaffna University, Nadarasa Kiyani, has been found strangled to death in her house in Chunnakam, reports JDS.

The body of Kiyani, a student of the Fine Arts Faculty, was found by her parents, with a bed sheet wrapped tightly around her neck.

According to initial reports, the post-mortem has deemed the cause of death to be a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the Terrorism Investigation Divison, have ordered three more female students, including the president of the Girls Hostel Students' Union, to report to the Jaffna police station immediately.

JDS quoted one 'academic source' as saying,

“Reports of students being directly summoned is a cause for serious concern, given the fact that four of our students were detained at the Welikanda Military Detention Camp. This is for the first time that female students have been summoned by the TID. The police action has ridiculously reduced the university administration to a mere puppet.”

Photographs Uthayan

Tamils in Vavuniya continued the protests against the attacks, intimidation and arrests of students at the University of Jaffna today.

Holding placards condemning the actions by Sri Lanka's security forces, the protesters demanded that all arrested students be released immediately.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), on Tuesday, forwarded a statement from the Women’s Action Network, expressing concern on the plight of Tamil women coerced into joining the Sri Lankan military, reported the BBC. Latest reports have also indicated that at least 20 of these women have now been admitted into Kilinochchi district hospital, with many unconscious.

The statement outlines how the women were deceived and transported to military camps by the Sri Lankan army and forced by intimidation to stay.

According to TamilNet the women were signed up under the pretence that they would be performing clerical work in their respective residential areas.

The information provided to them had no mention of joining the military. Only at the military base did they realise that they were about to join the military. Several women immediately called their families, and informed the military that they did not wish to join.

See here  for a full sequence of events.

Furthermore, according to the Sri Lanka Campaign, the military also intentionally preyed on young women, including “young widows and women who had to provide for seriously ill relatives”.

They also claimed to have received information reporting that at least 20 women who were recently recruited to the 6th Brigade of the Sri Lankan Army had been admitted to the Kilinochchi district hospital on December 11th, as did TamilNet. They further reported that many were unconscious and had been isolated from other patients, being treated only be Sri Lankan Army doctors and nurses.

Trevor Grant, former chief cricket writer for The Age, has appeared on Radio Australia calling on both Cricket Australia and the Australian government to ban future matches against Sri Lanka, until there is an investigations into the killing of up to 40,000 Tamils in “safe zones” during the latter stages of the armed conflict.

He appeared on the show alongside Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe. The Admiral was the Sri Lankan Navy's Northern commander during 2009 and himself stands accused of participating in the shelling of civilians.

Grant, who has been leading calls for Australia to boycott the Sri Lankan cricket team, said,

"This cricket team is part and parcel of maintaining credibility for a government that has been called out on war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN and continues to persecute Tamils in the Northern and Eastern regions, and what’s more has refused point blank to many requests for independent reviews of things going on in that country”.

“We are taking a lesson from the anti-apartheid boycotts back in the 1970s. it has been proven that those boycotts in fact were probably the deciding factor in alienating South Africa so much that apartheid was killed.”

“We are trying to create an awareness. We know that this tour cannot be stopped now, but we would like to ask fans to think twice now about going to the game and also we want to government and Cricket Australia to ban future matches against Sri Lanka until things change.”

Listen to the full interview here.

Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe meanwhile responded,

"I categorically, totally deny baseless, unsubstantiated allegations of 40,000 deaths, crimes against humanity, various other allegations… This is a way of bringing discredit to the country, to people with vested interests… The rest of the world should hail Sri Lanka.”

He went on to accuse the groups involved of "playing into the hands of terrorists", saying,

“The terrorists organisations operating around the world, in different names and different forms, are trying to still, propagate and advocate separatism in our country in Sri Lanka, when everybody is living happily under one flag, under the leadership of his Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa who eradicated terrorism out of Sri Lanka, who rescued Tamils, 300,000 Tamils.”

“This 40,000 figure I totally reject and genocide, crimes against humanity, all that situation is baseless.”

In one final exchange at the end of the show, Admiral Samarsinghe said,

“By doing this, the host country (Australia) has to take responsibility. I have taken up the matter with relevant authorities to ensure that these allegations… and these planned events… distributing leaflets… having demonstrations, these are all part of a long time and a game plan…”

Grant retorted,

“We will be having peaceful protests and I hope that isn’t a threat Admiral that you are going to take this up with the authorities, about us leafleting, this is a democratic country and we have the right to peacefully protest outside venues.”

The Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka has slammed US sanctions against Iran, saying they ‘infringe’ on the rights of Sri Lankans.

Ranawaka is reported to have made the comments during separate discussions with the Russian and Iranian ambassadors.

He told the Iranian ambassador to Sri Lanka that electrification of 1000 villages has been halted due to the sanctions.

The minister also defended Iran’s right to nuclear power and said that Iran’s unity in the face of US sanctions is a good example to Sri Lanka. It is unclear from reports whether he was suggesting that his country may also face sanctions.

"U.S. sanctions against Iran are infringing on the basic rights of our people,

"Iran has a right to proceed with its nuclear program with peaceful intentions to meet its domestic needs. This is something that 45 other countries are also doing and is a right of Iran,

"Although America has posed embargo on Iran, the people of Iran are still not divided. That is a good example for Sri Lankans," the minister said.

Buddhist monks led a mob of roughly 1000 people to vandalise a church and attack the pastor on 9th December, reported the Morning Star.

According to the Morning Star, the monks had given the church one day's notice to close down, proclaiming to the pastor that permission from Buddhist clergy was needed for Christian worship.

When the church refused, 80 monks led the mob to Jeevanalokaya Sabhawa church in the Weeraketiya area of the southern province of Hambantota on Sunday, and destroyed the church's furniture, equipment and vehicles, resulting in damages of upto US $4000. Despite the presence of police officers, the mob went on to assault the pastor - Pradeep, hitting him with a rock, and attack two police officers.

A source told the Morning Star:

"Buddhist monks are part of the ruling coalition government, and they operate with impunity,"

"This is not an isolated incident. At least 50 incidents of violence against Christians have been recorded by Christian groups this year."

A Japanese national was arrested on Thursday by Sri Lankan police at Mount Lavinia for having printed 42 postcards with a panda replacing the lion on the Sri Lankan flag. 

The man accused of this shocking crime was reportedly arrested whilst he was in the process of mailing his goods.

He will be produced in front of Mount Lavinia Magistrate on Thursday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi met with Sri Lanka’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiyutheen, calling for the two countries to expand their relationship.

Salehi stated on Monday,

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully ready for supporting and evermore expansion of comprehensive cooperation with Sri Lanka, particularly in political, economic, commercial, transit, and joint investments fields,"

His statement comes as Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Petroleum Corporation stated that they have only received one shipment of oil from Iran since June due to sanctions placed on the country, despite being granted a waiver.

Iran previously supplied over 90% of Sri Lanka’s crude oil.

In a report published on Thursday following a recent visit, the Australian Human Rights Commission said it "continues to hold serious concerns about the appropriateness of holding asylum seekers in immigration detention on Christmas island."

Asserting that the conditions are "not appropriate for asylum seekers", the Commission stated it "has ongoing concerns about the prison-like nature of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), the harsh conditions in the Aqua and Lilac compounds, and the inappropriateness of the Construction Camp as a place for accommodating families with children and unaccompanied minors."

It went on to highlight "significant overcrowding", concerns around a lack of sufficient mental health services to keep pace with a growing demand, and that children "continue to be subjected to mandatory detention on Christmas Island, in breach of Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)," as key issues.

In the Aqua Compound - a one of the 'secure' immigration detention facility - the Commission found that single adult men were being housed along side families with children, which the Commission felt may lead to a further breach of the CRC. Thirty-five children were reported to be housed in this 'secure' compound. Most family groups are housed within the Construction Camp, a 'low security detention facility'.

On this visit, the Commission detailed that 1989 people were in current detention, included 315 children, and 944 people from the island of Sri Lanka.

See full report here.

Extract reproduced below:

The Commission has particular concerns that families with children and unaccompanied minors continue to be subjected to mandatory detention on Christmas Island, despite the Migration Act containing as a principle that a minor shall only be detained as a measure of last resort. As noted above, the Commission has long opposed the mandatory detention of children because it leads to fundamental breaches of their human rights, including their right to be detained only as a last resort, and for the shortest appropriate period of time.[22] In order to comply with its obligation under the CRC, in deciding whether to detain a child, the Australian Government should consider any less restrictive alternatives available. A child should only be detained in exceptional circumstances.

The Commission continues to advocate for changes to the Migration Act to ensure that children are only detained as a measure of last resort; and that if they are detained, it is for the shortest appropriate period of time and subject to independent and judicial review mechanisms.[24] The Commission has repeatedly recommended that the Australian Government should implement the recommendations of the report, of the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention, A last resort?, that Australia’s immigration detention laws be amended to comply with the CRC, including:

There should be a presumption against the detention of children for immigration purposes.

A court or independent tribunal should assess whether there is a need to detain children for immigration purposes within 72 hours of any initial detention (for example, for the purposes of health identity or security checks).

There should be prompt and periodic review by a court of the legality of continuing detention for immigration purposes.

All courts and independent tribunals should be guided by the following principles:

• detention of children must be a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time
• the best interests of children must be a primary consideration
• the preservation of family unity
• special protection and assistance for unaccompanied children.

The newly opened Nandarama Tamil Dhamma School in Jaffna has appealed for more funds, reported the government-owned Daily News website.

The school which was built by the Sri Lankan Army and supported by the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Vice President Sudath Madugalle was constructed to help “Northern children”, who have reportedly shown “great keenness in attending Dhamma lessons”.

See the Daily News article “Northern children keen to learn Dhamma” here.

Whilst the Sri Lankan Army is helping to construct Buddhist schools, churches and temples continue to come under attack in the Tamil North-East.

Meanwhile, see how Tami IDP’s were ‘resettled’ earlier this year, here.

Also see our earlier posts:

Buddhist school to open in Jaffna (29 Septermber 2012)

Occupy and evangelise (09 August 2012) 

British retail giant Tesco has decided to give every little help to Sri Lanka's genocide by picking 23 exporters from the island for its hardlines categories.

The world’s third biggest retailers has agreed the deals and hinted at further expansion in Sri Lanka, at a time when calls for a boycott of the country are growing.

“I am impressed with the professionalism of Sri Lanka’s Industry Ministry and its DoC [Department of Commerce]. From day one of our arrival, everything went smoothly with top coordination and we achieved our mission in Colombo quickly thanks to their sleek professionalism and organisational focus of DoC” said Tesco’s General Manager of Hardlines, Mark Kenneth Astley.

“In this round one, we have picked 23 Sri Lankan exporters in our hardlines categories. We are returning to Sri Lanka in 2013 first quarter for our Round 2 one-to-ones”

Tesco’s move will give much needed funding for the Sri Lankan Government, which has to finance the maintenance of one of the largest armies in the world, relative to population. A huge part of its budget is dedicated to the defence ministry, headed by war crimes accused Gothabaya Rajapakse.

The latest editorial by this website said:

"Comprised overwhelmingly of the Sinhala Buddhist majority, it is irrefutable that the military stands accused of committing the most grievous crimes against the Tamil population...The military in the North-East are not stationed to protect the Tamils, quite the reverse, the military is stationed to scrutinise and intimidate them, in order to protect the Sinhalese. The very presence of the military, is designed to serve as a reminder of the chauvinism that now rules over the entire island, and military’s every action, a warning to those who dare defy this status quo."

Rajapakse raises taxes and increases defence budget (08 Nov 2012)

Australian calls to boycott Sri Lankan cricket grow (11 Dec 2012)

Canada reiterates threat of CHOGM boycott (02 Dec 2012)

Foreign Affairs Committee calls for CHOGM boycott from Britain (13 Nov 2012)

Boycott, divestments and sanctions call against Sri Lanka (07 Sep 2012)

The Sri Lankan state has relentlessly continued to consolidate its militarisation of the North-East since the armed conflict drew to a close in 2009. Regardless of international efforts at closed door diplomacy and the occasional public wrist slapping, the Sri Lankan state has shown no signs of relenting. The burgeoning military budget, the grabbing of civilian lands for military housing and establishments, and the military’s saturating presence within everyday civilian life has continued; not only contrary to well-trodden paths of post-conflict reconciliation, but in brazen defiance of international criticism.

The significance of militarisation of the North-East however, goes beyond these measurable markers and tangible concerns. The end of the armed conflict has not proved to be a window of opportunity, to ensure equal rights for all citizens or create a ‘terrorism’-free liberal democracy. Instead it has been exploited by the Sri Lankan state as an opportunity to orchestrate the unhindered expansion of Sinhala Buddhist hegemony. Delirious with victory, the state, armed with its military, has embarked on an uncompromising goal of asserting a Sinhala Buddhist identity throughout the island and ruthlessly erasing any expression of an Eelam Tamil one.

Trevor Grant, a former chief cricket writer at The Age appeared on Australian ABC New’s “The Drum” show, calling for Australia to boycott the Sri Lankan cricket team, as calls for a sporting boycott continue to spread.

Grant, who also works with the Refugee Action Collective, stated on the show,

“This cricket team is really part and parcel of maintaining the credibility a government that has already been called out on war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN, and it continues to persecute the Tamils in the Northern and Eastern regions of Sri Lanka.”

See his interview here from 35 minutes 30 seconds onwards.

 When asked about why Tamil cricket players Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Matthews have not spoken out boycotting Sri Lankan cricket, Grant responded,

“No they haven’t said that. They prefer to stay silent. Because in our opinion, their cricket careers are more important, than this issue to them."

"They try and say that politics and sport should be separated, but we all know, anybody who has worked in sport, like I have for 40 years, knows that they are inextricably entwined."

When questioned regarding how the South African sporting boycott was based on the country’s racist selection policies, and how such a policy does not overtly exist in Sri Lanka, Grant replied,

“There is still very much an issue of war crimes and this leads into the issue of selection, though it’s not about selection at the selection table, but it is about selection of Tamils."

"There has been only something like half a dozen of Tamils play cricket for Sri Lanka over the past 20 or 30 years. What’s the reason for it?"

"Well I think if you look at an oppressed minority, like the Tamils have been for so long, they love cricket the Tamils, but they never get the chance, they never get the conditions for their children to come through to try and match the majority Sinhalese when they get to selection and that sort of thing in junior teams. The facilities and all that are much worse for Tamils."

Trevor grant also wrote for The Age earlier this week calling for a sporting boycott of Sri Lanka.  Extracts from his piece “Australia must go in to bat for Tamils”, have been reproduced below. See his full piece here.

“It is now time for Australian consciences to be pricked, as the Sri Lankan cricketers prepare for star billing against Australia in three Tests this summer, in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.”

“But what will be forgotten in the excitement is the dark side to this team. It's not so much the individual players but, what and who, they really represent. In other words, the rich and powerful in the Sri Lankan nation and an elected government that is alleged to be engaging in genocide against the poorest of its own people, many of whom are seeking refuge here.”

“The President and his military have been under pressure since a UN-commissioned report said there was evidence that the government, and the Tamil Tigers, committed war crimes at the end of the war in 2009 and recommended an investigation.”

“There are also credible reports that thousands of Tamils have "disappeared" after being picked up by government security forces. Many journalists have suffered similar treatment. The editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper, Lasantha Wickremetunge, who was a noted government critic and had publicly forecast his death at the hands of the government, was murdered on his way to work four years ago. The crime remains unsolved.”

“The links between this regime and the cricket team are there for all to see. The recently retired captain, Sanath Jayasuriya, is now an elected representative of the Rajapaksa government. Spinner Ajantha Mendis, named on stand-by for the Tests but likely to play in the one-day series, is a second-lieutenant and gunner in the Sri Lankan Army who saw active service in the civil war. Rajapaksa was guest of honour at his wedding last year.”

“The former captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, is a politician who was in the government camp before switching further to the right in recent times. He described General Sarath Fonseka, the military commander of the Tamil massacre, as a wonderful man who can "save" Sri Lankan politics.”

“Very few Tamils have worn the nation's colours on the cricket field. Like all oppressed minorities, lack of opportunity as children denies them the chance to match the majority Sinhalese in the team.”

“Cricket Australia and the Australian government cannot keep avoiding this issue. They must seriously consider a ban on future fixtures against Sri Lanka.”

“As protests and calls for a boycott continue this summer, the message to the Sri Lankan government, via its cricket team, is the same one used against apartheid South Africa 40 years ago. There can be no normal sport in an abnormal society.”