Sri Lanka has given Chinese corporations permission to fish in the sea off Pottuvil, Amparai reported Uthayan on Friday.

Local fishermen from Pottuvil have expressed discontent at the move, saying that two Chinese fishing vessels are engaging in illegal fishing methods in the Pottuvil marina.

The fishermen claim that government is allowing Chinese corporations, who use trawlers and large webs, to illegally exploit Sri Lanka’s seas.

Demands have been raised by the fishermen to conduct an inquiry into the decision and to come to a decision which would safeguard the industrial position of local fishermen.

A South African business delegation arrived in Sri Lanka on a four-day visit amid criticism.

Comprising of members of the ANC's Progressive Business Forum, the delegation was led by the deputy minister of economic development, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize.

Sri Lanka's minister of industry and commerce, Rishad Bathiyutheen, asserted, "I have no doubts that this visit would help further strengthen the current trade levels of $65 million".

The visit has drawn criticism from a coalition of civil society groups - the Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka (SGPJ), which includes the South African Tamil Federation, The Tamil Coordinating Committee and The World Saiva Council, along side other stakeholders - who have stated that it is "untenable" that South Africa had "chosen economic interests over the promotion of a just and equitable solution" for the Tamils.

Extracts of the statement are reproduced below:

'South Africa has contrary to the growing international sentiment, embarked on a trip to Sri Lanka with a business delegation of about 30 business people from the 5th to the 8th September 2012. This information was kept under a veil of secrecy for reasons best known to the organizers of this delegation.

Sri Lankan newspapers have been openly reporting on this trip citing South African trade values with Sri Lanka and boasting South Africa as its second largest trading partner.

The SGPJ places on record its extreme dissatisfaction and disappointment at the stance adopted by this business delegation, allegedly being led by the Deputy Minister for Economic Development, Hlengiwe Mkhize.

The GoSL has failed to demonstrate its commitment to the values underpinning human rights and justice. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the police and the military have wide powers that have the effect of a perpetual state of emergency. Allegations of sexual assault, torture, white van abductions, the limitation of free expression and the denial of political prisoners access to legal recourse remain the order of the day. Over hundred thousand people still remain displaced after nearly two years of forced removals. There are also widespread claims of “Sinhalisation” of previously held Tamil land sanctioned by the GoSL with claims of cultural and heritage sites being destroyed and replaced with Sinhala temples.

Given this intransigence by the GoSL to protect the rights and welfare of its own citizens, it is untenable that the South African delegation led by a government deputy minister, has chosen economic interests over the promotion of a just and equitable solution for the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka.

Issued by the SGPJ Secretary, Mr. Pregasen Padayachee.

Fearing reprisal attacks from the Sri Lankan Navy, fishermen in Tamil Nadu have called on protesters to refrain from targeting Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu.

The Fishermen association in Rameshwaram condemned the attacks, saying that it would lead to further attacks from the Sri Lankan Navy, as has happened previously.

"The fishermen are worried and we believe that they will not venture farther due to these issues," said N Devadoss of Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Association. He went on to say, "we strongly condemn the attacks on pilgrims and tourists from Sri Lanka and hurting them is wrong. The state and Centre should take stringent measures against these outfits."

Highlighting that many of those 'Sri Lankan nationals' who were targetted by protesters were Sinhala speaking Tamils, Devadoss said,

"the Tamil outfits, which want to take political mileage should have thought as to how Buddhist Sinhalese people will come to churches here and must have verified the facts thoroughly."

"We are supposed to go to Sri Lanka on September 15 to meet our fishermen association counterparts there and we also planned to meet the government officials. However, we are scared to go there though the permission has not been revoked by the Sri Lankan authorities,"

N J Bose, the general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Mechanised Boat Fishermen Welfare Association, said,

"We appeal to these Tamil outfits to consider lakhs of Tamil fishermen in the coastal regions as well as Tamils in Sri Lanka and to keep away from such acts."

Bose, who was part of a recent delegation to the Indian Prime Minister's office said,

"We urged the Prime Minister to come out with an amicable solution to end the fishermen issue. We also represented other demands like creating a channel from Rameswaram to enable fishermen to go deep sea fishing, full diesel subsidy and jewel loans for fishermen at lower interests,"

"We are optimistic about the results as the PMO atmosphere was friendly and warm."

The JHU, partner of Mahinda Rajapakse’s SLFP, have called for the ban on animal sacrifices at religious events.

The party, made up of Buddhist monks, said it is preparing a draft document on the proposed ban on rituals, conducted by some Tamils on the island.

“We hope to see an end to this practice immediately because it today’s modern world these practices are not needed to perform religious service,” a JHU official told Bikyamasr.com on Thursday.

"The Buddhist belief is that by killing an animal you are killing what could be your mother, daughter, grandfather and so on, so it is not a good practice to continue.”

The spokesman of the JHU, Nishantha Sri Warnasingha told Xinhua that Sri Lanka was a Buddhist country and as such had a right to protect animals, as Buddhist teachings decree.

“We need to protect the animals so we will push for the ban. So many countries have tight laws to protect animal rights. Our laws must be strengthened,” Warnasinghe said.

The action by the Buddhists is mainly targeted at a 1000 year old Tamil Saivite temple in Chilaw, which has an age-old custom of sacrificing animals.

The temple in Muneswaram cancelled the ritual in August, after a request by the head priest to President Rajapakse to allow them to hold the ritual was ignored.

Several politicians had agitated against the temple and threatened with protests if temple officials went ahead with the ritual.

The appeals of Tamil Nadu fishermen associations to stop all protests against Sri Lankans for fear of reprisal attacks by the Sri Lankan Navy is a tragic reflection of their terrorised plight and the Indian government's impotence on the issue.

What should have been a demand on the Indian government to fulfil its responsibility and guarantee the safety of its civilians against the Sri Lankan navy, has instead been usurped by sheer terror.

Of course this fear is a very real one - attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen have no doubt escalated in response to anti-Sri Lankan activism by Tamils in Tamil Nadu. Indeed the very next day, five Tamil Nadu fishermen were reported to have been attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy. However, what must be made clear is that the attacks were one of the precursors to the recent anti-Sri Lankan protests, not the after effects.

Quashing resistance for fear of reprisals can only ever be an interim measure, and one that ultimately strengthens the hand of the oppressor.

Tragically, as the fishermen association's appeals demonstrate, the attacks have had their desired effect. Blinded by fear, the long history of attacks by the Sri Lankan navy has been forgotten.

Instead, criticism of the protesters' means is used to prop up the fallacy that the protesters are in fact the problem - a fallacy that leads to the appalling situation where those protesting against the persecution of the Tamils, are asked to be silent in order to ensure the safety of the oppressed.

All the while, the violence unleashed by the Sri Lankan Navy and the abject failure of the Indian government are ignored.

It is precisely this fear and the self-restraining obedience that it leads to, that the oppressor feeds on and is used to create a cycle of oppression, where the absolute fear of tomorrow, overshadows yesterday, and silences today.

Indian business people fear that the Sri Lankan government's travel advisory warning to its citizens against travelling to Tamil Nadu will impact advsersely on trade.  

Speaking to the Times of India, the President of the India-ASEAN Sri Lankan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, C S Muthu Subramaniyan, said,

"Numerous Lankans shop in T Nagar for their wedding purchases. I know each Lankan boarding the plane back to Colombo carries 40 sarees each. The margins are nearly 100% for these sarees. These guys may get impacted," trade sources said."Businesses of small traders and unorganized traders could be affected as they might not be able to ship directly to Chennai and would have to route it through Mumbai or such other locations."

Somi Hazari, the managing director of a Chennai based company - Shosova group that exports and imports cooking oils and food items - added,

"South Indians, particularly farmers and sugar companies from Tamil Nadu will be affected."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, is to visit Sri Lanka and the North-East next week. Arriving on the 14th September, Pillay will off 'advice and techinical assistance', reported the Daily Mirror.

Quoting government officials, PTI reported that Pillay's team would examine resettlement programmes and IDP concerns in the North-East.

See related article:

Pillay's invitation cannot be a fact-finding mission - Mohan Peiris (03 Jun 2012)

Writing in the Kindlemag, Meena Kandasamy interviews a Tamil journalist who reported from Vanni during 2009. Lokeesan was the Vanni correspondent for TamilNet during that time, and is currently living in exile.

See here for full interview entitled 'The Dialectics of Genocide'.

Excerpts of Lokeesan's interview reproduced below:

Meena Kandasamy: How different was your work, from the kind of reporting that Lasantha, or any of the dissenting Sinhala journalists were doing?

Lokeesan: "Lasantha had all the facilities available to the media – internet, phone, email, camera, everything. But where we worked, we could not even charge our laptops. In the South, they were spared such horrors. They never had to dwell in death, whereas we worked in an area where it was impossible to operate."

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After severe criticism from Tamil Nadu's major parties and protests in the state, the BJP hastily distanced itself from allegations that the party was behind Mahinda Rajapakse's planned visit to a Buddhist event in Madhya Pradesh, pushing the blame onto Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"Invitation to Rajapajksa was sent by the prime minister, not by the leader of opposition. I have not invited him.

"Leader of opposition cannot invite anybody (head of the state) to the country. His itinerary has been finalised by the Premier and MEA," said BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.

BJP’s Tamil Nadu chief Pon Radhakrishnan also denied the reports, saying that the BJP was against the visit.

"There are wrong reports that Swaraj had invited him. To know the truth I spoke to her over phone and she categorically stated that she had not invited him," he said in a statement.

"The Centre is trying to shift the blame on BJP, despite our strong opposition to the visit of Rajapakse,"

"We oppose the visit of Rajapakse,"

Protests were held in Tamil Nadu against the proposed visit, with pictures of both Rajapakse and Swaraj burned by activists.

"This kind of an invitation is an insult for Tamil people. Sushma Swaraj is an enemy of Tamil people. The United Nations has declared Rajapaksa a war criminal. We request the government of India not to allow Rajapaksa to enter India," a protesting lawyer said.

Lost in translation: Dravidians, Aryans and Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka (05 Sep 2012)

Mahinda visit to Tamil Nadu ‘unacceptable’ – DMK (04 Sep 2012)

A convoy of buses carrying 178 fleeing Sri Lankans was pelted by sticks and stones near Kattur in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. The Sri Lankans, who were on their way to Tiruchirapalli airport to fly back home to Colombo, experienced similar protest action whilst visiting a Christian shrine in Velankanni earlier that morning, and whilst visiting a Poondi Madha Christian shrine in Thanjavur the day before.

Shouting, "Sinhalese go back", protesters in Tamil Nadu used two-wheelers to block the road ahead of the convoy.

According to Sri Lanka Deputy High Commissioner R K M A Rajakaruna, the fleeing Sri Lankans, "appealed to us to arrange to send them back to Sri Lanka," and "we thought it would be advisable to arrange their quick eviction from here."

Three passengers are reported to have suffered a bruise.

In a written submission to the up-coming, 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International detailed the 'shortcomings in Sri Lanka's National Plan of Action to implement the recommendations of the LLRC'.

The report, entitled 'No Real Will to Account', argued that the lack of accountability had ensured a "climate of impunity where arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and custodial killings continue unchecked."

"More than three years after the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended, these violations continue to be reported."

See here for full statement.

Extracts reproduced below:

Resolution 19/2 adopted by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on 22 March 2012, was an important development in calling on Sri Lanka to account for serious violations of human rights - including war crimes.  Sri Lanka was urged to formulate a “comprehensive action plan” for implementation of recommendations made by its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and to “address alleged violations of international law.”

The resolution noted with concern that the final report of the LLRC did “not adequately address serious allegations of violations of international law”

In July 2012, the Sri Lankan government responded with a National Plan of Action (the Plan) which commits to limited implementation of 92 of the LLRC’s 285 recommendations. It outlines activities envisioned, responsible agencies, performance indicators and timeframes.

However the Plan does not adequately address the need for accountability for serious violations of human rights, and it postpones critical reforms needed for reconciliation by referring them to a Parliamentary Select Committee on constitutional reform that does not yet exist. 

Accountability activities in the Plan are described vaguely and do not correspond fully with the LLRC’s more precise recommendations for independent investigation and prosecution of human rights and humanitarian law violations. Proposed actions often refer to existing mechanisms or procedures that Amnesty International has documented as ineffective.

The Plan’s greatest weakness is that it relies on agencies associated with violations to investigate and police themselves.  Although soldiers, commanding officers and Defence Ministry officials have been accused of involvement in war crimes, the Ministry of Defence is charged with implementing the LLRC recommendation calling for investigation of wrongful deaths of civilians, and also for “allegations of abductions, enforced or involuntary disappearances, and arbitrary detention.”

The Plan does not commit to new or independent investigations; instead it refers to an internal “disciplinary process,” supposedly ongoing under Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces statutes; it rejects the LLRC call for the appointment of a Special Commissioner of Investigation into alleged enforced disappearances. 

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