Diaspora

Taxonomy Color
red
  • Muttur on the edge

    Amid a general rise in tension across the Northeast, Muslim community leaders and the Liberation Tigers are struggling to contain communal hostility from spiraling into violence in the Muttur region of Trincomalee where normal life has been severely disrupted in the past few days.

    At least seven people from both communities have been murdered in what the LTTE has condemned as an effort to provoke communal violence. Efforts to promote dialogue are also struggling as a Muslim delegation expressed anxiety about traveling through Tamil areas.

    Muttur Police recovered two bodies of civilians Monday evening from the old jetty in Muttur town. They are believed to be two of the five Tamils abducted Sunday evening by a Muslim mob.

    One discussion took place Sunday between delegations of LTTE and Muslim civil group at Kaddaiparichchan. Both sides explored ways to bring normalcy in Muttur division. The meeting was chaired by international truce observers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

    However, another round of talks scheduled to be held Monday evening in Kaddaiparichchan was put off indefinitely as Muslim delegation failed to turn up, citing security fears traveling through LTTE controlled areas.

    The recovery of three bodies of Muslim persons Sunday early morning from an abandoned well in Muttur town area came after attacks on Tamils left two people dead.

    The violence erupted Saturday afternoon with the shooting of a Muslim person Haja Mohideen in Thoppur. Thereafter a group of persons had set fire to a three-wheeler and attacked three Tamil civilian passengers with knives and poles at a village Thoppur. Two of them died on the spot and the third person sustained serious injuries, police said.

    In the meantime, more soldiers and police personnel have been sent to several Muslim and Tamil villages in Muttur division to prevent further violence.

    Several Muslim and Tamil families residing in the border areas of villages affected by the violence have sought refuge in safer areas in the division, police said.
  • Wave of lethal attacks follow activists killings’
    Two devastating landmine blasts killed several Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Jaffna this week as violence escalated after Army-backed paramilitaries shot dead two Tamil Tigers supporters on Thursday.

    Six soldiers and an officer were killed in a claymore mine attack on a Sri Lanka Army tractor in Irupalai, 5 km North east of Jaffna town Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. The explosion took place 200 meters west of Irupalai junction on Jaffna - Point Pedro road. SLA soldiers at the site opened fire following the attack and cordoned off the site.

    Irupalai is located 5.2 km southwest of Neerveli where Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives and Army-backed paramilitaries killed two farmers and wounded another last week.

    The three, who had been active in organising the LTTE’s Heroes Day celebrations in Jaffna the week earlier, were fired on at a tea shop close to Athiyar Hindu College in Neerveli at 8 p.m. Thursday.

    Local reporters say several Tamil paramilitaries have been brought to Jaffna, including a contingent to the SLA base at Neerveli and quote residents as saying the farmers were attacked by cadres operating out of this base located near the Kopay junction on Point-Pedro Jaffna A9 highway.

    Violence has escalated in the area around Neerveli subsequently, particularly after the funerals of the two farmers in the area on Saturday.

    On Sunday night gunmen fired at the SLA base, wounding a soldier who later died. SLA soldiers returned fire and the firefight lasted more than five minutes.

    At around 1.00 p.m. Sunday a claymore mine blast struck a SLA tractor 200 meters south of Kondavil Junction on Palaly Road in Jaffna killing six soldiers and wounding four more.

    SLA soldiers cordoned off the site, blocked all the traffic and started to attack the civilians in the area. Tension prevailed in the area, but had started to ease by Tuesday when the second claymore attack took place.

    On Saturday one soldier was killed when a tractor carrying SLA troops came under gunfire from unknown gunmen near Chavakacheri Hindu College

    Three SLA soldiers were injured in three other grenade attacks in Meesalai, located 3 km from Chavakachcheri.

    SLA troopers stationed along the A9 highway between Meesalai and Chavakacheri attacked civilian travellers with rifle butts. Smashed motorbikes were seen on both sides along the highway, travellers who escaped from the site told TamilNet.

    All the soldiers killed this week are attacked to the SLA’s 51 Division which has long been based in Jaffna.

    Two SLA soldiers guarding the Sri Lanka Telecom’s Transmission tower based in Malusanthi in Vadamaradchy division were seriously injured when assailants riding in a motorbike hurled a grenade at their sentry point at 6pm Saturday. No one was injured when soldiers fired indiscriminately after the explosion.

    A bowzer distributing water to SLA troops came under gunfire in Ariyalai, Jaffna along the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road. No one was wounded.

    A civilian was wounded when SLA soldiers opened fire following a grenade attack on their checkpost in Kantharmadam, close to Parameswara Junction on Palaly Road in Jaffna around 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

    Security has been strengthened in Kantharmadam areas and SLA has established checkpoints at several points in the area.

    Another SLA checkpost located in Kondavil Junction on Palaly Road came under gunfire by two motorbike-riding gunmen Saturday midday. No casualties were reported.

    The Jaffna - Point Pedro and Rasaveethy main roads remained blocked for traffic as Neerveli residents mourned the two farmers Saturday.

    At least seven grenade attacks were reported Friday on military positions in Jaffna, coming amidst a general shutdown in several SLA controlled areas of the Jaffna peninsula following the Neerveli kilings on Thursday.

    That day at least five SLA soldiers were wounded in four different grenade attacks in three locations in Thenmaradchi. Two attacks were reported in Chavakacheri town close to the AGA office, one in Meesalai and another in Allarai close to Thambuthottam SLA base Friday night.

    In Kuppilan, Valigamam, a solder was wounded when unidentified assailants lobbed a grenade into an SLA position at Kuppilan Junction, 10 km north of Jaffna town around 7:00 p.m.

    A grenade attack was also reported in Jaffna town, at Brown Road - Arasady Road junction, close to the Hindu Ladies College at 7:30 p.m. The grenade exploded outside an SLA checkpost wounding a civilian.

    Also on Friday unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at the office of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) located in Manthikai, Vadamaradchchi. Tension prevailed in the area when Sri Lankan soldiers providing security to the paramilitary office returned fire.

    A handbill issued in the name of "Roaring People’s Force" warned that reprisal attacks on SLA soldiers and intelligence operatives would escalate if attacks against Tamil activists and civilians continued.
  • War fear as violence spikes in Jaffna
    Despite a lull of several days which raised hopes Sri Lanka’s shadow war might have eased in the wake of the election of a new President, violence soared to unprecedented levels this week.

    A series of grenade and mine blasts killed at least fourteen Sri Lankan soldiers in the northern Jaffna and raised anxieties about a renewed conflict, particularly after the Army called of a meeting with the LTTE under the aegis of international truce monitors and a tough new commander took charge of it.

    Anxieties have been fuelled by the arrest Tuesday of five Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan navy, one of whom swallowed her cyanide capsule, but did not die.

    As this edition went to print tension prevailed not only in Jaffna but also in the restive east where killings of Tamils and Muslims threatened an outbreak of long absent communal violence.

    In Colombo the security forces’ presence on the streets was heavily stepped up and the stock market plummeted this week after two separate landmine attacks in Jaffna killed over half a dozen soldiers each.

    Several Army-back paramilitaries were also killed in an abortive raid on Tamil Tiger positions in the eastern Batticaloa district.

    International truce monitors say over two hundred people have been killed this year in an simmering shadow war between Army-backed paramilitaries and the LTTE.

    However, after the Presidential elections on November 17 which was won by the hardline Sinhala nationalist favourite, Mahinda Rajapakse, there had been a noticeable absence of violence, sparking optimism amongst the truce observers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

    However the lull was shattered last Thursday when paramilitaries fired on three farmers who had been active in organising the LTTE’s Heroes Day celebrations in Jaffna. Two were killed and one wounded at a tea shop close to Athiyar Hindu College in Neerveli at 8 p.m. Thursday.

    This week, protesting the "countless attacks" in Jaffna peninsula, Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts, the SLMM warned that "there is a real danger that these disturbances and hostilities can spread and result in irreparable deterioration of security and prevent any real restoration of normalcy in the affected communities."

    In a statement issued before the second claymore blast occurred in Jaffna, the United States condemned the first attack, saying “such violence is inconsistent with LTTE claims to be committed to the peace process.”

    Saying the US “remains gravely concerned about persistent violations of the Ceasefire Agreement, particularly over the past few weeks,” the State Department added: “We call on both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to take immediate action to prevent violence and to uphold the terms of the Ceasefire Agreement.”

    In the wake of the first claymore attack a meeting had been hastily convened by the SLMM between SLA and LTTE officials at the Muhamalai, the border crossing between the two sides controlled territories in Jaffna, the Army pulled out Monday.

    SLA officials told the SLMM and LTTE Sri Lanka’s Peace Secretariat in Colombo had declined permission to the SLA Jaffna Commander, Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennakoon, to attend the proposed meeting.

    However, Lt. General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s new Army commander, said Tuesday that a dialogue must be established with the Tamil Tigers on the ongoing cease-fire agreement.

    "We have to plan a strategy to prevent such attacks. Safety of my men comes first. But we need to talk to the LTTE to get their assistance to prevent such attacks," Fonseka said, adding that there had been a communication gap between the Tigers and the military in Jaffna. He did not elaborate.

    He ruled out the possibility that the two claymore mine attackswould "lead to conventional war of a very high magnitude" - but his troops were ready to face any threat from the LTTE.

    The spike in violence has raised fears of a looming war after the three year old Norwegian brokered cease-fire came under pressure from a cycle of violence.

    However, last month LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan said he was prepared to give time for the new President to come up with a credible plan for advancing the peace process and warned the Tamil struggle would resume it was not forthcoming.

    Meanwhile in Colombo, the hardline monks party, the Jeyathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Monday demanded the Government to place the country on war alert.

    Warning that Colombo urgently needs to go on war footing, the JHU urged the government to adopt urgent measures to ensure security in Colombo and in southern Sri Lanka.

    The monks were speaking prior to a meeting with President Rajapakse, elected on November 27 on a strident Sinhala nationalist platform.

    On Wednesday Yasushi Akashi, Representative of the Government of Japan for Peace-building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka began a fice-day visit to the island.

    He is scheduled to meet President Rajapakse and other Sri Lankan officials, it is not known if he will meet with LTTE officials.
  • Amnesty frets for Sri Lanka peace
    Amnesty International (AI) this week called on the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers to “act urgently to stop the downward spiral of violence and human rights abuses in the north and east of the country.”

    “The situation is very grim and time is running out,” said Ms. Irene Khan, the Secretary General of AI said as she concluded her four-day visit to Sri Lanka. “We called on President Mahinda Rajapakse to seize the initiative urgently to de-escalate the violence.”

    “We have urged the government to be open and flexible on monitoring mechanisms and on establishing effective systems of accountability, including through independent investigations,” said Ms. Khan. “Without a rapid reduction of human rights abuses, the prognosis for peace is poor.”

    Commenting on the President Rajapakse’s assurances to address all allegations of human rights violations by the Sri Lankan security forces, Khan said, “While we welcome his assurances, we want to see concrete action on the ground.”

    “A significant number of attacks and killings are happening in government-controlled areas,” said Ms. Khan.

    “Although there is confusion as to who is behind these attacks, there can be no doubt about the clear responsibility of the state to investigate and prosecute,” she noted.

    “Recent killings and attacks in Jaffna are an indication of the volatility of the current situation,” Ms. Khan said.

    “Prospects for conflict prevention will depend on how fast and how far the government and the LTTE are willing to address the extremely fragile security situation now in the north and east.”

    Khan also criticised Sri Lanka’s response to people displaced by the conflict and the tsunami disaster.

    “The inequitable, and at times inadequate, response to hundreds of thousands of people displaced by conflict and by the tsunami disaster last year has added to the volatility of the situation,” her statement said.

    On Saturday, Ms. Khan met in Kililnochchi with the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan.

    Ms. Khan expressed Amnesty International’s serious concerns over the increasing violence and allegations of underage recruitment by the Liberation Tigers.

    She also expressed the need to explore mechanisms to end violence and upgrade human rights standards in conformity with international norms.

    In response, Mr. Tamilselvan extended an invitation to Amnesty International to send a fact finding mission to Tamil areas to investigate matters related to child recruitment and other human rights concerns.

    Ms Khan also met with NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) to learn about its functions, staff strength, on complaints received and how the complaints are resolved.
  • ‘Our people will not be tolerant any longer’

    Mr. Pirapaharan at a ceremony on Nov. 27 to salute fallen LTTE fighters

    The Sinhala nation continues to be entrapped in the Mahavamsa mindset, in that mythical ideology. The Sinhalese people are still caught up in the legendary fiction that the island of Sri Lanka is a divine gift to Theravada Buddhism, a holy land entitled to the Sinhala race. The Sinhala nation has not redeemed itself from this mythological idea that is buried deep and has become fossilised in their collective unconscious. It is because of this ideological blindness the Sinhalese people and their political and religious leaders are unable to grasp the authentic history of the island and the social realities prevailing here. They are unable to comprehend and accept the very existence of a historically constituted nation of Tamil people living in their traditional homeland in north-eastern Sri Lanka, entitled to fundamental political rights and freedoms. It is because of the refusal by the Sinhala nation to perceive the existential reality of the Tamils and their political aspirations the Tamil national question persists as an unresolved complex issue.

    We do not expect a radical transformation in the social consciousness, in the political ideology, in the Mahavamsa mental structure of the Sinhalese people. The scope and power of Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony has not receded, rather, it has revived and taken new forms, exerting a powerful dominance on the southern political arena. In these objective conditions we do not believe that we can gain a reasonable solution from the Sinhala nation. We have to fight and win our rights. We have never entertained the idea that we could obtain justice from the compassion of the Sinhala politicians. This has always been the view of our liberation organisation.

    Even though we are deeply convinced that we cannot obtain justice from the Sinhala political leadership, but rather have to fight and win our rights, we were compelled by unprecedented historical circumstances to participate in peace talks with the Sinhala state. We were compelled to engage in the negotiating process by the intervention of the Indian regional superpower at a particular historical period and by the pressure of the international community at a later period. There were other reasons also that encouraged us to engage in the peace process. Constructive engagement in the peace process is a viable means to secure legitimacy for our liberation organisation as the representative organ of our people. We also wanted to internationalise our struggle and win the support and sympathy of the international community. Furthermore, there is a need to convince the world community that we are not war-mongers addicted to armed violence, but rather, firmly and sincerely committed to non-violent peace process. Finally and most importantly, we wanted to demonstrate beyond doubt that the Sinhala racist ruling elites would not accept the fundamental demands of the Tamils and offer a reasonable political solution. It was with these objectives we participated in the peace process.

    Over the last three decades of our national liberation struggle we have observed ceasefires and participated in peace talks at different periods of time in different historical circumstances. We knew that our enemy was dishonest and devious. We knew that these peace talks would not produce any positive results. We knew that there would be peace traps. Yet we participated in the peace talks with sincere commitment and dedication. In the course of our engagement we encountered pressures and complex challenges. There were traps to undermine our liberation struggle. We acted prudently and avoided pitfalls. We vehemently opposed all subversive strategies that were detrimental to the interests of our people. The Tamil people are fully aware of the fact that during the time of Indian intervention, when we encountered a serious threat to our freedom struggle and to the interests of our people, our liberation organisation was bold enough to oppose the Indian superpower and fight its military machine.

    From the Thimpu talks, we have participated in several peace negotiations, at different times, at different places. Unprecedented in the history of our struggle, it is only now, we have devoted a lengthy period of four years for the peace effort. However, despite this protracted period of time our sincere and persistent efforts to reach a settlement to the problems of our people have become futile.

    The recent peace talks have been significant and essentially different. They have been held with the facilitation of a third country, with the supervision of the international community. There were sessions of negotiations with Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe’s administration and later with Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government. The decisions, resolutions and Agreements reached during these negotiations were never fulfilled. During this process of negotiations we were extremely tolerant and even compromised on several issues. Nevertheless, the Sinhala political leadership refused to offer justice to our people.

    On the 24 December 2001 we unilaterally declared cessation of hostilities and opened the doors for peace. At that time, when we extended our hand of friendship to the Sinhala nation, we stood on a strong foundation. Having liberated the Vanni region and over run the Elephant Pass military complex, we had firmly established the balance of military power in our favour. I need not go into the details of the peace negotiations we had with Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe’s government in various world capitals under Norwegian facilitation. It is suffice to say that Mr Wickremasinghe’s administration was unable to resolve even the basic existential hardships and urgent humanitarian needs of our people. Adopting delaying tactics, Ranil’s government was primarily focusing on setting up an international safety net aiming at decommissioning our weapons. An international aid conference was organised in Tokyo in June 2003 as an essential element of this subversive scheme. Having realised the implications of the international safety net we decided to boycott the Tokyo conference and eventually to suspend the peace talks. Having failed to achieve anything, Ranil’s regime came to an end. In the meantime President Kumaratunga formed a new government with the alliance of racist forces opposed to peace. Chandrika refused to initiate the peace talks even though our organisation was willing to negotiate on the basis of our proposal for an interim self-government authority. Time began to elapse in a political vacuum without an interim settlement or a permanent solution. We realised that the aim of the Sinhala chauvinistic political leadership was to misdirect and undermine our liberation struggle by entrapping us in the uncertainty of a political vacuum. Faced with the meaningless absurdity of living in the illusion of peace we decided to resume our national liberation struggle. It was at that conjuncture, during the latter part of last year, when we were charting our action plan, that the horrendous natural disaster struck.

    Suddenly, unexpectedly the tsunami waves struck at the villages and settlements along the eastern coastal belt of our homeland causing an unprecedented catastrophe. In this cataclysmic disaster unleashed by nature, twenty thousand Tamil and Muslim people perished and about three hundred thousand people lost their homes, properties and were reduced to conditions of refugees. As nature inflicted further calamity on the Tamil nation, which had already suffered monumental destruction by war, our people were burdened with unbearable suffering. In these circumstances, our liberation movement was geared to confront the crisis. Our fighting formations, as well as our cadres belonging to various social and administrative services, were immediately engaged in the tasks of relief and rehabilitation.

    As the tsunami catastrophe shook the conscience of the world, the international governments volunteered to provide huge sums of money in aid for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. In the meantime President Kumaratunga expressed her willingness to form a joint administrative mechanism in cooperation with the LTTE to implement the tasks of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction for the affected Tamil speaking people. We decided to talk to the Kumaratunga government since we had to give primacy to the extraordinary humanitarian tragedy faced by our people. Talks were conducted at the level of peace secretariats. Since we wanted to avoid delays in the negotiating process we adopted a flexible attitude, even compromised on crucial matters, and finally an agreement was reached to establish a joint administrative mechanism. The Accord was also signed by both parties.

    The international community expressed full support for the joint administrative structure worked out by both the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE. The international governments also expressed hope that a congenial environment for joint effort by warring parties had been created. But the Sinhala-Buddhist racist forces could not tolerate the emergence of a congenial environment of goodwill. Having registered their vehement protest to the joint administrative mechanism, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaja withdrew their support to the government. These parties also filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the joint administrative mechanism. The determination of the Supreme Court made the joint mechanism inoperative.

    With the demise of the tsunami mechanism the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism killed the last hope of the Tamil people. Even the all-powerful President Kumaratunga could not provide a simple humanitarian project for the Tamils against the wishes of the Sinhala racist forces. The tsunami mechanism was not devolved with any political power nor was it to have any administrative authority. If there was so much opposition in southern Sri Lanka to a simple provisional arrangement then it is a daydream to expect to secure a regional self-governing authority in the Tamil homeland by negotiating with the Sinhala political leadership. This is the political truth that we have been able to learn from the four year period of the peace process. We hope that the international community, which has been intensively observing this political drama, similarly understands this truth.

    I wish to explain here a matter of crucial importance, which betrays the politics of duplicity of the Sinhala ruling elites. You would have heard about a secret shadow war being waged against our organisation behind the screen of peace. This subversive war has been unleashed with the aim of weakening our liberation organisation and to undermine our struggle. A large number of people consisting of our senior cadres, important members, supporters, Tamil politicians, journalists and educationists who were sympathetic to our cause, have been cowardly murdered. We know the real masterminds behind this shadow war. Though these violent acts were committed under the guidance and direction of the Sri Lankan military intelligence, we are aware that mysterious hands of some racist Sinhala politicians are behind these nefarious activities. This subversive war is being conducted in the government controlled territories, with the backing of the armed forces, utilising Tamil para-military elements as instruments. We expressed vehement protest to the Sri Lanka government when our unarmed political cadres were murdered and our political offices were bombed in the government controlled areas. Since the government ignored our protests we were compelled to withdraw our cadres to our controlled areas.

    A strange low intensity war has been unleashed against us taking advantage of the conditions of peace effected by the ceasefire. Disarming the Tamil para-military groups is an obligation of the state under terms of the Ceasefire Agreement. Having failed to fulfil this crucial obligation the Sri Lanka state has been utilising the Tamil para-militaries as instruments of this subversive war against our liberation organisation. This is a serious war offence. This is similar to a treacherous act in which one stabs you in the back with one hand while pretending to embrace you with the other. This behaviour clearly demonstrates that the Sinhala ruling elites have no genuine interest in peace and ethnic reconciliation. The Sri Lanka state has not given up the military option but rather transformed the war into a new mode of state terror under conditions of peace. We hope that the international community will discern the real mode of this shadow war and perceive its ugly face and ulterior motives.

    As far as the Tamil people are concerned, the concepts of peace, ceasefire and negotiations have become meaningless; concepts that do not correspond to or reflect reality. A shadow war conducted under conditions of peace, military occupation perpetrated in violation of the terms of ceasefire, an international subversive network woven during political negotiations, are the distorted ways the peace process has been abused. Because of these factors our people have lost faith in everything.

    Our people have lost faith in a peace process that has failed to secure them a real, peaceful life; they have lost faith in a ceasefire that has failed to remove the occupation army from their homes; they have lost faith in the talks that have failed to resolve their long standing problems.

    Our people can no longer tolerate an unstable life and an uncertain future. The waves of popular upsurgence erupting in the Tamil homeland are manifestations of the discontent and despair of our people; they are fierce demonstrations of their political aspirations. The multitude of Tamil masses, who converged at recent Tamil resurgence conventions, have publicly proclaimed their demands. The international community cannot ignore these proclamations of a unified nation calling for the recognition of their right to self-determination, of their right to rule themselves. Our people aspire to determine their own political status. Having been subjected to decades of systematic state repression, they call upon the international community to recognise their political aspirations.

    We have now reached a significant historic turning point in our struggle for self-determination. The ruling elites of southern Sri Lanka will never recognise our people’s right to self-determination. The Tamil right to self-determination will never find space in the entrenched majoritarian constitution and in the political system built on that constitutional structure. Our people have, therefore, realised that they have no alternative other than to fight and win their right to self-determination. Self-determination entails the right to freely choose, without external interference, our political life. The Sinhala nation has been refusing to embrace our people, to recognise their national identity and to share political power. This political alienation has continued since the independence of the island 57 years ago. Frustrated by years of alienation, oppression and ill-treatment as an unwanted people, the Tamils have finally decided to exclude and boycott the Sri Lankan polity and its power system. The boycott of the presidential elections by the vast majority of Tamil people was a concrete expression of this perspective. Our people did not participate in the election even though they had the voting power to determine the election of a new president. The non-participation of the Tamils should not be construed as a judgement of the personalities or policies of the presidential candidates. Rather, this political boycott was an expression of deep distrust and disillusionment of the Tamil people with the Sinhala political system. This event symbolises a serious turning point in the political history of the Tamils. It signifies that the Tamil people may choose their own path and freely determine their own political destiny.

    The Sinhala nation has chosen a new national leader. A new administration has assumed power under his leadership. This new government has been elected by the Sinhala majority specifically with their voting power. The national minorities are not represented in this government. It is essentially a Sinhala-Buddhist regime. Therefore Mahinda Rajapakse does not represent all the social formations of this country. He has assumed power as a president to protect and promote the interests of the Sinhala-Buddhist community. We are all aware of Mahinda Rajapaske’s thoughts and policies. We are also aware of the incompatible gaps and the irreconcilable contradictions that exist between Mr Rajapakse’s political vision and the Tamils’ struggle for self-determination. I do not wish to engage myself in a comparative analysis of this issue.

    The recent presidential elections and the change in governance effected by the Tamil boycott have created a wide rift, politically, between the Tamil and Sinhala nations. While Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony has assumed predominance in the south, Tamil nationalism has emerged as a powerful force and consolidating itself in the Tamil homeland. While a new government under Mahinda Rajapkse has assumed power in the Sinhala nation, LTTE’s administration is expanding and gaining strength as a concrete embodiment of Tamil nationalism.

    The international community is fully aware of the fact that we are running an efficient, self-governing administrative structure in the majority areas of the Tamil homeland, which were liberated from Sinhala military occupation by our organisation. Our administrative structure is formidable, consisting of our controlled territories with huge civilian populations, protected by a powerful military force. We have a police force and a judicial system to maintain law and order. We have also developed a complex administrative infra-structure of a shadow government. Though a large number of Tamils are still living in the military occupied Tamil region, their allegiance is with our liberation movement. The Sinhalese ruling class refuses to accept this ground reality, this political truth and attempts to belittle our liberation organisation as a ‘terrorist group’. We are disappointed and sad to note that some international governments, having been influenced by this false propaganda, continue to retain our organisation on their terrorist list. Biased positions taken by powerful nations acting as guardians of the peace process, in excluding and alienating our liberation organisation as a ‘terrorist outfit’ and supporting the interests of the Sri Lankan state, severely affected the balance of power relations between the parties in conflict at the peace negotiations. This pro-state bias constrained our liberty to choose our own political status. This partiality finally became one of the causes for the collapse of the peace talks.

    There is no clear, coherent, globally acceptable definition of the concept of terrorism.

    As such, just and reasonable political struggles fought for righteous causes are also branded as terrorism. Even authentic liberation movements struggling against racist oppression are denounced as terrorist outfits. In the current global campaign against terror, state terrorism always finds its escape route and those who fight against state terror are condemned as terrorists. Our liberation organisation is also facing a similar plight.

    We have now reached the critical time to decide on our approach to achieve the objective of our struggle. At this crucial historical turning point a new government under a new leader has assumed power in the Sinhala nation. This new government is extending its hand of friendship towards us and is calling our organisation for peace talks. It claims that it is going to adopt a new approach towards the peace process. Having carefully examined his policy statement in depth, we have come to a conclusion that President Rajapkse has not grasped the fundamentals, the basic concepts underlying the Tamil national question. In terms of policy, the distance between him and us is vast. However, President Rajapakse is considered a realist committed to pragmatic politics, we wish to find out, first of all, how he is going to handle the peace process and whether he will offer justice to our people. We have, therefore, decided to wait and observe, for sometime, his political manoeuvres and actions.

    Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration. They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people. This is our urgent and final appeal. If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland.
  • The defining of torture in a new world war
    The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s defence of the practice of transferring prisoners around the world for interrogation relies a great deal on a definition of torture.

    In the US view, torture has to involve "severe pain" and harsh interrogations do not necessarily amount to torture.

    Ms Rice accepted that prisoner transfers, known as "renditions", take place and said they were not unusual. The French had moved Carlos the Jackal directly from Sudan that way in 1994, she pointed out.

    She did not adddress the issue of where these prisoners, thought to be senior al-Qaeda suspects like Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the man who thought up the attacks of 9/11, end up.

    The Washington Post has alleged that there are or have been secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Thailand. By being located outside the US, they would avoid coming under the scrutiny of US courts.

    But as she set off a European visit during which the rendition flights and the ultimate aim of such flights will be a key issue, the Secretary of State stressed several times that the United States did not engage in torture.

    And it is really the torture issue which is the key. If the flights were simply for the purpose of moving prisoners between open court systems, nobody would complain.

    It is the idea that they are tortured in secret detention camps that has concerned critics and has forced Ms Rice to issue her statement.

    The United States acted, she said, in accordance with its legal obligations, among which is the 1984 UN "Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

    This defines torture as follows: "Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind..."

    It will be seen that a lot depends on the definition of "severe."

    In a memorandum on 1 August 2002, the then Assistant US Attorney General Jay Bybee said that "the adjective severe conveys that the pain or suffering must be of such a high level of intensity that the pain is difficult for the subject to endure."

    He even suggested that "severe pain" must be severe enough to result in organ failure death.

    Such an interpretation would obviously leave an interrogator a great deal of latitude, and that memo was subsequently disowned by the Bush administration.

    What seems to have evolved is a series of interrogation techniques which in the US view do not amount to torture as defined by the UN Convention but which go beyond the simple business of asking questions.

    Recent reports on the American ABC News network, quoting CIA sources, listed six so-called "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques."

    1. Grab: the interrogator grabs a suspect’s shirt front and shakes him.

    2. Slap: an open-handed slap to produce fear and some pain.

    3. Belly Slap: a hard slap to the stomach with an open hand. This is designed to be painful but not to cause injury. A punch is said to have been ruled out by doctors.

    4. Standing: Prisoners stand for 40 hours and more, shackled to the floor. Said to be effective, it also denies them sleep and is part of a process known as sensory deprivation ( this was a technique used by British forces in Northern Ireland for a time until it was stopped).

    5. Cold Cell: a prisoner is made to stand naked in a cold, though not freezing, cell and doused with water.

    6. Water Boarding: the prisoner is bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round his head. Water is poured onto his face and is said to produce a fear of drowning which leads to a rapid demand for the suffering to end.

    Some or all of these techniques might be outlawed if the US Senate has its way. The Senate has approved by 90 to 9 a measure outlawing "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."

    Again, much depends on definitions but President Bush apparently feels that McCain’s amendment would prevent the CIA from carrying out "enhanced" interrogation. He is threatening to veto the Bill onto which this prohibition has been tacked as an amendment. The White House and McCain, a former pilot who was himself tortured by the North Vietnamese, are trying to reach a compromise.

    Senator McCain has written against any ill-treatment of prisoners: "We should not torture or treat inhumanely terrorists we have captured. The abuse of prisoners harms, not helps, our war effort. In my experience, abuse of prisoners often produces bad intelligence because under torture a person will say anything he thinks his captors want to hear - whether it is true or false - if he believes it will relieve his suffering," he said in an article in Newsweek.

    He is particularly against "waterboarding". "I believe that it is torture, very exquisite torture," he said.

    But the administration clearly feels that the CIA’s hands should not be tied too tightly.

    Stephen Hadley, the US National Security Adviser, has spoken of the dilemma faced by governments which say they abide by the rule of law yet which need to get information to save lives.

    "The president has said that we are going to do whatever we do in accordance with the law. But you see the dilemma. What happens if on September 7th 2001, we had gotten one of the hijackers and based on information associated with that arrest, believed that within four days, there’s going to be a devastating attack on the United States?"

    One very grey area of the rendition policy is that sometimes a prisoner is handed over secretly to a country which itself carries out the interrogation. Such a country might not be so particular as to the methods used.

    There is a view among some lawyers that the US would violate international law if it knew of such practices by governments to which it hands over suspects.
  • Briefly: International
    UN in urgent Kashmir appeal

    The UN World Food Programme has appealed for around 70 million dollars in urgent assistance to maintain food airlifts through the winter for people in quake-ravaged Kashmir.

    The UN has warned of a second wave of deaths from cold, disease and hunger among the total 3.5 million left homeless as winter takes hold in the divided region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

    The October 8 earthquake killed nearly 74,000 people in Pakistani Kashmir and parts of the country’s North West Frontier Province.

    "We need substantial help, and the helicopters are critical, given the weather, the rugged terrain and our need to pre-position a huge amount of food in places throughout the affected area before the weather gets terrible," WFP executive director James Morris said.

    Millions in mountanious areas are dependent on food supplies from the UN aid agencies, local government and humanitarian groups.

    Morris said the WFP could keep making aid flights to remote areas through January, but needed some 70 million dollars to fund the air operations until the end of April.

    The United Nations has launched a flash appeal for 550 million dollars of emergency aid but says it has got only 41 percent of the funding after two months.

    Several pneumonia deaths have already been reported among children who survived the October 8 earthquake in Pakistan and its zone of Kashmir, hit hardest by the quake.(AFP)

    Australia laws ‘as terrifying as terror’

    The Australian parliament is poised to adopt new counter-terrorism laws, despite a last-minute warning from the country’s leading jurists group that the legislation is "as terrifying as terrorism itself".

    The bill, which allows for the secret preventive detention of terrorist suspects for up to two weeks and permits authorities to impose controls on suspects, including electronic shackles, for up to 12 months, went before the Senate Monday.

    It was expected to pass quickly as the conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard controls the chamber.

    In addition to provisions for preventive detention, the bill broadens the little-used offence of sedition so it attracts a seven-year jail term for threatening the "peace, order and good government of the commonwealth".

    The government defends the legislation as needed to combat the threat from Muslim militants.

    But the Law Council of Australia, which groups lawyers’ societies and bar associations from Australia’s eight states and territories, warned Monday that the new legislation goes too far.

    In full-page advertisements published in major newspapers, the council said the government was "using the threat of terrorism to introduce laws that put our most basic civil liberties under threat".

    "The ramifications have the potential to be as terrifying as terrorism itself," read the ad, which included an open letter appealing to Howard to withdraw the legislation.(AFP)

    Russia defends NGO curbs

    President Vladimir Putin on Monday defended a bill that would severely restrict the access of charities and rights groups to foreign funding and said the measure was crucial to Russia’s war on terrorism.

    Since the bill - which will also force all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to re-register - was presented in October, activists have criticized it as an infringement of their rights.

    Under the bill, Russian NGOs would lose access to most foreign funding, as well as being forced to re-register. Foreign NGOs would be unable to work in Russia in their current form.

    President George W. Bush raised the issue at a summit with Putin last month.

    Putin has previously said it will prevent foreigners undermining Russian sovereignty, which is seen by analysts as meaning they want to prevent a democratic revolution on the Ukraine model.

    But he went further on Monday, saying it was key to defeating international terrorists hiding under the cover of NGOs.

    "This bill is necessary to ensure the security of our political system from outside interference, to defend our society and citizens from the spread of terrorist and hateful ideologies," he was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

    The Kremlin has previously used the needs of the war on terrorism to justify its abolition of elections for regional governors and restrictions on the media.(Reuters)

    Congress drops Natwar Singh

    Former Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh is coming under renewed pressure over claims that he benefited from the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

    India’s parliament was adjourned yet again Monday after opposition MPs demanded the resignation of Mr Singh, who is still a cabinet minister.

    Late on Sunday, the Congress party removed Mr Singh from its highest decision-making body.

    Mr Singh, who maintains he is innocent, has refused to leave the cabinet, saying to do so would be to suggest he was guilty.

    Separately, reports say a fellow Congress member and India’s ambassador to Croatia, Aneil Matherani, is being questioned by officers of the enforcement directorate which investigates financial crimes.

    Last week, Mr Matherani suggested in a magazine interview that Natwar Singh had facilitated the procurement of oil vouchers during a visit to Iraq in 2001.

    Mr Matherani subsequently claimed that his comments to the magazine, India Today, were made off the record. He has since been recalled to Delhi.

    Natwar Singh called the allegation "false and malicious" and said he would consult his lawyers.

    The allegations first surfaced in a UN report published in October, in which Natwar Singh and the Congress party were named as non-contractual-beneficiaries of the oil-for-food programme.

    The Indian government has ordered a judicial investigation headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.(BBC)

    Intel to invest $1 bn in India

    Intel Corp., the world’s largest chip maker, plans to invest more than $1 billion in India to strengthen its research and development and invest in telecoms and technology start-ups.

    California-based Intel has a development center in Bangalore, India’s technology hub, which designs and develops software to power chips that drive computers and high-end networks for Internet-based applications.

    It has already invested $700 million in Asia’s third-largest economy over the past decade and provided venture funding worth more than $100 million to 40 firms such as computer trainer NIIT Ltd. and telecoms software firm Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd.

    Chairman Craig Barrett told reporters 800 million would be invested over the next five years to expand research and development at Bangalore in addition to marketing, education and community programs.

    The firm will also create a $250 million India-specific venture fund to invest in start-ups focusing on mobile communications, broadband applications and mobile commerce.

    Intel’s earlier Indian investments have ranged from $500,000 to $10 million. Some firms it backed, such as Rediff.com (REDF), have gone public.

    India’s booming technology and telecoms sectors have been the flywheels of economic growth over the past three years as overseas and domestic demand for such services has exploded.

    Russia sells missiles to Iran

    Russia has struck a deal to sell short-range, surface-to-air missiles to Iran, the defense minister said Monday, confirming reports that have raised concern in the United States and Israel.

    Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov didn’t give details. But Russian media have said that Moscow agreed in November to sell $1 billion worth of weapons to Iran, including up to 30 Tor-M1 missile systems over the next two years.

    "A contract for the delivery of air defense Tor missiles to Iran has indeed been signed," Ivanov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

    "This unequivocally will not change the balance of forces in the region," Ivanov added. Tor M1 missiles are short-range, surface-to-air missiles already used by several other armed forces, including China.

    The reports last week prompted expressions of concern from the U.S administration and Israel, which considers Iran to be its biggest threat.

    Israeli concerns recently were heightened after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged that Israel be "wiped off the map."

    Interfax said the Tor-M1 system could identify up to 48 targets and fire at two targets simultaneously at a height of up to 20,000 feet.

    On Saturday, an influential Iranian official played down the deal, telling the official Islamic Republic News Agency that Tehran has been trading arms with many countries and would continue to do so.

    Iran centre stage in Israeli election

    Iran’s growing nuclear program has suddenly emerged as a campaign issue in Israel’s March elections. Top politicians have ratcheted up the tough talk against Iran, led by former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bold call for a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear installations.

    Iranian leaders brushed off the latest threats Monday, warning that an attack "will have a lot of consequences."

    Israeli leaders have long identified Iran as the nation’s biggest threat. Israel accuses Tehran of supporting Palestinian militant groups and rejects Iran’s claim that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

    Iran’s announcement Monday that it plans to build a second nuclear power plant - along with a deadly suicide bombing by the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group in the central town of Netanya - is likely to heighten Israel’s concerns.

    While Sharon said the world cannot accept a nuclear Iran, he said diplomacy remains the first line of defense. He has not said what should be done if diplomacy fails.

    Netanyahu, embroiled in a campaign for leadership of the hardline Likud Party ahead of the March 28th election, left few doubts about his solution: a pre-emptive strike similar to the 1981 attack ordered by then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin that destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor.(AP)
  • US military pays for ‘good news’ reports
    The U.S. military command in Baghdad acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has paid Iraqi newspapers to carry positive news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, but officials characterized the payments as part of a legitimate campaign to counter insurgents’ misinformation.

    In a statement, the command said the program included efforts, "customary in Iraq," to purchase advertising and place clearly labeled opinion pieces in Iraqi newspapers.

    But the statement suggested that the "information operations" program may have veered into a gray area where government contractors paid to have articles placed in Iraqi newspapers without explaining that the material came from the U.S. military and that Iraqi journalists were paid to write positive accounts.

    The episode has sparked an intense debate at the Pentagon and beyond, as military officials in Washington said privately that they are troubled by the situation and media experts said the program violated standard journalistic practices.

    The controversy has also fanned a debate that has been underway for months in military circles about the role that information operations should be playing in nontraditional conflicts such as the Iraq situation.

    The term covers a wide range of activities - some open, some not - intent on undermining an enemy by fooling, confusing or refuting him.

    US military officials said third parties -- including the Washington-based Lincoln Group - were sometimes hired to distribute the articles to newspapers to protect publishers that might have been targeted by insurgents if they were known to accept material from the military.

    Proponents of such tactics argue that different standards should be applied to what is permissible in a combat zone such as Iraq than, say, in the United States or other stable democracies.

    Although the idea of the military using covert methods to get favorable information into print appears unethical at home, the argument goes, there are mitigating circumstances justifying such tactics in Iraq.

    "We counter the lies, intimidation, and pure evil of terror with factual stories that highlight the heroism and sacrifice of the Iraqi people and their struggle for freedom and security," Laurie Adler, a spokeswoman for Lincoln Group said.
  • ‘Setback’ in Iraq forces’ training
    The training of Iraqi security forces has suffered a big "setback" in the last six months, with the army and other forces being increasingly used to settle scores and make other political gains, Iraqi Vice President Ghazi al-Yawer said Monday.

    Al-Yawer disputed contentions by U.S. officials, including President Bush, that the training of security forces was gathering speed, resulting in more professional troops.

    Bush has said the United States will not pull out of Iraq until Iraq’s own forces can maintain security. In a speech last week, he said Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of securing the country.

    Al-Yawer, a Sunni moderate, said he agreed the United States cannot pull out now because "there will be a huge vacuum," leaving Iraq in danger of falling into civil war. In particular, armed Shiite militias in the south might try to incite war if U.S.-led coalition forces leave, he said in an interview with The Associated Press and a U.S. newspaper.

    Al-Yawer said recent allegations that Interior Ministry security forces - dominated by Shiites - have tortured Sunni detainees were evidence that many forces are increasingly politicized and sectarian.

    Some of the recently trained Iraqi forces focus on settling scores and other political goals rather than maintaining security, he said.

    In addition, some Iraqi military commanders have been dismissed for political reasons, rather than judged on merit, he said.

    He said the army - also dominated by Shiites - is conducting raids against villages and towns in Sunni and mixed areas of Iraq, rather than targeting specific insurgents - a tactic he said reminded many Sunnis of Saddam Hussein-era raids.

    "Saddam used to raid villages," using security forces, he said. "This is not the way to do it."

    Al-Yawer also expressed grave concern that Iraqi army units might use intimidation to try to keep Sunni voters from the polls during the country’s crucial Dec. 15 general election.

    American officials - and Sunni moderates like al-Yawer - are trying to persuade Sunnis to go to the polls, hoping that if they gain a sizable chunk of parliament, Sunnis will abandon support for the insurgency.

    Al-Yawer said many Sunnis want to vote. But he noted that both intimidation and voter fraud occurred during the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum, and complaints to the Iraqi Electoral Commission and U.N. voting advisers went nowhere, he said.

    His supporters have made a series of requests to ensure a fair vote this time, including changes to the electoral commission and adequate numbers of polling stations and ballots in Sunni areas, he said. Most importantly, they have asked that U.S.-led coalition forces, and not Iraqi army troops, guard polling stations, he said.

    Many outside experts have expressed concern that Iraqi security forces will actually increase tensions if they guard Sunni areas, rather than keep order. Al-Yawer did not specifically say that Shiites make up too much of the army, but said he would like to see more political and sectarian balance - especially among the officer corps.
  • India hopes trade talks will help poorest
    India hopes upcoming trade talks in Hong Kong will help millions of farmers in the world’s poorest nations who are competing with subsidised agriculture from rich countries, Trade Minister Kamal Nath said

    Ministers from around the world will gather in Hong Kong from December 13-18 for negotiations that could decide the fate of a four-year-old bid to reform world trade to boost economies and lift millions out of poverty, known generally as the Doha round.

    Differences over farm subsidies and market opening in farm and industrial goods and services trade forced the 148 member states of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to drop plans to seek a draft accord at the Hong Kong meeting.

    "Developed countries must ensure that the focus of development in the Doha round is not lost and ensure that it helps the least developed countries (LDCs)," Nath, a veteran businessman turned politician, told Reuters in an interview. "The package for LDCs must be real, meaningful and measurable."

    Nath, 59, has emerged as a key figure in the global trade negotiations along with European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim.

    Nath said the global trade talks should rectify structural flaws in international agricultural trade and lead to expanded flows of products of interest to developing nations.

    India has already said it cannot make huge cuts in its high farm tariffs because that would threaten 600-700 million subsistence farmers.

    Over the weekend, India offered tariff concessions on industrial goods and services at a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialised nations meeting in London, but made it clear that rich nations must match their moves.

    Together with Brazil, India leads the G-20 group of developing countries that is seeking deep cuts in U.S. and EU farm subsidies and tariffs.
  • Gulf region security said vital to India
    India said this week the security of the Gulf countries as well as of the wider Middle East is of "paramount concern" to the country and it is ready to contribute to the stability of the region by sharing its experience in combating terrorism.

    "Security in Iraq and this region is a global issue and we are ready to contribute to the security and stability of this region in any manner feasible," India’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Chinmaya Gharekhan said speaking on regional security and international cooperation at the second Gulf Security Conference in Bahrain.

    "We could identify areas for co-operation, like sharing our experiences and expertise in combating terrorism, maritime security and military training," he told a conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

    Talking about the menace of terrorism, he said India has been a victim of terrorism for much longer than other countries and that countries which harbour or sponsor terrorists must be brought to book.

    Observing that the over-riding preoccupation of the international community in recent years has been with the emergence of terrorism as a global phenomenon, he said, "India has been no stranger to this menace, and has been a victim of terrorism for much longer than other countries."

    Gharekhan said recent events in Iraq have brought home the fact that a politically unstable area can become the spawning ground of terrorists.

    "Linkages with illicit trafficking in narcotics, as well as in small arms have enhanced the destructive potential and lethal reach of the terrorists," he noted.

    "The fight against terrorism has to be long-term, sustained and comprehensive. It cannot be ad hoc, selective or compartmentalised in terms of region or religion. No terrorist network can sustain itself without a safe haven and without external support," he added.

    Talking about India’s support to the people of Iraq and Palestine, he said, "We strongly support the right of the Iraqi people to freely determine their political future and control their natural resources."
  • Indian premier urges ‘safe sex’ on AIDS day
    India’s premier called for safe sex to be taught to young people to stem the rise of HIV/ AIDS in the country, home to the second highest number of people with the virus after South Africa.

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, kicking off a national convention to mark World’s AIDS Day, also called for a revamp of programmes aimed at stemming the spread of the infection among the country’s billion-plus population - more than half of which is under the age of 25.

    "You should comprehend the need to educate our young about the modes of transmission of this disease, and leading a healthy and safe sexual life is one of the commitments we must all make," Singh said.

    He urged adults in the nation known for its sexual conservatism to shed their inhibitions and discuss sex at home.

    "This is particularly important given our traditional inhibitions about discussing such matters within our families and among our colleagues, quite apart from doing so in public," he said.

    India’s health ministry said in May there were only 28,000 new HIV infections in 2004, down from 520,000 the previous year - figures which were rejected by national volunteer health groups as unrealistic.

    The figures took the total number of officially HIV-positive people in India to 5.13 million, the second highest after South Africa with 5.3 million cases.

    Singh said it was important for India to expand awareness of HIV/AIDS.

    "I do believe that this programme needs to get out of the narrow confines of the health department," Singh said.

    "If we do so, we could upscale our efforts to the desired levels within a minimum period of time and we have no time to waste," he said, echoing warnings of anti-AIDS campaigners that New Delhi needs to massively crank up its fight.

    Ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi appealed for an end to prejudice against people living with HIV.

    "Do not add stigma to the disease," she told thousands of students, AIDS activists, Bollywood entertainers and sports stars at a rally in the capital.

    "The victims needs compassion and they have a full right to live like equals. So let us create an atmosphere where victims can live with dignity."

    Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, meanwhile, said India had prepared draft legislation to protect the rights of people with HIV/AIDS.

    "The legislation has been drafted by lawyers collectively and deals with various issues such as discrimination, confidentiality, right to treatment, care and support," said Sibal.

    "I hope the government will take action on it soon," Sibal said, as India’s Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss expressed worry over the rampant spread of the disease in some of India’s most populous states.

    "We are concerned about Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Orissa, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh... which were earlier low prelevence states but now are highly vulnerable," Ramadoss said.

    The health minister said New Delhi would increase the number of screening centres nationwide from 40 to 150 to accelerate testing.

    The World Bank has said HIV/AIDS could become the single biggest cause of death in India unless prevention is improved and treatment becomes cheaper.

    Premier Singh added there was also a need to prod the Indian pharmaceutical industry to accelerate basic research and produce low-cost drugs and vaccines.(AFP)
  • A change in tack
    Even in comparison to bloodletting in the ongoing shadow war, the intensity of the violence which erupted last weekend in Jaffna was extraordinary. Amidst the dozens of gun and grenade attacks on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) positions in the northern peninsula, the claymores which ripped through two military vehicles killed a total of fifteen soldiers. It is the first time the mines have been used there since the February 2002 truce. The blasts reverberated across the island, sending the Colombo stock market into freefall and triggering panic that a resumption of Sri Lanka’s bloody conflict was imminent. But then, as abruptly as it began, the violence stopped.

    Two weeks ago LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan delivered an unmistakable warning to newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse that his administration must put forward ‘a reasonable political solution’ to the ethnic question within a year or risk the resumption of the LTTE’s struggle for self-determination. Since then, seasoned observers of the conflict have been uneasily awaiting Colombo’s response. In contrast, other analysts, including sections of the Colombo press, incredulously saw Mr. Pirapaharan’s Heroes Day address on November 27 as quite tempered – or at least less confrontational than might have been expected.

    Which is why the Jaffna violence – and the lethal claymore blasts in particular – have come as such a shock. The immediate question for many was whether the LTTE had advanced plans it might have drawn up for a war next year. To begin with, and as is becoming clearer now, the eruption in Jaffna was not connected to any wider military strategy being rolled out by the LTTE. Even the SLA, which did not go on alert this week, did not think so.

    The attacks do, however, mark a distinctive new approach to the ongoing shadow war. Since November 17, when Mr. Rajapakse won the Presidential elections, there had been an encouragingly marked decline in the violence between Army-backed paramilitaries and the LTTE. It had even prompted the international observers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to hail the improvement.

    However, the killing of two pro-LTTE activists by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries in Jaffna broke the lull. It also triggered a wave of violence against the SLA unprecedented since the ceasefire. Apart from the intensity of the retaliation, there were other differences too. It was near instant, regular Sri Lankan troops in the region came under fire, the attacks took place in several locations spread out deep within Army-controlled territories and were they closely coordinated.

    The Jaffna violence therefore sends several unmistakable messages to the Sri Lankan government. Firstly, that further attacks on LTTE supporters and members by military intelligence or their paramilitaries are likely to draw a strong, even vehement, response, irrespective of the ceasefire agreement. More specifically, the response will not necessarily be constrained by a need to avoid being seen to be breaching the ceasefire. In other words, security is being visibly prioritised over propriety.

    Secondly, the distinction between Sri Lankan military intelligence and the rest of the Army no longer holds. (Of course, the distinction between paramilitaries and military intelligence that many observers insisted on drawing – and which underpins talk of ‘splits within the LTTE’ or ‘groups opposed to the LTTE - was utterly irrelevant to the Tigers, who know first hand what it takes to run a guerrilla campaign from within Army controlled territory.)

    Last month, whilst commenting on the shadow war in his Heroes Day address, Mr. Pirapaharan made a pointed accusation: “though these violent acts were committed under the guidance and direction of the military intelligence, we are aware that hands of some Sinhala politicians are behind these nefarious activities. This subversive war is being conducted in the government controlled territories, with the backing of the armed forces, utilising Tamil paramilitary elements as instruments.”

    In other words, the state and its armed forces are waging war, not just a renegade element within it: “the Sri Lanka state has not given up the military option but rather transformed the war into a new mode of state terror under conditions of peace.” This marks a specific advancement from the LTTE’s position, stated a few months ago, that military intelligence is behind the shadow war. With the state and its armed forces implicated, last week’s attacks underline that the response will not be restricted to the ‘instruments’ alone.

    But it is the third message that has profound implications, especially for southern militarists. In the past few months, as the shadow war has smouldered on, paramilitary camps and military positions have come under grenade and grenade attack deep within Jaffna, particularly in the town and its environs. But last weekend the LTTE deliberately revealed a measure of its infiltration into the Jaffna peninsula and demonstrated its ability to wage a coordinated and sustained campaign far behind the frontline. Indeed, for many of the region’s older residents, the attacks were reminiscent of Tamil militants’ guerrilla attacks of the early eighties.

    This factor comes further to the fore when considered against the backdrop of rising public frustration over the lack of normalcy four years since the ceasefire for large sections of Jaffna populace - particularly the displaced, those whose livelihoods are disrupted by security directives and those struggling to raise families in a militarised environment. Whilst the Army’s peace time conduct has been devoid of the rights abuses that were the norm before the ceasefire, irrespective of what the more starry-eyed of observers and the claims of some of Jaffna’s better heeled residents, the tensions between the military and ordinary people are just beneath the surface. The periodic bouts of rioting against the security forces and the constant petitioning of the government, the truce monitors and the international community indicate a seething resentment.

    In the wake of many of the attacks this week, troops assaulted civilians in the vicinity of the sites. On occasion in past weeks, troops have also conducted cordon-and-search operations to locate possible perpetrators of attacks on their positions. This has led many observers – as well as the Army, naturally - to suggest the LTTE is attempting to provoke the troops into violence against civilians. But this erroneously assumes that the military violence against civilians, whilst undoubtedly contributing to popular resentment, is the main or sole cause for it. Indeed, some argue, that after four years of waiting, protesting and petitioning, it won’t take much now to make the region ungovernable.

    This week’s violence, particularly the devastating claymore attacks, have jolted President Rajapakse’s administration into action. Norway, long kept on the sidelines, has now been hurriedly requested to resume its facilitatory role. Whilst Colombo has reacted angrily, condemning the LTTE and calling for international censure, on the ground in the Northeast, the military is being wary.

    Even the newly appointed Army chief, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, though a well known hardliner, was decidedly cautious in his comments. “We need to talk to the LTTE,” he said speaking about the claymore attacks, “to get their assistance to prevent such attacks.” As the then Jaffna commander, Gen. Fonseka almost stalled the Norwegian-brokered peace talks in January 2003 when he refused to withdraw his troops from the occupied civilian spaces incorporated into the SLA’s High Security Zones (HSZs).

    The immediate question then is what Norway’s shuttle diplomacy can achieve, given the structural dynamics of the shadow war. If, as the LTTE believes, Sri Lanka is waging war by other means, then continuing paramilitary attacks will not only escalate the level of violence, given the gloves-off responses the LTTE seems prepared to give, it will also further poison the negotiating atmosphere.

    More importantly, it very much remains to be seen if the paramilitary infrastructure will be dismantled. After at least two years of the shadow war, it is unlikely that merely standing down the covert operatives but leaving their assembled cadres in their Northeastern camps will suffice either to advance the peace process or curtail the LTTE’s engagement in the shadow war.
  • Diaspora Tamils mark Heroes Day

    Heroes Day 2005 being marked by Tamils in Switzerland

    Diaspora Tamils celebrated Heroes Day on November 27 along with Tamils across their homeland in Northeastern Sri Lanka. At large and small venues across North America, Europe and Australasia, tens of thousands gathered to pay their respects to Tamil Tiger fighters killed in the struggle for independence and to listen to LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s Heroes Day address.

    Mr. Pirapaharan’s much anticipated speech is recognized as the movement’s annual policy statement and this year, it was broadcast across the world from the Vanni. The transmission from there by the LTTE-run satellite television, National Television of Tamileelam (NTT) was rebroadcast by other Diaspora run satellite and cable channels.

    In the Tamil homeland, events were organized at twenty-five Great Hero cemeteries where 17,903 fighters, both men and women, are laid to rest.

    In cities with concentrations of Diaspora Tamils, including Toronto and London (which host the largest expatriate communities), tens of thousand attended Heroes Day celebrations in amphitheatres, clusters of school halls and other venues lavishly decorated in the Tamil national colours of red and yellow.

    Galleries of photographs of fallen LTTE fighters, particularly the most famous and those with relations in the local community, allowed visitors to file past, pay their respects and place floral tributes.

    At most events, the Tamil national flag, bearing the LTTE’s emblem against red background was raised – but not in Britain, where the LTTE is banned (it is illegal to display the emblem of a banned organization). In the United States, where the LTTE is also banned, the LTTE flag was raised by Tamil Americans alongside the Stars and Stripes.


    Mr Anton Balasingham and his wife, Adele, pictured shortly before speaking at Heroes Day 2005 in London
    In London, the event was held in two large venues, including the famous Wembley Arena where an estimated ten thousand people filed in to pay their respects to fallen LTTE fighters and listen to Mr. Pirapaharan’s address as well as a speech by Mr. Anton Balasingham, the movement’s political strategist.

    Mr. Balasingham's speech was broadcast to the Wembley Arena from the second venue, Alexanda Palace, where he was delivering it to several thousand other people.

    The week before, an effort by an anti-LTTE Tamil organization to block the London Heroes Day event through a legal injunction was thrown out by the court they petitioned.

    In Toronto, more than 25,000 people gathered in two sessions in the Congress Centre, one of the biggest indoor arena in the city. The Tamil national flower (Karthigai Poo) was distributed to everyone. The leader of ‘Viduthalai Chiruthaikal’ political party in Tamil Nadu participated in the morning commemoration and delivered an address. Representatives from various political parties in Canada also participated and delivered speeches on Sri Lanka’s conflict and the peace process.

    There were other events in Ottowa, Cornwall as well as in Quebec for Tamils living these locations.

    In Switzerland, thousands of Tamils attended their Heroes Day to pay their respects. The event was addressed by Tamil MP for the Jaffna district, Mr. Gajendran.

    In Norway, over three thousand people packed into the Exporama hall in the city of Oslo to celebrate Heroes Day. The Tamil community in Bergen, on other side of Norway to Oslo, also gathered at a local venue. Jaffna district MP, Mr. Krishnan Sivanesan from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), addressed the event in Olso.

    In Sweden, his colleague, Vanni district MP Mr. Kanagaratnam Sathasivam, addressed Tamils gathered in Stockholm city.

    In Herning, Denmark, 2,500 Tamil people from Denmark, Holland and Finland, gathered to join the celebrations. Another 500 people attended the event in Sjælland.

    Heroes Day was commemorated simultaneously in five places - Gien, Monoco, Renne Strasbourg, Troyes - across France on Sunday.

    The tiny Tamil community in southern Italy gathered at Letche on November 27 to join their countrymen across the world in the event. ‘Uthaya Tharahai’ music group performed patriotic songs. The students of Thileepan Tamil School performed patriotic dance and poems.

    Tamils in Germany are planning to hold their event in Essen next Monday.

    In Australia, Heroes Day celebrations were held in Adelaide (Nov 20), Brisbane (Nov 26) and Melbourne (Dec 3). Tamils in Sydney are to hold their event on December 10.


    A bharathanatyam dancer participates in Heroes Day 2005 celebrations in Toronto, Canada
    Hundreds of people from the Tamil community in New York attended the event at Queens on November 27. Families of fallen LTTE fighters were honoured with the distribution of ‘Sooriya Puthalvargal’ book.

    In New Jersey, four hundred Tamils gathered at the Piscataway High School auditorium on December 4 to mark Heroes Day. Padmini Sithambaranathan, TNA MP from Jaffna addressed the gathering.

    She also addressed the event in Dublin, Ohio, where a hundred local Tamils marked Heroes Day on December 4. Amongst the performers was Anita Sivaraman, a renowned Bharatha natyam dancer and grand daughter of the late Tamil Nadu politician, MGR.

    World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC-USA) which organised the events is arranging others at more states across USA in the coming weeks.

    In South Africa also hundreds of Tamils gathered at Arudpa club in Durban, raising the Tamil Eelam flag and paying floral and candle tributes to fallen fighters, families of whom were amongst those attending.
  • No exceptions to ban on torture
    The absolute ban on torture, a cornerstone of the international human rights edifice, is under attack. The principle we once believed to be unassailable - the inherent right to physical integrity and dignity of the person - is becoming a casualty of the so-called war on terror.

    No one disputes that governments have not only the right but also the duty to protect their citizens from attacks. The threat of international terrorism calls for increased coordination by law enforcement authorities within and across borders. And imminent or clear dangers at times permit limitations on certain rights. The right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is not one of these. This right may not be subject to any limitation, anywhere, under any condition.

    Many UN member states disregard this prohibition and continue to subject their citizens and others to torture and ill-treatment. Although a broad range of safeguards is available now to prevent torture, many states have either not incorporated them in their legislation or, if they have, do not respect them in practice.

    Particularly insidious are moves to water down or question the absolute ban on torture, as well as on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Governments in several countries are claiming that established rules do not apply anymore: that we live in a changed world. They argue that this justifies a lowering of the bar as to what constitutes permissible treatment of detainees. An illegal interrogation technique, however, remains illegal whatever new description a government might wish to give it.

    Two phenomena have an acutely corrosive effect on the global ban on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The first is the practice of having recourse to so-called diplomatic assurances to justify the return and “rendering” of suspects to countries where they face a risk of torture; the second is the holding of prisoners in secret detention.

    The trend of seeking “diplomatic assurances” allegedly to overcome the risk of torture is very troubling. The international legal ban on torture prohibits transferring persons - no matter what their crime or suspected activity - to a place where they would be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment (the non-refoulement obligation).

    Faced with the option of deporting terrorism suspects and others to countries where the risk of torture is well documented, some governments, in particular in Europe and in North America, purport to overcome that risk by seeking diplomatic assurances that torture and cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment will not be inflicted.

    There are many reasons to be skeptical about the value of those assurances. If there is no risk of torture in a particular case, they are unnecessary and redundant. If there is a risk, how effective are these assurances likely to be?

    But the problem runs deeper. The fact that some governments conclude legally nonbinding agreements with other governments on a matter that is at the core of several legally binding UN instruments threatens to empty international human rights law of its content. Diplomatic assurances create a two-class system among detainees, attempting to provide for a special bilateral protection regime for a selected few and ignoring the systematic torture of other detainees, even though all are entitled to the equal protection of existing UN instruments.

    Let me turn to my second concern. An unknown number of “war on terror” detainees are alleged to be held in secret custody in unknown locations. Holding people in secret detention, with the detainee’s fate or whereabouts, or the very fact of their detention, undisclosed, amounts to “disappearance,” which in and of itself has been found to amount to torture or ill-treatment of the disappeared person or of the families and communities deprived of any information about the missing person.

    Furthermore, prolonged incommunicado detention or detention in secret places facilitates the perpetration of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Whatever the value of the information obtained in secret facilities - and there is reason to doubt the reliability of intelligence gained through prolonged incommunicado or secret detention - some standards on the treatment of prisoners cannot be set aside. Recourse to torture and degrading treatment exposes those who commit it to civil and criminal responsibility and, arguably, renders them vulnerable to retaliation.

    (Edited)

    Louise Arbour is the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Subscribe to Diaspora