Free And Fair Election in Sri Lanka: An Independent Election Commission a must

Can the Elections Commissioner be blamed?   Daily Mirror opinion

The elections to the Southern and Western Provincial Councils have just been concluded. People were able to witness some violence although no major incidents were reported. As in many other elections in the recent past, the candidates carried out their elections campaigns insulting the intellect of the general public while breaking most of the rules imposed by the Elections Commissioner.

‘Is this a govt. of laws or a govt. of men?’

Jayantha Danapala speaking at the seminar

 Namini Wijedasa

Lawyers, academics and activists hit out at the growing militarisation of every aspect of society at a forum organised by the BASL to analyse the implications of a gazette vesting police powers in the armed forces.Speakers at a crammed public forum this week denounced increasing military encroachment into various aspects of civilian life and warned that it boded ill for the country’s future.The gathering was held by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute auditorium to analyse the implications of a gazette vesting police powers in the armed forces.

India presses Sri Lanka to share power with Tamils and to to probe war crime allegations

Y. K. Sinha in damage control ..

Amal Jayasinghe

Colombo: India has asked Sri Lanka to grant limited autonomy to its ethnic Tamil minority and ensure “genuine reconciliation” five years after crushing Tamil guerrillas, New Delhi’s top envoy said on Friday.

Indian high commissioner (ambassador) Y. K. Sinha said New Delhi had also urged Colombo to probe allegations that its troops killed thousands of Tamil civilians in the final months of fighting in 2009.

“Our emphasis has been to encourage the government of Sri Lanka to show concrete movement towards a meaningful devolution of powers,” Sinha told the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Sri Lanka.

OHCHR is calling for Info on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is calling  for information on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity to be included in the UNSG report to be presented to the General Assembly.

The email sent out by the OHCHR  follows:

This message is in reference to the General Assembly resolution 68/163 on the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

The resolution, of course, is not just about what happened during the conflict - US Ambassador Sison

Paula Schriefer speaaking on the resolution

''The resolution represents the international community’s unwavering support to help prevent a return to violence and to ensure a secure, unified, and prosperous Sri Lanka for the future. Our ultimate goals are ones shared by friends of Sri Lanka: stability and long-lasting peace on the island. These are also goals shared by Sri Lankan citizens across all communities.
The end of the conflict presented an unprecedented opportunity to move past the divisions that have existed in this country for far too long, and to bring people together to heal the wounds of war.''
 

Ambassador Sison’s Remarks to the Foreign Correspondents Association - April 3, 2014

Sri Lanka: Geneva resolution “counter-productive”, says Ceylon Chamber

SL AMB Ravinatha at UNHRC

The resolution against Sri Lanka which was passed in Geneva on Thursday has been condemned as “counter –productive,” by the country’s most powerful business chamber.
 Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chairman Suresh Shah, speaking with the Sunday Times on the sidelines of a media briefing held to announce 175 years of doing business in Sri Lanka last Monday (before the resolution was taken up), said it was “counter-productive” to the entire reconciliation process. Highlighting it to be a “political issue”, he noted that however, looking at it from a business perspective it was “not fair.”

Sri Lanka: Another Video Exposed Army Brutality

 from the vedio

After Sri Lanka Gaurdian a  video just few days ago,just few days ago, another video received by Sri Lanka Guardian from a reliable source in the Army Intelligence, which exposed another aspect of the Sri Lankan Army brutality.
WATCH VIDEO HERE
According to the source, this video also recorded on a mobile devise, though we could not find detail about the location and victims. Our humble request for all people in the country to join us to eradicate torture in the country which ratified the UNCAT convention and other human rights protocols.
- Sri lanka Gaurdian

Sri Lanka: Has Rajapakse taken a tumble?

President Rajapaksha at CHOGM ( AFP)

Dr Kumar David

This article is an assessment of the impact of elections in two provinces on 29 March, two days after the government’s defeat at the UNHRC in Geneva.

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) won both the Western Provincial Council (WPC) and the Southern Provincial Council (SPC) by what would normally seem comfortable margins, securing 53% and 58%, respectively, of the popular vote. At first glance it may look alright, but it’s the trend not the final numbers that matter. In 2009 these numbers were 65% and 68%.

Sri Lanka: Displaced in north long for home

Konapalam camp in Sri Lanka houses 240
displaced families in cramped conditions

Charles Haviland BBC News, Jaffna district

"Would you like to go home?" The men chorus "Yes!" as my question is translated into Tamil. "We're waiting for that date. There's enough land. We'll farm it. We'll fish."

They cannot do that here in the Konapalam camp, the cramped home to 240 displaced families where children play in the dust. There are 31,524 people still in camps around Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka because their land is held by the military. 

Saharayani Thangarajah, a 42-year-old mother of two, wants to return to her birthplace at Kankesanthurai on the northernmost coast. "Some officials have told us we'll be resettled by mid-April," she says. "Is that true, do you know?"

The banning of Tamil Diaspora organisations will provide the Rajapaksas with another Sword of Damocles

Like Idi Amin (courtesy: Lanka Truth)

''The proscription will be ineffective in curtailing the activities of the proscribed organisations since they operate outside Sri Lanka (apart from the LTTE which is extinct and the Headquarters Group which does not seem to exist anywhere). Since the UN does not accept the Rajapaksa equation of separatism with terrorism, none of the countries in which these organisations are based will act against them, not even Australia. But the proscription will be extremely useful nationally, to terrorise and persecute Tamils in general and Rajapaksa-opponents particular. Its main function will be to provide the Rajapaksas with another Sword of Damocles. ''

Back to Total War?  by Tisaranee Gunasekara

Sri Lanka govt Should support UN war crimes probe – Fonseka

Fonseka: now a political force

Geenewa 410px 14 04 03Democratic Party leader, former Army chief Sarath Fonseka says Sri Lanka should support the proposal the UN has legally adopted. He is responding to a remark by SLMC secretary Hassan Ali to BBC that Sri Lanka should support a probe due by the UN human rights chief to prove the war crimes charges were false. Without making boastful statements, our country should face the issue and resolve it, Mr. Fonseka says.

Diaspora orgs proscription should not be used to stifle free speech and legitimate criticism, UK tells Sri Lanka

Tamil protesters outside the Sri Lankan consulate
in Toronto, May 2009.( Toronto Star)

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has raised the proscription of Tamil diaspora organisations with the Sri Lankan government, “making clear that proscription should not be used to prevent or stifle free speech and legitimate criticism”, a spokesperson for the FCO told Tamil Guardian today.

Highlighting the FCO’s good relations with Tamil diaspora organisations, the spokesperson confirmed that the UK would continue this engagement.

“The UK government has good relations with a wide range of NGOs and civil society organisations with an interest in Sri Lanka including the Global Tamil Forum and British Tamils Forum both of whom publicly state that they work through

Groups warn of backlash as U.N. calls for probe into Sri Lanka civil war abuses

Sri Lanka media activist interviewed

(CNN) -- Rights groups are warning of a backlash against activists in Sri Lanka following a landmark United Nations resolution calling for an international inquiry into abuses at the end of the country's civil war.

The U.N.'s Human Rights Council passed a resolution Thursday calling for a "comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights" allegedly committed both by Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Tamil Tigers in the final stages of the country's brutal 26-year civil war.

Sri Lanka: IBAHRI calls for increased vigilance from international community following UN Resolution

AStudent protest, Sri Lanka

With the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) having voted to open an international investigation into alleged war crimes by both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) calls for increased vigilance by the international community following an escalation in threats to human rights defenders.

UNHRC resolution and electric chair bogey has not delivered desired election results for the regime

Electric Chair Man by  Matt Hohmann

Why did the ‘electric chair’ fail Mahinda at this election?  by Upul Joseph Fernando

Mahinda's decision to hold Southern and Western Provincial Council elections just one day after the vote on the US resolution in Geneva was not a random decision based purely on auspicious planetary movements in the heavens. He had a more down-to-earth reason to do so. He was more or less aware that the Geneva vote would deal him a defeat, albeit, as he was wont to believe, somewhat less severely than it was ultimately delivered. 

He had estimated that the vote would be a close call, which would provide him with a good chance of harping on it to the electorate just getting ready to cast their vote at the Southern and Western Provincial Council elections, as a virtual victory for minnows Sri Lanka in almost beating mighty America.

UN Chief says accountability is key for Sri Lanka

Accountability for my son ( HRW photo)

Ban ki moonUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has stressed on the importance of accountability in Sri Lanka after the UN Human Rights Council had last week passed a resolution calling for an international investigation in the country.

Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General said that the UN Chief has called on the government to constructively engage and cooperate in the implementation of the resolution passed in Geneva, the Inner City Press reported.

Banning Tamil Diaspora groups in Sri Lanka: a blatant measure to attack freedom of expression - GTF

GTF head Rev. Dr S.J. Emmanuel ( GTF photo)

GTF criticises proscription of Tamil diaspora groups by Joan Ryan

The Government of Sri Lanka’s decision to proscribe sixteen Tamil diaspora organisations and four prominent Tamil diaspora activists, including Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and its President Rev. Dr S.J. Emmanuel, as ‘foreign terrorist entities’ and fronts for the defeated Tamil Tigers (LTTE) is shameful. This is the latest attempt by a Government hell-bent on intimidating and silencing those who demand truth, justice and accountability both for the alleged war crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict and for the on-going perpetration of human rights abuses.

Sri Lanka continue to play the role of a victim as opposed to an accountable partner, to the content of the UNHRC resolution.

Role of the Victim

Governance crisis and the third US resolution by Rukshana  Nanayakkara

At the time of writing this column, the election results of the Western and Southern Provincial Council polls have just started flowing in. The final outcome of the elections is not a hard prediction. The government will certainly continue to enjoy its winning streak amidst a weak and a debunk Opposition, and the outcome will reenergize the war winning trump card with a new phase.   So the latter speaks for the unfortunate reality of our governance crisis in this country.

Banning Tamil Diaspora groups in Sri Lanka: attempt to criminalise the Tamils around the world - BTF

Tamil Diaspora demo

"We reject the baseless allegations and propaganda of the Sri Lankan state branding all Tamil Diaspora organisations as terror groups or terror fronts. In the United Kingdom, British Tamils Forum, representing British Tamils have a long history of civic activism and political advocacy.  Our organisation is democratic, transparent, accountable and legitimate.  We operate in conformity with British and International laws adhering to democratic values.

Sri Lanka military rule stepped up in North, wartime restrictions re-introduced

Pass system reintroduced ( File photo)

Clamping down on civilian life in the North, the occupying Sri Lankan military has re-introduced pass system for fishermen in the North to access their seas, putting up check posts on the roads, dawn to dusk search operations and military patrols of armed soldiers in the Northern province, especially targeting coastal areas. In the meantime, the occupying Sri Lankan military has ‘arrested’ at least 44 Eelam Tamils between 07 March and 27 March, news sources in Jaffna said. Most of them have been arrested in abduction style.

Sri Lanka bans 16 Tamil Diaspora organistions as a response to UNHRC 25 resolution

The Sri Lankan government has in a decisive move with far reaching implications proscribed as foreign terrorist entities, several overseas organizations suspected of being fronts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The government banned the organizations as “foreign terrorists” utilising the UN Security Council Resolution 1373 which was brought about by the USA on September 28, 2001 after the attack on World Trader Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

It is expected that External Affairs Minister Prof. Gamini Lakshman Peiris will announce details of the proscription imposed on such foreign terrorist entities later this week.

Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora groups listed over terror by GoSL

Diaspora demo

The Government has listed several groups operating overseas over their alleged links with the LTTE and terrorism, Government sources said late this evening. Defence sources said that at least 15 groups have been listed under a UN Security Council resolution and the names have been Gazetted. The listing has been done to curb funding for these organisations which operate as Tamil Diaspora organisations pushing for international action on the Government over alleged human rights abuses committed during the war.

Acceptence of Tamil Nation is necessay condition for a political solution - Wigneswaran

SL Tamils under military

''Thus there is a lack of will and possibly a lack of understanding on the part of those that matter in Sri Lanka with regard to the National Question. In summary let me say that the National Question arises from the refusal to accept the presence of distinct Nations in Sri Lanka. A solution could be worked out only if the majority community is prepared to accept this fact. All recent activities on the part of the Government are geared to deny the existence of such a reality ''

Bernard Soysa Centenary Memorial Oration by C.V.Wigneswaran

Election Victory Mandate against UNHRC Resolution: Rajapaksa

PTI - Colombo

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has described his party's victory in the provincial polls as a mandate against the UN rights resolution on his country."People have given a clear message that no international interference would be tolerated," Rajapaksa said in a statement. His ruling UPFA coalition retained the control of both western and southern provincial councils with reduced majorities.

Sri Lanka: Northen Chief Minister Wigneswaran slams the President

Wigneswaran: No faith in President

The Chief Minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran today slammed the Government and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, saying they are showing no interest is solving the National issue.

Wigneswaran said that there seems to be no attempts made by the Executive to work towards a lasting political solution except to blame the TNA for not coming forward to participate in the Parliamentary Select Committee process.