Senators urge US to take lead role in Sri Lanka investigations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 November 2011, 15:09 GMT]
In a letter to United States Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, three senior Senators have called for "United States to openly take the lead in pressing for an independent international commission, either by the UN Human Rights Council or under the [UN's] Secretary General's own authority," if Sri Lanka fails to take "credible steps to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable for the array of allegations documented in the UN Panel of Experts report." Senators also expressed concern that "since the end of the war the [Sri Lanka] military has supplanted or interferes in civil administration in the North, and that more than thousand detainees with suspected LTTE links, names withheld, reportedly remain without charge, without access to Red Cross or family."
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‘Sandwich theory’ an excuse for not taking a stand: Indian academic Radha D’Souza

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2011, 17:59 GMT]
“Those wanting to remain equidistant from state and the struggles of people. [..] actually end up legitimating the moral authority of the state by giving the state the moral authority to continue with the war on people.”, observes Radha D’Souza in an interview to TamilNet on Sunday. Dr. D’Souza, who is a reader of law at the University of Westminster and a social justice activist from India, argues that such an approach by international agencies that act as ‘peace-brokers’, ‘NGOs’, and local actors, only benefits militarist states in the final analysis. They are the other face of oppression because the other face is necessary to sustain the armed intervention, she says.
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Judge Kotelly to decide Rajapakse's legal fate in US

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 November 2011, 04:16 GMT]
Lead counsel for the three Tamil plaintiffs, who have charged Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse of war-crimes in the District Court of District of Columbia, filed a memorandum Tuesday requesting Judge Kollar-Kotelly to validate the service of process based on the publication of the summons and complaint in TamilNet as ordered by the Judge in her October 13th ruling. The plaintiffs also have submitted to the Court affidavits and supporting documentation which establish that attempts at publication in Colombo media were not successful due to Rajapakse's "brutally effective" efforts to silence critical media through "politically motivated deaths, attacks, and disappearances," and have requested for a waiver from local publication as "compliance has been frustrated by Defendant’s alarming attack on freedom of the press."
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Solheim hijacks thrust of Norway report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 03:39 GMT]
Norwegian minister Erik Solheim, while speaking in Oslo 11 November at the release of the report evaluating Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, tried to hijack the philosophical thrust of the findings of the report and this brought him into confrontation with the evaluation team leader, Gunnar M. Sørbø. Mr. Erik Solheim tried to defend the main criticism in the report and the stand of Sørbø that Norway should have quit the peace process to signal the world of the impending dangers. Arguing that nobody expected a military solution succeeding, Solheim painted the picture of a star-crossed and epic-style tragedy that everyone has to be now contended with in a philosophical way, and said that the stand of Sørbø was ‘arrogant’. Solheim’s speech made Sørbø to remind that the issue was of life and death and Norway should have had contingencies ready.
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Treaties provide absolute immunity against civil suits, Silva asserts

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 November 2011, 04:10 GMT]
Shavendra Silva, currently Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations charged with torture and execution of Sri Lanka's Tamils by two plaintiffs, filed a motion in the District Court of Southern District of New York Friday seeking to dismiss the case against him. Defendant Silva's motion asserts that arguments by plaintiffs reveal "a misconception of nature of immunity," disregard terms of treaties that Silva claims provide "absolute immunity," and ignore federal case law. Judge Paul Oetken is expected to rule on the case based on the legal arguments presented and his judicial discretion, either to allow the case to go forward or to dismiss the case, with or without a hearing on the motion, legal sources in Washington said.
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Canadian students show solidarity with Tamil cause

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 November 2011, 03:01 GMT]
The York Federation of Students, the students’ union at York University representing over 50,000 students, unanimously adopted a resolution last week recognizing the ongoing structural genocide of the Eezham Tamil nation and the need to stand in solidarity with the Tamil people in their global struggle for self-determination. The success of enacting such resolutions has been credited to campaigns by Tamil students in educating and explaining the narrative of the Tamil struggle to their peers and allies, student activists said. The move is considered to be a reflection of the broader strategy to resist the discourse that aims to create a climate of fear, criminalization and alienation of Tamil community activism. Such efforts increasingly create a culture of acceptance to the Tamil nationhood and to its national symbols, student activists further said.
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China proxies get India's closest coast in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 November 2011, 04:41 GMT]
The closest coastline to Tamil Nadu in Jaffna, a 15 km stretch from Thiruvadi Nilai to KKS has been given to a Malaysian corporate of Chinese connections to install windmills and solar panels to produce electricity and 'sell' it to the people of Jaffna, replacing the coastal people and the proud palmyra palms now stand there. In October 2011, the Malaysian corporate, KLS Energy entered into an agreement with China Machinery and Engineering Corporation to 'develop' wind/solar hybrid power project in Jaffna. The agreement was part of Malaysian Prime Minister's US$ 10 billion economic cooperation initiative with China. In an ingenious plan to steal the entire northern coast of Jaffna for the SL military, corporates and ventures of imperialism, genocidal Colombo not only seals off Eezham Tamils from Tamil Nadu, but also effectively checks Indian ambitions there with proxy Chinese projects.
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Administration of 7 Tamil villages to be brought under Muslim dominated Ea'raavoor UC

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 November 2011, 22:54 GMT]
Colombo government has recently given instructions to Ea'raavoor Urban Council chairman Ali Zahir Mowlana to bring 7 Tamil villages under his administration using the Urban Council, informed sources told reporters in Batticaloa. The villages Aa'rumukaththaan-kudiyiruppu, Tha'lavaay, Chavukkadi, Mayilampaave'li and wards No 1, 4 and 5 in the Ea'raavoor under the Ea'raavoor Chengkaladi Piratheasa Chapai (PS) division are to be brought under the civil administration of Era’voor UC, which is predominantly inhabited by Muslims. Mr. Ali Zahir Mowlana is taking steps to settle Muslim families in the lands belong to Tamil people in these villages, creating division among the Tamil speaking people of the district, civil sources in Ea'raavoor said.
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China timed SAARC summit to open embassy in Maldives

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 November 2011, 18:41 GMT]
China hurriedly opened a full-fledged embassy in the Republic of Maldives on 8 November, just two days before the 17th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held this time in Addu in the southern most atoll of Maldives between 10–11 November. Commenting that such efforts by China in the region cannot be prevented, the Indian Defence Minister A. K. Anthony on Tuesday said, "China is expanding its military capabilities and building military infrastructure along the borders with us. We know that...we are aware of that, and we are concerned about that," Deccan Herald reported Thursday. India balanced the development by signing a pact worded as ‘maritime and counter-terrorism cooperation’ by which both nations agreed “their respective territories would not be allowed for any activity inimical to the other and by any quarter.”
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957 uprooted Tamil families in Ampaa'rai district still remain in shelters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 November 2011, 15:47 GMT]
Contrary to the claims by Colombo government and its paramilitary run subservient Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) that all uprooted Tamils have been resettled in Ampaa'rai district, 957 uprooted families from four Tamil villages in Thirukkoayil DS division of Ampaa'rai district in the East still remain in shelters amid claims, according to Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian Mr.C.Yogeswaran. The MP visited the four villages, , Thangkavealaayutha-puram, Kagnchikudichchaa'ru, Kaagnchirangkudaa and Chaakaamam, last weekend to collect information about the Tamil families that have been struggling without resettlement.
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India emerges as main designer of ‘Asian Model’ in Norway report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 10:25 GMT]
The Norway report on the failed peace in Sri Lanka, concluding that Asian powers in pursuance of military solution were a reason for the failure, cautions that this model of ‘conflict resolution’ will challenge future Norwegian-style mediations. India’s role in the genocidal model of conflict resolution is not adequately discussed in the report, yet bits and pieces in the report along with what transpired in the panel discussion in Oslo on Friday, place India as decisively responsible for the ‘Asian model’ that ended the war in genocide. Meanwhile, citing the upsurge of Sinhala nationalism as a result of the international peace process, the report advises appeasement by leaving the fate of Eezham Tamils to ‘domestic solutions’. But an upsurge of Tamil nationalism resulting from the genocide, snowballing in either side of the Palk Bay, is yet to make impact with the IC.
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London Consular Corps elect Sri Lankan to its committee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 02:01 GMT]
Consular Corps of London, an association networking consular officers of the diplomatic missions based in London has for the first time elected a Sri Lankan consular official to its committee, at a time when the genocidal state of Sri Lanka wages a bitter war with the Eezham Tamil diaspora. The official elected was Mr. Chaminda Kularatne, Minister Counsellor for consular affairs and immigration in the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, according to Colombo media. Kularatne was earlier Senior Asst. Secretary to SL President. Consular affairs (passport-visa matters) are an effective weapon used against Eezham Tamils by Colombo.
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Indian former foreign secretary boycotted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 November 2011, 00:25 GMT]
Students and faculty of the University of Jaffna boycotted an address by India’s former foreign secretary (2004-2006) Shyam Saran, who visited Jaffna on Monday at the invitation of India-Sri Lanka Foundation and the University of Jaffna. As a result, the audience for Mr. Saran’s address at the Kailasapathy Auditirium of the university turned out to be mainly the SL military personnel occupying Jaffna. Speaking on India’s neighbourhood policy, Saran denounced international solutions to the question of Tamils in the island and advised them to seek ‘domestic’ solutions through talks. Shyam Saran was one of those met by Norway’s team that evaluated the failed peace process. The stand that India will sit on international solutions but insist on its own involvement alone was evident in an earlier statement of recently retired foreign secretary Nirupama Menon Rao too.
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US presses Sri Lanka on accountability, human rights and reconciliation with Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2011, 18:42 GMT]
Speaking at the Sri Lankan defence ministry’s much vaunted conference on maritime security, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asian Affairs Robert M. Scher reiterated his government’s demands on that the Sri Lankan state improve its human rights record, ensure accountability for mass atrocities in the final months of the war and “take concrete steps” towards reconciliation with the Tamils.
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International unity on criticism of Sri Lanka’s conduct: Armitage

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2011, 10:45 GMT]
Expressing dismay at the “chauvinistic attitude” of the Sri Lankan state, former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on Friday the international community was united in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s conduct in the north and east and that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa would not be welcomed internationally unless conditions there improved. “I don’t think anyone disagrees that the Tamil people have been mistreated and are continuing to lack – across the board – fundamental freedoms, dignity, etc,” Mr. Armitage told the audience.
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"Charming Betsy" not so charming towards defendant Silva

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 November 2011, 00:05 GMT]
November 17th is D-day to the costly defense marshaled by alleged war-criminal ex-General Shavendra Silva. He must submit a reply to plaintiffs' brief filed on the 8th during the pre-trial motion phase of the civil case initiated by two Tamil plaintiffs in the Southern District Court of New York. Facing a strong legal response by the plaintiffs' attorney, Ali Beydoun, to establish personal jurisdiction for the court to hear the case, including arguments against claimed immunity, and alternate arguments based on an exception to immunity under international laws when egregious crimes are committed, defense attorneys have a formidable legal task ahead to convince the Judge to dismiss the case, informed legal sources said. Plaintiffs have used in the jurisdictional argument, "Charming Betsy," a case that provides binding precedent to the interpretation of international law.
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LTTE losing, SL winning was Norway failing: Norway report team leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2011, 18:46 GMT]
While releasing the evaluation report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka on Friday, the team leader of the evaluation panel, Gunnar M. Sørbø, outlining the main findings of the report said “The collapse of talks and the subsequent military victory were as much a story of the LTTE ‘losing’, as of the government ‘winning’, or the Norwegians ‘failing’. The social anthropologist also came out with a profound reality the nation of Eezham Tamils were encountering for ages but hardly realized by the outsiders, when he said that apart from the other factors that failed the peace facilitation, “there were also patterns and structures and some of them were ‘old tricks in the Sri Lankan book’, so there was no excuse for not anticipating them, or for lacking a strategy to deal with them.”
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Norway ‘LLRC’ distributes blame, washes hands of victims after ‘victory’

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:11 GMT]
A report on Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, “Pawns of Peace: Evaluation of Norwegian Peace Efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009” was released in Oslo on Friday. Whether pawns of peace or ploys for genocide, Norway’s report distributed blame among all the actors. A deficiency the report finds in Norway was not its grave failure to warn the world about peace turning into genocide, but that Norway should have escaped from the scene at an earlier stage. The report admits that the peace process has only enhanced obstacles to peace now. But, even after the process facilitating internationally abetted genocide, the report subconsciously sees “victory” in the war and it now harps on “primacy of domestic politics,” to imply ways for solutions. Norway washes hands of its responsibilities to victims and the report now seeks lessons to learn for ’peacebuilding’ elsewhere.
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Political power and own state only could address structural genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 07:17 GMT]
Contrary to what certain Tamil politicians who are manipulated by India and/or western powers and intellectuals on the payroll of ‘donors’ may claim, the Eelam Tamils did not fight for individual human rights or equality. The structural genocide they face is not a one-time event but is a process, and that it is not an aberration but is inherent to the system of ‘united’ Sri Lanka. Any genuine politics therefore must start from the position that Eelam Tamils as a people are unequal, and will continue to be, unless they have political power in their hands in their own state, writes R M. Karthick, research scholar in political theory in a British university, citing Slovenian Philosopher, Slavoj Žižek, who upholds a thinking that we need a different notion of ideology to understand today’s politics.
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TNA loses the best opportunity to be forthright: Tamil Nadu reader

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 November 2011, 05:50 GMT]
“You are leaving us confused back here in Tamil Nadu,” especially when we “do not see India doing the right thing in Sri Lanka,” says a TamilNet reader in Chennai in sending a feedback responding to TNA leader Sampanthan’s current political stand. “The best opportunity to be forthright was lost by him,” the reader said in the feedback Tuesday. “An unclear goal and actions will not lead anyone anywhere. The kind of statements that Mr Sampanthan makes is making it difficult even for supporters of Eelam in Tamil Nadu to take a stand. No matter what you do, i.e., even if you act to please the power, New Delhi does not care. It is better to catch it by its collar and put it to shame. The result will only be the same. It would be in our best interest to look after our interests ourselves rather than waiting for someone else to look after us, the reader further said.
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