Navi Pillay's oral update, a gross betrayal of Tamils: Prof Ramasamy

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 September 2013, 09:24 GMT]
The United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Navanetham Pillay, in her latest oral update to the UN Human Rights Council is more concerned with whitewashing the Sri Lankan government than looking at the tragic situation of Tamils, writes Malaysia’s Penang State Deputy Chief Minister Professor P. Ramasamy, in an article sent to TamilNet on Thursday. “I think that the report should be more appropriately entitled ‘Strengthening Democracy in Sri Lanka’. In essence, close reading of the report in its entirety will reveal that she picked her words carefully to drive home the point that her main interest in Sri Lanka is not about inquiring into gross violation of human rights against Tamils, but to strengthen democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka. Tamils are not given prominence in the report. In fact, Tamils are treated just like another minority in the country, he further writes.
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Politicization of war-crimes: Bashir and Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 September 2013, 10:58 GMT]
While Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who bears command responsibility for the killing of nearly UN-estimated 100,000 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka military, is attending the 62nd United Nations General Assembly, commencing on September 25, the White House is not commenting on if the US would be issuing an entry visa to alleged war-criminal and Sudan's long time leader Hassan al-Bashir to attend the UN annual meeting. Recently, the US State Department, using its discretionary powers, intervened to save Rajapakse from war-crimes charges in Court cases filed by affected Tamils.
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Youth conference in Chennai condemns staging CHOGM in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 September 2013, 10:12 GMT]
A day long international conference of youth held last Saturday in Chennai raised its voice against the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in November this year. The conference decried Colombo government as a fascist, genocidal force that killed over 150,000 Eezham Tamils in the last phase of the 2009 war. Over 700 participants took part in the conference expressing concerns over holding the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka.
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23 years later, memories of Chaththurukko'ndaan refuses to die

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 September 2013, 06:44 GMT]
23 years after the cold-blooded massacre of 184 Tamil civilians including infants, children and women by SL Army at Chaththurukko'ndaan village in the Batticaloa district, the kith and kin of the victims held a remembrance meeting on 09 September and offered their respects to the victims.
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‘Military presence in North-East worrying’: Navi Pillay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 August 2013, 21:09 GMT]
“I was concerned to hear about the degree to which the military appears to be putting down roots and becoming involved in what should be civilian activities, for instance education, agriculture and even tourism,” Ms Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said at a press conference in Colombo on Saturday. Speaking at the conclusion of her visit to the island, Ms Pillay said that that the military presence in the North-East seemed “much greater than is needed for strictly military or reconstruction purposes,” also referring to the vulnerability of women to sexual abuse. While sympathizing with the spirit of the address of Ms Pillay, who has been at the receiving end of vulgar verbal abuse from Sinhala nationalists, Tamil activists in the island expressed regret that she was still conferring legitimacy to the GoSL’s genocidal blueprint called LLRC.
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Tamils stopped at gunpoint, Sinhalese demonstrate during Pillay visit to Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 August 2013, 04:09 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Trincomalee visited all the camps where uprooted Tamil civilians were staying and threatened them that they would be facing dire consequences if they were to take part in awareness gatherings anywhere in the district during the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navanetham Pillay. The SL police didn’t allow local media reporters to any of the venues where Ms Pillay was interacting with the people and the civil society. Meanwhile, the SL military deployed its paramilitary and intelligence operatives to organize a protest giving placards portraying that LTTE was the main culprit in ‘abducting’ people. The Sinhala extremist JVP and JHU elements were also behind bringing false victims to the stage-managed protest held in front of the District Secretariat.
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SL military aims to mar Ananthi meeting Navi Pillay

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 August 2013, 23:43 GMT]
Sri Lankan military intelligence in Jaffna on Wednesday staged a ‘protest’ against Ms Ananthi Sasitharan, the representative of thousands of Eezham Tamil women, who are demanding the Sri Lankan State to reveal the whereabouts of their husbands who were filtered away from the civilians in the final hours of the Vanni war by the SL military that had announced ‘general amnesty’ through the loudspeakers. Sinhala workers, intelligence operatives and some ex-LTTE members brought from elsewhere, were holding placards written in broken Tamil against Ananthi Sasitharan in front of the Jaffna Bus Stand. In the meantime, informed sources in Colombo said that the SL State was seeking to ‘influence’ certain foreign missions in Colombo to avoid UN Human Commissioner for Human Rights Navanetham Pillay meeting Ananthi, who is also contesting in the Provincial Council election on behalf of the TNA.
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Pulmoaddai Muslims protest against Colombo's land survey

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2013, 22:30 GMT]
Stating that 500 acres of lands were being taken over for archaeological research, the lands were being seized from Muslims at 14th Mile Post in Pulmoaddai in Kuchchave'li division in Trincomalee district, said protesting Muslims who opposed the move by the Sri Lankan government on Monday. The residents of predominantly Muslim village took to the streets when SL survey department officials attempted to survey the lands despite repeated objections by the Muslims.
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US condemns violence in Welweriya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 August 2013, 23:08 GMT]
“The United States has expressed concern over the fatal shooting of three civilians by the Sri Lankan military, which attacked people seeking protection in a church during a recent protest to demand clean drinking water,” Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing from a State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, who said that “there was no excuse for violence, especially in a house of worship.” Ms. Psaki has also called for “a thorough and transparent inquiry” into the violence at Welweriya. While taking into consideration the US consternation over the Sri Lankan military’s brutality, activists in the island urge that if America is genuinely concerned about the highhanded behaviour of the Sri Lankan military, then Pentagon should suspend all military-to-military relationship with a state accused of genocide.
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US to increase military ties with Burma despite escalating Buddhist extremism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 August 2013, 16:20 GMT]
“The United States will boost military ties with Burma later this month to encourage greater professionalism and more civilian oversight over the Southeast Asian country’s armed forces,” news portal The Irrawaddy said on Friday, citing the Myanmar Times. This engagement happens despite a steadily growing Buddhist extremism in the country and the state-supported persecution of ethnic Kachins and the Rohingya Muslims. US ambassador Derek Mitchell has said that through the military engagement, the US was not planning to sell arms but only to focus on humanitarian issues. US officials have also called for amendments to the military-written constitution of Burma, Irrawaddy reported. Critics however look at these steps as a ‘carrot and stick’ approach to bring Burma into the US ambit, while ignoring the structural problems in the country.
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‘IC neglected responsibility to take timely action in Sri Lanka’: Report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 July 2013, 19:02 GMT]
In face of the mounting civilian casualties between January and May 2009 in the island of Sri Lanka, the international community “did little beyond issuing statements of concern” and “neglected its responsibility to take timely action when it was apparent that violations of humanitarian law were taking place”, states a report authored by Madeleine K. Albright, former US Secretary of State and Richard S. Williamson, former US presidential special envoy to Sudan. For Sri Lanka, the report lays emphasis on the IC supporting a “national reconciliation” process. The report titled “The United States and R2P: From Words to Action” released on Tuesday, analysing cases of Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Syria, Sudan and South Sudan, Congo, and Sri Lanka, provides general recommendations for US policy vis-a-vis R2P. Tamil activists have taken a different perspective on R2P’s role in Sri Lanka.
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UN Sri Lanka tribunal will avoid ICC jurisdictional issues, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 July 2013, 00:43 GMT]
The United Nations General Assembly (GA) must immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka (ICTSL) as a "subsidiary organ" under U.N. Charter Article 22, and organized along the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established by the Security Council, said Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in International Law, while commenting on the appointment of Samantha Power as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and advocating that Ms Power should follow the leadership of Madeline Albright who spearheaded the setting up of the ICTY. This will avoid the jurisdictional hurdles in the ICC taking up criminal matters related to a non-signatory state, Boyle added.
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Can Power, silent on Sri Lanka genocide, redeem herself in UN, asks Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 July 2013, 00:50 GMT]
The Director of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the U.S. National Security Council, Samantha Power, who has been nominated for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has been attending a Senate hearing on the nomination this week where she has been forcefully advocating action to stop “the grotesque atrocities being carried out by the Assad regime,” Washington media reported. Professor Boyle, pointing out Power's conspicuous silence during the killing of Tamil civilians reaching genocidal proportions by the Sri Lanka military, said that Power now has a chance to "redeem" herself by establishing an International Criminal Tribunal for Sri Lanka, as did her predecessor Madeline Albright to the former Yugoslavia.
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EU parliamentarians request GoSL to ensure accountability

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 July 2013, 15:16 GMT]
A delegation of European Union parliamentarians visiting Sri Lanka requested Colombo to “ensure accountability in the face of what the UN calls "credible allegations" of up to 40,000 civilians killed in the final battles in 2009” the AFP reported on Friday. "On the physical side in terms of roads and reconstruction, the progress is very, very visible, but a lot more needs to be done on political issues," the AFQ quoted the delegation head, UK’s Jean Lambert. Ms Lambert had also said that the EU wanted Sri Lanka “to implement recommendations of its own domestic war probe which called for independent investigations into alleged rights abuses.” The “domestic war probe” by the genocide-accused Sri Lankan government has been condemned as a farce by many Tamil political activists.
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Kumaarapuram massacre case comes up for trial after 17 years

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 July 2013, 10:44 GMT]
Four witnesses to the February 1996 brutal massacre of 24 Tamils by the occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Kumaarapuram village in Trincomalee district have been summoned to appear on Wednesday in Anuradhapura High Court that is situated in predominantly Sinhala district. The trial in the case is listed for hearing on July 17, July 18 and July 19 more than 17 years after the genocidal massacre. Many of the witnesses are poor labourers who do not know Sinhala.Meanwhile observes say that the Colombo government hoodwinks the international community on one side summoning the witnesses to give evidence and the on the other hand threatening them not to appear in court to give evidence.
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‘Abuse of Tamil women part and parcel of intended genocide’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 July 2013, 11:02 GMT]
The abuse of Eezham Tamil women committed by the Sri Lankan state apparatus should not be seen as individual human rights violations but as a part and parcel of an intended genocide of a protracted nature, write Dr. N. Malathy, key member of NESoHR and author of ‘A Fleeting Moment in my Country’ and RM Karthick, research scholar at University of Essex, UK. In an article published on Indian journal Sanhati’s 6th issue for 2013, the authors, criticizing international organizations for their failure to properly deal with the issue of genocidal rape by Sri Lankan forces, also call on the Tamil community to have a change of social approach towards rape survivors, noting how violence against Tamil women is deeply intertwined with communal identity.
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Sinhala leftist criticizing government repression overlooks Tamils’ struggle

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2013, 23:26 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s real concern at the moment is “the threat of widespread social unrest and an uprising by workers, youth and poor”, writes Sinhala leftist K. Ratnayake in article published on the Trotskyite World Socialist Web Site on Monday. Referring largely to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s “Sri Lanka’s National Security Concerns” lecture at the Kotelawala Defence University in early June, the author claims that “The defence minister’s reference to a renewed “terrorist” threat is aimed at whipping up anti-Tamil communalism to divide the emerging struggles of the working class.” However, an alternative politics Eezham Tamil activist from Jaffna questions whether Mr. Ratnayake, who overlooks the Tamils’ struggle for sovereignty resisting genocidal occupation of their homeland by the GoSL, is consciously or unconsciously defending the state structure that he claims to criticize.
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Hypocrisy at best: US policy towards Syria and Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2013, 13:44 GMT]
US media reported on Wednesday that the CIA has begun shipping of arms to Syrian rebels to counter Bashar al-Assad’s forces. This move comes in spite of strong opposition from UNSC member Russia and warnings by a UN expert that increase in flow of weapons into Syria would only escalate the conflict. Likewise, American diplomat Susan Rice termed UNSC’s inaction on Syria a “stain” on the body. The hypocrisy of assisting Sri Lanka in its genocidal war on the Tamil nation while crying foul over al-Assad’s operations apart, the US through its actions on Syria makes it clear once again that the UNHRC, UNSC are of least concern should the US decide to intervene in a conflict. Given this nature of US foreign policy, till how long then will the Tamil Geneva pundits continue to believe in the impotent resolutions on Sri Lanka in the UNHRC, questions a political analyst in Colombo.
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SL State backs Christian persecution, 30 churches attacked this year: World Evangelical Alliance

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2013, 23:32 GMT]
World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty Commission (RLC), which is a network of churches in 129 countries, in a ‘Research and Analysis’ report issued on Monday observed that Sri Lanka “appears to be seeking to establish social and political supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist majority within a unitary state,” in the ‘post-war resurgence’ of Sihala Buddhist nationalism that no longer threatens only the Tamils, but also religious minorities, particularly Christians and Muslims. “The resurgence of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism can be attributed to the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, which by some was seen as a victory of Buddhism over Tamil nationalism,” the report said. This year thus far, at least 30 churches have reported being attacked. Last year, Sri Lanka witnessed 52 incidents of Christian persecution.
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Tamil "Mandate" Refugees, left homeless, languish in foreign camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 June 2013, 15:21 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamil refugees, including several hundreds who have been declared as "Mandate" refugees by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in compliance with the UNHCR Charter and associated statutes, are languishing in camps in East Asian countries, and recently in Dubai, while Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and the U.S., which have traditionally admitted mandate and convention refugees, are denying resettlement to many of these refugees. Australia, which is one of the contracting countries with UNHCR, is even keeping in detention, citing security threat, Tamil boat refugees who have been granted asylum.
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