Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sri Lanka State of Terror

The entry of ethno-nationalism and the religion as the platform for mass mobilization of racism majority Sinhalese have evolved now into an ethno extremist and religious fundamentalism power base of the current racist Sri Lanka Government.

Sri Lanka, a failed state now spreads the culture of violence beyond the borders and thrives on the state sanctioned kidnappings, assassinations and a war mongering agenda against the minority Hindu Tamils. A paradise island home of serendipity is today a State of Terror which actively practicing ethnic cleansing on Hindu Tamil.

International Community(IC) and Human Rights (HR) activists still pondering over the technicalities are yet to realize recognize and define a new kind of genocide.

The Human Rights Watch has accused the Sri Lanka Army of shelling densely populated civilian areas in the final offensive against the rebels in May, has condemned the Sri Lanka President Mahinda’s failure to investigate attacks on journalists and other civil society activists, and has said that 300,000 Tamil civilians have been interned indefinitely in what are, in effect, Guantanamo-like concentration camps.

7 comments:

  1. There should be an independent transparent accountable investigation into the war crimes committed against the innocent Hindus in Sri Lanka. This could be achieved only by Human Right Organizations and by start a Mohandas Gandhi,Martin Luther king style campaign against Sri Lankan state terror.
    The nefarious nature of the sinhalese government in Sri Lanka indeed has a blueprint for the final resolution of the Hindu Tamil problem.It involves the systematic colonization by the
    Racists Sinhalese of the Tamil homelands north of elephant pass so the the next decade of so , the demography of those regions will be altered to the disadvantage of Hindu Tamils.

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  2. Please see the online petition at:

    http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/repealpta/

    There is no longer any reason for the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Sri Lanka; on the contrary, there are many compelling reasons as to why it should immediately be repealed. It was the existence of the LTTE that the government used to justify the promulgation and maintenance of the PTA.

    Now, by the very admission of the government this threat has ceased to exist.
    Even at a time of grave danger the PTA was too draconian and many of the provisions in the act could not have been justified. This has been pointed out by local legal opinion, local human rights groups and governments around the world, as well as international human rights agencies and several United Nations agencies and experts.

    After the defeat of the LTTE the government said that elements associated with it could remain, and that some new elements may emerge; yet every country faces this possibility all the time. If this reasoning is used to suspend the operation of a normal legal system then this would need to apply everywhere, forever. Terrorism – even war – is always possible, but if people are willing to abandon their freedoms and their normal legal rights to preempt these possibilities, draconian law will reign indefinitely.

    As long as the PTA remains in operation there is reason to suspect that it is being used by the government for political advantage, as an instrument to perpetuate its own power. Complaints of oppression by the opposition and other dissenting voices will have legitimate weight.

    The Act has effectively aided the destruction of the normal rule of law within Sri Lanka and undermined the independence of its judiciary; indeed litigants, lawyers and even the judges may have started to forget what a strong, functioning legal system is like. To maintain the PTA is to continue destroying what is left. The disadvantages far outweigh the advantage that the government spokesperson may claim that it has.

    An enduring PTA will continue to place the Criminal Investigation Division and the Terrorism Investigation Division beyond the control of the law, with no checks or balances against its abuse of power. Tales of torture being used, charges being fabricated and deaths occurring in places of detention are heard constantly, yet while the PTA exists there is no way to even investigate such allegations, let alone avoid them.

    Sri Lanka’s policing system has collapsed; this is now a fact acknowledged by all. Yet no reform process can be set in motion, and under the protection of the PTA Sri Lanka’s police force will continue to degenerate, its people given no option but to live under its oppression, corruption and arbitrary violence.
    What this means is that literally hundreds of thousands of people will suffer without any legal recourse, and large numbers will continue to live outside the protection of the law. The entire population will be affected.

    It is time for everyone in Sri Lanka and beyond to earnestly request the immediate repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the Sri Lankan government. The judiciary must no longer be undermined by those with extraordinary power, the rule of law must be revived and all people must be given its protection.

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  3. At least three people, including an eight-year-old child, were wounded when soldiers opened fire at a group of internally displaced people from the Menik Farm at Chettikulam

    The Sri Lankan soldiers open fire when the IDPs pelted stones. They (SLA) also claimed that one (IDP) of them tried to lob a grenade. The wounded were admitted to hospital. However, TNA parliamentarian Shivashakthi Anandan claimed that the IDPs were moving from one zone to another to collect firewood as they had to cook their own meals after the Sri Lankan authorities stopped supplying cooked meals.

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  4. The Sri Lankan GSP+ trade concession was based on the ratification and effective implementation many international human rights principles. Some of them are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention against Torture (CAT) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

    Media reports indicate that the EU Trade Concessions will be negative and that the crux of the issue is human rights. They are stubborn ones. They will not go away. They cannot be dealt with by denial, bravado, defiance, conspiracy theories or neglect. Moreover they are indubitably in the national interest and to the detriment of no one other than the perpetrators of violations.

    The Good governance cannot be served or sustained by conflict and conspiracy, fear, paranoia and insecurity. Sri Lanka is a part of an international community. Human rights and the international community have to be dealt with maturely, responsibly, constructively.

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  5. About 30 to 40 persons are abducted on a daily basis from IDP camps in the North, SLFP (M) Leader Mangala Samaraweera charged in Parliament yesterday.

    “Certain reports indicate that 30 to 40 persons are abducted or disappear on a daily basis from IDP camps,” Mr. Samaraweera charged.

    However, Chief Government Whip Dinesh Gunawardane denied this allegation and asked where such statistics of abducted persons were found.

    In response Mr. Samaraweera said that if such reports are to be denied the government must be transparent to the manner it deals with the IDP issue.

    “If the government allows Opposition MPs to form a committee and visit the camps then such claims can be verified. The government should act in a transparent manner,” Mr. Samaraweera said.

    Mr. Samaraweera said that in Orwellian terms the so called ‘welfare’ camps were virtual prisons for the IDPs.

    “In George Orwells 1984, the Ministry of Peace dealt with war, and the Ministry of Love with torture. Likewise we witnessed in Sri Lanka how the Peace Secretariat justified excesses carried out in the name of war against terrorism. And the so-called welfare camps are virtual prisons,” Mr. Samaraweera said.

    He added that most of the 280,000 IDPs had kith and kin around the country who are willing to have them until the de-mining process to the Vanni was complete.

    “They are not economic refugees. They have opened 21,000 bank accounts and deposited Rs. 500 million in banks after coming out of LTTE areas. They are government servants, teachers and farmers. All they want is to go home,” Mr. Samaraweera said.

    The MP also charged that the IDPs were being resettled from one camp into another. “The government is denying these people the right to speech, choice, movement and livelihood,” Mr. Samaraweera said.

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  6. The ruthless Sri Lankan regime slaughtered thousands of the innocents.

    Now International community (IC) is letting the Tamils to languish in the concentration camps is another example that IC has become real hypocrite who has corrupt souls.

    Playing cricket for an example, with a country that is flowing with the blood of the innocent men, women and children, shows that IC no longer has any moral principles to guide our lives.

    IC is now even quite comfortable to sit and has tea with a Hannibal while it’s hands are still stained with the blood and its room is filled with the stink of rotting human flesh.

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  7. The visa application of the Sri Lanka Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was
    rejected by the Canadian High Commission.

    The British High Commission in Colombo also refused visa recently to top SL diplomat and former Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona

    UK introduces war crime clause in visa applications of Sri Lankans. In future, all SL visa applicants to UK have to fill a column on war crime involvements.

    This means that the applicant has to declare his involvements, if any, in war crimes. This is a sequel to allegations of human rights violations leveled against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and Sri Lanka Government.

    Sources also pointed out that it was significant to note that in the recent past, visa applications of many Sri Lankan government politicos, including their family members.

    The new UN Permanent Representative to Sri Lanka, Dr. Palitha Kohona, had submitted his passport to the British High Commission for a visa to London but to his surprise the passport was returned without any valid reason for turning down his visa application. He later sought an explanation from the British High Commission on the incident.

    The SL diplomat Palitha Kohona had later again sought a visa to London, UK, but the second attempt too was rejected with the UK High Commission.

    An angry UN Permanent Representative to Sri Lanka Dr. Palitha Kohona had made several attempts to contact the British High Commissioner and his Deputy to seek their intervention but they could not be contacted over the telephone.

    The Sri Lankan government is of the view that the British High Commission had violated diplomatic protocols by rejecting a visa for the former Foreign Secretary and felt this had further strained relations between Britain and Sri Lanka.

    Also, Ireland embassy in New Delhi in India has refused visas to 13 competitors from Sri Lanka Armed Forces for the cycling event at the World Military Games 2009 in Ireland.

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