Dr.Chris Nonis appointed to the Commonwealth Advisory Panel

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Published on Thursday, 31 May 2012 19:09

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The Sri Lankan High Commissioner for the U.K., Dr. Chris Nonis has been appointed to the Commonwealth Advisory Panel of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Trust. The establishment of the Trust was announced at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia in 2011, but was launched officially on 6th February 2012 – the 60th Anniversary of Her Majesty’s Accession. Former British Prime Minister the Sir John Major is Chairman of its Board of Trustees, which includes the Commonwealth Secretary General. The Commonwealth Advisory Panel consists of five High Commissioners chosen from the 54 Commonwealth High Commissioners.

Her Majesty the Queen is Head of the Commonwealth of two billion people, in fifty-four nations over five Continents. As Her Majesty the Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee she does so as the second longest serving Monarch in a thousand years of British history.

The establishment of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, is to honour Her Majesty's lifetime of duty over the years. The investments in the Trust aim to make a real and enduring impact on the lives of those who live within the Commonwealth, across all generations and geographical boundaries. The Trust will work with carefully chosen partner charities and organisations to deliver iconic projects within its five year life span. that are a fitting and enduring tribute to Her Majesty the Queen.

On his appointment Dr. Chris Nonis said, "I feel privileged to have been appointed, and His Excellency the President and people of Sri Lanka look forward to welcoming Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Heads of Government of all Commonwealth Nations for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in 2013 in Sri Lanka. The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust will be a lasting legacy for Her Majesty's sixty years of service, and is a reflection of her devotion to duty, dedication and commitment to all Commonwealth Nations including Sri Lanka."

Sri Lanka demands War Crimes against LTTE Terrorists and India’s IPKF

• Written by  Shenali Waduge
• Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:02

We have come to a stage in history that we need to put things in its perspective by not shying away from demanding actions on two key areas that now needs to be investigated. It is only by investigating who the LTTE was, what LTTE was involved in, the players who sponsored and supported the LTTE over the years, LTTE war crimes over 3 decades, victims of LTTE terror (civil and military) as well as investigating the war crimes, rape, looting and indiscriminate firing upon innocent Tamil civilians by the Indian Peace Keeping Force sent by India following India’s intervention in Sri Lanka forcing the signing of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord that we can derive a plausible conclusion to enable the citizens of Sri Lanka to finally get on with their lives.
Incidentally, it is the death anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, killed in Tamil Nadu on 21 May 1991 by the LTTE….and it becomes a perfect day to examine India’s and in particular Tamil Nadu politicians role in Sri Lanka and reason why all of India’s neighbors should despise India including Sri Lanka.
These 2 investigations are important for several reasons for it explains the reasons why Sri Lanka was forced to shoulder a conflict which went sour in the manner India’s peace keepers began raping and killing Sri Lankan Tamils – a true killing field ignored internationally. The manner in which in an unprecedented move resulted in the LTTE tie up with the Sri Lankan Government to fight the IPKF and demand it to leave Sri Lanka carries a clear message that Sri Lanka cannot be disintegrated like other nations – African or Middle Eastern.

1)   Investigate War Crimes of LTTE
An investigation into LTTE war crimes will bring to light atrocities that forced 32 nations to declare it a terrorist organization and will record how over three decades the LTTE carried out over 200 suicide attacks killing innocent men, women, children and clergy. It will also enable the world to bury the myth that LTTE was a liberation movement when they realize that the LTTE killed practically all of the moderate Tamil politicians and Tamil intellectuals. All these people deserve justice for their untimely deaths.
It is easy to say that the LTTE is now no more. That may be true but we know very well that Sri Lanka’s Tamil political parties especially the TNA has been over the years the open mouthpiece of the LTTE and they are in parliament primarily on the strength of the LTTE’s open support of them even carrying out their election campaigns. There are enough evidence of TNA members with links to LTTE speaking atop LTTE stages even overseas. These TNA members have given political leadership and guidance to the LTTE over the year which has enabled them to entice the Tamil civilians towards the separatist cause.
LTTE’s foreign campaign is very much in full swing and are accountable for influencing the calls for war crimes against Sri Lanka’s troops on their ability to buy over foreign MPs on the bargaining tool of giving them enough votes to come into power. We are not interested in the morality of these foreign parliamentarians but what we insist on is that for far too long LTTE has been riding a white horse claiming itself the aggrieved party when they should have been as a declared terrorist entity found guilty of war crimes.
For a single act that has not even been proved the UN set up the UN Counter Terrorism Center immediately after the 9/11, what stopped the UN taking action against the LTTE when it has enough dossiers on the LTTE for recruiting child combatants, forcefully kidnapping them from their homes and running false orphanages which are actually LTTE training camps? What did the Tamil politicians do about Tamil children been taken and turned into child combatants – did they even plead for these innocent children to be released?
An investigation on how the LTTE and other Tamil terrorist groups started attacking Sri Lanka’s Government would take investigators to India where training camps were set up by retired RAW and army personnel. Investigations would unearth how the Indian Government provided logistical and financial support to these terrorist groups and how they manipulated one against the other.
The world would finally come to know how LTTE “liberation movement” was in fact an outsourced terrorist movement spearheaded by Indian intelligence primarily to delay an Eelaam and deny Sri Lanka any form of stability in economy or development. We need the world to finally know the truth and the world owes it to the public of Sri Lanka to open an investigation to bring out these dark home truths.

2) Investigate War Crimes of India’s IPKF
The Indian Peace Keeping Force landed in Sri Lanka the day after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord on 30^th July 1987. This accord was thrust upon Sri Lanka by India with Sri Lanka having no say in its contents and it not only amended Sri Lanka’s constitution but it also introduced a provincial council system and merged the provinces of the North and the East. It is obvious that India chose to go ahead with the accord as it came to realize that the Sri Lankan armed forces were within a short distance of capturing Prabakaran just a month before the accord was pushed for signature. India demanded Sri Lankan troops stop advancing to capture Prabakaran and he was whisked off to India and made a promise by India to be given 5million monthly for his agreeing to the Accord.
We are not concerned about what type of agreement India had with Prabakaran or the LTTE. What we are concerned is that Sri Lanka lost thousands of people unnecessarily and for no reason simply because India did not want its Tamil Nadu to continue its calls to separate from India. By fooling the Tamil Nadu people into watching a supposed Eelaam take shape in Sri Lanka, India has been guilty of crimes against humanity.
From the circumstances that prevailed in sending Indian troops who had not been briefed about what they were supposed to do and clueless about their role it was no surprise when just after two months in October, orders were given to eliminate the LTTE and capture Prabakaran which clearly indicated India’s arrival was far more than India was revealing with 100,000 IPKF soldiers stationed in North Sri Lanka. The deaths to Tamil civilians by the IPKF is said to range from 6000 deaths to 10,000 deaths – we need all these deaths to be investigated before investigating anything else.
When the IPKF did capture Jaffna there were thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils who were displaced. Did the Indians or Tamil Nadu or for that matter any in the TNA or the foreign embassies and humanitarian groups cry foul and demand answers from India?  
The IPKF was soon to earn the acronym – Innocent People Killing Force and a series of encounters will remind Jaffna Tamils how wonderful India had treated the Tamil people.  Indian reply by Brig Kahlon for rape charges were “the Indian army are not angels….rape happens even in the West”. These are just a few of the examples of IPKF’s war crimes in Sri Lanka against the Tamil people India is now so concerned about.
· 12 October 1987 – IPKF attacks village of Kokuvil killing over 40 civilians’ in retaliation for loosing 29 Indian commandoes at the Jaffna University raid.
· 21 October 1987 – Deepavali, 68 innocent Tamils shot and killed by IPKF inside Jaffna Hospital including hospital doctors, nurses, staff and patients. Dr. Sivapathasuntharan who entered the hospital the next day was also killed by the IPKF.
· 21 November 1987 – Trincomalee, a IPKF soldier kills 7 civilians and injures 4 by indiscriminate firing.
· August 1989 – Velvettiturai, 64 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians killed by the IPKF.
· More than a 100 Tamil civilian bodies were found in Chunnakam, Mallakam, Uduvil, Manipay, Maruthanamadam and Inuvil – all deaths attributed to the IPKF.
Amnesty International Report 1988 (Jan-Dec 1987) quotes local magistrate in North Sri Lanka finding seven cases of rape by IPKF.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/ASA37/030/1990/en/1520f8d1-17d4-4b3b-b4d1-f948631bb10b/asa370301990en.pdf
· A book on India’s war crimes against Tamil civilians was released in April 2011 in New Delhi titled “In the Name of Peace : IPKF Massacres of Tamils in Sri Lanka” documented by the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) and published by the Delhi Tamil Students Union. The book covers 12 massacres committed by the IPKF.
For further reading :
· Memorial for IPKF - Innocent People Killing Force
By Dr. T. Somasekaram Retd. Surveyor General http://www.tchr.net/reports_commission_IPKF.htm
· Those Who Cannot Remember the Past are Condemned to Repeat It http://www.sangam.org/2011/08/IPKF_Repeat.php?uid=4436
We do not deny the cultural affinities shared between India and Sri Lanka, we do not deny the close ties that have existed over centuries but inspite of such ties India has gone on to commit the unthinkable upon a nation that has done India no harm.
Knowing India’s own guilt at sponsoring terrorist groups and openly claiming to train them on Indian soil not feeling embarrassed of its guilt, India went on to vote against Sri Lanka in Geneva.
We are not concerned about why India did what India did for its actions speaks louder than words and foretells us that we can never expect sincerity in dealings with India ever. What we are now concerned more than ever is that the world should know the truth about the LTTE and we now demand war crimes investigations be opened against the LTTE being a terrorist organization and India for its crimes committed against our people by the IPKF. The Indian Penal Code does provide for extradition and Sri Lanka can open trial according to Sri Lanka’s laws.
Everyone can have their day in court – justice needs to start now.
For planning and sponsoring a terrorist organization, India does not deserve a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
Sri Lanka should now be proactive and not defensive and be firm about what needs to be said to the world.
Shenali Waduge
Courtesy: The Nation 

Civilians want the army, that’s why we are there –

-- Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe, Jaffna forces commander Highest among military top brass in the North, Major Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe, the security forces commander for the Jaffna, says he does not foresee a large reduction of security forces in Jaffna in the immediate future. In an interview with Ranga Jayasuriya, he says troops had already reduced their presence by 11,000 men. The troop reduction issue assumed special significance when the president addressing the Victory Day parade said ‘we will not reduce military presence in North just because some people are shouting at us.’ Meanwhile, the British High Commissioner in Colombo John Rankin has raised a hornet’s nest saying that there is no terrorism threat for Sri Lanka to justify retaining troops in the Northern Province.n There are calls made by various civil society groups and Tamil political parties including the Tamil National Alliance that the military should reduce their presence in Jaffna and the Wanni. People seem to be weary that there is no sizeable reduction of military presence in the North, even three years after the end of the war. I have been telling this over and over again. When I took over on August 5th 2009, our strength in Jaffna was 26,000. As of now it is 15,600. We have decreased by almost 11000 plus. Also, His Excellency (the president) in his address to the nation said that the security presence would not be reduced because someone wanted it, but that the security experts would decide how many troops would be required for the Jaffna peninsula. We will do it that way. As of now, I don’t foresee a large reduction in the immediate future, because, we have already reduced a sizable number of troops. We don’t know how much troop presence the (TNA) is referring to. We can’t read their minds, no? If they expect us to come back to the level of the 1980s, when we had only five camps in the Jaffna peninsula, of course, we also need assurance that there are no terrorist activities and that diaspora activities - that all are all zeroed. Activities by Nediyawan’s group, the Global Tamil Forum and Rudrakumar’s group must also cease. Then, we can also be comfortable that there is no threat to the security in Jaffna. Until and unless these threats are diminished, a legitimate government cannot look the other way. It is absolutely clear that we will not reduce to the level of troop numbers which other people demand for. It should be done with the advice of security experts and the ministry of defence would also, from time to time, evaluate the situation. Then we will decide. We will simply not reduce the troop presence, because somebody would think that it is the right figure for them. We are maintaining troop numbers which we think are required to secure peace in Jaffna.  According to your assessment how many troops does the army need in Jaffna? No. These things vary, no? Today I can give some number, but the figures would change tomorrow. Also, I must add that I had a meeting with chief Thurukkal (custodian) Somasundaram Swami Adinan. He categorically said we needed more troops deployed, especially in the night because of anti- social activities that are taking place. But I told him it was not basically our job, and that it was a police job. But he said he preferred that the army augmented the security in the area. That was what people wanted. Of course there are bankrupt politicians and separatist diaspora elements such as the Global Tamil Forum which tell the world a different story. But they are a minority. The majority of people want security and the hard earned peace to be secured for them.  Do you think there is a serious threat perception? The LTTE was defeated three years ago... No. It depends on the person. How I perceive the threat level and how someone else perceives it varies. We will not take anybody else’s perception, but we will take into account the security forces threat perception about the prevailing threat to the Jaffna peninsula. That is how it has been looked at.  Civilians have been asking for the return of their properties that have been occupied by the army... We are very mindful of that fact and we are very serious about that. We are doing our utmost to handover private properties which had been occupied by the army during those troubled times.  It is a gradual process. The process has been to a great extent completed. Now we are looking to handover land in Palali, which is the army cantonment. That matter is being addressed. You should be aware of the killing of a Canadian Tamil in Kilinochchi. That killing was initially attributed to the army. I understand four former LTTE cadres and a lady have now been arrested over the killing. But, don’t you think this kind of negative publicity is devastating?  That is the basic problem. What has really happened is that the political atmosphere prevailing in these areas is sowing seeds of from the same saga from the past. They want the same LTTE message to go out in a much more subtle way. They are all saying the army is doing this and the army is doing that. They want to create a total vacuum in the peninsula without the army. That is the aspiration of a few. But the majority wants peace. We know whom these other people belong to. They want to sow the seeds of desperation and separation. They are trying to attribute any anti social activity to the army. Even, when someone hangs herself, they would say: “Yes even though this girl has committed suicide, the army camp is two hundred meters away.” I don’t know what the relationship is between an army camp which is in two hundred meters away, and someone who would commit suicide using a saree to hang herself inside her room. They (critics) don’t want the army to be present there anyway, and at the same time, they want to hold the army responsible for someone who committed suicide two hundred meters from an army camp. Obviously there is no logic in this. This area Paranthan (where the Canadian was murdered) does not come under my purview. But, there is army there. This is a famous story. If anything happens, it is army... army... army. You know, when a robbery takes place, they (critics) would say: “Tamil they were speaking is not fluent”, “they were not Jaffna Tamils”. Eventually, when the truth comes out, the damage is done. Negative publicity is a real nuisance. As for the Canadian gentleman, about half of the property in the Kilinochchi town belongs to him. That was a money related murder. You said army was unduly blamed. But there was a clear case of abduction of two former JVP activists, Lalith Kumar and Kugan. The army and the police were blamed for the two abductions. That was really an isolated incident where we have two missing activists. It is not only in Jaffna, it happens everywhere, including in the south. How can the army be responsible for the abduction of two individuals? The army was not providing special protection to these two individuals. Yes, we are also concerned. We are also investigating. A habeas corpus petition is being heard. Truth will come out. Have you investigated the abduction of these two individuals? Yes, CID is conducting a separate investigation and the Achchuveli police are conducting another. Let’s wait till these are completed.

‘Military gradually reducing presence’

Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe said that military was gradually reducing its presence in Jaffna and being replaced by the Police since civil administration had been established in Jaffna.

Major General Hathurusinghe revealed this during his meeting with the Australian High Commissioner in Colombo Ms Robyn Mudie who was on a visit to Jaffna with two other officials yesterday.

“The Army in Jaffna has already handed over a majority of the civilians’ houses and lands to their legitimate owners, and will continue to do so considering the security situation,” Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe told Mudie.

Sri Lanka dismisses international report on police torture

May 27, 2012

Colombo: Sri Lanka has dismissed a US report that questioned the human rights record of its police and security forces, saying that the situation in the country is “better than most of the countries with five star democracies”.

The Sri Lankan government’s reaction came after the State Department report alleged that “a number of suspects detained by police or other security forces died under questionable circumstances, there were several instances in which police were held accountable for unlawful killings”.

The report also cited that the Asian Human Rights Council (AHRC) had compiled 1500 cases of police torture between 1998 and 2001.

Sri Lanka has been spotlighted in a series of international reports: AP

As of October 2011, the AHRC said it had received 102 reports of police torture.

Responding to the accusations, Lankan police spokesperson, Ajith Rohana told reporters that the police categorically rejects all charges.

Rohana said that Sri Lanka had adopted the Convention against torture and cruel inhuman or degrading Act in 1994.

“For the last 18 years, only five policemen had been found guilty, not even one per year. This rate is better than most of the countries with five star democracies”, Rohana said.

“There has not been a single case of disappearances after police arrest. People have legal redress for any such happening,” the spokesman said. He said those arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act from the former battle zones in the north and east were handled by three separate units.

In response to accusations that detainee information had not been made available, Rohana said such information has been released to the close relatives of the detainees.

On the charges of police assault at times of arrest, Rohana said that police may have used force when resisted arrest.

These incidents cannot be classified under torture and such cases are grossly exaggerated, he said.

“We have educated all policemen about international conventions and human rights. Training entails such awareness including legal positions,” Rohana said.

http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/sri-lanka-dismisses-international-report-on-police-torture-322369.html

Lanka dismisses US human rights report

May 27, 2012  03:07 pm

Sri Lanka on Sunday dismissed a US report that questioned the human rights record of its police and security forces, saying that the situation in the island nation is “better than most of the countries with five star democracies”.

Colombo’s reaction came after the State Department report alleged that “a number of suspects detained by police or other security forces died under questionable circumstances, there were several instances in which police were held accountable for unlawful killings”.

The report also cited that the Asian Human Rights Council (AHRC) had compiled 1500 cases of police torture between 1998 and 2001.

As of October 2011, the AHRC had received 102 reports of police torture.

Responding to the accusations, Lankan police spokesperson, Ajith Rohana told reporters that the police categorically rejects all charges.

Rohana said that Sri Lanka had adopted the Convention against torture and cruel inhuman or degrading Act in 1994.

“For the last 18 years, only five policemen had been found guilty, not even one per year. This rate is better than most of the countries with five star democracies”, Rohana said.

“There has not been a single case of disappearances after police arrest. People have legal redress for any such happening,” the spokesman said.

He said those arrested under Prevention of Terrorism Act from the former battle zones in the north and east were handled by three separate units.

In response to accusations that detainee information had not been made available, Rohana said such information has been released to the close relatives of the detainees.

On the charges of police assault at times of arrest, Rohana said that police may have used force when resisted arrest.

These incidents cannot be classified under torture and such cases are grossly exaggerated, he said.

“We have educated all policemen about international conventions and human rights. Training entails such awareness including legal positions,” Rohana said, PTI reports.

Ada Derana

CPA translates LLRC

Date:2012-05-27 03:26:00
Think-tank Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) yesterday announced that it has translated the recommendations section of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report, into Sinhala and Tamil. “CPA has repeatedly called upon the Government to make the final report of the LLRC, released in early December 2011, available in Sinhala and Tamil,” the organisation said in a statement, adding to international calls for the report to be made available in local languages. “Up until May 2012, several months after the release of the report in English, there are still no official translations in the public domain,” it said, adding that their translations of the chapter containing recommendations were commissioned with a view to making key content in the LLRC's final report more widely known and accessible, and thereby, subject to more public debate and scrutiny in Sri Lanka.