"In battle-scarred Sri Lanka, Tamils see hope in election" by Krishan Francis | Associated Press, September 22, 2013
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged north voted Saturday to form their first functioning provincial government, hoping it is the first step toward wider regional autonomy and a cornerstone to prevent another cycle of violence.
Tamils fought for self-rule for more than six decades after the country gained independence, first through a peaceful struggle and then a bloody civil war, but failed.
However, Saturday’s elections are expected to give them a limited say in their own affairs — a taste of democracy after decades under rebel or military control.
Polls closed Saturday evening, and results are expected by Sunday afternoon. No major violence was reported, but election monitors reported that army soldiers and progovernment party members stood near polling stations and threatened voters.
The elections are seen by the United Nations and the world community as a crucial test of reconciliation between the Tamils and the majority ethnic Sinhalese, who control Sri Lanka’s government and military....
The country’s ethnic divisions widened with the quarter-century civil war that ended in 2009 when government troops crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were fighting to create an independent state.
At least 80,000 people were killed in the war, and northern cities, including many on the Jaffna peninsula, were reduced to rubble.
The Tamil National Alliance, considered a political proxy for the Tamil rebels during the conflict, was favored to win the elections and fielded a former Supreme Court Justice, C.V. Wigneswaran, as its chief candidate....
The provincial council, however, will not have much power. A governor appointed by the central government retains almost all of the control, and Wigneswaran says that if elected, his party would lobby for wider self-rule based on federalism.
And look at all the print this is getting.
The central government is against devolving such wide powers and says even existing powers in provincial hands, such as those over land and policing, are a threat to the country. It hopes to win over Tamils by rebuilding roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure destroyed in the war.
(Blog editor is stunned. Yes, they will win Tamil hearts and minds by rebuilding that which they destroyed after killing thousands after penning them in to concentration camps)
But residents say the army is taking over large swaths of private land to build camps and even businesses such as hotels, and bringing in Sinhalese people to change the province’s ethnic breakdown.
It's called colonialism.
Angajan Ramanathan, a 30-year-old businessman and the leading candidate for President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, says working close to the government will bring more benefits to the war-hit community.
Election campaigning had been marked by sporadic attacks and threats, mainly against Tamil Alliance supporters.
In the latest incident, an election monitor said soldiers armed with clubs attacked supporters of Tamil Alliance candidate Ananthi Sasitharan at the candidate’s home late Thursday, wounding eight people. Sasitharan, the wife of a former Tamil Tiger rebel leader, escaped unharmed.
On Saturday, fake copies of a newspaper supportive of the TNA was circulated in parts of Jaffna saying the party had withdrawn from the elections, in what appeared to be an effort to confuse voters.
How could you tell it was fake?
As voting closed, anxious residents in the fishing village of Kurunagar gathered at a polling station to make sure ballot boxes were safely dispatched to the counting centers.
Several voters whom The Associated Press tried to interview were afraid to talk, fearing the army would visit their homes and question them.
Tamils have been demanding regional autonomy to the country’s north and east, where they are the majority, since Sri Lanka became independent from Britain in 1948. The campaign took the form of nonviolent protests for many years, but in 1983 civil war broke out between government forces and armed Tamil groups calling for full independence.
That's when Mossad introduced car bombs to the Tamils.
The provincial council was created in 1987 as an alternative to separation. But the Tigers — the strongest of the rebel groups, and eventually the de facto government across much of the north and east — rejected it as inadequate. The fighting that followed prevented the council from functioning.
The military defeat of the Tigers meant Tamils were back to where they had started 60 years earlier, with no tangible achievement, tens of thousands of deaths, and losing another million who fled the country as refugees.
The United Nations has called on Sri Lanka repeatedly to more thoroughly investigate war crimes allegedly committed by both sides.
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Related: Tamil party dominates elections in Sri Lanka
Another Sunday Globe Special:
"UN official criticizes Sri Lanka over human rights" by Krishan Francis | Associated Press, September 01, 2013
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The United Nations human rights chief chastised Sri Lanka’s government on Saturday, saying it is showing signs of becoming more authoritarian despite the end of the country’s long civil war more than four years ago.
That seems to be the tendency of governments.
In a hard-hitting statement ending a weeklong visit to assess the rights situation in Sri Lanka, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, said she was ‘‘deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new, vibrant all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.’’
I view the war crimes charge as a lever to hold over the Sri Lanka government. Not to excuse their behavior, but until I see Bush and Bliar before the bar I really don't take seriously war crimes charges from the U.N.
During her stay, Pillay met with government officials, politicians, rights activists, and people affected by the war. Her visit followed a resolution by the UN Human Rights Council in March that urged Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the quarter-century civil war that ended in May 2009.
A UN report has indicated Sri Lanka’s may have killed up to 40,000 minority Tamils in the final months of the war, which ended with the rebels’ defeat.
When they penned them into a small area and then shelled the place.
The rebels were also accused of killing civilians, using them as human shields, and recruiting child soldiers.
Pillay is to report her findings to the rights council next month, as called for by the resolution.
‘‘The war may have ended, but in the meantime democracy has been undermined and the rule of law eroded,’’ Pillay said, citing the government’s move three years ago to abolish provisions for independent police, judiciary, and human rights commissions, and to give the president the power to appoint officials to the commissions.
I thought she was talking about AmeriKa for a second there.
‘‘The controversial impeachment of the chief justice earlier this year and apparent politicization of senior judicial appointments have shaken confidence in the independence of the judiciary,’’ she said.
Describing her visit to the former war zone in northern Sri Lanka, Pillay said she was concerned about the military’s increasing involvement in civilian affairs and urged the government to speed up demilitarization. She also said there were more reports of sexual harassment of women and girls.
‘‘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,’’ Pillay said.
She said it was disturbing to hear reports of military personnel or police visiting and questioning villagers with whom she spoke in the former war zone and alleged intimidation of rights activists she met with.
‘‘This type of surveillance and harassment appears to be getting worse in Sri Lanka, which is a country where critical voices are quite often attacked or even permanently silenced,’’ she said. ‘‘Utterly unacceptable at any time, it is particularly extraordinary for such treatment to be meted out during a visit by the UN high commissioner for human rights.’’
She said the United Nations ‘‘takes the issue of reprisals against people because they have talked to UN officials as an extremely serious matter,’’ and that she would report it to the human rights council.
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"Sri Lanka to investigate war atrocities" by Krishan Francis | Associated Press, August 15, 2013
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a commission Wednesday to investigate wartime abductions and disappearances ahead of an update to be given to the UN Human Rights Council on Sri Lanka’s progress in investigating alleged war crimes and human rights violations....
A government commission to investigate?
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is set to visit the island country this month.
The council in March approved for a second successive year a US-backed resolution calling on Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by both sides during its civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels. It also directed Pillay’s office to update the council on Sri Lanka’s progress....
Sri Lanka is not Israel.
In May 2009, Sri Lanka’s military defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought a quarter-century civil war to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils.
A UN report has said that Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government may have killed as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the war. Rajapaksa’s government is also accused of abducting suspected rebels, human rights activists, and critical journalists during and after the conflict. Many of those abducted are feared dead.
The rebels are also accused of killing civilians, using them as human shields, and recruiting child soldiers.
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You know why the West withdrew support, right?
"Sri Lankans seek information on missing" by Krishan Francis | Associated Press, August 31, 2013
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of people held candles and photographs of loved ones as they marched in Sri Lanka’s capital Friday demanding that authorities provide information about relatives reported missing during the country’s civil war.
The vigil, marking International Day of the Disappeared, coincided with a visit by Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, to assess the government’s progress in investigating wartime abuses.
During the quarter-century civil war, which ended in 2009, an undetermined number of suspected rebels, journalists, and activists were abducted by ‘‘white van squads’’ allegedly operated by progovernment paramilitaries. Many were never seen again.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Sri Lanka's Secret Police
Many relatives say they also don’t know the whereabouts of family members who surrendered to the army at the war’s end....
Separately Friday, hundreds of people protested outside the country’s UN office, urging Pillay to probe alleged atrocities by the rebels....
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Also see: Sri Lanka urged not to harass victims, activists
Related: Sunila Abeysekera, 61, Sri Lankan human rights activist
"Sri Lankan police apologize for dog wedding" by Bharatha Mallawarachi | Associated Press, August 28, 2013
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan police apologized Tuesday for holding a group wedding for dogs trained to detect explosives and drugs after the country’s culture minister condemned the event and demanded an investigation.
Nine pairs of police sniffer dogs dressed in shawls, hats, and socks were placed on a decorated platform like those used in traditional Buddhist weddings in the ceremony Monday in the central town of Kandy.
Their marriages were registered by an official in the presence of a crowd of veterinary surgeons, medical doctors, top police officers, and the public.
Local television showed the dog couples later being driven away in a decorated police jeep for their ‘‘honeymoons.’’
The ceremony received wide publicity, and strong criticism from cultural officials.
T.B. Ekananayake, culture and arts minister, said it undermined traditional wedding rituals and should be strongly condemned. He called for an investigation.
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The Globe HAS gone to the dogs lately.
Time to tune out this post.
