During the CHOGM meet a group of Journalists from the Channel 4 were prevented from visiting the area where the Tamil Genocide by the Bureaucrats and a Sinhalese mob.David Cameron the Prime Minister of UK visited the area and tweeted.
Please read my post on this.
There is always a justification from the Sri Lanka Government that weighed against the terrorism and killing by the LTTE, the Action by the Government is nothing.
He examines this arguments and his views are worth the salt.
The justification by the Rajapaksha and Co can not explain away the killing of innocent Tamils who were not LTTE.
On the one hand they were being killed by the LTTE, on the other by their(?) Government.?
What a Plight?
“They haunt our every move, on their motorbikes in their silver hatchback and on their tuk tuks. Sri Lanka’s intelligence officers are a tenacious lot, but there’s another group perhaps even more tenacious in their pursuit of us: “spontaneous”, pro-government demonstrators…
So here’s the issue. There are two versions of the situation in the traumatised north-east of the island, where perhaps 40,000 or even more, innocent Tamil civilians died in the horrific last few months of Sri Lanka’s civil war that lasted a quarter of a century.
The government and its supporters say the place is transformed: there are new roads, they say, new schools, former fighters “rehabilitated”, hotels being built and elections held.
But the Tamils who live there tell another story. They speak of continuing misery, of military occupation, of a climate of fear. A place where thousands remain homeless while army land-grabs continue unabated. Where thousands are still missing – and many women who remain are subject to the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of repression.
Of course, the way for journalists to get to the truth is to go there and see for themselves. But despite assurances from the president himself that we would be free to travel, it was not to be; several hundred noisy government supporters made sure of that.
That’s the problem for those who would try to hide the truth. If you want to work out which side is telling lies, you just have to work out who is trying to stop you seeing things with your own eyes. Here’s a clue: it wasn’t the Tamils…
For Sri Lanka’s president, what he hoped would be the golden chalice of the Commonwealth summit is rapidly changing into a poisoned one – and the problem is that Colombo’s supporters blame that process almost entirely on Channel 4. In particular, Channel 4 News and – with extra, added venom – me.”
Now that the CHOGM is underway, there are certain issues that have to be discussed in the Summit.
Genocide survivors mob David Cameron.
I have written about the spineless cowardly act of India in sending Indian Foreign Minister to attend the CHOGM in Colombo.
After David Cameron’s statement that abstaining from the summit would not serve any purpose but raising the issue at the Summit.
This seems to me a very productive approach.
He added that he intended to visit the northern area affected by Genocide,though he called it the ‘affected area’ and true to his words, he proceeded there.
The news is that he was mobbed by the affected people , giving vent to their anguish,
“David Cameron’s motorcade was ‘mobbed’ by protestors as he travelled through northern Sri Lanka.
Uniformed police fought with a crowd of up to 200 Tamils, many of them women brandishing photographs of missing relatives, who sought to hand over letters and petitions to the PM.
At least two women were able to get up close to the windows of Mr Cameron’s car, as the motorcade departed from the visit.
The women who managed to reach the PM’s car were seen to be thrown aside by Sri Lankan police officers. Cameron had just left a library building when the incident happened…
”
Pro regime protesters have followed PM to his next stop. They want an inquiry….into colonial crimes pic.twitter.com/XW27Rej3LN”
Rajapakshe in his address to the CHOGM Press meet is reported to have said that though there have been violations of Human Rights in the past, meaning LTTE, he was prepared to take action if proof of war crime is provided.
Lack of Moral Courage is the hall-mark of Indian Diplomacy.
Or is it the indifference to Tamil Nadu and Tamils?
CHOGM Summit Sri Lanka
One would imagine that India would condemn the venue of the CHOGM Summit, in Sri Lanka, and call for the boycott of Sri Lanka from the Comity of nations.
No.
India will be participating in the Summit with the attendance of Man Mohan Singh, The Prime Minister of India.
This despite the genocide of the Tamils!
Has this decision something to do with Rajiv‘s assassination by a Tamil?
The reason given is that if India does not attend China would get a foothold in Sri Lanka.
As if China does not have now!
If you watch your people being killed and are afraid of a Nation?
Well..
Appeasing Sri Lanka or China is like the appeasement of Hitler by Chamberlain,look at the result..World War II.
Story:
UK Tamil News | London | 04 May 2013:: The indication that the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, is more likely to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo comes as a relief to Sri Lanka, which is busy putting in the last minute touches to its roads and buildings in preparation for the high-level meeting to be held from 15-17 November. It will be the first such high-level meeting since the Non Aligned Summit of 1976.
The indication of the Indian Prime Minister’s participation comes despite the heavy pressure brought on the Central Government by Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, is against India’s participation at the CHOGM in Colombo as a protest against Sri Lanka’s many alleged human rights violations against its own people, and the snail’s pace at which the rehabilitation of the North and its efforts at reconciliation following the end of the war more than four years ago, are taking place. These bickerings come at a time when Sri Lanka is leaning heavily on Beijing for funds, and Islamabad for military equipment, and also moral support from the two countries, ostensibly in a tit-for-tat move to spite India.
Of course India does have a grievance in that Sri Lanka, instigated by the hard line constituent parties of the government, has, in the run up to the Northern Provincial Council election and thereafter, seriously considered diluting the powers of Provincial Councils. These powers were devolved on them through the Indo-Lanka Accord-backed 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which also specified the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The North and East were subsequently de-merged through a Court order.
However that may be, India’s strong ties with Sri Lanka going beyond 2,500 years, and the country maintaining a strong influence in the region, are good enough reasons for that country to attend the important Commonwealth Meeting in Colombo, especially because Sri Lanka will be the chair for the next two years.
A new Mass grave has been unearthed in Vadamarachchi.
“The occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna has warned the original house-owners of a recently released former SLA camp-site at Pallappai at the heart of Vadamaraadchi, not to dig the wells at the site where 52 houses had been seized by the SL military for more than 14 years since 1999. The main camp of the SLA 524 was situated at Pallappai. A few days ago, SL military personnel who blocked the owners of a house from renovating their well, recovered human skeletons of 16 to 18 victims and instructed the owners not to reveal the details to media or human rights groups. More than 100 victims have been buried inside another public well that has been filled up by the SL military, the villagers say.
In the meantime, an SLA commanding officer has also confirmed to a media source in Colombo on condition of anonymity that a Tamil journalist, Subramaniyam Ramachandran, reported missing in 2007, was slain and dumped inside an abandoned well in the vicinity of the Pallappai 524 base. 87 and 90 years old parents of the missing journalist have been struggling for years to learn the whereabouts of their only son.
Around 2,000 youth were reported missing in Jaffna alone between 1996 and 2009.
When the SLA seized Jaffna in 1996, it had put up several camps in Vadamaraadchi. The main base controlling Vadamaraadchi was the 524 camp, which was situated inside the Point Pedro harbour.
Rakpakshe government has been trumpeting that they have been Developmental Plans for the Tamils in Sri Lanka for Tamils post LTTE, genocide era.
Killing of Tamils,Sri Lanka
Facts seem to indicate other wise.
1.Victors,though this term is an inappropriate term to use for killing your own citizens,this is the term what Rajapakshe government uses,
need to be magnanimous,
Lanka Government has opened up a Museum on the War , insulting the Tamils and is promoting it as a Tourist attraction.(read my post for Details)
Sri Lanka’s War Museum.
2.The Government has announced training programmes for The Tamils.
Tamil Girls are molested and Tamil men return with fear truly terrified.
3.Religious Freedom,Attacks on Muslims.
Though the Sri Lanka Government speaks of tolerance; the reality is otherwise.
Muslims were made to go against the Tamils and after the Genocide Muslims have become the target of attacked by the Buddhist extremists.(read my spot )
This is what The Institute on Religious and Public Policy has to say in its 2012 Report.
”
(15) The BBC reported in January 2011 that foreign Muslim preachers in Sri Lanka were ordered to leave the country for violating visa regulations. Sir Lanka’s immigration head Chulanada Perera told AFP news agency, “They have violated immigration laws. A tourist visa is to have a holiday or visit friends and family, and not to preach Islam”.
(16) In September 2011, mobs, allegedly led by Buddhist monks, destroyed a Muslim religious site in the Buddhist city of Anuradhapura.
(17) Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva, who is a member of the Buddhist majority party, organized and led a protest march in September 2011 to force Hindus to stop the traditional religious ceremony that involves public animal sacrifice. Minister Silva argued that animal sacrifice harms the public image of Sri Lanka. Police reported that they had a court order to halt the animal sacrifice due to requests from activists, and increased the security level in the area because of the unrest.
(18) According to a news report in November 2011, the Ministry of Education did not allow Catholic and Christian students to register for religion exams in English. The Ministry offered examinations only in Sinhala and Tamil. The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Ranjith appealed to the government in his writing, “the majority of students follow their religion in the “English medium,” and therefore should have the opportunity to do the exam in that language”. However, the Ministry of Education rejected his appeal.”
4. Resettlement of Tamils.
Rather than resettling displaced Tamils, since the war ended, the Sri Lankan armed forces have occupied a further 7,000 sq km of land owned by Tamil people.
So what do the government’s claims of resettlement mean?
“According to the government’s own figures as at 1st July 2011, 258,446 had been ‘returned’ or ‘resettled’ from welfare camps, leaving 12,661 in the Kadirgamar, Anandakumarasawmi (Zone 1), Arunachalam (Zone III) IDP camps. The most current figures suggest that only 7,440 persons remain in these camps, insinuating that all others have been returned or resettled.
“What the statistics do not reveal is that over 200,000 persons in the North and East have not been returned to their places of origin. These persons either continue to be confined in transit camps or have been compelled to take shelter with host families [elsewhere].
“Such persons include those displaced from Valikamam North in the Jaffna Peninsula, Sampur in the Trincomalee District, and several other areas in the Vanni.”
– M.A. Sumanthiran, TNA parliamentarian. See The Hindu’s report here.“
Worse is the government is moving two Sinhalese families for one family of Tamils being resettled in Tamil Areas.
Now in Trincomalee,which used to be a Tamil majority area, Sinhalese are equal to Tamils numerically.
5.Lands of the Tamils have been confiscated , and are either with the Military of handed over to Sinhalese.
6.The Military regime is so tight that even for a family function The Tamils have to get permission from the military, which, usually, is refused.
7.Rape of Tamil Women.
Can rape be far behind when Sri Lanka army is on Duty?
Rapes and killing of Tamil Men are routine.
“( June 06, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)Women and children are at the receiving end of serious crimes due to political interference and the failure of the police to carry out law and order in the country states Socialist Women’s Union (SWU) and pointed out that a woman is raped somewhere in Sri Lanka every 90 minutes.
SWU points out that this state is due to the introduction of the free economy to the country which destroyed human relationships and created a society that decides everything on money. This was stated by the National Organizer of the SWU Samanmalee Gunasinghe at a special media meeting held at the head office of the JVP at Pelawatta today (5th).”(Srilanka Guardian 6 June, 2012)
Tamils raped post War,Genocide.
Report by Human Rights Watch.
Published on Feb 26, 2013
(London, February 26, 2013) — Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. While widespread rape in custody occurred during the armed conflict that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present.
The 140-page report, “‘We Will Teach You a Lesson’: Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces,” provides detailed accounts of 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse that occurred from 2006-2012 in both official and secret detention centers throughout Sri Lanka. In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, men and women reported being raped on multiple days, often by several people, with the army, police, and pro-government paramilitary groups frequently participating.
This is what Human Rights watch has to say on this subject.
“Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said [press release] Monday that no progress has been made in Sri Lanka regarding respect for basic rights and liberties in the four years since the end of the country’s brutal 26-year civil war [JURIST backgrounder]. According to HRW, the government of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa [official website] has failed to investigate and prosecute alleged war crimes, has cracked down on media and human rights activists, and has continued to abuse suspectedLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) [CFR backgrounder] supporters, despite Rajapaska’s promise to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile]. Since 2009, government officials have reportedly threatened members of the media, civil society and the political opposition, and publications have been subject to government censorship, or, in some cases, shut down. HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said:
The Rajapaksa government seems to be hoping that broad-based repression will dampen the exercise of fundamental freedoms. But Sri Lankan activists and journalists who showed incredible resilience during wartime to bring forth the truth, will undoubtedly find a way to do so when the country is at peace.
HRW urged governments to press for an independent international investigation into wartime abuses, speak out against ongoing abuses and provide support for Sri Lankan civil society.
The Sri Lankan government has faced various allegations of human rights violations and war crimes by civil rights organizations and the UN since the end of its civil war in 2009. In March the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution [JURIST report] to promote reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. In February Sri Lankan authorities were accused of using rape [JURIST report] as a method of interrogating members or supporters of the LTTE. Earlier that same month the UN criticized Sri Lanka for failing to investigate war crimes, and HRW pushed [JURIST reports] for an independent investigation of rights abuses.”
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