Salman Khurshid does not represent India and Indian feelings and PM does?
Classic case of The Remedy Being worse than the Cure!
Who will bell the cat?
Story:
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As Commonwealth leaders prepare to meet at a summit in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, allegations of rape and torture by the Sri Lankan security forces have emerged, some of them occurring four years after the civil war ended.
“When the lady left and that man closed the door, I knew what was going to happen,” says Vasantha. “They raped me.”
One evening earlier this year, Vasantha says, she was going back to her home in northern Sri Lanka when a white van drew up and two men asked for her identity card.
She says she was thrown into the back of the vehicle and blindfolded.
Watch Our World: Sri Lanka’s Unfinished War on BBC World News on Saturday 9 November at 11:30 GMT and on Sunday 10 November at 17:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT or watch it later on the BBCiPlayer.
Vasantha says she realised the authorities had finally caught up with her, four years after the war and just as she was about to leave for Britain on a student visa.
Her story is one of a number given to the BBC, horrific accounts of torture carried out long after hostilities ended.
During the civil war, Vasantha had helped Tamil Tiger rebels pass messages and set up safe houses in the capital, but she says she never took part in the fighting or held a gun.
Like other women I have interviewed, Vasantha never saw the outside of the building where she was held or met another detainee, but she said she did hear female voices, screaming in Tamil.
She describes being photographed and fingerprinted and then kicked, beaten with batons and pipes, burned with hot wires and cigarettes, submerged in a barrel of water until she thought she would drown, suffocated by having a petrol-soaked plastic bag put over her head, before being repeatedly raped by men in army uniform.
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.
Now that the NE Provincial Elections are over, there seems to be a new -found optimism in Rajapakshe circles that the International Community would go soft on him for Genocide accusations,
Genocide in Sri LankaRows of Tamil Corpses. Image.Independent.Tamil children Killed Source,Tamil.net.
The winning Tamil party combination is more interested in running the local Government than bringing Rakapakshe to book.
I am posting some more gruesome images of the Tamils killed by Sri Lankan Army lest people forget the Genocide.
More than 135, 000 Tamil men, women and children has been killed or went missing.
More than 35, 000 Tamil were killed in 2009 alone.
1.1 Million Tamils flee Sri Lanka
Estimated 600, 000 Tamil internal refugees
More than 20, 000 orphaned children
More than 35, 000 Tamil widows
Thousands of Tamil families (including children) are kept behind barb wire fenced internment camps by the Sri Lankan govenment, for several months in aftermath of war.
Half a million Tamils kept under military rule in Jaffna peninsula (Northern Sri Lanka) that had been described as an “open prison”.
Economic embargo imposed on traditional Tamil areas for more than 2 decades
Supply of food, medicine, fuel, electricity and other essential items controlled by the Military
Forced Starvation
Usage of banned weapons – Cluster bombs, White phosporous. Usage of heavy weapons, artillery on densely populated civilian areas. Reported usage of chemical weapons.
Her Press briefing on 31 August , 2012 was candid to such an extent that the Sri Lanka Government was forced to protest that she exceeded her brief.
She was earlier abused by the Government and the Sri Lanka Media , calling her ‘Tamil Tigress‘, accusing her of bias, raking her Tamil origins.
Story:
Sri Lanka refutes:
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Issuing a statement, the Govt information department says that she is only an agent of a Civil organization, hence she cannot make such statements regarding Sri Lanka.
Govt has issued this statement with regards to the statements made by Ms. Navi Pillay at the media meeting held on the 31st in Colombo, in conclusion of her week’s tour in Sri Lanka.
The complete statement is as follows..
President Rajapakshe apologised for his minister’s out burst against her earlier.
Her report, as stated by her in the Press Meet , in short, is as under.
1.Developmental activities. post the civil war , is sluggish and definitely not as it had been portrayed by the Government of Sri Lanka.
2.The Missing Persons of Tamil area are not being investigated.
3.Tamil women are being molested and no visible action.
3.The Military, even after four years of the conflict coming to a close, still has an iron grip, on the Tamil areas, hampering return of Normalcy.
The presence of Military in the North East is worrying.
4.The Military is controlling areas where it has no business, like Education, Agriculture.
5.The Military is grabbing private Tamil lands for converting them into barracks, with no compensation.
6.Systematic racist attacks are being carried out against Tamils and Muslims.
As a parting shot, she said,
““I am 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,” Pillai said, a remark that was to be broadcast around the world in minutes.”
Well, that’s pretty candid and accuses Sri Lanka, in real softer terms, its Genocidal and Ethnic cleansing Policies!
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Navanetham Pillay was on a week-long visit to Sri Lanka on an invitation extended by the Government of Sri Lanka in April 2011. This invitation is a part of Sri Lanka’s consistent engagement with the UN System.
As is well known, the High Commissioner’s visit to Sri Lanka was extensive, which she herself has described, as the longest ever country visit undertaken in her current position. The GOSL provided unfettered access for the High Commissioner to meet all those whom she sought to engage with, besides providing briefings on the part of the GOSL, on the continuing post conflict developments, a fact that she has acknowledged.
It is significant to note the High Commissioner’s acknowledgement of the true nature of the LTTE, and her call to those in the diaspora, who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE, to recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless Organization.
While noting that the High Commissioner has paid respects “to all Sri Lankans across the country who were killed during those three decades of conflict”, a disturbing fact that emerged during the visit, which had also come up during her media conference, was the surreptitious effort made by the visiting delegation to pay a floral tribute during the visit to Mullivaikkal. It was pointed out by the Sri Lankan side to the OHCHR delegation that if such a gesture needed to be made it should be done at a venue common to all victims of the 30 year terrorist conflict and not on the grounds where the LTTE leader met his death. It is significant that at no point of time during the discussions in formulating the High Commissioner’s programme, that the holding of such an event was indicated. This was brought to the attention of the Government side, only a few hours before the unilaterally scheduled event. On inquiry it became evident that the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, who represents the UN Secretary General, was unaware of this planned event.
With reference to the High Commissioner’s assertion that the new Ministry of Law and Order “is at best a partial separation as both Ministries will remain under the President, rather than under a separate civilian Ministry”
The fact that the remarks were addressed to Pillay while she was on a high level diplomatic mission on the explicit invitation of the Government was extraordinary. But more extraordinary, for the visiting UN Rights Chief was the fact that persons who had made representations during her tours of the former conflict zones had been visited by police and military officials. “This to me is just completely over the top – this kind of thing simply does not happen on my missions,” Pillay charged during the question and answer session. “The UN takes reprisals against those who speak with UN officials very seriously. I will be reporting on any reprisals against those who spoke with me back to the Human Rights Council,” she warned.
On every critical issue falling within her mandate the UN Envoy pulled no punches. She had her own assessment on virtually every current challenge to democracy and freedom in post-war Sri Lanka. “The war may have ended, but in the meantime democracy has been undermined and the rule of law eroded,” she said, reading from one of the more electrifying sections of her statement.
On the hot button issue of religious intolerance, with attacks against the Muslim community intensifying in the last few months, the UN Envoy said the Government had downplayed the issue. “They said it was an isolated incident, but the information pouring into my office indicates otherwise,” she said.
Disappearances being the overarching theme of her visit, Pillay told journalists after her briefing that she had never witnessed such uncontrollable grief as when people begged her to help bring their loved ones home.
“The fighting may be over, the suffering is not,” the UN Human Rights Chief said, as she prepared to leave Sri Lanka.
The High Commissioner took great pains to address repeated questions on alleged UN bias put to her by the state media during the briefing. She urged journalists to “read the published material” to learn how vocal her office was being about human rights issues around the world, including those violations committed by powerful countries. “Sri Lanka is one of 193 states reviewed by the UNHRC. The US in its review had almost 300 recommendations made to them by other states,” Pillay explained.
She added that UN independent experts were currently examining Extraordinary Rendition procedures, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and drone strikes against civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan – all violations Washington has been accused of by human rights activists.
Tamils have come under the Sri Lankan Army‘s Chemical weapons attack today, Tamil sources affirmed. They added it is unknown if the chemical weapons have been used previously in the war since many have been admitted to hospital with the same symptoms of dizziness, vomiting and fainting. However these symptoms had been ignored as they were due to hunger and distress.
In the final days of closing on the LTTE rebels, who have been fighting for a free state for Tamils in the North and East, the Sri Lankan Government is frustrated by mounting foreign concerns over its war crimes and banned media.
The Sri Lankan Army is at the final stages of removing evidences of the bloody war they have declared on Tamils in the name of rooting out ‘terrorism’. When the screens open for the outside world to see what has happened to Tamils in the area, the Sri Lankan Government want obedient and scared Tamils citizens to “praise” the government’s effort to “free” the regions from LTTE.
To simplify the job, the Sri Lankan Government has deployed its chemical weapons to cleanse the Tamils and LTTE rebels in the war zones. Civilians have reported vomiting, difficulty in breathing, dizziness and fainting after been subjected to these attacks.
Sources also said that the Sri Lankan Army higher officials wearing mask to protect themselves from the fumes and lower cadets were actually found in distress, who were then transported to Army facilities to get medical help.
LTTE warns against use of ‘chemical weapons’
COLOMBO, AUG. 16, 2001.
The LTTE today accused Sri Lanka of purchasing a banned chemical weapon and warned of “dangerous consequences” if it was inducted in the battlefields of northeastern Sri Lanka.
The LTTE statement appeared to be referring to the Russian- manufactured RPO-A Shmel rocket launcher without naming it. The Sunday Leader newspaper reported this week that the Government had purchased 1,000 units of the weapon.
The Sri Lankan Army spokesman, Brig. Sanath Karunaratne, confirmed the purchase of the Shmel, but denied it was a chemical weapon or that it was banned.
The RPO-A Shmel is a rocket-propelled incendiary/blast projectile launcher whose warhead contains a “thermobaric” flammable mixture, that is, it simulates high pressure conditions when detonated in enclosed structures and in the open.
The use of this weapon by the Russian Army in Chechnya came in for strong criticism by the human rights groups.
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