Salman Khurshid acknowledges his impotent handling of Sri Lanka and acknowledges China's significant sway on Sri Lankan policy. Has there ever been a foreign minister who advertises his impotency so openly ?Then I had a brief conversation with the Minister Salman Khurshid during the tea break. I touched on the political pandemonium accelerated by government of Sri Lanka to whittle down the 13th amendment to the constitution. My question was: ‘the very 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution that was brought about with enormous sacrifices with the death of Rajiv Gandhi, killings of thousands of Tamils civilians like my mother and brother and many jawans is to be pathetically weakened by the government of Sri Lanka and what India intend to do on this’.
His response was: ‘We are engaging with Sri Lanka and have expressed our concerns strongly on the intended amendments. Some of the amendments are concerning to us. Sri Lanka is not listening and only thing we can do is to wash our hands off of Sri Lanka and get international sanctions and pressures work on Sri Lanka. Under no circumstance, India will interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. When we say something to Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka takes the advice from China and act differently’. He further said: ‘When pressure is put on Sri Lanka, it goes on to arrest the Indian fishermen and cause problems for India’.
Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Non-assertive Indian foreign policy is bonus to Sri Lanka
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
What makes anybody in Sri lanka think the bureaucrats in New Delhi give 1 paisa if the 13th Amendment was imposed "unfairly" or "fairly" on Sri Lanka ?? Life is not fair - they need to stop whining and get used to it. During the Indo-Pak war of 1975, it was the Sri lankans who offered Pakistan the facility to use their airports to resupply their troops in Bangladesh - wasn't that "taking advantage" ? The simple fact is this - they either do what we want or we'll do what we want to get our way, that includes funding Tamil groups and giving them a platform, that includes pushing for UN sanctions against that island and that includes putting Sri lanka under our military cross hairs if we must.
Economically, politically and strategically a "non-cooperative" Sri Lanka is useless to India and if they can't be of any use to us, they might as well be not useful to anybody else either - like the Chinese! This is the only calculus - our interests take first priority, their hand wringing about "security" , "Stability" etc is just noise nobody is interested in. The priorities of 1.3 Billion Indians is more important than the petty chauvinism of one Sinhala strongman any day of the week.
Economically, politically and strategically a "non-cooperative" Sri Lanka is useless to India and if they can't be of any use to us, they might as well be not useful to anybody else either - like the Chinese! This is the only calculus - our interests take first priority, their hand wringing about "security" , "Stability" etc is just noise nobody is interested in. The priorities of 1.3 Billion Indians is more important than the petty chauvinism of one Sinhala strongman any day of the week.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
In '71 the Lankans allowed the Pakis to fly around India,as it was a neutral nation,but it thus allowed us to also monitor the flights which would not have been possible had they flown through with Chinese blessings Tibet and Nepal. Not many know the depth of the relationship between IG and Mrs. B.
Sadly,the situ today is that giant India is behaving like the Lankan kitten,which is roaring like a lion! The sad admission by Salman-the-Cursed shows that he and the MEA (thugface of Indian diplomacy,as Ramanna has described them) have simply run out of ideas.Some time ago I asked a veteran diplomat familiar with IOR affairs why we were so lax in our policies in the island.His answer was that "Delhi" saw things in a different perspective often ignoring reports from the ground.One must seriously ask,what diplomatic and back-channel methods have we used in Lanka? We have spent hundreds of crores on futile back-channel methods with Pak,but with Lanka,infinitesimal.We have not co-opted the TN supremo into direct contact with the Lankan elite/power centres so that many issues like fishing spats,etc., could not be sorted out amicably,but always send a central minister to firefight whenever there is a rising of temperature in TN.I have pointed out ad nauseum how we have yet to sponsor a permanent worthy building,hospital,art centre,whatever in the island for over 50 years after the Chinese donated the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall (BMICH),the Supreme Courts,the Colombo cultural centre,and built the Hambantota Port,Hambantota intel. Airport-bearing Rajapakse's name,the Norocholai Power project,etc.
And what have we promised and done by comparison? Even the housing promised in the north is way behind schedule and number.We squandered the wonderful work done by the men in uniform of the IN and IA in the aftermath of the tsunami,especially in the southern regions of the island where the population is almost exclusively Sinhalese.Our diplomutts wasted the goodwill created at that time.We have also wasted opportunities to sign on defence deals with Lanka where Trinco would've been used by India exclusively.Instead we've fallen into the Eelamists trap ,who betrayed India time and time again,while they were western quislings on the side,and are asininely trying to protect their interests-the murderers of Rajiv and the IPKF soldiers and not that of the majority community of the island who have never harmed India and who look to India for their spiritual source and origin! If that is asinine diplomacy,I do not know what is.
When people talk of Tami, rights in the island they conveniently forget the lakhs of Indian plantation labour dfferent in origin and mentality from the north,brought over as indentured labour by the British,and treated like coolies by the northern Tamils,who have been given citizenship,etc.,by successive Lankan govts and are part of the govt. too!
The 13th amendment to the Lankan Constitution.It is a piece of crap.It was shoved down Lanka's throat under duress at a time when JR Jayawardene was on the mat,and Indira was alive.Had the successors to IG and Rajiv kept firm,perhaps things would've been different,but fuhrer Prabhakaran,Premadasda and VP Singh saw to the effectual abandonment of the Indo-Lankan accord and the asinine linking of the North and East which was shown to be a disaster when the Eastern Tamils under Col.Karuna revolted against Pol Pot P.,joined forces with the GOSL leading to his eventual downfall. TN supremo is now writing to the PM for action against SL as the GOSL attempts to modify the 13th.What can MMS do with such an FM of impoverished imagination, intellectual and historical knowledge of the island? Any "action" by India will only further cement the Sino-Lankan affair.When we pretend that the Chinese have not penetrated Indian territory by 19Km,after the visit of AKA to Beijing,does anyone think that India will show Lanka-supported to the hilt by China and Pak, the lathi if it abrogates the 13th?
Therefore,why the fu*k should Rajapakse listen to the mandarins of the MEA and buffoons like Salman-the-Cursed or Maun Mohan either? The Chinese are giving him aid,political support against the US and west,helping fund his developmental programmes which are keeping his economy moving,whereas all he gets from New Delhi is pontificating and from Chennai abuse.The Eelamisits like "ticks on the hair of the tail of a dog",are actually wagging it.I am no spokesman for the GOSL,or any other entity in the island,but firmly focussed on India's interests there.Sadly one feels like a prophet crying in the wilderness whenever Lankan issues and the dereliction of duty by Indian diplomacy comes up.
PS: I urge members to read Robert Kaplan's well written book "Monsoon" ,the "Indian Ocean and future of Ameican Power",for an insight into Yanqui policy.He has described the LTTE in all its barbarity well,but forgets to mention the covert help that the US and west gave it,hoping to carve out an enclave in the north-east from which India could be destabilised from its soft underbellly as it was by Joihn Co. and Brittania.
I leave you with Kaplan's penetrating insight into the difference between US/Western and Chinese strategy/policies in Lanka and elsewhere.He says:
Quoting Huntington,Hobbes and Lippmann's observations,that "authority,even of a brutal kind,is preferable to none at all"........( How we have learned that lesson in Iraq!)
"While we in the west scan the developing world for moral purity,decrying corruption in backward societies,the Chinese are content with stability no matter how illegitimately conceived.Our foreign aid emphasis is upon democracy,human rights and civil society;theirs is on massive infrastructure projects and authority,civil or not."
Sadly,the situ today is that giant India is behaving like the Lankan kitten,which is roaring like a lion! The sad admission by Salman-the-Cursed shows that he and the MEA (thugface of Indian diplomacy,as Ramanna has described them) have simply run out of ideas.Some time ago I asked a veteran diplomat familiar with IOR affairs why we were so lax in our policies in the island.His answer was that "Delhi" saw things in a different perspective often ignoring reports from the ground.One must seriously ask,what diplomatic and back-channel methods have we used in Lanka? We have spent hundreds of crores on futile back-channel methods with Pak,but with Lanka,infinitesimal.We have not co-opted the TN supremo into direct contact with the Lankan elite/power centres so that many issues like fishing spats,etc., could not be sorted out amicably,but always send a central minister to firefight whenever there is a rising of temperature in TN.I have pointed out ad nauseum how we have yet to sponsor a permanent worthy building,hospital,art centre,whatever in the island for over 50 years after the Chinese donated the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall (BMICH),the Supreme Courts,the Colombo cultural centre,and built the Hambantota Port,Hambantota intel. Airport-bearing Rajapakse's name,the Norocholai Power project,etc.
And what have we promised and done by comparison? Even the housing promised in the north is way behind schedule and number.We squandered the wonderful work done by the men in uniform of the IN and IA in the aftermath of the tsunami,especially in the southern regions of the island where the population is almost exclusively Sinhalese.Our diplomutts wasted the goodwill created at that time.We have also wasted opportunities to sign on defence deals with Lanka where Trinco would've been used by India exclusively.Instead we've fallen into the Eelamists trap ,who betrayed India time and time again,while they were western quislings on the side,and are asininely trying to protect their interests-the murderers of Rajiv and the IPKF soldiers and not that of the majority community of the island who have never harmed India and who look to India for their spiritual source and origin! If that is asinine diplomacy,I do not know what is.
When people talk of Tami, rights in the island they conveniently forget the lakhs of Indian plantation labour dfferent in origin and mentality from the north,brought over as indentured labour by the British,and treated like coolies by the northern Tamils,who have been given citizenship,etc.,by successive Lankan govts and are part of the govt. too!
The 13th amendment to the Lankan Constitution.It is a piece of crap.It was shoved down Lanka's throat under duress at a time when JR Jayawardene was on the mat,and Indira was alive.Had the successors to IG and Rajiv kept firm,perhaps things would've been different,but fuhrer Prabhakaran,Premadasda and VP Singh saw to the effectual abandonment of the Indo-Lankan accord and the asinine linking of the North and East which was shown to be a disaster when the Eastern Tamils under Col.Karuna revolted against Pol Pot P.,joined forces with the GOSL leading to his eventual downfall. TN supremo is now writing to the PM for action against SL as the GOSL attempts to modify the 13th.What can MMS do with such an FM of impoverished imagination, intellectual and historical knowledge of the island? Any "action" by India will only further cement the Sino-Lankan affair.When we pretend that the Chinese have not penetrated Indian territory by 19Km,after the visit of AKA to Beijing,does anyone think that India will show Lanka-supported to the hilt by China and Pak, the lathi if it abrogates the 13th?
Therefore,why the fu*k should Rajapakse listen to the mandarins of the MEA and buffoons like Salman-the-Cursed or Maun Mohan either? The Chinese are giving him aid,political support against the US and west,helping fund his developmental programmes which are keeping his economy moving,whereas all he gets from New Delhi is pontificating and from Chennai abuse.The Eelamisits like "ticks on the hair of the tail of a dog",are actually wagging it.I am no spokesman for the GOSL,or any other entity in the island,but firmly focussed on India's interests there.Sadly one feels like a prophet crying in the wilderness whenever Lankan issues and the dereliction of duty by Indian diplomacy comes up.
PS: I urge members to read Robert Kaplan's well written book "Monsoon" ,the "Indian Ocean and future of Ameican Power",for an insight into Yanqui policy.He has described the LTTE in all its barbarity well,but forgets to mention the covert help that the US and west gave it,hoping to carve out an enclave in the north-east from which India could be destabilised from its soft underbellly as it was by Joihn Co. and Brittania.
I leave you with Kaplan's penetrating insight into the difference between US/Western and Chinese strategy/policies in Lanka and elsewhere.He says:
Quoting Huntington,Hobbes and Lippmann's observations,that "authority,even of a brutal kind,is preferable to none at all"........( How we have learned that lesson in Iraq!)
"While we in the west scan the developing world for moral purity,decrying corruption in backward societies,the Chinese are content with stability no matter how illegitimately conceived.Our foreign aid emphasis is upon democracy,human rights and civil society;theirs is on massive infrastructure projects and authority,civil or not."
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... epage=true
The government denied that any civilian deaths occurred, but said it would investigate instances of alleged abuses identified by its own war inquiry. A Sri Lankan commission report, released in December 2011, cleared the government forces of wrongdoing.
The government argues that its own investigation should suffice, but international pressure has been growing for an independent investigation into possible war crimes.
In March, the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a U.S.-backed resolution calling on Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
The government denied that any civilian deaths occurred, but said it would investigate instances of alleged abuses identified by its own war inquiry. A Sri Lankan commission report, released in December 2011, cleared the government forces of wrongdoing.
The government argues that its own investigation should suffice, but international pressure has been growing for an independent investigation into possible war crimes.
In March, the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a U.S.-backed resolution calling on Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by both sides.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/latest/36860- ... lanka.html
The UK Mayor of London ha surged his govt. to reestablish ties with CW nations whom they betrayed for the EU.
India's participation at the CHOGM is absolutely vital if we wish to maintain our status as the IOR's most powerful and influential nation.The spineless UPA tribe must remember this hard fact if we ar not to get the noose further tightened around our neck by the PRC and Pakis. The Pakis will exploit the absence of the Indian PM to max. advantage at the summit.If MMS is scared stiff he can send Pranabda instead!
Meanwhile the Paki PM,the "Sherrif" has confirmed his participation at the CHOGM.It remains to be seen whether the eunuchs of the MEA and PMO will succumb to the TN supremo,TN fringe elements and Eelamists and further damage Indo-Lankan strategic ties.UN rights chief in Sri Lanka
Sunday, 25 August 2013 15:12
(AFP) The UN's top rights official began a fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka on Sunday after the government dropped public hostility towards her and promised access to former war zones.
Navi Pillay, who has previously been accused by Colombo of overstepping her mandate, arrived in the capital for a week-long mission that will include talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse and visits to the former war zones in the north and east.
The government's U-turn came as Canada leads calls for a boycott of a Commonwealth summit scheduled to take place in the Sri Lankan capital later this year.
Sri Lanka has resisted pressure from the UN and Western nations for a credible investigation into allegations that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final months of its separatist war, which ended in 2009.
A no-holds-barred military offensive crushed Tamil Tiger rebels who at the height of their power controlled a third of Sri Lanka's territory. Rajapakse has since been dogged by claims of indiscriminate killing of ethnic Tamils.
During her visit, Pillay is scheduled to hold talks with Sri Lankan rights defenders to discuss the "culture of impunity" that existed over the conflict, local rights activist Nimalka Fernando said.
"We are in the process of finalising our memo to her. We want to talk about the culture of impunity during and after the war," Fernando told AFP.
"We are also specifically taking up the issue of media freedom in Sri Lanka."
Fernando said an armed break-in at the Colombo home of a senior journalist at the Sunday Leader newspaper on Saturday could be linked to her work, although police insisted it was only an attempted robbery.
The attack was the latest in a string of violent incidents involving the staff of the privately-run newspaper, whose founding editor Lasantha Wickrematunge -- a fierce government critic -- was shot dead while he drove to work in January 2009.
"The murder of the Sunday Leader editor has still not been solved and this is also something that we will take up," Fernando said.
Tamil groups are banking on Pillay's first visit to Sri Lanka to revive calls for a war crimes probe.
"We will take up with her the question of accountability, the issue of thousands of missing people, the militarisation of Tamil areas and the lack of political freedoms," Tamil National Alliance lawmaker Suresh Premachandran told AFP.
The UK Mayor of London ha surged his govt. to reestablish ties with CW nations whom they betrayed for the EU.
Boris Johnson: Britain must look 'beyond' EU
Britain must rekindle relationship with Commonwealth countries it “betrayed” in favour of EU, according to the Mayor of London.
India's participation at the CHOGM is absolutely vital if we wish to maintain our status as the IOR's most powerful and influential nation.The spineless UPA tribe must remember this hard fact if we ar not to get the noose further tightened around our neck by the PRC and Pakis. The Pakis will exploit the absence of the Indian PM to max. advantage at the summit.If MMS is scared stiff he can send Pranabda instead!
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Nonsense will stop only when the tamilians gain the right respect and are able to survive in SL. Thanks to GoI, GoSL has been able to make their life hard in SL.chetak wrote:yasin malik at pro eelam meet?
The nonsense has started again
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Yes,the "nonsense" has started again.The Tamilnadu Q branch has just arrested 2 LTTE suspects in Madras,part of a 6 member LTTE team, who have been plotting for months to engineer bomb attacks in Lanka and perhaps in India as swell.They two have been for 8 months trailed by the sleuths.They allegedly even carried out a "dry run",similar to how Rajiv G was assassinated.4 were arrested earlier,these two evaded arrest until now."Suresh Kumar ,who was head of the LTTE's techncial wing was heading this group.he had even done a trial run detonating a bomb in a remote place near Panturi in August last and recorded it on his laptop," said a Q branch officer. (Sunday Express)
A few years ago,I warned that the LTTE wa sregrouping in TN and using disreputable,disgraced fringe elements in the TN political spectrum to engineer demos and whip-up pro-LTTE activities condemning the GOSL ,as a fertile breeding ground for recruits and activists for their diabolic cause,still being funded by the Eelam diaspora.The grave danger is to Indian politicians who may be on the LTTE hit list,just as Rajiv was bumped off.Causing mayhem in India is of little concern to the Eelamists,who have a single point agenda and care nothing for India,but simply use it like a condom and then discard it.have we forgotten the sacrifice of the IPKF? The aim of the Eelamists is to destroy the former cordial Indo-Lankan relationship,which will allow the Chinese to squat in the island more substantially.Some even suspect the Eelam movement of making a deal with the Chinese to achieve their Eelam.For the Chinese,a revival of Tamil separatism in south India is perfect for its masterplan of destroying India.The other news of Paki terrorists trying to infiltrate India from Lanka was also predicted years ago.
It appears that the planned bombings of the LTTE were scheduled for the CHOGM summit later this year.Colombo has in recent times removed all the high security in the capital,even knocked down compound walls of police stations and govt. buildings, and made Colombo one of the world's most friendly cities to wander in. It would be a great tragedy if the LTTE is allowed to resurrect itself that too in Tamilnadu of all places.
A few years ago,I warned that the LTTE wa sregrouping in TN and using disreputable,disgraced fringe elements in the TN political spectrum to engineer demos and whip-up pro-LTTE activities condemning the GOSL ,as a fertile breeding ground for recruits and activists for their diabolic cause,still being funded by the Eelam diaspora.The grave danger is to Indian politicians who may be on the LTTE hit list,just as Rajiv was bumped off.Causing mayhem in India is of little concern to the Eelamists,who have a single point agenda and care nothing for India,but simply use it like a condom and then discard it.have we forgotten the sacrifice of the IPKF? The aim of the Eelamists is to destroy the former cordial Indo-Lankan relationship,which will allow the Chinese to squat in the island more substantially.Some even suspect the Eelam movement of making a deal with the Chinese to achieve their Eelam.For the Chinese,a revival of Tamil separatism in south India is perfect for its masterplan of destroying India.The other news of Paki terrorists trying to infiltrate India from Lanka was also predicted years ago.
It appears that the planned bombings of the LTTE were scheduled for the CHOGM summit later this year.Colombo has in recent times removed all the high security in the capital,even knocked down compound walls of police stations and govt. buildings, and made Colombo one of the world's most friendly cities to wander in. It would be a great tragedy if the LTTE is allowed to resurrect itself that too in Tamilnadu of all places.
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Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
The business meet on the side of the CHOGM is attracting over 120 Chinese companies.SL has also ditched the trade agreement with India,for fears of domination by Indian cos.,but don't fear Chinese domination! While we dithered for years,the PRC is yet again stealing a march over us thanks to the neutered "men" of the MEA (now ruled over by a woman)!
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
TN supremo JJ's ranting against the GOI for supplying two naval vessels to the SLN is a myopic and disastrous policy.Her supping with the Eelamists is merely political pre-election grandstanding but fraught with danger.Hasn't she forgotten about how Rajiv was double-crossed? Bumped off during the election campaigning? The recent news of LTTE resurgence in TN is extremely disturbing,where arrested Eelamists had actually tested bombs and made trial runs of attacks.
The GOI should make it very clear to her that not doing so would see the PRC squatting in Lanka,just a stone's throw away from Fort St.Goerge!
The GOI should make it very clear to her that not doing so would see the PRC squatting in Lanka,just a stone's throw away from Fort St.Goerge!
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
EJ politics, sirjee.Philip wrote:TN supremo JJ's ranting against the GOI for supplying two naval vessels to the SLN is a myopic and disastrous policy.Her supping with the Eelamists is merely political pre-election grandstanding but fraught with danger.Hasn't she forgotten about how Rajiv was double-crossed? Bumped off during the election campaigning? The recent news of LTTE resurgence in TN is extremely disturbing,where arrested Eelamists had actually tested bombs and made trial runs of attacks.
The GOI should make it very clear to her that not doing so would see the PRC squatting in Lanka,just a stone's throw away from Fort St.Goerge!
She is positioning for the 2014 elections onlee
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Dead men talking
Reporting on Lanka's blood-soaked years, I watched names disappear from my notebook.
................................................................................................................................
I mentioned my first Sri Lanka notebook of early 1984. It contained the names of 28 persons interviewed. More than half of these had already been assassinated by June 1991.
................................................................................................................................
I also figured that the list of survivors was now down to seven anyway.
...........................................................................................................................
Kittu, the one-legged propaganda chief of the LTTE, was entombed by Indian intelligence and navy in a gun-running ship in a famous, and frankly, brilliant black operation.
................................................................................................................................
With Prabhakaran gone, his ideologue Balasingham perishing to cancer in England, only two now remain. One of these is Balasingham's Australian wife, Adele, and the last was a RAW mole in the LTTE, so I still can't name him.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/uncov ... /1168571/0
Uncovering a War
Shekhar Gupta
Uncovering a War
Shekhar Gupta
Reconstructing the IPKF disaster, piece by poignant piece, brought me face to face with rare courage —and inexcusable complacence.
India's unexpected war in Sri Lanka caught me on the wrong foot by 12,000 km. I was still finishing the last month of my sabbatical year in Washington DC when the fighting broke out. And as I returned home, the media was full of coverage, often loaded, of the IPKF disaster in Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula. Loaded because the Bofors scandal, and many other missteps, already had Rajiv Gandhi under widespread attack. Sri Lanka was therefore seen as "babalog" political stupidity, rather than military incompetence. In the process, we were guilty of both insensitivity to Indian soldiers, their courage and sacrifice, and conveniently overlooking the complacence of our higher commanders. Now, this was obviously not a war we were going to ever lose — though my friend Hardeep Puri, who was by then our deputy high commissioner in Colombo under J.N. "Mani" Dixit, tells you, sort of semi-lightheartedly, that there was one evening so tense that it sounded as if Palaly (Jaffna airbase and the IPKF's 54 Infantry Division HQ) was going to fall. Hardeep had just seen the truce agreement he had so painstakingly drafted and signed with Mahattaya (Madras Cafe's Mallaya) fall apart.
It is creditable how much of that initial messiness Shoojit Sircar has got accurately. The fact that early IPKF patrols were routinely ambushed, pinned down and annihilated. How its officers were picked out by snipers. How the LTTE seemed to have inside information on all IPKF moves (more about this a little later). The most creditable footage, however fleeting and sensitively handled, is of the Tigers ransacking Indian soldiers' bodies and picking weapons, souvenirs and trophies from them. Note, particularly, a boyish Sikh soldier sitting, frozen in rigor mortis. That quality of research you didn't expect from a mainstream Indian filmmaker, and we will shortly explain why.
On my return to India, I was deeply saddened — even offended — by the celebratory coverage of the war. Cover pictures of Indian soldiers' bodies, close-ups of Tigers displaying caps, identity cards, boots of dead Indian soldiers. You had never seen an Indian war covered like that, and you haven't since. Of course, I also felt rotten having missed out on the big story which, for the magazine, was covered by my friend and colleague Anita Pratap, who later worked for Time and CNN. She believes that Nargis Fakhri's Jaya was styled after her, and has sent emails to her old friends saying so. The photographer accompanying her, Shyam Tekwani, was my frequent travelling partner in Sri Lanka subsequently, and now teaches at the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii. I did get into many arguments in our newsroom on how we had covered the story and why it was necessary to now reconstruct what exactly had gone wrong, and the lessons learnt, etc. My reward was being assigned that story now. And in the third week of December, 1987, I landed in Colombo, having been briefed by Gen Sundarji, his DGMO Lt Gen (later army chief) Bipin Chandra Joshi, and his staff.
Since association by events is sometimes the safest way to remember dates, particularly if you do not maintain elaborate notebooks — in my case, in fact, hardly, and notoriously the sketchiest ones, if at all — I can tell you I was on way to Jaffna from Colombo in a rented Mitsubishi Lancer on December 24 and had just crossed Vavuniya when everything came to a standstill. Angry, grieving mobs blocked the streets. MGR had just died — that's how I know the precise date — and a bandh had been declared by Tamils. I couldn't go forward or back, knew no Tamil, had no food or shelter, and you know how early the winter sun sets that far in the east. But I was lucky again, as an IPKF patrol of Maratha Light Infantry Regiment passed by and its leader, then a very young Captain C.K. Menon, offered me shelter in his camp. We connected decades later at the ITC Grand Central Hotel in Mumbai, where he was serving in a senior capacity, having left the army as a colonel (he has moved up the ladder in ITC hotels now). From him and his colleagues that night, in that small camp in the danger zone, I heard my first stories of the ordeal Indian soldiers had just been through. True enough, after absorbing the initial setbacks, they had taken and secured the entire Jaffna peninsula. But the price had been a shocker: 350 killed and 1,100 wounded in this month-long charge. The casualty rate, at 7 per cent of all troops involved, was twice as high as in our wars against Pakistan. One of the five brigades that assaulted Jaffna, the 41st, which was airlifted on October 17 and launched straight on the coastal road axis leading to Jaffna Fort (see sketch), had 272 casualties, or 17 per cent of its strength. The 72nd also suffered heavy casualties, including its deputy brigade commander, Col D.S. Saraon. The heavily armoured BMP Infantry Fighting Vehicle he was riding was blown up by a 200-kg mine. The 13.2-tonne vehicle was tossed more than 30 feet and its doors, each weighing more than 250 kg, were found more than a hundred yards away. Another illustrious battalion, 4/5 Gurkhas, had its commandant and all but one of its majors killed one afternoon. This is not a war anybody had expected and, regrettably, prepared to fight. I wrote a five-page reconstruction and analysis headlined 'In a rush to vanquish' (India Today, January 31, 1988).
T-72 TANKS, Mi-25 helicopter gunships had come without ammunition, infantry had been airlifted from places as far as Gwalior and thrown into battle without even three hours of familiarisation. There is no excuse for this kind of complacence. The IPKF's first casualties were five soldiers from its finest unit, the paracommandos. Waylaid by the LTTE while casually going to collect provisions on October 8, they were burnt in public with tyres thrown around their necks. That disastrous beginning spilled over into the most talked about setback then: the combined, heli-dropped paracommando and infantry raid (October 11) on the Jaffna University campus where Prabhakaran and his top aides were living. It went wrong from the word go. Only two-thirds of the commandos (10 Paracommando) could be landed and the infantry company (13 Sikh Light Infantry), which was to secure the landing ground, the football field from where IPKF helicopters used to routinely pick up LTTE commanders for talks, failed to fetch up, and the special assault forces contingent was reduced to fighting a battle for survival instead. As for Sikh LI, only a platoon could be landed, and in the wrong playground, several lanes of buildings away. The rest of the company could not land as helicopters came under medium machine gun fire. The platoon, led by Major Birendra Singh, a close relation of diplomat-politician K. Natwar Singh, was encircled and wiped out after a valiant fight. Only one of the 30, Sepoy Gora Singh, survived, and was taken prisoner by the LTTE. It is believed Prabhakaran displayed him to his fighters, kicked him in public and said, let him go, so he will tell them not to fight us again. Gora Singh, however, brought back the story of one of the Indian army's most poignant battles ever, where, out of ammunition, the last three survivors even carried out a final, suicidal bayonet charge. The LTTE looted and stripped all the bodies, piled them in the nearby Nagaraja Vihar Temple on public display, and then cremated them by simply throwing a barrel of oil over them. That's why it is so revolting now to see Tamil Nadu politicians feeling so sorry for the Tigers.
And this is why we had said earlier that Madras Cafe's footage of the first battles, along with the young Sikh soldier (remember the Sikh LI platoon) in rigor mortis and the LTTE boys plundering the bodies, was so remarkable. It was the first instance of Indian filmmakers challenging the old Haqeeqat-Hindustan ki Kasam-Border notion of Indian war cinema. I walked around that ground weeks later and still found shreds of the Sikhs' uniforms. In the nearby building, there was more evidence of the sickening plunder of those bodies: pieces of Sikh LI battle fatigues, cross-belts, boots, water bottles, epaulettes, all mixed with .50 mg MMG shells, sometimes ankle-deep. That tells you how much fire that one lost platoon withstood in the course of those valiant 12 hours.
The commandos, separated in the football ground, had done a little better, with six killed and nine wounded. They were finally rescued in an audacious and brilliantly innovative operation by their commanding officer, Lt Col Dalbir Singh, covered by three T-72 tanks of 65 Armoured Regiment. Since by now it was known that the Tigers had mined all approaches, Major Anil Kaul, the tank commander (his father had first raised this regiment), remembered a railway line skirting the campus and decided to drive the tanks on the rail tracks instead, for once surprising the LTTE. But his own tank was hit on the turret by an RPG shell (or an MMG burst) and he lost his eye and hand as he bravely peeped out to navigate. His inspired troops put him on morphine, bashed on, and ensured that heroic rescue of the commandos. The Col Kaul with an eye-patch that you see on your TV channels, usually furious over some military issue or the other, and who once famously demanded that I be hanged upside down from a tree and flogged (after our story on the army movements on the night of January 16, 2012, that spooked Raisina Hill), is the same valiant cavalry man.
Pardon me for leap-frogging the calendar, but Col Kaul's latter day anger apart, in Sri Lanka I got nothing but large-hearted access, affection and hospitality from the Indian army. I did have only one tough scrap, though well meaning. This was at Batticaloa in September 1989, where, after a briefing and lunch with the GOC of 57 Mountain Division there, I was stepping out to go to the city. As Tekwani and I came out of the general's ops room, we found three army trucks and a Jeep, machine guns mounted, tarpaulins ripped and battle-ready Sikh soldiers spilling over from each one. "This is your escort," said the general. We protested that we were safest as journalists, and going out with such a convoy would endanger our lives and the soldiers', as the LTTE may just presume we were some Indian VIPs. The argument became heated. And the irritated general gave up on us, saying, "All right, then you are on your own, and I am taking the chopper to an outpost. Then, if something happens to you in this area, at least I will not be responsible." But that "you are being stupid anyway". He was, of course, speaking from sincere concern. He was a wonderful soldier and his name is Maj Gen Ashok Mehta, who is now one of your more sensible and articulate TV generals. Yet another aside: he subsequently married prominent political journalist Aditi Phadnis. I can make a disclosure now, the original tip-off on Tamil rebel training camps in India, that led to the first story of March 1984, had come from Aditi's mother, Urmila, a highly respected international affairs professor at JNU. Now don't say that reporters' stories are filled with digressions.
Shoojit's film suggests that the LTTE knew all about IPKF moves because some traitor was leaking to them. He is only halfway right. There were no traitors, but the LTTE knew for sure. As the IPKF later discovered, the LTTE's communications, electronics and eavesdropping ability was on par with modern armies. An army College of Combat team later researched the disasters, particularly at Jaffna University, and concluded that the Tigers had intercepted the IPKF wireless on that assault night. Even the range and height settings of their machine guns were perfect when the helicopters arrived.
The five brigades that converged on Jaffna moved at different speeds and suffered a varying, but high, number of casualties. But the brigade that suffered the least, the 18th, also reached Jaffna the fastest. Why, I learnt during those many conversations over long nights spent at the regrouping and recuperating units' field headquarters. Its commander, Brigadier J.S. "Jogi" Dhillon, spoke at length about jiujitsu, of how to turn your enemy's strengths against him. So his troops moved only at night and only through the fields and lagoons, avoiding all roads, thereby skirting minefields and snipers. But most importantly, he showed the courage and military dash to use the most potent weapon in the IPKF's armoury: the deadly Mi-25 helicopter gunships, the only time that weapon has been used in our history. His brigade had to take the Tiger stronghold of Chavakachcheri (where Prabhakaran executed Mahattaya and his 257 soldiers later in December 1994), and heavy casualties were anticipated. He prevailed on the high command to let him use Mi-25s. All they did was fire just 32 rockets at the Chavakachcheri bus station, supposed to be the LTTE nerve centre. He took the town with just three casualties. There was the predictable outcry that many of the 28 Tamils killed by Mi-25 rockets were innocent civilians. But Jogi's point was, so what were they doing there? He quoted the Chetwode Oath to me, which made the safety and well being of his troops next only to his nation's security for an Indian army officer. "As the Americans used to sometimes call Vietnam, Shekhar, this is a dirty little war and people will die," he said, "and because many will die, they better be yours rather than mine." Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket had probably not released in India by then, so I am not sure he borrowed that line from the young marine there, though spoken in a different context.
Dhillon, Brigadiers Manjit Singh (the battered 41st) and B.D. Mishra (72nd) spoke of other experiences and lessons. How the Tigers had rigged Chinese-made sniper chairs on the top of palm trees where sharpshooters waited entire days with rifles equipped with telescopic sights, how they expertly picked out officers from Indian columns: a skill taught to them, sadly, by our own army instructors when we were hand-in-glove with them. Also, their expertise with electronics and explosives and their ability to marry both. At one point, the IPKF was so harassed by IEDs electronically detonated from afar that it cut off power to Jaffna for several days.
On the way back from Jaffna and on subsequent visits to Sri Lanka as well, I was given generous audiences in the newly built chancery, a monument to disastrous CPWD architecture and L-1 construction at such a premium ocean-front spot, by High Commissioner "Mani" Dixit who once had chided me for that 1984 training camps story but was now so genuinely affectionate. The Sri Lankan media mocked him as "viceroy", and Mani smirked as only he could as he cleaned and dusted his pipe and looked out of his window at the two Indian navy frigates routinely anchored close enough for you to see the markings and ensigns. "Sadly, Shekhar, you've proven to be right and we so wrong with the Tigers," he said. "These thugs were never to be trusted and I am sure nobody ever would." Not much later, Premadasa did, and paid with his life. But Mani also said another important thing. He said the IPKF experience had told him India was still not ready to be a big power. "The first evening of fighting, and I knew we were not yet ready for force projection overseas, and willing to pay the price, politically and militarily, for it. We are a long way from being a big power," he said.
Of course, over two decades, we became close friends as our paths crossed in Pakistan (when he was high commissioner there) and later, when he served as foreign secretary, he wrote a regular column for this paper and then returned to South Block as the UPA's first national security advisor. But you could see that he was somehow stressed in that job. The Mani Dixit smirk and twinkle were now missing. At a dinner at my home for Fareed Zakaria on January 2, 2005, I asked Mani why he looked so stressed. Then he spoke that other line which I have borrowed often, in many contexts as a political journalist. "It takes you a lifetime learning the ways of this benighted city," he said, "and by the time you learn them, it is too late in life to be of much use to you." As more guests came in, he said we should meet again at leisure and he would explain.
That was not to be. Dixit had a heart attack later that night and next morning so many of us, friends, fans, admirers and sometimes sparring partners, were at his funeral. Frankly, he would have been a much, much better man to tell you the story of that bloody period in Sri Lanka than any journalist watching from the sidelines, or filmmaker skirting political minefields.
Epilogue: I got some lashing in the Colombo press last week for saying at the India-Sri Lanka Society banquet that the country seemed to be missing the real peace dividend that should have followed the successful completion of a long war. Where is the creative, liberal, civil society renaissance that usually follows such wars? I said the army was still too big and, with 4 per cent of the able-bodied Sinhala male population still in uniform (India has around 0.2 per cent), the political and institutional balance was skewed unhealthily. I also spoke of the need to celebrate diversity and to build stronger institutions as, in a democracy, that was the natural protection against majoritarian excess.
I got calls from Colombo journalists saying I had challenged Sri Lanka's sovereignty and attacked its judiciary, etc. This is utterly fallacious. I believe, on the contrary, that Mahinda Rajapaksa has made a historic contribution to his nation and done a great favour to India and Tamil Nadu by ridding us all of the cruellest, most deceitful, fascist force in our history. He deserves India's gratitude. And the LTTE deserves nobody's sympathy. But Sri Lanka's peace dividend should not be confined to a construction boom.
sg@expressindia.com
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Shekar Gupta's piece was superb.It sums up the tragic experience of the IPKF in SL,meant to be peacekeepers but ending up fighting the very ones whom they were sent to protect! But what also comes out from this sorry tale is the complete miscalculation on the aprt of Indian diplomacy,as Dixit remarked about the LTTE's character.I can't fathom this as not a cat or dog in the island right from the start ever trusted the LTTE,and those who mistakenly did,did so at the cost of their lives,Rajiv,Premadasa and many others, or as in CBK's case ,an eye..The late Romesh Bhandari was one such individual whose diplomatic arrows on Lanka were way off the mark and our arrogant belief that the Northern Lankan Tamils would listen to the "Delhi diktat",was an act of mental delusion flying in the face of facts.To now expect Rajapakse,the man who sent fuhrer Prabhakaran and the LTTE to their well-deserved doom,to obey the "Delhi Diktat",delivered by the likes of Salman-the-Cursed and Mini Mouse Singh is even more ludicrous!
But what has not been underscored is the cynical,cold-blooded attitude of the northern Tamils,who preen themselves as being the most important species on the planet and look down upon Indian Tamils,especially the plantation labour Tamils brought into Lanka by the British as "indentured labour",treated as coolies. Our disreputable TN politicos still sup with the likes of the double-crossing LTTE Eelamists,caring a hoot about the lakhs of "Indian Tamils" elsewhere in the island.Even now they are spouting LTTE propaganda either using the issue for local political gains or for ,more sinsiter reasons.The TNA leader in Jaffna,a retd. SC judge ha scriticised TN politicos for using the issue as a "football",saying that the solution "lies in their own hands".Very wise indeed and TN Eelam apologists would do well to heed his remarks.
SG is also spot on about MR doing us a massive favour by exterminating the LTTE.No Indian leader today would've had the guts to do what he did.We are half-hearted even with the Naxals and the current dispensation is sh*tting bricks over the "Chinese take-away" of our Himalayan territory.He should've been rewarded by India in ample measure for the same,at least by Delhi ,with militayr largesse,etc.,if only to stop the Chinese invasion of the island which is now turning into a "tsunami".The CHOGM sunmmit is going to see a lot of Divali fireworks in the days ahead as the LTTE's propaganda machine goes into overdrive.
Commonwealth: Don’t Attend Summit in Sri Lanka - HRW
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/35372-co ... a-hrw.html
But what has not been underscored is the cynical,cold-blooded attitude of the northern Tamils,who preen themselves as being the most important species on the planet and look down upon Indian Tamils,especially the plantation labour Tamils brought into Lanka by the British as "indentured labour",treated as coolies. Our disreputable TN politicos still sup with the likes of the double-crossing LTTE Eelamists,caring a hoot about the lakhs of "Indian Tamils" elsewhere in the island.Even now they are spouting LTTE propaganda either using the issue for local political gains or for ,more sinsiter reasons.The TNA leader in Jaffna,a retd. SC judge ha scriticised TN politicos for using the issue as a "football",saying that the solution "lies in their own hands".Very wise indeed and TN Eelam apologists would do well to heed his remarks.
SG is also spot on about MR doing us a massive favour by exterminating the LTTE.No Indian leader today would've had the guts to do what he did.We are half-hearted even with the Naxals and the current dispensation is sh*tting bricks over the "Chinese take-away" of our Himalayan territory.He should've been rewarded by India in ample measure for the same,at least by Delhi ,with militayr largesse,etc.,if only to stop the Chinese invasion of the island which is now turning into a "tsunami".The CHOGM sunmmit is going to see a lot of Divali fireworks in the days ahead as the LTTE's propaganda machine goes into overdrive.
Commonwealth: Don’t Attend Summit in Sri Lanka - HRW
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/35372-co ... a-hrw.html
PS:During the last days/weeks of the Eelam War,the West were most vociferous in condemnation of the human casualties,we are now told approx. "40,000" were killed in the last days.Why didn't the US/West intervene militarily,threaten to bomb Colombo at that time,when in Syria,lesser figure of 1000+ were supposedly killed in the chem-attack,of which latest evidence says that the figures also included those killed in bombings ,etc. Well,one supposes that the island has no oil wealth discovered thus far!The heads of Commonwealth governments should not attend the 2013 Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka in November because of the government’s unwillingness to address ongoing human rights concerns, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the 54 heads of Commonwealth countries.
Those governments deciding to attend should send a low-level delegation as a public message of dissatisfaction.
During a visit to Sri Lanka in August, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, expressed grave concerns about lack of accountability, unresolved enforced disappearances, and decreasing fundamental freedoms, among other issues.
“The Sri Lankan government should be shunned – not rewarded – for failing to hold anyone accountable for war crimes during the country’s recent conflict,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “Attending a summit in Sri Lanka so soon after the UN rights chief decried a worsening situation sends the wrong message to the government and to victims seeking justice.”
Since the end of the country’s civil armed conflict in May 2009, the human rights record under the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has remained poor. The government has become increasingly authoritarian, attacking the independence of the judiciary and severely limiting the space for public criticism by the media and human rights groups. Despite credible allegations by both the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts and the government’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) of numerous wartime abuses by both sides, the government has undertaken no serious investigations or prosecutions.
The Panel of Experts estimated that as many as 40,000 civilians died in the final months of the war.
The Sri Lankan government’s unwillingness to address these concerns resulted in the UN Human Rights Council adoption of a resolution in March 2013 calling on Sri Lanka to implement the many recommendations made by the LLRC. Since the resolution, the Sri Lankan government has made many pronouncements about adopting the recommendations, but has demonstrated little genuine progress in implementation.
“Holding the summit in Sri Lanka casts serious doubts on the Commonwealth’s stated commitment to supporting human rights and democratic reform,” Adams said. “Instead of participating in a propaganda coup for the Sri Lankan government, Commonwealth heads of government should stay home and publicly press Sri Lanka on its repressive policies and lack of accountability.”
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
And this is the ridiculous attitude that bedevils Indo-Lanka relations, as the thug squads of TN fringe elements who have been beating up Buddhist priests,poor pilgrims and stopping all Indo-Lankan events,punish the very people whom they claim to support!
TNA MP denied entry to Rameswaran festival
TNA MP denied entry to Rameswaran festival
Wednesday, 11 September 2013
TNA Batticaloa district MP Seeniththam by Yoheswaran on Tuesday claimed he was denied permission to participate in a Ganesh Chathurthi procession in Rameswaran, India.
Yoheswaran told reporters in Rameswaran that police, citing prohibitory orders, did not permit him to participate in the function organised by Hindu Makkal Katchi, supporters of Sri Lankan Tamils.
He, however, said he was allowed to offer prayers at the temple here.
Yoheswaran said he would meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and convey his dismay at not being allowed to participate in the procession.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Re-posting from SSC TN thread
Glad to hear that things are finally getting better for the people. I hope this trend continues and the communities can live at peace after 30 long years of fighting and displacement.Originally Posted by kongutamizhan
My cousin returned back to Chennai today after a 2 week business trip in SL. He visited Columbo and Kandy. Forget about SL's settling in Tamil areas. Many Tamils themselves voluntarily are settling back in large numbers in those cities happily. They are able to start businesses, live in perfect harmony amidst Sinhalese majority, encouraging their friends/family elsewhere to do so, no visible discrimination (at-least from their words)
They are aware of Indian (especially TN media exaggeration). They are encouraging people-to-people communication to clear mis-conceptions. They personally appealed to him to spread the word among friends, family. They encourage tamils in TN to visit SL now if they want to see the difference. According to the people(tamils) that my cousin talked to, the positive development is not just limited to big cities like Colombo or Kandy. Visible difference in quality of life can be seen even in Tamil dominated North and East (Particularly Jaffna)
Are they saying that all-is-well? No, they still have some grievances. But they are saying that things drastically improved over the last 2-3 years. They are hopeful that they will get there. People who were thinking of migrating to foreign countries are happily settled now.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
have they (SLA) stopped checking and harassing Tamils going in and out of Jaffna and NE into Sinhala dominated areas ?
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
The recent opening of the rail line to Killinochi,destroyed by the LTTE,shortly to be extended to Jaffna,with the help of Indian is further evidence of the huge changes that have taken place since the end of the war.As I've been predicting for a long time now,which is being borne out in the post by Javee,that the integration of the entire island will accelerate with the huge infrastructure development that is taking place.Hardworking ambitious Tamils in the island will benefit economically much faster than the easy-going Sinhalese.Once economic prosperity widens into the Tamil community,which is inevitable,the issues that the LTTE fought for will become redundant.
TN busy-body and self-centered politicos should instead spend their time in improving the economy of TN which is collapsing due to the enormous power shortage that the state is experiencing,and the staggering corruption,bordering upon daylight extortion, which Tamilians say is crippling their state,now falling behind many other states in the country.For a simple example and comparison,a visit to Colombo from Madras is a revelation.The two cities are poles apart.Colombo is clean,green,full of parks for people,people friendly with proper pavements for pedestrians,with few beggars around,improved its faciltiies for tourists,improved its infrastructure over the last few decades,while Madras has deteriorated steadily during the same time.Sri Lanka has little or no power cuts while TN is perhaps the worst state in the nation,that too with the highest wind power installed!
TN busy-body and self-centered politicos should instead spend their time in improving the economy of TN which is collapsing due to the enormous power shortage that the state is experiencing,and the staggering corruption,bordering upon daylight extortion, which Tamilians say is crippling their state,now falling behind many other states in the country.For a simple example and comparison,a visit to Colombo from Madras is a revelation.The two cities are poles apart.Colombo is clean,green,full of parks for people,people friendly with proper pavements for pedestrians,with few beggars around,improved its faciltiies for tourists,improved its infrastructure over the last few decades,while Madras has deteriorated steadily during the same time.Sri Lanka has little or no power cuts while TN is perhaps the worst state in the nation,that too with the highest wind power installed!
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Not sure, most of them just visit the cities or the tourist places. Colombo they say is always tamil friendly and tamil majority. Would be interesting to see how a common tamil be treated in the South and his traditional villages in north. But as long as there is no bickering from the political parties people move on with their lives, a not so perfect example is JVP extermination.habal wrote:have they (SLA) stopped checking and harassing Tamils going in and out of Jaffna and NE into Sinhala dominated areas ?
Philip,
You can compare Colombo with any Indian city and Colombo will come out in the top, not today but even during the height of insurgency, fundamentally citizens of Colombo have a better civic sense compared to our citizens. And Chennai according to national surveys is one of the cleanest city in India.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
This was a brilliant essay. Clearly Shekar Gupta was once upon a time and exceptional journalist and reporter.dinakar wrote:Dead men talking
Such pity if you see him and what he has done to IE now.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Until the military is still around in Northern Eastern areas, there is always threat of excess and abuse. Got it from BBC that the military is still active in that area, so there is still threat of abuse or violation by the SLA. Although the source is dubious, the message seems to be not far off the mark. Also they will try to dilute the tamil identity through rapes, kidnapping and other human rights violations for enhancing their perception of security. And they will endure only govt-endorsed tamils, who may obviously have been a minority. The net effect is that apart from a bit of stability and increase economic activities on the surface, Prabhakaran has been replaced with another Prabhakaran, albeit a moderately enlightened version of it.
All these white vans for abduction, and military camps and military checkposts which were a feature in entire Sri Lanka are still present in the North East SL. And to justify military expenditure, they will be around there for a long long time to come, always pointing a dagger sheathed in velvet glove at the tamils and always posing a threat. Ofcourse MMS has nothing to say about this I suppose, this is not Wah after all.
All these white vans for abduction, and military camps and military checkposts which were a feature in entire Sri Lanka are still present in the North East SL. And to justify military expenditure, they will be around there for a long long time to come, always pointing a dagger sheathed in velvet glove at the tamils and always posing a threat. Ofcourse MMS has nothing to say about this I suppose, this is not Wah after all.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
He has since the CWG, developed extensive business interests now run by the wife.Sanku wrote:This was a brilliant essay. Clearly Shekar Gupta was once upon a time and exceptional journalist and reporter.dinakar wrote:Dead men talking
Such pity if you see him and what he has done to IE now.
Having gotten used to the good life he has to nurture and protect it.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
The latest provincial elections in the island have gone according to form.The TNA has won 30 out of 38 seats in the north,with its leader CV Wigneswaran and CM candidate topping the polls.In the NWP and CP,the UPFA of Rajapakse & co.won 34 and 36 seats respectively,trouncing Ranil W's UNP.What is significant though is the large turbout in the Northern province,of 65%+,showing that the Tamils of the North have taken to the ballot instead of the LTTE's strategy of the bullet.It now remains to be seen how the GOSL acknowledges the clear mandate that the TNA has received and how it will come good on its promises of more local powers,etc.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/latest/37839- ... eader.html
Provincial poll results offers everyone an opportunity - TNA party leader
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/latest/37839- ... eader.html
Provincial poll results offers everyone an opportunity - TNA party leader
he TNA said to day the results of the provincial council polls offers everyone an opportunity which should be fully utilized in a posititve manner, party leader Sampanthan said this at a media briefing soon after the resounding victory for the party was announced.
"The democratic verdict of the people is clear. Within the framework of a united, undivivded country they want to live in security safeguarding their respect, and dignity with adequate self rule, to be able to fulfil their legitimate political, economic social and cultural aspirations. The TNA is committed to the achievement of their objectives and expect the government would also extends its fullest cooperation," the party leader said.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
An historic verdict.The sweeping victory of the TNA marks a new era for Lankan politics and the ethnic Q.The TNA has vowed to work within the framework of a "United Sri Lanka",sending the demand for Eelam to the dustbin,which will bring a loud cheer amongst the majority of the country's people.The TNA Pres.,R Sampandham,quoted in the media, said that "the democratic verdict of the people was clear,within the framework of a united,undivided country,they (Tamils) want to live in security,self respect and dignity with adequate self-rule,to be able to fulfill their legitimate political,economic,social and cultural aspirations".
The ball is now firmly in the GOSL's court,the court of Mahinda Rajapakse,to deliver the goods to the Tamils who have rejected the LTTE and its demand for Eelam.
The ball is now firmly in the GOSL's court,the court of Mahinda Rajapakse,to deliver the goods to the Tamils who have rejected the LTTE and its demand for Eelam.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Word on the roads is that RP has to first devolve powers from his family and only then provinces will get their share
Look at the subtle message to all from TNA: Will it be a peaceful political showdown or RP has the muscle to arm twist TNA to submission??

Look at the subtle message to all from TNA: Will it be a peaceful political showdown or RP has the muscle to arm twist TNA to submission??
"We have got decisive victory. This proves people are definitely with us. This a clear mandate by the voters. This must be properly understood by the Sri Lankan government as well as India and other international community," TNA MP and spokesperson Suresh Premachandran told TOI.
The TNA won more than 84 percent of the votes in Jaffna, once the heartland of the rebel movement, 81 percent in Kilinochchi, the de-facto capital of the separatists, and 78 percent in Mullaitivu, where thousands of civilians were said to have been killed in May 2009 when government forces moved in to defeat the rebels.
The government has accused the TNA of renewing calls for a separate state through its push for devolution of power. The TNA says it wants devolution in a united Sri Lanka, not a separate state. "They must trust us," C.V. Wigneswaran, the chief candidate for the TNA who will be the province's chief minister, told reporters."We are for an undivided Sri Lanka, where there is a certain amount of self-ruling under the federal constitution," he said.
Addressing a press conference in Jaffna on Sunday, TNA leader R. Sampanthan said the Alliance was committed to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution — the Amendment was a consequence of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 — and building upon it to bring about meaningful devolution which must result in a “political solution that is reasonable, workable and durable”.
The government’s attempts to change the demographic composition of the northern and eastern provinces, land, militarisation and financial autonomy, he said, were among the main issues that the provincial council would have to necessarily address.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
In an act smacking of neo-colonialist racism,the Canadian PM Stephen Harper is boycotting the CHOGM in Sri Lanka .Thus asinine act after the recent free and fair provincial elections in the country where in the north,the TNA has won and a former judge of the SC has become the first Tamil CM and taken his oath of office from Pres.Rajapakse himself,illustrates the colonial hangover that shadows the Commonwealth.When the Tamil people of the north have taken part in large number in the ballot,forsaking the bullet of the LTTE,and are willing to join in the mainstream of Lankan politics,pandering to his votebank of Eelamists in Canada is a tacit support of terrorism by the Canadian regime.
If some western states and their leaders imagine that the Commonwealth is still a white man's club where natives are allowed in only as bearers,and cannot carve out their own destinies,then it is doomed and must either reinvent itself to have any relevance in the multi-cultural and multi-polar world of today.If leaders of the western world like Harper imagine that they can create countries "in their own image",countries like Lanka which has a hoary history and culture spanning thousands of years unlike Canada's of a few paltry centuries,then they are in for a rude shock when the "natives" hit back.When one uses the "human rights" route ,Canadians must also remember their inglorious history when the white man decimated the native American Indians and herded them off into "reservations" like cattle to kill their culture and spirit.
It would be understandable if Sri Lanka downgraded its relations with Canada to consular status or booted out its HC for the gross insult.
PS:Has the canadian govt. ever taken the US to task for its abuse of native Amer-Indians for over 500 years?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/poverty-an ... cans/11085
Poverty and Despair: The Failed Policies & Human Rights Violations directed against Native Americans
Fate of Lakotahs Highlights America's Failed Native American Policies
http://www.globalresearch.ca/poverty-an ... cans/11085
Canada's PM to boycott Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka
Stephen Harper says he will not attend Commonwealth heads of government meeting over reports of human rights abuses.
Meanwhile...
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/04/un ... hts-record
If some western states and their leaders imagine that the Commonwealth is still a white man's club where natives are allowed in only as bearers,and cannot carve out their own destinies,then it is doomed and must either reinvent itself to have any relevance in the multi-cultural and multi-polar world of today.If leaders of the western world like Harper imagine that they can create countries "in their own image",countries like Lanka which has a hoary history and culture spanning thousands of years unlike Canada's of a few paltry centuries,then they are in for a rude shock when the "natives" hit back.When one uses the "human rights" route ,Canadians must also remember their inglorious history when the white man decimated the native American Indians and herded them off into "reservations" like cattle to kill their culture and spirit.
It would be understandable if Sri Lanka downgraded its relations with Canada to consular status or booted out its HC for the gross insult.
PS:Has the canadian govt. ever taken the US to task for its abuse of native Amer-Indians for over 500 years?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/poverty-an ... cans/11085
Poverty and Despair: The Failed Policies & Human Rights Violations directed against Native Americans
Fate of Lakotahs Highlights America's Failed Native American Policies
http://www.globalresearch.ca/poverty-an ... cans/11085
http://www.beyondintractability.org/ess ... violationsBy Stephen Lendman
Global Research, November 21, 2008
21 November 2008
Region: USA .Theme: Crimes against Humanity
On November 6, South Dakota’s governor Michael Rounds declared a state of emergency as heavy snow blanketed the state and threatened all parts of it – including Native American reservations.
They, however, were excluded from his declaration. They’ll get no badly needed help, and it’s an all too familiar story for our nation’s original inhabitants. They’ve been abused and slaughtered for over 500 years. At Mabila, Acoma Mesa, Conestoga, the Trail of Tears, Pamunkey, Mystic River, Yellow Creek, Sand Creek, Gnadenhutten, and Wooded Knee. At far too many other places as well at a cost of many millions of lives, now forgotten and erased from memory.
Worst still, our Native people continue to be systematically repressed and mistreated. They live in poverty and despair. They’re mocked and demonized in films and society as drunks, beasts, primitives, savages, and people to be Americanized or warehoused on reservations and forgotten.
Their cultures are willfully denigrated. Their legacy is one of millions slaughtered, betrayal, treaties made and broken, stolen lands, rights denied, and welfare criminally ignored to this day.....
Canada's PM to boycott Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka
Stephen Harper says he will not attend Commonwealth heads of government meeting over reports of human rights abuses.
Meanwhile...
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/10/04/un ... hts-record
Some more on Canadian hypocrisy.N to probe Canada's aboriginal rights record
By Jessica Murphy, Parliamentary Bureau
First posted: Friday, October 04, 2013
OTTAWA — Canada's human rights record with its aboriginal people is about to get some United Nations scrutiny.
James Anaya, UN special rapporteur on the right of indigenous people, will kick off a seven-day, six-province inspection Monday into Canada's relationship with First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.
His visit could set the stage for renewed tension between the Conservative government and aboriginal leaders.
Anaya's only scheduled news conference comes the day before a throne speech — which will likely address long-standing aboriginal issues — sets the agenda for a new parliamentary session.
It also comes after a raucous few months last winter between aboriginal leaders and the federal government, spurred by the Idle No More movement and Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's liquid-diet protest.
The UN auditor will scrutinize a host of hot-button issues, including land and treaty rights, education and natural resources.
On Friday, Assembly of First Nations leader Shawn Atleo said he expects a sharply critical report from Anaya.
"We will hold a mirror up for all Canadians and all the world to know that a country often heralded as being in the top 10 of the UN human development index faces a grave human rights crisis," he said, speaking at small rally on Parliament Hill calling for a national inquiry into Canada's missing and murdered aboriginal women.
The Conservative government said it's "deeply concerned" about the high levels of violence faced by aboriginal women, but has repeatedly rejected calls for a national inquiry, most recently from the UN human rights council.
Instead, it has favoured a strategy that bolsters resources for law enforcement, and said it is committed to improving "education outcomes and economic autonomy" for aboriginal girls and women in a bid to end cycles of poverty and violence.
In a statement Friday, a spokeswoman for Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt said the minister welcomes Anaya's visit.
"The minister looks forward to the opportunity to help foster a deeper understanding of our government's commitment to move forward through partnerships and meaningful investments that bring real results and empower aboriginal communities to generate positive and lasting change," she said.
But NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair predicted the Tories will "turn a deaf ear" to Anaya's report, which will be presented to the UN rights body next year.
"They don't like being criticized by anyone. They don't even like talking to anyone who disagrees with them," he said.
Harper government again at war with UN envoy over Canada’s fight against poverty
Mon, 03/04/2013 - 17:15 EDT - National Post
United Nations Human Rights Council
OTTAWA — The Harper government is formally at war once more with a United Nations agency.
The UN right-to-food envoy, Olivier De Schutter, says Canada can’t credibly preach human rights on the international stage when too many of its own citizens are going hungry.
De Schutter released a report Monday in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council that says several government policies are an impediment to fighting poverty.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, he cites the cancellation of the long-form census in 2009, the ongoing Canada-EU free trade negotiations, and how Ottawa oversees the money it transfers to the provinces for social services.
“First, in order to effectively combat hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of who is hungry, food-insecure and malnourished,” the report says.
“The special rapporteur is concerned that changes in the current budget will make the collection and analysis of data more complicated, particularly by changes to data collection through the elimination of the requirement for individuals to complete the long-form census.”
Related
UN envoy blasts Canada for ‘self-righteous’ attitude over hunger, poverty
Marni Soupcoff: UN food envoy’s Canada visit as much about spreading ideology as fighting hunger
The government accuses De Schutter of overstepping his mandate and not understanding Canada.
Elissa Golberg, Canada’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, accuses De Schutter of unfounded criticism of Canada’s Constitution and its federalist system of government.
Throughout the 21-page report, De Schutter also takes direct aim at some of the core items of the federal government’s agenda, saying they undermine access to food.
These include the controversial decision to cancel the long-form census in 2009, the ongoing Canada-EU free trade negotiations, the scrapping of the Canadian Wheat Board, and how Ottawa oversees the money it transfers to the provinces for social services.
The report essentially serves as De Schutter’s rebuttal to the bitter and personal public criticism he faced from Stephen Harper’s cabinet ministers during his 11-day fact finding visit to Canada last May.
- See more at: http://www.bullfax.com/?q=node-harper-g ... figh#.dpuf
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
More racism from the Canadian scum ,this time at the CW Sec.Gen. because he is of Indian origin! India should vehemently protest against this blatant racism by the Canadians.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... ims-canada
Commonwealth chief is stooge of Sri Lanka regime – Canadian envoy.So big deal,even if this far-fetched accusation is true,everyone knows that "Bunkum Moon" ,the UN Sec.Gen.is the principal stooge of the US.Did anyone notice that he was the only one applauding with gusto when O'Bomber took the lectern to speak at the UN Gen.Assembly recently? And ifHer majesty the Queen is really staying away because an "important: (white) member is boycotting the CHOGM,then the institution is doomed.We are perhaps witnessing its last hurrahs.
Hugh Segal accuses Kamalesh Sharma of defending regime accused of human rights abuses, intensifying row over summit
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... ims-canada
Commonwealth chief is stooge of Sri Lanka regime – Canadian envoy.So big deal,even if this far-fetched accusation is true,everyone knows that "Bunkum Moon" ,the UN Sec.Gen.is the principal stooge of the US.Did anyone notice that he was the only one applauding with gusto when O'Bomber took the lectern to speak at the UN Gen.Assembly recently? And ifHer majesty the Queen is really staying away because an "important: (white) member is boycotting the CHOGM,then the institution is doomed.We are perhaps witnessing its last hurrahs.
Hugh Segal accuses Kamalesh Sharma of defending regime accused of human rights abuses, intensifying row over summit
Commonwealth chief is stooge of Sri Lanka regime – Canadian envoy
Hugh Segal accuses Kamalesh Sharma of defending regime accused of human rights abuses, intensifying row over summit
Robert Booth, and Jason Burke in Delhi
theguardian.com, Tuesday 8 October 2013 19.25 BST
Commonwealth secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma. Photograph: Akira Suemori/Associated Press
Canada has launched a direct assault on the authority of the Commonwealth secretary general, attacking him as a stooge for a Sri Lankan regime it accuses of serious human rights abuses.
On Tuesday Hugh Segal, Canada's special envoy to the Commonwealth, accused Kamalesh Sharma of "acting as a shill [a stooge] for the Sri Lankan leadership, defending their every mistake".
His remarks intensified the row over the Commonwealth's decision to host its biennial heads of state meeting in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo next month. Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, announced on Monday that he would boycott the summit because of alleged human rights abuses by Mahinda Rajapaksa's government, which until 2009 was engaged in a brutal civil war.
India, the Commonwealth's largest country, is undecided about whether its prime minister, Mahoman Singh, should attend.
Harper complained of "reported disappearances, and allegations of extra judicial killings. It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians."
Canada is the Commonwealth's second biggest funder after the UK and is now reviewing its £12m a year financial backing and looks set to cut support for the secretariat headed by Sharma.
The United Nations last month warned of "continuing high levels of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists" in Sri Lanka. India this week reiterated calls for all sections of the Sri Lankan population to be treated with "equality, justice, dignity and self respect".
Richard Uku, a spokesman for the Commonwealth, said it respected Canada's decision but that Commonwealth leaders had made a collective decision in 2009, confirmed in 2011, that Sri Lanka would host the summit.
He said Sharma looked forward to Canada being represented by the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs.
Last week, Gambia's president, Yahya Jammeh, announced his country's withdrawal from the grouping, branding it "a neo-colonial institution".
The Queen, who is head of the 53 state grouping, has already said she will not attend next month's meeting. While Buckingham Palace put the reason for her absence down to a review of her long-haul travel, others suspect her decision may have been informed by the potential awkwardness of attending when one of the most powerful Commonwealth nations was taking such a strong stand.
"It was a very significant decision," said Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. "This is her most important political cause and her absence is going to change the atmosphere. It means that governments that are critical of Sri Lanka may be more comfortable speaking out and David Cameron may be under pressure to take some sort of a stand."
Segal told the Guardian that Sharma, an Indian diplomat, had concealed crucial legal advice showing Rajapakse's sacking of the country's chief justice in January was "illegal, unconstitutional and a violation of international law". A spokesman for Sharma defended his position, saying "the advice was sought in confidence and it was not necessary for him to discuss it in public".
Segal said that if Sri Lanka was not hosting the summit it would have faced suspension from the 53-country group months ago.
In an article in Toronto's Globe and Mail on Tuesday he wrote: "I went to Sri Lanka as a fact finder for our foreign minister in April of this year. I saw wonderful new highways and buildings in Colombo that would rival those in Toronto. I also saw the bullet holes above the sofa in the office of the editor of a Tamil language newspaper in Jaffna."
Canada looks likely to be isolated in snubbing the summit. Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, told Rajapaksa he would attend, citing significant bilateral dealings with Sri Lanka over people smuggling. The country's foreign minister, Bob Carr said: "Our view is that any suggestion of a boycott would be counterproductive. It would simply isolate the country and render it defiant of international opinion."
John Key, New Zealand's prime minister, confirmed his attendance last month at a meeting in which he also asked for Sri Lanka's support in its bid for a seat on the UN security council. Twelve other heads of state, including from Ghana, Malaysia, Rwanda Tanzania and Uganda, have also agreed to speak at the associated Commonwealth Business Forum.
Analysts in Delhi said that while Singh's attendance would anger India's substantial Tamil population and thus be a political risk for the Congress party, which is facing elections in spring, a significant boycott was unlikely.
"India is very uncomfortable with that sort of thing," said Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary. "Though the relationship with Sri Lanka is not as cosy as it could be and there are strong domestic dimensions, there is a general recognition in government that both the relationship and the meeting, are nonetheless important."
Murphy said reluctance to follow the boycott was partly due to fears that an isolated Sri Lanka could quit the Commonwealth, allowing China greater influence in the region, and a belief among some member countries that development, rather than human rights, should be the priority.
"Most members will go with varying degress of enthusiasm," he said. "But this is damaging the Commonwealth itself. It has tried to reinvent itself as a values-based organisation promoting democracy, freedom of the press and human rights and it is going to hold its big summit in an oligarchy. It is increasingly authoritarian and it makes the Commonwealth look ridiculous at the one moment when it gets a modicum of attention.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
More CW controversy-controversy surrounding the killing of a British national in 2011.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... -sri-lanka
Commonwealth summit mired in row over Briton shot in Sri Lanka
Prince Charles offers his help as allegations against political fixer and calls for boycott cast shadow over heads of government meeting
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... -sri-lanka
Commonwealth summit mired in row over Briton shot in Sri Lanka
Prince Charles offers his help as allegations against political fixer and calls for boycott cast shadow over heads of government meeting
Commonwealth summit mired in row over Briton shot in Sri Lanka
Prince Charles offers his help as allegations against political fixer and calls for boycott cast shadow over heads of government meeting
Peter Beaumont
The Observer, Sunday 13 October 2013
Khuram Shaikh, from Rochdale, was murdered on Christmas Day 2011, after complaining about harassment of his girlfriend. Photograph: Observer
Prince Charles offered to help in the effort to win justice for a British man who was murdered in Sri Lanka – allegedly by a close political ally of the country's prime minister.
The high-profile case of Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross worker from Rochdale who was killed in 2011, has cast a shadow over the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Colombo next month, which is due to be chaired by Prince Charles and attended by David Cameron.
Shaikh, whose girlfriend was the victim of a serious assault in the same attack, was allegedly killed by a figure who is a close friend of the Sri Lankan prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and a key political fixer for his Sri Lanka Freedom party in the country's south.
Despite forensic evidence linking Rajapaksa's ally to the crime, no charges have been brought, and this has prompted allegations of a coverup.
The disclosure that Prince Charles has taken a private interest in the case comes the week after Cameron was put under pressure over the case at prime minister's questions by Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk. That led the prime minister to promise that he would personally raise concerns with Rajapaksa.
Now the Observer understands that Prince Charles has discussed the case, though when contacted about the Prince's intervention, Clarence House insisted that it had had no contact with the Sri Lankan government.
The discreet intervention comes as Danczuk is repeating his request that Cameron boycott the meeting unless there is clear progress in the stalled murder investigation.
The decision to hold the heads of government meeting in Colombo has been dogged by controversy from the start. Canada has said it will boycott the summit because of its concerns about the host country's human rights record and continuing extrajudicial killings, while Cameron has also faced calls to boycott the meeting.
Critics say the lack of justice for Shaikh is emblematic of the widespread impunity enjoyed by those accused of human rights abuses in the country. Shaikh was stabbed in the throat and shot dead after he complained about a group of men sexually harassing his Russian girlfriend as they enjoyed a drink at a small hotel in Tangalle in the south of Sri Lanka in the early hours of Christmas Day 2011.
The subsequent beating into unconsciousness and gang-rape of Shaikh's girlfriend is recorded in the Sri Lankan police file on the case, despite recent attempts by the Sri Lankan government's chief whip, Dinesh Gunawardena, to deny that the rape took place. Eight people, including the politician, were arrested and bailed last year.
Although Sri Lankan police completed their investigation months ago, including the examination of DNA evidence said to link the accused to the crime, no charges have been laid.
According to Sri Lankan media, officers from the country's CID presented the DNA evidence last month at the magistrates' court in Tangalle, where the murder took place, stating that it linked the accused politician and two others to the crime.
Speaking to the Observer on Friday, Shaikh's bother, Nasir, described the continuing anguish that has been suffered by his family as the case has dragged on inconclusively.
"My father still visits the grave every day. It has been so hard for the family. But this isn't going to go away.
"When we visited Sri Lanka we were told that what was holding up the case was the collection of the final witness statements and the DNA evidence, which was described as the last piece of the jigsaw. But they have had that material for months and still there have not been charges."
Nasir Shaikh is in two minds about whether Cameron should join the Canadians in boycotting the summit. "It is a difficult question," he said.
However, Danczuk said he was "not sure that Cameron should go and that a British prime minister should shake hands" with his Sri Lankan counterpart until the issue was resolved. "He should not go unless we have seen charges by the time of the summit."
The Sri Lankan government has tried to deflect criticism over the slow progress of the investigation but, despite promises on numerous occasions that the case was about to come to a head, nothing has happened.
In December last year Neville de Silva, Sri Lanka's acting high commissioner to the UK, in an interview with the Guardian, dismissed suggestions of government interference or deliberate delay, adding that he had been told by the attorney general's department that "non-summary inquiries" were due to begin shortly.
The Shaikh affair has fed into a wider pattern of concern over human rights in Sri Lanka, given new focus by the decision by Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, to boycott the summit. Harper announced that he would not be attending during a visit to Bali earlier this month, and said the absence of accountability for serious violations of human rights, both during and after the country's civil war, was unacceptable.
"It is clear that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold the Commonwealth's core values, which are cherished by Canadians," he said.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
What was a supposed "anti-piracy" ship doing in waters off Tuticorin? The US fights piracy openly using its naval warships flying the US flag openly. The chief area of operations is off the east coast of Africa where the vast majority of ships have been seized by Somali pirates . The Malacca Straits is another area of concern,but has not seen the kind of piracy where large tankers have been seized as we've seen in the Arabian Sea.
In recent years,we've seen the rising trend by the US of mercenaries belonging to so-called security "contractors",companies owned by powerful right wing vested interests, benefiting financially hugely from conductiong operations in the US led wars "against terror",in Iraq,Afghanistan-Pakistan and elsewhere in the M-East's wars of the "Arab Spring".The contractors do the dirty work that uniformed US troops cannot do apart from overseeing logistic supplies also a very lucrative occupation.Providing security guards for high profile individuals is another job.
According to the report below from the ET,Colombo/Lanka appears to be a location where such anti-piracy "contractors" board their vessels.It still does not give an answer as to what it was doing in sensitive Indian waters.In the report there is a pic of the vessel,it is huge and could easily be ,also involved in espionage activities masquerading as an anti-piracy vessel.Here are some thoughts.Advanfort is a privately held co. whose true ownership is unknown.It appears to be a maritime version of the infamous Blackwater outfit.
Stocked with arms and ammo,the vessel could've been involved in a Purulia type of operation,gun-running on the sly,offloading weapons to smaller boats,just as was done during the Eelam War were the LTTE's Sea Tigers would offload arms from larger merchant ships.If such was the intention,who were the intended recipients?
1.With a strong desire to unseat the Rajapakse regime,arms to LTTE cadre on the eve of the CHOGM summit for them to conduct terror attacks disrupting the summit is a major possibility.In fact the GOSL has removed all the security apparatus in Colombo and there are no longer security walls,etc., for police stations and governmental buildings.This is an obvious suspicion.
2.Arms meant for entities in South India.This is a very worrying thought.Elections are due shortly and we have just seen the arrest of key Islamist fundamentals of the so-called IM,a Paki led terror outfit operating within India.The ISI is very active within Sri Lanka and the ISI has a very long history of collaborating with diverse US intel agencies all over the sub-continent in joint ops,David Headley/Gilani being a prime example.The resurgence of pro-LTTE Tamil fringe politicos has been noted recently.It is not a coincidence,despite the Lankan Tamils of the north taking to the "ballot" eschewing the "bullet",where a former judge of the SC is now the CM and who took his oath from the Lankan president to prove the credentials of the Tamils that they have given up demands for a separate state.This is anathema to the outside powers,vested interests who wanted to split the island and control the sub-continent from the south using the LTTE as proxies.
3.Arms meant to conduct sabotage of key installations in S.India such as the KKM N-plant.We know how the anti-Nuclear demos were orchestrated by outside vested interests.With the northern and western borders and coastline under stricter surveillance,the soft underbelly of the south coast appears to be a favoured new route.IM operatives have been found to have been hiding and operate out of southern cities like Madurai.Just a few hours away from the coast.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 102304.cms
Incidentally, Advent's Washington office is a stone's throw away from Penn.Av. walking distance to the White House.
In recent years,we've seen the rising trend by the US of mercenaries belonging to so-called security "contractors",companies owned by powerful right wing vested interests, benefiting financially hugely from conductiong operations in the US led wars "against terror",in Iraq,Afghanistan-Pakistan and elsewhere in the M-East's wars of the "Arab Spring".The contractors do the dirty work that uniformed US troops cannot do apart from overseeing logistic supplies also a very lucrative occupation.Providing security guards for high profile individuals is another job.
According to the report below from the ET,Colombo/Lanka appears to be a location where such anti-piracy "contractors" board their vessels.It still does not give an answer as to what it was doing in sensitive Indian waters.In the report there is a pic of the vessel,it is huge and could easily be ,also involved in espionage activities masquerading as an anti-piracy vessel.Here are some thoughts.Advanfort is a privately held co. whose true ownership is unknown.It appears to be a maritime version of the infamous Blackwater outfit.
Stocked with arms and ammo,the vessel could've been involved in a Purulia type of operation,gun-running on the sly,offloading weapons to smaller boats,just as was done during the Eelam War were the LTTE's Sea Tigers would offload arms from larger merchant ships.If such was the intention,who were the intended recipients?
1.With a strong desire to unseat the Rajapakse regime,arms to LTTE cadre on the eve of the CHOGM summit for them to conduct terror attacks disrupting the summit is a major possibility.In fact the GOSL has removed all the security apparatus in Colombo and there are no longer security walls,etc., for police stations and governmental buildings.This is an obvious suspicion.
2.Arms meant for entities in South India.This is a very worrying thought.Elections are due shortly and we have just seen the arrest of key Islamist fundamentals of the so-called IM,a Paki led terror outfit operating within India.The ISI is very active within Sri Lanka and the ISI has a very long history of collaborating with diverse US intel agencies all over the sub-continent in joint ops,David Headley/Gilani being a prime example.The resurgence of pro-LTTE Tamil fringe politicos has been noted recently.It is not a coincidence,despite the Lankan Tamils of the north taking to the "ballot" eschewing the "bullet",where a former judge of the SC is now the CM and who took his oath from the Lankan president to prove the credentials of the Tamils that they have given up demands for a separate state.This is anathema to the outside powers,vested interests who wanted to split the island and control the sub-continent from the south using the LTTE as proxies.
3.Arms meant to conduct sabotage of key installations in S.India such as the KKM N-plant.We know how the anti-Nuclear demos were orchestrated by outside vested interests.With the northern and western borders and coastline under stricter surveillance,the soft underbelly of the south coast appears to be a favoured new route.IM operatives have been found to have been hiding and operate out of southern cities like Madurai.Just a few hours away from the coast.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 102304.cms
CHENNAI: India has detained an armed ship operated by a US maritime security company and the 35 people on board for failing to produce papers authorizing it to carry weapons and ammunition in Indian waters, the coast guard said on Sunday.
Coast Guard Commandant Anand Kumar said the ship was stopped on Friday and was being held in the southern port of Tuticorin along with its 10 crew and 25 armed security guards until required documentation is submitted.
The crew and security guards included British, Estonian, Indian and Ukrainian nationals, Kumar said.
The southern tip of India is close to major trading routes from Asia to Europe. Many cargo ships now travel with armed guards to deter pirates. Sri Lanka, close to Tuticorin, is a popular boarding point for private armed guards.
"At the moment the documents are still awaited," Kumar told Reuters. "We have to see how valid are the documents that they do produce towards their entry into Indian waters and carrying arms and ammunitions."
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Seaman Guard Ohio belongs to Virginia-based AdvanFort, a maritime security firm that specializes in anti-piracy operations. AdvanFort and the US consulate in Chennai were not immediately available for comment.
Kumar said the ship was approached and detained on Friday night. He said Indian authorities had been assured they would receive documentation within an hour of the detention, but that 24 hours later the ship's master had still not produced them.
In February last year, two Indian fishermen were allegedly shot dead by two Italian marines serving as security guards on an Italian-flagged oil tanker off the Kerala coast. The marines are currently being prosecuted in India.
The incident highlighted the loosely-regulated practice of placing private and military armed guards on ships for protection against pirate attacks.
Pirate attacks cost billions of dollars every year - as much as $5.7-6.1 billion in 2012, according to The Oceans Beyond Piracy advocacy group.
Incidentally, Advent's Washington office is a stone's throw away from Penn.Av. walking distance to the White House.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
The TN supremo,Empress JJ,is yet again ranting and raving against SL,wanting the Indian PM to boycott the entire summit.
However,she has yet to realise that the situ has changed dramatically,with the successful free and fair elections in the north of the island,where the northern Tamils have plumped for the TNA led by the highly respected former SC judge,now CM ,Justice Wigneswaran.He wants India and MMS to attend the summit and use the opportunity to lobby the heads present to ensure the genuine rights of the Lankan Tamils.So who should MMS and the GOI listen to? The Lankan Tamil CN or the TN CM?! The Lankan Tamil CM has given our PM the correct signal,as the TN CM is only interested in using the Lankan Tamils to secure votes,which with the elections over is fast becoming a lesser issue.
Now that there is an elected CM of the northern province in charge of the fortunes of the Lankan northern Tamils,vested interests in TN cannot perpetually stir the pot.They have little right to interfere when the Lankan Tamils have spoken.The spat between Lankan
and Indian fishermen is also growing.The media today say that 30+ Indian fishermen were picked up off Trinco.Now Trinco is on the east coast and not one of the traditional fishing grounds in the Palk Straits.TN fishermen have no right to poach in Lankan waters as much as foreign trawlers have the right to poach in Indian waters.I forsee a future "war" between Lankan Tamil fishermen and TN fishermen in the future,the Lankan Tamils who will receive support from the GOSL and SLN .
The GOI should be properly represented at the CHOGM summit,especially as it is in our backyard.If our pussy-cat PM cannot be there,then Pres.Pranabda should represent India.Either India takes a leading role and steers the CW into becoming a 21st century club of like-minded nations,or we run the risk of being marginalised by countries like Canada whose racial overtones are all too evident and our membership becomes irrelevant.The second factor is the inroad that the PRC has made in Lanka and is making by the day.India must speak loudly and carry its "stick" to the summit.The GOSL ruling family must be personally told in polite but no uncertain terms the consequences of welshing on its promises to Lankan Tamils and acute danger in turning the island into a Chinese province that India will NEVER allow. The hard truth must be underlined to Pakseraja and fly.,that India is just a few miles away,while China is many thousands further! The harsher truth is that our good doctor MMS,is incapable of uttering anything stronger than a feeble "miaow".This task is best left to our Pres.Pranabda,who would be the most appropriate man to represent the country at the CHOGM and also engage with pres.Rajapakse.
However,she has yet to realise that the situ has changed dramatically,with the successful free and fair elections in the north of the island,where the northern Tamils have plumped for the TNA led by the highly respected former SC judge,now CM ,Justice Wigneswaran.He wants India and MMS to attend the summit and use the opportunity to lobby the heads present to ensure the genuine rights of the Lankan Tamils.So who should MMS and the GOI listen to? The Lankan Tamil CN or the TN CM?! The Lankan Tamil CM has given our PM the correct signal,as the TN CM is only interested in using the Lankan Tamils to secure votes,which with the elections over is fast becoming a lesser issue.
Now that there is an elected CM of the northern province in charge of the fortunes of the Lankan northern Tamils,vested interests in TN cannot perpetually stir the pot.They have little right to interfere when the Lankan Tamils have spoken.The spat between Lankan
and Indian fishermen is also growing.The media today say that 30+ Indian fishermen were picked up off Trinco.Now Trinco is on the east coast and not one of the traditional fishing grounds in the Palk Straits.TN fishermen have no right to poach in Lankan waters as much as foreign trawlers have the right to poach in Indian waters.I forsee a future "war" between Lankan Tamil fishermen and TN fishermen in the future,the Lankan Tamils who will receive support from the GOSL and SLN .
The GOI should be properly represented at the CHOGM summit,especially as it is in our backyard.If our pussy-cat PM cannot be there,then Pres.Pranabda should represent India.Either India takes a leading role and steers the CW into becoming a 21st century club of like-minded nations,or we run the risk of being marginalised by countries like Canada whose racial overtones are all too evident and our membership becomes irrelevant.The second factor is the inroad that the PRC has made in Lanka and is making by the day.India must speak loudly and carry its "stick" to the summit.The GOSL ruling family must be personally told in polite but no uncertain terms the consequences of welshing on its promises to Lankan Tamils and acute danger in turning the island into a Chinese province that India will NEVER allow. The hard truth must be underlined to Pakseraja and fly.,that India is just a few miles away,while China is many thousands further! The harsher truth is that our good doctor MMS,is incapable of uttering anything stronger than a feeble "miaow".This task is best left to our Pres.Pranabda,who would be the most appropriate man to represent the country at the CHOGM and also engage with pres.Rajapakse.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tn-assembly-passes-resolution-asking-centre-to-boycott-chogm-in-sri-lanka/article5267791.ece
Let us not forget that Selvi Jayalalitha claimed that she would send IA to lanka to liberate eezham during 2009 election campaign,if she were voted to power.Again,she has taken the thunder out of DMKs campaign.Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution asking the Indian government to “completely boycott” the Commonwealth Head of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in November in Sri Lanka.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who moved the resolution, said even “token participation of Indian representatives” should not be allowed.
“India should immediately communicate its decision to the Sri Lankan government and take steps to suspend the country from the Commonwealth till it secures rights for the Tamils on par with the Sinhalese and their independence,” she said amid thumping of desk by the treasury benches.
Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled how she in the past took exception to India providing training to Sri Lankan Army personnel in India, the resolution passed in the Assembly seeking economic embargo against Sri Lanka, and her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take efforts to shift the venue of CHOGM from Sri Lanka to some other country.
She said her consistent efforts led to India putting an end to providing training to the Sri Lankan Army. The Assembly also wanted India to abstain from using the term “friendly nation” while making any reference to Sri Lanka.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said India should take a cue from the stand taken by the Canadian Prime Minister that he would not participate in the CHOGM meet on the ground that Sri Lanka had violated the basic principles of the Commonwealth and boycott the meet.
Last edited by svenkat on 24 Oct 2013 17:27, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-10-22/india/43286774_1_sri-lankan-tamils-chogm-tamil-national-alliance
Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and senior MP R Sampanthan on Tuesday said the Indian government should seriously consider the opinion of the leaders in Tamil Nadu over the country's participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in his country in November.
Many parties, including the AIADMK and the DMK, and students' organizations in the state have been urging the Centre to boycott CHOGM
Sampanthan was speaking to reporters at BJP's Tamil Nadu headquarters after an interaction with party leaders, including state president Pon Radhakrishnan, national secretary Ila Ganesan, state secretary Vanathi Srinivasan and others. Sampanthan said he sought the support of the BJP on the implementation of 13th amendment to Sri Lanka's constitution.
The India-backed 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution was carried out to ensure autonomy to the country's provinces.
Sampanthan alleged that the India-sponsored rehabilitation projects had not been properly implemented in Sri Lanka. "India's intervention is very much needed for a permanent solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. India should help for resettlement of Tamils," he said.
Asked about the divided opinion of the TNA leaders on India's participation at CHOGM, Sampanthan said they might be thinking that the participation of the leaders from India would help the cause of the Tamils. "But I don't consider that it is the wide opinion," he added. It might be recalled that in an exclusive interview to TOI a few days before his election as Northern Provincial Council chief minister, C V Wigneswaran said: "We must have the courage of conviction to tell the Sri Lankan government that it has done this and this and what does it got to say... It is better you say it at the CHOGM rather than keep away."
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Sampantham lost out to Wigneswaran in the CM stakes and is trying to embarrass him.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... nka/295505
Once again Swamy proves he is a moron. The way he targets D. Raja and uses the label "communists" to prove points, and the way he implies that tamilians think differently/or are lesser is disgusting. Sadly, BJP has taken him into its folds. I wish D.Raja had called Swamy a "CIA spy", that would have been tit for tat.
Barkha's entire premise is wrong - should a state influence foreign policy. I thought D.Raja did well, but because of their past policies and rhetoric, his arguments are easily shot down.
The Professor Nandita Krishna, was the most balanced and practical. She respect the sentiments and had a nuanced approach to the foreign policy. Swamy and Raja used ghisa-pita logic. Swamy is mighty pissed off at tamilians, and TN. He must have had bad experiences. He was with JJ against, then with her, and am not sure where is is now.
Once again Swamy proves he is a moron. The way he targets D. Raja and uses the label "communists" to prove points, and the way he implies that tamilians think differently/or are lesser is disgusting. Sadly, BJP has taken him into its folds. I wish D.Raja had called Swamy a "CIA spy", that would have been tit for tat.
Barkha's entire premise is wrong - should a state influence foreign policy. I thought D.Raja did well, but because of their past policies and rhetoric, his arguments are easily shot down.
The Professor Nandita Krishna, was the most balanced and practical. She respect the sentiments and had a nuanced approach to the foreign policy. Swamy and Raja used ghisa-pita logic. Swamy is mighty pissed off at tamilians, and TN. He must have had bad experiences. He was with JJ against, then with her, and am not sure where is is now.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
So Sulaiman-the-Cursed will go to the CHOGM.Whether he will be accompanied by a higher mortal,the Pres,Veep,or even the "pm",in the PM of his political career,is a moot point.The TN empress has been breathing fire and thunder against the GOSL in an attempt to score points before the elections-making it a huge election issue is her strategy of winning the max number of seats.The Lankan Tamils however want India to attend in strength to put pressure upon the GOSL in concert with the o9ther attending nations.It remains toi be seen whether the "foreign policy" of India can even travel beyond the borders and coastline of Tamilnadu,such is the shocking and shameful betrayal of the nation's birthright as a great power on the global stage.
They joked in the past that the extent of Shah Alam's empire was from "Dilli to Palam",and Bhadaur Shah the distance he could relieve himself from the ramparts of the Red Fort.The vastness of Man Mohan Singh's empire depends upon the length of his shadow, since he has become a shadow of his once respected reputation.
They joked in the past that the extent of Shah Alam's empire was from "Dilli to Palam",and Bhadaur Shah the distance he could relieve himself from the ramparts of the Red Fort.The vastness of Man Mohan Singh's empire depends upon the length of his shadow, since he has become a shadow of his once respected reputation.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
In another blow for the troubled Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) summit to be held in Colombo in November, Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party has said it would boycott the event.
“We will not take part in CHOGM. But our staying away does not mean we are protesting against the participating nations. We will be eager to meet them,” Mavai Senathirajah, a senior Tamil National Alliance (TNA) legislator said on Saturday.
TNA sources said that during the inaugural meeting of the northern provincial council, the TNA group had resolved that Chief Minister of the Tamil-dominated northern province C.V. Wigneswaran must shun the CHOGM in Colombo from November 15 to 17.
The Marxist JVP or the People’s Liberation Front General Secretary Tilwin Silva said the party did not want to identify with British imperialist projects.
The main opposition UNP dubbed the event an extravagant exercise which the country could ill afford.
“It is not a question of our stand if the summit should be hosted or not, but can the country afford it,” Tissa Attanayake, the UNP General Secretary said.
Sri Lanka is to take over the chair of the 54-nation bloc of former British colonies for the next two years from Australia.
Reacting to comments from opposition parties, senior Minister John Seneviratne said that anyone trying to upset CHOGM would be blocking the progress of the nation.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the only head of state to stay away from the summit citing Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in human rights and reconciliation after the end of the civil war in 2009.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is yet to take a decision on whether to attend the summit as political parties in Tamil Nadu are strongly opposed to India’s participation in the event, alleging that Sri Lanka has indulged in atrocities against ethnic Tamils during the conflict.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... epage=true
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Dated article from pee pee cee before polls in Northern SL
Sri Lanka poll: Tamil Chief minister Wigneswaran says peace possible
Sri Lanka poll: Tamil Chief minister Wigneswaran says peace possible
Asked what keeps him looking young for his age, the 74-year-old Canagasabapathy Viswalingam Wigneswaran says: "The secret of youthfulness may be that I was not involved in politics so far."
Now the former Supreme Court judge - who retired in 2004 - is heavily involved, but insists he was "pulled into politics" by his community rather than entering it.
Working as a judicial officer, he "never thought in terms of being Tamil or Sinhala, Burgher, English - there was no difference".
But he had to confront the ethnic issue in 1983 when he was a magistrate in Jaffna and conducted inquests into many Tamils killed in a national wave of anti-Tamil violence.
As a judge he presided in later cases involving suspected Tamil Tigers.
He sees the country's ethnic problem in this way: "Unfortunately there's a Sinhalese attitude to Tamils whichever government comes in.
"Sinhalese people have this as their only country. They feel insecure that there might be some joining together of Tamil Nadu [in India] and north-eastern Sri Lanka."
That insecurity, he says, has sometimes resulted in anti-Tamil brutality but his aim is to change minds on both sides.
"Make Sinhalese leaders understand our predicament and make Tamils feel sympathy to northern feelings," he says. "It might be possible to bring about peace in our country. I hope God will make it possible."
Intense controversy was caused by his recent remarks in praise of the dead Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
During the election campaign in Prabhakaran's home village, he called him "a great hero who fought for the freedom of the Tamil people".
Justice Wigneswaran says he meant it.
"This is the perception with regard to Prabhakaran as far as the Tamil people here are concerned. He may have been brutal but so is the government, those who are now in for a war crime inquiry internationally."
The judge was criticised for praising Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, shot dead in 2009 If the Sinhalese saw their war-time leaders as heroes, Tamils might conversely do the same.
Both sides had used questionable weapons and methods of assault, which might be revealed in future inquiries, Justice Wigneswaran says. Meanwhile, he himself favours non-violence, he adds.
The TNA's plans for self-determination in the north do not amount to a separatist agenda, the former judge insists.
Instead, the party is trying to put pre-existing laws into effect.
"We do not hate anybody, we do not have problems with anyone, we are only asking for our rights to exist by ourselves [as Tamils] recognising our own individuality."
A Colombo man who is now fully immersed in the concerns of the Tamils living in the north, C V Wigneswaran's own life, like that of many Sri Lankans, does not fit into a neat ethnic box.
A Colombo man who is now fully immersed in the concerns of the Tamils living in the north, C V Wigneswaran's own life, like that of many Sri Lankans, does not fit into a neat ethnic box.
A widower, both his sons are married to Sinhalese - one to the daughter of a cabinet minister, Vasudeva Nanayakkara.
He has two grand-daughters. With Mr Nanayakkara, who is a political leftist, "we pull along very well, we've no difficulties. He's a humanist, not a constricted human being."
Since retirement his main pursuits have been in the sphere of religion, specifically Hinduism, he says.
"I'm not sure there will be much time for it now," he adds with a grin.
Last edited by svenkat on 01 Nov 2013 12:29, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Sri Lankan issue being used by TN for political gains, says Justice CV Wigneswaran
Justice CV Wigneswaran, chief ministerial nominee of Sri Lanka's oppositional Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for the forthcoming northern province elections spoke to Padma Rao Sundarji.
Here's the exclusive interview:HT: President Mahinda Rajapaksa's decision to hold elections in Sri Lanka's Northern Province (NP) in September, for the first time in the history of the region rocked by 30 years of Asia's bloodiest civil war and despite opposition from Sinhala chauvinist coalition members is being touted as 'historic'. Equally so, your nomination by the hitherto fractious five parties of the oppositional Tamil National Alliance (TNA), as its candidate for chief minister. The jubilant Sri Lankan media is calling you the 'next Laxman Kadirgamar': a tough-talking, legal eagle who will not stand bullying by the Colombo coalition. And yet, you told a local channel that you "feel like a person who has jilted his lover and is getting married to the person his parents found for him". Why the despondency?
Justice CV Wigneswaran: I used the analogy to indicate that I am giving up something I have loved all my life to take on something I am obliged to do. My life has been quiet: I have been largely involved in religious activities and my profession. But for a long time, my friends, others lawyers, judges and my students were pushing me to enter politics.
The most difficult argument to counter was when they asked me why, if I took the advice of the Bhagwat Gita to perform one's duties seriously, was I shirking my responsibility? Then, the TNA's five component parties finally saw eye-to-eye over one single candidate. So I had to accept it.
Why this euphoria over me? So far it has been only about politicians. I suppose I bring a fresh air of perception. Politics has no meaning for me. I am also not interested in this post. I am just taking on a job. If it is possible to do it, I will, otherwise I'll just turn back and go away.
HT: The TNA has always been accused of supporting the ousted Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and a separate state for Tamils. More than 100,000 people were killed in the civil war. Indeed it is the reason why Sinhala chauvinists fear that an -almost certain - TNA victory in the NP in September could mean a resurgence of separatism. And yet, you say you want to achieve equal rights for Tamils within a united Sri Lanka. How can the two concepts go hand-in-hand ?
Wigneswaran: Up to about 1977, there was great passiveness and hopelessness in the Tamil community because they had tried all peaceful means. There was even a resolution by some Tamil leaders declaring that only God could help us. Then the younger ones took to arms.
The perplexed Tamil leadership tried to stop them, direct them. When our leaders, too, began to be killed, the leadership went dormant. Thereafter, there was only the gun and the barrel. Being party to violence was never the style of the elder Tamil leadership, so they had to bide their time and wait for the violence to abate. The LTTE were defeated in 2009. But the problems of Tamils remain unsolved, so the TNA is back in the fray.
HT: Why does the TNA want international opinion on the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka? Surely that is an internal matter ?
Wigneswaran: I primarily mean India, of course. When a wife is beaten up by a husband, it is not an internal affair. Neighbours have a duty to intervene. When we are precariously at the mercy of 150,000 occupational troops in the Northern Province and our rights are being affected, naturally we have to discuss this first with the government of Sri Lanka.
But if there is still no salutary effect, it is natural to then turn to our next-door neighbour. But if even India is not in a position to help because of her own trade, commerce and other strategic reasons, we would have to speak to others who are interested in human rights.
HT: But India doesn't allow anyone to give it advice on how to handle, say, the Kashmir issue or the Naxalite insurgency either. In fact, India is criticized all over Sri Lanka including in the NP for 'interference'. So why India?
Wigneswaran: Here's a counter-question: There are 150,000 Sri Lankan troops in NP - very close to your nuclear reactors in southern India. Chinese nationals have been seen in boats which went to the island of Kachhathivu with our navy.
Would these things not be considered a threat to India's security? Would you say: oh, those are Sri Lanka's internal matters? Look at the 13th amendment on devolution of power to the NP that was eked out by India and has already been trimmed and re-hashed in Colombo several times.
Currently, Sri Lanka's parliament is even discussing scrapping it altogether. India cannot be non-committal even if she wants to.
HT: As a legal luminary, you've had your differences with Mr. Rajapaksa - most recently, when you said that the impeachment of the former chief justice by his government was "illegal and flawed." How does this bode for your future relationship with the President ?
Wigneswaran: My comments on the impeachment were not a personal affront to the President but a reference to the legality of the move. In fact and after I made those remarks, his government looked at my views pragmatically, not personally and has now appealed to the Supreme Court to set aside that order. I don't think Mr Rajapaksa bears any antipathy towards me.
HT: You remarked that former LTTE cadres in Sri Lanka today have been declaring their allegiance to Mr Rajapaksa's government under duress. Are you implying that there is still a strong, latent feeling of separatism alive in sections of Sri Lankan Tamil society both within and outside Sri Lanka?
Wigneswaran. Not at all. These are people who had fought for separatism and were at the forefront of the war. Being under the control of the government for the past 2-3 years, I just wondered whether these were really their personal views.
I am not saying they still nurture separatism. Of the various sections of Tamil diaspora overseas, the ones who lost family members and all they had during the riots of 1983 are naturally embittered and still speak of a separate state. Our government must therefore be pragmatic and help us Tamils in the north and east look after ourselves and at the same time, be part and parcel of the national affairs of Sri Lanka.
If such conducive changes come about within Sri Lanka and things improve for those who are currently living under an occupational army, why would even that section of the Tamil diaspora - or anyone within the country - talk of separatism?
HT: One of the biggest bones of contention between members of Mr Rajapaksa's ruling coalition and the TNA in the debates over elections has been to allow - or not allow - police and land powers to be given to the provincial council of the NP, as envisaged by the 13th amendment engineered by India. But given that the NP has just emerged from a long and brutal conflict, how realistic is that expectation? Would you be willing to make a compromise, say, like a phased handing over of police and land powers by the central government in Colombo?
Wigneswaran: It should be the other way round. Police and land powers should be granted to the local people first. Certainly, the presence of the armed forces can then be phased out gradually. Four years have passed since the end of civil war, the Tigers are long gone, so why on earth is there still an occupational army in place?
There are tremendous problems being faced by the people there. Their lands have been taken over by the army, they are unable to get back to their original positions, they live in makeshift houses, there is cultural degradation. How can law and order be in the hands of people not indigenous to an area?
HT: What would be the most constructive role India - and Tamil Nadu politicians - could play in the 2 months before the provincial elections, one that would not ruffle the feathers of either Sinhala chauvinists in southern Sri Lanka or Tamil voters in the NP?
Wigneswaran: India can make sure that our army returns to its barracks, that election ID cards are not snatched away, mysterious bombs don't scare people away from voting. It can ensure a fair and clean election by placing observers there and convincing our government to see what the Tamils really want, instead of forcing the election to reflect a different idea.
It is natural for friends in Tamil Nadu to show emotions but the Sri Lankan issue is being used there for political gains. To them, I will only say this: You are welcome to give us any other kind of support but please allow us to work out our own solutions to our own problems within a united Sri Lanka.
Last edited by svenkat on 01 Nov 2013 12:30, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/sri-lanka-s-northern-region-needs-tamil-policemen-wigneswaran-113102500493_1.html
Tamil-dominated northern region needs Tamil-speaking policemen to serve the people, newly elected Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran said today.
"Policemen serving in the north with no Tamil language skills and cultural understanding was an annoyance for a long time," Wigneswaran said while speaking at the historic first session of the northern provincial council in Jaffna.
He said that policemen working in the north must be educated on the police powers stipulated under the 13th Amendment to the constitution.
Re: Sri Lanka - News and Discussion
Why and How Ex- SC Judge CV Wigneswaran Praised LTTE Leader Prabhakaran as a Great Hero
DBS Jeyaraj,a respected tamizh political analyst based in Toronto,a former correspondent of "Hindu" has written the article.
DBS Jeyaraj,a respected tamizh political analyst based in Toronto,a former correspondent of "Hindu" has written the article.
The nomination of Retired Supreme Court Judge Canagasabapathy Viswalingam Wigneswaran as Chief Ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council Polls by the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) was widely hailed when announced in July. This writer while outlining the process by which the “unanimous” selection was made had this to say in his weekly column published by “Daily Mirror” on July 27th 2013. “A veritable Pandora’s box of the “Eelam” variety seems to have been opened and one does feel that the Sitar strumming Wigneswaran may not be able to play the melody of his choice in the days to come. He may even find the strings on his instrument snapping if the current trend continues. All these developments and more will be scrutinised in greater detail in a forthcoming article”.
When Wigneswaran was nominated by the TNA the decision was viewed positively by progressive sections of society on either side of the Elephant pass isthmus and even beyond the borders of the pearl of the Indian ocean. The induction of a respected retired supreme court judge was expected to bring about a qualitative change and elevate the nature of politics in the country. The stature of provincial chief ministers now treated as captains of second elevens would immensely increase it was felt. Much was expected of a future provincial administration headed by Wigneswaran.
He was also perceived as a powerful magnet attracting the bulk of votes in Jaffna which values scholarship, educational qualifications and professional eminence at a high premium. Wigneswaran was also regarded as possessing the calibre to be on par with the Provincial governor and military authorities in the North during inevitable interactions.
More importantly the selection of Wigneswaran was welcomed to a very great extent by those desiring a just and fair resolution of the long festering Tamil national question. Wigneswaran though of Jaffna origin was born and bred in multi-ethnic Colombo . He had served as a magistrate and judge in many different parts of multi-ethnic Sri Lanka and earned the respect of litigants and lawyers.
This personal and professional background of Wigneswaran was seen as being ideal to build bridges between the estranged communities.In an unhealthy environment where devolution was depicted as a dirty word and the Provincial council portrayed as a potential stepping stone to separation, Wigneswaran seemed to be an effective counterpoint. It was felt that antipathy to greater devolution could be reduced or contained greatly by Wigneswaran becoming chief minister. It appeared that the spectre of Tamil Eelam via the Northern PC even if raised y some would fail to make an impact in a situation where Wigneswaran was chief minister. Also it was thought that the respected ex-judge would be able to enhance powers of the province through adroit negotiations with the President and Govt.
DISILLUSIONMENT
These salutary perceptions and positive expectations seemed perfectly valid at the time of Wigneswaran’s nomination and it’s early aftermath. Alas! As time progressed and the election campaign got underway, a process of disillusionment began setting in gradually. The political conduct of Wigneswaran after entering the hurly burly of electioneering has been disappointing to say the least. Instead of raising the standards of political campaigning by exemplary conduct he is now lowering himself into the cesspit of cheap politicking. The politicization of Wigneswaran seems to have transformed the eminent jurist into a third-grade politico who is simply playing to the gallery to garner more votes.
Tamil nationalist politics in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and within the global Tamil Diaspora continues to be under the shadow of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) notwithstanding the fact that the tigers are no more in Sri Lanka. Despite the LTTE being a non-entity in the Island, many Sri Lankan Tamil politicians of the Tamil National Alliance refuse to be liberated from the residual hold of the liberation tigers.
This reminds one of an oft related tale in Jaffna about the carter and the old woman. The carter saw an old woman walking on the road carrying a heavy basket on her head. Feeling sorry he asked her to sit behind in the cart. After a while he looked behind and found the old woman sitting at the back with her heavy basket yet on her head. Likewise many Tamil politicians still refuse to let go of the LTTE baggage.
This tendency has come to the fore after provincial polls were announced. The election campaign has opened up new vistas for freedom of expression and freedom of speech in the hitherto constricted political atmosphere. The newly created political space is being used, misused and abused by vested interests to revive secessionist notions in different forms and restore the lost image and reputation of the LTTE. As predicted by this writer in July and reiterated in the preliminary paragraph of this article “A veritable Pandora’s box of the ‘Eelam’ variety seems to have been opened”.