The priorities of the Rajapaksa regime are the Sri Lankan military prowess and the promotion of military strategies by the Sri Lankan security forces so valiantly displayed in the violent defeat of the LTTE.
The assertion by the SL government that “things are moving forward”, and that “it takes time to rebuild and stabilize a country after an almost 30-year war”, are true. Obviously, the aftermath and rebuilding of a country after decades of war are challenging and cannot be rushed.
Guilty by Association
Whether openly suggestive or cunningly subtle, the Sri Lankan government infers all Tamils as ‘guilty by association’ to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) as supporters or ‘terrorists’, for being Tamil. Abductions and brutal murders, which began years ago of anyone courageously speaking out against this totalitarian regime, are still the custom in Sri Lanka to this day.
August 10, 2010 marked the 200th day since the abduction of missing cartoonist and columnist Prageeth Ekneligoda, who was last seen around 8:30 p.m. on January 24, 2010. In an article posted August 10, 2010 by the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, “Where is Prageeth?”, it was reported that Mr. Ekneligoda had been involved in ‘left-wing’ politics since the 1970’s, and in 2009, he was avidly involved in the presidential election campaign endorsing former military commander, Sarath Fonseka.
A protest on August 10, on the 200th day of missing Prageeth Ekneligoda, supported by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and planned by the Alliance of Media Organizations in Sri Lanka, took place in Colombo demanding authorities to investigate the abduction.
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka are another exemplary embodiment as to the state of affairs in Sri Lanka. They are “an action group of journalists, writers, artists and human rights defenders in exile, who are campaigning for democracy, human rights and media freedom in Sri Lanka.”
Contradictions and Confiscations
On August 6, 2010, AsiaNews reported that on July 17, masked men, brandishing weapons, destroyed the homes of both Tamil and Sinhala residents in the northeastern coastal Sri Lankan villages of Panama and Ragamvila. The villagers, forced from their homes, are banned from coming back, while military and police now occupy the area.
In an article on the SL Ministry of Defence website, Minister of Media and Mass Communication Keheliya Rambukwella was asked, “It is reported that the resettled in the North are unhappy as their lands were forcibly grabbed. Is there truth in this allegation?”
Mr. Rambukwella answered, “I don't say it is true or not. What I am saying is that there is enough and more land in the North to settle them. They are now resettled in their own areas. The de-mining is still going on and people can be resettled only after the UN issues a certificate giving the assurance that the areas are free of mines.”
The truth is that displaced Tamils have nowhere to go, since the Rajapaksa regime is either driving them off the land, which they’ve inhabited since about 2nd century BC, or they prevent IDP’s (Internally Displaced Person), who are finally released from holding camps, from going back to their homelands. Aside from forcefully acquiring land belonging to Sri Lankan citizens to advance the country’s tourism industry, the government’s military is building its troops new bases and housing on land that belongs to the Tamils.
The facts are that many Tamils are homeless and jobless. As Rev. John Barr, who visited several IDP camps during his visit to Sri Lanka in June 2010, affirms in a personal post, “Tamils in Sri Lanka seeking asylum: A need no more?”, thousands are still detained in IDP camps. Food and water are in short supply, fundamental human needs are not met, and medical care is, for the most part, non-existent. The government will not consent to NGO’s free reign in helping the desperate and suffering IDP’s.
According to the government, the 11,000 alleged LTTE cadres apprehended since the war ended are being “rehabilitated” to come back into Sri Lanka’s society and live “normal” lives. However, NGO’s have not been permitted contact with the prisoners, much less were they able to take part in the so-called rehabilitation. Humanitarian organizations are also uncertain if these prisoners of war were in fact all LTTE suspects. Mr. Rambukwella claims that, “Over 3,000 have already been re-united with their families and are back in their normal lives. They have given up their arms struggle and have started living peacefully.”
United Nations Advisory War Crime Panel and International Law
TamilNet reported that the UN’s selected advisory war crime panel to assist with the investigation into war crimes, committed by both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan security forces, in particular during the final phase of the war in May 2009, met for the first time on July 19, 2010 in New York. It remains to be seen what the panel will accomplish, if anything, since Sri Lanka has publically denounced the UN's involvement and refuses to issue visas to the panel members.
Though the SL government’s actions are self-righteous and assured, the international community is nevertheless puzzled by the vehement refusal of an independently conducted nonpartisan, transparent investigation into the alleged war crimes. As it stands, the UN seems reticent to act. Tamils worldwide are perplexed at the UN’s indecision to advance in the face of undeniable human rights abuses before, during and after the war.
For the most part, the international community is turning a blind eye on the current crisis of human rights abuses occurring in Sri Lanka, which have obviously become the standard. This regime’s complete disregard for the integrity of law and justice is frightening and only too evident, as outlined in a 177-page report, “Post-War Justice In Sri Lanka: Rule Of Law, The Criminal Justice System, And Commissions Of Inquiry”, composed and written by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, dated January 2010, through the International Commission of Jurists – The Rule of Law for Human Rights organization.
Heike Winnig - Ms. Winnig is German, born in Bad Kreuznach, Rheinlandpfalz, Deutschland, and has lived in the United States since she was a child. ...
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