July - September 2013

Issue No. 140 July - September 2013 Weliweriya victims join media organizations in protest In a show of unified opposition against the increased crackdown on freedom of expression, a broad based opposition alliance took to the streets of Fort on 14/08/2013, to protest against the government. Human Rights Review : July - September Institute of Human Rights 2 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Editorial 03 Current issues : No accountability - Killers roam free while victims cry for justice ♦ Criminal Politics: End this reign of terror 05 ♦ Noori villagers unravel 'reign of terror' 06 ♦ Police & political Horror & Terror ♦ In Deraniyagala – the terror was real 08 ♦ Governance, legitimacy and the ethics of violence 09 ♦ United in grief 10 ♦ Statue of Goddess Badhrakali destroyed ♦ Trinco 5 students murder suspects remanded 11 ♦ Committee reports, stupid 12 ♦ Khuram’s girlfriend was indeed raped ! 13 ♦ Grandpass Mosque attack: Govt. under pressure to nab culprits ♦ DCD found in four milk powder brands: Report 14 ♦ Withdrawn milk powder stored in warehouses 15 Media ♦ SAFMA and SAWM condemn attack on journalist 15 Situation in the North & East ♦ Fear of the South unfounded 16 ♦ Villagers of Bharathipuram have no deeds to lands 17 ♦ Kadiragamar’s son bemoans acquisition of his ancestral property The 13th Amendment & the Northern Provincial Council Election ♦ TNA candidates intimidated by Army 17 ♦ Choice between guns and butter 18 ♦ PCs won’t have police and land powers - MR 19 Black July ♦ Lessons from Black July for law and order and tolerance 19 ♦ The importance of remembering Black July 20 The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights visits Sri Lanka ♦ Civil society to meet Navi Pillay 21 ♦ From “Inconvenient truths” an article by Dilrukshi Handunnetti 22 ♦ Counter punch ! 23 Unit Reports : Rehabilitation Unit 26 Education Unit 27 Staff Information 28 Edited by Layout designed by Cover Page Pictures Leela Isaac Hashini Rajaratna Ceylon Today - 15/08/2013 Human Rights Review : July - September 2 Institute of Human Rights EDITORIAL 3 Are we heading towards authoritarianism? Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in her report has remarked, “I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant all embracing state is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction” Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu’s response to this comment had been that we are not heading in that direction but we are already there and undoubtedly this IS an authoritarian State. But the president claims he is no dictator. “A dictator is a ruler who does not conduct polls, but this government has restored democracy and taken steps to hold elections in the North. Therefore no one can accuse this government of being a dictatorship.” True, there have been many elections under this regime but have they been free or fair? When the president and his family have full control over the state machinery, the parliament, the judiciary and the media, and when all checks and balances like the independent commissions have been removed, is it not obvious that elections are held only to hoodwink the people and the international community. Morgan Tsvangerai, Robert Mugabe’s rival has called the recent elections in Zimbabwe “a huge farce and a sham that does not reflect the will of the people”. This is an allegation backed by countries like Britain, America and Australia. The ‘manthra’ that Mugabe uses is “I freed you from white colonialists. Do you want to face colonial oppression again? We all hate the whites. The only white man you can trust is a dead one”. This ‘manthra’ still seems to work. Our president uses more or less the same ’manthra’ substituting Tamil Tiger Terrorists for white colonialists. Many Sinhala nationalists do say “The only Tamil you can trust is a dead one”. Robert Mugabe is 89 years old and has been re elected for a seventh consecutive term. He has suppressed all opposition and Morgan Tsvangerai seems to have given up the fight because he knows that Mugabe who has ruled the country since independence in 1980 for 33 years has no intentions of relinquishing power ever. He has a super majority in parliament which could change the constitution according to the whims and fancies of the president. And if he were to die now the authoritarian state machinery he has setup would go on. For sometime now, our president has been visiting countries that have authoritarian rulers. Before meeting the UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay, he visited Alexander Lukashenko the despotic president of Belarus, perhaps to get his advice on how to deal with Navi Pillay. Belarus has been referred to as “one of the rare pariah states in continental Europe”. Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and wants to go on forever. He is reported to have amended the constitution to enhance presidential powers and as his second term was coming to an end, amended it again to remove the mandatory two term limit of the presidency. Perhaps it is very similar to the 18th Amendment to our constitution which was passed by our servile and opportunistic ministers and parlia- mentarians without a protest, in their own self interest. It handed over all power to one individual, the executive president who shares it only with his family members. In a similar fate that befell General Sarath Fonseka after he dared to contest the presidential elections in 2010, in Belarus too the rival presidential candidates were arrested tortured and jailed. It is not different in Zimbabwe. Are we taking lessons from these countries or are these countries follow- ing us? And are these not symptoms of authoritarianism? Prof. Alemayeu Mariam, who teaches political science at California state university, refers to such states as, ‘Thugtatorships’, where a small group of powerful people steal the country’s wealth. For instance Robert Mugabe and his cronies have sucked Zimbabwe dry, having stolen all the re- sources that should rightly belong to the people, including diamonds worth billions. “If democracy is govt. of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugocracy (thugtatorship) is a government of thieves, for thieves, by thieves. Simply stated a thugtatorship is rule by a gang of robbers and thieves (thugs) in designer suits”. Is Sri Lanka too moving towards a thugtatorship? (Continue on page 04) Human Rights Review : July - September 3 Institute of Human Rights EDITORIAL 4 (Continue from page 03) Many have commented on Navi Pillay’s visit to Sri Lanka and her reported remarks - many critical, some even descending to the level of abuse and insults. But there have been also articles praising her for her commitment and achievements. She has told the media that the most compelling memory that she would take back is “the warmth and hospitality of all Sri Lankans”. This in spite of the Wimal Weerawansas and Mervyn Silvas. But in her report she also adds, “Some media, ministers, blog- gers and various propagandists, in Sri Lanka have for several years now, on the basis of my Indian Tamil heritage described me as a tool of the LTTE. They have claimed I was in their pay the “Tamil Ti- gress in the UN”. This is not only wildly incorrect, it is deeply offensive. This type of abuse has reached an extraordinary crescendo during this past week, with at least three government ministers joining in”. Why do these nationalist propagandists call her a ‘Tigress’ biased in favour of the Tamil terrorists? It is due mainly to her Indian Tamil origin which the name Pillay reveals. This would have made Navi Pillay ponder over the abuse and insults the Tamils in the country must be facing due to their eth- nicity; and wonder whether the majority Sinhalese would ever trust the Tamils (of Indian origin or Sri Lankan) and share power with them. All Tamils seem to be considered terrorists at heart although the war is over. If they could call her, a South African and today the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who only came to Sri Lanka to do part of her work and that too on the government’s invitation, a Tamil Tigress, how would they tolerate or trust the actual relatives and friends of the dead LTTE, still living in the North and East? It is this fear and prejudice that makes the Sinhala politicians distrust the Tamil National Alliance. Therefore it is possible that the government will do everything within its power to defeat the TNA and bring the Northern Provincial council under its control. President’s defenders say, that the country’s popularly elected leader is being “transformed into a quasi–ceremonial President” and to the question “ who rules Sri Lanka?” the answer that is be- coming clear is the “so called national security or the defence apparatus”. But the all powerful Defence Secretary, is the president’s brother and they work together in the interest of the family. Whether it is military bureaucratic authoritarianism, or simply familial authoritarianism makes no difference to the people. Others quote “Scientific determinism’ that rules our world and governs our lives” to make Navi Pillay’s report seem meaningless. “If Navi Pillay’s observations indicate violations of human rights in Sri Lanka during the period of the internecine conflict, she ought to reflect that in an ultimate sense, we are not responsible for the evil or good that we do”. Supporting this view is Schopenhauer's saying, “ A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he wills”. The past the present and the future are all part of a “ Grand Design” (of Nature?) over which human beings have no control.

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