Defence Secretary orders Major Siriwardena to “take care of” Mangala and Anura

Sources from the Army said Defence Secretary GOtabhaya Rajapaksa has ordered one Major Siriwardena to “take care of” JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and SLFP (M) Wing Leader Mangala Samaraweera within one week. The Defence Secretary it is learnt has promised the Major a position in a Sri Lankan mission overseas if he successfully completes the task.

Sources also said the Defence Secretary has issued such a deadly directive in order to block efforts taken by Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Mangala Samaraweera to bring General Sarath Fonseka in to politics. Major Siriwardena meanwhile is reportedly responsible for several mysterious assassinations that had taken place around
Colombo in recent times.

Major Siriwardena heads one of the paramilitary groups under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and has currently sold his luxury residence on a seven acre land in Malabe at Rs. 2,000 lakhs and is preparing to leave the country to take over the position of Defence Advisor at a Sri Lankan mission in Europe.

Namal Rajapaksa’s monopoly in transport service places contractors of Uthuru Vasanthaya in difficulty

The transportation of goods on the A9 route to the north is monopolized by the President’s son Namal Rajapaksa and several close friends of the Rajapaksa family even after the government claimed the route was open for transporting goods.

The Defence Ministry it is learnt has issued licenses to 300 Lorries to transport goods through the A9 to the north and a lorry charges a sum of Rs. 124,000 for each trip to the north.

Contractors involved in the Uthuru Vasanthaya programme have been placed in great difficulty due to this move. Several attempts by these
contractors to meet with Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa have failed.

Basil had reportedly promised to enable these contractors easy road access to the north for them to transport goods for their respective projects when they were handed over the projects in the north.

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චුල්ල රාජපක්ස ජාතක කතා වස්තුව

යටගිය දවස බරණැස් නුවර මායාවති නම් රැජනක රාජ්‍ය කර වදාරන සමයෙහි ඊට නුදුරින් රාජපක්සදීපය නමින් සසිරිබර පුණ්‍යවන්ත රාජ්‍යයක් වූයේය. පද බිඳෙන අයුරින් මේ ද්වීපයේ නම දෙ අරුතක් ගති. ඒ කෙසේද යත්: රාජ-පක්ස-දීපය (The Land of Royal-Loyals) හා රාජ-පක්-සදීපය (The Good Land of Royal Dicks) ලෙසිනි. හුදී ජනයෝ, තම තම නැණ පමණින්, තම තම උදර පෝෂණයේ හා කුටුම්භ රක්ෂණයේ අභිමතාර්ථයන්ට පටහැණි නොවන ආකාරයෙන් මේ දෙ අරුතින් එකක් භාවිතා කළෝය.

එකල්හි මේ රාජ්‍යයේ රජකළ මහ රජ්ජුරුවන් වහන්සේ උත්තර දේශයෙහි වැසි අසූ කෙළක් පර සතුරු බල බිඳ විජයග්‍රහණයෙන් ඔද වැඩී අමන්දානන්දයට පත්ව සත් මසක් තිස්සේ ප්‍රීතෝත්සව පවත්වන්නාහුය. දන්සැල් පවත්වන්නාහුය. මඟ යන්නෝ සිහ ධජය ඔසවා වළක්වා ඔවුනට බලයෙන්ම ගිතෙල් මිශ්‍ර ඇඹුල් කිරිබත් කවන්නාහුය. පසල් දනව් වැසි මානවකයෝ දේශප්‍රේමයෙන් මඬනා ලද්දෝ සිහ ධජයෙන් අමුඩ ගසා, එම්බල දෙමළ කොල්ලනි, තොපිට මේ අප නිය පිටින් ගැසුවා පමණකැයි කේසර සිංහ නාද කොට මහත් වූ කෝලාහල කරන්නෝය. මහ රජාණෝද මා හා සම කළැකි අන් කවර නිරිඳකු සිංහබාහු පුත් විජයන්ගේ පටන් පහළ වී දැයි සිතන්නෝ, සිතාගත නොහී මම්ම මේ දෙරණට උතුම් වන්නෙම්ය සැක හැර දැන හැඳින, මහ සඟරුවනට ඇත් පැටවුන් පුදා බාර හාර ඔප්පුකොට, උන්ට විපක්ෂවූ රන්න පොනිල් නම් අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ අධෝමාර්ගයෙහි මහත් වූ ගැටැති මුගුරක් යවන්නාක් සේ වධ කොට, දැහැමෙන් සෙමෙන් රාජ්‍යය විචාරන්නහුය.

මෙසේ රාජ්‍ය කරන කල්හි මහ රජ්ජුරුවන් වහන්සේට මහත් වූ පැණයෙක් වන්නේය. ඒ කුමක්ද යත්: උන් වහන්සේගේ සෙනෙවිරත්හු ජනී ජනයා පෙළන්නෝය. මහ සෙනෙවි පුතුනට සතුරු වූ මානවකයන් පැහැර ගොස් තළා පෙළා දමන්නෝය. උන්ට පරුෂ වචනයෙන් සංග්‍රහ කරන්නෝය. තමන්ට නැති හිසක් උනට ඇති නියාව දැක ඊර්ෂ්‍යා පරවශව ඒ හිසට පොළු මුගුරින් පහර දෙන්නෝය. මහ සෙනෙවිරදුන් හා සාද වූ නගර ශෝභිනීන්ගේ බස් අසා අහිංසකයන් මරා මහ වීදියෙහි දමන්නෝය.

එකල්හි හුදී ජනයා මේ කවර නම් විපතෙක්දැයි සිතා තුමූම කිරිබත් කැවූ සෙනෙවිරදුන්ගේ මෑණියන් සිහිකොට නින්දාපරවශ කරන්නෝය. සෙනෙවිරත් පායයන් අභිමුඛයේ ඝෝෂා කරන්නෝය. අන්තර්ජාලයෙහි බොලොග ලියන අමනයෝ සෙනෙවිරදුන්ට කැට මුගුරු වලින් පහර දිය යුතුය බණන්නෝය. මේ සෙනෙවිරදුනට දණ්ඩන නොපණවන්නේ මන්දැයි මහරජතුමන්ගෙන් අසන්නෝය.

එකල්හි අප මහ රජ්ජුරුවෝ කෝපාග්නියෙන් දැවී, එම්බා ජනයිනි, මේ සෙනෙවිරත්හු මගේ ප්‍රාණ සම මිත්‍රයෝය. උහු මට මන්ත්‍රීශ්වරණයේදී නේක උපකාර කළාහුය. මගේ එදිරිවාදීන්ගේ පායන් ගිනිබත් කළෝය. උන්ගේ අතවැස්සන්ට පොළු මුගුරු වලින් පැටි කළ බිව් කිරි මුවින් වෑහෙන්නට තරම් වන සංග්‍රහ කළෝය. මුන් නොවේ නම් මතු දින මගේ සැඳැ පැස (වර්තමාන ව්‍යවහාරය අනුව ‘ඡන්ද පෙට්ටි’) පුරවා මගේ විජයග්‍රහණය සහතික කරන්නාහු තොපේ මෑණියන්දෑද කියා පෙරළා හුදී ජනයා විචාලෝය. මේ පුණ්‍යභූමියෙහි වසන්නෝ දෙවර්ගයෙකි. දේශප්‍රේමියෝ හෙවත් රාජප්‍රේමියෝය. නැතොත් දේශද්‍රොහියෝ හෙවත් රාජද්‍රෝහියෝය. තොප අයත් වන්නේ උන්ටද මුන්ටදැයි අඩි පොළොවේ ගසා, මේඝ ගර්ජනා කළෝය. හුදී ජනයෝද වික්‍රමතුංග මානවකයා ගිය මඟ යනු නොකැමැත්තෝ, නුඹ වහන්සේට යහපත් නම් අපට තව කවර නම් පුක්ඛාබාධයක් වේදැයි මුවින් නොබැණ ඉවසා වදාරන්නෝ, මහරජ්ජුරුවන් වහන්සේගේ මෑණියන් වහන්සේටද පුණ්‍යානුමෝදනා කොට, තම මුක පූට්ටුකර ගත්තෝය.

එතෙකින් නොනැවතුණු අප මහ රජ්ජුරුවන් වහන්සේ චුල්ල ධීවර තෙමේ දැල් පියා තෝරුන් මෝරුන් හැර හාල්මැස්සන් අල්වා ගන්නේ යම්සේද, එසේම මහ සෙනෙවිරදුන් හැර පියා, චුල්ල සෙනෙවියන් අල්ලාගෙන අධිකරණ ශාලාවට ගෙනැවිත් උන්ට මින් මතු මෙවන් අපරාධ නොකරැයි තරයේ අවවාද කොට, එමතු නොව උන්ට දණ්ඩෙන් පහර බැගින් දී නිදහස් කළාහුය. එදුටු තිස් තුන් කෝටියක් සම්‍යක් දෘෂ්ඨික දේවතා තෙමේ මතු නොව මරණින් මතු භූතාත්ම භාවයට පත්ව සිටින්නා වූ ප්‍රභාකරන් නම් වූ චණ්ඩ වු සොරදෙටුවාද චිත්ත ප්‍රීතියට පත්ව සාධුකාර දුන්නේය. එතෙකින් පසු යුක්තිය පසිඳලීම ගැන අප මහ රජ්ජුරුවන් වහන්සේගේ කීර්තිය දේශ දේශාන්තරයන්හි පතළේය.

හුදී ජන පහන් සංවේගය තකා රචිත චුල්ල රාජපක්ස ජාතක කතා වස්තුව මින් නිමියේය.

Thanks to Taboo. No one can't stop. Even you also can't.

SLA massacred civilians in bunkers - medical worker

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 September 2009, 08:57 GMT]
The advancing Sri Lanka Army massacred civilians by paving their bunkers with tanks, by throwing explosives inside the bunkers and by shooting the injured, says a medical worker who came out of Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal during the last days of the war, became incarcerated in a camp and now escaped the island. "Around a hundred thousand captured civilians herded to Mullaiththeevu were kept in rows within barbed wires, most of the time without water or food under the hot sun, and were bullied and ill treated with arrogance," he writes in a lengthy note that reached TamilNet this week. The note in Tamil was provided by the Norwegian Tamils Health Organisation (NTHO), urging TamilNet not to reveal the identity of the health worker for reasons of his security.

The medical worker was injured in a fire-bomb attack of the SLA on May 12th.

On alleged earlier firing on civilians, who in desperation tried to get into SLA controlled area, and on violence in recruitment during the last days that especially affected the families of LTTE heroes and fighters, the medical worker attributed responsibility to some elements long infiltrated into the LTTE, to work on behalf of Colombo. LTTE senior ranks were shaken by such treachery, he writes.

Further personal observations culled out from his notes follow:

Colombo particularly targeted hospitals and makeshift hospitals. When people moved away from Ki'linochchi, its hospital started functioning in the school building at Udaiyaar-kaddu. More than two thousand shells were fired on this building by the SLA.

Ki’linochchi to Tharmapuram, Vaddakkachchi, Visuvamadu, Udaiyaar-kaddu, Puthukkudiyiruppu – until reaching Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, at an average 50 civilians were killed every day in Sri Lankan attacks. 8000 were already killed before herded into Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal.

Medical work decimated and workers were shaken at the death of patients, nurses and workers.

When there were more than 300,000 people, Colombo sent food for only 30,000.

Important medicines such as anaesthetic drugs were not sent. Life-saving surgery without anaesthesia was a cursing ordeal for the patients as well as doctors.

Mothers and children standing in queue to receive infant milk food were targeted in the SL shell attacks. Without seeing no one could visualize the sorrow of the child that lost the mother and the mother who lost the child.

SLA shell attacks, guided by spy craft were targeted on queues for gruel also. Despite casualties the queue would form again.

While even gruel was scarce to people, lands they cultivated were harvested by the SLA.

At one stage, the LTTE leadership ordered food meant for combatants to be shared with civilians. The fighters fought only with gruel food and to the last LTTE served gruel to people.

Around 1000 waterholes were dug and several hundreds of toilets were made for civilians at the initiative of the LTTE. Water often mixed with sand was collected in shell-halves and was filtered by cloth.

There were no epidemics.

Pregnant mothers and infants bearing shell fragments came to makeshift hospitals.

These hospitals functioned 24 hours and wailing was always heard around them.

Many dead bodies couldn’t be buried in certain situations of SL attacks and hungry dogs dragged them.

Every time moving patents to ICRC vessel there will be targeted shelling from the SLA. A few hundreds taken for ICRC treatment died. How that happened was not known and whom to ask.

Even in emaciated conditions people donated blood for treatment and some of them later died of their own injuries.

More than a thousand people were killed on the day when the SLA entered into Maaththa’lan and Pokka’nai (20th April).

On May 15th and 16th the SLA entered and rampaged the pocket of land crowded with nearly a hundred thousand people.

I had to pass through at least around 300 bodies when I came out. Some were alive but couldn’t walk. I helped a few who could walk. Some held my feet when I tried to go away. What could I do?

There is a long list of people who were eliminated and disappeared after capture by the SLA. The army-controlled area was a place where murders took place in front of one’s eyes.

In Mullaiththeevu, a hundred thousand people made to stand in rows would all of a sudden be ordered to squat by the SL army. The soldiers would make sadistic laugh at seeing the melee of people falling on each other in the exercise.

Long poles were used to beat the people and to threaten them.

Old and young stood under hot sun for a long time, immensely suffering from thirst.

Mullaiththeevu to Vavuniyaa was scenery of disaster.

There were 20 to 25 people in a tent in the internment camp at Cheddiku’lam. Food was sometimes thrown from a vehicle.

Everyday in the internment camp around 30 people died.

It was a place of epidemics.

Thousands suffered of Chicken Pox, hundreds had brain fever, many elders died and some committed suicide.

The bribe to SL army for a person to come out was several hundred thousands of rupees.

In the last days of the war over 18,000 killed, more than 5,000 lost limbs, more than 7,000 seriously injured and several thousands suffered minor injuries. Several thousands suffer mental illnesses. More than a hundred medical workers- doctors, nurses and volunteers perished.

Knowledge and exercise of precaution reduced casualty. No one died of any epidemic under LTTE control.

Several thousands of Sinhala youth of the SLA, from poor families, regrettably laid down their life in the war.

The sadistic lust of Mahinda Rajapaksa is very astonishing - inflicting pain on ordinary civilians in every possible way, and then projecting that as forms of his soothing operation to the outside world.

The world may forget, but Tamils will never forget the true face of the civilisation of 21st century, the world has shown to them, writes the medical worker in his notes.

Obama extolled Sri Lanka Journalist given prison term, says NYT

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 September 2009, 04:09 GMT]
Noting that J.S. Tissainayagam was picked by President Obama on World Press Freedom Day as a “symbol of oppression of the media,” the New York Times (NYT) Tuesday reported that this editor of a crusading magazine in SriLanka was sentenced by the island’s court for writing critical articles on the Sri Lanka government’s offensive against Tamils. The NYT, quoting two prominent staffers at the Colombo-based think-tank Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), said that the sentence was a very serious blow [to journalism], that the law under which the sentence was passed “ is so vague that practically any speech could be prosecuted,” and that it is unacceptable that the Court would give maximum sentence to a journalist for simply doing his job.

Full text of the NYT article follows:

On World Press Freedom Day in May, President Obama held up J. S. Tissainayagam, the editor of a crusading magazine in Sri Lanka who has been jailed since March 2008, as a symbol of the oppression of the media.

On Monday, a judge in Sri Lanka sentenced Mr. Tissainayagam to 20 years of hard labor for violating the country’s tough antiterrorism laws by writing articles highly critical of a government military offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels who had controlled a large chunk of Sri Lanka’s north.

Mr. Tissainayagam, who is Tamil, was the editor of the now-defunct North Eastern Monthly magazine, and was accused of accepting money and other support from the Tigers. He was convicted under laws that give harsh sentences for offenses like using racially divisive language or promoting disharmony. These laws were enacted in response to the Tamil Tiger insurgency. The insurgents, members of the Hindu Tamil minority, sought a separate state from Sri Lanka’s Buddhist, Sinhalese majority. The government decisively defeated the Tigers in a bloody final battle on a strip of beach in northern Sri Lanka in May, ending one of Asia’s longest civil wars.

As is often the case with local journalists in conflict zones, Mr. Tissainayagam’s reporting reflected the prevailing point of view of the minority to which he belonged, but the government argued that his work went further.

“The Constitution itself gives freedom of press, but that doesn’t allow anybody to spread false information to spur ethnic violence,” Sudarshana DeSilva, the prosecutor, told the court, Reuters reported.

But rights advocates say that Mr. Tissainayagam’s sentence reflects the plight of Sri Lanka’s embattled press corps. At least seven journalists have been killed since 2007, including some singled out by the Tamil Tigers. Many more have fled the country.

“It is very serious blow,” said Sanjana Hattotuwa, editor of Groundviews, a citizen journalism Web site. “It sends a chilling message that the independent expression of opinion is no longer tolerated in Sri Lanka.”

Lucien Rajakarunanayake, spokesman for Sri Lanka’s president and a columnist, said that Mr. Tissainayagam had the right to appeal.

“The court has believed the evidence placed before it,” Mr. Rajakarunanayake said. “That he did accept money from a terrorist organization and did work that furthered the cause of terrorism in this country.”

The sentence is sure to increase pressure from the West on Sri Lanka’s government, which has been criticized for its handling of the last battle against the Tamil Tigers and the treatment of Tamils displaced by the war.

Mr. Tissainayagam’s lawyer told reporters that he planned to appeal. Though he confessed, he later said that the confession was given under duress. Legal experts said that the antiterrorism laws under which he was convicted violated the Constitution.

Asanga Welikala, a lawyer who has written on press freedom in Sri Lanka, said that the law was so vague that practically any speech could be prosecuted. “Totally unacceptable that we should have such a law, and even more unacceptable that a court of law should feel that this journalist should get the maximum possible sentence under that law for simply doing his job,” he said.

TamilNet

Lopsided sovereignty sentences Tissainayagam - journalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 August 2009, 19:50 GMT]
If Tissainayagam is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for 'inciting communal feelings' by editing, printing or distributing North Eastern Herald Monthly, what should be the punishment to Sarath Fonseka, who as commander of the armed forces publicly said Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese, mutilating the constitution and inciting genocide in the island, asks a senior journalist in Colombo. Unfortunately there are governments and diplomats who deceive humanity by projecting Sri Lanka as a ‘democratically elected government', besides multi national corporations, who don’t care freedom of people but grabbing opportunities in the island and there are also media such as The Hindu in India and a host of others in the international community praising Colombo on its ‘successes’ in ethnic totalitarianism, the journalist said.


“While on one hand verbally urging Colombo to curb impunity in human rights, the international community on the other hand rationalises the impunity of state terrorism and illegitimate sovereignty of Sri Lanka in the island."

"India and the powers diluting the national question in the island as minority issue will never address the crisis in the island but will only contribute to the escalation of state terrorism in all its forms. Tissainayagam case is a classic example,” the journalist commented.

If unchecked, the dangerous experiment of powers in the island, setting an ugly precedence in contemporary history, is going to be a serious challenge to the free world, the journalist further said.

The sentence to Tissainayagam is seen in the Tamil circles as a response of Colombo to the leak of a video clip allegedly showing extra-judicial killings of Sri Lanka army. The video clip was released last Tuesday by a group of Sinhala and Tamil journalists called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka.

Tamilnet

Shame: A disturbing inability to treat Tamils as fellow human beings

by Tisaranee Gunasekara

"You who live safe,
In your warm houses,
You who find, returning in the evening,
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider if this is a man…" - Primo Levi (If this is a Man)

The next cycle of the ‘Tamil problem’ has commenced unseen and unheeded, in the rain clogged internment camps up North.

The timing of the monsoon season was no secret, and yet hardly a thought was given by the authorities to its all too predictable consequences. The monsoons have barely begun and already most of the camps are deluged by rain water, placing every basic facility, from cooking to sanitation, beyond the reach of their wretched inmates.

The seasonal rains will cause floods in many parts of Sri Lanka; but unlike other affected citizens, the more than 250,000 Tamils in the Northern ‘welfare villages’ cannot leave their inundated places of residence for shelter and dry ground. Imprisoned by barbed wire fences and gun toting soldiers, the IDPs have no choice but to bear this latest horror just as they have borne every other calamity, with sullen, festering silence.

If the rains flooded the camps holding two hundred and fifty thousand Sinhala Buddhists imprisoned, depriving them of every basic facility, the South would not have ignored their suffering and the Southern media would not have permitted the government to deny their plight. Our collective silence in the face of the unfolding tragedy in the North indicates a disturbing inability to treat Tamils as fellow human beings, let alone citizens with equal rights.

Our collective failure to condemn this massive injustice that is being perpetrated in our name demonstrates that the mindset which enabled the Black July, not so much the evil of an active minority as the indifference of a silent majority, is alive and well in the South. We know and yet we chose to ignore. To paraphrase Bruno Bettelheim, ‘when hundreds of thousands are incarcerated, none but a guileless child remains innocent. We are all tainted by it. The rest of us are not innocent, but intent on keeping ourselves ignorant’.

The regime knows that the monsoons have turned the camps into a watery hell, and yet, it does nothing. Rhetorical flourishes apart, the Rajapakse administration never concerned itself with the safety and wellbeing of civilian Tamils in the North and the East during the war. When an occasional concession was made (such as ceasing/limiting the use of bombing and shelling during the last phase of the war), it was in response to Indian or international pressure. With the conclusive defeat of the LTTE, India and the world have lost whatever capacity they previously had to nudge the Rajapakses away from more extreme measures.

Armed with a near total sense of impunity, the regime is treating Tamils with a degree of injustice that was inconceivable just one year ago. After all, the thought of the entire population of Killinochchi and Mulaitivu districts being imprisoned in barbed wire enclosures, after the war, was unthinkable - until it became a fait accompli. Today it is an integral part of reality which many ignore, some justify and only a few oppose. The unthinkable has become normal with a degree of rapidity and a measure of completeness which bodes ill for the future. (The pledge to resettle the incarcerated IDPs in 180 days will meet the same fate as the promise to implement the 13th amendment in full as soon as possible and to explore ways of devolving even more power, made by President Rajapakse to the then Indian Foreign Minister, on January 27th this year - according to a statement tabled in Sri Lankan parliament by Deputy Foreign Minister, Hussein Bhaila).

Normalising Discrimination

The Northern internment camps are a leitmotiv of the Rajapakse approach to peace, just as child soldiers and suicide bombers were a leitmotiv of the Tiger approach to ‘national liberation’. The fact that almost the entire population of Killinochchi and Mullaitivu districts is being forcibly kept in open prisons is not a mere detail to be overlooked or brushed aside. It is an essential element, a formative factor of post-war Sri Lanka. The Northern camps would have been not just impossible but also inconceivable, without the retrogressive paradigmatic shift towards a Sinhala supremacist ethos. If any Tamil can be a Tiger, it makes sense to incarcerate every resident of those Northern districts once under LTTE control, in order to capture a few thousand Tigers.

If most Tamils are prone to Tiger sympathies, trying to win them over makes no sense; it is better to treat them with suspicion and cow them into obedience. An administration which sees a Tiger in almost any Tamil is likely to eschew a political solution to the ethnic problem (or even development) in favour of more soldiers and more weapons, as the best path to peace and stability. The statement by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Sarath Fonseka that the number of security forces personnel deployed in the Jaffna peninsula has been more than doubled from 15.000 to 35,000, post-war, makes sense in this politico-psychological context, as does the declaration by the Defence Secretary that military expenditure for 2010 will remain at 2009 levels (US$1.6 billion). The peace envisioned by the regime is not a peace based on consent but on force.

The country had a glimpse of what abusive authorities do to free Sinhalese in the South (not to mention baby elephants), when they think they can get away with it. If in the South power wielders feel free to abduct and kill until the media and the public intervene, what could not happen in the isolated Northern camps, to unfree Tamils, devoid of any rights, penned like animals, with no media to record their wrongs? The abductors of Nipuna Ramanayake and the killers of the two young men in Angulana are being brought to justice, because of incessant media criticisms and an outbreak of public protest.

But Southern media and Southern society are largely silent about the plight of the Northern displaced, because, where the Tamils are concerned, we seem to be thinking and acting sans a sense of proportion or a measure of humanity. Otherwise how can we not feel a sense of shame about the Northern internment camps or experience a measure of sympathy for the suffering of their inmates? Is our complaisance of rampant injustice and discrimination not a sign that we consent to a peace building premised not on acceptance and tolerance but on fear and force?

The local or international media does not have free access to the internment camps; consequently there are hardly any visuals or eye witness accounts of the human tragedy that is unfolding daily and hourly there, accounts which could have stirred our dormant collective conscience. Without such pictorial or verbal evidence, it is easy for most ordinary, decent Sinhalese to remain unmoved by the abomination that is being perpetrated in their name.

The Tamils outside the camps are too cowed to protest about the plight of their brethren since any such protest is likely to be labelled ‘terrorist’ and treated accordingly - imagine how an ‘Angulana type’ popular protest in Wellawatte would be reacted to by this administration. Given the Sinhala supremacist ethos currently dominant in state and society, being branded a Tiger is a permanent sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of every Tamil.

Two arguments are being used to justify the Northern internment camps. The ‘humanitarian’ argument is that the inmates cannot return to their villages until the de-mining process is complete. This argument does not hold water, as these people have been living in their villages, amidst the land mines, for a long time. Most of them would know where the land mines are and how to avoid them. In any case, the solution is to give the displaced a choice – so that those who want to return can do so, while those who are willing to wait for the de-mining to be complete can stay in the camps (plus permit those who can, to go to friends and relatives outside the camps).

Had such a choice been given, the camps would have truly become the welfare villages the state claims them to be, rather than the open prisons they actually are. The second, ‘national security’ argument is that the displaced have to be kept in camps until the Tigers hiding amidst them can be weeded out. To justify the incarceration of the innocent to catch the guilty, without even the lame excuse of an ongoing war, is an abhorrent act which has no place in a democracy or amongst civilised people, especially in the 21st Century. It violates the very essence of proportionality; it is as extreme as any Tiger crime. Injustices such as these breed resentment and hatred and pave the way for even bloodier conflicts.

As citizens of the de facto Tiger state, Tamils of Killinochchi and Mulaitivu had literally lived in the belly of the beast. They knew the brutal and oppressive reality of Eelam as the Diaspora or even the Colombo Tamils never could. With a little humanity, a little decency, they could have been turned into the most staunch bulwark against the rejuvenation of the LTTE or of Tamil separatism. Instead, we are treating them as enemy aliens, miring them in wretchedness and despair, thereby making them forget the past brutalities of the LTTE. What is being undermined in the Northern internment camps is not Tamil separatism but the idea and the hope of a common Sri Lankan future.

The Southern Dimension

Workers in several key areas, especially the CEB and the Colombo Port, are threatening trade union actions to win their demands, including promised pay hikes. The government has responded with an unequivocal no, saying that wage hikes for the public sector are impossible in 2010, given the high costs of war and the global economic crisis. Will the Sinhalese understand that there cannot be an economic peace dividend for the South without a political peace dividend for the North? If the North is to be treated as occupied territory, if hundreds of thousands of the Northern Tamils are to be kept imprisoned, resources that could have been spent on alleviating the economic burden of Southern masses will have to be spent on subduing the Northern masses. Without demilitarisation and democratisation in the North, there cannot be higher wages or lower prices, better working or living conditions in the South

The regime will need to stoke Sinhala fears about Tiger revival and Tamil expansionism in order to justify not only the treatment of Tamils as ‘Untermenschen’ but also to explain away the expansion of the armed forces and gargantuan military spending, in peace time. Consequently the threat posed by Tiger remnants here and abroad will have to be magnified; and political demands by Tamils for more devolution will have to be depicted as manifestations of separatism, and treated with corresponding harshness. The hair raising discovery by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) of an explosive laden van, about to be sent to Colombo on a suicide mission, was dismissed as ‘suspicious and questionable’ less than 24 hours later by the DIG of the Northern Province (and former STF Commandant) Nimal Lewke (incidentally the CCD arrested the van but released its driver!).

Last week, the newly appointed police spokesman was busy, revealing details about a plot to assassinate the Defense Secretary, declaring the reactivation of units, divisions and bureaus established to counter terrorism and related intelligence’ deactivated after the crushing of the LTTE… Are the Tigers, like Lazarus, coming to life miraculously, just three months after they were pronounced conclusively dead? Or is Sri Lanka about to experience her own version of ‘discovery of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs)’ (augmented by a new ‘Naxalite Plot’), in time for the parliamentary polls. Parliamentary polls from which the ruling family is expecting a two thirds majority, so that a Rajapakse Constitution can usher in a Rajapakse era. [Courtesy: The Island]

Liam Fox meets Mahinda Rajapakse, Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 August 2009, 11:35 GMT]
The government of United Kingdom (UK) is seriously involved in finding a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the early resettlement of the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced as well as ensuring a better future for them, Mr. Liam Fox, British Conservative Party parliamentarian, is reported to have told President Mahinda Rajapakse when he met the latter on Saturday.

Liam Fox also met the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan later the same day and conveyed the outcome of the talks of he had had with President Rajapakse, the sources said.

Liam Fox had told Mr.Sampanthan that he had briefed the President during his talks that the legitimate rights of Tamil people should be safeguarded and the IDPs now being held in Vavuniyaa camps should be resettled in their own villages without any delay and that UK is prepared to assist Sri Lanka in this regard.

Liam Fox assured R. Sampanthan that his party would contribute its maximum for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it would work hard to see Tamils live with dignity if it comes to power.

Meanwhile, R. Sampanthan is said to have briefed Liam Fox and sought his assistance to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to resettle all IDPs now languishing in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa without any further delay.

සිංහල ජනමාධ්‍ය පිළිබඳ පශ්චාත් මරණ පරීක්ෂණයක්

මෙම ලිපිය ‘දියැස’ 1998 සැප්-ඔක්. කලාපයේ පල වූවකි.
එහි ලියැවී ඇති දෑ අදටද සිහියට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය. එබැවින් අපි එය මෙහි පලකරමු.

අද පවතින යුද්ධයට පසුබිම් වූ හා යුද්ධය තුළ ම වර්ධනය වූ අවසන් දශකය තුළ සිදුවීම් සිංහල ජනමාධ්‍යන් හි වාර්තා වූ ආකාරයේ ඇති ජාතිවාදී හා කුහක පිළිවෙත හෙළිදරව් කිරීමට සිද්ධි වාචික ප්‍රවේශයක් ලෙසින් මෙම කටු සටහන ලියා තබමි. අපි අපේ හෘද සාක්ෂියේ ‍දෝෂාරෝපණයෙන් මිදීමට මෙසේ ලියා තබා අත පිහිදා ගන්නට කරන හීතල උත්සහයන් අතර තුරදී මිනිස් දූවිලි බවට පත් කෙරෙන දැවැන්ත ඛේදවාචකයක් අපෙන් ‘ඈත’ උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දිග හැරෙමින් පවතී. මෙහි දක්වා ඇති තෝරා ගත් සිද්ධි කීපයේ අපට වාර්තා නොවූ පසුබිම් ප්‍රවෘත්තිය බොහෝ සිදුවීම් වල පොදු සාරාංශයක් ලෙස ද මම අදහමි.

1.

මීට දශකයකටත් පෙර (1998 න් දශකයකටත් පෙර) ත්‍රීකුණාමලයේ හෝ වැලිඔය දී සාම්ප්‍රදායික දෙමළ ගම්මානවලින් පවුල් පිටින් පන්නා දමා, දකුණේ සිරගෙවල් තුළ සිටි සිංහල සිවිල් අපරාධකරුවන්ට පොදු සමාවක් දී එම ගම්මානවල පදිංචි කොට (ඔවුන් දැන සිටි කර්මාන්තයක් නොමැති විට) අවට දෙමළ ගම්මාන වලින් ම මංකොල්ලකන්නට ද පසුබිම සකසා ලූ නිධාන කථාව නොසලකා හැර සියල්ලේ අවසන් ඵලය වූ කෙන්ට් ෆාම් හා ඩොලර් ෆාම් නම් වූ ගම්මාන වෙත එල්ල වූ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. ප්‍රහාරය පමණක් වියුක්ත කොට දැක්වීම.

2.

ආණ්ඩුවේ හමුවදාව විසින් වැල්වැටිතුරෙයි දී දෙමළ ගම්මානයකට පහර දී සිවිල් වැසියන් සියයක් පමණ මරා දැමූ පසුබිම් කථාව නොමැතිව ඊට පලි ගැනීම වශයෙන් එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ ය අනුරාධපුර පූජා භූමියට එල්ල කළ ප්‍රහාරය පමණක් සිංහල සමාජයට සන්නිවේදනය කිරීම.

3.

උතුරේ නවාලි පල්ලියේ වූ අනාථ කදවුරට ගුවනින් එල්ල කළ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් එහි සිටි දමිළ ළමුන් හා මවුවර‍ෙුන් 224 ක් ඝාතනය කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය අමතක කොට මහනුවර දළදාවට පහරදීම පමණක් වාර්තා කිරීම.

4.

අගනුවර දී එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. ප්‍රහාරයෙන් මියගිය සිංහල සිවිල් වැසියන් පිළිබඳව පමණක් කම්පා වී, ගුවන් හමුදාවේ Y8 යානය බිම හෙළන තුරු එමඟින් උතුරට බැරල් බෝම්බ 13200 ක් හෙලූ බවත් ජීවිතාරක්ෂාව පතා අනාරක්ෂිතව මුහුදු යාත්‍රාවලින් ඉන්දියාව බලා පලා යත්දී නාවික හමුදා ප්‍රහාරයන්ගෙන් හා මුහුදු කුණාටු වලින් ජීවිත අහිමි වූ දහස් ගණනක් දෙමළ වැසියන් ගේ ඛේදවාචකය සිංහල සමාජය නොදන්නා බව වාර්තා නොවීම.

අවසන් විග්‍රහයේ දී, ගෞරවනීය පුරවැසිනයෙකු ලෙස මේ පොළොවේ ජීවත්වීමට දෙමළ ජනයාට ඇති අයිතිය නොපිළිගැනීම හා ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන් ප්‍රථමයෙන් කල සාමාකාමී හා ගාන්ධිවාදී උද්ඝෝෂණ එවකට පැවැති ආණ‍්ඩු හා ජාතිවාදඛීන් විසින් පොඩි පට්ටම් කරනු ලැබීමේ අනිවාර්්‍ය ඵලය ලෙසින් මේ සමස්තය ඊයේත්, අදත්, හෙටත් අපි අත් විඳිමු.

p-39
තාරක වරාපිටිය
‘දියැස’ සඟරාව / 1998 සැප්තැම්බර්-ඔක්තෝබර් කලාපය

Dolphin Van Scare in Vavuniya Camps

Displaced Tamil people are being daily abducted from camps in Vavuniya by people who come in vans, a displaced person told the BBC.
Speaking with BBC Sandeshaya from a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Vavuniya, the IDP said all the displaced try to hide in their tents as the 'Dolphin vans' arrive in the camps.
"We do not know what exactly happens as everybody hides as soon as they see the vans. But I know that two to three people are disappearing daily," he said.
Some IDPs may also be secretly leaving the camps by paying the authorities, he said.
"Some people have suddenly disappeared. I don't know whether they were abducted or left with the help of the authorities."
Meeting relatives
Those who have been already identified as LTTE operatives are sometimes helping the security officials to recognize those who have earlier supported the LTTE, according to the man.
The Tamil man who did not want to be identified due to fear for his safety said they are only allowed to meet relatives separated by a barbed wire fence.

"There are special tents outside the camps to meet the relatives. They are not allowed to touch anybody as both parties have to stay five metres away from the fence. If they need to hand over something, biscuits, fruits, etc, they have to throw it over the fence."
Three meals are provided in the camps, he said, but as the food is prepared for thousands of people at once, they are unpalatable.

When food is delivered the IDPs have to stay in queues for more than an hour, depending upon the camp, to get their quota of meals or dry food.
As the rainfall continues, he said, it is very difficult to live in the camps due to floodwaters and bad smell from the lavatories that have overflown.
The IDP says that it might even take about three years for the authorities to resettle all the displaced at the current pace.
Nearly 300,000 IDPs are held by the authorities in different camps in Vavuniya.

Media 'responsible' for police abuses

Victims of abuses and media activists have accused polarised media of partly responsible for the alleged serious abuses by the police and security forces.

The public in the south have reacted very angrily after recent incidents of two young people dying while in police custody in Angulana, Moratuwa and a brutal assault on a student in Malabe.
The wife and the son of the former director of Colombo Crime Division, and a group of police officers are accused of abducting and brutally assaulting Nipuna Ramanayake, a young IT student.

At least 18 police personnel and the family members of Senior Superintendant of Police (SSP) Vaas Gunawardena are currently detained in custody.

Sinhala language newspapers and electronic media have widely publicised the recent abuses by the police in the south.

“I don’t think it is the police to be accused,” Chandana Sirimalwatta, the editor of Lanka Sinhala weekly told BBC Sandeshaya.

“The government, including the head of state, has been giving out signals to the police to the effect that they won’t be punished for any abuse.”

However, many media activists are of the view that media, Sinhala nationalist newspapers in particular, are also responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the south.

'Terrorism' vs 'democracy'

“During the war between the government forces and the LTTE, nationalist Sinhala media spread the ideology that all Tamils are LTTE supporters,” says Rohitha Bashana Abeywardene.

Mr. Abeywardena is the spokesman for the Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), a recently formed exiled media workers' organisation.

“When five Tamil students were killed in January 2006, Sinhala media either tried not to report the incident or to portray the victims as LTTE supporters.”

Dr. Manoharan, father of one of the young victims in Trincomalee, agrees.

“I don’t think media in the south did justice to my son,” he told BBC Sinhala service.

Irida Lanka, a newspaper affiliated with Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has been very supportive of the government’s military offensive against the LTTE.
“Our newspaper adopted a policy of supporting the unitary state of Sri Lanka and we could not support any anti-democratic militancy,” says Mr. Sirimalwatta.

“And the security forces were carrying out operations to wipe out terrorism in this country,” he said.


Bindunuwewa massacre

That approach by the Sinhala media outlets, says Sunanda Deshapriya of Free Media Movement (FMM), encouraged security forces and the police to continue their abuses in the south.

“I am very happy that they report the incidents in the south," he said.

"But the same media did not bother to carry a detailed report by the human rights commission that clearly pointed the finger on the police when a group of young Tamils were massacred in Bindunuwewa."
26 young suspected former LTTE members were killed by a mob of a few hundred Sinhalese villagers armed with knives, rods and torches while the inmates were sleeping in Bindunuwewa detention centre in October 2004.
The Sri Lankan Army detachment that was posted there had been withdrawn the previous day, for unknown reasons.
After a years-long investigations and trials, all of the accused, including police officers, were acquitted and released.
Mr. Deshapriya says the attitude by the Sinhala media is a reflection of Tamil media coverage under the LTTE.
Tamil media
“During the ceasefire between the LTTE and the government, we carried out a research in the LTTE-controlled areas,” he said.
“Tamil newspapers were behaving as if no murder was carried out by the LTTE. While the Tamil media was accusing the government for every abuse, the Sinhala media were accusing the government for every murder and abduction.”
Dr. Manoharan says apart from the institutional nationalism, some journalists were intimidated by the parties not to report the truth in a conflict situation.
SS Raja, who accurately reported the killing of five Tamil students according to Dr. Manoharan, was gunned down within few weeks.
The medical doctor who has treated many Sinhala security force personnel in Trincomalee has since fled the country with other family members due to fear for their life.
“I am very sad to hear incidents of police abuses in the south. But if the media in the south accurately reported the killing in Trincomalee, these unfortunate incidents would have been avoided.”

- BBC

අපි කවුද?

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/08/idp_situation_in_this_noblest.html#more

Deepthi Kumara Gunerathne - What's Next in Sri Lanka

ඉදිරියේදී උතුරේ දැකගත හැක්කේ බැරැක්ක සමාජයක්

දීප්ති කුමාර ගුණරත්න ලංකා සමග දැක්වූ අදහස් : (ලංකා ජූනි 21, 2009)


යුද්ධය අවසන් බවට ආරක්ෂක ප්‍රධානීන් පසුගියදා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට නිල වශයෙන් දැනුම් දුන්නා. එල්ටීටීඊයත් අවසන් මොහොතේ අවි නිහ~ කරන බව ප්‍රකාශ කළා. ඒ අනුව දැන් තියෙන්නේ පශ්චාත් යුද සමාජයක්. මේ තත්වය ඔබ විග්‍රහ කරන්නේ කොහොමද?

ඒ අදහස මම පිළිගන්නේ නෑ. යුද්ධය අවසන් යැයි කීම නව ලිබරල්වාදී අදහසක්. නව ලිබරල්වාදයේ ප්‍රධාන අදහස තමයි ප්‍රශ්න, ගැටුම්, ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතා නැති සුසංසවාදී සමාජයක් ගොඩනැගීම. ඕන දෙයක් කතාවෙන් බහෙන් බේරා ගන්න, ඕන නැති දේවල් කරන්න යන්න එපා, ඕක තමයි නව ලිබරල්වාදී අදහස. මාක්ස්වාදියෙක් හැටියට මම කියන්නේ ඔය “පාශ්චාත් යුද සමාජය” කියන වචනය නව ලිබරල්වාදී අදහසක්. මම ඒක පැහැදිලි කරන්නම්. 1999 දී කවුද යුද්දෙ දිනුවෙ කියල කව්රු හරි ඇහැව්වොත් අපට ලැඛෙන උත්තරය එල්ටීටීඊය. 2009 දී කවුද දිනුවෙ කියල ඇහැව්වොත් ආණ්ඩුව. කවුරුත් 2019 ගැන අහන්නේ නෑ. හැමෝම හිතන්නේ “මේ දැන් “ (Now) තමයි සදාකාලික කියල. මේක ප්‍රශ්න කළ යුතුයි. උදාහරණයක් හැටියට නැපෝලියන් බොනපාට් එක වෙලාවක දිනුවා. නමුත් පස්සේ පැරදුණා. අපි හිතනවා දැන් එල්ටීටීඊය පරාදයි කියලා නමුත් කවුරුත් දන්නවද අනාගතේ මොනවා වෙයිද කියල. හේගල් කියන දාර්ශනිකයා කිව්වේ අනාගතයෙන් තමයි අතීතය අර්ථකථනය වෙන්නේ කියලා. කෙටියෙන් කියනවා නම් මේ පවතින්නේ පශ්චාත් යුද වාතාවරණයක් නෙවෙයි, මේ පවතින්නේ ප්‍රධාන මව් යුද්ධයකට පස්සෙ ඉදිරියේ දී එන්න නියමිත තවත් යුද්ධ ගණනාවකට පෙර පවතින අතරමැදි නිසසල කාලයක්.

ඔබ පවසන මේ “මව් යුද්ධයට “ පාත්‍ර වූ ප්‍රදේශවල ජනතාව විශාල ලෙස උන්හිටිතැන් නොමැති තත්වයකට පත් වෙලා. මේ අවතැන්වූවන්ගේ ගැටලූව ඔබ තේරුම් ගන්නේ කොහොමද? මෙය පශ්චාත් යුද ගැටලූවක් නෙමෙයිද?

මේ ප්‍රශ්නය ඔබේ පළමු ප්‍රශ්නයට සම්බන්ධයි. පළමුව කියන්න ඕනේ මේක සිවිල් යුද්ධයක්. එහෙම නැතුව රටවල් දෙකක් අතර ඇතිවුණු යුද්ධයක් නෙවෙයි. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් මේ වගේ යුද්ධ ජයග්‍රහණය කළා කියලාවත් කියන්නේ නෑ. ජයග්‍රහණය කරනවා කියන්නේ රටවල් අතර යුද්ධ. මේක සලකා තියෙන්නේ සිංහල ජාතිය විසින් දෙමළ ජාතිය පරාජය කළ විදිහටයි. දැන් ඔබ අහන දෙමළ මිනිසුන්ට මොකද වුණේ කියන ඔය ප්‍රශ්නය, භයානක ප්‍රශ්නයක්, මොකද එහෙම දෙයක් වුණේ නෑ කියලා තමයි දකුණේ හැමෝම කියන්නේ සහ හිතන්නේ. අපි හොඳට ම දන්න දෙයක් තමයි දෙමළ මිනිසාගේ පවුල, ගෙදර දොර, හරකබාන කිසි දෙයක් නෑනේ, දැන් අපට වුවමනා කරලා තියෙන්නේ, එහෙම දෙයක් වුණෑ නෑ වගේ ඒ සියල්ල අමතක කරලා අපේ ජොලියේ අපි ඉන්න එකනේ. මොකද ලිබලර් ධනවාදයට පාදඩ විදියටම සෙට් වෙච්ච සිංහල සමාජයක් තමයි දකුණේ තියෙන්නේ. අඩුම තරමේ කවුරුත් මේ පාදඩ සමාජයට ගලක්වත් ගහන්නේ නෑ. එච්චරට මේකට හැමෝම සෙට් වෙලා ඉන්නේ. ඉතින් මේ මිනස්සුන්ට අනුන්ගේ වද වේදනා අනන්මනන් ඕනෙ නෑනේ. ඒ නිසා ඔබේ ප්‍රශ්නය දෘශ්‍යමාන නෑ. අදෘශ්‍යමානයි. යට ගහල තියෙන්නේ. නමුත් ඇත්ත ගැටලූවක් තියෙනවා. ඊළඟට ඔබ මතු කරන දෙමළ ජනතාව යළි නගා සිටුවීම ඒ අයගේ ආර්ථීකය ගොඩනැගීම ආදී ගැටලූත් විසඳිය නොහැකි ගැටලූ විදිහටයි. මම අඳුනා ගන්නේ. මේ ආණ්ඩුවට මේ අයව නැවත පදිංචි කරන්න බෑ. එකම දෙයයි කරන්න පුළුවන්, බැරැක්කයක් හදන්න පුළුවන්. උතුරේ සමාජය වටේ තාප්පයක් ගහලා අර පලස්තීනයන්ගේ කිබිට්සු වගේ වෙන් කරපු පළාතක් හදන්න පුළුවන්. පූර්ණ ආමි ගැරිසන් එකක් ඒ කියන්නේ ඉදිරියේ දී දෙමළ සමාජය කියලා අපිට දකින්න වෙන්නේ හමුදා පාලනයට යටත් කරපු සිවිල් නොවන බැරැක්ක සමාජයක්. එහෙම නැතිව ඒ පළාත්වල සැබෑ සිවිල් පරිපාලනය හඳන්න මේ ආණ්ඩුවට බෑ. ඒ කියන්නේ මේ ගැටලූව විසඳන්න බෑ කියන එක නෙවෙයි. අනෙක් කාරණාව මේ ජනතාවට අවශ්‍ය කෑම බීම යටිතල පහසුකම් ආදිය පිළිබඳව ගැටලූවට, මේකට කෝටි ගණනක් මුදල් අවශ්‍යයි. මම දන්න විදිහට ආණ්ඩුවට ඒ ටික ලැඛෙන්නේ නෑ. ඒ නිසා මේ දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රශ්නය යනු අපේ රටේ නොවිසඳුණු ප්‍රශ්න අතරට එකතු වෙන තවත් එක් බරපතළ ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙසයි හඳුනා ගන්න වෙන්නෙ.

ඔබ නියෝජන කරන “පෙරදිග සුළං” සංවිධානය ජාතික ගැටලූවට විසඳුම ලෙස වරෙක මතු කළේ දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව සමඟ බලය ඛෙදා ගැනීම පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කළ යුතු බවත්, එහි දී එකඟතාවකට පැමිණෙන්නේ නම් එය ජනමත විචාරණයකට ලක් කළ යුතු බචත් සහ එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් නැවත යුද්ධ කළ යුතු බවත් අවසානයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර මැදිහත්වීමකින් ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳනු ඇති බවයි. ඒ අනුව දැන් යුද්ධ කර එක් පාර්ශ්වයක් තාවකාලිකව හෝ ජයගෙන තිඛෙනවා. එහෙනම් දැන් ජාතික ගැටලූව අවසන්ද? නැතිනම් එහි නව ස්වභාවය කවරාකාරද?

අතිශය වැදගත් ප්‍රශ්නයක්, මම කියන්නේ මේ යුද්ධයේ එක් අදියරක් අවසන් කරමින් ප්‍රභාකරන් එක දෙයක් කළා. ඒ තමයි මේ ප්‍රශ්නයට විසඳුම ලබා දීමේ කේන්ද්‍රය කොළඹ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් වෙන තැනකට මාරු කිරීම, දැන් ඒ කේන්ද්‍රය තියෙන්නේ වොෂින්ටන්වලයි, නවදිල්ලියෙයි, බීජිංවලයි. ඒ කියන්නේ දැන් මේ ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳන්න අනිවාර්යයෙන් තුන්වැනි පාර්ශ්වයක් අවශ්‍යයි. මේක දැන් මේ ආණ්ඩුවට විසඳන්න බෑ. කෙටියෙන් කිව්වොත් මගේ උත්තරය තමයි සිවිල් යුද්ධය මාරුවෙලා තියෙනවා විදේශයකට. ඒ කියන්නේ ජාතික ගැටලූව අවසන් නෑ. ඒක නව ආකාරයකට මාරු වෙලා තියෙනවා.

ලංකාවේ ජාතික ගැටලූව සමඟ විදේශීය සබඳතාවයන් හැමදාම පැවැතියා. ඔබ පවසන පරිදි ලංකාවේ මේ නව තත්ත්වයන් සමඟ ජාත්‍යන්තර දේශපාලනයේ හැසිරීම නමැති සාධකයක විග්‍රහ කළොත්?

ඔබ අහන ප්‍රශ්නයේ වැදගත්කම තමයි, සිංහල හෝ ඉංග්‍රීසි කිසිදු මාධ්‍යයක මේ සාධකය කතා කරන්නේ නැති එක හා ඒ අය මේ ගැන දන්නේ නැති එක. ඒ වගේම සිංහල මහජනයාගෙන් අති බහුතරයක් දෙනා මේ ගැන සොයා බලන්නෙත් නෑ. ඒ කියන්නේෙ ම්ක අදෘශ්‍යමානයි. හැබැයි මේ අදෘශ්‍යමාන යථාර්ථයෙන් තමයි ලංකාවේ අනාගතය තීන්දු වෙන්නේ.

මේ යුද්ධය සමඟ මුල ඉඳලා ම ඉන්දියාවේ සම්බන්ධයක් තිබුණා. අවසන් වෙලාවේ චීනය මැදිහත් වුණා. චීනය විශාල වශයෙන් ලංකා ආණ්ඩුවට ආයුධ ලබා දීලා මේ ප්‍රශ්නයට සම්බන්ධ වුණේ වෙන මොකකටවත් නෙවෙයි. හම්බන්තොට වරාය හරහා ඒ ගොල්ලන්ගේ අමුද්‍රව්‍ය හා තෙල් ගෙන යාම සඳහා පහසුකම් සපයා ගැනීමට. මේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය හඳුන්වලා තියෙන්නේ “මුතු ඇට අමුණන තංගුස” කියලා. එතකොට මේකට වරායවල් හත අටක් සම්බන්ධයි. පාකිස්තානයේ, බංග්ලාදේශයේ, ලංකාවේ, තායිලන්තයේ වියට්නාමයේ ආදී ලෙස රටවල් ගණනාවක වරායවල් මේකට සම්බන්ධයි. මේ මාර්ගය හරහා ඉතා ම ලාභදායී විදිහට අප්‍රිකාවෙන් අමුද්‍රව්‍යයත් මැදිපෙරදිගින් තෙලූත් චීනයට ලබා ගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා. පාකිස්ථානයේ හදන අලූත් වරාය නිසා ඉන්දියාවට බැරි වෙනවා කරච්චි හරහා චීන ගමන් මග බ්ලොක් කරන්න. චීනය මේ හරහා උත්සාහ කරන්නේ 2050 තමන් ලෝක බලතවතුන් වීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය නිසා තමන්ගේ වපසරියට මේ සියලූ ම රටවල් ඇතුළත් කරගන්න. එතකොට ඒගොල්ලෝ මේ යුද්දෙට මැදිහත් වුණේ ඒ නිසා, එහෙම නැතිව මහින්ද රාජපක‍ෂයට ආදරේ නිසා හරි, ලංකාව ඉන්දියන් සාගරේ මුතු ඇටේ හරි හින්දා නෙවෙයි.

හැබැයි දැන් මේ චීන මැදිහත් වීම ඇමෙරිකාවටත්, ඉන්දියාවටත් දැනිලා තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා දැන් ඇමෙරිකාවටත්, ඉන්දියාවටත් අවශ්‍ය වෙලා තියෙනවා එක්තරා ආකාරයකට ලංකාව කන්ට්‍රෝල් කරන්න. මෙතැනිදි බටහිර සහ ඇමෙරිකාව උත්සාහ කරන්නේ ආධාර සහ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික සබඳතා හරහි ලංකාව හිර කරන්නේ. ඉන්දියාව ඒකට විරුද්ධයි. ඉන්දියාව කියන්නේ එහෙම වුණොත් ලංකාවක් බුරුමය වගේ වෙයි කියලා. ඒ නිසා ඒගොල්ලො උත්සාහ කරන්නේ ආධාර ආදිය දීලා, ටිතල පහසුකම් හදලා, ඡන්ද තියලා, යම් විදිහක ෆෙඩරල් විසඳුමක් ඇති කරන්න. මීට වඩා විවෘත සමාජයක් හදන්න, දැන් ඒ ප්‍රෙෂර් එක නිසානේ අපේ රජතුමා බුරුමේ පැත්තේ යන්නේ. ඉතින් ඒ නිසා මම මේ කෙටියෙන් කිව්වේ මේ දිනවල සිට ඉදිරි කාලය දක්වා තිරය යට ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන ජාත්‍යන්තර දේශපාලන හැසිරීම ගැනයි. මේ යථාර්ථය තමයි ලංකාවේ අනාගතය තීරණය කරන්නේ.

ඔබ සඳහන් කළා යුද්ධයේ එක් අදිරයක් අවසන් කරමින් ප්‍රභාකරන් විසඳුමේ කේන්ද්‍රය වෙනස් කළ බව. එහෙම නම් එල්ටීටීඊයේ මීළඟ ප්‍රවේශය කවරාකාරද?

මම හිතන්නේ දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ දෙවන අදියර ආරම්භ වෙන්නේ ජාත්‍යන්තර තලයේ ඔබ අහල ඇති කොසොවෝ අරගලය. එය වසර 700ක් තරම් පැරණි එකක්. මම කියන්නේ එච්චර කාලයක් යන්නෑ. ඉදිරි වසර විස්ස අපිට ඉතාම තීරණාත්මකයි. මම කියන්නේ වට කරලා ඉඩම්කඩම් ඛෙදා හැරීමක් නෙමෙයි. ඛෙදුම්වාදයට මම එදත් විරුද්ධයි, අදත් විරුද්ධයි. ඛෙදුණොත් අපිටත් පලස්්තීනය වගේ නරකම තත්වයකටයි මුහුණ දෙන්න වෙන්නෙ. ඒ නිසා ඛෙදුම්වාදය නෙවෙයි, අපි දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව සමඟ දේශපාලන බලය ඛෙදාගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියකට යා යුතුයි අද වෙලා තියෙන විපර්යාසය තමයි. ඉදිරියේදී එවැනි බලය ඛෙදා ගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියක දී තෙවන පාර්ශ්වයක් මැදිහත් වෙන්න ඉඩකඩ හැදිලා තියෙන එක.

ඒ කියන්නේ මේ පාර අපිට ගැලවෙන්නෙ බෑ. ගේම් ගහන්න බෑ. හැමදාම සිංහල පාලකයෝ කළේ සිංහල ඡන්ද ගැනීම සඳහා දෙමළව පාවාදීමනේ. ඒ කියන්නේ රටේ ප්‍රශ්න කොච්චර තිබුණත් දෙමළව පෙන්නනවා මේ යකා තමයි අපිව විනාශ කරන්නෙ කියලා. ඒ නිසා ඌව විනාශ කරන්න අපිට ඡන්දෙ දෙන්න. මින් ඉදිරියට ඒකට ඉඩ ලැඛෙන්නේ නෑ.

ඒ නිසා මට හිතෙන්නේ ඉදිරියේ දී එවැනි බලය ඛෙදා ගැනීමේ කතිකාවක්. යම් ආකාරයකට නැවත අර්බුදකාරී තත්ත්වයක් නිර්මාණය කරනවා. මොකද මේ ආණ්ඩුව ආපු ජාතිවාදයේ දුර අනුව එහෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියකට යන්න දකුණේ ඉඩක් ලැඛෙන්නේ නෑ. ආණ්ඩුවේ පාර්ශ්වකරුවෝ කැමැති නෑ කිසිම ආකාරයක බලය ඛෙදා ගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියකට, ඒ නිසා දෙවැනි පාරත් මේක අසාර්ථක වෙනවා. ඒත් ඒ අසාර්ථක වෙන්නේ ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳීම සඳහා තෙවන පාර්ශ්වයකට ඉඩ විවර කර දීමෙනුයි.

දෘශ්‍යමානයේ නැති වුණත් දැන් සිංහල මිනිහයි, දෙමළ මිනිහයි වෙන් වෙලා ඉවරයි. ඒක ප්‍රභාකරන් කළේ. අර මහා විනාශය ඇතුළේ එයා ඒක කළා. දැන් අපිට සුන්දර සිහින දකින්න පුළුවන්. සින්දු කියන්න පුළුවන්. ඒත් දැන් අපි දෙගොල්ලන්ට එකට ඉන්න බෑ. ඒක තමා කටුක ඇත්ත.

ඒ වගේ ම ප්‍රභාකරන් තව ගොඩක් දේවල් නැති කළා. එකක් තමයි බුද්ධාගම නැති කළා. ඒ තමයි බුද්ධාගමට තිබුණා ලොකු කීර්තියක් ලෝකෙ. මේ ආගම වෛරය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන, මානව දයාව පිළිගත්ත, මිනිස්සු මැරුණම රතිඤ්ඤා පත්තු කරලා කිිරිබත් කන්නෙ නැති. ශ්‍රෙAෂ්ඨ මානව හිතවාදී බවක්. බුදුන් වහන්සේව සැලකුවේ එහෙම ශ්‍රෙAෂ්්‍ය නායකයෙක් ලෙස. ඒ නිසා ම තමයි මේ දහම හදාරන්න විදේශයන්වලින් මිනිස්සු මෙරටට ආවේ. නමුත් ඔවුන් දැන් දන්නවා ම්ලේච්ඡයෝ දැන් ඉන්නෙ මෙහෙ කියලා.

ඊළඟට කලාකාරයෝ, මාද්‍යවේදියෝ කියලා කියන්නේ මාර හදවතක් තියෙන මේ වගේ ගැටලූවක දී එක පාර්ශ්වයක් විතරක් ගන්නැති පොදු මනුෂ්‍යයාට සිදු වූ අතරවයන් ගැන කතා කරන කට්ටියක් කියලා අදහසක් තිබුණා නම් ඒකත් නැති කළා. මේ අයත් ම්ලේච්ඡයෝ කියලා ලෝකයටම හෙළි වුණා. ඊළඟට සුදු ජාතිකයෝ අපට ඉතිරි කරලා ගිය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී රාමුව, මේකත් දෙදරලා ගියා. එක්තරා ආකාරයකට දැන් අපි ඉන්නේ ෆැසිස්ට් ආකෘතියක. ඒ කියන්නේ අපි මේ යුද්ධෙ ඉවර කරන ගමන් අපේ ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික අයිතීනුත් ඉවර කරගෙන තියෙනවා. සිංහල මිනිහා තුළ තිබුණු ආගන්තුක සත්කාර ගුණය, අනෙකාට ගරු කිරීම ආදී ආචාරධර්ම පද්ධතියට සිංහල බෞද්ධ හැඟවුම් පද්ධතියම විනාශ වෙලා තියෙනවා. අපි නිරුවත් ලෙස ම්ලේච්ඡ වානරයෙක් බව ලෝකෙට හැඟවිලා තියෙනවා. 89 මේක ආවේ මිනී කන්නන්ගේ දේශය කියලා. දැන් එන්නේ අතිශය ම්ලේච්ඡ තත්ත්වයක් ලෙසයි. විදේශවල ඉන්න සිංහල අය මං මේ කියන දෙයත් එක්ක එකඟ වෙනවා ඇති. ඒකයි මං කියන්නේ අනාගතයේ දී දේශපාලන සංගායනාවක් තියලා අපේ වැරදි මෙනවාද, ඒ අයගේ වැරදි මොනවාද කියලා කතා බහ කරලා මේ ප්‍රශ්නය අපි මානුෂීයව විසඳගන්නේ නැත්නම් ඩාෆූර් වගේ තත්ත්වයක් ඇති වීම අනිවාර්යයි. අපි අද හිතනවා ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ ඛෙදුම්වාදයෙන් අපි බේරුණා කියලා. නමුත් අද උතුරු නැගෙනහිර ඉන්දියාවටත්, දකුණ චීනයටත් යටත්වෙලා තියෙනවා. මේක තමයි කටුක ඇත්ත, කවුරුත් කතා නොකරන ඇත්ත.

ප්‍රභාකරන් ඉවර කරපු අනිත් එක තමයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක‍ෂය. ඒකත් ඉවර කළා. මතක තියා ගන්න මහින්ද රාජපක‍ෂගෙන් පස්සෙ ශ්‍රී ලංකා එකත් නෑ. මගේ අදහසට අනුව ඊළඟට විපක‍ෂය බවට පත්වන්නේ ජවිපෙ මොකද නුදුරේදීම මේ ආණ්ඩුව බිඳ වැටුණයින් පස්සේ ආයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා එකක් කියලා දෙයක් ඉතිරි වෙන්නෙ නෑ. ඒක රාජපක‍ෂ චප්ප කරලා, අඩුම කුඩුම ඔක්කොමත් එක්ක වෙඩි ඛෙහෙත් දාලා පුපුරවලා තියෙන්නේ. ඒකට ආයෙ කිසි ම සමාජ පදනමක් නෑ. සුළු ජාතීන් මේක දිහා පැත්ත හැරිලා බලන්නෙ නෑ.

ඔබ කියනවා ඛෙදුම්වාදයට විරුද්ධ බවත්, ඒත් දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව සමඟ දේශපාලන බලය ඛෙදා ගත යුතු බවත්, මේ සඳහා වන ක්‍රමවේදය කුමක්ද? මේක ආණ්ඩුව යෝජනා කරන බලය ඛෙදාහැරීමේ යෝජනාවලියෙන් එය වෙනස් වන්නේ කෙලෙසද?

නෑ. මම කියන්නේ ඔය කියන, බලය ඛෙදීමේ සර්වපාක‍ෂික යෝජනා ගැන නෙමේ. මේකට තියෙන ක්‍රමවේදය ගැන මම කියනකොට ගොඩක් අය හිනාවෙනවා. නමුත් මෙයයි ක්‍රමවේදය, දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව ඉල්ලන දේ සහ අපිට දිය හැකි දේ පිළිබඳව මුලින් ම පත්‍රිකාවක් සකස් කරගත යුතුයි. ඒකට තිස්ස විතාරණලා හරියන්නේ නෑ. ඊට පස්සෙ ප්‍රධාන පක‍ෂ දෙක මේකට එකඟ විය යුතුයි. මොකද මේකට හැමෝම එකඟ කරගන්න බෑ. ජවිපෙ කොහොමත් එකඟ වෙන්නෑ. ඉන් පස්සේ මෙම පත්‍රිකාව ජනමත විචාරණයට ලක් කළ යුතුයි. මෙතැනදී පක‍ෂ අයටත්, විපක‍ෂ අයටත් සාධාරණ විදිහට අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ අවකාශයක් තිබිය යුතුයි. මොකද මම එහෙම කියන්නේ සාමාන්‍යයෙන් ලංකාවේ ජනමාද්‍ය ජාතිවාදීයි. නිකන් ජාතිවාදීන් නෙමේ නට නට ඉන්න ජාතිවාදීන් දේශපාලකයෝත් එහෙමයි. අනෙක් එක ලංකාවේ ජාතිවාදියෝ ජාතිවාදී වීමට අමතරව අම්බගේම්කාරයෝ. මම දන්නවා ඔය ජවිපෙන් ඉවත් වෙලා ගිය ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලකයෙකුගෙ බිරිඳක් ලොකු ලොකු කඩවලට සල්ලි පොලියට දෙනවා.

ආයෙමත් අර ප්‍රශ්නයට ආවොත්. සාධාරණ ජනමත විචාරණයකට ගිහිල්ලා, එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය බලලා තමයි අපිට ඉස්සහරට යන්න වෙන්නෙ. මට ඕන නම් ඒකෙ ප්‍රතිඵලයත් කියන්න පුළුවන්. ඒක නම් බහුතරයක් සිංහලයෝ මේකට විරුද්ධ වෙනවා. දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව පක‍ෂ වෙනවා. ඊට පස්සේ මොකද වෙන්නේ, පිටින් මැදිහත් වෙලා බලහත්කාරයෙන් කරනවා. මොකද අපේ රටේ බොහෝ විපර්යාස කරලා තියෙන්නේ ඇතළෙන් නෙවෙයි, එළියෙන්.

ඔබ දකින විදියට මෙම ගැටලූවට විසඳුම ඒකද?

නෑ.. මම දකින විදිහ නෙමෙයි, සිද්ධ වීමට නියමිත දේ මම කිව්වේ. මොකද ලෝකයේ විවිධ බල ව්‍යාපෘතිවල දී දේවල් සිදුවෙන්නේ කැමැත්තෙන් ම නෙමේ.

බලහත්කාරයත් තියෙනවා. ඒක මේ දේශපාලනයේ හැටි, නැතුව මගේ හැටි නෙමේ. මොකද දැන් ප්‍රශ්නෙ විසඳන්නේ ඔයයි - මමයි නෙමෙයි. ඒක කරන්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක‍ෂයි. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහයි, සෝනියා ගාන්ධියි, චීන කොමියුනිස්ට් පක‍ෂයයි, ඇමෙරිකාවේ ඔබාමායි, අපි ප්‍රශ්න විසඳනවා නම් ඒක මිට වඩා ගොඩක් වෙනස් වේවි.

ඔබ විග්‍රහ කළ විසඳුමකින් පස්සේ දකුණේ සමාජය ධනවාදයේ පාදඩකරණයට ලක් වුණා වගේ උතුරේ සමාජයටත් එහෙම වෙන්නෙ නැද්ද?

නෑ. අපිට එහෙම හිතන්න බෑ. මොකද දෙමළ සමාජයේ ජන විඥානය මෙහෙට වඩා ගොඩක් වෙනස්. බලන්නකෝ කවුද මේ දවස්වල ඔය විදිහට යුද්ධ කරන්නේ, මැරෙන්නේ, ඒ නිසා මම හිතන්නේ නැ ඔවුන් මෙහෙ තරම් පාදඩ විදිහට ධනවාදයට සෙට් වෙයි කියලා. මොකද එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් තුළ තියෙන මැතිවරණයකදී දැන් ඔය උඩින් ඉන්න ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දලා වගේ කට්ටිය නිකම්ම විසි වෙනවා. මම හිතන්නේ එල්ටීටීඊය ඊළඟ ප්‍රවේශය ලෙස මැතිවරණවලින් එහෙ බලය අල්ලනවා. ඔවුන්ට ඒ භූමිය වගේ ම සංස්කෘතිය විනාශ වෙන්න ඉඩ දෙන එකක් නෑ. මොකද සාමාන්‍ය ලෝකෙ ඉතිහාසය දෙස බැලූවත් මෙවැනි ජාතික විමුක්ති අරගලයික්න පසු බලයට එන පාලනයන්වල ස්වභාවයත් ඒකමයි. ඒ නිසා එල්ටීටීඊය ඒක රකියි කියලා මට හිතෙනවා.

මෙම යුද ජයග්‍රහණත් එක්ක ආණ්ඩුව උත්සාහ කරනවා මැතිවරණ සියල්ල පවත්වා තමන්ගේ බලය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියකට යන්න. එය අපේක‍ෂා කරන පරිදි ඉටුකර ගත හැකි වෙයි ද?

කොහොමත් බෑ. මොකද මේකනේ. මේ වගේ අයව නිර්මාණය කරපු අයම මේගොල්ලන්ව ගෙවල්වලට යවනවා. මේ පවුල් බළහවුල ඇතුළේ දැනටත් එක එකා කා කොටා ගන්නවා. ඉතින් මට හිතන්නේ ඊළඟ ඡන්දෙ දී ප්‍රතිඵල බලා ගන්න පුළුවන් වෙයි. හැබැයි සමහරු ගණන් හදන් ඉන්නවා මේක තව අවුරුදු 70ක්වත් විතර ඉස්සහරට යයි කියලා. මම කියන්නේ ඒක ෆැන්ටසියක්. මොකද මේ ආණ්ඩුව වටේ මධ්‍යම පාන්තික සෙට් එකක් ඉන්නවා. කොළඹ ගෙවල් හදාගෙන පවුල් තර කර ගෙන ළමයි ඇමෙරිකා යවලා උගන්වලා ස්ථාවරත්වයක් හදාගන්න ඕන කියලා හිතන් ඉන්නෙ. ඒ අය හදාගන්නවා ෆැන්ටසියක් අපෝ තව අවුරුදු 70ක්වත් මේක තියෙනවා කියලා.

ඒ අය ෆැන්ටසි හදාගත්තා කියමුකෝ. නමුත් මේගොල්ලෝ පවුල ගොඩනගනකම් මෛත්‍රීපාල, නිමල් සිරිපාල නිකන් ඉඳියිද? අනිත් එක යුද්දෙ දිනලා කියලා කට්ටිය හිතන නිසා දැන් වෙන වෙන අභ්‍යන්තර ගැටුම් නිර්මාණය වෙනවා. මොකද විමල් වීරවංශලා වගේ කට්ටියත් ඒක ඇතුළේ ඉන්නවානේ. ඉතින් මම කියන්නේ වැඩිකල් නෑ. ඊළඟ ඡන්දයේදීම බලයේ යම් වෙනසක් වෙයි.

Thanks Lanka & Koombiya

Future of Politics in Nothern Sri Lanka

lf Political Vacuum Continues T.N.A Will Overtake EPDP and PLOTE - Dayan Jayatilleka

-an interview with Thava Sajitharan

When asked 2 1/2 months ago about Sri Lankan government’s efforts to implement a political solution, you said: Which government could be accused of non-implementation a mere 10 days after the end of a 30-year-war? What is your position now?

Dayan Jayatilleka

At the very outset let me say that the views I express here are strictly my personal opinion. The results of the recently concluded municipal election in Jaffna and urban council election in Vavuniya clearly show that now is the time for a political solution. If there continues to be a political vacuum, the Tamil progressive moderates such as the EPDP and PLOTE will be weakened and overtaken by the TNA by the time of the parliamentary election next year. If the TNA sweeps the parliamentary election while continuing to uphold its stance of rejecting the 13th amendment as insufficient and calling for “internal self determination”, the island will present a picture of clear ethnic division, polarization and deadlock. Colombo will not have a truly constructive Tamil negotiating partner that the Sinhala public and the armed forces can trust. It will be difficult to have Northern Provincial Council election and devolve power to an NPC dominated by a TNA which rejects the 13th amendment as too little.

Conversely, it will be difficult to postpone such an election indefinitely, problematic to dissolve the Council after election is held, and unwise to abolish the NPC by scrapping the 13th amendment with no alternative acceptable to the Tamils. An ethnic zero-sum game will be the result. Negotiations will be sporadic and unsuccessful. There may be a political process but that will be open-ended, while the existential situation of the Tamil people deteriorates on the ground. This means that the Sri Lankan crisis needlessly becomes intractable once again. The only way to avoid such an impasse with its tragic consequences of a renewed cycle of conflict, this time non-military but worse, civic, is to reduce the alienation of the Tamil people of the North. This can be done by giving the people some degree of local autonomy and representation, while Colombo’s Tamil partners such as the EPDP still remain a viable political option. Now the time is running out and as the election results show, Tamil disaffection is growing rapidly.

Going by the views you expressed in the media, you expected people in Jaffna to endorse the present administration’s stance in the MC election...how do you read the outcomes of polls in Jaffna and Vavuniya?

I certainly did not expect the Jaffna people to endorse the present administration’s stance, and I have never written anything which could even remotely be interpreted to mean that. I did expect that Jaffna people would opt for Douglas Devananda, and this they did, which is quite significant, though they did not do so quite as clearly as I thought. That was not Douglas’ fault. If he had been allowed to contest under the Veena sign as he was when he was a minister of an earlier cabinet, he would have secured more votes. If he had caved into pressure and joined the SLFP, he may have lost.

Do you feel that the government has let you down by asking you to return before your term ended?

My first term of two years ended on May 31, 2009 and a MFA letter in January informed me that I will have to return. However, that term was extended to May 31, 2010, in a faxed document signed by the Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stated that H.E. the President had decided upon such an extension. This in turn was reversed by a ministry fax dated July 17th. I do feel the Government could have handled this better especially after the success at the UNHRC Special session. If I were transgressing official policy, I could have been directly informed through the usual channels which were utilized throughout my term. If I had persisted in such transgression I could have been asked for an explanation. I could have been brought down to Colombo for a consultation or briefing. None of these options were exercised.

In retrospect, how do you see the young Dayan of the 80s’ in contrast to the Dayan Jayatilleka, the ex-ambassador of the Sri Lankan state? During the 80s, you vociferously advocated the Leninist views on the State - Lenin held that the function of the State was to moderate class antagonisms, enforcing the rule of the oppressor. Having criticized Sri Lanka’s “bourgeois state” in the early 80s, you later on came to serve the very State whose “bourgeois” character doesn’t seem to have changed over all these years. Isn’t this self-contradictory?

More accurately it is the young Dayan of the 1970s and 80s, because I was first picked up for questioning by the Intelligence Services Division during the administration of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, when I had just sat for my A levels as a student at Aquinas University College Colombo, over my involvement with a revolutionary group called Miti Pahara (Hammer Blow). No, I do not think it is self-contradictory, except in a dialectical sense. In the first place, in both incarnations, “the state” and “state power” were central: I opposed the state in the first phase and defended and represented it in the second. There was logic to it. When socialism collapsed the world over, I shifted from the perspective of overthrowing the capitalist state for the purpose of ushering in an alternative and radically more advanced society, to the perspective of reforming the capitalist state and using it as instrument to reform society.

Thus, I changed from a revolutionary to a reformist; a communist to a social democrat. My support for president Premadasa and his reform policies reflected and were rooted in this change. There was another factor also: the nature of the barbaric violence that was unleashed by totalitarian movements such as the LTTE and the JVP. I quickly grasped that these movements represented what political philosopher Hannah Arendt called “political evil”, and that the state, however authoritarian and repressive, could be reformed while such Pol Potist or fascist movements had to be crushed. I grasped very rapidly, that when it was choice between the state and such totalitarian movements, it is the state - even the capitalist state — one must support. This was the choice, known as the “Popular Front”, correctly made in the 1930s and 40s by Marxists and leftwing intellectuals the world over, when faced with fascism. That was my choice too.

Now that the war is over and Prabhakaran destroyed, today I may be on the verge of a third shift; of taking my distance from the state and placing more emphasis on society and the public space. However, the underlying consistency of my life is that I have been a rebel with a sense of right and wrong as indicated by my consciousness and conscience, my intellect and spirit. I have also been an internationalist throughout.

The ideological shift you are referring to, doesn’t it evince what the Communists - your former comrades by your own admission - call ‘political opportunism’? Dialectical transformation, it is said, concerns the replacement of the old and reactionary by the rise and strengthening of the new. Instead of striving for the more progressive, you have, in your second incarnation, as you call it, sought to defend the existing system which, a Marxist dialectical scrutiny would identify as being democratic in appearance yet dictatorial in essence. How revolutionary or rebellious is that in a dialectical sense?

When accused of changing his position held from 1905, Lenin in 1917, quoted Goethe saying that, “theory is grey my friend, while the tree of life grows green forever.” He was drawing attention to the fact that theory must reflect and adjust to the changing reality in order to change it still further, while reality does not adjust to theory! The old is not necessarily always more reactionary than the new.

Nazi fascism and Pol Potism were new phenomena but these were far more dangerously reactionary than the old systems, which is why Marxists defended bourgeois democracy and its restoration, against fascism. The JVP’s Second Uprising and the LTTE were far more reactionary than what existed and exists, in that these would have led to a totalitarian, slave society. You would not have been able to write and publish as you do, even with the dangers that journalists face these days. Therefore, it was quite progressive to rebel for the preservation of existing limited democratic freedoms and space, against these neo-barbarians.

What is the difference between Wilsonian and Leninist right to self-determination, and how much relevance do these concepts have to the different nationalities of Sri Lanka?

The Leninist concept preceded by a few years the Wilsonian, but there are strong similarities. Both had an aspect that was strategic, even instrumental, in that they wanted to undermine the old empires by stimulating the revolt of captive nations and nationalities in the rear areas of these empires. I think, the Marxist contribution to the understanding of the National question is a rich one, and here, I mean, the debates within Marxism. No other school of thought has been so conceptually complex and highly evolved. However, the discussion on Sri Lanka has to take into account the differences in time and space. How does the national or nationalities question play out in a context that is not that of imperialism, but an independent state in the global South, that is struggling to protect its own sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity?

The Leninist formulation on national self determination is valid today only in the context of foreign, i.e. external occupation. This is not the case with Sri Lanka. Fidel Castro has clearly said that after the Cold War and the fall of the socialist camp, what is most important today is the national sovereignty, state sovereignty. Translated this means that any solution to the Sri Lankan national question must be within a single, united country. What has been validated, in my mind, is that stand of the old generation of Ceylonese Marxists who advocated regional autonomy.

You have been positive about India’s role in Sri Lanka and pushing for the implementation of the Indian-engineered 13th amendment. Given the fact that India itself is still grappling with too many issues, (having to deal with a fascist RSS, Kashmir, Gujarat, borders, etc.) what gives you the hope that the immediate neighbour could help Lanka a great deal? Don’t you think they should be told to mind their own business?

India could have played the role of a spoiler during this war too as in 1987, but did not. This was not only because it wanted to see the end of the Tigers, which it rightly did, but also because it was given to understand on the record and at the highest levels, that a fair political accommodation for the Tamils would ensue, based on the implementation of the 13th amendment. If we regard the 13th amendment as unacceptable in whole or part because it was Indian-engineered, then we should not have promised to implement it, and if we have made international commitments not only to India but also the UN, then we should not fight shy of implementing them.

We need to keep India on side because any small state such as ours, needs the support and solidarity of its neighbours to ward off pressures from far away; pressures stemming from the Tamil diaspora. True, we can tell India to mind its own business but then it may tell us to look after ourselves if we are in trouble, now that the Tigers are wiped out. Given the fact of 70 million Tamils next door in Tamil Nadu and the new trends of Indo-US convergence, US-China rapprochement, Indo-China cooperation and Indo-South African closeness, I am not sure this would serve Sri Lanka’s national and security interests.

The Chinese and the Indian economic miracles also give us potential engines of growth and prosperity. India is indeed grappling with conflicts at its far periphery, but has proved itself and been globally applauded as a model of the handling of diversity and the transforming of diversity into a source of celebration and strength for sustained takeoff. The Indian model is one of a secular state, despite the overwhelming preponderance of Hindus in its populace; a multiethnic military; and quasi-federal accommodation of its ethnic, regional and linguistic mosaic.

You have been accused of being a RAW agent. “Dayan’s record as a spokesperson for RAW, the lunatic end of Indian foreign policy-makers who have managed to alienate all her neighbours, is well known” says Gamini Seneviratne in a recent newspaper article. What is your response to this allegation?

If anyone had an allergy to and a nose for RAW agents, it was president Premadasa. I must be the only alleged RAW agent to have been a close and prominent supporter and defender of Premadasa who restored Sri Lanka’s sovereignty to the full, by sending off the IPKF even at the cost of an open polemic with Rajiv Gandhi! I was also the only minister of a provincial council to have resigned. I quit the North East PC in less than six months, having collected a salary for only a single month, and I did so having written a critical open letter to the chief minister, Vardarajaperumal, which appeared in every local newspaper.

This was a full year before the NEPC declared a UDI! As for Gamini Seneviratne, I had thought that distraught daddies enter the fray only to protect the fair name of their teenage daughters, not their adult sons who have been evaluated by independent outside observer-commentators as having lost a debate! I was writing in public and getting involved in polemics with those who were much older to me since my teens, and my father Mervyn de Silva would have disdained the thought of intervening, just as I would have been horrified if he had waded in to defend me and sing my praises!

What are your future plans?

Initially to return to my substantive post as senior lecturer at the University of Colombo. What I would really like to do is to write an analytical book, a length study on Sri Lanka’s Thirty Year War from a comparative international perspective, and tease out its lessons for governance policy and conflict theory.

COURTESY: LAKBIMA NEWS

Talibanization in Sri Lanka ?

Creeping Talibanization in Sri Lanka - Prof. David

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 August 2009, 10:13 GMT]
Noting several trends in Sri Lanka point to "early steps in [reaching for] totality of power," Prof Kumar David in a column in the weekend edition of "The Island" asserts that the cultural control exercised by the current Rajapakse regime are no different to those of "the Mullahs of Teheran and the iconoclastic Taliban fundamentalists." Prof. David summarizes the views of six lawyers expressed at a Lawyers’ Press Conference organised by the Platform for Freedom (PfF) early August where one notes that the scene is set for ever expanding authoritarianism as Sri Lanka's President flagrantly violates the "supreme law, the public [is] apathetic and the judiciary [is] powerless," and another points to the holding of 300,000 people "against their will, in defiance of local and international law" as "obscene infringement of the constitution."

Professor Kumar David

Full text of the article follows:

State bureaucrats, and the political hypocrites at whose behest they function, are telling us what films to watch, what music to listen to, what to drink and smoke, what animals to torture, and instructing our lawyers what clients they dare appear for. Have they gone mad? No not at all, they are perfectly sober and cynical. These are but early steps in assimilating a totality of power; better known as totalitarianism. Cultural control by the Mullahs of Teheran and the iconoclastic Taliban fundamentalists are forerunners of culture control as a means of exercising political power.

Historically, hypocritical prudery – a cover-up for vileness in the private lives of the power elite – go back to the Borgia Popes, and further back to the mad Caligula who made his horse a Senator (now don’t say its better than having jackasses in parliament and cabinet), or the paedophile emperor Tiberius who had children perform unspeakable abominations as he swam naked in the pool. Rodrigo Borgia was a Cardinal and later Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) and while in these offices he fathered a number of children by his mistress Vannozza Catanei. Conversely, the wise emperor Dharma Asoka never sought totalitarian control of the minds and freedoms of his people.

I do not need to dwell on corruption in public life in Sri Lanka, and profanity in private life, links to the drug underworld, and the drift to political absolutism. Understandably then, reactivation of the draconian press council is entirely for the purpose of controlling dissent.

Six lawyers speak out

"The erosion of the rule of law has been a process, continuing at a steadily worsening pace. First it was white vans and abductions but the majority took little note since the victims were a minority community, then it was journalists and editors, then lawyers came under threat, and now scores of common "criminals" are being bumped off by the police – who knows the truth; how many personal scores are being settled" said leading Kandy lawyer and LSSP PB member Lal Wijenayake speaking at a Lawyers’ Press Conference organised by the Platform for Freedom (PfF) at the National Library Auditorium on 4 August. Alleged criminals held in police custody are taken in handcuffs to a remote location, suddenly, as if by magic, hand grenades and T-56 assault rifles materialise in the hands of the criminal "forcing the police to gun him down in self-defence" like a dog. The lie is of Gobblesian proportions. Wijenayake thinks that between 50 and 70 may have been eliminated in cold blood. Off the record the police say summary extrajudicial execution is necessary because the legal process is too slow and criminals escape via loopholes in the law.

"Now that this trend has taken hold, remember nobody is safe; you may be the next in line and the reason may well be something you never foresaw" warns Wijenayake. A day after he spoke Nipuna Ramanayake a student at the Information Technology Institute was abducted, allegedly by the son of a Senior Superintendent of Police and taken to the SSP’s home where he was beaten mercilessly for several hours (Daily Mirror 6 August, front page). Then an attempt to force him to sign a false statement at the Crime Division office of the Dematatgoda police station mercifully misfired with the timely arrival of his parents. What does the IGP say? "No comment". What has the President done? No comment from me! Lal Wijenayake could well have added: ‘Not even your sons and daughters are safe any longer from uniformed thugs masquerading as officers of the law.’

Six lawyers spoke at the Press Conference which was a model of brevity and clarity. Each took seven or eight minutes and made an incisive presentation on topics related to creeping dictatorship. President’s Council Srinath Perera dealt with the threat published on the website of the Ministry of Defence against a team of lawyers. The case is a private plaint filed by the Secretary to the Defence Ministry, Gotabhaya Rajapakse (the President’s brother), against the Editor and owners of the Sunday Leader newspaper. The Ministry, in contempt of judicial process, published a statement describing the lawyers appearing for the defence as "traitors"!

In Perera’s view this amounts to three simultaneous blows aimed at demolishing the rule of law. Firstly it was a violation of the constitutional right of a citizen to a fair trial and representation by counsel; second it was an attack on the bar and on the ability of lawyers to work without intimidation. Third and most insidious, it is a warning to the judge hearing the case that he had better be careful - if the verdict goes against the Defence Secretary, the implication is clear; the judge has sided with national traitors. The sanctity of the courts is being flagrantly, openly and unashamedly violated on a never before seen scale by agencies of the Sri Lankan state.

The lawyers expressed their disappointment with the Bar Association which has been supine in the face of these threats. The public is largely apathetic to creeping dictatorship, still basking in the glory of war victory. Many professional bodies including the Bar Association are spineless, cowed down in fear of the Executive. The Vasudevas, firebrands of old, are now domesticated presidential lapdogs. These are sad and dangerous times for those who believe that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance". The all powerful executive does not care a damn: ‘We do as we damn well like, what the hell can any of you do about it!"

Chandra Kumarage, a lawyer with a pro-left (LSSP) and one time pro-PA background, described the long fight for human rights that had made this country, if not a model, at least an example of a society where the rule of law had some space. He dealt with the period when Mahinda Rajapakse, as a lawyer and an opposition politician, had been with human rights agitations and taken briefs to HR commissions overseas. Now all this was being reversed on Rajapakse’s watch as President of the Republic, said Kumarage.

Sudarshan Gunawardena, lawyer and PfF convenor, believes that despite the end of the war the government will not return democratic rights to the people; instead gross violations will continue and take new forms. The moral is clear; it is up to the people to come forward and boldly take back their rights, there is no other way. Nanny-state sponsored displays of priggishness, cultural fascism, threats to impose prohibition of alcohol by 2015, and religious leaders stooging political masters, all constitute a cultural assault to supplement the slide to totalitarianism.

Infringing common rights

J. C. Weliamuna, another PfF convenor, discussed the breakdown of the constitutional framework. In this lawyer’s view the functioning of the executive in defiance of the provisions of the 17-th Amendment is grossly illegal. When the President is in flagrant violation of the supreme law, the public apathetic and the judiciary powerless, the scene is set for ever expanding authoritarianism. Mercifully, however, a few sections of society are beginning to stir; artists and film makers are infuriated by the impending ban on adult’s only films soon to be imposed by the nanny state. The state cleverly convolutes adult themes with pornography to inflame gullible public opinion. The Taliban and the Mullahs of Teheran convolute artistic licence with paedophilia and lechery; that is the stock in trade of cultural fascists on the road to totalitarianism.

K. S. Ratnavale, who has appeared in many human rights related cases, turned the spotlight on the IDP camps calling them the largest concentration camps in the history of the world. I am not too sure whether they earn the title largest, but concentration camps they are. Between two and three hundred thousand people are held against their will, in defiance of local and international law, and in an obscene infringement of the constitution. Hundreds of thousands have been in illegal detention for three months, in effect hostages of a minority race, hostages of the state. As for their release, nothing that is said by any official source can be believed.

Xenophobia and the traitor image

Zimbabwe is an extreme case where xenophobia served to undermine human rights. There was a change from liberal democratic values to an authoritarian and xenophobic ideology; an attack on ‘Western style’ human rights values, and an attack on colonialism and imperialism for past atrocities. The critique found some popular support since it was linked to the aftermath of a racist regime. TV and the press were mobilised and opposition politicians, parties, journalists and newspaper editors were branded as traitors and paid the price.

Circumstances in Lanka are not yet as dreadful but there is a distinct turning away from human rights values, denigrating them as a Western post-colonial imposition. There is a not so subtle effort to conceal the universal applicability of human rights. Xenophobia is underlined by a turn in foreign policy that speaks approvingly of friendship with China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. The logic is that these governments provided arms and diplomatic support during the war while the West took a more nuanced view; proscribing the LTTE and freezing its assets and access to arms, but also making war crimes allegations and raising human rights concerns. This did not pan out well with the regime since the new friends did not raise such embarrassing concerns.

I do not object to the government turning to China and elsewhere in addition to the West for development aid, investment and markets as a part of a strategy of economic diversification. The problem is when this turn takes a twist in relation to human rights. Unfortunately there are no human rights traditions and independent civil society organisations in those countries with which the democratic left or bourgeois liberals can form links. Hence continuing emphasis on lines of contact with peoples and institutions tested in the human rights arena is necessary. The peoples’ movements and civil rights organisations in Western democracies have strengths that can be crucial allies in Lanka’s struggle against totalitarianism.

Thanks Tamilnet