Editorial MAY 1998

 

DISINFORMATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

 

The important role of Information either in the enforcement of human rights or the abuse of those rights is not often visible. Effective manipulation of the sources of information could be achieved through various ways, through misinformation, disinformation or through censorship. Governments often resort to such practices in their attempt to cover up their violations of human rights. Sri Lanka is not only no exception to this, but is an outstanding example of a country that has succeeded in getting away with violations amounting to genocidal proportions merely by blocking information or by manipulating it.

 

On the one hand there is a war going on in parts of the country where no foreign correspondents are admitted. On the other hand, the Sri Lanka government is issuing handouts about the war to Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) correspondents working for international news agencies which the latter faithfully transmit to the outside world. By characterising the war as one against terrorism and not against Tamils, and making the world believe in it, human rights of non-combatant Tamil civilians are being trampled. A London based Human Rights group 'Peace Brigades International' has already announced it was pulling out of Sri Lanka because of restrictions placed on its dissemination of information regarding human rights in the country. The group has also complained about the way the government was hindering access to the east which has seen much of the fighting. Such acts constitute a censorhsip of information.

 

In trying to project the appointment of the Human Rights Commission as an expression of genuine concern over human rights the government has been less than sincere. The record of the Commission until now has been very poor. The report of the Special Rapporteur Mr. Bacre Waly N’diaye following his on-the-spot visit to Sri Lanka has set out several goals to the Commission, none of which is on the face of it, being pursued by the Commission. Among the goals he suggested are : Give a full public accounting of the scope and extent of the crimes committed in the name of the State and political and institutional factors that contributed to the impunity of the authors. Mr. N’diaye has placed his finger on two vital aspects: the lack of public accounting and the exemption from punishment of crimes committed. Even the US State Department in its country report on Sri Lanka for the year 1997 has commented: “In most cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances no progress was made or there was no investigation or prosecution at all”.

 

While there are enough reports emanating regarding the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and while enough lip service is being paid to the need to enforce human rights, there has been no tangible evidence to show any improvement. Because the State itself is a party to the violations, only a direct show of concern by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights could be the anwser. It is to be hoped that Sri Lanka as a country which was very much in the world's eye in recent times will receive close attention from the energetic High Commissioner Madame Mary Robinson.            (S. S.)

 

 

 

 

I FEEL SAD ABOUT SITUATION IN JAFFNA

-- UN Special Representative Mr. Olara Otunnu

 

Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict who is currently visiting Sri Lanka at the invitation of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, made contact with LTTE representatives in Thunukkai, the periphery of the Tiger stronghold in the Wanni region. The Weekend Express reliably understands that the meeting between the UN special representative and LTTE representatives lasted from 6 am to 2 pm on Thursday.

 

The UN Special representative who had visited Jaffna last Tuesday (5/5/98), also expressed his deep concern over the situation prevailing in Jaffna. On the way back to Colombo by LionAir on Tuesday morning he told us that permanent peace is an urgent need for the people of Jaffna. “I feel sad about the situation in Jaffna,” he said.

 

(Extracted from The Weekend Express of 9-10 May, 1998)

 

 

ARMY DRIVE TO TAP SCHOOLS FOR 15,000 SOLDIERS

 

The Sri Lankan Army will launch a campaign in school countrywide in a national level recruitment campaign to enlist 15,000 soldiers. Plans for this campaign are now being formulated by Army Headquarters. In terms of this plan, the Army is to seek the help of Grama Sevakas.

 

Army recruitment teams who will visit schools will, with the help of Audio/Visual aids, explain to students who plan to leave school, the need for them to enlist.

 

Attractive terms and facilities are to be provided to them.  Army sources said the enlistment of 15,000 additional soldiers would help offset a shortfall in the approved cadres due to desertions. This is in addition to deaths and also those injured being left out of battle. At present the number of deserters is estimated to be over 19,000.

 

(Sunday Times of  May 3, 1998 - Page 1 lead news)

 

 

 

 

 

Page 2/3

 

5561 CIVILIANS IN 56 DETENTION CENTRES

 

Nearly 5561 Tamil civilians from Valikamam East and North are held in fifty-six detention centres in different parts of Jaffna peninsula. They are refused permison to go to their homes on the pretext that there is lack of security.

 

Place                Total Detention            Total                            Total

                        Centres                        Detainees                     Families

 

Kopay              7                                  734                             194

Chankanai            13                                833                              229

Sandilipay           9                                  784                             221

Tellipalai             3                                  440                             127

Uduvil                8                                  907                             241

Pt. Pedro            7                                  1081                            253

Karavedy           2                                      70                              18

Jaffna                 2                                  366                                83

Maruthankerni   4                                   326                                82                    (REP)

 

 

 

 

GIRL STUDENT STRIPPED NAKED AND WHIPPED

 

A GCE (O.L.) student of Vincent Girls' High School in Batticaloa was stripped naked and whipped by the Sri Lankan army on March 17, claimed her partents. The girl 17, who did not want to be identified lives in the village of Palugamam with her parents. On March 17, the girl had gone to school around 2 p.m. in the afternoon to obtain her admission card for a GCE (O.L.) practical exam which was to be held the next day. And then she had gone to see a friend at Surya Lane near the Batticaloa hospital. Here, according to her account, she was picked up by the Sri Lankan army. She says that the soldiers were accompanied by members of a Tamil para-military group operating in Batticaloa with the army.

 

She was taken to a camp and was stripped naked and beaten with sticks. The girl has several scars and contusions on her back. She was released around 6 p.m. in the evening. (Hot Spring, March 1998)

 

 

 

RAPE WITNESS BURNT ALIVE

 

On April 14, Selvarasa Vasantha a mother, resident of Alvaar Lane in Point Pedro was raped by Sri Lankan Army soldiers inside the premises of the Kaarthika restaurant on Main Street - Point Pedro in the afternoon.

 

The rape was witnessed by the female owner of the restaurant. She had lodged a formal complaint over the rape with the Sri Lankan Police at Point Pedro.

 

On April 15, the soldiers who came to know about the complaint had threatened Vijayakumari and warned her to withdraw her complaint immediately.

 

However she had defied the soldiers' threats.

 

On April 16, two Sri Lankan army soldiers in civilian clothing had gone to the Kaarthika restaurant and after ordering tea, had forcibly covered Vijakumari’s head with a pot.

 

The soldiers had then poured petrol on her and had set her alight. When neighbours attempted to douse the fire the soldiers had forcibly prevented them from going near the burning woman. It was only forty five minutes later the neighbours were able to take Vijayakumari to the hospital. She died later.

 

The government authorites had claimed that Vijayakumari had committed suicide by setting herself on fire!                                     (INFO)

 

 

FOUR TEEN-AGERS DISAPPEARED IN JAFFNA

Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) has once again started abducting youths in Jaffna peninsula. Four teen-age boys from Santhana Mahavidyalayam at Nallur in Jaffna have been reported missing from 20 May 1998. According to eye witnesses, the boys had been arrested by the members of the EPDP.

 

The missing boys are : S. Sugirthan (14), L. Parthiban (17), S. Vivekanandan (17) and L. Sutharshan (17).

 

It is said that a volunteer of the St. John's Ambulance, Mr. Sajithkumar Bahvanathan who is also a member of the EPDP had abducted these boys.                                        (FOM)

 

 

ARBITRARY  ARREST CONTINUES

 

The Sri Lankan army stationed at Chankanai in Jaffna peninsula has arrested a young woman Muthuthamby Pratheepa (19). This arrest took place at her home in Chankanai on 22 May 98. Her father was seriouly assaulted by the army on an accusation that  their  family had provided meals to the LTTE. The family had denied the accusation.

 

Nearly twenty were arbitrarily arrested in Thenmaradchy and Valikamam during the month of April 98 : Messieurs. Kidnar Murugupillai of Avarangal, Yokarasa Kokularasa of Chundikuli,  Arumugam Sripalakrishnan of Chavakachcheri, Sellakandy Jemiluthasan, Nicholaspillai Jeganathan of Eluthumadduval, Theiventhiran Sujeevan, Amirthalingam Kanagalingam of Kalvayal, Srikanthan Srikanesan, Kulasekarampilla Sivakaran , Nagarasa Muthurarasam, Markandu Suventhiran of Kodikamam, Vanniasingam Karthikesu of Kudathanai,  Rayman Rajakulanathan of Meesalai, Kandiah Saurnan, Siattampalam Thankavelu of Mirusuvil, Thavarasan Menakumar, Sinnarasa Jegan of Nunavil, Selvan Ravinthiran, Sivaganam Savananthan of Puttur and Kunapalasingam of Thavady. 

 

During the first week of this month five civlians has been arbitarily arrested in Thenmarachy. Messieurs Sivakumar Kunapalasingam of Navasikulam, Ravichandran Selvan of Mirusuvil, Amirthalingam Kalaivanan of Kalvayal, Nadarajah Mohanakumar of Nunavil, Kanapathipillai and Sivakaran of Kachchai. All of them had been taken to the nearby army camp in Thenmarachy.                                                   (FOM)

PREGNANT WOMEN DEATHS

INCREASES IN JAFFNA

 

Recent statistics released by the Jaffna hospital indicates that Pregnant mothers in the Jaffna peninsula are dying in large numbers. The hospital analysis found that most of these deaths are due to lack of medicine and army atrocities.                         (INFO)

 

 

 

 

 

8000 WIDOWS IN JAFFNA

An independent study has revealed that 8000 young women have become widows during the last eight years in Jaffna district. These widows are the result of military attacks on Tamil civilians. Also many were reported as mentally affected.                       (TEL)

 

 

 

 

AIR STRIKE ON FISHERMEN

 

On Friday 22 May 98, Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir jets have bombed a fishing boat in the Mullaitivu sea. Two were killed on the spot and three others were seriously wounded.

 

The fishermen killed on the spot are  Mr. Ponnuthurai Karunakaran (22) and Thambiah Rasaratnam (24).

 

Mr. Chandrasekaram (33), Mr. R. Yogenthiran (27) of Uduppukkulam and Mr. P. Uthayakumar (32) of Kallappadu are the injured fishermen who were admitted to Punthukkudiyiruppu hospital in Mullativu.                                 (INFO)

 

 

ABANDONED BOMB INJURED THREE

Three civilians from Kiran in Batticaloa district were injured when an abandoned bomb exploded. Mr. Sinnavar (70), Mr. S. Kirupanathan (12), and Mr. Kuganathan (14) are the victims of this bomb blast. This bomb is believed to have been delibertely abandoned by the Sri Lankan army to kill the public in Kiran.                                                 (TEL)

 

 

Hospital Statistics

 

Statistics for the month of March 98 of the Akkarayan Hospital in Vanni.

Death                                              23

Patients Warded                            1033

Patients  treated in the OPD      24800 

Malaria  6258

Typhoid  412

Rabies         32

Birth                                              126                  (Source: Hospital authority)

 

 

WANNI TROOPS HIT BY INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Several infectious diseases are on the rise in the Wanni region specially in the areas which are currently being cleared by the army and in the uncleared areas, military sources in the North told ‘The Island’.

 

According to Health Department officials in Vavuniya malaria, viral flu and hepatitis are on the increase.

 

Military officials said that during the past six months there was an epidemic of hepatitis among the personnel who were engaged in 'Operation Jayasikurui’. This was mainly due to the dry weather which prevailed in the area since last year.

 

Because of shortage of personnel the army is forced to use the services of these sick men before they are finally recovered. According to army hospital sources most personnel who come to Colombo for treatment are treated partially and sent back before they are fit enough to return to the front, Sri Lankan hospital sources said.

 

However they pointed out that if the army was suffering then the LTTE should be suffering the same way or maybe even worse because they do not have the facilities and medicine to treat their cadres.                         (Extracted from “The Island” of 3/5/98)

 

 

 

REFUGEES WANT TO GO HOME

 

Indian returned 142 refugees who were held in Pesalai detention centre for more than five months had been brought to Tincomalee on 29 April 98. Presently, as there is no boat service between Trincomalee and Jaffna, they are once again held up in Trincomalee. Here, while  they are held at the Glass factory detention centre, they have staged a protest demanding the authorities to send them back to Jaffna peninsula. Their protest appeal had been handed over to the Divisional Secretary of Trincomalee.                             (INFO)

 

 

 

SHOOTING AT JAFFNA HOSPITAL

 

On 19 May 98, the Sri Lankan soldiers have opend fire into the Jaffna Teaching Hospital without any reason. In this shooting incident, a warded patient Vadivel Sivapalan (35) of Thirunalvelly had been seriously injured. This incident has created panic in the hospital surroundings. The hospital authorities have brought this matter to the notice of the military authority and they were replied that "it was a security exercise"!                                             (TGL)

 

SINHALA COLONISATION

The government sponsored Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil hertitage lands in Trincomalee and Pottuvil continues even today. The Sri Lankan security forces are instructed by the government to drive away the Tamils from the border areas of the Eastern province. The Sinhalese people are brought from the Southern part of Sri Lanka and settled in these areas with the help of the security forces. Also several villages in these areas have been renamed into Sinhalese names.                                                              (FOM)

 

 

SINHALESE HAVE NOWHERE TO GO

 

Recently there was a pro-Sinhalese demonstration in London organised by the Sri Lankan government calling the British government to help the Sinhalese to win the present war against the Tamil people! A leaflet distributed in this demonstration says : Sri Lanka, the island in the Indian ocean has been plagued by a bloody war in recent years. The main people responsible for bringing about such a tragic war are the Tamil people. This group of people are fighting for a separate state in the North and East of the country - to any intelligent person the thought of dividing such a small island is absurd! These Tamil people have India (Tamil Nadu state) to call their homeland as they originated from there unlike the Sinhalese the true citizens of Sri Lanka who have nowhere in the world but Sri Lanka to call their own.

 

 

INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC

Amnesty International

Amnesty International urged today that the government of Sri Lanka should promptly make public and disseminate widely the findings of an investigation into more than 700 "disappearances" reported in 1996 in Jaffna, and northeast Sri Lanka, which the investigation panel presented to President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday.

 

The Government of Sri Lanka should use this opportunity to clarify to the people of Sri Lanka the fate and whereabouts of those who have "disappeared" and to take firm and prompt action to ensure that perpetrators of such serious human rights violations as "disappearances" are not able to enjoy impunity.

 

(Extract of A/I Press release of 24 April 1998)

 

 

SRI LANKA GRANTS ONE DAY AMNESTY TO ARMY DESERTERS

Colombo, May 21 (Xinhua) - The Sri Lankan government has announced a one day amnesty for army deserters next Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. Of the 15,000 deserters 5,892 reported back for duty and subsequently 1,768 were arrested by the police.

 

 

 

 

 

Page 4

 

MILITARY, POLICE BLAMED FOR MISSING TAMIL CIVILIANS

 

Colombo, SRI LANKA (AP) - A presidential inquiry has blamed police and the military for the disappearance of 159 Tamil civilians in the war-torn northern Jaffna Peninsula, the president's office said.

 

The 5-member team, set up by President Chandrika Kumaratuga last year to probe into the cases of hundreds of missing Tamil civilians, submitted its findings Tuesday.

 

It recommended prosecution of policemen and soldiers in 25 cases. The number of suspects to be tried was not disclosed.

 

The investigators were three retired military officers, a former police officer and a bureaucrat.

 

The statement said 134 complaints would be investigated further to identify the soldiers and policemen responsible for the disappearance of Tamil people.

 

 

 

 

 

AMNESTY'S APPEAL ON DISAPPEARED CHILDREN

 

Amnesty International has sent an Urgent Appeal on disappeared Children of North-east of Sri Lanka. The appeal says that in recent years as a result of considerable pressure from relatives of the "disappeared", and local non-governmental organisations, investigations have been opened into "disappearances". Three presidential commissions set up in late 1994 recently completed investigations of "disappearances" reported since 1988. While some members of the security forces have been prosecuted for their part in "disappearing" children and adults, the proceedings have either not reached their conclusion or no resolution has  been passed in a court of law against those suspected to have perpetrated these grave human rights violations. It is hoped that the government will act on its promise to bring to justice those officials against whom there is strong evidence of involvement in "disappearances".

 

The government must make clear to state officials that they are bound in their duties to safeguard the rights of children, and that past, present and future violations of these rights will not go unpunished.

 

The AI requested the public to send appeals expressing concern to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Minister of Defence Anuruddha Ratwatte, Attorney General Justice Sarath Silva, Minister of Youths affairs S. D. Dissanayake and Inspector General of Police W. B. Rajaguru.

 

 

 

 

GOVERNMENT REPORT IGNORES TAMILS

Tamil Centre for Human Rights

 

 The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights met in Geneva between 27th of April to 15th May 98. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) briefed the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon on limits on those rights allegedly imposed in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Poland, the Netherlands and Germany.

But this afternoon a representative of Food International Action charged that the Government of Sri Lanka used food as a weapon against the Tamil population and Tamil refugees and that authorities greatly restricted essential supplies such as medicine and fertilisers. A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation.

 

A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka (documents E/1990/5/Add.32) did not cover the true situation of Economic, Social and Cultural rights in the north and east of Sri Lanka, the traditional homeland of the Tamils. For example, the report excluded figures on unemployment in those areas; the report ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation. Freedom of movement was hindered by the blockade enforced by the army; hospitals in the north and east were neglected and there were insufficient supplies of medicine; the Government restricted the Tamil population from cultivating and fishing, their main vocations, so that the people were almost starving. The cultural rights of the Tamils were breached by the Government, and the process of cultural genocide continued. Tamils were discriminated against and were denied their right to self determination. The representative of the Tamil Centre for human rights said that the armed conflict had started because the economic, social and cultural rights of the Tamils were completely ignored by the Government.

(United Nations - DPI - Press Release of 27/4/1998)

 

 

 

JAFFNA MAYOR ASSASSINATED

 

Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran (60), Mayoress of the Jaffna Municipal Council was shot dead at her home in Jaffna on Sunday 17 May 98. According to a Tamil newspaper published in the Jaffna peninsula, a group called "Sangiliyan Force" has claimed responsibility for her killing. (FOM)

 

GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY OBSTRUCTING

 -- NGOs

Non governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the Madhu area has told visiting UN special envoy Olara Otunnu that the Sri Lankan military was deliberately obstructing their assistance programme, resulting in widespread malnutrition and slow deaths among people.

 

 

 

Editorial MAY 1998

 

DISINFORMATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

 

The important role of Information either in the enforcement of human rights or the abuse of those rights is not often visible. Effective manipulation of the sources of information could be achieved through various ways, through misinformation, disinformation or through censorship. Governments often resort to such practices in their attempt to cover up their violations of human rights. Sri Lanka is not only no exception to this, but is an outstanding example of a country that has succeeded in getting away with violations amounting to genocidal proportions merely by blocking information or by manipulating it.

 

On the one hand there is a war going on in parts of the country where no foreign correspondents are admitted. On the other hand, the Sri Lanka government is issuing handouts about the war to Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) correspondents working for international news agencies which the latter faithfully transmit to the outside world. By characterising the war as one against terrorism and not against Tamils, and making the world believe in it, human rights of non-combatant Tamil civilians are being trampled. A London based Human Rights group 'Peace Brigades International' has already announced it was pulling out of Sri Lanka because of restrictions placed on its dissemination of information regarding human rights in the country. The group has also complained about the way the government was hindering access to the east which has seen much of the fighting. Such acts constitute a censorhsip of information.

 

In trying to project the appointment of the Human Rights Commission as an expression of genuine concern over human rights the government has been less than sincere. The record of the Commission until now has been very poor. The report of the Special Rapporteur Mr. Bacre Waly N’diaye following his on-the-spot visit to Sri Lanka has set out several goals to the Commission, none of which is on the face of it, being pursued by the Commission. Among the goals he suggested are : Give a full public accounting of the scope and extent of the crimes committed in the name of the State and political and institutional factors that contributed to the impunity of the authors. Mr. N’diaye has placed his finger on two vital aspects: the lack of public accounting and the exemption from punishment of crimes committed. Even the US State Department in its country report on Sri Lanka for the year 1997 has commented: “In most cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances no progress was made or there was no investigation or prosecution at all”.

 

While there are enough reports emanating regarding the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and while enough lip service is being paid to the need to enforce human rights, there has been no tangible evidence to show any improvement. Because the State itself is a party to the violations, only a direct show of concern by the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights could be the anwser. It is to be hoped that Sri Lanka as a country which was very much in the world's eye in recent times will receive close attention from the energetic High Commissioner Madame Mary Robinson.            (S. S.)

 

 

 

 

I FEEL SAD ABOUT SITUATION IN JAFFNA

-- UN Special Representative Mr. Olara Otunnu

 

Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict who is currently visiting Sri Lanka at the invitation of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, made contact with LTTE representatives in Thunukkai, the periphery of the Tiger stronghold in the Wanni region. The Weekend Express reliably understands that the meeting between the UN special representative and LTTE representatives lasted from 6 am to 2 pm on Thursday.

 

The UN Special representative who had visited Jaffna last Tuesday (5/5/98), also expressed his deep concern over the situation prevailing in Jaffna. On the way back to Colombo by LionAir on Tuesday morning he told us that permanent peace is an urgent need for the people of Jaffna. “I feel sad about the situation in Jaffna,” he said.

 

(Extracted from The Weekend Express of 9-10 May, 1998)

 

 

ARMY DRIVE TO TAP SCHOOLS FOR 15,000 SOLDIERS

 

The Sri Lankan Army will launch a campaign in school countrywide in a national level recruitment campaign to enlist 15,000 soldiers. Plans for this campaign are now being formulated by Army Headquarters. In terms of this plan, the Army is to seek the help of Grama Sevakas.

 

Army recruitment teams who will visit schools will, with the help of Audio/Visual aids, explain to students who plan to leave school, the need for them to enlist.

 

Attractive terms and facilities are to be provided to them.  Army sources said the enlistment of 15,000 additional soldiers would help offset a shortfall in the approved cadres due to desertions. This is in addition to deaths and also those injured being left out of battle. At present the number of deserters is estimated to be over 19,000.

 

(Sunday Times of  May 3, 1998 - Page 1 lead news)

 

 

 

Page 2/3

 

5561 CIVILIANS IN 56 DETENTION CENTRES

 

Nearly 5561 Tamil civilians from Valikamam East and North are held in fifty-six detention centres in different parts of Jaffna peninsula. They are refused permison to go to their homes on the pretext that there is lack of security.

 

Place                Total Detention            Total                            Total

                        Centres                        Detainees                     Families

 

Kopay              7                                  734                             194

Chankanai            13                                833                              229

Sandilipay           9                                  784                             221

Tellipalai             3                                  440                             127

Uduvil                8                                  907                             241

Pt. Pedro            7                                  1081                            253

Karavedy           2                                      70                              18

Jaffna                 2                                  366                                83

Maruthankerni   4                                   326                                82                    (REP)

 

 

 

 

GIRL STUDENT STRIPPED NAKED AND WHIPPED

 

A GCE (O.L.) student of Vincent Girls' High School in Batticaloa was stripped naked and whipped by the Sri Lankan army on March 17, claimed her partents. The girl 17, who did not want to be identified lives in the village of Palugamam with her parents. On March 17, the girl had gone to school around 2 p.m. in the afternoon to obtain her admission card for a GCE (O.L.) practical exam which was to be held the next day. And then she had gone to see a friend at Surya Lane near the Batticaloa hospital. Here, according to her account, she was picked up by the Sri Lankan army. She says that the soldiers were accompanied by members of a Tamil para-military group operating in Batticaloa with the army.

 

She was taken to a camp and was stripped naked and beaten with sticks. The girl has several scars and contusions on her back. She was released around 6 p.m. in the evening. (Hot Spring, March 1998)

 

 

 

RAPE WITNESS BURNT ALIVE

 

On April 14, Selvarasa Vasantha a mother, resident of Alvaar Lane in Point Pedro was raped by Sri Lankan Army soldiers inside the premises of the Kaarthika restaurant on Main Street - Point Pedro in the afternoon.

 

The rape was witnessed by the female owner of the restaurant. She had lodged a formal complaint over the rape with the Sri Lankan Police at Point Pedro.

 

On April 15, the soldiers who came to know about the complaint had threatened Vijayakumari and warned her to withdraw her complaint immediately.

 

However she had defied the soldiers' threats.

 

On April 16, two Sri Lankan army soldiers in civilian clothing had gone to the Kaarthika restaurant and after ordering tea, had forcibly covered Vijakumari’s head with a pot.

 

The soldiers had then poured petrol on her and had set her alight. When neighbours attempted to douse the fire the soldiers had forcibly prevented them from going near the burning woman. It was only forty five minutes later the neighbours were able to take Vijayakumari to the hospital. She died later.

 

The government authorites had claimed that Vijayakumari had committed suicide by setting herself on fire!                                     (INFO)

 

 

 

FOUR TEEN-AGERS DISAPPEARED IN JAFFNA

Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) has once again started abducting youths in Jaffna peninsula. Four teen-age boys from Santhana Mahavidyalayam at Nallur in Jaffna have been reported missing from 20 May 1998. According to eye witnesses, the boys had been arrested by the members of the EPDP.

 

The missing boys are : S. Sugirthan (14), L. Parthiban (17), S. Vivekanandan (17) and L. Sutharshan (17).

 

It is said that a volunteer of the St. John's Ambulance, Mr. Sajithkumar Bahvanathan who is also a member of the EPDP had abducted these boys.                                        (FOM)

 

 

ARBITRARY  ARREST CONTINUES

 

The Sri Lankan army stationed at Chankanai in Jaffna peninsula has arrested a young woman Muthuthamby Pratheepa (19). This arrest took place at her home in Chankanai on 22 May 98. Her father was seriouly assaulted by the army on an accusation that  their  family had provided meals to the LTTE. The family had denied the accusation.

 

Nearly twenty were arbitrarily arrested in Thenmaradchy and Valikamam during the month of April 98 : Messieurs. Kidnar Murugupillai of Avarangal, Yokarasa Kokularasa of Chundikuli,  Arumugam Sripalakrishnan of Chavakachcheri, Sellakandy Jemiluthasan, Nicholaspillai Jeganathan of Eluthumadduval, Theiventhiran Sujeevan, Amirthalingam Kanagalingam of Kalvayal, Srikanthan Srikanesan, Kulasekarampilla Sivakaran , Nagarasa Muthurarasam, Markandu Suventhiran of Kodikamam, Vanniasingam Karthikesu of Kudathanai,  Rayman Rajakulanathan of Meesalai, Kandiah Saurnan, Siattampalam Thankavelu of Mirusuvil, Thavarasan Menakumar, Sinnarasa Jegan of Nunavil, Selvan Ravinthiran, Sivaganam Savananthan of Puttur and Kunapalasingam of Thavady. 

 

During the first week of this month five civlians has been arbitarily arrested in Thenmarachy. Messieurs Sivakumar Kunapalasingam of Navasikulam, Ravichandran Selvan of Mirusuvil, Amirthalingam Kalaivanan of Kalvayal, Nadarajah Mohanakumar of Nunavil, Kanapathipillai and Sivakaran of Kachchai. All of them had been taken to the nearby army camp in Thenmarachy.                                                   (FOM)

PREGNANT WOMEN DEATHS

INCREASES IN JAFFNA

 

Recent statistics released by the Jaffna hospital indicates that Pregnant mothers in the Jaffna peninsula are dying in large numbers. The hospital analysis found that most of these deaths are due to lack of medicine and army atrocities.                         (INFO)

 

 

8000 WIDOWS IN JAFFNA

An independent study has revealed that 8000 young women have become widows during the last eight years in Jaffna district. These widows are the result of military attacks on Tamil civilians. Also many were reported as mentally affected.                       (TEL)

 

 

AIR STRIKE ON FISHERMEN

 

On Friday 22 May 98, Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir jets have bombed a fishing boat in the Mullaitivu sea. Two were killed on the spot and three others were seriously wounded.

 

The fishermen killed on the spot are  Mr. Ponnuthurai Karunakaran (22) and Thambiah Rasaratnam (24).

 

Mr. Chandrasekaram (33), Mr. R. Yogenthiran (27) of Uduppukkulam and Mr. P. Uthayakumar (32) of Kallappadu are the injured fishermen who were admitted to Punthukkudiyiruppu hospital in Mullativu.                                 (INFO)

 

 

ABANDONED BOMB INJURED THREE

Three civilians from Kiran in Batticaloa district were injured when an abandoned bomb exploded. Mr. Sinnavar (70), Mr. S. Kirupanathan (12), and Mr. Kuganathan (14) are the victims of this bomb blast. This bomb is believed to have been delibertely abandoned by the Sri Lankan army to kill the public in Kiran.                                                 (TEL)

 

 

Hospital Statistics

 

Statistics for the month of March 98 of the Akkarayan Hospital in Vanni.

Death                                              23

Patients Warded                            1033

Patients  treated in the OPD      24800 

Malaria  6258

Typhoid  412

Rabies         32

Birth                                              126                  (Source: Hospital authority)

 

 

WANNI TROOPS HIT BY INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Several infectious diseases are on the rise in the Wanni region specially in the areas which are currently being cleared by the army and in the uncleared areas, military sources in the North told ‘The Island’.

 

According to Health Department officials in Vavuniya malaria, viral flu and hepatitis are on the increase.

 

Military officials said that during the past six months there was an epidemic of hepatitis among the personnel who were engaged in 'Operation Jayasikurui’. This was mainly due to the dry weather which prevailed in the area since last year.

 

Because of shortage of personnel the army is forced to use the services of these sick men before they are finally recovered. According to army hospital sources most personnel who come to Colombo for treatment are treated partially and sent back before they are fit enough to return to the front, Sri Lankan hospital sources said.

 

However they pointed out that if the army was suffering then the LTTE should be suffering the same way or maybe even worse because they do not have the facilities and medicine to treat their cadres.                         (Extracted from “The Island” of 3/5/98)

 

 

 

REFUGEES WANT TO GO HOME

 

Indian returned 142 refugees who were held in Pesalai detention centre for more than five months had been brought to Tincomalee on 29 April 98. Presently, as there is no boat service between Trincomalee and Jaffna, they are once again held up in Trincomalee. Here, while  they are held at the Glass factory detention centre, they have staged a protest demanding the authorities to send them back to Jaffna peninsula. Their protest appeal had been handed over to the Divisional Secretary of Trincomalee.                             (INFO)

 

 

 

SHOOTING AT JAFFNA HOSPITAL

 

On 19 May 98, the Sri Lankan soldiers have opend fire into the Jaffna Teaching Hospital without any reason. In this shooting incident, a warded patient Vadivel Sivapalan (35) of Thirunalvelly had been seriously injured. This incident has created panic in the hospital surroundings. The hospital authorities have brought this matter to the notice of the military authority and they were replied that "it was a security exercise"!                                             (TGL)

 

SINHALA COLONISATION

The government sponsored Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil hertitage lands in Trincomalee and Pottuvil continues even today. The Sri Lankan security forces are instructed by the government to drive away the Tamils from the border areas of the Eastern province. The Sinhalese people are brought from the Southern part of Sri Lanka and settled in these areas with the help of the security forces. Also several villages in these areas have been renamed into Sinhalese names.                                                              (FOM)

 

 

SINHALESE HAVE NOWHERE TO GO

 

Recently there was a pro-Sinhalese demonstration in London organised by the Sri Lankan government calling the British government to help the Sinhalese to win the present war against the Tamil people! A leaflet distributed in this demonstration says : Sri Lanka, the island in the Indian ocean has been plagued by a bloody war in recent years. The main people responsible for bringing about such a tragic war are the Tamil people. This group of people are fighting for a separate state in the North and East of the country - to any intelligent person the thought of dividing such a small island is absurd! These Tamil people have India (Tamil Nadu state) to call their homeland as they originated from there unlike the Sinhalese the true citizens of Sri Lanka who have nowhere in the world but Sri Lanka to call their own.

 

 

INVESTIGATION SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC

Amnesty International

Amnesty International urged today that the government of Sri Lanka should promptly make public and disseminate widely the findings of an investigation into more than 700 "disappearances" reported in 1996 in Jaffna, and northeast Sri Lanka, which the investigation panel presented to President Chandrika Kumaratunga yesterday.

 

The Government of Sri Lanka should use this opportunity to clarify to the people of Sri Lanka the fate and whereabouts of those who have "disappeared" and to take firm and prompt action to ensure that perpetrators of such serious human rights violations as "disappearances" are not able to enjoy impunity.

 

(Extract of A/I Press release of 24 April 1998)

 

SRI LANKA GRANTS ONE DAY AMNESTY TO ARMY DESERTERS

Colombo, May 21 (Xinhua) - The Sri Lankan government has announced a one day amnesty for army deserters next Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. Of the 15,000 deserters 5,892 reported back for duty and subsequently 1,768 were arrested by the police.

 

 

 

Page 4

 

MILITARY, POLICE BLAMED FOR MISSING TAMIL CIVILIANS

 

Colombo, SRI LANKA (AP) - A presidential inquiry has blamed police and the military for the disappearance of 159 Tamil civilians in the war-torn northern Jaffna Peninsula, the president's office said.

 

The 5-member team, set up by President Chandrika Kumaratuga last year to probe into the cases of hundreds of missing Tamil civilians, submitted its findings Tuesday.

 

It recommended prosecution of policemen and soldiers in 25 cases. The number of suspects to be tried was not disclosed.

 

The investigators were three retired military officers, a former police officer and a bureaucrat.

 

The statement said 134 complaints would be investigated further to identify the soldiers and policemen responsible for the disappearance of Tamil people.

 

 

 

 

 

AMNESTY'S APPEAL ON DISAPPEARED CHILDREN

 

Amnesty International has sent an Urgent Appeal on disappeared Children of North-east of Sri Lanka. The appeal says that in recent years as a result of considerable pressure from relatives of the "disappeared", and local non-governmental organisations, investigations have been opened into "disappearances". Three presidential commissions set up in late 1994 recently completed investigations of "disappearances" reported since 1988. While some members of the security forces have been prosecuted for their part in "disappearing" children and adults, the proceedings have either not reached their conclusion or no resolution has  been passed in a court of law against those suspected to have perpetrated these grave human rights violations. It is hoped that the government will act on its promise to bring to justice those officials against whom there is strong evidence of involvement in "disappearances".

 

The government must make clear to state officials that they are bound in their duties to safeguard the rights of children, and that past, present and future violations of these rights will not go unpunished.

 

The AI requested the public to send appeals expressing concern to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Minister of Defence Anuruddha Ratwatte, Attorney General Justice Sarath Silva, Minister of Youths affairs S. D. Dissanayake and Inspector General of Police W. B. Rajaguru.

 

 

 

 

GOVERNMENT REPORT IGNORES TAMILS

Tamil Centre for Human Rights

 

 The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights met in Geneva between 27th of April to 15th May 98. The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) briefed the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon on limits on those rights allegedly imposed in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Poland, the Netherlands and Germany.

But this afternoon a representative of Food International Action charged that the Government of Sri Lanka used food as a weapon against the Tamil population and Tamil refugees and that authorities greatly restricted essential supplies such as medicine and fertilisers. A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation.

 

A representative of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights said the report presented by the Government of Sri Lanka (documents E/1990/5/Add.32) did not cover the true situation of Economic, Social and Cultural rights in the north and east of Sri Lanka, the traditional homeland of the Tamils. For example, the report excluded figures on unemployment in those areas; the report ignored the condition of Tamils, their subjugation, suffering and starvation. Freedom of movement was hindered by the blockade enforced by the army; hospitals in the north and east were neglected and there were insufficient supplies of medicine; the Government restricted the Tamil population from cultivating and fishing, their main vocations, so that the people were almost starving. The cultural rights of the Tamils were breached by the Government, and the process of cultural genocide continued. Tamils were discriminated against and were denied their right to self determination. The representative of the Tamil Centre for human rights said that the armed conflict had started because the economic, social and cultural rights of the Tamils were completely ignored by the Government.

(United Nations - DPI - Press Release of 27/4/1998)

 

 

 

JAFFNA MAYOR ASSASSINATED

 

Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran (60), Mayoress of the Jaffna Municipal Council was shot dead at her home in Jaffna on Sunday 17 May 98. According to a Tamil newspaper published in the Jaffna peninsula, a group called "Sangiliyan Force" has claimed responsibility for her killing. (FOM)

 

GOVERNMENT DELIBERATELY OBSTRUCTING

 -- NGOs

Non governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the Madhu area has told visiting UN special envoy Olara Otunnu that the Sri Lankan military was deliberately obstructing their assistance programme, resulting in widespread malnutrition and slow deaths among people.

 

 

* * * * * * *

Editorial April 98

 

UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISM

FULLY POLITICIZED

 

In the on-going 54th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights, we were able to see how the UN Human Rights mechanism is fully politicised! The powerful countries were achieving what they wanted and their allies were supporting them. The actual Human Rights violations and people's sufferings are not seriously considered in the Commission.

 

We would like to give an example to our readers to prove how the UN Human Rights mechanism is politicised : In the on-going Commission on Human Rights, under Item - 24 - election took place for the members of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. According to a UN document, “as at 15 January, the Secretary-General had received nominations of candidates for election to membership of the Sub-Commission from the Governments of : Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, France, Gambia, Greece, India, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russian Federation, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. The document clearly says that all the candidates for the election were nominated by the respective governments.

 

Everyone in the planetarium were able to see how the election took place, the lobbying of candidates and their comments. Only  the European region candidates were elected uncontested. All others faced the election and, for certain regions, the election took place several times. All these show how the UN system is politicised.

 

It is very interesting to note that several countries, including Sri Lanka which has a very bad record on human rights violation, had their own candidates and eventually they won the election as well. Now those who have won the election are going to be Members (Experts) of the Sub-Commission. In other words, these members are going to protect and defend their countries in the Sub-Commission and thus prevent the Sub-Commission from taking any action against their respective countries.

 

In the last Sub-Commission on Human Rights, there was a resolution against Sri Lanka, but due to technical reasons it had to be withdrawn. The UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, Mr. Ndiya Waliya, has released his report on Sri Lanka which is very critical of the government of Sri Lanka. The working group on Disappearances has found that Sri Lanka has the highest number of disappearances for 1997. The on-going Session of the UN Human Rights Commission has witnessed more NGO interventions than before. Amnesty International reports are also against Sri Lanka.

 

Can the UN mechanism prove to the world that it is not politicised and that government lobbying cannot prevent any action by the UN against a particular country?

 

 

TAMILS SEEK KOFFI ANNAN HELP

TO STOP GENOCIDE

Tamil people from Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya districts have forwarded a memorandum to the UN Secretary General Mr. Koffi Annan, seeking his help to stop the Sri Lankan government’s ethnic cleansing in these districts. The memorandum in clear terms states that the Sri Lankan government is engaged in the genocide of Tamils in Vanni by deliberately imposing a medical and economic blockade and unleashing military repression in the region. It says that the government is using its denial of food and medicine as a weapon of war against the Tamil people in Vanni. As a result 80% of these people are living in poverty and 60% of the babies are born under unhealthy conditions and are underweight. According to the memorandum, 50% of the Tamils are pushed into a state of starvation.

 

 

INCREASE OF DEFENCE FORCES BY DOUBLE SINCE 1994

PA GOVERNMENT SPEAKS OF  PEACE AND HUMAN RIGHTS!

 

                        1986                1988                1993                1995                1996                1997

 

Army                30,000             40,000             90,000             105,000            118,890            135,000

Navy                3,960              5,500              10,100               10,300 11,831            12,000

Air Force         3,700              3,700              10,700               10,700 12,292            12,500

Police               21,000             21,000             40,000             80,000 80,000            80,000

STP and

Paramilitary      5,000              7,000              8,000               8,000              8,000              8,000

 

Total               63,000             77,200             158,800            214,000            231,013            247,500

 

(Source : Air Vice Marshal - Harry Gunatilleke - Weekend Express of  25-26 April 1998)

 

 

81,000 HOUSES DAMAGED

 

According to the Jaffna Peace and Justice Committee, about 81,000 houses in Valikamam have been damaged due to Army shelling and aerial bombing.

 

 

Page 1/4

 

CAN THERE BE TWO ARMIES ON PAR?

 

The recent meeting between the Jaffna Bishop and Dr. Balasingam (with Thamil Chelvan, Sutha, and Vithuran of the LTTE’s political wing) in the Wanni has once again given rise to speculation about the third party mediation to solve the ethnic conflict.

 

Dr. Anton Balasingam told the Bishop that peace is possible only when the LTTE and the army are on par militarily. He said that the LTTE has enough weapons to face the army in the Wanni.                                            (by Taraki of Sunday Times - April 12, 1998)

 

 

 

Page 2/3

 

GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FINDS

HUNDREDS OF  DISAPPEARANCES IN JAFFNA

 

The government appointed Human Rights Commission has reported that hundreds of Tamil civilians have disappeared in Jaffna between January and March this year.

 

DISAPPEARANCE IN MARCH AND APRIL IN JAFFNA PENINSULA

 

The following civilians have been been reported to have disappeared after they were arrested by the Sri Lankan army in the Jaffna peninsula. These disappearances have taken place during the months of March and April.

Mr. Sivapatham Jayanthan            Erlalai               10/03/98

Miss I. Ithayasivarani                Erlalai               10/03/98

Mr. Kandiah                             Kaithady            07/03/98

Mr. Velaponnakone                        Kaithady            10/04/98

Mr. M. Balachandran                Navatkadu            03/03/98

Mr. S. Sriranjan                       Kachchai            09/03/98

Miss S. Satkunathevy                Nagarkovil            09/03/98

Mr. A.S. Anandakumar            Nagarkovil            09/03/98

Miss K. Maheswary                  Nagarkovil            09/03/98                                  (INF)

 

 

FEMALE SHOP KEEPER SHOT DEAD

 

On Wednesday the 22nd of April 98, a female shop-keeper,  Mrs. Sakunthala Theiventhiran (44) of Thenmarachchi was shot dead by the army. This incident has taken place when she was returning home from her shop. She is the mother of five children. According to eye witnesses, Mrs. Sakunthala had an argument with a soldier who was trying to have a deliberate body check on her. Now a days army harassements have gone beyond any control in the Jaffna peninsula.             (FOM)

 

 

 

 

HINDU STATUES SMUGGLED OVERSEAS

 

Mr. P. P. Devarajah, M.P. for Colombo District has said in Parliament on 23rd April that the metal statues and religious icons from Hindu Temples in Sri Lanka are smuggled overseas and sold for big sums in Western countries.

 

He said that this robbery has increased in recent years and this racket has been going on for the last 15 years. There should be vigilance to prevent this business, said Mr. Devarajah.

 

He said that a complete list of archaeological artefacts will be available soon in the same manner that Professor Sittamplam of the University of Jaffna had made a list of artefacts in the temples in Jaffna.

 

Recently, the head-priest of historic Maviddapuram Kandasamy Hindu temple has identified the statues robbed from the temple during the time the Sri Lankan army occupied this temple. The priest also told courts that many more items have been robbed from the temple. (FOM)

 

 

 

MISSING FISHERMEN

 

According to sources in Mullaitivu, many fishing boats were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy on 5th of April. It is believed that the boasts were sunk by the Navy and four fishermen are reported to be missing. The missing fishermen are Mr. M. Thuraisingham, Mr. K. Thambiranthevan, Mr. K. Ragunathan and Mr. V. Vettivelayutham. All are displaced fishermen from Vadamaradchi East in the Jaffna peninsula.

 

On 7th April Mr. V. Vettivelayutham was found alive at sea and the body of M. Ragunathan was washed ashore.                                                                                                                         (REP)

 

 

 

 

 

YOUTH SHOT DEAD IN BATTICALOA

 

Sri Lankan soldiers fired at a passenger boat in the Batticaloa lagoon on Friday 17th April 98. A youth from Palukamam Mr. Koneswaran Kathiramalai (24) was killed on the spot and three others were admitted to Batticaloa hospital in a critical condition.

 

On 14th of April 98, Mr. Anthonypillai Vilvarasa (47) was shot and killed by the Army while he was grazing his cattle at Cheddikulam in Vavuniya.                                 (FOM)

 

 

 

 

ARBITARY ARREST CONTINUES

 

A retired Tamil Police officer was arrested in Puloly in Point Pedro. Mr. Jeyasingam was arrested by a special team of Police officers who have come from Colombo. He was immediately taken to Colombo for investigation.

 

A mother of two children who went in search of her husband was arrested by the Army at Valaiyiravu bridge on  19th April 98. Her husband Mr. Jegaseelan was arrested by the army a few weeks back. As she heard no news of him she went in search of him. Now both, the husband and the wife, are in Army custody. Their two small children are abandoned without parents.

 

On Tuesday, 21St April 98, Mr. Veeravagu Sivaloganathan (24) of Irani-Illuppaikulam in Vavuniya was arrested by the Army in Mannar. He is a business man who goes to Mannar very frequently. His whereabouts are unknown.

 

On Monday, 20th April 98, Mr. Arumugam Kovinthanathan (38) of Kandawalai in Kilinochchi district was arrested by the Sri Lankan army and is being held at Elephant Pass army camp.

 

On Wednesday, 22nd April 98, the Army in Chavakachcheri arrested two youths. Mr. K. Jeyakumar (20) of Madduvil and Mr. T. Suthakaran of Sarasalai.

 

On Monday, 30th March 98, two civilians, Mr. Thiruchelvam Indrakit and Mr. Sivakaran Ainkaran, both from Earlalai in Jaffna were arrested by the Army in Jaffna

 

On 1st April 98, many Tamils were rounded up in Kadatpurama, Puthukudiyiruppu, Kannakikiramam and Peyathalai in Valaichchenai. Those who were arrested were taken to the Harbour army camp. Many were arrested in Kalmunai and Akkaraipattu in Amparai district.

 

Several other civilians, men and women, have been arrested in a round-up operation in Kaithady, Madduvil and Nunavil in Thenmaradchy - Jaffna.                        (FOM)

 

TROUBLESOME LANDMINE

 

On 31st March 98, Mr. Daniel Kantharuban of Erlalai in Jaffna lost his left leg in a landmine buried by the Army. The Army in Jaffna has buried landmines everywhere in Jaffna.

 

 

CHILDREN DIED WITHOUT MEDECINE

According to hospital sources in Akkarayankulam in Vanni, two children died due to lack of medicine in the hospital. Both were suffering from high fever.

 

Mrs Jeyarajah Eyaranne (32) who was suffering from malaria fever died at Erlalai. The treatment for Malaria is not available in this area.                                   (INF)

 

 

STF ATTACK ON YOUTHS

 

Special Task Forces (STF) in Batticaloa assaulted 140 Tamil youths with copper wires, iron rods and batons. This incident took place at Kalavanchikudi STF Camp on 19th April 98. During the interrogation of these youths the STF personnel have found that the Tamil youths were not providing them information about the LTTE. It is believed that the youths living in the area are required to report to the nearby Army camp at least once a week.                           

 

A mental patient Mr. M. Prabakaran was severely beaten by the Army stationed in Tholpuram in Jaffna. His brother who went to Tholpuram Army camp to explain his brother's sickness was also severely assaulted. Both were held in the Army camp until a group of elders from the village went to their rescue.                  (INF)

 

SINHALA COLONISATION IN TRINCOMALEE

Tamil villages in the North-east continue to be colonised with Sinhala settlers. Recently, 25 square kilometres of Tamil area in Kantalai in Trincomalee district were colonised with Sinhala settlers with government help. The government is appointing retired Sinhala Police officers to be in charge of the Sinhala settlements.

 

CIVILIAN DIES SOON AFTER RELEASE

A civilian from Veeramunai in Batticaloa district Mr. Murukupilla Sellathurai (52) died soon after he was released by the Army. His post-mortem revealed that he had been tortured in custody and had suffered fatal internal injuries. It is suspected that the Army released him due to the fear that he may die while in their custody.                       (TEL)

 

ARMY ROB JEWELLERY AT PALALY

Passengers arriving at Palaly Airport in Jaffna from Colombo are being robbed.  In the name of checking the passengers' bags, security personnel are stealing jewellery and other valuables. The complaints made by the passengers are ignored by the military authority.                                  (INF)

 

NO FUNERAL AND NO SPORTS MEETS FOR TAMILS

 

The Army in Jaffna peninsula has refused permission for Sports meets in most of the schools in Jaffna.

 

The Army has refused to give permission to a mother to bring her dead 6 months old baby from the hospital to Jaffna to have the funeral according to religious rights. The child died in the Anuradhapura hospital on 30th March 98. The mother asked for permission from the Army at Vavuniya but it was refused.                                                  (REP)

 

 

Page 4

 

54th SESSION OF UN

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

 

The 54th Session of the UN Human Rights Commission was held between the 16th March and 24th April in Geneva. The ambassador for South Africa Mr. Jacquab Saleeb was the President of the Commission.

 

Considering the grave human rights situation in Sri Lanka, fifty four NGO's had submitted a joint statement to the Commission urging it to :

 

1 - Call on the government of Sri Lanka to withdraw all its armed forces from the Tamil homeland;

2 - Call on both the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to seek a political solution that allows the Tamil people to realise their right to self-determination and which guarantees full human rights to all the people of Sri Lanka;  and

3 - Appoint a Special Rapporteur with a mandate to investigate the situation and monitor a peace process.

 

 

The following interventions were made by  different NGOs under different subjects :

 

WE APPLAUD SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT

 

The   International  Educational  Development  ( Humanitarian  Law  Project ) -  Ms Karen Parker said under the subject of Right to self determination that she applauded the Secretary-General Koffi Anna's statement of 6th February 1998: "There is no formula which should be imposed" in dealing with self-determination. For example, racism inherent in the situation in Sri Lanka must be addressed as part of an over-all peace process. Some situations will require complete independence, others a confederation or other structure that provides sufficient guarantees to obtain agreements between the Tamil people and the Sinhala government as has been suggested recently by LTTE leader Prabakaran. The agreement between Russia and Chechnya granting Chechnya autonomy and providing for final determination of political status by the end of the year 2000 may prove a useful model for Sri Lanka.

 

Ms. Karen Parker continuing to speak under the subject of Minorities and religious intolerance said that in Sri Lanka since 1983, Sri Lankan military forces have bombed and destroyed over 1600 Tamil Catholic and other Christian churches and Hindu temples in direct defiance of the Geneva convention. The Sri Lankan government has targeted these places of worship to demoralise the Tamil people because it felt that it could get away with this act with the international community. We call on the international community to soundly condemn these multiple acts of destruction of the religious heritage of the Tamil people.

 

Ms. Verena Graf of International League for the rights and liberation of peoples said that the Tamils in Sri Lanka must be granted the right to self-determination so that they may regain the lost independence they enjoyed in the past.

 

CO-EXISTENCE OF TWO SEPARATE KINGDOMS

 

Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan intervened on behalf of the International Educational Development said that in Sri Lanka there is a continuing crisis due to the hundreds of thousands of displaced person throughout the north and east of the country. International pressure is not reaching the government which in its callous disregard for the plight of these Tamils appears to be mired in a policy that approaches genocide. While peaceful coexistence between the Tamil and Sinhala was the rule on the island of Ceylon for many centuries, it was a co-existence of two separate kingdoms, not a co-existence of a majority and minority under one political roof. The Commission and the international community must insist that the government of Sri Lanka fully comply with the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and provide for the basic subsistence needs of the displaced Tamil population. It must make it clear that the ethnic problem will not be resolved by the Sri Lanka government's starving of hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians.

 

 

SRI LANKA ON RECORD WITH HIGHEST NUMBER OF DISAPPEARANCES

 

Ms. Sunila Abeyaseka who intervened on behalf of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom  said The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom would like to take this opportunity to draw the attention of the Commission to the reports of the Special Rapporteur on Torture and of the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, with specific reference to the situation in Sri Lanka and Sudan, in view of the ongoing conflict in these countries.

 

This Commission is well aware that the grave situation with regard to disappearances in Sri Lanka led to two visits by the Working Group in 1991 and 1992. Since then, Sri Lanka has featured regularly in the reports of the Working Group. In the report that is before the Commission this year, Sri Lanka goes on record as the country with the highest number of disappearances reported to have occurred in 1997.

 

In respect of the report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture that is before this Commission, the cases reported from Sri Lanka are about the rape of women in the north and east of the Island which are the areas in which the conflict rages. In recent months, there have been other cases reported from Chavakachcheri in the northern peninsula and from Valaichchenai in the Eastern Province.

 

We also call on this Commission to take up the issue of the impunity of perpetrators of human rights abuse who are state security officials of the governments of Sri Lanka and Sudan.

 

SRI LANKA TURNED BLIND EYE ON SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

 

Ms. Deirdre McConnell who intervened on behalf of the Nord-Sud XXI said Under article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, governments should protect the civilian population in armed conflicts and ensure the protection and care of children. The government of Sri Lanka is a signatory to the Convention, yet it blatantly contravenes the Convention articles, with respect to Tamil children whose plight is desperate.

 

Sri Lankan government has turned a blind eye to the sexual exploitation of Sinhalese children in the south by tourists. Some concern is being expressed in official circles about the activity of paedophiles. However it is a token gesture. The government has for many years been aware of the sexual exploitation of children but it has continued to sacrifice the Sinhalese children to earn hard currency which is desperately needed to finance the war against the Tamil people, including Tamil children.

 

We urge the Human Rights Commission to condemn the Sri Lankan government’s violation of the rights of Tamil children in respect to Health, Education and Right to Life itself. We recommend the appointment of a country rapporteur to investigate and report on the situation.

 

 

 

* * * * * * *

 

Editorial March 98

 

SMALL ISLAND HAS THE

  HIGHEST DISAPEARANCE

 

Sri Lanka, ( ex Ceylon) was earlier known to the Western countries as a beautiful  island - paradise for tourism. Even though the ethnic problem exists in this island since independence in 1948, it alarmed the international community only in  1983. That year the country had experienced the state sponsored communal violence which caused severe loss and destruction to the Tamil community. During this period Sinhala politicians have invented several new formulas to their convenience in order to seek the sympathy of the International Community.

 

One of their propaganda was that Sri Lanka is a small island which the Tamils are trying to divided into two separate states. Here the history of the island, its political background and the broken pacts between the two communities were completely hidden to the international community.

 

According to the report of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (E/CN.4/1998/43) : "The Working Group wishes to express its appreciation to the Government of Sri Lanka for the information which it has provided during the course of the year, and for its efforts to investigate and clarify the fate of the many thousands of persons who disappeared in the past. Nevertheless, it is alarmed at the recent re-emergence of the systematic practice of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, and notes that it is the country with the highest number of disappearances reported to have occurred in 1997. In addition, it remains concerned at the fact that notwithstanding the efforts of the Government, very few cases on the Working Group's files have been clarified."

 

It should be noted by the International Community and donor countries that 

Sri Lanka, while being a small country with a small population, has the highest number of disappearances for the year 1997.

 

Rather than look into the recommendations of the UN, the Sri Lankan government is busy these days in employing its Ambassadors in the UN system to cover its human rights record. It has already found a high-ranking position for Jayantha Dhanapala in the UN headquarters in New York, and now it is trying to canvass support for its candidate as an Expert in the UN Sub-Commission on Human Rights. The government also tried to get its ex-Ambassador in Geneva Mr. Bernard Goonetilaka as the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

 

In order to protect their countries from UN condemnation, if other countries also try to find top posts for their representatives in the UN, there is no doubt that the UN Human Rights mechanism will become a joke in the future.

 

 

 

EAST - 1300 DISAPPEARANCES IN 7 YEARS

 

According to TULF Member of Parliament Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam, in the Eastern Province, about thirteen thousand people have disappeared since 1990 and there were about 8,500 widows and 6000 orphans in the East. He said that 60% of the schools in the Eastern Province have been destroyed and two hundred million rupees is needed to repair these school buildings. Speaking at a seminar in Colombo Mr. Pararajasingam said that education could progress only when peace is established.                               (INF)

 

 

MASS ARREST IN COLOMBO

OVER 1500 TAMILS ROUNDED UP

 

More than 1500 Tamils in Colombo were arrested last week during a large simultaneous cordon and search operation launched by Sri Lankan army and police personnel.

 

Hundreds of Tamils in Kotahena, the foreshore and Bambalapitiya were rounded up and hauled off to local police stations.

 

A journalist and the photographer for the Tamil daily news paper Thinakkural were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy while they were covering the night’s mass arrests.

 

Very few people had been released by the same evening, police sources in Colombo said.

 

Hundreds of grief stricken parents, relatives and friends of detained people thronged police stations in Colombo the whole of the following day. But very few were permitted to see their relations held in custody.                       (Tamil Guardian - March 28, 1998)

 

 

 

 

Page 2/3

 

 

MASSACRE IN VADDAKACHCHI AND PERIYAKULAM

 

 

Eight civilians including a school girl were killed and many others were wounded when Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir jets bombed Vaddakachchi and Periyakulam east of Paranthan on March 23, 1998. A 50-year old woman identified as Sellammah was blown to smithereens as a 250kg high explosive bomb exploded in her house, according to local residents. Residents said that only a few pieces of the saree she was wearing were found on a nearby tree. The right leg of an 18 year old girl, Kumari, was blown off completely below her hip. Doctors at the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital had to remove her damaged left leg below the knee, the residents said.

 

Two seriously wounded civilians identified as Balasingam (55) and Velayutham Yaalini (18) died while they were being rushed to the medical centre at Tharumapuram. Panchalingam Paamini (22) Selvarajah (40), Kathirkamu Ahileswari (27) and Thevaki Ramanthan of Murasumoddai were also wounded in the Air force bombing.       (TEL )

 

 

COLLAPSING WATER TANK KILLS TWO FEMALE PRISONERS

 

Two of the four female prisoners of the Welikada Prison who were injured when the four supporting columns of the water tank collapsed just half an hour before the Maradana bomb blast on Thursday, died on admission to hospital. Other female inmates of the prison launchned a hunger strike demanding suitable action to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future.

 

“Most of the prisons in Sri Lanka lack water and sanitary facilities,” these sources added. This is borne out by the fact that a gallon of water is being sold to prisoners for Rs 30 at Mahara prison.” The Prison Head quarter officers seem to be concerned only with their own comforts but fail to consider the prisoners as human beings, he added.

(Extracted from “Weekend Express 8/3/98)

 

 

 

YOUNG WOMAN RAPED BY SRI LANKAN SOLDIERS

 

A deaf and dumb girl was gang raped by a group of Sri Lankan soldiers in Meesaalai west in Jaffna on Monday, March 16, 1998 around 12 noon said Chavakachcheri hospital sources. She was admitted to the hospital after she had attempted to immolate herself by pouring a barrel of kerosene on her body.

 

The girl, S. Selvarani 28, was on her way to visit a friend on her bicycle when she had been stopped by a group of Sri Lankan army soldiers who had gagged and bound her and had then gang raped her.

 

When the soldiers had let her go the girl had rushed home and had doused herself with a barrel of kerosene.

 

Her mother had discovered her when she was about to set herself on fire. The mother had calmed the girl and had found out about how the soldiers had sexually assaulted her.

 

She was then brought to the Chavakachcheri hospital by her mother and relatives. The Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna has not yet recorded her statement.                                 (FOM)

 

SIX YEAR OLD GIRL SHOT DEAD

 

The Sri Lankan military at Kiran in Batticaloa has gunned down a six year old girl who started her schooling only few weeks ago. Sasikala Peethamparam who was in the Sri Lankan army custody was asked to run away from the camp, saying that she was freed. As soon as she started to run, the army opened fire on her.                  (FOM)

 

 

TAMIL-MUSLIMS ORDERED TO VACATE

 

The Sri Lankan security forces have ordered one hundred and ten Tamil and Muslim families to vacate Upparu village in the Trincomalee district. With the greatest difficulty they have sought accommodation in a refugee camp at nearby Alankerni and Faisal villages.

 

Trincomalee Army co-ordinating officer said that these families will not be permitted to return to their villages under any circumstances. The Commander even refused permission for these people to return to their village to bring back the cattle left behind by them.

 

The government is systematically driving the Tamils out of their villages and colonising the vacated areas with Sihalese people.                         (REP)

 

 

 

CONSTABLE MOLESTS A PREGNANT WOMAN

 

A Sri Lankan Police constable who attempted to rape a 3-month pregnant woman in Thirunelveli in Jaffna on Sunday, March 15, 1998 around 8.30 p.m. was caught and severely assaulted by a group of local civilians. The Police constable had forced his way into the house of Tharmarajah Balanchandran and had attempted to molest his 28 year old wife Premalatha Balachandran,.

 

The constable assaulted Balanchandran and Premalatha’s aunt who tried to stop him from raping the woman, a mother of 3 children and 3 months pregnant. However, neighbours have rushed to Balanchandran’s house upon hearing the screams of Premalatha’s aunt.

 

The Constable, seeing the crowd ran away and hid himself in a manioc plantation nearby. When the neighbours went and searched for him, he assaulted several of them, but he was overpowered. The constable was tied to a pillar and was severely assaulted by the people. The matter was later brought to the notice of the Police in Kopay who took away the constable.

 

Balachandran, his wife and her aunt were admitted to the Jaffna hospital with injuries. (TEL)

 

IMPUNITY - ARMY DRIVER FREE

 

A young girl Kanaganathan Ananthi who was on her way for her GCE A/L exam was run over by an armoured vehicle. Ananthi died on the spot and the Army driver who was drunk at the time of the accident was charged with the murder. Now to everybody's surprise, he has been freed by the Magistrate without any proper reason. This shows impunity exists in Sri Lanka.   (INFO)

 

CHURCH BOMBED

 

On the 3rd of March the Catholic church of Perpetual Succour at Murasumoddai, Paranthan was bombed by Sri Lanakn Air Force planes. The church was completely damaged and is unusable. (TEL)

 

 

 

 

NAVY ATTACK

On 25/3/98, Sri Lankan naval forces opened fire on a fishing boat at sea off Puthukudiyiruppu. According to the people near the sea, two fishermen who jumped off the boat were reported missing since then. Mr. Thiruchelvam Kirupaharan and Philippiah Yogarajah are the missing fishermen. (FOM)

 

 

 

FAST TO DEATH CAMPAIGN IN THE PRISON

 

A fast to death campaign has started in the Kalutara prison by five Tamil political prisoners. They are demanding that they should be brought to courts or should be released. They say that they are in detention for years without any charges against them. These detainees were previously held in the Welikada jail in Colombo and subsequently transferred to Kalutara jail as they started a fasting campaign. Last December, three Tamil political prisoners were killed in the Kalutara prison. This was masterminded by the government and the prison authorities. (REP)

 

REMANDED FOR HAVING COLOMBO MAP

 

A 60 year old Tamil woman who came to Jaffna by air from Colombo was arrested on arrival under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and produced before the Mallakam magistrate M. Thirunavakkarasu who ordered her to be remanded. The Kankesanthurai police told the magistrate that the woman had a map of Colombo in her handbag. (Hot Spring - January-February 1998)

 

BUDDHIST MONK ON  SEX CHARGE

 

A Buddhist bhikku, Ratmalana Sri Siddhartha Thera of Elumalai, Kataragama was charged before the Galle High Court with forcing sex with four young sisters of the same family. While one of the victims, a girl of eleven, was being cross-examined by the defence counsel, she fainted and the judge ordered the case be resumed in March.

 

 

DEATH PENALTY/LEGAL CONCERN

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

 

The Urgent Action of Amnesty International (AI Index ASA 20/2/98) has said that it is concerned that 26 people sentenced to death by a special court in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on 28 January 1998 may not have received a fair trial according to international standards and the judge involved indicated the sentences were handed down for deterrent purposes.

 

Twenty four men and women 15 Sri Lankan and nine Indian nationals - were found  guilty of conspiracy to murder the former Primer Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. A further two Indian nationals were found guilty of murder. Mr. Gandhi was killed by a bomb explosion in Tamil Nadu in May 1991.

 

Under TADA the accused are only able to appeal to the Supreme Court whereas under normal law they would have the right to appeal to the High Court before moving to the Supreme Court.

 

Amnesty International is also concerned that one of the accused, Ms. A. Athirai, is reported to have been only 17 years old at the time of her arrest in July 1991. Article 6(5) of the ICCPR and Article 37 (a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child state that the sentence of death should not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.

 

(Due to limited space we are publishing an extract of the AI Urgent Action)

 

 

 

ARMY BARREL KILLED A CIVILIAN

 

As a result of a barrel abandoned in the sea  exploding, a civilian Sivalingam Arulanantham (20) was killed on the spot. According to eye witnesses, this barrel was abandoned by the Sri Lankan Army at Santhiveli in East.                 (TEL)

 

SUICIDE ON THE INCREASE IN JAFFNA

 

According to statistics released by the Jaffna teaching hospital, the suicide rate in the peninsula is on the increase. The suicide rate for the last three months is as follows: January - 44; February - 43; March - 32. Most of the people who have committed suicide are between 20 to 24 in age. The major reason for the suicide is said to be Army harassment in the Jaffna peninsula.             (REP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

200,000 COCONUT TREES DESTROYED

 

Over 200,000 coconut trees have been felled down in the Jaffna peninsula by the Armed forces. These trees have mainly been used for Army bunkers.

 

FOOD FULL OF RUBBISH

 

According to MPCS sources, the food supplied for the displaced Tamil civilians is unfit for consumption. MPCS is the main distributor of food in Sri Lanka. The rice, wheat flour and dhal in distribution for the displaced people is  full of worms, flies and insects. MPCS says that this is the food stock that is received from Colombo.

 

The international community should make a note that these are food that is supplied to Tamil civilian by the Sri Lankan government.                                          (FOM)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page - 4

 

300 TAMILS ARRESTED IN COLOMBO

 

On 31st March 1998, Sri Lankan Army and Police have launched a joint search operation in Colombo and arrested 300 Tamil youths in Dehiwela and its surroundings. The arrested Tamil youths were taken to the Bellanwila Buddhist temple for questioning.  (INF)

 

 

AMNESTY URGE THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

 

The Secretariat of Amnesty International - U.K. has submitted the following matters to  the attention of the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Commission :

 

1 - Amnesty International calls on the 1998 session of the Commission to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka agrees on a program of action to be taken in 1998 and 1999 to implement the (Work Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances) WGEID’s recommendations.

 

2 - To facilitate the implementation of the WGEID recommendations, the Commission, in consultation with the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, should offer the Government of Sri Lanka technical assistance for the suggested review of the country’s security legislation, investigative, forensic and prosecutorial expertise to support the clarification of  past “disappearances” and the prosecution of those responsible for “disappearances”.

 

3 - The Commission should establish a regular agenda item to monitor the states' co-operation and progress on implementing the recommendations made by the Commission and its human rights mechanisms. This would enhance the work and strengthen the efficiency of the thematic mechanisms and ensure that states are held accountable for human rights violations.

(AI Index : ASA 73/04/98)

 

 

 

NO CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE

 

The indiscriminate arrests and harassment of Tamils in Colombo and  other places have alerted the Tamil TULF parliamentarians. According to reliable sources the TULF will move a no confidence motion in Parliament against Deputy Minister of Defence General Ratwatte. Recently, the indiscriminate arrest of Tamil youths has increased in Colombo. (REF)

 

EDITORS WARN OF POLICE STATE

 

The Editors' Guild of Sri Lanka has in a hard-hitting statement said it is of the opinion that current incidents against the media indicate a drift towards a police state.

 

The guild has also said it views with concern the escalating instance of the use of strong-arms tactics against journalists and the rapidly deteriorating climate for a free media.

 

A fortnight ago, the Guild called upon the government to “closely investigate and identify the forces responsible” for a night raid by armed men on the residence of The Sunday Times Consultant Editor and Defence Correspondent Iqbal Athas, and stated that “it is the obligation of the authorities concerned to ensure that journalists can engage in their legitimate duties....”

 

The previous week, uniformed policemen at Aranayake had the audacity to torture a young reporter from the Dinamina, Pradeep Kumara Dharmaratne for exposing the proliferation of illicit liquor (kasippu) in the area. Having forcibly entered the house in which he was sleeping, police took him away in the a vehicle to the police station in the middle of the night.

 

“After mercilessly assaulting Dharmartne, the police then attempted to frame him by placing his fingerprints on the liquor barrels and produced the journalist before a magistrate who released him on Rs. 15,000 bail”.

 

The Guild is of the opinion that the aforesaid incidents indicate a drift towards a police state and that this government, unfortunately, is gaining currency as one that is becoming increasingly insensitive to media freedom, the statement adds.

(Extracted from “The Sunday Leader, March 1, 1998)

 

 

HINDU PRIEST ASSOCIATION SEEKS UNESCO HELP

 

The North-East Hindu Priests Association has written a letter to UNESCO requesting it to tell the Sri Lankan government to stop bombing Hindu temples, arresting Hindu priests and using temples as army living quarters and checkpoints. The Hindu association says that Sri Lanka’s national flag carries a Buddhist symbol and the 1972 Constitution accepts Buddhism as the country’s national religion. The government has marginalised Hinduism since independence, it adds. It also points out that well over 1800 Hindu temples have been entirely destroyed or partially damaged in aerial bombing and shelling.

 

* * * * * * *

 

February 1998

Page 1

Editorial

 

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND GOVERNMENT APATHY

 

Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka take various forms : killing of non-combatant Tamil civilians in the war zone: indiscriminate or erratic aerial bombings and artillery shellings, leading to loss of civilian lives; destruction of places of worship, schools, and civilian property; internal displacement of persons numbering  several hundreds of thousands; denial of sufficient food and medicine - the list is endless. These are explained away as by-products of a war situation. What is equally distressing are the serious violations occurring OUTSIDE the war-affected areas : Disappearances, for example. Sri Lanka had the highest number of cases of disappearances reported in 1997, acording to a report submitted to the U.N.Commission on Human Rights by the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

 

Adding to this woeful record are the regular massacre of Tamil civilians by the armed forces or para-military forces in the pay of the government. Such massacres are not new in the life of the Tamils, particularly of those living in the East of the country. On 17th May 1985, an estimated 60 young Tamils were killed in a place called Thambiluvil by members of the government's Special Task Force. That same year, on 31 May, 37 young Tamils were taken into custody and shot dead after armed forces went on a rampage in Kiliveddy in Trincomalee district. In 1986, on 19 January, 24 Tamil civilians were shot  during a search operation by the Task Force in Iruthayapuram. In 1987, on January 28, over 150 Tamil civilians were killed at Kokkaddicholai during a military operation in whist helicopter gunships were used. Very recently, (Febrary 1998) eight Tamil civilians including four students were arbitrarily gunned down at Thampalakamam. All these massacres have been reported and documented by Human Rights groups and NGOs, including Amnesty International,  yet they continue with impunity.

 

The reason for this is not far to seek. Appointing a Human Rights Commission on the one hand and stifling its functioning on the other, setting up investigations but with no efforts to follow through, are seen as merely a means of silencing public outcry for the time being, and sweeping the issues under the carpet after some time.

 

The failure of the Sri Lankan government to bring the perpetrators of such massacres to justice time and again, is obviously the reason for the recurrence of such incidents. If not deliberate duplicity, it is government apathy on the issue of human rights that should evoke concern from the international community.                   S. S.

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD'S HIGHEST NUMBER OF DISAPPEARANCES IN SRI LANKA

 

By Stephanie Nebehay, GENEVA, March 10 (Reuters) - Iraq continues to top the United Nations' list of countries with most "enforced disappearances", with nearly 16,500 people reported missing in the past years, a U.N. report said on Tuesday.

 

Sri Lanka had the highest number of cases reported in 1997, where 77 of 695 newly reported disappearances occurred last year, the working groups's annual report to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights said.

 

The group said it was "alarmed at the recent re-emergence of the systematic practice of enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka, and notes that it is the country with the highest number of disappearances reported to have occurred in 1997.

Disapperances occurred amidst fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists in the north and northeast, as well as the People's Liberation Front in the south.

 

 

 

 

M.P. ASKS FOR AMNESTY TO TAMIL POLITICAL PRISONERS

 

U.N.P. Parliamentarian Jayalath Jayawardena has called for the granting of an amnesty to Tamil detainees held in the Kalutara and other prisons against whom there was no substantial evidence. Nearly 600 Tamils are held in various jails and detention camps without charge for months and years. Mr. Jayalath Jayawardena had visited Tamil inmates in the Kalutara prison in the aftermath of the December 10 incident in which three Tamil detainees were killed by Sinhala convicts.

 

 

NEVER SAW DEAD CHILD SOLDIERS

 

“I’ve never seen pictures of dead child soldiers. The only evidence of women soldiers comes from the Tigers, and their pictures are of girls in their late teens at least - the age of Sri Lankan recruits”.

 

One of the diplomats in Colombo, sceptical of the government claimed that the LTTE are throwing “School girls into the action”.

 (Tony Clifton in Newsweek of December 8, 1997)

 

 

 

 

 

BOMB BLAST IN COLOMBO

 

On 29 February 98,  a vehicle bomb that exploded  at  Maradana in Colombo had killed 28 persons and two police constables on the spot. The explosion took place opposite the Maradana Railway Station on Thursday at 12. 40 p.m. There were over 34 vehicles completely destroyed. Police sources said that the target of the bomb vehicle could have been the Maradana Police Station where investigations are being conducted after an underworld boss was arrested in Hultsdorp on Wednesday.

 

 

 

Page 2/3

 

THAMPALAKAMAM MASSACRE

BY POLICE

 

 

Reports of massacre by police personnel attached to three camps near the Tamil villages of Puthukudiyiruppu and Potkerni in Thampalakamam Division on Sunday February 1 has now come to light, despite an attempt at a cover-up.

 

According to a bulletin put out by the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), "one corpse had about 25 bullets in it. The male organ was missing from another corpse suggesting that it was severed before the final killing took place".

 

Local sources reveal that residents, including women, were pulled out of their houses and beaten. The armed men also fired on livestock. Following, what human rights organisations have termed an "orgy of violence", a group of villagers were taken to the police stations, followed by their relatives.

 

After chasing away the relatives, 8 persons were taken into the police station. The bodies of these 8 persons were subsequently recovered. They are Ponnampalam Kanagasabai (48), Arumugam Segar (32), Gunaratnam Sivarajah (27), Subramaniam Thivakaran (23), Amirthalingam Gajendran (17), Muruges Janakan (17), Amirthalingam (14) and Pavalanathan (33).

 

The sound of gun fire was later falsely attributed to an attack by the LTTE whilst security personnel based in Trincomalee now admit, never took place.

 

SSP Kantalai, Nihal Karunaratne, apologised to the people attending the funeral of the victims and gave assurances that this would not happen again.

 

The Amnesty International in its bulletin has alleged that the relations of the victims had been asked to sign a document that the dead were either LTTE men or victims of an LTTE attack.

 

However, a human rights activist pointed out that legal process could drag on as in the case of the on-going trial relating to the last major massacre of Tamil civilians by security forces two years ago in Kumarapuram, Kiliveddy where only low ranking soldiers are facing charges.

 

(Extracted from "WEEKEND EXPRESS" 7-8 February 1998)

 

                                                           

FATHER KILLED AND DAUGHTER INJURED

 

On 6th February 97, the Sri Lankan army fired shells at a Valaichchenai residential area killing V. Thayalakumar and injuring his daughter and another person. The girl was admitted to Valaichchenai hospital in a serious condition. The shells fell in Karuvankerni areas. (INF)

 

PLAIN CLOTHES SOLDIERS ABDUCT YOUNG PEOPLE

Sri Lankan soldiers in civil dress have taken many civilians  from Poonthottam army detention centre in Vavuniya for interrogation. None of those who were taken for interrogation have yet returned and there are fears that they have been tortured or killed. Parents have informed the authorities and NGOs but so far no action was taken. (FOM) 

 

 YOUTH DIED AS ARMY'S FLOATING BOMB EXPLODES

A 20 year  youth Sivalingam Arulanantham died on 6 February 98  as he examined an object which washed ashore.  While he curiously watched the object which floated ashore at Santhiveli beach in Batticaloa, it exploded killing him on the spot. (INF)

 

ABDUCTED CIVILIANS ESCAPED

Two civlians Ponnampalam Thavarajah and Arumugam Mylvaganam who were captured by  the army at Poratheevu in Batticaloa have escaped from the Army detention and returned safely to their homes. While they had gone to Poratheevu to collect firewood, both were arrested by the Army. Ten  civilians captured by the  army last December in Mahaoya in Batticaloa  have  not been seen since and it is suspected that they may have been tortured and killed by the army.  (REP)

 

TWO STUDENTS SHOT AND KILLED

Para-military police on Monday19/2/98 opened fire on two innocent Tamil students killing both as they rode in bicycles in Maruthamunai, in Amparai district. One student - U A Furkhan  from Polonnaruwa had moved to the area to follow his higher education while the other - Rajadurai Eeswaran was from Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa. The para-military police were on patrol on Almanar road when they opened fire on the students.  (TEL)

 

 

 

TRINCO COPS HELD

FOR YOUTH KILLINGS

 

Five policemen are being held for interrogation in connection with the massacre of eight youths in the Trincomalee district, police said.

 

They said the policemen are being questioned to determine whether they had a hand in the slaying of eight youths held in police custody.

 

The youths were killed in Pudukuddiyiruppu in Trincomalee district last week. A senior policeman of the Kantalai police division said at least 200 other policemen are expected to be questioned.

 

The next day when the parents of the youths visited the police station, they were told that the eight youths were not arrested by the Pudukuddiyiruppu police but by the Thampalakamam police.

 

Later the bodies of the youths were found on the Pudukuddiyiruppu road.

 

(Extracted from "The Sunday Leader" 8/2/1998)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "DISAPPEARENCE" IN ARMY CUSTODY

 

On 31 January, a youth from the refugee camp  near Vinayakapuram in Batticaloa district disappered  while he was on his way to collect firewood. His parents said he was arrested by the Sri Lankan army from the Kiran bridge.

 

The army men at the Kiran bridge camp have denied that they ever arrested the youth, Sivaguru Yogeswaran, 17.

 

But the parents say that many other youths who went with their son told them that he was detained by soldiers at Kiran bridge Army camp.

 

Since his disappearance, the parents go to Kiran bridge camp to find out the whereabouts of their son. The officers refused to give any details to them!             (RWY)

 

 

 

 

 

 

M.P.  FOR BATTICALOA PROTESTS ABDUCTIONS

 

Member of Parliment for Batticaloa, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham has protested against the abduction of youths in his Batticaloa constituency by unidentified Sri Lankan security personnel and Tamil mercenary groups working with Security forces in Batticaloa.

 

On 9th February, three youths were abducted at the Chenkalady junction by people in civils who appeared there in a private blue Pajero van.

 

The victims of this abduction are Moorthy of Pankudavely, Kandavanam and Yogan of Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa district.

 

Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam has sent his protest to the Deputy Minister of Defence  Mr. Anuruddha Ratwattte.

 

Four years back,  many youths in Batticaloa were abducted in the same manner and later they were considered as disappeared people by the human rights organisations. The present situation again in Batticaloa is causing fear among the people of Batticaloa.                    (RWY)

 

 

SRI LANKA POLICE HARASS INDIAN WOMAN JOURNALIST

 

Sri Lankan police raided the hotel room of Indian woman journalist Sudha Ramachandran on November 30 and questioned her for over an hour after searching her room at Colombo's Taj Hotel.

 

Sudha Ramachandran (33) who is correspondent for the Indian newspaper DECCAN HERALD had been to army-occupied Jaffna. The police told her she was being investigated for any Tiger links, after unidentified sources alerted them that she had pictures of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as well as pictures of the city of Colombo. They seized photographs which she had taken during her assignment, already cleared by the government's war ministry, but returned them later.

A security officer at the Taj Hotel said Ms Ramachandran was being suspected "because she is an Indian Tamil". But he denied they had called the police in.

 

Said Ms Ramachandran : "If they see every Tamil as a Tiger, they are never going to solve this problem in Sri Lanka".

 

It is known that two other Indian journalists had also been similarly raided and questioned at the same hotel in the past two years during reporting assignments in Sri Lanka. Journalists who were prevented from going to Jaffna when the Tigers were administering the area are now permitted to go after military clearance.            (Hot Spring November-December 1997)

GANG RAIDS HOME OF ATHAS

 

An unidentified group of at least ten men stormed into the residence of The Sunday Times defence correspondent and one time associate editor of The Sunday Leader Iqbal Athas and threatened him and his wife at gun point on Thursday (12).

 

The armed gang had entered the residence of Athas around 9.00 p.m., after assaulting his domestic help who had refused to open the gate.

 

Athas told The Sunday Leader that "All of a sudden five armed men entered the house and walked straight towards me. I was for a moment thunderstruck. I did not know what to do because they had automatic revolvers in their possession".

 

"Two men came near me and placed their pistols on my chest and asked, "Ko baduwa-baduwa ko"? meaning prostitutes. I said I never ran brothels and I tried to raise my voice but they pressed their revolvers hard against my chest preventing me from speaking", he added.

 

"I then saw three more men entering my seven year old daughter's room. I also saw five more men guarding the gate. My boy was severely hurt". The men had kicked his head, said Athas.

(Extracted from Sunday Leader of 15 February 1998)

 

 

 

 

 

SRI LANKAN JOURNALISTS VICTIMS OF STATE TERRORISM

 

 

Many Sri Lankan journalists were killed by state terrorism in Sri Lanka. It has to be noted that Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance Party that came to power on one of its promises that it will give more Press freedom,  continues to harass journalists!

 

1 - Richard de Soysa, 2 - Premachandra 3 - Premakirthy de Alwis,  4 - Themis Guruge

 

 

Page 4

SRI LANKA CELEBRATED GOLDEN JUBILEE ON ITS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION RECORD

(Some remarkable Human Rights violations)

 

1948 The Citizenship Act disenfranchising Indian Tamil Plantation workers was passed in Parliament. One million 3rd generation plantation workers were living in the island for over 115 years. They were brought to the island by the British from South India to work in Tea and Rubber plantations in the hill country. 100,000 plantation Tamils were victimised.

(Violation of UDHR article - 21)

 

1956 The “Sinhala Only” Act was passed in the Sri Lankan Parliament. This Act made Tamils as second class citizens in the island. Tamils staged peaceful protests in Colombo and Gal Oya. 150 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death;  20 Women were raped; 3000 were made refugees and their properties were looted by Sinhala mobs.

(Violation of UDHR article - 2, 3)

 

1958  Anti Tamil riots in Sinhala areas. Massacre of Tamils, looting of their properties, setting fire to their houses and even Tamils alive! 25,000 Tamils were made refugees; 500 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death; 200 Women were raped and Tamil properties were looted or destroyed by Sinhala mobs.

(Violation of UDHR articles - 3, 5, 12, 17)

 

1961 Tamil non-violent (Satyagraha) civil disobedience campaign in the North and East was disrupted by the security forces, protesters were beaten and arrested.

(Violation of UDHR articles - 5, 9, 20)

 

1964 The Pact (Srima-Shastri) to evacuate Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin was signed. They were living in the island for over 115 years. 650,000 Plantation Tamils became stateless persons.

(Violation of UDHR articles - 4, 15, 23)

 

1972 Equal education opportunities for Tamil students were denied. Standardisation on University admission was introduced.

(Violation of UDHR article - 26)

 

1974 The Fourth International Tamil research Conference held on 10/01/1974 in Jaffna was disrupted by the Sri Lankan Police. 9 Tamils were brutally killed.

(Violation of UDHR articles - 2, 3, 20, 27)

1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced in Sri Lanka. This Act gives a free hand to the Security forces to arrest, detain, torture, rape, kill and dispose bodies with impunity. Arrested people could be detained for three months without being produced in courts. (July)

(Violations of UDHR articles - 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)

1981 The Jaffna Public Library containing 95,000 volumes was completely destroyed in a fire set by a group of Police officiers who went on a rampage in the Jaffna city on May 31, 1981. 95, 000 volumes of unrecoverable-invaluable books were burnt.

(Violations of UDHR articles - 2, 21, 24, 27)

 

1983 The Government masterminded anti-Tamil riots in July 83. More than 6,000 Tamils were killed by the Sinhalese in the South. Tamil houses and businesses were looted and destroyed. Tamils living in the South were sent in ships to the North and East by the government. 250,000 Tamils were made refugees; 2,500 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death; 500 Women were raped; 53 Tamil political prisoners were brutally murdered in the maximum security Welikada prison on 25-27th July.

(Violation of UDHR articles - 3, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 23, 24, 26)

 

1984 - To date  Tamils living in the North-East were arrested, tortured and killed. Women were raped, many disappeared. Tamil properties were looted or destroyed by the Sri Lankan security forces. Air Force bombers dropped napalm bombs in residential areas causing severe loss and damage to Tamil people and their property.

 

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Emergency Regulations (ER) adopted by the government are helping the security forces to carry on with all sorts of human rights violations with impunity. (Statistics appeared in our December 1997 issue)

(UDHR was completely violated)

 

1990 - To date Economic embargo in Tamil areas. Food, medicine, electricity and other important items are denied to the Tamils. (Statistics appeared in our December 1997 issue)

(Violations of UDHR articles - 22, 25, 26)

UDHR = Universal Declaration of Human Rights            (Information TCHR-HQ France)

 

 

 

ECONOMIC MARGINALISATION

OF PLANTATION TAMILS

Tamil Information Centre

 

The Tamil Information Centre in its Press release of 17 February1998 has expressed its solidarity with the Hill country plantation workers (in Sri Lanka) in their struggle for an increase in their wages. The Press release added, “Throughout the history of the plantations in Sri Lanka the estate population has been subjected to severe hardship and exploitation not only through suppression of wages below subsistence levels but also through discrimination in the provision of shelter, education, health facilities and nutrition”.

 

“Sri Lanka’s independence has not conferred a share in the growing national wealth on the Tamil workers nor has formal sovereignty brought them full political participation. Successive Sri Lankan governments have been hand-in-glove with plantation interests in exploiting plantation labour in various ways. Legislation has suppressed wages and crucial social facilities, and has forced repatriation on workers under agreements without their participation”.

 

“The plantation Tamils have over the years, apart from struggle to keep life and limb together, have also suffered the consequences of denial of citizenship, franchise and have faced periodic violence. Despite government claims that the citizenship problem has been solved, the majority of them remain second class citizens under legal provisions relating to citizenship by registration”.

 

“The TIC calls for sufficient wages for the Plantation workers whose hard toil sustains the economy and provide facilities for improvements in representation and welfare”.

 

 

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January 1998

Page 1

 

 

1998 - U.N.’s YEAR OF HUMAN RIGHTS :

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

FOR THE TAMILS ?

 

The Universal declaration on Human Rights has entered its 50th year. The question today is: Have these fifty years since the Declaration was made, brought any improvement in the furtherance of human rights around the world?

More specifically, let us take the case of a country like Sri Lanka. It is relevant and appropriate to talk about Sri Lanka, because that country is also celebrating 50 years of its independence this year. What do these fifty years mean to an entire section of the population of the country - the Tamils ?

In the very eighth year of that independence the language rights of the Tamils were whittled away by legislation. Their right to life and liberty was getting eroded through the passing years by mob violence against them; first by government passivity, then through government encouragement, the riots took the form of pogroms. Fifteen years ago, the State was beginning to wage a virtual war against an entire civilian population in the north and east of the country. Today, after 50 years of the country's independence, and fifty years after the Universal Declaration, the Tamils have become victims of every possible violation of human freedoms: Disappearances, Torture, extra-judicial executions, widespread arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions without charge or trial, denial of food, denial of freedom of movement... The frightening thought is that they have become the accepted norms of life for the Tamil people.

When the Sri Lankan government does not live up to its stated commitment to human rights, the excuse that is being trotted out to the outside world is that violations occur only in the context of a war for separation. If the war, as is constantly alleged, is against Tamil "terrorists", that surely cannot encompass the three million Tamil civilian population, who are the habitual victims of these high-handed violations. They include even political suspects detained within the walls of high-security prisons. It happened 15 years ago in 1983 when 53 Tamil political prisoners were murdered in two separate massacres in Colombo's Welikade prison, and it happened again recently when three Tamil political prisoners were done to death in Kalutara prison, south of Colombo.

What is most disturbing about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is the deception on the part of the government by its projection of an outward show of concern for human rights, while in practice, it flouts every known law that governs human freedoms. The appointment of a showpiece Human Rights Commission is but one of them.

Twenty years ago, former U.S.  President Jimmy Carter said on the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : "Of all human rights, the most basic right is to be free of arbitrary violence. When a government itself becomes the perpetrator of arbitrary violence, it undermines its legitimacy. The UN Declaration means that no action can draw the cloak of sovereignty over torture and disappearances".

The mission of the Global March will be "To mobilise world-wide efforts to protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right to receive a free, meaningful education and to be free from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to damage the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."

The Global March Against Child Labour will be a landmark event in the struggle to eradicate child labour throughout the world. The March has already begun this month in Manila in the Philippines and it will end during the first weak of June, 1998 in Geneva, where the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meets to draft a new ILO Convention on Child Labour. This March will continue via many countries in different continents.

 

 

 

Latest News:

TAMILS MASSACRED IN TRINCOMALEE

Trincomale 1/2/98 -  According to a report received from our sources in Trincomalee, nine people were brutally killed today at the Thampalagamam Police station in Trincomalee district. A group of Police personnel entered the village of Puthukudiruppu at 6 o'clock in the morning  and took nine men including a few youngsters at the age of fourteen. All of them were taken forcibly to the Police station while the kith and kin of the victims were shouting and crying. Then at 7.30 a.m., all of them were shot dead at the Police station and their bodies were not returned to their families. According to our sources, the people in Thampalagamam made a peaceful protest in a Church in this village. TCHR (H.Q.) is still awaiting more details from our sources in Trincomalee.

HOLIEST BUDDHIST TEMPLE  BOMBED

The prominent holy Buddhist Temple Dalada Maligava in Kandy was bombed on Sunday 25/01/98 and 11 people were killed. So far no one claimed responsibility for the bombing. Many religious organisations have condemned this bombing.

Page 2

 

CANADA WANTED TO DEPORT A CONVENTION REFUGEE

Mr. Manickavasagam Suresh (40)  a Tamil from the Island of Sri Lanka and a Geneva Convention  refugee in Canada since 1991. The Federal Court upheld the security certificate, clearing the way for his deportation to Sri Lanka. The Immigration Minister Lucienne Robillar also gave her approval.

Many human rights organisations, Parliamentarians and leading lawyers have protested against this deportation as Sri Lanka is not safe for a Tamil to return at the present. Amnesty International has made two Urgent Action calls concerning this matter. Amnesty International’s Urgent Action calls have urged that "The Canadian government is bound by the internationally recognised principle of non-refoulement which prohibits states from forcibly returning people to countries where they risk serious human rights violations".

According to the media, a Provincial Court in Canada has issued a temporary stay order.

 

300 ARRESTED IN BATTICALO - VALAICHCHENAI

On Tuesday 30 December, seven civilians were arrested in a round-up operation in Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa district. The residents were prevented from attending Church mass and celebrating X'mas. The people in Batticaloa were ordered to gather at a play ground near the Iruthayapuram Church and they were subjected to interrogations.

On Wednesday January 21, nearly 300 civilians were arrested in a round-up operation in Valaichchenai in Batticalo district. Nearly 1500 security forces rounded-up the area in the morning and ordered the people of Kannakipuram, Kalmadu, Vinayagapuram, Peythalai and Kannankiramam to assemble at the Centre point. They were held in the hot sun until evening and they were denied food and water. Those who were arrested were taken to the Harbour Army camp in Valaichchenai.            (PRS)

ARBITRARY ARREST CONTINUES IN THE SOUTH AND VAVUNIYA

The Police in the Central province have arrested three Tamil youths in Kandapola and Rakmana. Karuppaiah Nandakumar, Murugaiah Sivakumar and Rajagopal were accused of taking photographs of important places.

On Thursday January 15,  many people were arrested in Samayapuram, Sahayamaathapuram and Rambaikulam in Vavuniya district. Three students and 28 young Tamil men were arrested in this round-up. The residents of these areas were ordered to assemble at the Central Tamil School playground in Vavuniya and they were detained without food until evening. During the course of their detention, they were video filmed and subjected to interrogations. Some elderly people were also interrogated.

On Sunday January 18, the Army and Police in Vavuniya have arrested nearly 350 young Tamils. The people who were arrested in this round-up are mainly those who have returned recently to the town from Colombo and Vanni.     (PRS)

FIVE CIVILIAN SEVERELY INJURED AND FOUR ARRESTED

On 30 December 97, five Tamil civilians were severely injured by a shell fired from the Kumburumoolai army camp. This incident has taken place in the residential area of Karuvakerni in Valichchenai, Batticaloa. Three of the injured belong to the same family.

On the same day, four people were arrested in a round-up operation in Sunkankerni town and many were injured when the army opened fire. A. Ponniah (55) was severely injured and three of the arrested people are still in detention. The soldiers have ransacked many homes and destroyed valuable belongings.          (INFO)

ICRC HELP URGENTLY NEEDED

The Tamils living in Mallavi gathered at the ICRC office in Mallavi seeking their assistance. People from Elanko, Kudiyiruppu and Mangai were there at this gathering. Those assembled included children, youngsters and elderly people. They explained that they have no food, medicine, clothes or shelter to stay due to the government's blockade. Nearly 250 Tamil families have also approached Oxfam asking for food and medicine. Oxfam is one of the humanitarian organisations working in theVanni.                   (PRS)

CURFEW IN JAFFNA PREVENTS X’MAS AND NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

As the army in Jaffna declared a curfew in Jaffna, Christians in Jaffna were prevented from going to Church on X'mas day and New Year day. The Army in Jaffna declares acurfew very frequently since its capture of Jaffna. 

On Wednesday and Thursday 14th and 15th  January the Security forces round-up several villages in Jaffna and ransacked many homes. Several people were arrested in Kokkuvil, Anaikoddai, Thattatheru, Passaiyoor and Koiyathottam.  The details of the arrests are not known.              (INFO)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Page 3

 

 

SINHALA COLONISATION IN TRINCOMALEE

A CHURCH CONVERETED INTO AN ARMY BASE

The government of Sri Lanka is sponsoring many Sinhala colonisation programs in the Tamil inhabited areas in the Trincomlee, Batticaloa and Amparai districts. Recently, many Sinhala people were settled in Tamil inhabited areas by forcing Tamils to quit their homes. The entire Tamil region from Morawewa to Trincomalee has been devastated by the destruction of Tamil properties due to army operations.

The Sinhala settlers are getting water supply through Army water bowsers. A Viharai (Buddhist Temple) was also built for the settlers to worship.  St. Joseph's church in this area has been converted into an army base. These areas are given  new Sihalese names as "Sinhapura" and "Thandapura".            (PRS)

A PREGNANT MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN INJURED

On January 9, four civilians suffered extensive injuries when members of the Special Task Force (STF) in Mandoor fired shells towards residential areas. A pregnant woman Thayana Kovinthamma (27) her two children Thanushan (6) and Sinthuja (4) and Alagamma (25) were injured in this incident.                        (ASE)

 

SCHOOL CLOSED IN VALAICHCHENAI

The Karuvankerni Wigneswaran school in Valaichchenai in Batticaloa district was closed due to the Army's continuous shell fire. Parents have refused to send their children to this school as they fear for their safety.

                                                                                                                                    (ASE)

 

 

SOLDIERS KILL CIVILIANS

Two civilians were killed by soldiers at Kiran in Valaichchenai in Batticaloa district. K Selvarajah (38) and S. Sivapalan (31) were shot dead by the army on Tuesday 27 January.

On the same day, a woman was killed in Kiran in a shell attack. S. Parvathi (65) was killed in this incident and her house was destroyed.                                (IRT)

 

MUSLIM HOME GUARDS GIVE DEATH THREATS

Muslim homeguards in Veeramunai in Amparai district have sent death threats to the Tamils living in the area that they will be attacked soon if they don't give ransom to the homeguards working in these areas. This death threat has led the people to vacate the village and go to the town.                  (PRS)

HOSPITAL WITHOUT MEDICINE

The hospital in Akkarayan is without enough medicine for patients coming to the hospital for various ailments. The Akkarayan hospital is one of the hospitals functioning in theVanni region. Due to government blockade on medicine, many hospitals were closed and some were destroyed by shell-fire.

In December alone 32,086 out-patients attended Akkarayan hospital and the hospital staff were unable to cope with the influx due to lack of medicine and professional staff.

In 1997 alone 310,264 out-patients were treated in this hospital :

Patients suffering from typhoid 9,506

Malaria 55,309

Influenza            103,751

Rabies  427

The same year there were12,426 in-patients of whom 398 died.

(Hospital Information Sources)

JAFFNA POLLS LEAK OUT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES DONE IN THE PAST

The candidates for the Jaffna local polls have leaked out more human rights abuses during their campaigns. The PLOTE has accused EPDP for massacring 72 youths in Allaipiddy in the islands in late 1990 and the remains of these youths were found in abandoned wells in the area.

In the meantime EPDP has accused the PLOTE for abducting and killing people in Vavuniya.

 

Page 4

 

 

UNHCR ON INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called on 7/1/98  for greater co-operation among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASIAN) to prevent future refugee crises in the region. "Although much has been achieved in Southeast Asia resulting in peace and stability, there are (still) several issues requiring close attention," UNHCR chief Sadako Ogata said in a lecture in Manila, Philippines.

Mme Ogata said that another problem that has become a major concern for the UNCHR is the plight of the internally displaced in Asia.

"The situation of internally displaced persons is often more compelling than that of the refugees since many do not benefit from international protection and assistance," she said.

Mme. Ogata criticised governments for paying "little attention" to the problem, saying they tend to view it as an issue of national sovereignty.

She noted that several hundred thousand people have been displaced in Sri Lanka as a result of fighting between government troops and separatist ethnic Tamil rebels.

According to the UNHCR, there are about 1.7 million internally displaced people in Asia, along with about 4.8 million refugees.

 

ARTHUR C. CLARKE CONFESSION TO PAEDOPHILIA

Science fiction guru Arthur C. Clarke's reported confession to a life of paedophilia provoked calls on Sunday (1/2/98) for his deportation from his adopted home Sri Lanka as Prince Charles prepared to knight him.

Clarke, 80, who wrote "2001: A Space Odyssey" and has lived in Sri Lanka since 1956, was quoted by the British newspaper the Sunday Mirror as saying : "Once they (boys) have reached the age of puberty it is O.K... It doesn't do any harm". Arthur C. Clarke is Chancellor of Colombo's Moratuwa University.

Former University lecturer Nalin de Silva reacted angrily to remarks attributed to Clarke and said the government must immediately take action against him under the new anti-child abuse laws and deport him. "He has not brought any recognition to Sri Lanka", said de Silva who heads the nationalistic Thinkers' forum. "He has only projected Sri Lanka as a paradise for foreign paedophiles" Sri Lanka's child rights group PEACE, called for his prosecution for reportedly having sex with minors.

A Foreign tourist commented that "Sri Lankan government actively promotes under age sex tourism to fund the war against the Tamils." Now foreign girls are also available in Colombo for sex-hungry tourists.

 

CANADIAN NAMED DEPUTY

LOUISSE Frechette, Canada's deputy Defence Minister, was yesterday named to the new post of Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Questions about her possible role in blocking investigations of human rights abuses by Canadian troops in Somalia resurfaced.

Ms. Frechette has been criticised for encouraging the Canadian government to shut down an inquiry as it began investigating allegations that top Canadian officials have sought to prevent news of the abuses from becoming public. In a notorious incident, Canadian commandos tortured to death a Somali teenager.

UPALI NEWSPAPERS SHUT OUT

Attempts by Upali Newspapers to despatch their publications to Jaffna are being frustrated by the bureaucracy in the Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Defence maintains that only ANCL publications (pro-government) should be sent to Jaffna. But publications of at least two other publishing houses are available in Jaffna.

Do newspapers of a particular publisher 'disturb' the people of Jaffna while three others do not? No-one is forced to buy a newspaper he does not wish to read. Should not the people of Jaffna be allowed a choice?

(The Island of 11/1/98) - Mark Tran, New York. (The Guardian of 13/1/98)

NIB TO BE STRENGTHENED

Police headquarters have decided to recruit more officials for the National Intelligence Bureau, "The Island" reliably learns.

It is reported that the reason behind this decision to further increase the cadre of this National Intelligence Bureau is to gather vital information about organisations planning to carry out activities against the Government, and also other nefarious activities carried on by LTTE within the city of Colombo.

(Island of 24/12/97)

 

77,476 DISPLACED TAMILS ENTERED VAVUNIYA WITHIN ONE YEAR

From October 22, 1996 to end of October 1997, 77,496 displaced Tamil people from uncleared areas in the Vanni have entered Vavuniya through Thandikulam checkpoint, Vavuniya Divisional secretariat sources said.

These displaced refugees were put in welfare centres in Vavuniya. Later 60,740 had gone back to areas controlled by security forces in the Jaffna peninsula.

6184 refugees had to be sent back to Vanni as they did not get clearance to go to Colombo and other places in the South.

As the 10,000 or more refugees have not been granted clearance by the Ministry of Defence to go to places of their choice in the south they are presently languishing in the welfare centres. (Island of 24/12/97)

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