The Human Rights of Tamils

 

 

April 99

 

Editorial

 

Mass graves all over North-east

Is this what is  known as "IMPROVEMENT"

 in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka ?

* * *

 

Since 1990, at least five mass graves have been discovered by the inhabitants in north-east Sri Lanka.

 

On the night of September 9, 1990, the army arrested and allegedly massacred 181 people, including 35 children below the age of 10 in the villages of Sathurukkondan, Kokuvil, Panichchyadi and Pillaiyarady - three miles north of Batticaloa town in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka.  Mass graves are also believed to be exist in the East. So far there has been no moves to locate and exhume this mass burial place in Sathurukkondan ­ Kokkuvil area.

 

The second mass grave, ``Chemmani``, came to light on 3 July 1998, when the Colombo High Court sentenced to death five Sri Lanka army soldiers and a policemen charged with abduction, rape and murder of Krishanthy Kumaraswamy, a student at the Chundikuli Girls School who was arrested and gang raped by 11 security forces personnel before being murdered. The first accused in this case, reportedly denied murder and said in court ``We only buried bodies. We can show you where 300 to 400 bodies have been buried``. This was originally reported in July last year and until to-day virtually nothing has been officially done or said by the Sri Lankan government other than bringing a few more diplomats to the 55th Session of  the Commission on Human Rights to defend the accusation.

 

The third mass grave came to light in August last year, when people from Vasavilan and Punnalaikadduvan area located along the Palaly­Jaffna road, discovered the skeletons of Tamil civilians.

 

The fourth mass grave was reported during the first week of October last year when the skeletal remains of three human beings were found in a toilet pit close to a former Sri Lankan Army sentry post at Uthayanager in Kilinochchi. Furthermore, a photograph showing a Sri Lankan soldier holding the decapitated head of a Tamil civilian from Kilinochchi, was discovered in the belongings of a Sri Lankan soldier.

 

The latest mass grave was found on 25th March when Jaffna Municipal workers were digging within the site of the Duraiyappah stadium. The workers discovered many human skulls and bones beneath the surface of the ground. This stadium is within Jaffna city and is only a few miles away from where the other mass graves were found.

 

Until today, there has never been any international call to locate and exhume any of these mass graves. Every human rights advocate and activist should appeal to the UN and to other international human rights bodies to appoint an International and Independent team to carry out an inquiry on these mass graves.

 

Appeal to the 55th Session of the Commission on Human Rights

 

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR, head office in France made an appeal to the Chairperson Ms. Anne Anderson and other members of the 55th Session of the Commission on Human Rights - regarding the plight of the Tamil people with the latest report of the TCHR on the tragic and rapidly deteriorating Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka.

 

The appeal requested the 55th Session of the Commission on Human Rights to intervene directly to prevent gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka in particular to :-

 

Call for an immediate cessation of the war against the Tamils; Call upon Sri Lanka to respect the Right to Life and Liberty; Appoint an independent committee to start an immediate investigation into the mass graves in Chemmani in the Jaffna peninsula; Request Sri Lanka to abide by International Human Rights Conventions; Call upon Sri Lanka to lift press censorship immediately; Call upon Sri Lanka to free all political prisoners; Call upon Sri Lanka to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act; Call for the removal of the thoroughly undisciplined Sri Lankan army from the North East of Sri Lanka - thereby ensuring the right to personal security of the Tamils in their homeland; Condemn and impose stringent measures against Sri Lanka for the violations of human rights against the Tamils.

 

Also the delegates of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights-TCHR briefed the Member of the Commission as well as the NGOs and VIPs.

 

 

ICRC OFFICIAL ARRESTED IN SRI LANKA

A staff member of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, Mr. Sivananthan Kishore, was taken into custody by the Sri Lankan army on 26 April 99. The reason for the arrest was not known and he has been detained for interrogation at the Sri Lankan army camp near the city centre in Vavuniya.

 

MP DEMANDS INVESTIGATION INTO MASS GRAVES IN EAST

Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, MP for Batticaloa, called on the government to investigate and excavate mass grave sites found in the East where the Sri Lankan army and the Special Task Force (STF) had buried hundreds of civilians including pregnant women and children.

 

Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham said that there are mass graves in Navalady 35 kilometres north of Batticalo where 148 youths had been massacred and buried by the Sri Lankan Army on September 5, 1990.

 

He further said that another mass grave was found in Saththurukkondan village, 42 kilometres away from the Batticaloa town where 181 civilians were massacred and buried in the surroundings of this village.

 

DETAINEES TRANSFERED TO KALUTARA PRISON

According to sources of the Human Rights Commission - Jaffna, the following detainees had been transferred from the Kankesanthurai detention centre to the Kalutara prison in the suburb of Colombo since 19 April 99. The detainees as follows : Thiyakarajah Sinnathamby, Kalathevi, Santhanam, Rathika, Arumugam, Mahendirarajah and Vairamuthu.                                  (FOM)

 

 

ARMY GRENADE WOUNDS THREE

 

On 24 April 99 - Sri Lankan Army personnel stationed at the beach camp in Gurunagar in the Jaffna peninsula had wounded three youths in a grenade attack. Army personnel in Jaffna peninsula have the habit of attacking the civilians with grenades.

 

The wounded were immediately admitted to the Jaffna teaching hospital for treatment. The wounded are  as follows : Anthony Reggie (24), Atputhan Jeyakumar (24) and Atputhan Kalista (14). (INF)

 

 

FIVE ARRESTED YOUTHS MISSING IN MADHU

 

On 19 April 99 - Five youths were arrested by the Sri Lankan army from the Madhu church area. As usual the Army personnel had denied arresting these youths. The arrested youths are as follows : K. Sathasivam (25), S. Rajadurai (22), M. Visvarajan (23), Seenivasan (20) and R. Satheeskumar.            (INF)

 

MORE ARRESTS IN COLOMBO

On 27 April 99 - Four Tamil youths were arrested by the Police in Ja- ela and Wattala in Colombo. The Police sources refused to disclose the whereabouts of these youths. The arrested persons are as follows : B. Jeyachandran, B. Ilankeswaran, K. Kamalanathan and D. Uthayashangar.                      (TEL)

 

AIR LANKA STAFF ARRESTED IN COLOMBO

On 15 April 99 - An Air Lanka technician Mr. Ravindran (32) was arrested in Colombo by the Terrorist Investigation Department - TID of the Sri Lankan Police. The reason for his arrest was not known other than his ethnic identity is Tamil. It is believed that he will be detained for a long period under the PTA. (FOM)

 

Mr. Olara Otunnu on Sri Lanka

The UN Secretary-General appointed Mr. Olara A. Otunnu as his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict in September 1997. In announcing the appointment, the Secretary General underscored the urgent need for a public advocate and moral voice on behalf of children whose rights and welfare have been and are being violated in the context of armed conflict.

 

Since his appointment, the Special Representative has personally visited the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosova), Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and the Sudan. His office has also conducted two assessment missions to Afghanistan.

 

The Special Representative visited Sri Lanka from 3 to 9 May 1998 to witness and assess the multiple ways in which children are affected by the ongoing armed conflict in that country.

 

During his travel to the conflict-affected areas, the Special Representative witnessed the trauma and distress on the part of affected populations there. He saw how the protracted conflict had undermined the social and ethical fabric of society, and was struck by the deep and widespread yearning for peace on the part of all communities. At a final address in Colombo, he strongly endorsed the launching of a UNICEF-sponsored local initiative, proclaiming "children as zones of peace", as a systematic effort to apply global recommendations on the protection, rights and welfare of children with specific reference to Sri Lanka.

 

The Special Representative welcomed the commitments made by the Government of Sri Lanka and the leadership of LTTE, which represented a significant development towards ensuring the protection, rights and welfare of children affected by the ongoing armed conflict in Sri Lanka. He called upon the Government and LTTE to take concrete steps to fulfil their respective commitments, and launched a strong appeal to the international community to provide more assistance to conflict-affected populations in Sri Lanka, especially for resettlement and meeting their urgent health and education needs.

 

 

(Extracted from the report of the UN General Assembly - A/53/482 - dated 12 October 1998)

 

 

THREE DAY EYE SURGICAL CAMP IN MANNAR

Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, M.P. and Human Rights activist had held a three-day Eye Surgical camp in Mannar district from March 1 to 3. Several other Doctors from Madras-India and Panadura Hospital worked together with Dr. Jayalath.

 

Speaking at a Press Conference held at a hotel in Colombo, Dr. Jayalath said nearly 3000 persons underwent eye examination and 110 cataract operations were performed. 1200 free spectacles were given to poor people in Mannar.

 

 

US STATE DEPARTMENT ON IMPUNITY IN SRI LANKA

The US State department country report on Sri Lanka for the year 1998 is highly critical of impunity in Sri Lanka. Here, we publish a few excerpts from the report.

 

The exact number of extrajudicial killings was impossible to ascertain due to censorship of news relating to military or police operations, and to lack of regular access to the north and east where the war was being waged.

 

Impunity remains a serious problem. Since April 1995 at least 740 persons have been killed extrajudicially by the security forces or have disappeared after being taken into custody by the security forces and are presumed dead. With the exception of the six security force personnel convicted in the 1996 killing of Krishanthi Kumaraswamy, no member of the security forces has been convicted for any of these crimes.

 

In the vast majority of cases where military personnel may have committed human rights violations, the Government has not identified those responsible and brought them to justice. The military leadership has also failed in this regard. Almost all senior military officers during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising in 1988-91 were guilty of crimes and the Government gave the security forces great leeway in dealing with that threat to the nation's security. Attitudes and practices have been slow to change.

 

KLA ALSO A TERRORIST ORGANISATION IN USA

The US helped Turkey to arrest Abdullah Ocalan  - leader of the Kurdish Worker's Party. A year ago, both the Kurdish Worker's Party and the Kosovo Liberation Army - KLA were considered terrorist organisation by the U.S. State Department.     (Investors Business Daily - USA 24 February 1999)

 

 

Page 4

 

NGO interventions to the UN Commission on Human Rights

 

Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, (General Secretary of All Ceylon Tamil Congress) said that in August 1983 the Parliament of Sri Lanka passed what is popularly referred to as the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution which made it an offence to advocate separation. This Amendment was passed in the wake of the disgraceful pogrom against the Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka that made the then Sri Lankan Government and the extreme chauvinist section of the Sinhala Nation a laughing stock in the eye of the world. The Amendment was passed when no Tamil Member of Parliament from the North and East of Sri Lanka was present in Parliament.

 

He called upon the 55th session of the Commission on Human Rights to demand the Sri Lankan government to repeal immediately the Sixth Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.

 

Ms. Verena Graff of International League for the Rights and Liberation of People (LIDLIP), said the struggle of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, for instance, provides a strong argument for determining when a people should have the right to declare itself an independent and sovereign state. The current conflict in Sri Lanka began following independence in 1948 with a series of government policies that progressively and systematically deprived the Tamil population of its fundamental rights, and institutionalised violent persecutions and human rights abuses. Following 1983, the Tamils' struggle for their rights, which had hitherto been non-violent, transformed into a military campaign led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose objective remains the removal of Sinhalese control of the north-eastern region of the island, the historical homeland of the Tamils.

 

She further said that the struggle of the Tamils for independence in Sri Lanka is today one of the world's forgotten wars and three recommendations follow from this situation. First, regardless of the political situation, the international community has a duty to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of this war  and break the government blockade against the Tamils. Second, greater scrutiny should be placed on those western states that supply the Sri Lankan government with arms and material. Third, the United Nations should endorse the establishment of a fact finding mission to the conflict regions to assess both the nature of the situation and the basis on which the Tamil's claim for self-determination rest.

 

Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan of International Educational Development (Founder General Secretary of Tamil Centre for Human Rights) said that in Sri Lanka the basic fundamental freedoms and human rights of the Tamil people have been violated with impunity by the Sinhalese dominated governments over half a century based on an ideology of racial supremacy and exclusive possession and control of the island. All their attempts through peaceful and democratic means to co-exist as equals was met with armed repression. Having left with no alternative the Tamil people exercised their democratic right in 1997 for independence on the basis of the right to self-determination.

 

He further said the present war in Sri Lanka is clearly not only against the military forces of the Tamil people. Its is against the Tamil people as a race. While the Sri Lankan government hope to realise its genocidal intent the international community and the UN system are failing the Tamil people.

 

Ms. Sunila Abeysekera of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, (Executive Director of INFORM and UN award winner 1998) said that the situation in Sri Lanka had remained on the agenda of the Commission for over 15 years and it was extremely distressing to note that despite all assurances from the Government of Sri Lanka, the situation remained appalling. Disappearances, torture, summary and arbitrary executions all continued to take place in conflict zones in the north and east of the island as well as the south. This situation affected women of all communities not only  through their direct exposure to rape and other forms of violence but also through the impact of the  overall context of human rights abuse on their role and position in society. The organisation also wished to convey its grave concern over recent statements made by the President and the Minister of Justice that the Government of Sri Lanka wished to revive the death penalty.

 

Dr. Charles Graves, of Interfaith International, said that there were problems of religious intolerance in Sri Lanka, where Buddhism held the foremost place, as stipulated in the Constitution. This led to threats to the Tamil people, mostly Hindus. Religion was used to bolster the authority of the State, and this exacerbated political tensions. It was time for a solution to this religious, political and cultural problem. Frank discussions over the economic and humanitarian consequences of the continuing Sri Lakan conflict should be held.

 

Mr. Bashanna Abeywardane of International Peace Bureau in Switzerland, (Editor of "Hiru") said that there had been 16 years of war in Sri Lanka that had led to major population movements. In October 1995, Sri Lankan Army had launched a sustained offensive and invaded Jaffna, causing half million people to flee aerial bombings and devastation in 48 hours. They became internally displaced, and most were still displaced. There were nearly one million displaced persons in the Wanni and these people urgently needed international help.

 

He further said that there were violations of civil and political rights in Sri Lanka, including cases in which Tamils had been arbitrarily arrested.

 

Ms. Karen Stasius, of Socialist International Women, said that there were many situation in the world where civil and political rights were being violated, notably in the case of the Tamils in their homelands in Sri Lanka.

 

In Sri Lanka the majority of disappearances were of young boys and girls, who were tortured to death. Mass graves had been discovered. Rape was used as a weapon of war. The civilian population had suffered greatly from inhuman acts of genocide. It was hoped that both parties would find a way that would finally and rapidly lead to a lasting negotiated political solution which would guarantee the dignity and human rights of all.

 

TAMIL LOSING FAITH IN KUMARATUNGA

 

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's sizeable Tamil minority community is fast losing faith in President Chandrika Kumaratunga who has stumbled after bold steps to end the 16-year old ethnic violence in the Indian ocean island nation. Tamil citizens and political groups who had pinned great hopes on the ruling People's Alliance (PA) when it took office five years ago, now feel "frustrated and depressed," report IPS - April 29, 1999.

 

* * * * * * *

 

March 99

Editorial

 

Kosova in Yugoslavia and

Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka

 

The analysis given below will prove to the world that the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka are discriminated by the so called International community. According to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary disappearance, Sri Lanka continues to be the second highest country in disappearances for the past few years and in 1997 Sri Lanka had the highest number of disappearances compared to all other countries in the world. Also every report of  the UN indicates that Sri Lanka is one of the worst human rights violators in the world.

           

            The Tamil people are not considered worthy of attention by the International community and this must be  viewed as rank and despicable discrimination. What other conclusion is possible when in the face of the long protracted war, nothing had been done by the International community either to resolve the problem or condemn state terrorism.

 

 

                                           UN General assembly resolutions                              

#1199 and #1160 to protect the Kosovars in Yugoslavia                                         None for Tamils

 

Kosovo (1/5 landmass of

                              Serbia)

Tamil region (1/3 landmass of

                     Island of Sri Lanka)

Annexed to      

Serbia in 1989 

Sri Lanka in 1878-Tamil Kingdom

Conflicting People

Serbs Vs. Kosovars

Sinhalese Vs. Tamils

Population

90% in Kosovo are Albanians

90% Tamils in North-East

Domination by

Serbs of Serbia, 11 million

Sinhalese of Sri Lanka 18 million

Military Composition   

100% Serbs

99% Sinhalese

Colonisation

Kosovo region by Serbs

Tamil regions by Sinhalese

Occupied by

40,000 Serbian forces

150,000 S/L forces in North-East

Armed conflict started

March 1998 (just 12 months)

July 1983 (16 long years)

Freedom Fighters

KLA (Kosovo Liberation

                                   Army)

LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil

                                            Eelam)

Economic embargo

Not enforced

Since 1990

Civilians killed

Over 350

Over 60,000 Tamils

Disappearances

None reported

Over 1000 within three years

Mass graves    

None reported 

Three discovered in Jaffna alone

Refugees         

250,000 Single displacement

1,000,000 Multiple displacements

Property damaged

Not known

Over US $ three billion

Attack on religious places

None reported 

1900 Temples / Churches bombed

 

TINY ISLAND BUT STILL RANGE THE

SECOND HIGHEST ON DISAPPEARANCES

 

The report released by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances dated 28 December 1998, clearly indicates that Sri Lanka still has the second highest number of disappearances compared to all other countries!

 

Cases transmitted to the Government :

Total No. of cases                    :           12 221

Clarification by Govt.                :                  77

Clarifications by NGO sources :                   36

Outstanding                              :           12 108

Female                                     :                147

 

 

DISAPPEARANCES IN KILINOCHCHI

 

On 17 January 99, the Kachcheri (Secretariat) sources in Kilinochchi said that 164 persons from the district were reported missing in 1998. The fate of 109 of these persons was not known, they said. Eight of these were arrested and killed by the Sri Lankan Army and forty seven were released.

 

SRI LANKAN MEDIA MIS-USE

OLARA A. OTTUNU'S PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, 5 November - Olara A. Otunnu, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, today condemned the increasing number and brutality of attacks on civilians, especially children and women and the recruitment and use of child soldiers.

 

Mr. Otunnu, speaking at a press conference, vigorously and repeatedly called on all parties to the armed conflict to observe international humanitarian and human rights standards and to cease their abhorrent attacks against civilians. He appealed to all parties, both governments and rebels, to end the use of child soldiers and make demobilization an essential element of any peace negotiations.

 

He cited the horrific massacre in north-western Afghanistan and attacks last week on civilians in northern Sierra Leone and northern Kenya. He also pointed out the continuing enlistment and deployment of children as fighters in Colombia, Sri Lanka and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka, both of which he visited earlier this year, parties had broken their commitments to him to end recruitment and deployment of youngsters. (Press Release HR/4388 - 9 November 1998)

 

Ed :

During the month of November last year, some Sri Lankan media published a news item in the name of Mr. Olara A. Otunnu. We are anxious to know from where those strong words originated. Certainly not from Mr. Olara A. Otunnu!

 

 

 

Majority of children born in Batticaloa district maladjusted

(Excerpt from "The Island - 25 January 1999)

 

Eravur - A large number of children born in 1990 in the Batticaloa district are maladjusted, said the Principal of Al-Nazar Vidyalaya, Kattankudy, A.L. Uduma Lebbe at a special ceremony held at the school recently.

 

"At present more than 30 children who were born during that period study at this new school and are maladjusted due to emotional disturbance. They are very weak in studying and we  provide them with special education".

 

In conclusion, the principal said that as this school is located in a backward area, many children attend this school without having their breakfast. "They often faint during the morning period and we have to take remedial measures."

 

 

HOSPITAL MONEY DIVERTED TO MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

 

            A sum of 3.5 million rupees earmarked for the rehabilitation of hospitals in the North-East has been channelled to the Ministry of Defence.

 

            In a letter to all regional directors of health services, the Secretary, North-East Provincial Ministry of Health, has said that work on repairs and rehabilitation of hospitals should be suspended forthwith. In some hospitals tenders have been called to award contracts for the work, while in others work has already begun. All these have come to a standstill.

           

 

SHORTAGE OF MEDICAL STAFF AND DRUGS

 

            Services to sick children are being compromised by the lack of qualified paediatricians at the Jaffna Hospital. The severe shortage of specialists is not a problem specific to paediatrics but exists in other specialities too.

 

            Hospital sources said that there is also a severe shortage of medical staff and surgical instruments at the hospital. In addition, only one-third of the quota for surgical equipment is sent from Colombo and the hospital does not receive the allowed quota of drugs every month.

 

Almost all the hospitals in the Jaffna peninsula are  badly hit by a shortage of medical staff and medicine. The hospitals have received only 30% of medicine approved for the second quarter of the year and the quota for the third and fourth quarters have not yet been approved.

 

43,495 MALARIA PATIENTS

 

            According to sources in Mallavi hospital in Mullaithivu district, last year the hospital had treated 43,495 patients who were affected by malaria. The Mallavi hospital is functioning with minimum resources under a severe ban of important drugs and essential equipment.

 

            A large number of people suffer from malaria and diarrhoea in the Vanni region.

 

MP ALLEGES INDISCRIMINATE KILLING IN BATTICALOA

Batticaloa district TULF MP Joseph Pararajasingham has called upon President Chandrika Kumarantuga to take action against the police for indiscriminately firing on a civilian and killing him.

 

In a letter addressed to the president, the MP said that Nallathamby Sabanayagam a resident of Kudiyiruppu in Eravur area was allegedly killed by gun shots fired from a police security point.

 

According to the MP, Sabanayagam on that fateful day had taken his niece, an asthma patient along with some of his relations to hospital in a bullockcart. His house, according to the MP, was situated about 200 to 300 yards from the Arumugathan Kudiyiruppu police checkpoint.

 

"Suddenly four shots were fired. The firing came from the direction of the police check point, killing Sabanayagam and injuring Eliyathamby Rajendran. At the autopsy, police constable Premaratne Priyantha confessed that he had returned fire from the security point as there was firing from the opposite direction".

 

"This is the usual excuse the police give when questioned. But innocent civilians are being killed in this manner", the MP said in his letter. (The Sunday Leader - January 10, 1999)

 

 

 

 

Tamil detainees neglected

(Excerpt from 'The Weekend Express' of 30-31 January 1999)

            The Nava Sama Samaja Party in a letter addressed to President Chandrika Kumaratunga has highlighted the total disregard to the basic human rights of Tamil detainees.

 

            Despite several promises to either file plaint against the prisoners or release them, no action has been taken and detainees continue to be behind bars for varying periods extending to over four years.

 

            Subsequent to a roof top demonstration at the Kalutara Prison, a committee was appointed to expedite action but it has not achieved any results. The recent visit of the Minister of Women Affairs, Hema Ratnayake has also not brought relief to these prisoners, including babies, who are living in appalling conditions.

 

Torture cases with Medico-legal report

 

Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam has highlighted many instances of torture supported with Medico-legal Reports and sent to the High Courts of Colombo by the Government Judicial Medical Officers. Here we reproduce a few such cases.

 

The case of Kalimuthu Selvarajah, aged 27. He was arrested by the Crime Detective Bureau (CDB) on 10th July 1995 but was examined only on 17th December 1997 - two and half years after this arrest!  He gave a history of torture to the doctor which he suffered at the hands of the CDB. He was found to have 24 injuries of which three were caused at childhood. The other injuries were consistent with the history given by the accused. He had  injuries all over his body caused by assaults with hands, burns by cigarettes, cuts caused by blades, assault with wooden poles, assault with plastic tubes, assault with broom stick and injuries due to being pulled along the floor whilst fallen.

 

Another report refers to Luis Rama, a girl aged 18 years. She was examined on 17th May 1997 and gave a history of being arrested on 20th July 1995 - again two and half years before the date of examination by the doctor - by the Sri Lankan Navy. She was in Navy custody for two months and during that period she was suspended by her ankles, cut with blades on her breasts and thighs and burnt with cigarettes on her breasts. The doctor has found all her injuries consistent with the history of the injuries.

 

The medico-legal report in respect of Pasupathipillai Yogendran shows 28 injuries, all consistent with the history of the injuries that he told the doctor. He was examined on 1st April 1998. He was arrested by the army at Vavuniya on 27th October 1996 - one and a half years before the examination. He was first taken to the army's JOSOP camp where he was suspended from a tree by his ankles for three days. He was assaulted with fists, wire, sticks, iron pipes, and square shaped wooden rods, his head and face were covered with a polythene bag and dipped in water and his hands were kept on a stony surface and trampled with boots. On 29th October 1996, he was taken to the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) in Vavuniya where he was cut with blades, hit with fists and sticks and his toes crushed.

 

The medico legal report of Sinnarasa Anthonymala, a 18 year old refugee girl from Jaffna, shows 46 injuries all over her body. She was examined by the Judicial Medical Officer of Colombo on 17th October 1997. She was taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy on 16th July 1995 after a boat that she was travelling to India with other refugees was fired at. She received a gun shot injury on her thigh. She was taken to the Navy's Kankesanthurai Camp. There she was blindfolded, stripped of all her clothing and assaulted continuously during the entire period she was kept at the camp, with iron rods, live electric wires applied to her body, burnt with cigarettes, burnt with heated metal rods, hit with plastic pipes, punched, kicked, handcuffed at the ankles and suspended upside down, handcuffed at wrists and suspended from a fan which was rotating and her breasts, buttocks and thighs continuously squeezed. She was then brought to Colombo and handed to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). There she was cut on the neck, hit on the mouth where she sustained a fracture of the tooth, and hit with pieces of wood. The doctor found all injuries to be consistent with the foregoing history she gave him before he started examining her.

 

There were several other cases of torture reported by Government medical officers in the North and East. Torture of Tamil girls and boys in police stations and camps of the security and armed forces has become a rule and commonplace in Sri Lanka.

 

 

 

MALNUTRITION OF CHILDREN

 

            The blockade by the government against the delivery of food continues to cause malnutrition. In the Mullaitivu District out of a random sample of 16,767 children under five, there were only 4,863 who were normal. 6,371 children were found to be afflicted with third degree malnutrition, 3,186 with second degree and 2,347 with first degree malnutrition. The impact of malnutrition will persist as the affected children grow into underdeveloped adults. The loss of dairy production from the area, and limited supplies of vegetables contribute to vitamin deficiency. Malnutrition is linked to many health problems and weakens children’s ability to resist diseases. It also causes stunted growth and reduced learning ability.

 

 

 

CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE ON SRI LANKA

 

In a recent report published by the U.K. based organisation known as "Campaign Against Arms Trade", CAAT had made repeated requests to the British Government not to sell arms to the  Sri Lankan government which wages an unjustified war against the Tamil people in this island. It continues to say that :

 

"CAAT does not take a position on this conflict, apart from wishing that it would stop. It is very concerned, however, that in recent years the UK government has effectively given its backing to one of the parties to the dispute, in particular by assistance with military training and by licensing the sale of military equipment to the government forces".

 

"There are obvious reasons why the UK government should not be permitting the export of military equipment to Sri Lanka. One is that the state to which it is lending assistance has a very poor human rights record."

 

PARENTS FOR PEACE - SRI LANKA

An organisation "Parents for Peace - Sri Lanka" had been formed by the parents and relatives  of all security forces personnel who disappeared while on active duty in Sri Lanka. This organisation has issued a statement on 30 March 99, calling a stop to the war. The statement further says that "through our sacrifice, we have earned the right more than anybody else to oppose this war and to champion peace. The war takes away not only our loved ones. It also erodes into civilisation and humanness on which our society is rooted. This is why the war cries emanating from any quarter need to be shouted down".

 

The five demands of this organisation read as follows : (1) act without delay to secure the release of their children, husbands and relatives believed to have been arrested by the LTTE, (2) halt the war and enter into a dialogue for peace to create a Sri Lanka where all people can live in equality and co-operation, (3) release all Tamil youth detained in South without charges and to bring before courts without delay those who are charged, (4) conduct an extensive investigation into the deaths of Tamil citizens believed to be buried in a mass grave at Chemmani and instruct legal action against those found guilty, (5) discard narrow political gains to create an environment where our children can live without fear, anxiety or sorrow and instead of making unrealisable election promises, outline your strategy and commitment to achieve peace.

 

KILLED HIMSELF IN GERMANY

TO PREVENT TORTURE IN SRI LANKA

 

An urgent action was called by the International Human Rights Association in Germany, on the death of Veluppillai Balachandran, a 39 year old Tamil refugee who killed himself on 23 March 1999. The deceased had previously staged a hunger strike to attract attention to his plight while he was held in the deportation prison (in Moers - NRW) and he had given several warnings to the courts and to the authorities in the deportation prison that he would kill himself rather than be deported to be tortured by the racist Sri Lankan military.

 

Mr. Balachandran's suicide is a tragic indictment of the asylum process in Germany where a Tamil who clearly had a "well founded fear of persecution" was rejected as a genuine refugee and thereby left with no option but to kill himself.

 

 

BRITISH MEP'S REPORT

 

Mr. Robert Evans, the British Member of the European Parliament was on a short fact finding visit to Sri Lanka last January. In his report, he says that there is a total absence of television and media coverage of the war which clearly suits the Sri Lankan Government. He further said, "any money that is being invested in the island or sent in non-specific aid could be said to be assisting the government with its battles in the north of the island. Latest figures show that nearly 30% of the country's budget or 6% of GDP is spent on defence expenditure.

 

 

SRI LANKA NOT SIGNATORY THE LANDMINES TREATY

 

Sri Lanka has not signed the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel land mines. According to the United Nations experts, at least 15% of the total area of the war-torn northern Jaffna peninsula is covered by land mines. Anti-personnel mines have claimed over 1,000 lives in the north-east, the main theatre of the war.

 

 

 

 

WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATED

 

On 8 March 99 - The International Women's Day was celebrated in Trincomalee by hundreds of Tamil women. Tamil women from several parts of Trincomalee district participated in these celebrations.

 

A leaflet was distributed calling for the immediate cessation of the war in the North-east of the island. Women from Jaffna, Batticaloa and Mannar also participated in these celebrations.

 

SITUATION IN JAFFNA GRIM - SAYS MP

            A Jaffna district parliamentarian claims that the situation in the peninsula remains grim with skyrocketing cost of living coupled with lawlessness and alleged arbitrary arrests by the  security forces.

 

            Parliamentarian N. R. Rameswaran who returned to Colombo after a tour of the peninsula told The Sunday Times the hardships and problems faced by the people in Jaffna showed the situation was not conducive for more resettlement. "The opportunity for employment is slim. Even after the resettlement began, more than 5,000 families have not yet gone back to their own places. The fisherfolk are not in a position to engage in fishing and farmers incultivation", he said.

 

            Mr. Rameswaran alleged that many people were being arbitrarily arrested, causing immense hardship to their family members.

 

            He said the suspects were first sent to Kalutara for detention and their cases were taken up in Anuradhapura. Thus the family had to undergo untold hardships to meet these suspects and look after their legal interests. "The cases are conducted in Sinhala. Even after spending more than Rs 50,000 to get a suspect released, that suspect cannot live in peace", he said.

(The Sunday Times of 7 March 1999)

 

NORWEGIAN DELEGATION IN THE EAST

 

A Parliamentary delegation of Norway headed by Ms. Kirsti Kolle Grondahl visited Batticaloa and held discussions with many politicians and government officials in the district. The discussions was mainly focused on the war situation in the region. The delegation was told that the "only wealth we have accumulated are missing persons, refugees and women who have lost their husbands and children".

 

Ms. Kirst Kolle Grondahl said that the Norwegian government is always prepared to assist in peace negotiations if the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agree.

 

 

* * * * * * *

 

FEBRUARY 99

 

Editorial

Sri Lanka's misleading statement on mass graves

 

            The alleged mass graves at Chemmani in the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka hit the headlines of  local and foreign media. The statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the news release of the Embassy of Sri Lanka (release 19/99) had given false information regarding  the mass graves in Chemmani .

 

            On July 3, 1998, ex-lance Corporal Somaratne Rajapakse, the first accused in the  Krishanthi Kumaraswamy murder, abduction and rape case stated in the Colombo High Court that "We only buried bodies. We can show you where 300 to 400 bodies have been buried."

 

            Even though the Jaffna peninsula is under the control of the government of Sri Lanka - it took almost eight months to start the judicial process regarding the exhumation. When mass graves were found in other parts of Sri Lanka, action was taken within twenty four hours - without any judicial process!

 

            The last hearing of the Chemmani exhumation case was on January 29 in the Jaffna Magistrate Court and the Jaffna district additional judge Mr.S.A.E Ekanathan had postponed the case for March 5, 1999.

 

            To everyone's great surprise, the Sri Lanka's Ministry of Foreign Affairs  and Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C. released a statement on February 02,  saying that the alleged mass grave at Chemmani would be exhumed on March 5! The statement further said that "with a view to be transparent on the allegations made against the members of the armed forces, the Government has agreed to permit interested non-governmental organisations, whether local or foreign, to engage the services of independent forensic experts to observe the exhumations. Similarly, interested local and foreign media could arrange to cover the exhumation work which is due to commence on March 5, 1999

 

            This statement is a total fabrication and show the desperateness of the Sri Lankan Government in the Chemmani affair. There is no truth in their statement.

 

            Legal sources in Jaffna described this statement as a "total fabrication by the Foreign Ministry" and added that "the Jaffna additional judge will be sending a strong complaint to the Judicial Services Commission today (12/02/99).

 

            On 22 July 98 - the National Human Rights Commission urged the Sri Lankan Government to protect the areas of Chemmani. HRC said that there are indications that some interested parties would try to alter the topography of the location of the mass graves to remove clues or traces, and it urged the government to prohibit unauthorised persons from entering the area.

 

            In the recent past there had been several complaints that the Sri Lanka Army kept the Kaithady-Nallur Road passing through Chemmani closed.  The Missing Persons' Guardian Association - Jaffna (MPGA) sent a letter to the National Human Rights Commission stating that civilians had made complaints that they had seen smoke and vehicles moving about in the Chemmani area after dark.

 

The Sri Lankan Government is easily putting out this propaganda under the cover of press censorship.

 

 

Northern districts deprived of development funds

According to administrative sources in Jaffna, of the total money allocated for the Jaffna district in the 1998 Government budget, only 38.7% has been spent on different development programs.

 

            The sources further said that of the Rs. 2,000 million allocated under the budget for the municipal council, local councils, foreign institutions and rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the North, only Rs 370 million has been disbursed. Notably, the Rs 50 million allocated for the Education Department has not been delivered.

 

 

TAMIL MEDIUM SCHOOLS NEGLECTED

 

Mr. R. Sambanthan - parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district said in parliament on December 8, 1998 that Tamil medium schools in the north-east province were being neglected and that Tamil medium teachers were discriminated against.

 

He said that according to figures released in 1996 there was a shortage of ten-thousand Tamil medium teachers and only 4000 appointments have since been made.

 

Recruiting 10,000 Tamil medium teachers under a scheme financed by the World Bank has not been realised, he further said.

 

He pointed out that 10,000 more Sinhala medium teachers were appointed despite the already surplus of 14,000.

 

The parliamentarian also accused the ministry of not utilising funds granted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the development of Schools in the Northeast.

 

He said that 24 schools in Western province; 25 schools in Central province; 26 schools in Southern province; 22 schools in Sabaragamuwa province; 19 schools in Uuva province have been selected for the School development projects funded by the Asian Development Bank, while only 12 schools were selected in the North-east for the project.

 

Furthermore, he said that all of the 12 schools selected for the Asian Development  projects in the North-east were in the Amparai district, while other districts in the province had been completely neglected.

 

He also said that there was a severe shortage of teachers in the fields of computer studies, science, English and mathematics in the North-Eastern province.

HEAD FOUND IN THE JAFFNA MARKET

 

On 22 February 99 - A decapitated head was found in a drain in the Central market in Jaffna. This head is believed to be that of a male. In the recent past many young people have been reported missing in Jaffna and it was suspected that this head could belong to one of the disappeared youths.

 

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About 500-700 Criminal abortions per day

Abortions should be legalised - Medical experts

(Excerpt from 'The Sunday Observer' of January 31, 1999)

 

            Medical experts request the government to implement changes in the legislation related to abortions, the law which was introduced during the British rule for the benefit of rape victims. According to available statistics, the rate of criminal abortions per day was in the region of 500 to 700 in Sri Lanka.

 

            The clarion call came from Dr. Upali Marasinghe, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist of the Kethumathi Hospital, Panadura at a seminar on 'Consequences of Abortions' held for the media to highlight the fatal effects and to find ways and means to control it.

           

            Dr. Lakshman Senanayake, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist of the Castle Street Maternity Hospital said that as a large number of illegal abortions are carried out daily, it was difficult to calculate the exact daily figure of abortions in Sri Lanka.

 

            According to recent research carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO),  over 585,000 maternal deaths were recorded world-wide last year. Out of this, a higher percentage was recorded from the developing countries. Over 75 million women become pregnant unexpectedly and out of these 45 million resorted to illegal abortions.

 

            Two hundred and fifty maternal deaths per year were recorded from Sri Lanka and 33  percent of the maternal deaths were due to haemorrhage.

 

            Dr. Senanayake added that out of 250 annual maternal deaths, nearly 25 per cent of the deaths were due to illegal abortions and 33 per cent due to haemorrhage. "Sri Lanka is a country which has a high potential for abortions", he said.

 

            "A high percentage of unmarried young girls go for illegal abortions in Sri Lanka. School girls, Free Trade Zone employees, urban and office workers between the ages of 18 to 25 are victims of illegal abortions," he added.

 

Muslim property on fire

 

February 17, 99 - Forty shops and businesses belonging to Muslims were completely burnt in Nochchiyagama since February 15. Tension between the Sinhala and Muslim communities in the north-central province continued to mount.

 

 

SECURITY FORCES PREVENT FOOD

SUPPLIES REACHING VANNI

            Fourteen lorry-loads of wheat flour were abandoned in the Vanni District when the Sri Lankan security forces at the Paraiyanalankulam check post insisted on having all the bags unloaded in torrential rain on Wednesday (6th January). The government soldiers at the checkpoint slit open the flour bags in pouring rain for checking the contents of each bag. The bags were also left out on the ground for a few hours before being loaded into the lorries again. By the time the loading hour arrived the bags were found unworthy to be taken to consumers.

 

            Although the government should have dispatched 100 lorry-loads of dry rations to the Vanni District in December, excuses were given for the delays delivery. The 14 lorries that left Vanni on Wednesday 6th January with wheat flour had to return without delivering their consignment to the needy after the flour bags were abandoned at the checkpoint at Paraiyanalankulam.

 

 

MALNUTRITION OF CHILDREN

 

            There are over 75,000 children under five years of age - in Mullaitivu District. The blockade by the government against the delivery of food continues to cause malnutrition. In the Mullaitivu District out of a random sample of 16,767 children under five, there were only 4,863 who were normal. 6,371 children were found to be afflicted with third degree malnutrition, 3,186 with second degree and 2,347 with first degree malnutrition. The impact of malnutrition will persist as the affected children grow into underdeveloped adults. The loss of dairy production in the area and limited supplies of vegetables contribute to vitamin deficiency. Malnutrition is linked to many health problems and weakens children’s ability to resist diseases. It also causes stunted growth and reduced learning ability.

 

 

Pregnant woman gang-raped

(The Sunday Leader - February 07, 1999)

 

A pregnant woman was allegedly raped by three youths last week in Peliyagoda, police said. The woman aged (20) was dragged out of her house and taken to a nearby playground and raped repeatedly by the three youths. Police said the youths were apprehended within an hour of the crime. The woman who was five months pregnant was admitted for a medical examination at the national hospital. She was discharged later.

 

 

JVP Activists assaulted

 

The Peoples Liberation Front (JVP) contesting the five provinces in the forthcoming provincial council elections on April 1, have received threats of intimidation and assault and one of their district offices has been damaged on February 25.

 

At 2 am on this date at Indibedda, Moratuwa, two JVP candidates who were pasting posters were attacked, allegedly by three Municipal councillors and a monk, according to a complaint  made to the police.

 

At 12.45 the following night, along the 1st mile post at Ganemulla in Gampaha district JVP supporters pasting posters were allegedly set upon by a group of PA supporters led by the brother of the PA candidate for Gampaha district, according to a complain made to the Kadawatha Police.

 

 

HEADLESS BODY FOUND IN NORTH

On 27 February 99 - a decapitated body of a youth from Karaveddi was found in a cess pit just behind the office of the paramilitary group PLOTE. A civilian who wished to remain anonymous said that he had gone to the area behind the PLOTE and had detected a foul stink emanating from this building. Immediately, the people in that area had reported the matter to the nearby Nelliyadi Police.

 

The Police who had entered this building following this complain had found the floor bloodied. The cloths and bedding soaked in blood were also lying in the building. Later the Police found the headless body in the cess pit of the building's toilet.

 

Mr. Kandappu Rajaratnam, identified the body as that of his son Mr. Rajeswaran who went missing since a week. Rajeswaran's wife Selvalachkmi also identified the body.           (FOM)

 

 

Five-year old girl raped

(The Sunday Leader - 31 January 1999)

 

            A Five-year old girl attending Year 1 class in Magalle Maha Vidyalaya in the Bulathkohupitya division was reportedly raped by a senior student. On January 18, L. P. Geethika had allegedly been dragged away to a forest near the school. Medical reports indicate that the child had been raped.

           

The school authorities, however, are not keen to discuss the issue but the Bulathkohupitiya police are investigating the incident.

 

            The police have taken several senior students of the Magalle Maha Vidyalaya for questioning. A senior student who was taken into custody in this regard was released after interrogation.

 

            Owing to the severe trauma suffered by the five-year old Geethika Sumanthi, she has so far been unable to identify the molester.

 

            It is also reported that the staff of the Magalle Maha Vidyalaya are doing their best to cover up the incident.

 

 

 

CATHOLIC PRIESTS, NUNS ASSAULTED

 

On 25 January 99 - Catholics on the coast line from Kochchikade to Puttalam, in particular around Chilaw and Talawila are furious at the way the North Western Provincial Council electioneering thugs intimidated priests and nuns who were engaged in the constitutional duty in casting their  vote and monitoring the polling booths. There is evidence that even priests  and nuns were assaulted. The Bishop of Chilaw said that they have witnessed the most deranged, violent election ever held in Sri Lanka, where the thugs have not spared even the priests and nuns who were revered by the people of these areas.                                (TEL)

 

AMBALANGODA MASS GRAVES

A Sri Lankan forensic expert appealed to the government to assign a team of forensic experts to excavate the alleged mass graves located at Mahamadala, Ambalangoda.

 

The Mahamadala mass graves story surfaced on February 2 when the Ambalangoda Pradeshiya Sabha workers found remains of a skull and bones while they were building toilets in the market area.

 

During the height of the insurgency in 1988-89, the market place was used by the army personnel as a military camp.                                                                 (INF)

 

14 refugees intercepted

 

            On 17 December 98, the Sri Lankan Navy arrested 14 refugees in the seas off  Thalaimannar when they tried to cross over to neighbouring India. They were handed over to the Sri Lankan Army in Mannar who had interrogated them.

 

            The refugees had said during the interrogation that they could not bear the hardships of the war and had decided to flee to India where they could find some help.

 

            In the past few years, people fleeing the Island have often been intercepted by the Sri Lankan Navy and brought back to the Island. There have been several instances in which refugee vessels have been sunk and hundreds of people had been killed.

 

Page 4

 

LTTE ON CHEMMANI

 

On 24 February 99 - The Jaffna district leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had sent a letter to the magistrates in the Jaffna peninsula that the Chemmani mass graves must be investigated by the representatives of International Human Rights bodies and not by the local courts. "It has been established that the local courts in Jaffna are handling the inquiries into the Chemmani graves. The government is not going to give justice to the affected people of Jaffna", he said.

 

 

 

ARMY FIGURES NOT GENUINE

 

Recently, the Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna informed the Human Rights Commission that they had "legally arrested" 1408 persons in the Jaffna peninsula during the years 1996 and 1997. It says that they have arrested 991 person in 1996 while 417 were arrested in 1997.

 

The human rights activists and the human rights lawyers in Sri Lanka dismissed these figures as bogus and eye-wash to the forthcoming UN Commission on Human Rights.

 

Several thousands of arrests in the Jaffna peninsula had gone unrecorded and unacknowledged by the Army.

 

 

 

FLOOD VICTIMS AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

 

            Heavy showers in the North-East have caused severe flooding and have made several thousands of people homeless. A spokesman for the Ministry of Social Services said that 22,848 have been rendered homeless in the Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Polonnaruwa and Amparai districts.

 

            The latest report said that 550 houses were damaged and over 450 houses completely destroyed due to floods in Trincomalee and Mahiyangana areas. More than 6000 families have been displaced. 2000 acres of paddy cultivating land in Trincomalee district have been inundated by the deluge.

 

            An official at the Ampara GA's office said around 15,000 people from areas like Lahugala, Pottuvil, Alayadivembu, Mahaoya and Dehiattakandiya had been forced out of their homes by floods and were being sheltered in camps.

 

            Some 5,000 acres (2,020 hectares) of paddy land in the north-central Polonnaruwa district had been completely inundated by the deluge. Around 2000 families in Manampitiya and Putur village in Polonnaruwa district were displaced.

 

            25,000 people belonging to 6781 families have been affected in the Vavuniya district.  Eight minor irrigation reservoirs were breached and 1000 hectares of paddy fields were destroyed by the heavy showers. Another 1230 hectares of black gram cultivation were also destroyed.

 

            In Vanni more than 200 families were affected by torrential rains experienced in the Vanni region. 128 families in the Mulankavil area were displaced as their makeshift huts were flooded and damaged by the continuing rains. Another 78 families were affected by floods in the Kariayali Nagapaduvan area of the Vanni.

 

            Most of the flood victims in the North-East were refugees affected by the ongoing war in the region. They were blaming the Government for not doing enough to provide them  with food and shelter. The Government spends around Rs. 50 billion a  year (Rs. 6.5  million a day) for the war whereas it had not allocated enough funds to protect the flood victims. Even the flood relief which was spent was mostly for the Sinhalese people in Polonnaruwa and Amparai areas, rather than in other parts.

 

20  Years old

Prevention of Terrorism Act - PTA

 

This most notorious law - the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) No 48 of 1979, came into effect on 20 July 1979. This act was introduced to use almost exclusively against the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Here we highlight certain excerpts of this Act :

 

Part II -  6.(1) Any police officer not below the rank of Superintendent or any other police officer not below the rank of Sub-Inspector authorised in writing by him in that behalf may, without a warrant not withstanding anything in any other law to the contrary :

 

Arrest any person; enter and search any premises; stop and search any individual or any vehicle, vessel, train or aircraft; and seize any document or thing......

 

A police officer conducting an investigation under this Act in respect of any person arrested..... shall have the right of access to such person and the right to take such person.... from place to place.......

 

Detention and restriction orders 9.(1) ....the Ministry may order that such person be detained for a period not exceeding three months in the first instance, in such place and subject to such conditions as may be determined by the Minister, and any such order may be extended from time to time for a period not exceeding three months at a time..... the aggregate period of such detention shall not exceed a period of eighteen months.......

 

Part VI - Trial 18 (1) b - any document found in the custody, control or possession of a person accused of any offence under this Act or of an agent or representative of such person may be produced in court as evidence against such persons.

 

Every person convicted by any court of any offence under this Act shall, notwithstanding that he has lodged a petition of appeal against his conviction or the sentence imposed on him, be kept on remand until the determination of the appeal......

 

Part VIII - 26 - No suit, prosecution or other proceeding, civil or criminal, shall lie against any officer or person for any act....in pursuance or supposed pursuance of any order made or direction given under this Act.

* * * * * * *

 

January 99

 

Editorial

NO COMPENSATION PAID FOR THE VICTIMS

 

Since 1983, more than 60,000 people have lost their lives in the continuing bloody conflict.  Human Rights violations such as arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention, torture, rape, involuntary disappearances, custodial summary executions, murder and  massacre continue with impunity and disregard of the UN.

 

During the last fifteen years, this war has created thousands of widows, orphans, handicaps, etc. in the North-East. Although certain judgements of the courts said that the victims will be paid compensation by the state, as far as the Tamil people are concerned this was just sweet words but nothing practical.

 

Our organisation was approached by many victims of state terrorism in the north-east requesting us to take this issue with the International Human Rights organisations.

 

The government headed by a widow of two children should be able to understand the difficulties of other women who have lost their bread-winners in this war. If they were not paid their compensation, how could the widows, orphans and handicaps be able to lead their day to day life.

 

MEDIATION OFFERS "NOT GENUINE"

- Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister

 

Sri Lanka's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Lakshman Kadi garmar said that sixteen counter are keen to mediate in the island's ethnic conflict. But only a few of these are genuine Mr. Kadi garmar added while speaking to journalists at a press conference in his ministry on January 19, 1999.

 

He claimed that many foreign person and instituions are taking an interest to mediate for personal motives such winning the Nobel prize for peace etc.                           (Tamil Net 18/01/1999)

 

 

 

SRI LANKA REJECTED BRITISH MEDIATION OFFER

 

COLOMBO, 27 (AFP) - Sri Lanka has rejected an offer by a British legislator to mediate a settlement between the LTTE and the Government that claimed over 55,000 lives.

 

The British MP, Simon Hughes of the Liberal Democratic Party, has been told Colombo will not assist him if he goes ahead with his planned visit to Sri Lanka in the New Year, the weekly Sunday Times said.

 

It said Hughes had hoped to meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga, several senior ministers as well as leaders of the LTTE in the north of the island.

 

"The government has said that no ministers will meet the British MP and refused his request to go to the Wanni (to meet the LTTE),'" the newspaper reported, adding : "It has made it clear that it will not accept mediation from any individual".

 

DISAPPEARANCES INCREASE IN JAFFNA

 

According to an official from the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna, disappearances continue and  that there was a sudden increase in the number. In many cases of recent arrest, the relatives of the detained were not given any confirmation of the arrest. These arrests were mostly made by the members of EPDP as well as by Army personnel.                                            (FOM)

 

Page 2/3

 

AMNESTY CALL FOR URGENT ACTION

23 December 98 - Amnesty International called for Urgent action (ASA 37/28/98) over the disappearances of nine people in Vavuniya who had allegedly been taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Army and members of PLOTE at Vavuniya.

 

The disappeared people are as follows : Mr. Packiyaratnam Yogeswaran (16), Mr. Selvarasa Thamilchelvam (16), Mr. Subramaniam Atputharasa (17), Mr. Mylvaganam Jeyaseelan (23), Mr. Lakshman Ketheswaran (22), Mr. Nadarasa Rajaratnam (30), Mr. Veeriah Uthayakumar (30), Mr. Gunakularasa Danushan (17), and Mr. Ponnuthurai Ravindran.

 

ONE KILLED AND TWO INJURED IN

ARMY SHELLING IN BATTICALOA

2 December 98 - The Special Task Force (STF) fired mortar shells at the Kaluthavalai village in Batticaloa district. In this incident a ten year old boy was killed and two others were wounded. The boy who was killed was identified as  Vivekanantharasa (10). Ms. K. Saraswathy (39) and Ms. M. Pushparanee (37) were seriously injured.                                                  (FOM)

 

LAND MINE KILLS FIVE CIVILIANS

21 December 98 - Five civilians were killed by a claymore land mine planted by the Sri Lankan Army in Nedunkerni in Mullaithivu District. The victims were identified as Mr. Nallathamby Nadarasa (49), Mr. Natkunam Manickavasagam (48), Mr. S. Sivabalasingam (26), Mr. Arumugam Vallipuram (45) and Mr. Ponnuthurai Siribaly (28).                                               (FOM)

 

13 December 98 - According to sources from Trincomalee, a group of policemen had  opened fire indiscriminately at the village of Thambalakamam. A student, Ponnuthurai Nakuleswaran (15), was seriously wounded in this indiscriminate firing and was admitted to the Trincomalee hospital.           (TEL)

 

CHILDREN CRIED IN HUNGER AND

FATHER COMMITTED SUICIDE

3 December 98 - The relief cut to Tamil regions by the Sri Lankan government is leading to more suicides in these regions. Mr. Yogarajah Kumaresu (36) who was displaced from Anaikoddai in Jaffna and sought refuge at Thatchanamaruthamadhu in Madhu area committed suicide by burning himself. Mr. Yogarajah, a father of three children who was mentally disturbed over his children crying in hunger everyday had poured kerosene on his body and lit himself.

 

He was admitted to hospital and died on 5th December 98.                                (INF)

 

 

 

 

WOMAN'S BODY WITH GUN SHOT

The body with gun shot wounds of Chanthirasekaram Selvanayaki from Thalayadi - Chempiyanpattu south was handed over to the Jaffna hospital on 1 January 1999. Police source said they found the body in Pallai, a village 40 km south of Jaffna town.

 

This body has been identified by her father - according to him, Selvanayaki was arrested by the Sri Lankan Army and released in October last year on condition that she should come to the camp and sign regularly. As usual she went to the camp to sign on December 28 and never returned home, he added.             (FOM)

 

 

 

6781 FAMILIES DISPLACED DUE TO

 HEAVY RAIN IN VAVUNIYA

According to the Government Agent of Vavuniya, during the first of January, twenty five thousand people belonging to 6781 families have been affected by floods caused by heavy rains. Eight minor irrigation reservoirs were breached and 1000 hectares of paddy fields were destroyed by the heavy showers. The official said 1230 hectares of black gram cultivation was also destroyed due to the floods and heavy rains.

 

 

BUDDHIST MONKS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST

HINDUS AND MUSLIMS IN SRI LANKA

Buddhist monks in Colombo had demonstrated in Colombo on 21 December 98 against the building of Hindu temples in various parts of the country and the introduction of the Halal bill. This demonstration was organised by a Buddhist militant organisation led by Maduluwawa Sobitha. This organisation is supporting the Sri Lankan government's war effort.

 

Ven. Maduluwawa Sobitha said that Hindu temples are coming up on land belonging traditionally to the Sinhalese Buddhist and the Halal Bill mandatory to the Islamic Thaqbeer procedure may be the first step to a greater future threat to Buddhist and Buddhis culture from the Muslim faith. (INT).

 

ELECTION VIOLENCE

The elections to the Northwestern provincial council in Sri Lanka took place in the midst of a number of  election-related violence. On 24 January - the day of voting, there were reports of ballot box stuffing, impersonation of a large number of voters, threats and assaults of polling agents, among other acts of violence.

 

According to Sri Lanka's polls watchdog - these violations have been committed predominantly by the ruling party, the People's Alliance. The reports from its election  monitors clearly indicate that the conduct of the elections does not fulfil the criteria of being free and fair. It has been pointed out in the report that stuffing of ballot papers had taken place in 13 polling booths. In 24 polling stations thugs had driven out the polling agents of political opponents of the ruling party.

 

According to a Sri Lankan news paper report, almost 700 incidents of election-related violence - murder, attempted murder, assault, robbery, arson, threat, damage to property - had been reported. These include two brutal murders and attacks on journalists.

 

 

SUBSTITUTE FOOD KILLS TWO

 

January 21, 99 - Two women died and two others fell seriously ill after eating the tuber of 'Alli', a local species of the water lily in Mulliyawalai area, in Vanni. These women had not been able to get any food for a long time, and in desperation had looked for tubers and roots. The dead were Suppiah Sinnammah (40) and Santhalingam Renuka (18).

 

TORTURED YOUTH

DIES IN POLICE CUSTODY

            Anura Sampath (24) of Veera Puranappu Mawatha - Moratuwa, was taken to the Police Station at Moratuwa on 30th December 1998, by some police officers who said that he is needed to make a statement.

 

            As he did not return till late, his brother went to the Moratuwa Police Station at night and he saw Anura Sampath. Anura Sampath told his brother that he was severely beaten by some police officers and that he might be killed by them. The family members tried their best to get Anura Sampath released on that day but police refused.

 

            The next day when the family members visited the police station Anura Sampath was not there. A police officer told them that he had been taken away to make a statement.

 

            The family was later told by the Officer-in-charge of the police station that Anura Sampath was dead. The police provided misleading information about the whereabouts of Sampath's body. Later the family found the body of Anura Sampath at Kalubowila Hospital.

 

            Due to the family's protest the body was produced before a doctor at the Colombo General Hospital. At the post-mortem inquiry, the finding was that the death was due to assault. The inquiry revealed that there were 24 internal injuries.

 

 

CID INVOLVED IN 'COVER UP' OF

CHEMMANI MASS GRAVES

 

            On 08 January 1999, Jaffna district judge A. E. Ekanaathan told the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Superintendent of Police, that a solid expert has to examine the site of the alleged mass graves in Chemmani in Jaffna before the excavations could begin.

 

            The CID Superintendent moved a motion in court seeking an order to bring two analysts from Colombo and the Ruhuna University to begin excavations at the site of the mass graves of Chemmani in Jaffna.

 

            The judge, commenting on the motion filed by the CID, said that the mass graves are now  three years old and that the area is presently under water due to the heavy monsoon rains.

 

            Therefore, the judge said that he will issue an order to the CID to bring the forensic expert from the government analyst's department and an analyst from the Ruhuna University only after seeing the report of a soil expert who examines the Chemmani mass graves site.

 

            The decision of the judge comes in the wake of reports that the Sri Lankan government is secretly destroying the remains in the Chemmani graves.

 

            A columnist to the Colombo English weekly 'The Sunday Leader' hinted that the  CID might be involved in the 'cover up'. The present flooding in the area is a convenient excuse to confound the evidence, said a legal source in Jaffna remarking on the decision of the judge.

 

            Mr. A. E. Ekanathan then postponed the case until 29th January 99.

 

 

 Skeletons missing!

( Excerpt from 'Midweek Mirror' - 14 January 1999)

 

            A Tamil party has accused the government of acting too late in probing the alleged mass graves in Chemmani, thus allowing interested parties to remove skeletal remains or otherwise tamper with evidence.

 

            PLOTE vice-president N. Manickathasan said the Kumaratunga Government had taken as much as five months to make the first move in probing the allegation that the bodies of hundreds of Tamil civilians were buried in Chemmani.

 

            Mr. Manickathasan said the Government had for some reason dragged its feet on the probe and he feared that evidence might have been removed or tampered with.

 

Page 4

Hearing postponed until March 5

                        On 29 January 1999, after hearing the explanation from government investigators, the  Jaffna District Magistrate fixed a new hearing for March 5, when he will decide on when the digging will start, the Daily News reported.

 

 

ARTICLE 19 - ACCUSE SRI LANKA

In a report released on 20 January 99, the British anti-censorship group "Article 19" accused the Sri Lankan authorities of using emergency regulations to conceal information about the conflict from ordinary people.

 

It says that the appointment of an official censor to vet domestic media coverage of the civil war is a chilling development that seriously impedes the free flow of information about key issues of public interest.

 

The report says ordinary Sri Lankans are kept in the dark about the high number of casualties on both sides and the extent of civilian displacement.

 

Article Nineteen's spokesman, Malcom Smart said, Article 19 is also concerned that many libel cases in Sri Lanka are treated as criminal cases allowing journalists to be imprisoned. But they stress it is not just the government that is exerting pressure on reports, so too is the military.

 

 

 

MR. KUMAR PONNAMBALAM INTERROGATED

Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, a leading Criminal Lawyer and General Secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the first Tamil Party in Sri Lanka was interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on 13 January and 20 January 99.

 

According to the CID, Mr. Ponnambalam was deemed to have committed a crime under section 2 (1)(h) of the PTA during his interview with the SwarnaWahini TV channel. Mr. Ponnambalam stated that nowhere in the Swanavahini interview did he say anything to offend section 2 (1)(h) of the PTA.

 

This is considered as a political revenge by the Government on Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam for exposing the fallacies in Sri Lankan President Chandrika's interview to the South African Television. In this TV interview, President Chandrika Kumaratunga had said : "They are wanting a separate state - the minority Tamils who are not the original habitants of the country".

 

ALL IN GOOD HEALTH

NONE TORTURED

December 1, 1998 - The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) of Sri Lanka has been able to confirm reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had released all the SEP members in their custody.

 

All four, Thirugnana Sambandan, Kasinathan Naguleswaran, Rajendran Sudharsan and Rasaratnam Rajavel who were released are in good health. None was tortured or otherwise physically abused during their interrogation by the LTTE.

 

 

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN SRI LANKA

 (Excerpt from 'The Island' of 22/1/99)

 

In most instances, analysts point out, a conflict arises because the Church succeeds where the government fails. The Church tends to thrive in areas of strife and dissent. Not that the Church is responsible for this, but it finds the situation ideal to work with the people and earn their trust - to fill the vacuum.

 

The Church in Jaffna and neighbouring areas has been able to reach out to the common people and look after their immediate problems - it implements a number of programmes to generate self-employment and works for community development. It runs a chain of educational institutions and takes care of the nutrition needs of children and ensures that many of them go to school. In addition to the existing skeletal health care system, it offers a complementary service, sometimes with the help of foreign doctors.

 

Above all, the Church caters for to spiritual needs of a strife-torn society. Prayer, peace, counselling and extensive interaction help the people retain their hope and faith.

 

But in southern Sri Lanka, the Buddhist clergy often battle it out with the Church in the controversy over conversions. The Church, therefore, adopts a low-profile there to avoid any confrontation with the majority or the Government, which also comes under Buddhist pressure.

 

SRI LANKA WAR PUTS STRAIN ON ECONOMY - UNDP

 

            COLOMBO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's ethnic war has made the economy in its Northern province shrink, pulling down the country's overall growth rate, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said.

 

            In its National Human Development Report on Sri Lanka, the agency said the secessionist conflict in the province cost the economy at least one percent per year in lost growth.

 

            "The size of the overall economy of the Northern province shrank from $350 million in 1990 to $250 million in 1995," the report said.

 

            "A war situation in a geographical region can damage its economy in several ways," the report said, adding that young men and women were being killed in the conflict and military operations were destroying the infrastructure, property, goods and services.

 

            It said fisheries, which accounted for 35 percent of the primary production activity in 1990, were worst hit by the conflict. Skirmishes between the Sri Lankan navy and LTTE boats made fishing dangerous in the seas off northern Sri Lanka.

 

 

TAMIL PEOPLE HAVE PAID A HIGH PRICE BY VOTING

FOR CHANDRIKA - RANIL

 

            In an exclusive interview with 'The Weekend Express", United National Party (UNP) Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe said that the Tamil people have paid a high price for having voted for Chandrika Kumaratunga. It is not justifiable.

 

            The Tamils wherever they may be are Sri Lankan living in a united Sri Lanka. Therefore, the untold hardships and harassment they undergo in the name of security in the cleared areas of the Northeast or the uncleared areas in the Wanni or for that matter anywhere in the country especially in the main towns like Colombo and Kandy are not justifiable.

 

            What has happened to the committee appointed by President Chandrika Kumarantunga headed by no other than a senior Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) Member of Parliament who is also the Minister of Culture - Mr. Lakshman Jayakody? This committee was to investigate cases of harassment of Tamils. Nothing worthwhile has come out of this committee. The SLFP track record is well known.

(The Weekend Express - 28/29 November 1998)

 

 

RULING PARTY MEMBER OF PARLIMENT

ACCUSED OF ARSON

 

The ruling People's Alliance (PA), Member of Parliament for Puttalam Mr. D. M. Dissanayake has been accused in many cases of arson. The Puttalam district court has issued an arrest warrant on him for not appearing before it in connection with three cases against him.                                                 (TEL)

 

 

PROSTITUTION OF DEMOCRACY

(The Sunday Leader - January 31, 1999)

           

            Chandrika Kumaratunga is a thoughtful woman this week. Almost five years into her term of office, her party was able to capture the North Western Provincial Council only through an orgy of violence, intimidation and thuggery. If independent election observers and media are to be believed (quite apart from the opposition), this was the mother of all elections. The People's Alliance sheep had shorn off its fleece and appeared for all to see as the wolf it really is.

 

            The people's Alliance is not the first party in history to have stepped into the sad path of political subversion. Others before them have tried, and very often succeeded, although ever so briefly. Hitler, Mussolini and Marcos, to name but a few. All took office through  the democratic process : all left office through violence and upheaval. There is a lesson in this and one that Kumaratunga has chosen to learn the hard way : if you cling to office by subverting democracy, the chances are you will leave it only by violence.

 

            We have pointed out in the past and done so with responsibility, that Kumaratunga is a bold, habitual fluent liar. One could be forgiven for concluding that it is in her character not to tell the truth if a lie would serve her purpose. Examples of her untruthfulness abound, and we shall be happy to catalogue them on demand. Can we then take seriously anything she utters now?

 

            What is saddest in these events is the dehumanising effect they have not just on the political forces of Sri Lanka but on the presidency itself.  Among the countless acts of violence inflicted on the opposition parties in the course of the North Western Provincial  election campaign were ones of utter perversion. Most disgusting of all was an instance when a 53-year old woman, perceived as UNP 'supporter', was stripped of her clothing and marched at gun point down public highway, in the presence of children.

 

            Despite wide publicity in the independent media and vague talk of women's rights, Chandrika Kumaratunga has not up to now so much as issued a statement condemning this barbaric and cruel crime that agitates against the very roots of our culture and civilisation. Kumaratunga too, is 53 and a mother. How would she feel if (God forbid!) when one day she finally relinquishes office,  is stripped naked and marched down Galle Road at the point of a bayonet, accompanied by her children Yasoda and Vimukthi? How for that matter would her children feel?

 

(Excerpt from the Comment)