The Human Rights of Tamils

December 2001

Violence murdering democracy in Sri Lanka !

- EU monitors

COLOMBO, November 30, 2001 (AFP) - The European Union Friday urged the Sri Lankan government to mobilise security forces ahead of next week's parliamentary elections to eliminate violence that it said was "murdering democracy".

An EU election monitoring team accused both the ruling People's Alliance and the main opposition of resorting to violence, but held the government responsible for not maintaining law and order.

The head of the EU mission, John Cushnahan, said he witnessed first hand the level of violence in the northern Jaffna district where one man was killed and several wounded in a campaign-related attack on Wednesday.

"Those who carried out this murder and similar attacks elsewhere are murdering democracy itself," Cushnahan, an Irish member of the European Parliament, said in a statement.

He said the high level of violence was a challenge to the integrity of the election process and warned political parties that the outcome would be tainted.

"My experience in Jaffna and the experience of other members of my team elsewhere has highlighted the widespread concern that many things have already happened in this campaign so far which raise serious question marks about the integrity of this electoral contest.

"I have passed on a number of suggestions to the Commissioner for Elections which I hope he will act upon to protect this," Cushnahan said.

He asked political parties to help "pull the country back from the brink" and asked the authorities to ensure that police enforced the law impartially.

"It must also be stated unequivocally that the government in power has a particular responsibility in this matter.

"It has a political and moral obligation to ensure that the entire security forces of this state are mobilised to eliminate violence from the political process."

Cushnahan headed a similar monitoring mission for elections last year which returned a hung parliament that eventually collapsed in October, leading to the snap vote being held on Wednesday.

"I have to say that it was a source of great disappointment that following the high level of violence in last year's contest so few prosecutions were made. How is this possible?

"Our team will be anxious to monitor the progress of investigations not only during our stay here but following our return to Europe," he said.

"The reason for doing this is quite clear -- impartial enforcement of the rule of law is an important cornerstone of democracy."

Cushnahan began his monitoring mission by expressing fears that the campaign could be more violent than the vote last year, when 65 people were killed and many more wounded.

His report last year said it was impossible to conclude the election was free and fair, but acknowledged that the overall result did "to a reasonable degree" reflect the political will of the electorate.

The EU mission said it was keen to see that the Election Commission of Sri Lanka use new powers given it under a constitutional amendment passed in October.

The new legislation empowers the top election official to direct the police and call for re-polling in areas affected by violence, powers he did not have before.

However, political parties have given different interpretations to the new laws and Elections Chief Dayananda Dissanayake himself is under fire from the government for alleged bias in favour of the opposition.

300,000 Votes In Jaffna, But A List Of 600,000 Sent

LakBima, Nov. 9, 2001 -During a media conference held at the Galadari Hotel, Director of PAFFREL Mr. Kingsley Rodrigo said that, the sending of a Voting list with 600,000 names to Jaffna dist, when only 300,000 have been found eligible out of those living there at present to vote, is a serious blow to the effort to hold free and fair elections. He also added that this process is highly suspicious as these Voters lists are renewed and amended every year in all other dists, but an old one is being sent only to Jaffna dist.

Mr. Rodrigo also said that arrangements have been made to deploy 130 foreign election observers from USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, Britain and SAARF regions, who would be working with PAFFREL. Meanwhile Director of Human Rights Organization Weliamuna said that, if anyone faces any sort f jeopardy while engaged in election duty, his Organization would provide these victims with free legal assistance.

401 poll violence reported in 17 days

November 08, 2001 - The Police Election Secretariat said Thursday that it has received 401 complaints of violence related to forthcoming general election since the nominations were filed on 27 October. According to the police official they have received thirty one complaints of election violence only during the last twenty four hours.

The main opposition United National Party has lodged 210 complaints. 122 complaints were lodged by the ruling People's Alliance and the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna.

Presidential guard organised murder of Kumar Ponnambalam Sunday Leader

November 11, 2001 - According to today’s “Sunday Leader” published in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a former member of Sri Lanka's Presidential Security Division found shot dead on 02 November was involved in orchestrating the assassination of human rights denfder, Kumar Ponnambalam. The paper also named the assassin as former Police constable.

”Sunday” Leader further said that Baddegana Sanjeewa, found dead in his car on Pagoda road, with six gunshot wounds on November 2, was the architect of the murder of Mr. Ponnambalam, a human rights lawyer and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Mr. Ponnambalam was an outspoken critic of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and in the aftermath of his death, his family accused her of ordering the killing.

"On January 4, 2000, Kumar Ponnambalam was shot dead at Ramakrishna Road, Wellawatte. Moratu Saman and a former police constable named Sunil Ranasinghe carried out the killing on the instructions of Baddegana Sanjeewa", the Sri Lankan broadsheet said, quoting police sources.

Sanjeewa's career had included being a bodyguard for senior military personnel as well as being a member of Kumaratunga's elite presidential guard.

"Following Kumaratunga's win, Sanjeewa befriended Nihal Karunaratne. The only favour he sought for services rendered during Kumaratunga's election campaign was to be enlisted in the Sri Lanka Police Force. His request was granted and Sanjeewa was accepted as a Reserve Police Constable and assigned to the PSD", the broadsheet said.

The paper suggested that Sanjeewa was one of Kumaratunga's trusted guards and a close confidante. "Despite his criminal record, President Chandrika Kumaratunga trusted Baddegana Sanjeewa implicitly and was comfortable in having him provide her body protection - confident of his loyalty to her, she felt reasonably safe under his purview," the weekly said.

The broadsheet also accused the former PSD bodyguard had links to organised crime rackets. "Backed by political masters, Sanjeewa became a ready and willing tool in a circle of systematic crime", the Sunday Leader said.

The paper alleged that there had been a cover up, protecting Sanjeewa from further investigation. "Even at this stage, the police made every effort to refrain from making public Baddegana Sanjeewa's name as being involved in this murder. Sanjeewa in fact shared a close friendship with SSP Bandula Wickremasinghe, so much so - that on one occasion, when a gang threw hand bombs at a club at Delkanda on September 29, 1999 the cops had captured the getaway car. The vehicle belonged to a friend of Baddegana Sanjeewa's and he personally visited the CDB headquarters on this occasion making a request that the car, be released", the paper said.

MURDERS, THEFTS AND ATROCITIES

increased in Jaffna after 1994 - Jaffna University Students Union

The Jaffna University students Union has stated in a report that ever since President Chandrika took over the regime, govt forces have encroached the Peninsula and since then murder, theft, rapes and killing and tortures have increased many fold . Thousands of boys and young women were arrested and imprisonedd for no reason. More than 600 innocent Tamils of all ages and sexes have been tortured and beaten or cut to death and buried. The atrocities of the security forces are murderous. The boot-leggers of the govt must take the responsibility to these atrocities and must remember that history will not forgive them. (ViraKesari - November. 9, 2001)

JVP can’t deny they attacked the Dalada Maligawa using firearms — Diyawadana Nilame

As the lay custodian of the sacred Tooth Relic, it can be assured that there is no politics involved in the office of the Diyawadana Nilame. The JVP leadership has absolute freedom to enter the portals of this venerated place but they are reluctant to do so because their conscience prevents them from doing so, Diyawadana Nilame Neranjan Wijeyeratne said.

Addressing a media conference to brief journalists about the JVP’s denial of the attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa during the insurgency, the Diyawadana Nilame said the JVP leadership can never deny the fact that it was responsible for the attack on the Maligawa using firearms on February 8, 1989.

JVP’s Wimal Weerawansa, during a chat show on television, denied the JVP attacked the Maligawa.

‘There was blood-letting at the Sri Dalada Maligawa as five persons were killed in the JVP attack’, he recalled.

The JVP leadership has the freedom to visit this sacred place to pay homage to the Tooth Relic. They also have the freedom to confess and say ‘sorry’, instead of denying the offence. The JVP bullet marks are still found on the granite pillars of the Maligawa, Wijeyeratne said.

He said that politicians enter the Maligawa only to pay homage and not to talk politics with the officials. But they go to the Mahanayake Theras seeking their blessings for success, but talk politics.

‘Accordingly, the JVP leadership may not meet me in the Maligawa because I have nothing to do with politics. But the JVP leaders should not try to hide facts known to the entire world’, the Diyawadana Nilame said. (The Sunday Island 25 November 2001)

JVP leader's return reopens old wounds

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, NOV. 28. The radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which had attempted two uprisings against the Sri Lankan state but is now a mainstream political party, today began a damage- control exercise after a reported statement by its senior-most leader that another armed struggle by it could not be ruled out.

Mr. Amarasinghe, the only surviving member of the l980s leadership of the JVP, returned to Sri Lanka last week after more than a decade of self-imposed exile in France where he has lived after fleeing a government crackdown on an armed insurrection by his party in 1998-89.

But instead of helping the JVP's prospects in the coming election, his return seems to have only reopened old wounds for Sri Lanka and brought back memories of the party's violent past which its present leaders have been trying hard to erase.

Hours after flying in from Paris, Mr. Amarasinghe addressed a public meeting at a coastal town near the capital. But his utterances were to shock many. The diminutive 58-year-old reportedly admitted that the JVP had killed 6,000 people during the insurrection, but said the Government carried the bigger blame as it had killed tens of thousands more. He is also reported to have called on JVP cadres to ``arm themselves'' at the appropriate time. ``Welcome back Somawansa, here's your charge-sheet,'' cried the daily Island the next day.

``Six thousand deaths, comrade, is nothing to brush aside. It amounts to genocide,'' the newspaper said. The JVP has tried hard over the last decade to project itself as a reformed party, joining mainstream politics and carving out a vote bank that gave it 6 per cent of the vote and 10 seats in the 2000 election. The party hopes to improve its performance this time.

Observers noted that Mr. Amarasinghe's return had done more harm than good for the JVP's prospects, as well as those of the ruling People's Alliance with which it is widely expected to align in a hung-parliament scenario after the election. (Excerpts from “The Hindu” 29 November 2001)

Four TNA candidates wounded in EPDP attack

November 28, 2001 - A group of Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance candidates and supporters who had gone to Naranthanai in Jaffna for campaigning were attacked by armed cadres of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), Wednesday morning around 11 a.m with knives and other weapons. One TNA supporter, an including four TNA candidates were wounded in the incident, police sources employee of the Jaffna University was killed and about twenty others, said.

TNA candidates contesting the Jaffna district at the forthcoming parliamentary election Mr.Suresh Premachandran, Secretary General of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, Mr.M.K.Sivajilingam, TELO leader, Mr.Mavai Senathira jah and Jaffna Mayor N.Raviraj of the TULF were admitted to the Jaffna hospital.

The condition of Mr.Mavai Senathiraja, a former TULF parliamentarian is reported to be critical, medical sources said.

Neduntheivu and other islets in the peninsula are now under the control of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party which is a constituent of the ruling Peoples' Alliance.

Sri Lanka president faces flak over eye-for-eye call

COLOMBO, November 19, 2001 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's main opposition Monday called for legal action against President Chandrika Kumaratunga after she publicly urged ruling party supporters to murder those who try to kill them.

The opposition United National Party (UNP) charged that Kumaratunga was responsible for inciting violence and provoking people to commit murder in the run-up to the December 5 parliamentary polls.

The president said at a public meeting in the southern town of Tissamaharama that there was "nothing wrong in killing murderers" and warned the opposition that her party men could not be restrained as they had been in previous years.

"It is all right to kill murderers... I did not say such things in the past. We have behaved like we had attained enlightenment, but there is no need to tolerate attacks against us," Kumaratunga said in a speech broadcast over national television late Sunday.

She said that supporters of her People's Alliance were becoming targets for opposition UNP men and called for retaliation.

Kumaratunga's former constitutional affairs and justice minister, G.L. Peiris, hurriedly summoned a press conference here Monday to denounce her remarks.

Peiris, who defected to the opposition last month, said Kumaratunga could be prosecuted for aiding and abetting murder after her immunity from prosecution ends with her six-year presidential term in December 2005.

Kumaratunga and another dissident minister recently publicly traded charges that they tried to murder two newspaper editors who were critical of the government.

The opposition said the ruling party was trying to create trouble in several districts in a bid to delay the elections. Opinion polls have given the main opposition an early lead in the approval ratings.

Police and elections officials have expressed fears of more violence.

An opposition candidate and three other people have been killed in polls-related violence since the one-week nomination period ended on October

Police last week sought army reinforcements to step up security in the country before the election.

WE CONDEMN FANATIC AND TERRORIST ASSAULT

- TCHR

In a presse release on the International Human rights days 10 December 2001, TCHR said the following :

“Today, on International Human Rights Day, we would again like to express our sympathy to the families and friends of the victims in the crime wave in America on September 11, 2001. We strongly condemn this fanatic and terrorist assault.

“The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR - on 10 December 1948. It is stated in the Declaration that “all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights all have right to life, liberty and security”.

“Ever since 1948, “International Human Rights Day” has been celebrated all around the world. What meaning does it hold for the victims of human rights violations, and what does it mean for the perpetrators of those violations? Since the time when the UDHR was adopted, human rights violations have increased in the world. As part of their propaganda machine, aggressive states claim that the human rights situations in their countries have improved whereas in fact they have deteriorated.

“Today, the world is experiencing new dimensions of problems in the context of human rights and terrorism. Opportunist states boldly categorise legitimate opposition as terrorism, taking advantage of the present climate. Certain states continue to carry out ethnic cleansing whilst impressing the world that they are convinced of the need to look into the root cause of the problems!

“UN Secretary General Koffi Annan stated in a recent meeting “the fight against terrorism cannot be used as an excuse for slackening efforts to put an end to conflicts and defeat poverty and disease. Nor can it be an excuse for undermining the bases of the rule of law -- good governance, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”. (SG/SM/7999 - AFR/344 - 22 October 2001)

“The arms trade; dictatorship in the name of democracy; the influencing of international institutions via a “club” approach and the deliberate ignoring of ethnic freedom struggles, are some important phenomena causing severe violations in our present world.

“Aggressive states use military might against struggling ethnic groups. The arms trade, especially the purchase of Chemical weapons points directly to the process of ethnic cleansing in conflict areas.

“When the composition of membership of United Nations bodies is analysed, it is noticeable that Committees and Commissions on human rights are dominated by the member states, which have the worst human rights records. Can their membership of these committees help to improve the human rights situation in any country? On the contrary, these member states encourage more violations not only in their own countries but in other countries as well.

“International law, including UN conventions, does not permit state parties to have illegal detention centres, to arrest and torture, carry out Mafia style killings and massacres of innocent civilians, to use food and rape as weapons of war and to acquire chemical weapons for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. States practising these illegal acts are considered by civil society to be practising “State terrorism”.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

“Leaders of states should be honest and serious in what they say and do. Lies and deceptions will surely misguide the current and future generations.

“Democracy in certain countries is manipulated by family monopoly. Countries may have a republican constitution, but practice a dictatorship under the cover of democracy.

“So-called democratic leaders openly promote “Killings” and manipulate parliamentary democracy to suit their convenience. Such irresponsible acts encourage the perpetrators to continue committing human rights violations, producing more and more victims.

“International institutions could adopt hundreds of conventions and convenants but as long as the “club mentality” continues to permeate and dominate International institutions, human rights violations will have no durable remedy.

“Please refer to our press release of today (Ref. PR/22A/01) “President Chandrika’s statement confirms that Sri Lankan representatives in the United Nations have been lying since 1948”. (Courtesy TCHR)

Sri Lankan representatives in the

United Nations have been lying since 1948

TCHR press release on the International human rights days says that the Sri Lankan representatives in the United Nations have been lying since 1948!

Full text of the press release as follows :

“With reference to our press release (10 December 2001) today on “International Human Rights Day”, we highlight below certain facts acknowledged by President Chandrika Kumaratunge in her interviews to BBC Hardtalk and CNN Q&A on 30 October 2001.

“President Chandrika’s interviews on these esteemed television programmes make it patently clear she accepts that human rights violations have been committed against the Tamils in the island and that their political rights have been denied since 1948.

“Since 1983, human rights activists and organisations have compiled many reports and statements on violations against the Tamils, submitting them to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Sub-Commission on Human Rights and to the UN Centre for Human Rights.

“However, the Sri Lankan representatives in the UN mission in Geneva and other institutions persistently denied all those charges and branded the activists and organisations as “fronts” and “terrorist entities”! (Refer to the Human Rights proceedings of the UN Commission and the Sub-Commission)

“Government-hired companies and individuals are putting out propaganda around the world conveying the blatant falsity that “Tamils have no political problems” and it is a problem of terrorism!

“On 30 October 2001, the Sri Lanka President accepted that atrocities took place against the Tamils between independence in 1948 and 1994.

“It is obvious that President Kumaratunga cannot admit to the atrocities taking place during her period, but we can be sure that one day another leader in power will acknowledge these.

“Some analysts question whether Chandrika’s acknowledgement of violations was a trick that she and her Minister of foreign affairs were playing on the international community!

“Long ago, TCHR brought to the attention of human rights institutions and individuals the fact that the so-called “University Teachers for Human Rights UTHR” is a government-sponsored organisation. We submitted ample evidence in the past. Now this fact has been confirmed in the CNN interview, by the President herself quoting that UTHR is the only independent non-governmental organisation.

“President Chandrika, dauntless, rejected the 2001 report of the US State department, saying during the BBC Hardtalk programme, “Well there are all kinds of people who want to lie”.

“Later, on CNN, the President categorically refused to accept the Human Rights Watch report for 2001, claiming, “It (Human Rights Watch) could be a Tiger organisation, I don’t know what it is”.

“While the President accused Human Rights Watch of being a Tiger organisation, she wasted no time at all in recommending UTHR as an independent non-governmental organisation. She proudly said “...........but I would like to refer you to the reports of the Geneva Human Rights Conference to the University Teachers on Human Rights,...................They're a totally independent non-governmental organisation” (CNN Q&A)

“Her theory is simple. Whoever criticises the government’s human rights record is a Tiger front and whoever writes pro-government reports is an independent non-governmental organisation!

A few excerpts from President Chandrika’s interviews :

“All I'm telling you is that -- when millions were being killed, well not millions, but tens of thousands being killed at a time before we came in, and we stopped all that and there are still...” (BBC Hardtalk)

“Firstly the majority Sinhalese which constitutes about three fourths of the total population did not until we came into power accept that the Tamil people and the other minorities, especially the Tamil and Muslim minority in Sri Lanka, were discriminated against; they preferred to forget and sweep under the carpet that the minorities in Sri Lanka had problems, all Sri Lankan governments for the 53 years of independence did not accept that the Tamil people and other minorities had problems”. (BBC Hardtalk)

“We have tried very hard to deliver that peace. We lifted the economic embargoes which were placed by the previous government. We stopped attacks on innocent Tamil people by government-organised mafia, which happened every year under the last government during their 17-year rule.......................” (CNN Q&A)

“..........that we are violating human rights, when my government has stopped -- the last government killed 50,000 Sinhalese democratic youths simply because they did not agree with them. They killed over 20,000 Tamil youth. They burnt them alive; they poured petrol on them, and burnt them alive in pogroms against the Tamil people” (CNN Q&A)

• President Chandrika’s statements to the BBC Hardtalk and CNN have proved that since 1983 Sri Lankan representatives in the UN Mission in Geneva have been lying to the UN Human rights institutions.

• Her statement accepts the fact that since 1948, governments including those of her parents (her father S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake was the Prime Minister in 1956 and her mother Srimavo Bandaranayake was the Prime Minister in 1960 and 1970) have denied the fundamental rights of the Tamils and have organised violence against Tamils.

UN Secretary General Koffi Annan said, “even in situations of armed conflict, the targeting of innocent civilians is illegal, as well as morally unacceptable. And yet, as I have stated in my two reports on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, civilian populations are more and more often deliberately targeted. Indeed, civilians have become the principal victims of conflict, accounting for an estimated 75 per cent of all casualties.” (SG/SM/7977 GA/9920 - 1 October 2001)

• There is hard evidence to prove that recently Sri Lanka has acquired Chemical weapons. (For further information refer to “The Guardian” London, United Kingdom 23 November 2001)

• The president said at a public meeting in the southern town of Tissamaharama that there was "nothing wrong in killing murderers" and warned the opposition that her party men could not be restrained as they had been in previous years. (AFP - November 19, 2001)

• President Chandrika said in the BBC Hardtalk “There is no economic blockade, that is nonsense” (For further information refer to - The special gazette notification (No. 867/12) dated 20 April 1995, lists the items banned since Kumaratunga came to power)

• 2000 Historic Hindu Temples and Churches have been destroyed by aerial bombing and shelling. This is more extensive than the TALIBAN bombing of Bamiyan Buddas in Afghanistan. (Refer to “Hindu Religious Priest Organisation” , Sri Lanka)

• 30,000 military deserters have been reported in Sri Lanka. In a way, this is a world record! This proves that people in Sri Lanka are recruited forcefully into the security forces by the authority. (For further information refer to “The Sunday Times” 14 January 2001)

• A member of the Presidential Security Division PSD in Sri Lanka believed to be architect of the assassination of Human Rights Defender Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam. Mr. Ponnambalam made many oral interventions in the UN Commission on human rights as well as in the European Parliament and European council. It is now almost two years since his brutal killing and no proper investigation has been held by the authorities despite many clues. (For further information refer to “The Sunday Leader” - 11 November 2001)

• Veteran journalist Mr. Nimalarajan contributor to BBC programmes was killed by so-called unknown gunmen! Now one year has passed and there has been no progress in the investigations despite many clues. (For further information refer to “The Committee to Protect Journalists CPJ” 18 October 2001 - www.cpj.org) (Courtesy TCHR)

EPDP fired on an opposition candidate!

05 December 2001 - In Jaffna, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party fired on an opposition candidate and lobbed a grenade at his vehicle in Vaddukodai. EPDP had also fired on a bus in which voters were travelling near Chankanai and had smashed a Tamil National Alliance van on Stanley Road in the heart of Jaffna town.

According an independent monitoring group, in Jaffna the EPDP cadres were seen rigging the polls in the island of Kayts, Velanai and at the polling centres at the Jaffna Hindu College, St. John s College and the Nelliyadi Maththiya Maha Viththiyalayam. Some voters who went to these centres found their ballots already cast, the PAFFREL source said.

A heavily armed group of the EPDP had attempted to waylay a UNP convoy led by the party s chief candidate Mr. T. Maheswaran at Thinnevely. But the UNPers beat back the attackers and smashed up one of their vehicles.

Mr. M. Sivapalan, a UNP candidate, has sought Police protection after his vehicle was attacked with a grenade and fire upon by armed EPDP cadres near Vaddukkoddai junction.

On 4 December, the polling agents of UNP who were sent to the EPDP controlled island of Neduntheevu (Delft) were not allowed to land by heavily armed cadres of the pro-government group.

The polling agents and others who went with them were forced to leave the island and had to land on the island of Nainatheevu.

In Nanaataan in Mannar, a group of EPDP cadres were caught with a large number of polling cards near the polling centre in the area. The group appeared to have been impersonating many voters in the area until it was detected polling agents of other parties.

* * * * * * *

November 2001

Presidential guard organised Ponnambalam murder - paper

November 11, 2001 - A former member of Sri Lanka's Presidential Security Division found shot dead earlier this month was involved in orchestrating the assassination of former Tamil politician, Kumar Ponnambalam, the Sunday Leader newspaper reported this week. The paper also named the assassin, said to be a former Police constable.

The newspaper said that Baddegana Sanjeewa, found dead in his car on Pagoda road, with six gunshot wounds on November 2, was the architect of the murder of Mr. Ponnambalam, a human rights lawyer and leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). Mr. Ponnambalam was an outspoken critic of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and in the aftermath of his death, his family accused her of ordering the killing.

"On January 4, 2000, Kumar Ponnambalam was shot dead at Ramakrishna Road, Wellawatte. Moratu Saman and a former police constable named Sunil Ranasinghe carried out the killing on the instructions of Baddegana Sanjeewa", the Sri Lankan broadsheet said, quoting police sources.

Sanjeewa's career had included being a bodyguard for senior military personnel as well as being a member of Kumaratunga's elite presidential guard.

"Following Kumaratunga's win, Sanjeewa befriended Nihal Karunaratne. The only favour he sought for services rendered during Kumaratunga's election campaign was to be enlisted in the Sri Lanka Police Force. His request was granted and Sanjeewa was accepted as a Reserve Police Constable and assigned to the PSD", the broadsheet said.

The paper suggested that Sanjeewa was one of Kumaratunga's trusted guards and a close confidante. "Despite his criminal record, President Chandrika Kumaratunga trusted Baddegana Sanjeewa implicitly and was comfortable in having him provide her body protection - confident of his loyalty to her, she felt reasonably safe under his purview," the weekly said.

The broadsheet also accused the former PSD bodyguard had links to organised crime rackets. "Backed by political masters, Sanjeewa became a ready and willing tool in a circle of systematic crime", the Sunday Leader said.

The paper alleged that there had been a cover up, protecting Sanjeewa from further investigation. "Even at this stage, the police made every effort to refrain from making public Baddegana Sanjeewa's name as being involved in this murder. Sanjeewa in fact shared a close friendship with SSP Bandula Wickremasinghe, so much so - that on one occasion, when a gang threw hand bombs at a club at Delkanda on September 29, 1999 the cops had captured the getaway car. The vehicle belonged to a friend of Baddegana Sanjeewa's and he personally visited the CDB headquarters on this occasion making a request that the car, be released", the paper said.

Jaffna missing persons' parents continue protest

November 10, 2001 - "Arrests, deaths and destruction will continue in our land until our struggle succeeds. To put an end to such tragedies we have to succeed in our people's struggle. If we speak out for our nation then we shall win our struggle for which blood is being spilled," said Rev. Fr. T. Jeyakumar, the head of the Human Development Centre (HUDEC), addressing a demonstration and protest sit in near the Muniappar temple in Jaffna town Saturday by more than 200 parents and relatives of persons who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in 1996-97 in the northern peninsula. The protest was organised by the Missing Persons' Guardian Association (MPGA) and the Jaffna Mothers' Front. "We will continue the protest tomorrow as well," the secretary of the MPGA told Tamilnet.

The Jaffna University Students' Council President, the President of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, Mr. Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, and the leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front and several community leaders were present at the protest.

More than 600 civilians, mostly young men and women, who were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna during 1996-97, are missing. All are believed to have been murdered. Despite many appeals and protests by the MPGA and other community organisations in Jaffna for more than four years, the Sri Lankan government is yet to expedite investigations on evidence found so far.

Evidence emerged in 1998 that many of the missing persons were buried in mass graves in Chemmani near Jaffna town following revelations by a SLA corporal convicted of gang raping and murdering the schoolgirl Chryshanthi Kumarasamy.

Human skeletal remains and other material evidence were found in several sites dug and investigated by forensic experts under court order.

But further investigations appear to have been shelved by the Sri Lankan government, say the parents and relatives of the missing youth.

Army arrests eight in Batticaloa

November 07, 2001 - The Sri Lanka army arrested five persons Tuesday in the outer suburbs of Batticaloa town. They were taken into custody by the military intelligence unit of the SLA in Batticaloa, Police sources said. Three persons were arrested on 3 November by the SLA from two villages close to the eastern town. The eight have been detained by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Police for further inquiries, sources said.

The five civilians arrested on Tuesday are:

Kanapathipillai Thurairajah (Navatkudah), Kovindasamy Sivakumar (Navatkudah), Muruhappan Muraleetharan (koolavadi), Vijayasundaram Thushyanthan (Amirthakali), Thangavadivel (village officer, Navatkudah)

The three persons who were arrested on 3 November by the SLA at Saththurukkondaan, near Batticaloa town are:

Murugupillai Mahathevan, 27 (Saththurukkondaan), Shanmugam Sooriyakumar, 16 (Thannamunai), Pangaraas Vijayakumar, 22 (Thannamunai)

North East Doctors strike over pay discrimination

November 07, 2001 - More than four hundred residential medical officers serving in Northeast provincial hospitals went on strike Wednesday, demanding that they should also be paid special mission allowance as presently awarded to non-residential medical officers. "The medical services in government hospitals in the northeast province have come to a standstill due to the strike as more than one hundred non-residential doctors also have struck work to express their solidarity,"a spokesman of the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA).

Batticaloa Hospital

"Almost all residential medical officers serving in northeast are Tamils. About one hundred and twenty non-residential medical officers serving in northeast are Sinhalese and Muslims from other provinces. Depriving the payment of special mission allowance to residential medical officers in northeast would be considered as an act of racism," said a GMOA spokesman at the press briefing at the Trincomalee base hospital

"Residential and non-residential medical officers work jointly in northeast province. Hence paying special mission allowance to non-residential doctors and depriving the same facility to residential medical officers is a discriminatory act. The leadership of the Government Medical Officers' Association has extended its full support to the strike by non-residential medical officers.

US State Department report contained lies

- President Chandrika

30 October 2001 Today, Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's public relations blitz in the Western media unexpectedly ran into difficulties on the BBC's Hard Talk program hosted by Tim Sebastian. Faced with several embarrassing questions about the human rights situation in the island and the lack of progress in the peace process, President Kumaratunga, struggling to respond, became increasingly defensive and irritated. During the course of the half-hour interview, Kumaratunga said the US State Department's 2001 report on human rights contained "lies," claimed there had been "only one rape in Jaffna" since she came to power, flatly denied there was an economic embargo on Tamil areas ("that is nonsense!"), and blamed rights violations on "mad" policemen. Amid Sebastian's, trademark rapid-fire questions, some exchanges with the President bordered on the farcical.

Through the course of the interview it became clear the President's strategy for handling accusations of human rights violation by Sri Lankan security forces consisted of contrasting her administration with that of "the previous government" which she said "has been in power fraudulently for seventeen years" and asserting that any atrocities post 1994 were "very rare."

The interview began pleasantly enough, with Sebastian prompting Kumaratunga by quoting her earlier protests of the world powers' "double standards on terrorism." But when asked if "the West had sold [Sri Lanka] short," the President, smiling broadly, inexplicably said "No, not quite."

When prompted again, with another of her previous quotes ("you saidwestern countries are more concerned with human rights of terrorist organisations"), Kumaratunga seemed to warm to the subject, but warily fought shy of acknowledging her "double standards" jibe.

She then began a description of the support for "insurrectionary or terrorist" organisations during the Cold War. Sebastian interrupted, asking "what about people legitimately fighting for their rights and who are labelled terrorists" and cited the Tamil Tigers.

Kumaratunga: "Quite rightly so!"

Sebastian: "particularly when you say 'not once have we allowed any physical excesses against the Tamil people'..."

Kumaratunga, silent, nodded vigorously.

Sebasitan: "not once have we allowed...?"

Kumaratunga, interrupted,correcting: "not once have we promoted...."

The President said she had said this in a specific context with regards the previous government, which she said had "organised its own mafia, and policemen and military men..in civil..to attack innocent Tamil civilians... five times over... and the fifth time it was a huge pogrom carried out against the Tamil people in July 1983."

Sebastian, interrupting: "But Tamil civilians have been attacked under your rule as well."

Kumaratunga: "No! Never!"

Sebastian: "Never?"

Kumaratunga (shaking her head firmly): "Never!"

Sebastian: "[but this] simply does not accord with the facts. Let me quote you the State Department report on your human rights practices." He goes on to read extracts stating several hundred persons have been killed or disappeared in security forces custody and notes this clashes with Kumaratunga's assertions.

Kumaratunga: "This is as opposed to what the last government did where hordes of their... of government...mafia ran on the streets burning down houses, burning down business places belonging to Tamil people..."

Sebastian, interrupting: "so you are saying that was intentional under the last government and you are saying it is carelessness under yours?"

Kumaratunga: "No that is not what I am saying!... and they burnt people alive. I was witness to some of this and tried to stop it... whereas as what type of thing they [State Dept] are talking about something that happened in 1995. There has been absolutely no... violence against Tamil people encouraged or promoted by my government."

When Sebastian asked "So is Washington lying?" Kumaratunga said they were "talking about only one incident." When Sebastian said there were more than one, Kumaratunga challenged him to provide details of rights violations. Sebastian promptly did, reading more damaging extracts from the US State Department report.

When Sebastian quoted the US State department as saying that "despite legal prohibitions the security forces continued to torture," Kumaratunga interrupted snapping: "I don't accept that."

Sebastian: "What?"

Kumaratunga: "I don't accept that!"

Sebastian: "Why would they say it if it is wrong?"

Kumaratunga: "Well, they have to give exact details of those with incidents and then we will reply. Because I am personally aware of what goes on and maybe in some rare instances..1 in a 1000 cases and you do get mad policemen and we take strict action against them, there was one woman as opposed to thousands of them per year who was raped a few years ago by the security forces in Jaffna and that is the only case."

In response to this Sebastian read off details of a variety of torture methods and incidents from the report and said it is clearly more than one case. Kumaratunga, frowning intensely merely shook her head vigorously.

Sebastian read further details of massacres, torture and exhumations from mass graves from the State Dept. Report. In response Kumaratunga said some policemen have been arrested and trials are ongoing in manner "more expeditious than the usual one... because we want to punish these people."

Sebastian countered that the report cites many cases where "little progress has been made in resolving" cases of extra judicial killings or disappearances.

"No! I don't accept it!" snapped Kumaratunga folding her arms.

"Why not? asked Sebastian. "Why would they [State Dept] lie?"

Kumaratunga: "Well, there are all kinds of people who want to lie!"

"[But] This is an official State Department report," protested Sebastian.

"What is the date of that?" inquired Kumaratunga.

Sebastian: "... This is the 2001 report."

Kumaratunga: "Can I quote you a State Dept report of nineteen... ninety... five ... or ninety six, which I don't have with me now, but I can send you... which has talked in very eulogistic terms of the huge change in human rights practices brought in by my government as opposed to previous one."

"So you only quote the reports that suit you?"

Sebastian: Kumaratunga: "But you're quoting the ones that suit you !"

Sebastian: "I am quoting the latest . Surely this is the most relevant"

Kumaratunga: "No, not necessarily!"

Sebastian: "So they were right then, they are not right now?"

Sebastian: "Are you going to take this up with the US government?"

Kumaratunga: "I haven't seen this report that you are talking about!"

Sebastian, grinning: "Haven't you? We can give you a copy."

Kumaratunga: "I would like to have that..."

One particularly surreal moment came later when the issue of Tamil detainees being attacked by Sinhalese mobs whilst in custody was being discussed. When Sebastian asked why the young survivors of one attack had been handcuffed to their beds, the President responded: "No, no, no, they were just hacked to death. There wasn't a single survivor. There wasn't single survivor!"

When pressed, Kumaratunga told Sebastian he "must be talking about some other incident."

With tension now flowing, Sebastian turned to the peace process. Pointing out that Kumaratunga had come to power with peace as a major issue, he noted that seven years later, it had been "a complete and utter failure." Kumaratunga became livid. Folding her arms firmly, she sneered:

Sebastian interrupted, asking whether she accepted the need to apologise for the economic blockade on the Tamil areas.

"There is no economic blockade! That is nonsense!" cried Kumaratunga.

Sebastian: "No blockade?"

Kumaratunga: "Absolutely not! We lifted..."

Sebastian, interrupting: "Humanitarian blockade?"

Kumaratunga: "Absolutely not!"

When Sebastian asked British charity Oxfam was talking about a humanitarian blockade, Kumaratunga replied she did not know. And then added darkly, "I'd like to meet this Oxfam person."

Kumaratunga was also forced to back pedal on the failure of progress into the investigation of the murder of Nimalrajan, a BBC journalist in Jaffna, as well as other rights cases ("How much control do you have?" - the President blamed the courts for being too slow) the Supreme Court's own protests that the police were ignoring its directives (the President denied this was true).

The interview concluded as she was in mid sentence, denying another extract from the State Department's report.

Embargo, war caused 13, 379 civilian deaths - report

November 04, 2001 - Thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy nine civilians died in the Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts due to the war and the economic embargo imposed by the Sri Lankan government from 1990 to 1999, according to a press report in the Vanni published this weekend. Most of the deaths, destruction of civilian property and mass displacement tool place after the People's Alliance came to power in 1994, the report said. Four thousand eight hundred and seventy nine civilians died in the Mullaithivu district between 1994 and 1999 due to the direct impact of the economic embargo on the Vanni, particularly due to the severe restrictions on medical supplies.

The present population of the Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu is 332, 000. About four percent of the population, 13, 379, in these two districts died from 1990 1999 because of to the embargo and operations of the Sri Lanka army, the report said.

It added that thousands of civilians have perished in the Vanni districts of Mannar and Vavuniya in Sri Lanka army operations, massacres, assassinations by paramilitary groups working with the army and torture in Police and military detention. The main population centres of Mannar and Vavuniya under the control of the Sri Lanka army.

The Vanni press report comes in the wake of a rebuttal by the Voice of Tigers radio of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's statement that more Tamils were killed during the rule of the United National Party than under her regime.

The President Kumaratunga told the CNN and the BBC Hardtalk during an interview on 30 October that there was no economic embargo on the Vanni.

Human Rights Watch LTTE Front !

UTHR independent Human Rights Organisation !

- President Chandrika

30 October, 2001 Today, Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga accused Human Rights Watch, which has criticised excesses by the Sri Lankan security forces, of “telling lies” and dismissed the largest human rights organization based in the United States as a front for the Liberation Tigers. President Kumaratunga however praised the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) as “totally independent” and whom she said were “very appreciative” of her government. Kumaratunga’s comments were made in an interview to CNN conducted by Zain Verjee during which the President continued to denied she had conducted a ‘war for peace’ (“we called it a battle for peace. we wanted peace through peace”), and denied there was an economic embargo on Tamil areas even though Verjee didn’t actually raise the matter.

President Kumaratunga’s gaffe-prone public relations exercise continued as she appeared on CNN’s Q&A program, following the embarrassing interview with the BBC’s Hard Talk program. When Kumaratunga was pressed by Verjee on her government’s human rights record, just as by Tim Sebastian of the BBC, the President reacted angrily, again.

Some excerpts from the CNN interview :

Verjee: “…Human Rights Watch's report for 2001 has criticized your government for the way you treat Tamil civilians in the north and the east of the country. The reports are that they've been discriminated against, there are restrictions on the freedom of the movement, arbitrary arrests, abuse at the hands of government, and army and police imposing forced labor. Could you give me a brief response to that?”

Kumaratunga: “Lot of it is lies. What is that report? By whom is it written?”

Verjee: “It's written by Human Rights Watch. It's the 2001 Country Report for Sri Lanka.”

Kumaratunga: “The Human Rights Watch, what is that? I don't know, because the Geneva Convention on Human Rights is the UN Convention, which looks after the human right situations in countries all over the world. And various complaints are made to it by the Tiger organizations, by various organizations that are working for the Tigers. And they have the widest possible supervision, monitoring of what goes on in our country, as in many others. And their reports do not say this. I don't know what this Human Rights Watch is.”

Verjee: “It's a London-based organization...”

Kumaratunga: “It could be a Tiger organization. I don't know what it is.”

Human Rights Watch is the largest human rights organization based in the United States. started in 1978 as Helsinki Watch, to monitor the compliance of Soviet bloc countries with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Accords. In the 1980's, Americas Watch was set up during the Central American conflict. The organization grew to cover other regions of the world, until all the "Watch" committees were united in 1988 to form Human Rights Watch.

President Kumaratunga went on to say: “Yes. These kind of mushroom organizations have all kinds of reports. I am not willing to reply to those, but I would like to refer you to the reports of the Geneva Human Rights Conference to the University Teachers on Human Rights, most of whom are Tamil teachers who had to flee Jaffna because the Tigers were trying to kill them. They're a totally independent nongovernmental organization.”

President Kumaratunga was enthusiastic about the UTHR, a Colombo-based group of three former lecturers whose reports, which focus primarily on criticism of and allegations against the LTTE, have been handed out to correspondents by the Sri Lankan Army. “They bring out reports every month or every two months, and they're very appreciative of the fact that my government has been able to completely control the human rights violations, which were massively done under the last government,” Kumaratunga said.

Kumaratunga: “We have tried very hard to deliver that peace. We lifted the economic embargoes which were placed by the previous government. We stopped attacks on innocent Tamil people by government-organized mafia, which happened every year under the last government during their 17-year rule. We have brought in all kinds of institutions and arrangements to guarantee safety of person and property to the Tamil people. We have brought in various laws, practices, committees, commissions, which ensure this. We have prevented...”

Kumaratunga also launched a bitter attack on the Liberation Tigers, accusing the movement of refusing to come for talks or discuss a solution. When Verjee interrupted, asking if the government had not stopped the Norwegian peace process, Kumaratunga reacted angrily again.

Verjee: "But President Kumaratunga, you're painting a picture that the Tamil Tigers are completely to blame here, and you and your government really is not to blame at all. But some of your critics will say that really it was your government that was impeding the efforts by Norway, for instance, to broker some sort of peace, and you really put a stop on that process. Your response?"

Kumaratunga: "I don't know who has informed you of that, but I would have expected you to brief yourself slightly more factually correct. It is my government and I who invited the Norwegian government to come in..."

When Verjee asked Kumaratunga about “some very autocratic steps in your country -- suspending parliament, when you knew you couldn't win a confidence motion -- that's been the criticism. Why did you do it?” the President demanded what was autocratic about dissolving Parliament to “go to the people and ask their opinion.”

When asked as to why she had not abolished the office of the presidency, Kumaratunga launched a lengthy and bitter attack on the opposition.

“…But we are not being allowed to do this by the opposition, which thereafter keeps screaming their heads off that I am autocratic. Yes, I would like to say one little thing here please, that it is beginning to be very tiresome to hear people telling us that we're being autocratic, that we are violating human rights, when my government has stopped -- the last government killed 50,000 Sinhalese democratic youths simply because they did not agree with them. They killed over 20,000 Tamil youth. They burnt them alive; they poured petrol on them, and burnt them alive in pogroms against the Tamil people….We promised the country that we would stop this. We have stopped this; the reign of state terror has been definitely stopped under my government seven years ago, and you do not talk about the violation of human rights by the LTTE….”

Verjee: “Madam president, I would like to focus here, though, on your actions in government.”

Kumaratunga: “... on one side of the story.”

Verjee: “No, no. I want to ask you this question. I mean you're blaming the opposition and saying they are screaming their heads off, but what about your actions?” Verjee raised the defections from the ruling party. Kumaratunga accused the ministers who left of being corrupt and of leaving because of impending investigations and vowed to indict them in the courts.”

Towards the end of the interview, Verjee raised the matter of Sri Lanka’s economy which he said was “in ruins.”

Kumaratunga: “No, that is not true. The economy is not in ruins. I don't know what you mean by the word "ruins," whether you have a new definition for that word...”

* * * * * * *

October 2001

Ex- PA MP runs riot

An ex-PA Member of parliament, had stormed the Puttalam town, in several vehicles with his goondas and weapons, had threatened the shop-keepers and the people, threatening to cause bodily harm and damages to shops and sales-outlets if they would sell papers and polythene rolls in Green colour. He had forcibly entered shops and taken away large number of polythene rolls — even, green bags — and warned them not to sell such Green colour materials. He had then gone round the area pulling down all decorations done in Green, ex-UNP MP A. H. M. Azwer said.

This group of political goondas definitely wishes to stage another Wayamba election-violence-scene, like the several he and his men enacted at several elections earlier, he said.

A complaint had been lodged in the Puttalam police this afternoon by several important persons including MPs. People in the Puttalam Town is going to stage a protest demonstration today, he said.

The same MP had assaulted several persons in a Mosque in Anamaduwa and warned them not display anything in Green. (The Island 19 October 2001)

Polls violence cases rise to 190

One hundred and ninety cases of election related violence were reported to the Election Secretariat yesterday. UNP had lodged 101 while the PA number was 66. The JVP had lodged 9 complaints. Muslim congress had lodged 4 and other parties have lodged 10 complaints. (The Island 02 November 2001)

President behind murder plots

COLOMBO (AFP) - A government dissident Tuesday accused Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga of complicity in attacks against journalists amid controversy over a plot to assassinate newspaper editors.

Kumaratunga said at the weekend that former parliamentary affairs minister S. B. Dissanayake had planned the murders of two editors during his term in government.

He hit back on Tuesday in a four-page letter to the president, saying she was aware of murders and other crimes committed by a presidential bodyguard, Baddegane Sanjeeva, who himself was mysteriously gunned down on Friday.

"Physical attacks against journalists, artists (and) opposition politicians... were done with your knowledge," Dissanayake told Kumaratunga.

He charged that Kumaratunga had plotted to kill several journalists and set fire to their offices, but the plans could not be executed for lack of support from others.

There was no immediate reaction from the government to the allegations levelled by Dissanayake, who was replying the widely publicised alleged role he had in the plan to kill journalists.

"Don’t ask me for a reaction because I don’t want to get involved in this," said a senior government media official, who declined to be named. There was also no immediate reaction from Kumaratunga’s office to the allegations.

Kumaratunga told a meeting of her ruling People’s Alliance (PA) Sunday that Dissanayake had suggested killing editors to save the government from collapse, the state-run Daily News reported Monday.

"Madam, the government is very weak and it could collapse at any time," Kumaratunga quoted the minister as saying. "If necessary I will kill an editor or two who is critical of the government".

The Daily News said the president had told the minister it was "not necessary to think that the government was weak when it had the support of 24 additional members."

The local Free Media Movement (FMM) said the charges and counter allegations made it clear that the murder of journalists was discussed "without any inhibition at the highest level of government".

"This also explains as to why no proper investigations have been carried out into the murder of two journalists, attempted murder of a number of editors and assault of journalists in the past seven years," the FMM said.

The FMM said it "openly accused" Kumaratunga’s security unit of carrying out the September 1999 killing of Rohana Kumara, an editor of the anti-government newspaper Satana. The case remains unsolved.

Another journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who contributed to the local media and the BBC’s Tamil and Sinhalese programs, was gunned down in October last year in the north of the island, in another case that remains unsolved.

The editor of the pro-opposition Sunday Leader newspaper, Lasantha Wickrematunga, has said in a letter to Kumaratunga that he was holding her responsible if he was killed.

"On two occasions during your tenure in office, my family and I have been brutally attacked," Wickrematunga said in a three-page letter to Kumaratunga.

"In 1995 February my wife and I were assaulted by armed thugs and again in 1998 June machine-gun fire was directed into our house, endangering the lives of my wife, my young children and myself."

IMF displeasure - paper threatens loans

October 30, 2001 - Concern expressed by the International Monetary Fund over the 'election handouts' by the Sri Lankan government has resulted in $800 million of pledged loans being withheld, the Island newspaper said Tuesday, quoting IMF sources. As a result of the freezing of these foreign loans and the unlikelihood of the government being able to raise the full amount of the required money locally, a situation would result of rising interest rates and the printing of money, thereby fuelling inflation, the paper said.

An IMF team, which has been in Sri Lanka since Friday wanted to have a meeting with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to discuss these issues, but was unable to do so because of her departure to the UK, the Island said.

The IMF sources said that as it would not be possible for whichever government that wins the December 5 elections to survive without obtaining foreign loans and in order to appease international donor agencies it would be compelled to raise taxes such as the GST so as to secure the release of the loans pledged.

"An IMF or a World Bank certificate in support of a government's fiscal and monetary policies, is considered as a certificate of recommendation to other donor agencies, both multilateral and bilateral," the paper quoted the IMF sources as saying.

Conversely, when IMF mission teams expresses their concern over the government's financial and monetary policies, it has a cascading effect not only in the freezing the release of IMF loans pledged to the country, but also the withholding of development loans pledged by other agencies such as the World Bank, the ADB, as well as by bilateral donors such as Japan, the IMF sources said.

The Island said handouts which range from salary hikes and increases in pension payments to lowering of the defence levy and the abolition of the diesel tax, are estimated to cost the government an additional Rs 11 billion this year and a further Rs 44 billion next year.

Meanwhile, the IMF, after releasing the initial tranche of US$ 131 million in a $ 253 million (SDR 200 million) structural loan in April, to assist the government to build up its foreign reserves, has withheld further payment, because of the government reneging on its memorandum of understanding with the Fund, one of which was freezing salary increases of public servants by a year.

"Tamil parties' alliance formed to support liberation struggle"-TULF

October 28, 2001 - The Tamil United Liberation Front said Sunday that the Tamil parties' alliance has been formed to muster support of the Tamil people and their political forces for the freedom-struggle of the Liberation Tigers in and out parliament and not aimed at elections."The time has now come for all the Tamil political forces in the northeast to unite under one banner to give full support for the militants who are involved in the freedom struggle," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the chief candidate of the Tamil parties' alliance for the Trincomalee district addressing alliance activists Sunday morning at his residence.

Over two hundred Tamil youths and veteran party activists attended the meeting which was convened to work out an election strategy to be deployed at the forthcoming general election, aiming to capture two parliamentary seats in the Trincomalee district, alliance sources said. (Photo: Mr.R.Sampanthan, chief candidate of the Tamil parties' alliance (on right) and Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham, number two candidate in the TULF list for Trincomalee district are seen in the picture )

"The armed freedom struggle of the Liberation Tigers was not launched hastily. It was launched when all means of non-violent methods adopted by Tamil moderate leaders led by late Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayagam failed to achieve desired results for the Tamil national question for the last fifty years through negotiations and by signing several pacts with Sinhala ruling parties. No one can deny this fact," said Mr.Sampanthan.

Mr.Sampanthan added, "without the wholehearted participation of the Liberation Tigers, no firm and lasting political solution cannot be found for the Tamil nation question. Political solution found in talks with Liberation Tigers can only be implemented under the supervision of the international community. Therefore the government should first declare a cease-fire and initiate talks with the Liberation Tigers without hesitation."

"One of the main demands of the Tamil parties' alliance is that no talks should be held by the government with any other group when negotiating with the Liberation Tigers" stressed Mr.Sampanthan.

"The Tamil parties' alliance would exert pressure on the government and chauvinist forces through non-violent methods if they failed to declare ceasefire and initiate peace talks with Liberation Tigers with third party mediation", Mr.Sampanthan declared.

TID arrests four in Batticaloa

October 24, 2001 - The Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police Tuesday arrested four persons, including a woman, in Batticaloa. A special team that came from Colombo made the arrests. The four were taken to Colombo for detention and inquiry, Police sources said Wednesday.

The TID group from Colombo arrested Mr. Alfred Jesudason, 54, of School Road in Jeyanthipuram, an outer suburb of Batticaloa town.

The TID sought the arrest of the owner of a telephone booth in Morakkottanchenai, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa. It could not find the owner and hence arrested his wife, Mrs.Mahendran Shathini, 28, her father, Mr.Malaiyappan Mylvaganam, 55, and her brother-in-law Mr. Yuvaraj Puvanesarajah, 22.

Eight civilians wounded, 2 killed in shelling

October 23, 2001 - Eight civilians, including an infant, were wounded and two were killed in shelling by the Special Task Force, an elite arm of the Sri Lankan security forces, on the villages of Ambilaanthurai and Thumbankerni, south west of Batticaloa town Tuesday.

The two villages were shelled while the STF was on a special limited operation into the LTTE held areas of Palugamam and Porathivu.

The operation began around 3.30 a.m. on two fronts and was called off by noon Tuesday, sources said.

The wounded were taken to the Kaluwanchikudi hospital and then transferred to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Two women, an eight-month-old girl and five men were wounded.

Two farmers, Sathasivam Kamalanathan, 41, and Thambimuttu Manmuniyaan, 37, were killed while returning from their paddy fields near Ambilaanthurai. Their bodies were blown to pieces, relatives said.

The wounded are:

K. Sivanesarajah, 52 of Thumbankerni, S. Pathmanathan, 25, Ambilaanthurai, K. Seevaratnam, 38, Ambilaanthurai, A. Punitharajan, 13, Ambilaanthurai, S. Gajan, 05, Thumbankerni, Kamaleswari, 30, Thumbankerni, Sivalingam Parameswari, 20, Ambilaanthurai, Sathasivam Vayatha, eight months, Ambilaanthurai.

Self-determination is 'might is right'-Thamilmaran

October 21, 2001 - "A people's right of self determination is not always recognised by the international community because it is inherently just. It is more often the case that it is accepted only when a people succeed in their armed struggle to secede. When a people lose the war to gain independence the international community rejects their right of self-determination. This was the experience of Biafra. It lost the war for independence from Nigeria and its people's right of self determination was not recognised," said Mr. V.T Thamilmaran, senior lecturer in law in the University of Colombo delivering the Mylvaganam Nimalarajan commemoration lecture in Batticaloa Sunday. The lecture 'The challenges to the State in the 21st Century' was organised by the East Lanka Journalists' Association and the International Broadcasting Corporation (Tamil).

The lecture arranged to mark the first death anniversary of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, the Jaffna journalist who was murdered by gunmen at his home in the Sri Lanka armyís high security zone in Jaffna town on 19 October last year.

Mr. Thamilmaran observed that the international order and the UN system are heavily biased towards the state. The international legal systems that are in place and those which are evolving do not allow for a fair hearing or treatment of non-state parties, he added.

The Venerable Mahagalkadawela Punyasara Thero from Kurunagala who was the guest speaker said: "I invite the Buddhist monks who assert that there is no Tamil problem in this country but only a terrorist problem to debate the issue with me to determine the truth. If anyone asks me whether the Tamil people have a problem I say that they do not have one but myriad problems. My life might be threatened by groups such as the Sihala Urumaya and the JVP for speaking thus. The chauvinists say that there should be one Sinhala state and one Sinhala state in this country".

"But where did the Sinhala people come from? Many rulers of Sri Lanka in the past were Tamils. Many rulers married Tamil from South India. The soldiers and commanders of ancient and medieval kingdoms in Sri Lanka were largely Tamils from South India. Even the special bodyguards of Sinhala kings were Tamils. None of these went back. They married and settled in various parts of the island. The Tamils in the north and east of the country are therefore our kith and kin. We are of common descent. There is no unique Sinhalaness as such".

"Two elite families have ruled Sri Lanka from the time of its independence. They set the fire of ethnic acrimony from Colombo. They will never solve the Tamil problem," the Buddhist monk said.

Self-Determination is Tamil aspiration

The report released by the four Tamil party alliances is almost a manifesto of these parties. It has stipulated that the traditional homeland concept of the Tamils must be accepted and political talks must proceed on the basis of guaranteeing self-determination. This, they have said as the only way to solve the ethnic crisis within a united Sri Lanka. The TULF, TELO, ACTC and EPRLF have categorically said that it is the aspiration of Tamils. Of these TULF and ACTC have been non-violent groups through out, but the other two, along with other armed groups excluding the LTTE, renounced armed struggle and set themselves on the democratic main stream. The two ex-armed groups had to go on independently for two years but also have now realized that that they have to be united in order to win the rights of Tamils and now they have got together.

At the same time all of them have expressed their agreement with the paramount sacrifice that had been made by the LTTE and justified the armed struggle. The government is firm that devolution of powers is the way out and not separation of the country. In this context the Tamil parties must come forward to find a way for the right type of devolution of powers. It is the absolute reality that no solution is possible without talking to the LTTE. It is said that this is also the wish of northeast people. To this extent the four party alliances has said that it is by talking to the LTTE the north-east problem could be settled and that no talk is necessary with the others. It is the enormous victory to the alliance that will give the mandate. It will also silence the government, which is Hippocratic in this matter. (ViraKesari - Editorial, Wednesday October 24th, 2001)

“The Will to Freedom”

by Adele Balasingham

24 October 2001 - A new book, “The Will to Freedom” written by Adele Balasingham, who has lived and worked in India and Sri Lanka for than twenty years with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The 400-page book "will be of interest to all those who want to study the inside story of the Tamil resistance movement," Fairmax Publishing Ltd. said.

This book provides the first internal study of two decades of the Liberation Tigers' campaign and its leadership.

"Written in a semi-autobiographical, historical style, the [book] graphically surveys important events, episodes and turning points in the last two decades of the Tamil freedom struggle [and] provides a penetrating internal study of the armed resistance by the Tamil Tiger movement" the statement said.

The book "also throws light on the hitherto unknown characteristics of the leadership of the LTTE," and contains exclusive photographs, Fairmax said.

Mrs. Balasingham, a sociologist, political activist and writer, is married to Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's theoretician and chief negotiator. She has also published books on the dowry system amongst the Jaffna society and on the LTTE women fighters.

The Will to Freedom, (priced sixteen pounds including postage), can be obtained from Fairmax Publishing Ltd, P.O.Box 2454, Mitcham CR4 1WB, UK.

Batticaloa agricultural fields getting ruined by bombing

The threat of a war is running high is Batticaloa and who is going to make the first move is under consideration. Both sides are getting ready for it and both sides need Batticaloa badly. At the same time people living there also have to be saved. Yet every war effort is being done in the name of people. This is the third month Batticaloa had been under the war threat and their preparations are the fears of people there. What would be the consequences if war broke out deserves full consideration. LTTE released a handbill in Sept. that the time has come to take over Batticaloa dist, while the Army issued a counter handbill as well. In fact both of them are frightening people and they are living in perpetual fear. The general expectation is that the forces will defend the Batticaloa town and the vicinity, but it will not be that easy for them to face the challenges that are bound to come from LTTE controlled areas.

Although the Army camps are situated in the town areas and the main trunk roads, it will not be difficult for the LTTE to calculate precisely the location of the govt forces and attack them with artillery. It is doubtful if the information obtained from the informants by the forces would be sufficient to correctly target LTTE positions. Recently shells were fired at the LTTE from Kurinchamunai and Munaikadu but they never affected the Tigers. On the contrary only the civilians were injured by it and this situation will continue. This is the cause of the fearful state of people in Batticaloa. If a battle ever breaks out in Batticaloa it will be the people who will suffer serious destruction. The forces know very well that it is not easy for them to enter the Tiger controlled area of Puduwankarai by land and attack them and that is why they are firing shells there. By doing so forced believe that they could send away the Tigers and the civilians.

Forces also believe that such an attempt would isolate the LTTE. But will such a move be a right proposition, is a question and the forces also have thought like wise. Therefore the forces have decided to launch air attacks in the hope that once the LTTE bases have been destroyed it would be easy to begin their land attack. The SLAF is targeting Thoppigala forests in the hope that the LTTE will have their training camps and ammunition dumps there. But the result has been counter-productive. Tigers were not hurt and it is only the agricultural land of farmers and their valuable animals that have been lost. The people in Batticaloa say that it is a pre-planned and scheduled activity of the forces. Ever since 1980 the forces are doing this in the pretext of fighting the Tigers. By it the forces are expecting to destroy the economic resources of the Tamils. People say that Thoppigala has been selected for air attacks for the very same purpose. Recently bombs were dropped by the air force west of Kiran and this has destroyed all the crops, which were grown there. Since the bombs were dropped during daytime, people working there were able to run for safety. But no cultivation can be done in area bombs have destroyed, for years to come. While many have abandoned farming, the rigourous conditions laid by the forces to allow what ever produce people have to be marketed outside Tiger controlled areas, are very heavy. They are forced to wait for weeks to get clearance. It is very same forces that are supposed to provide security to people, that is conducting these outrageous attacks.

The war threat that had been inaugurated by both foes has only succeeded in ruining the day to day life of Batticaloa people. Therefore any attacks by the defence forces to capture LTTE areas will not do good for the forces, because it will further estrange people from them, while also not causing any harm to the LTTE. Destruction of people have already begun in Batticaloa. (Athavan - Sunday October 24th, 2001)

Sri Lanka journalist killing appeal

Jaffna city has been badly affected by the war

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has been pressed to pursue an investigation into the killing of a journalist who contributed to the BBC and several local media organisations.

The journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was killed in a bomb attack at his home in the northern Jaffna peninsula a year ago, but the authorities have as yet made no arrests.

More than 200 local and foreign correspondents have signed a petition to the president, demanding police action.

The open letter - organised by the French media rights group Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and two local organisations, the Free Media Movement and the Tamil Media Alliance - noted that no one had been arrested in connection with the murder committed exactly a year ago in Jaffna.

Conflict reporting

President Kumaratunga has been asked to ensure the end of what they describe as a culture of impunity and ensure that the guilty are brought to justice.

Nimalarajan had been critical of paramilitary groups in the Jaffna peninsula in his reporting.

His colleagues met in the capital earlier this week to discuss the challenges they face in reporting from areas of conflict.

The media has called for greater protection and better working conditions to prevent other killings.

The authorities recently ended censorship on war reporting, but journalists in Sri Lanka still face difficulties in travelling to the front lines. (Friday, 19 October, 2001, 15:50 GMT 16:50 UK )

School boys arrested in Jaffna

12 October 2001 - The Sri Lanka Police arrested three schoolboys in Jaffna Thursday. The three are students at the Sri Parvathi Maha Vithiyalayam in Nayanmaarkattu near Jaffna town. Their parents informed the Human Rights Commission about the arrests today. Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Unit of the Police Thursday produced in the Mannar courts a youth who had been taken into custody for possessing a mobile phone. The Sri Lankan government prohibits the use of mobile phones in the northern and eastern parts of the island. Tamil civilians from other parts of the island are, however, allowed to carry their mobile phones when visiting the army controlled parts of the east or the Vavuniya town.

The youth, Velayutham Vijayakumar, 25, was arrested while travelling in a bus from Vavuniya to Mannar town on Wednesday at Murunkan. The acting district judge for Mannar, Mr. M. M Saffrudeen, remanded Vijayakumar till 18 October.

The students of Sri Parvathi Maha Vithiyalayam who were arrested Thursday are:
Selvaratnam Kamalaraj, 18 of Navalar Road, Nallur, Jaffna - Sivagnanam Sivakumar, 16, of Ariyalai, Jaffna - Nadarajah Akilakumar, Columbuthurai, Jaffna

* * * * * * *

September 2001

TCHR PARTICIPATED IN THE WCAR-DURBAN

The Tamil Centre for Human had an exhibition in the NGO forum of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa. TCHR has published a report to the WCAR compiling all the discrimination which has taken place against the Tamil people for more than 50 years in the island of Sri Lanka.

The TCHR exhibition was well attended by many VIPs and VVIPs around the world.

The TCHR was represented by S. V. Kirubaharan General Secretary and Deirdre McConnell Director International Programme in the WCAR.

The appeal submitted by TCHR as follows :

“At the very outset, we the Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR, would like to warmly congratulate you on your great task as Secretary General of the World Conference Against Racism 2001.

“Everyone is aware that you and your staff are working day and night to make this conference a successful one at the start of this millennium, as there are so many instances of discriminations around the world. Various types of discrimination have paved paths for Civil war, Ethnic Conflict, Armed conflict, etc. Many of these conflicts have as their ultimate goal, the winning of Right to self-determination as the only durable solution to the political problems at the root of discrimination and xenophobia in today's world.

“Madam, we do not have to tell you in detail what have been happening in Sri Lanka for the last few decades! The systematic discrimination by Sinhala political leaders against the people who live in their traditional homeland in the North-East has forced tremendous hardship upon them in many forms.

“As a result of the failure to find a solution by non violent struggle and parliamentary ballot, the Tamils youth found that armed struggle was the only means to gain their fundamental rights and their right to self-determination.

“After a long struggle, today Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka have a de-facto government in two thirds of their hereditary lands the North East of the island. The administration of this de-facto government is lead by the Liberation Tigers of Tamils Eelam - LTTE.

“The present de-facto government of Tamil Eelam has all the characteristics of other states. It has defined boundaries and has the support of the people. It has a judicial system, police force, banks, etc. In fact, the Tamils of the North East of the island voted overwhelmingly in the 1977 parliamentary election for the same. The Sinhala leaders suppressed this ballot, shortly afterwards, by a constitutional amendment (known as the “Sixth amendment”) in parliament.

“Madam, herewith we append various facts on Colonisation, Employment, Education, Religious activities, Military activities, Genocide, etc for participants of this Conference to see how a Nation has been discriminated against during the last 55 years!

“Madam, even the Norwegian mediation between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE has come to a stalemate because the government has demanded the Norwegian government to change the main mediator, Mr. Solheim. He was shuttling between the government and LTTE for nearly two years in search of peace. The government has accused Mr. Solheim of giving too much consolation to the Tamils!

“Now it is time for the International community to realise that the present government cannot deliver a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It is time for the international community to exert intense pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop the bloody war and start negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE in order to find a negotiated durable solution in the Island of Sri Lanka”.

ICRC office attacked with Grenades

6 September 06, 2001 - The sub office of the International Committee of the Red Cross -ICRC in Muttur town, Trincomalee was attacked with grenades by unidentified persons. The office building was damaged in the attack. An ICRC's vehicle parked in the premises was also damaged in the explosion. Muttur town is in the control of the Sri Lanka Army where ICRC's sub office is situated.

Police recovered an unexploded grenade from the scene. The activities of the ICRC in Muttur area have been suspended until further notice.

The office has been closed down with immediate effect and the entire staff about 14 members working there has been asked to report to the office of the ICRC office in Trincomalee town.

Last year also on October 2 the Muttur sub office of the ICRC came under attack by a group of unidentified persons.

The office was stoned during that attack. Three grenades were lobbed on the ICRC office this time.

11^th Anniversary of 158 disappeared Tamils

05 September 06, 2001 Today memorial functions were held in Vantharumoolai and Valaichenai to mark the 11th anniversary of disappearance of 158 Tamils who were arrested by the Sri Lanka security forces from the Eastern University refugee camp on September 5, 1990.

Relatives of the disappeared in Chenkaladi, Kommathurai, Sithaandy and Vantharumoolai areas were performing special prayers in Hindu temples.

About 45 thousand refugees were living in the Eastern University campus in Vantharumoolai when the peace talks between the Premadasa Government and the Liberation Tigers collapsed on June 10, 1990.

The report of the Presidential Commission established to investigate the disappearance, said in its report that early morning 6 am on September 5, Sri Lankan army soldiers stationed in Kommathurai army camp and soldiers who arrived from Batticaloa town surrounded the refugee camp and ordered the inmates to the athletic ground of the campus. 158 of those assembled were then hand-cuffed and were taken in busses towards Valaichenai., the report further said.

Relatives of the disappeared said that they received reliable information that the busses were taken to Naavalady where all the 158 refugees were murdered. Residents of Naavalady say that Muslim Homeguards worked with the Sri Lanka security forces in the alleged killings.

The Commission report says that a further 16 people were arrested from this camp on September 23, 1990. The report adds that during the same period 43 more Tamils from Chenkalady, 66 from Valaichenai, 33 from Sithaandy Murugan Temple refugee camp and 16 from Kommathurai were arrested by the security forces and disappeared.

Sources point out that several army officers who were implicated in the disappearances and alleged murders by eyewitness accounts, and whose names were listed as such in the Presidential Commission's report, have received career promotions.

Youth from the Church farm shot dead by STF

8 September 2001 - The body of a youth shot by the Sri Lanka army on 8 September in Murunkan in Mannar was identified by his father Monday. The SLA claimed that some banned items such as matchboxes and bicycle spare parts were found near his body. However, the boy’s father, Mr. Peduduru Velichchore told the Mannar Hospital authorities that his son, Vincent Roy, 19, had gone to guard their field in the Jeevothayam farm late that night.

He added that his son works on the farm. The Jeevothayam Pannai is a farm and minor settlement in the interior village of Pariyaarikandal in the general area of Murunkan Murunka. It is owned and managed by the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka.

Another youth from the Church farm was shot dead by Special Task STF commandos on 26 August while he was loading sand onto a tractor in Murunkan.

Meanwhile, the STF cordoned off and searched the eastern town of Kaluwanchikudy for three on 5 September. More than hundred civilians were arrested during the search and were taken to the Kaluwanchikudy STF camp for interrogation.

Two human skulls found in hospital premises

10 September 2001 - Construction workers digging a ditch in the rear of the Jaffna General hospital compound came upon human skeletal remains, including two skulls. The work was stopped immediately and the matter was to the notice of the Police.

The human skeletal remains were discovered where the Jaffna hospital rear section of the hospital premises was occupied by the Sri Lanka army from 1995. The army vacated the rear section of the hospital only two months ago. The vacated area was part of the Sri Lanka Army 51-2 Brigade headquarters in Jaffna.

On 11 September, the construction workers digging in the same are of the Jaffna hospital came upon more human bones and a red colour saree.

Neither Police nor judicial officials in Jaffna town have visited the site despite being informed of the discovery of the human skulls, bones and saree.

But the army officers had visited the hospital and held discussions with senior hospital officials and the workers were instructed to fill the ditch in which human skeletal remains with garbage.

Hospital officials are refusing to give details about the discovery of the human skeletal remains to local journalists who went there to investigate the matter.

Two Muslim youth shot dead

13 September 2001 - The bodies of two Muslim youth with gun shot wounds were found by the road in Eravur town in the East. The two boys, Mohammed Irsaath, 17 and Mohammed Niyaz, 20 were shot dead while on their way to visit relatives in Mich Nagarm, a suburb of Eravur town on Wednesday night. The boys’ relatives claimed that the Police killed them. Mohammed Irsaath is a GCE Advanced Level student at the Eravur Aligar National School.

The youth’s relatives charged that the Police had issued an anonymous leaflet last month, saying that those two youths were traitors. The leaflet was aimed at incriminating them and eventually killing them, they alleged.

Human rights seminar spotlights victims' sufferings

15 September 2001 - Speakers at the human rights seminar held in Trincomalee appealed to the SriLankan Government that provincial high courts be allowed to hear and determine violations cases filed by victims of torture and illegal arrests.

"Human and fundamental rights violations are now on the increase in the Tamil dominated north east province of the country. At present only the Supreme Court in Colombo has been empowered to hear and determine human and fundamental rights violations cases. This has caused tremendous hardships to victims of torture and illegal arrests in seeking legal remedy. Therefore the government should take immediate steps to empower provincial high courts to entertain human rights violation applications," said a senior attorney-at-law Mr.R.Thirukumaranathan speaking at the one-day seminar organized by the Eastern Rehabilitation Organization (ERO) with the assistance of the Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka.

Mrs S.Mathiaparanam, Investigating Officer attached to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in Trincomalee said that "HRC has been empowered to entertain and inquire into complaints of all types of human rights violations including torture and illegal arrests by the law enforcement authorities."

She said according to the present law, victims of human rights violations should seek legal remedy from the Supreme Court within one month from the date of the alleged offence. But the Human Rights Commission has been empowered to entertain complaints of HR violations without any timeframe. "Therefore victims who failed to bring their plight to the notice of the Supreme Court within one month period could approach the HRC to obtain necessary relief by submitting appropriate documents," she stressed.

Mr.Kasinather Sivapalan, ERO's President and human rights lawyer said, the condition of one month timeframe to file HR violation cases in the Supreme Court should be removed completely in the interest of the victims of torture and illegal arrests. "Many victims from the northeast province take several months to come out of their respective areas to go to Colombo due to transport and security problems," he said.

Escaped boy relate the story about massacre

21 September 2001 - Religious observances were held in Puthukudiyiruppu, in remembrance of 17 men, women and children who were hacked to death allegedly by the Sri Lanka army soldiers on 21 September 1990. The Sri Lankan government has not made any effort so far to investigate the massacre. Several children escaped the massacre with machete and gunshot wounds.

Nineteen civilians were killed here again on 5 December 1995, allegedly by the Special Task Force. Relatives were allowed to recover the bodies of those killed in the December '95 massacre three days after the incident.

R.Varatharajan was a ten years old when the people of his village were, along with his family, taken by a group of SLA soldiers and Muslim home guards to the beach behind the village on the night of 5 September 1990.

"We were ordered to sit by the beach. Then they blindfolded and tied the hands of four persons from among us and took them away. The soldiers told us that they were taking the four aside for questioning. Then they took four more. By now it was obvious to us that something sinister was afoot- and everyone was scared. The soldiers and home guards were hacking to death those who were taken away in the shallow ditch near the beach. Some of the villagers started to run for their lives in the dark. When the soldiers saw them escape, they opened fire on us and attacked with machetes those who could not run fast," said Varatharajan who now ekes out a living as a reporter for a local paper.

A bullet ripped through ten year old Varatharajan's ribs as the soldiers opened fire on the villagers who were seated on the beach. His father was cut deep on his right shoulder and has lost the use of his hand.

Varatharajan's mother and little sister were less fortunate.

They were hacked to death by the machete-wielding soldiers and were dumped in to the ditch by the Puthukudiyiruppu beach.

"The next day people who were bold enough to go to the beach found my mother and little sister gruesomely murdered in the ditch. Appa (father) was seriously wounded. I was writhing in pain. The whole area was gripped by terror. So we could not even give my mother and sister a proper burial," Varatharajan says.

"We stopped believing many years ago that the government would ever bring the murderers to book," said the daughter of one of the victims.

Last year the villagers of Puthukudiyiruppu erected a memorial for those who were massacred on the night of 21 September 1990.

Civilians as human shield

23 September 2001 - Civilians in Jaffna was adviced to travel only in ships flying the ICRC's flag or the flags of other recognised international humanitarian organisation in the northern peninsula. The civilians were told not to travel in the Lanka Muditha, a ship chartered by Sri Lanka's Commissioner General Essential Services (CGES) as it is used by the Sri Lanka Navy to carry troops.

The Sri Laka Navy is frequently using civilians travelling to Jaffna as human shields to protect Sri Lanka army troops that are also taken on board the Lanka Muditha. This move by the Sri Lanka security forces contravening the Geneva Conventions.

Six killed in a landmine

24 September 2001 - Six members of a family were killed when the autorickshaw in which they were travelling was hit by a landmine blast at Irupalai Junction in Jaffna. The driver of the auto-rickshaw taxi was seriously wounded in the blast.

The family was on its way to the Sri Lanka army's civil affairs office to obtain permits to travel to Colombo by plane.

The dead were identified as:

Kumarasamy Rajenthiram (55), Rajenthiram Theivanayakai (45), Rajenthiram Neerupa (18), Ariyarathinam Kamalarethinam (26), Kamalarethinam Rajeetha (22) ,
Kamalarathinam Priya (1).

Rajeetha is the daughter of Kumarasamy Rajenthiram. Her husband is Kamalarethinam. The infant Priya is her daughter.

'Fundamentalist’ mosque demolished in east

26 September 2001 - A group of Muslim youth in Oddamavadi, 34 kilometres north of Batticaloa, demolished a mosque built by a ‘fundamentalist’ Islamic sect in the East. Friction between the followers of the sect and other Muslims in the general area has been brewing since a small group of adherents erected a temporary mosque in Brianthuraichenai, a small village on the outskirts of Oddamavadi. The sect preaches that women should remain at home and should be fully covered if they have to go out and prohibits jewellery. “They were in the habit of denouncing us as Kaffirs (unbelievers) and our mosques as the dwellings of Satan,”.

According to a senior follower of the sect that Islam has been corrupted by the influence of local cults which encourage Muslims in the Oddamavadi and other parts of the east to worship the tombs of Sufi saints and to deviate from the fundamental teachings of the Koran (Hadith).

The sect, the mosque of which was attacked, lambastes the Muslims who honour such south Indian Sufi traditions. It wants them to return to the “true path”. The followers of the sect claim that a child born to Muslims parents cannot automatically become a Muslim but has to be sworn as a devout follower the Koran (Hadith).


Police arrest Tamils in Colombo, Galle

30 September 2001 - Sri Lanka Police arrested more than forty Tamil civilians were arrested in Colombo and in the southern port town of Galle in search operations. Twenty five were taken into custody in the Colombo and fifteen in Galle. “All the suspects are from the northeast province and are temporary residents.

The arrests were made during combined search operations by the Police and the Sri Lanka army in the suburbs of Kotahena and Cinnamon Gardens.

Meanwhile, the Police in Galle arrested at least fifteen Tamils on 29th. “All of them are from the northeast province. Some of them are working in Galle. Many Tamil youth from the Batticaloa district are employed in Sinhala towns in the western and southern parts of the islands as jewel craftsmen.

The local Police view them with suspicion and hence arrest and detain them often. None of the Tamil persons arrested in Galle have been released.

Asylum-seekers still in legal limbo

2 September 2001 - CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia (CNN) -- Australia is waiting on a legal ruling before attempting to move hundreds of mainly Afghan asylum-seekers off a vessel near its coast.

A Norwegian cargo vessel, MV Tampa, has been stranded off Christmas Island for more than a week, while John Howard's government decides what to do with the estimated 460 refugees from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

An Australian Navy ship HMAS Manoora is waiting to transport the refugees to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, north of Australia, before flying them to New Zealand or the Pacific island of Nauru, where their applications for political asylum would be processed.

If they win asylum, the refugees will be redirected to third countries for resettlement, including Australia. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has questioned such a solution.

But a Federal Court in Melbourne is currently listening to an application made by civil liberties groups to keep the asylum-seekers in Australia. The court has been adjourned until Monday.

The court has to decide whether the refugees are in a so-called "migration zone" which would allow them to legally migrate to shore. If they did, there is the question of whether their claims would supersede other asylum requests.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Mary Robinson called for a speedy end to the situation.

"We are dealing with human rights here and it is unacceptable that these people remain stranded on the ship, even if medicines and food were supplied to them," she told Reuters at the U.N. conference on racism in South Africa.

Norway, where the vessel is registered, has become increasingly critical of Australia's refusal to accept the asylum-seekers.

Its foreign minister Thorbjoern Jagland branded the week-long episode as "inhumane."

An Australian military guard has been put on the vessel to prevent anyone stepping foot on Australian soil, and triggering a possible flow of refugees from nearby Indonesia and Malaysia.

"It could be dramatic, we don't know how these refugees will react," he was reported by Reuters as telling Norway's NRK radio.

"The best solution would be to let the people land on Christmas Island."

Helicopters ferried food and blankets to the refugees on Sunday, but an offer by Virgin Atlantic Airway's CEO Richard Branson to fly them to New Zealand was turned down by the Australian government on Sunday.

The diplomatic crisis was sparked last Sunday when MV Tampa rescued the refugees after their Indonesian vessel began to sink.

The group then forced the ship's skipper to head for Australian waters, but the passengers' fate was thrown into limbo when Australia refused to let the ship dock.

New Zealand has agreed to process 150 of those aboard the Tampa, including family groups that include women and children.

An UNHCR statement said it still favours allowing the asylum-seekers to disembark temporarily on Christmas Island. The agency said that would be "the most logical and humane" solution.

Many of the refugees have fled from war-ravaged conditions worsened by poverty and famine.