Australian Tamil Congress - Sri Lanka seeks to silence war crimes claims
“General Fonseka’s arrest is a clear message that the Government of Sri Lanka will detain anyone – even its own military leaders, if they threaten to expose its appalling human rights record.”
Dr Sam Pari – Spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC)
“General Fonseka indicated he would reveal sensitive information regarding war crimes which were committed during Sri Lanka’s civil conflict. His arrest shows the extent the Government of Sri Lanka will go to silence anyone who threatens to speak out against it.”
“This should be a clear message to the Australian government and the international community that Tamils facing persecution in Sri Lanka cannot expect justice from the country’s political system.”
Please contact Dr Sam Pari for interview Ph: 0433 428 967
09 FebATC on Fonseka’s arrest
09 FebFonseka arrested; agrees to give evidence
UK Guardian – Sri Lankan general held in crackdown
by Jason Burke, South Asia correspondent, and agencies
The defeated candidate in last month’s tense presidential election in Sri Lanka, General Sarath Fonseka, was arrested today at his office in Colombo and is to be charged with attempting a military coup to overthrow the government.
The sudden arrest of the 59-year-old former chief of Sri Lankan armed forces and the architect of their bloody but successful campaign against the Tamil Tigers last year, sparked fears of a widespread crackdown on opponents of the incumbent president, Mahindra Rajapakse.
A government spokesman confirmed that Fonseka had been arrested, saying he had been detained for “committing military offences”.
Later government minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Fonseka would be tried in a military court on charges of conspiring against the president and planning a coup while army chief.
“When he was the army commander and chief of defence staff and member of the security council, he had direct contact with opposition political parties, which under the military law can amount to conspiracy,” Rambukwella said.
“He’s been plotting against the president while in the military … with the idea of overthrowing the government,” he added.
Fonseka’s wife is reported to have confirmed the detention of her husband following an increase in the number of security forces deployed outside the hotel he used as an office during the day.
Allies of Fonseka described his arrest during the course of a planning meeting with political allies. Rauff Hakeem, leader of the Muslim Congress party, told Reuters that the general had been “dragged away in a very disgraceful manner in front of our own eyes”.
Fonseka appears to have resisted arrest. Mano Ganeshan, an opposition member of parliament, said the general was “forcibly carried away” after having objected to being arrested by military police rather than civilian officials.
“He was humiliated and disgraced in the way he was handled. We were just flabbergasted,” Ganeshan said.
Fonseka, who has repeatedly alleged that the elections were fraudulently won by Rajapakse, was planning to campaign in parliamentary polls due to be held by April.
Speculation about the detention of the general had mounted over the weekend with Sri Lankan newspapers reporting on Sunday that Rajapakse had sought legal advice from government lawyers about trying his political rival in a military court.
Hours before his arrest, Fonseka, who himself has been accused of a range of human rights abuses during the fighting against the Tamil Tigers last year, had said he was prepared to give evidence at international tribunals investigating the 25-year-long civil war. “I am definitely going to reveal what I know, what I was told and what I heard. Anyone who has committed war crimes should be brought into the courts,” the BBC reported him as saying.
Montreal Gazette – Amnesty blasts Sri Lanka for opposition leader arrest
Indian Express - Rajapaksa strikes, arrests Fonseka, slaps plot charge
Voice of America – Losing Presidential Election Candidate Arrested in Sri Lanka
AFP – US concerned on Sri Lanka arrest
Aljazeera – Political unrest in Sri Lanka
Financial Times – Sri Lanka opposition candidate arrested
Hindustan Times – Lanka ex-army chief Fonseka held, may face court martial
Business Standard – Fonseka arrested; to be court martialled
The Hindu – Fonseka detained
09 FebABC’s journo returns from SL
ABC – Why the Tamils want to flee
ELIZABETH JACKSON: For the past six months or so it’s been almost impossible for Western journalists to get into Sri Lanka. Yet there’s a lot of reasons why they want to go there. So many Tamils are fleeing the country and many are trying to gain asylum in Australia.More
Eric Campbell from ABC TV’s Foreign Correspondent program got lucky; he’s just returned from Sri Lanka. He told Shane McLeod about his experience there.
SHANE MCLEOD: Eric Campbell, it’s obviously been a pretty tumultuous few weeks in Sri Lanka. Is it a difficult country to find things out – to film things?
ERIC CAMPBELL: It’s a very difficult country to find things out and film things. We spent several days applying for permission, driving to places we’d been promised we’d be able to film, only to be turned around at the last minute and sent back.
We’d gone to great lengths to try to interview Sri Lankan officials without success. So, we’ve had to piece together from other people we’ve spoken to, including some of people who suffered from the civil war, exactly what’s going on and why so many Tamils have decided to get in boats and try and get to Australia.
SHANE MCLEOD: Something that I’ve found quite fascinating throughout the past few months is how little information we actually are able to get about Sri Lanka outside of the big cities. Why is that?
ERIC CAMPBELL: Well, if you remember during the large offensive that took place last year between January and May when the Tamil Tigers, the resistance army of the Tamils was finally wiped out, Sri Lanka went to great lengths to keep the outside world away from that.
No independent media were able to go there. Even aid agencies and the UN had a great deal of trouble finding out what was going on then, even as reports were coming back of massive civilian casualties.
So, I think the Sri Lankan Government has taken the point of view that the least the outside world sees, the better they’re able to massage an image of what really went on. And it’s worked quite well.
If you consider that when the United Nations Human Rights Commission met to look at the situation in Sri Lanka amid these claims of massive civilian casualties, they actually passed a resolution praising Sri Lanka for its actions.
And remember this was at the same time as the UN Human Rights Commission was condemning Israel for its incursion into Gaza, even though the civilian deaths that occurred during their offensive against the Tamils’ region was far, far greater – a multiple of perhaps 20 times greater – than the civilian casualties in Gaza.
SHANE MCLEOD: With the difficulties you had trying to get to these places, were you able to eventually meet some of the people who were there during that fighting?
ERIC CAMPBELL: We did. We were up at Vavuniya on election day, and that’s the town where about 300,000 Tamil civilians were taken after the Tamil Tigers were finally routed.
You’ll recall that when the army was closing in on the Tamil Tigers, the civilians in that area were retreating as well from the army frontlines. They were then trapped in an area about the size of Central Park – some 300,000 people – and they were unable to leave. They were used as human shields by the Tamils. Tamil Tigers were actually executing people if they tried to leave the area.
So they were caught in the Tamil stronghold surrounded by the Sri Lankan army, which then pressed on with an absolute merciless campaign to crush the Tamil Tigers. Now, that’s understandable given the terrible atrocities the Tamil Tigers have committees since they’ve, since they’re uprising began in 1983.
But you do have to consider whether due care was taken to safeguard civilians, who through no fault of their own were trapped in that area. And all the signs are that very little care was taken and that the deaths were quite astounding.
We’ve spoken to a former UN official, who wasn’t able to discuss it publically at the time, but he believes that up to 40,000 civilians were killed during this offensive that was virtually unseen by the outside world.
SHANE MCLEOD: And we’re talking here about the offensive that took place over a few months last year.
ERIC CAMPBELL: Over five months from January to May. It was a very successful military operation. It did what no one thought could be done, which was to completely crush the Tamil Tigers. And there’s nothing to romanticise about them. They were an appalling terrorist group that used child soldiers and suicide bombings and had terrorised the entire Sri Lankan countryside for about 26 years.
Tamils as well as the Sinhalese, the majority people in Sri Lanka, Tamils themselves were victims of the thuggery and violence and murders and assassinations that the Tamil Tigers underwent. But you do have to question whether the price that was paid by the deaths of up to 40,000 civilians can be excused by that military success.
SHANE MCLEOD: Do you see the aftermath as you’re travelling around? Are you seeing destruction, are you seeing houses, buildings that have been affected?
ERIC CAMPBELL: No, the areas where the offensive took place are still sealed off; it’ still impossible to go there. We tried to get up to Jaffna, which saw a lot of heavy fighting in more recent years. We were turned back at the checkpoint despite two days of driving up there with the right papers.
09 Feb100 SL journos protest against the govt
The Canadian Press – 100 Sri Lankan journalists protest government for alleged moves to suppress media workers
Sri Lankan journalists who claim the government has stepped up its suppression of the media in recent weeks staged a protest Monday and demanded the release of a detained editor from a pro-opposition newspaper.
Colombo Page – * Sri Lankan journalists protest against media suppression
Nidhasana News – Sri Lankan Journalists Protests Government for Suppression
Hundreds of journalist protested today (08) in Colombo against suppression of government.
The agitation was organized to protest against detention of Chief Editor of “Lanka” newspapers Chandana Sirimalwatta without any charges and abducting “LankaeNews” journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.
“If Mahinda Rajapaksa won the presidential election genuinely, why does he afraid of media?” protesters asked. The media would stop writing against the government only when a good governance san fraud and corruption is established in the country states, protesters said further.
Meanwhile New-York based Human Rights Watch said since the election authorities have detained and questioned several journalists and blocked news Web sites. At least one reporter has been assaulted and several have been threatened.
07 FebBoycott SL protests in Canada
In Canada Boycott Sri Lanka protests took place in following cities on Saturday 6th of Feb 2010
- GAP store, Downtown Toronto (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
60 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3B8
- GAP store, Montreal (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
705 Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H3B 4G5
- Gap store, Ottawa (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
Rideau Centre, 50 Rideau Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 9J7
07 FebBTF dismisses Rajapakse’s claims
AlJazeera – Fractious Sri Lanka seeks unity
Sri Lanka’s president has called on the country’s ethnic Tamils to help ease tensions, as the country marks its first independence day since the end of a 25-year civil war.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, speaking at a ceremony in the central city of Kandy on Thursday, indicated there would be no self-determination for Tamils, but called on them to work with the government.
“Let’s solve our problems ourselves through discussions,” he said in the Tamil language.
But Suren Surendiran, a senior member of the British Tamils Forum in London, dismissed Rajapaksa’s claim to want to resolve ethnic tensions.
“He’s been saying that forever,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Mr Rajapaksa has proven to be a very opressive and discriminating president. The Tamils are not celebrating today as an independece day. Rajapkasa was not voted in in the north and east, where the Tamils are – it’s their land.” More
07 FebTYO Canada on seeking asylum
Rabble.ca – Canadian government releases last of Tamil refugees
Seventy-six Tamil refugees were immediately taken into custody when they were discovered off the coast of British Columbia in October 2009 under suspicion of membership in the Tamil Tigers. Their release raises questions about the treatment of people who come to Canada to seek asylum. We speak with Krisna Saravanmuttu of The Tamil Youth Organization.
07 FebRajapakse’s Economic War
WSWS (06/02) – Sri Lankan president sets out agenda of “economic war”
By Wije Dias
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse delivered the annual independence speech on Thursday, marking 62 years since the formal end of British colonial rule. Just a week after winning a second term of office, Rajapakse used the occasion to outline his government’s agenda. In the name of rebuilding the nation, he is preparing an economic offensive against the working class.
07 FebComing up on ABC, Tue 8pm
Foreign Correspondent - Sri Lanka : Hell or High Water?
Reporter: Eric Campbell
If they stay they face intimidation, violence even death. If they go they put their lives and life savings in the hands of people smugglers, run the gauntlet of naval patrols and the perils of the sea itself. They are the Tamils of Sri Lanka and many of them are choosing to take the high water over the hell at home. For some it’s a case of if at first you don’t succeed, try again.
07 FebWhats going on in SL?
The Hindu – Rajapaksa to announce dissolution of Parliament
AFP – Sri Lanka under fire after extends emergency rule
Express Buzz – Lanka not to allow even UN to probe war crimes
Lanka Business Online – HSBC to open in Sri Lanka former war zone: central bank
Peoples Daily – Sri Lankan leftist party to go to court on presidential poll
Late Night Live – Sri Lanka: A one family state?
The president is a hero to many Sinhalese for overseeing the final, brutal vanquishing of an equally brutal military opponent, and many Tamils are fearful that Sinhalese euphoria will permeate the post-war phase, at their expense.
