Sri Lanka opposition leader held for 'plotting coup'
[Feb 9, 2010, 01:14], [Times Online, UK]
Just nine months ago, General Sarath Fonseka was being hailed as a national hero by most of Sri Lanka as he basked in the glory of the victorious military campaign he led against the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Tonight, however, the former army chief was languishing in jail facing a possible death sentence on charges of plotting a coup against Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President he tried to challenge in an election last month.
Military police dragged the retired four-star General away this evening after storming his campaign office in the historic centre of Colombo as he met opposition leaders to discuss how to dispute the results of the January 26 election.
“He’s been arrested with his personal assistant,” one of the 58-year-old General’s spokesmen, who is now in hiding, told The Times. “We’re shocked, because we thought the dust was starting to settle.”
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Ofcom not exploited
[Feb 8, 2010, 16:58], [Guardian, U.K.]
Jon Snow is absolutely right when he says that Ofcom's complaints function must not be used by governments "to curb … investigative reporting [to] hide from public scrutiny" (A watchdog exploited, 5 February). But, contrary to the suggestion contained in your headline, Ofcom did not allow the Sri Lankan government to exploit our procedures, when it complained about Channel 4 News broadcasting footage of the apparent atrocities committed against the Tamils.
Ofcom has an excellent track record in defending freedom of speech for legitimate investigative journalism (for example, our decision in Channel 4's Undercover Mosque).
In this Sri Lankan case, Ofcom did not take forward the Sri Lankan government's fairness complaint and rejected its impartiality and accuracy complaint.
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100 Sri Lankan journalists protest government for alleged moves to suppress media workers
[Feb 8, 2010, 16:53], [Canadian Press (D)]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — 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.
Nearly a hundred journalists demonstrated in the capital Colombo, urging the government to allow the media to report without hindrance and to free Chandana Sirimalwatte, editor of the Lanka newspaper. They also demanded that authorities track down a Web site columnist who disappeared last month.
Protesters shouted slogans and held placards that read "Condemn the suppression of media, Free Chandana Sirimalwatte," and "Rulers: Accept people's freedom of expression."
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Should India Bat for Tamils in Sri Lanka?
[Feb 8, 2010, 16:52], [www.moneycontrol.com]
Somebody once said democracy is the right to choose your dictator. For the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Presidential election in late January presented such a baffling dilemma. Should they vote for the man who ordered a bloody war on their homeland or for the military general who actually led the troops into their fields? In the end, most Tamils stayed home on the poll day unable to fathom who was the lesser evil.
Their paralysis helped the political commander. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had gambled by calling a snap election two years ahead of schedule, won a decisive mandate to run the island nation for another six years starting November 2010. The Sinhalese majority rewarded him for vanquishing the once invincible Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a ruthless guerrilla force that led a separatist campaign in the Tamil parts for more than three decades.
With Rajapaksa’s re-election, both the Tamils and neighbouring India, which plays an inevitable but a hesitant role in the happenings on the tear-drop island, are at the crossroads. They now have to shift gears and engage the 64-year-old lawyer-turned-politician to find a solution to the festering Tamil problem.
At the peak of his power now, Rajapaksa has no political compulsion to listen to them. He has defeated the LTTE, won the executive presidency without the Tamil vote and has won international support, overt or tacit, for his military solution.
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Sri Lanka: A country without citizens
[Feb 8, 2010, 07:41], [groundviews]
Note from author: For someone who is not in the least interested in politics – and is more often than not bored by it – my reaction to the 2010 Presidential Elections was surprising, even to me. Strangely enough though, I found that a lot of people felt much the same way. We were repulsed by constant news of violence; inescapable hoardings with their proclamations that our politicians loved us; posters that made the city walls disappear beneath them; partisan media stuffing propaganda down our unwilling throats; the promises of candidates that we knew to be false.
Yet, despite all this, we cared – albeit, rather reluctantly and in spite of ourselves. We still wanted to be in the know; we still tried to separate fact from the politicians’ fiction. We still agonized over whom to support, fought with our friends and colleagues about that choice, and later felt guilty that we might be making the wrong one.
As a first-time voter I felt totally out of depth in the process. On the night of the 26th, as the results started coming in, I sat glued to my television set, snowy with bad reception, and wrote them feverishly down in my journal, as if my pen might help me make sense of the outcome. It didn’t – and at about 3.30am my writing had become so unintelligible that I had to give up and get a few hours rest.
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Australian MP calls for independent investigations into Sri Lanka violations
[Feb 8, 2010, 07:35], [TN]
Noting that on Sri Lanka's Independence day "Tamil diaspora around the world mourn as they believe today marks the beginning of national oppression," John Murphy, Australian Member of Parliament, said in a recorded speech in the parliament on 4th February, adding, "[d]espite the Sri Lankan government’s declaration of [military] victory, the international community has expressed its grave concern that this battle will not be won and peace will not prevail until the Sri Lankan government provides essential political reform." The MP called for an independent investigation into the "reports of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka. "The end of the war resulted in some 300,000 internally displaced persons being forced into government camps. Heavy military artillery and shelling obliterated homes and schools as well as hospitals. In a United Nations report, it is estimated that in the last stages of the civil war 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed, mostly through shelling; 7,000 civilians were killed in the so-called no-fire zone up to the end of April, despite assurances from the Sri Lankan government that they had stopped the use of heavy weapons. On average, a thousand civilians died each day until 19 May 2009," Mr Murphy said, detailing the Sri Lanka's state's attack on Tamils during early 2009.
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Cry for Self-Rule by Sri Lanka’s Tamils Is Muffled by Reality
[Feb 8, 2010, 07:26], [NY]
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Jaffna is a city of ruins. Some are physical, like the overgrown jumbles of mold-streaked concrete where graceful buildings used to stand. But perhaps the biggest ruin of the Tamil Tiger insurgency against the Sri Lankan government is the very thing the Tigers wanted most: any hope of self-rule. After 26 years of war that ended with a decisive government assault last May, Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority seems no closer to winning a measure of autonomy in a Sinhalese-dominated nation, and Tamil nationalism, the cri de coeur of the Tamil Tiger insurgency, seems all but dead.
“All of this armed struggle, so many dead and wounded, for what?” said P. Balasundarampillai, who leads the Citizen Committee in this city on the claw-shaped peninsula of the northern Tamil heartland. “In many spheres of public life our role is very much reduced. Economically we are weak, and politically we are weak.”
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Time for national reconciliation, Obama tells Rajapaksa
[Feb 7, 2010, 18:37], [Morungexpress]
President Barak Obama has urged newly re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa to lead Sri Lanka towards national reconciliation in the post-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) era and heal the divisions created by conflict. The reconciliation, the US President added, should have the essential elements of respect for human rights and rule of law. In a congratulatory message to Rajapaksa on the 62nd anniversary of independence, Obama said for the first time on over a generation, Sri Lanka was not under the shadow of terrorism.
Obama said: "The recent end of the war creates a historic opportunity for Sri Lanka to heal the divisions of conflict, and build a society that offers equality and opportunity for all. For the first time on over a generation, Sri Lanka is not under the shadow of terrorism." He added: "I urge you to seize this opportunity to provide the leadership that will allow all Sri Lankans to come together and meet their aspirations to live in a country that is rooted in tolerance, respect for human rights, accountability, the rule of law, and freedom of the press- all elements essential for national reconciliation."
Though he won an emphatic second term in the January 26th Presidential election, the Rajapaksa regime has been plagued by allegations about the lack of the very aspects that Obama said could make for national reconciliation - violation of human rights in the last phase of the war against the LTTE, clampdown on media freedom and the lack of accountability.
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Internal security meet: Multiple security threats must be put down - PM
[Feb 7, 2010, 18:35], [mangalorean.com]
New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) Emphasising that the road ahead to securing India was hard and there was a lot to achieve, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday said multiple threats such as leftwing extremism and insurgencies in the northeast and Jammu and Kashmir required a firm hand to put down.
"Hostile groups and elements operate from across the border to perpetrate terrorist acts in our country. The state of Jammu and Kashmir bears the brunt of the acts of these groups. There is insurgency and violence in the northeast. Many states are affected by leftwing extremism, which I have in the past referred to as the greatest threat to our internal security," said Manmohan Singh, inaugurating the internal security conclave of chief ministers here.
"There are also those trying to divide our society on communal and regional lines. Each one of these threats requires a strong effort, determination, hard work and continuous vigilance to tackle. These threats to our society, to our polity and our country constitute a challenge that we must and we shall meet effectively at all costs," he said.
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'Court martial' looms for S.Lanka's defeated candidate
[Feb 7, 2010, 18:29], [AFP]
COLOMBO — Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka could be hauled before a court martial to answer charges of plotting a coup to topple the government, a press report said Sunday.
The government has sought legal advice on using a military court to fast-track proceedings against Fonseka, who challenged President Mahinda Rajapakse in the January 26 vote, the Sunday Times said.
"A military court will try retired general Sarath Fonseka on several charges of conspiracy," it said.
There was no immediate comment from Fonseka, who has already accused the government of planning to arrest or assassinate him after he fell out with Rajapakse and resigned in November.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said he was unaware of plans to bring Fonseka before a court martial, but added that a senior defence official had publicly spoken of the possibility.
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Lanka not to allow even UN to probe 'war crimes'
[Feb 7, 2010, 09:34], [www.expressbuzz.com]
COLOMBO Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, told the BBC that his country would not allow even the United Nations to investigate alleged war crimes in the last phase of the fighting between the government forces and the LTTE in 2009.
“I will not allow any investigation by the United Nations or any other country. There is nothing wrong happening in this country.I am the Secretary of Defence.Take it from me, we will not allow any investigation,” Gotabaya told the Asia Today programme
He pointed out that the Sri Lankan public did not want any investigation as there was no reason to have one.
Bringing up war crimes issues at this juncture was wrong because the need of the hour in Sri Lanka was economic development, he argued.
ACTION AGAINST FONSEKA UNDER ARMY ACT
Gotabay denied that the government was itching to arrest the former Army Commander and joint opposition candidate, Gen.Sarath Fonseka, out of political vendetta.
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Malay minister rejects invitation to World Tamil Conference
[Feb 7, 2010, 09:28], [Zeenews]
"The Tamil Nadu government has failed to protect and take up the interests of Sri Lankan Tamils with the Centre," Deputy Chief Minister of Penang province in Malaysia P Ramasamy told reporters here.
Ramasamy had last year rejected the invitation to participate in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas saying India had "failed" to protect hundreds of Tamils in Sri Lanka and "supported" the island government in the "killings of Tamils".
Inaugurating a two-day World Tamil Protection Conference, organised by Dalit-based party Puthiya Tamizhagam here, Ramaswamy said he was pained when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about Palestine situation during last year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, but did not utter a word about Sri Lanka where "thousands of Tamils were killed".
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Russia to Lend Post - War Sri Lanka $300 Mln For Arms
[Feb 7, 2010, 09:11], [New York Times ]
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa left on Saturday for Moscow, where he will sign a $300 million (192 million pound) loan to buy military equipment from Russia, despite an end to his country's quarter-century civil war.
Sri Lanka defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May in a final offensive that prompted allegations of human rights abuses from the international community.
Russia, one of the main arms suppliers during the war apart from China and India, backed the Sri Lankan government on several occasions at the Geneva human rights council to head off a debate over the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka.
"We don't manufacture arms," an official at the presidential office told Reuters when asked about the Russian deal. "Sri Lanka might need arms for its armed forces. It is a legitimate need for its forces."
Russian state-run news agency RIA has said the $300-million loan deal to buy military and dual-purpose equipment would be signed during Rajapaksa's visit.
Russia is one of the largest buyers of Sri Lankan tea, RIA said
Sri Lanka's 2009 defence spending was estimated at up to 200 billion rupees ($1.74 billion), 17 percent of the country's total estimated expenditure.
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Gotabhaya opens door for UN investigations of Sri Lanka war crimes - Prof. Boyle
[Feb 6, 2010, 06:51], [TN]
Referring to Gotabhaya Rajapakse's interview to the BBC Tuesday where Mr Rajapakse said that he would not allow any war crimes investigation in Sri Lanka, Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in International Law and a professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law said, "Defense Secretary Rajapaksa has now publicly and definitively ruled out any investigation of war crimes by the Government of Sri Lanka. And he is a government official acting within the scope of his official duties so that his statement binds the State of Sri Lanka under international law. Hence the basic requirement of international law mandating "complementarity" has been satisfied. "In other words, a sovereign state must first be given the opportunity to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by its own armed forces. Only if the sovereign state fails or refuses to do so, can international bodies step in to conduct those investigations and prosecutions such as the International Criminal Court," Prof. Boyle said.
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Sinhala nation justifies the human rights abuses by electing Mahinda for second term (Opinion)
[Feb 6, 2010, 03:08], [TNS]
When the Tamil nation was at the height of facing military onslaught by Sri Lanka on the final phase of Eelam War - IV, the world community at least shed a crocodile tear. But the neighbouring Sinhala nation celebrated the deaths of thousands of Tamils with fireworks and worshipped the Gautama Buddha preaching victory for Sinhala soldiers who trespassed into once-flourishing Tamil kingdoms who became voiceless after they fell into the hands of the European powers in the 1500s A.D. Yet, the Eelam Tamils are facing untold sufferings with their plights kept secret inside Sri Lanka.
However, when the Tamil Tigers were seriously committed to the ceasefire agreement brokered by the Norwegian government and even when the Tamil Tiger fighters captured the areas controlled by the Sri Lankan armed forces in Trincomalee, they were asked by the international community to return to their barracks, as it was in violation of the ceasefire agreement.
When the Sri Lankan armed forces took control of the LTTE-held areas in the East, the international community maintained silence. The LTTE fighters tactically withdrew from the region to safer places without showing their military prowess.
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