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Reconciliation To Play A Key Role

At Polls

Maithri-Ranil government addressed some issues, but more to be done

By Easwaran Rutnam-Monday, July 13, 2015


As the Government
closes shop and
prepares to face
what is likely to be
a hard fought
battle at the
Parliament
election, the
Tamils in the
North will be
looking back at the
past six months to
see what President
Maithripala
Sirisena and Prime
Minister Ranil
Tamils used their ballot on January 8 to punish Mahinda Rajapaksa
Wickremesinghe
have done for them before deciding on their vote on August 17.
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition Government had promised to improve the
lives of the people who had suffered in the North during a 30-year-war and even later.
Reconciliation was the key word used at the election campaign ahead of the January
8th Presidential election in the attempt to gather the support of the Tamils in the
North who have often rejected Colombo based Sinhalese politicians and simply voted
for the Tamil National Alliance.
Ahilan Kadirgamar, a researcher and activist based in Jaffna told The Sunday
Leader that in his opinion, over the last six months President Sirisena and the UNP
Government have made some contributions to address the grievances in the North,
though much more could have been done.
The most significant development is the opening of democratic space including the
freedom of association and expression. The climate of fear that prevailed in the North
for decades, including the years after the war has lifted, as people are expressing their
concerns even through protests. This opening of space is related to demilitarization of
civil administration, particularly the change of the Governor to a civilian Governor and
the reduction of the role of the military in civil institutions. Surveillance and
intimidation by the military and intelligence is also perceived to be reduced.

Furthermore, the announcement of the release of some military held lands and a
commitment on the part of the Government to address a whole range of land issues in
the near future has given some confidence to the people, he said.
However, he also noted that the delays in releasing or addressing the few hundred
cases of detainees mainly held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is
something the Government could have done if there was genuine concern.
The larger political challenge going forward is addressing the thousands of
disappeared during the war, through a credible process.
Kadirgamar also notes that the North is now mired in a serious economic crisis of
falling incomes, lack of employment and massive indebtedness. There has been little
headway to address this economic crisis over the last six months and that continues to
be priority for the broader population in the years ahead.
The Tamil Diaspora has also been very active on keeping the spotlight on the issues of
the Northern Tamils. Some Diaspora groups have already had discussions with the
new Government in an attempt to address the immediate needs of the Northern
Tamils.
Ever since Sirisena and Wickremesinghe took office a clear division was seen in the
Tamil Diaspora with some agreeing to give them time to do what they promised to do
and others feeling they just cannot be trusted.
The London based Global Tamil Forum (GTF), has over the years, played a key role in
influencing the thinking of the international community on the Sri Lankan issue.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Suren Surendiran, the GTF Director of Strategic
Initiatives and Spokesperson, said that the GTF feels the current government has
taken a few positive steps to address certain immediate concerns of the Tamil people.
These include removing of military Governors and appointing civilians as Governors
for the Northern and Eastern Provinces, transferring of small sections of land back to
the rightful owners, releasing of a few Tamil political detainees and the review of the
proscription of Tamil Diaspora individuals and entities. Though limited in scope they
are still significant.
However, he noted that large swathes of private land are still illegally occupied by the
military, disproportionate number of military personnel still remain in the North and
East, intimidation and arbitrary arrests still continue, military remains engaged in day
to day life of Tamils in North and East, sexual violence continue against the tens of
thousands of war widows and others, Tamil men and women still live in fear even
more so in the Northern and Eastern provinces, several hundreds of political prisoners
still remain in custody without being charged, the Prevention of Terrorism Act still not
repealed, above all the Tamil National Question remains unresolved.
Passing of the 19th Amendment and other positive economic initiatives taken through
the budget announcement made by the new government to provide limited relief to the
entire Sri Lanka does also positively impact the Tamil people. GTF sees, addressing
accountability for the alleged breaches of international human rights and
humanitarian laws which amounted to war crimes in a credible way that satisfies the
victims of war and resolving the Tamil National question as fundamental to building
sustainable and durable reconciliation between communities, he added.
Head of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) V. Rudrakumaran, a

US based Tamil Diaspora group which has been very critical of both the Mahinda
Rajapaksa Government and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government, said that the
TGTE has not seen any meaningful steps taken by the new administration to address
the Tamil National question or the urgent and immediate needs of the war affected
people.
Rudrakumaran told The Sunday Leader that in his view there has been no withdrawal
of the military, comprised exclusively of the Sinhalese, from what he calls the Tamil
Homeland and Internationally Displaced People (IDP have also not been resettled. He
also notes that not a single political prisoner has been released; not even the list of
political prisoners has been released. Adding insult to injury, the President says there
are no political prisoners.
Tamil youths have been arrested at airports; restrictions were imposed against
mourning war victims; tensions between the Northern Province Chief Minister and the
Prime Minister; uncivilized verbal affront by the Prime Minister. There is no
discussion of a road map for Eelam Tamils to decide their political destiny through
direct democracy, no discussion on the critical date for the decolonization of the
Sinhala settlers. Former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka and Former Army Commander
Jagath Dias, against whom there is credible evidence of war crimes should be behind
bars, but have instead been promoted as Field Marshal and appointed as Chief of Staff
respectively. With regards to the appointment of Sarath Fonseka, I would like to point
out that in India there are only three Field Marshals and all three were involved in war
with a foreign country. Both of these men were implicated with international crimes by
reputable NGOs such as Human Rights Watch. The appointment of these alleged
genociders clearly demonstrates that either in domestic tribunal or domestic tribunal
with international standards, or in a hybrid tribunal, Tamils will not get justice. These
appointments are not only slaps across the faces of the Tamil victims but also an
affront on the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL), he said.
Rudrakumaran noted that except for the returning of less than a thousand acres of
land out of 76,000 acres of land taken by the military from the Tamils, nothing has
happened. He says history has demonstrated that a change of guard does not change
either the institutionalized racism or the racial environment.
So having said all that, what happens if the people do not show faith in the United
National Party as a result of the shortcomings in addressing the reconciliation issue
and leave roof for maybe Rajapaksa to become Prime Minister? How will the Tamils in
the North see this?
Suren Surendiran says what Rajapaksa will do if he comes to power again is not
something which will just be in the minds of the Tamils but the majority of the people
of all communities of Sri Lanka including Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Christian and
Buddhist.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is an overwhelmingly rejected leader, as recently as on 8 January
this year, not even 6 months ago. While majority of the minority communities in Sri
Lanka, be it Tamil, Muslim or Christian overwhelmingly rejected him and in some
electoral districts by over 80%, the majority Sinhala Buddhist community also rejected
him as he only mustered 47% of the overall vote in a historical turnout of 81.5%. This
abysmal performance was even after illegally deploying the entire state apparatus

including the state media in support of his own campaign.


Although alleged before the election, since his defeat in January, a lot more
information on the widespread corruption and the magnitude of it has started
appearing. Allegedly, his family and he have literally robbed the state. That is
depriving Sinhala, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Tamil future generations of this
country, he noted.
Surendiran recalled that Sri Lanka under Mahinda Rajapaksa was one of the most
dangerous places for journalists, one of the highest in corruption index.
We made history by appointing a female Chief Justice and removing her in record
time by a politically motivated decision, several resolutions were passed against Sri
Lanka at an international institution like the UNHRC for the mistakes of a few, the
country was internationally isolated, incompetent unqualified persons represented us
at our embassies and international institutions, carrying a Sri Lankan passport felt
embarrassing, lost the GSP plus preferential export facility from the European Union,
nearly ran out of foreign currency reserves, the highest budget deficit on record, at the
worst position since independence for interest bearing loans, lack of governance and
financial control that enabled in failed state ventures like Mattala Airport, Mihin Air,
Hambantota Harbour which resulted in multimillion dollar losses for the state to bear,
above all created a dysfunctional society with religious hatred and communal tension
between communities that has never existed to the level that it did, during his tenor,
he said.
He says with this devastating track record, the only people who may campaign and
vote for Mahinda Rajapaksas return are the ones who have a lot to lose personally in
the absence of such a failed state. Rudrakumaran agrees. He says the Tamils used their
ballot to punish him. The TGTE stated at that time that given the conspicuous silence
on the part of the candidate Sirisena with respect to the Tamil issue, the Tamil votes
should be perceived as anti for the brutal genocide conducted against the Tamil Nation
by Rajapaksa rather than a vote of hope for Sirisena.
Rudrakumaran says the fact that Rajapaksa was again given nominations by the
Sirisena Leadership illustrates how much the Sinhala leaders care about the Tamil
sentiment and how much worth the Tamil votes have in the existing political process in
the island of Sri Lanka.
Posted by Thavam

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