Author: TELO Admin

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the Cabinet of Ministers that the Presidential Election will be held first during the relevant period this year and that funds have already been allocated for the election.

The President has stated this during the Cabinet meeting held today.

Former Army Commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, has decided to contest for Presidency at the upcoming Presidential election, the Daily Mirror learns.

Sources close to Fonseka said that the current Chairman of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) will make a formal announcement in June.

Fonseka is to contest as an independent candidate instead of joining forces with any political party.

Sources claimed that Fonseka has also managed to secure the support of a group of SJB MPs and back-door talks are ongoing with MPs and politicians from other political parties.

The Daily Mirror learns that Fonseka’s campaign will look at promoting a corruption free country and also give priority to national security.

The former Army Commander took to the streets during the ‘Aragalaya’ protests and will look to ride on the support he got at the time.

He is also expected to work with intellectuals and prominent personalities during his campaign.

The former Army Commander will seek to boost his Presidential bid with the launch of a book on the war, the Daily Mirror learns.

The book is expected to reveal information related to the conflict and the role he played as the Army Commander at the time.

Meanwhile, sources also said that a former diplomat has sought a meeting with Fonseka as a representative of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Fonseka has not ruled out meeting Wickremesinghe but has indicated he will not withdraw his decision to contest for Presidency.

The MP has already had discussions with the President in Parliament, sources added without divulging further details on the matters discussed.

Sources also said that Fonseka had informal discussions with a number of diplomats and briefed them on his upcoming announcement.

According to the source, Fonseka has indicated his intention to work closely with India, China and the US.

A new report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recommended targeted sanctions on officials responsible for disappearances in Sri Lanka since 1970 and has called for justice outside the country for the families of victims.

Released last week, just before the 15th anniversary of the war’s end and four months ahead of the next UN human rights session where Sri Lanka is likely to face a new resolution, the report has sparked significant attention from rights groups.

The report, titled “Accountability for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka,” urged justice for all Sri Lankan ethnic groups, including Sinhalese and Muslims, during the war and other insurrections, rather than focusing solely on ethnic minority Tamils as in the past.

Sri Lanka ended a 26-year civil war in 2009 with the state military defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who fought for an independent state in the island nation’s North and East. The civil war was rooted in 35 years of discrimination against ethnic minority Tamils by the majority Sinhalese.

Tamil families have been waiting for justice and accountability from successive governments since 2009 to find their relatives disappeared during the final weeks of the conflict, amid failures from global rights bodies, including the UN.

On Saturday (May 18), the island nation witnessed two commemorations: Victory Day, mostly in the southern part of the country, and Remembrance Day for the Tamils in Sri Lanka’s North.

London-based rights group Amnesty International has estimated the number of disappeared victims in Sri Lanka between 60,000 and 100,000, although the Sri Lankan government has repeatedly disputed these figures. There is no credible numbers recorded by the government.

“Impunity remains entrenched,” the OHCHR said in its report, expressing dissatisfaction with the Sri Lankan government’s measures over the last 15 years.

“Notwithstanding steps such as the criminalization of enforced disappearances and the establishment of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations, these have not translated into concrete results that would satisfy victims’ rights to truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence.”

UN investigations have found credible evidence of crimes under international law and other violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by both sides of the conflict.

The government has strongly and repeatedly rejected such allegations, and there has been little to no independent or impartial national inquiry into these serious crimes.

The OHCHR said the latest report was prepared with “a series of consultations with victims exploring the impacts of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and their perspectives on accountability.”

It held bilateral interviews with 39 victims and convened focus groups involving 43 victims, with a higher ratio of women to compile the report.

TARGETED SANCTIONS

A limited number of Western nations have already imposed targeted sanctions, including travel bans for some Sri Lankan political and military leaders, after finding credible information about human rights violations, the OHCHR said.

The United States has imposed a travel ban on former Army Chief Shavendra Silva and his immediate family members, Navy intelligence officer Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi, Army Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, army officer Prabath Bulathwatta, and former Navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda, citing human rights violations, the report said.

Canada last year imposed financial sanctions to freeze the assets of former Sri Lankan presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, along with Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi and Sunil Ratnayake, citing rights abuses.

Human rights analysts say some Sri Lankan political and military leaders are still unaware that they have been blacklisted by Western nations for rights abuses and will only become aware of such measures when they request visas from these countries.

“Consider further targeted sanctions, consistent with international law, against those who are credibly alleged to have been responsible for enforced disappearances and other gross violations and abuses of international human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the OHCHR said.

The Rajapaksas and military leaders have denied any wrongdoing, though successive governments have rejected an independent international investigation into alleged human rights violations, citing infringement on the country’s sovereignty.

Alan Keenan, London-based International Crisis Group’s Sri Lanka Senior Analyst, said the latest report broadens the time horizon to include the disappearances of Sinhala youth during the insurrections led by Marxist group Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as well.

“It’s an issue that all Sri Lankans have been affected by, which goes to the core of the legal system and the failure of multiple governments, basically every government since the 1970s, to deal with,” Keenan told EconomyNext.

“So I think this report is important in that it reminds everybody in the international community and in Sri Lanka of the depth of the problem that Sri Lanka faces in terms of its lack of effective institutions of the rule of law and the many decades of impunity for the most serious violations of international human rights law and, during the war, international humanitarian law.”

“What’s also positive is that the range of recommendations in the report potentially benefits all communities—Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, men, and women, rich and poor.”

He noted that human rights issues are often presented by the government in the media as being anti-Sri Lankan and anti-Sinhala majority, favoring only Tamils, Muslims, Christians, or other minority groups.

“This report shows that acting on accountability, holding people accountable, setting up new institutions to make that possible, bringing out the truth, and reforming and strengthening the institutions of justice and the rule of law is everybody’s issue. It should benefit all communities. That’s what’s most interesting and important about this report.”

INTERNATIONAL JURISDICTION

The OHCHR has urged the international community to engage with Sri Lanka due to an “accountability gap at the domestic level,” with victims urging prosecution in a third State due to “widespread impunity in Sri Lanka.”

Citing examples of some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) filing legal actions against former Sri Lankan military leaders in Brazil, Australia, Germany, and Switzerland, the OHCHR noted that no state has yet issued an arrest warrant or prosecuted any Sri Lankans suspected of involvement in an enforced disappearance.

“A key stumbling block has been the immunities afforded to persons who remain in high office or have subsequently been appointed to diplomatic posts,” it said.

“Use all potential forms of jurisdiction, including under accepted principles of extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction, to investigate and prosecute crimes under international law committed in Sri Lanka, strengthen coordination in relation to ongoing investigations, and consider support for other avenues of international justice.”

International Crisis Group’s Keenan explained that cases targeting alleged perpetrators in Sri Lanka could also be pursued in other countries.

Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard, who witnessed the Remembrance Day by the Tamils in the final battlefield of Mullivaikkal, said the Sri Lankan government is best placed to provide answers to the victims, though past “domestic mechanisms to establish accountability in the last 15 years have been mere window dressing.”

“UNWARRANTED, PREPOSTEROUS” REPORT

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the UN report, stating that no member country had given a mandate to the OHCHR to compile such a report at a time when Sri Lanka was commemorating the 15th anniversary of the war’s end.

“This is unwarranted,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman told EconomyNext.

“The timing of the release is politically motivated and seems to be targeting the 15th anniversary of the end of the war. The content is unsubstantiated, not credible, and unfounded. It has just interviewed a few victims and targeted our senior officials and military personnel.”

He accused the United Nations Human Rights body of deliberately targeting a small country like Sri Lanka to “draw attention away from human rights violations elsewhere in the world.”

“It has asked to probe disappearances from 1970–2009. This is almost 40 years, covering a substantial period of post-independent Sri Lanka. This is totally preposterous.”

Sri Lanka will respond to the UN Human Rights High Commissioner on the content of the report through its Geneva envoy, he said.

Sri Lanka has admitted to some human rights violations but has strongly rejected any foreign probes into the allegations. Despite the island nation’s protest, the UN rights body has passed two resolutions to conduct an independent investigation with its own officials.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the “false allegation” of a so-called “genocide” in Sri Lanka in a message by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on 18 May 2024.

The Government of Sri Lanka in all previous communications has categorically refuted such outrageous allegation of genocide in Sri Lanka. No competent authority in Canada or elsewhere in the world has made any objective determination of genocide having taken place in Sri Lanka.

These unfounded allegations relate to the conclusion of the armed separatist terrorist conflict waged by the LTTE in pursuit of a separate state, contrary to the principles of the UN Charter. The LTTE is a listed terrorist organization in 33 countries worldwide, including in Canada.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s endorsement of this false narrative of genocide in Sri Lanka is highly disruptive of communal harmony among the Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, a valuable community of Sri Lankan heritage living overseas. Many of these peace-loving citizens have constructively engaged with Sri Lanka and we welcome their support.

Civilians from all communities – Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Malays, and Burghers – were affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka. In fact, it was the majority Tamil civilians of the North and the East who were disproportionately affected by the daily repression of the LTTE. All communities suffered in brutal terrorist acts of the LTTE. A partisan narrative ignores the complex reality of the Sri Lankan conflict and as such these comments by Prime Minister Trudeau resonates adversely among Sri Lankans and disrupts the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing efforts towards national unity, reconciliation and progress in Sri Lanka.

Canada’s falsification of our history amounts to irresponsible disinformation. It misleads the minds of current and future generations in Canada and elsewhere, encouraging and perpetuating hatred. It empowers extremism on all sides in all parts of the world where such messages are easily and instantaneously transmitted including through social media.

We therefore urge the Canadian Government to assume responsibility in a spirit of mutual respect in promoting peace and harmony,”the Foreign Ministry said.

On a related but separate front, Canada’s disproportionate focus on Sri Lanka is a clear example of double standards. While Canada has opted to support a false narrative regarding the conflict in Sri Lanka, it has remained intentionally ambiguous relating to the daily dire humanitarian situations we see elsewhere. It is crucial that countries like Canada, who claim to be global advocates of human rights, recognize their self-interested double standards which are resulting in increased polarization in the international community.

Clearly, the repeated statements by the Prime Minister of Canada with regard to Sri Lanka are the outcome of electoral vote bank politics in Canada, funded by a small number of Canadians of Sri Lankan origin with vested and personal interest.

We categorically reject the allegation of genocide – in fact, throughout the conflict, humanitarian supplies including food and medicines were regularly and systematically delivered to affected areas by the Government in collaboration with local NGOs and international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN agencies. Food and medicine were provided via land and sea routes to civilians trapped in the conflict and used as human shields by the LTTE. Wounded were evacuated with the assistance of the ICRC, irrespective of whether they were LTTE cadres. Humanitarian needs were regularly evaluated and despatched. Additionally, throughout the conflict, the Government ensured the continuity of civilian administration in the affected areas by addressing the needs for housing, schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure, enabling the continuity of civilian life and livelihoods. Local administration in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces was financed and run by the civil servants of the Government of Sri Lanka,” the Foreign Ministry added.

In contrast, the LTTE has indiscriminately targeted civilians of all communities in all parts of the country, engaged in ethnically ‘cleansing’ the areas in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces controlled by the force of their trafficked and smuggled arms. The LTTE has targeted and assassinated the moderate Tamil leadership of the country including the former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

The Foreign Ministry said that since the end of the conflict many steps have been taken by the Government of Sri Lanka towards reconciliation, unity and achieving durable peace and security despite the present economic hardships. The Government says it is determined to continue these measures.

The Russian embassy expressed concerns over the western pressure on Sri Lanka regarding human rights while the very same forces are having a separate stand on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan etc.

In a statement, the embassy said it has noted increased external pressure on Sri Lanka with regard to the human rights situation in the country.

“Numerous western political figures, diplomats and foreign quasi human rights organizations have come up with their critical statements and abundant observations.

“In spite of the fact that the above-mentioned personalities and entities are well known for their policy of double standards, the Embassy as the official representation of the Russian Federation would like once again to express its perplexity by the way those “ambassadors of justice” see things. Why are they reticent about the Gaza situation? Why don’t they provide their assessments of the humanitarian damage the NATO caused to Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and other regions to which the Alliance aims to export its “freedom and democracy”? What hinders them to look into the matter of Russian speaking minorities being oppressed in Baltic countries? Why do they finally omit and even indulge the atrocities by the Nazi regime of Zelenskyy in respect of his own people?

“Answers to these questions are partially known but the public community definitely wants to hear them loud,” the embassy said.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry affirmed his country’s commitment to safeguarding India’s national security interests on Monday, stating that Colombo, as a responsible neighbour, will not allow anyone to harm India’s security.

The Minister also addressed India’s concerns regarding the visits of Chinese research vessels to the island nation, saying that they would like to work with other countries in a transparent manner but not at the cost of others.

“We have very clearly stated that we would like to work with all countries, but any reasonable concerns regarding Indian security will be taken into note, and we will not allow anyone to harm that. Subject to that, of course, in a very transparent manner, we would like to work with all countries,” the Minister said in an interview with ANI.
“I just got to know that recently China has become India’s biggest trading partner. So similarly, like you work with that. We would also like to work with everyone, but that should not come at anyone else, third parties cost. So therefore, let me reiterate, as a responsible neighbour and a civilizational partner we will not undertake anything that would harm the legitimate security concerns of India,” he added.

When asked about the ongoing elections in India, the Minister said that the exercise is a celebration of democracy and asserted that Sri Lanka would work with India irrespective of its election outcome.

“It’s a celebration of democracy, the largest democracy in the world. Indian people are educated. Indian people will know what is good for them. I think when it comes to elections, it is domestic matter. It is the public who must decide and others only should watch. We see this celebration is taking place of a democracy. We want a peaceful conclusion of this and we will work with any outcome with the indian public decide,” he said.

Last year, India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at the Sri Lankan port as it was shown as a research vessel with the capability of mapping the ocean bed, which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. The Chinese research ship had docked at Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar while commenting on Chinese spy vessel Yuan Wang-5 which had docked in Sri Lanka, said that any developments that have a bearing on India’s security are “obviously of an interest to us”.
“What happens in our neighbourhood, any developments which have a bearing on our security, obviously are of an interest to us,” Jaishankar said at a joint press conference after the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting.

Source:(ANI)