Category: Featured Headlines

Letter to PM, signed by party MPs, comes ahead of UNHRC’s 46th session

DMK president M.K. Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, urging him to ensure that the Sri Lankan government implements the 13th Amendment in letter and spirit. The party’s MPs also signed the letter, sent ahead of the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The UNHRC meeting is scheduled to take up past resolutions for creating an independent international mechanism for an inquiry to do justice to Eelam Tamils for the war crimes and other human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

Recalling External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s statement during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, Mr. Stalin said that while the Minister was only restating the Indian position on issues of power like devolution at the domestic level, he was silent on the UNHRC processes. “It is unclear whether he had really and meaningfully taken it up with Sri Lanka’s President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister,” he said.

“It is now clear that the Government of Sri Lanka has seriously failed to honour its UNHRC commitments under Resolution 40/1, and has also been reluctant to take forward constructive and internationally acceptable measures for accountability in the matters of war crimes and all human rights violations,” the letter said. It had failed to bring forward substantive constitutional and administrative initiatives to uphold the dignity of the Tamils.

Mr. Stalin said successive Sri Lankan governments had only whittled down the powers and authority of the provincial councils, even 34 years after the 13th Amendment was passed, treating the provincial councils with scant respect to their own Constitution. “The actions of these governments have deviated from the commitments made under the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987,” he said. They have failed to fulfil the “legitimate aspirations” of the Tamils, he said.

With all Tamil parties in Sri Lanka unanimously appealing to the member-states of the UNHRC, including India, to work for referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for ensuring effective international accountability over war crimes and other human rights violations, the Prime Minister should ensure at the personal and diplomatic levels that the Sri Lankan government implemented the 13th Amendment, he said.

“You may recall that India has voted against Sri Lanka at UNHRC in the past. I, therefore, request you to effectively cause India to take the initiative in an earnest manner and implore other member-nations of UNHRC early so as to move the issue collectively and ensure that the appeals of joint Tamil representation from Sri Lanka are met at the 46th session of UNHRC,” he said.

Wimal Weerawansa, the Leader of the National Freedom Front and Minister of Industries, has invited the leaders of six member parties of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) over the phone on the 28th to discuss the possibility of taking action against a cabinet paper on the sale of the Eastern Container Terminal of the Colombo Port next Monday (01).

This crucial discussion is scheduled to be held today (30) at Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s official residence in Colombo, state media reported.

Accordingly, Minister Wimal Weerawansa has reportedly invited Leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya and Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila, Leader of the Democratic Left Front and Minister of Water Supply Vasudeva Nanayakkara, General Secretary of Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Member of Parliament Prof. Tissa Vitharana, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka Specialist Dr. G. Weerasinghe, Leader of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party, Member of Parliament Asanka Navaratne and Leader of the United People’s Party, Member of Parliament Tiran Alles over the phone for the discussion.

China has allegedly pushed the Sri Lankan Government to approve Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by Chinese state-owned Sinopharm, a development that comes close on the heels of India’s gift of 500,000 doses of the locally manufactured Covishield jab to the island nation, the Economic Times reported.

China has decided to gift 300,000 doses of the vaccines to Sri Lanka, one of its key partners in the Belt and Road Initiative in the Indian Ocean Region.

The Chinese Embassy in Colombo pushed the Rajapaksa Government to approve Sinopharm vaccines by citing their efficacy and approval by some other countries, said people aware of the matter.

They said China was put on the back foot by India’s “vaccine diplomacy” or the decision to gift doses of made-in-India coronavirus vaccines to friendly nations, the Economic Times reported.

A Chinese statement even named a few leaders who have taken a shot of Chinese vaccines to point to their efficacy.

China’s move came shortly after India announced gifting of Covishield vaccines to Sri Lanka, a Colombo-based person said on condition of anonymity. Covishield, the local name for the Oxford University-Astrazeneca vaccine being manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, has been approved for emergency use by Sri Lanka.

On Thursday, 500,000 doses of the jab were transported in tailor-made boxes in a special Air India flight to Colombo.

The gift from India was in keeping with India’s continued support to Sri Lanka in fighting pandemic, said officials. Four consignments of medical supplies weighing about 25 tonnes were donated by India, which also organised online experience-sharing programmes for Sri Lankan medical professionals. India and Sri Lanka are the largest contributors to the Covid-19 Emergency Fund for SAARC.

A number of countries in the subcontinent including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, where China has substantial investments, caught China by by surprise by opting for made-in-India vaccines.

So far, India has sent consignments of coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Seychelles, Myanmar and Mauritius.

India is one of the world’s biggest drug-makers and an increasing number of countries have approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines. It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco and West Asian countries, the Economic Times reported.

India rushed two million doses of Covishield vaccine to Brazil on the request of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Millions of doses of made-in-India Covid vaccines will continue to reach those in the Caribbean and the Pacific too. Two North African countries — Egypt and Algeria, are expected to receive vaccines from India in the near future.

GENEVA – U.N. human rights officials are alarmed by Sri Lanka’s lack of accountability for past crimes, warning it could result in a resurgence of the same kind of violations and abuse that triggered past armed conflict.

Sri Lanka’s 26-year-long civil war with the Tamil Tigers ended nearly 12 years ago. Since then, U.N. officials say successive governments have done nothing to redress the population’s grievances, hold perpetrators of crimes accountable and provide justice and reparations to the victims of the war.

A hard-hitting report issued by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights finds impunity for grave human rights violations and abuses by all sides is more entrenched than ever.

Human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani tells VOA her agency has documented many cases of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and other violations of international humanitarian law.

“There have been many Commissions of Inquiry that were appointed by successive governments to look into the kinds of grave human rights violations that have been committed, but none of them have yielded any concrete results…This current government has moved beyond merely a slow process of accountability to active political obstruction of accountability,” she said.

The report documents a pattern of intensified surveillance, harassment and intimidation of civil society organizations, human rights defenders and victims, lawyers and journalists.

Of particular concern, it notes, is the increasing marginalization of Tamil and Muslim minorities. Authors of the report warn divisive and discriminatory rhetoric from the highest state officials risks generating further polarization and violence.

Shamdasani says it is troubling to see many of the officials who are part of the current administration were in power when the conflict was ending, and many atrocities committed.

“Since last year, the President has appointed at least 28 serving or former military and intelligence personnel to key administrative posts. So, these are people who remain in power. And what is really worrying is that some of these officials were actually implicated in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final years of the conflict,” she said.

U.N. rights chief Michele Bachelet says the Sri Lankan government has demonstrated its inability or unwillingness to hold anyone accountable. Therefore, she is urging governments to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators of crimes in their national courts under an accepted system of international justice.

Shamdasani says the Sri Lankan government was given the report before publication.

A Sri Lankan official told Reuters the accusations in the report regarding the government’s actions are wrong.

Shamdasani says some of the government’s extensive comments have been incorporated into the report, which will be formally presented to the Human Rights Council on February 24.

Beijing: China will donate three lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses to Sri Lanka, stepping up its vaccine diplomacy in South Asia as India rushed its domestically manufactured coronavirus vaccines to several countries in the subcontinent as well as across the globe.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday thanked India for its generosity after he received five lakh doses of Covishield vaccine gifted by New Delhi under the “Neighbourhood First” policy.

“China will donate three lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses to Sri Lanka to jointly fight the COVID-19 pandemic,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a statement from the Chinese embassy in Colombo.

China made the decision after a recent request by the Lankan government, it said.

The jabs manufactured by the China National Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (Sinopharm) are expected to be handed over to the Lankan side in mid-February.

A number of countries in the subcontinent including Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, where Beijing has substantial investments, caught China by surprise by opting for Indian vaccines.

So far, India has sent consignments of coronavirus vaccines under grant assistance to Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Seychelles, Myanmar and Mauritius.

India is one of the world’s biggest drug-makers and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines.

It is also undertaking commercial supplies of the doses to a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Morocco. India has also rushed two million doses of Covishield vaccine to Brazil on the request of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Meanwhile, Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s senior advisor Lalith Weeratunga told journalists in Colombo on Wednesday that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) was conducting tests on the Sinopharm vaccine and once clearance is obtained from them, the vaccine could be used under an emergency basis, the Xinhua report said.

Separately, China has offered to step-up cooperation to Maldives to control the pandemic.

On January 26, Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui co-hosted the 7th round of China-Maldives diplomatic consultations with Maldivian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Khaleel via video link.

Luo Zhaohui said China and Maldives supported each other, effectively contained the virus spread in their countries, and actively promoted economic recovery.

Both sides need to make continuous efforts to push forward their bilateral relations, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

The government is considering the option of withdrawing its plans to develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) of the Colombo Port, in partnership with the Adani Group of India.

The development comes against the backdrop where the government has come under severe pressure from a number of trade unions at the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to withdraw the plan. The trade unions have threatened to launch stronger union action should the government fail to respond to their demands.

State Minister Nalaka Godahewa and former SLPA Chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrema, now a Ministry Secretary, today visited the SLPA premises to meet the protesting workers. They were booed by a group of protesters who insisted that the government must only begin negotiations after pulling out of the proposed “Adani deal”.

Meanwhile, several prominent Cabinet ministers, including Wimal Weerawansa, have expressed their disappointment with the proposed deal. They are of the view that the East Container Terminal (ECT) should be developed and operated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), with the involvement of a foreign party — a sentiment shared by protesting unions.

It is in this context that the government is now rethinking its ECT strategy, a top government source told Asian Mirror. However, it is still not clear as to how the government intends to manage the New Delhi’s interest in the event of a sudden withdrawal. The development of the ECT was a focal point during discussions between the Sri Lankan government and India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar during the latter’s visit to the island.