Category: News

Following the unequivocal support extended by China to Sri Lanka on the Core Group’s draft resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Sri Lanka questioned the reliability of the data in the report of the Special Rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, on the Uighur Muslims of China.

Sri Lanka’s representative C.A.Chandraprema strongly defended China’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang province of China in the Interactive Dialogue on March 4.

Chandraprema said that Special Rapporteur Shaheed’s claims about discrimination against the Uighurs were based only on biased and sensational reporting in the Western media.

Problems facing the Muslims community in Sri Lanka received a brief reference in Shaheed’s report, specifically referring to mob attacks against Muslims in which the police appeared to be complicit. In reply to Shaheed, Chandraprema said that the Sri Lankan Constitution upholds the right to freedom of religion and denied violence and discrimination against Muslims following the Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019.

Focus On Defending China

Having said that Ambassador Chandraprema quickly switched focus to the UN Special Rapporteur’s findings on the treatment of the Uighurs in China’s Xingjiang province. He said Shaheed’s report on the Uighurs had quoted “various Western media outlets” that had made “various sensational claims” about issues encountered by the Muslims in China.

“We have serious concerns about the credibility of these sources. We note that the policy of freedom of religion has been fully implemented in the Xinxiang province,” he said.

In a broadside against Western countries, the Sri Lankan Envoy said: “Many Muslim countries have been destroyed in the past two decades in the guise of promoting democracy. However, Xinxiang has been at peace and has enjoyed democracy with the rest of China during this period.”

Shaheed had also been critical of the Indian Government in his Islamophobia report which drew a harsh response from New Delhi’s representative participating in the Interactive Dialogue. But the Lankan Ambassador did not make a reference to the allegations against India during his intervention.

Colombage Defends China

Sri Lanka’s Envoy’s remarks came in Beijing’s defense came in the wake of Foreign Secretary Adm. Prof. Jayanath Colambage’s assertion that he had “seen no evidence” to suggest genocide in Xinjiang.

The Foreign Secretary had called the Government of China “guardians” of the people of Xinjiang. Colambage’s interview was widely circulated in the form of a promotional video by the Chinese State media.

China Backed Lanka

China had earlier strongly backed Sri Lanka over the Core Group’s draft resolution on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and the war crimes charges against its armed forces.

Chinese envoy Chen Xu had said: “The proposed targeted sanctions contained in the OHCHR’s report are clear interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and exceed the mandate of the OHCHR. We hope that the HRC and the OHCHR will strictly follow impartiality, objectivity, non-selectivity and non-politicisation principles, respect the sovereignty and political independence of all nations, respect the efforts of the nations for the protection and promotion of human rights, advocate constructive dialogue and cooperation, and abandon the practice of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and exerting political pressure.”

UN View on Uighurs

Draft UN experts and activists claim that one million Muslim Uighurs are detained in camps in Xinjiang Province. Last week, UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet decried the ill-treatment of the community and demanded access into the region.

In February, the Dutch Parliament passed a non-binding motion saying the treatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in China amounted to genocide, the first such move by a European country.

Chinese Envoy Reprimanded

During Thursday’s Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur, China was reprimanded by the Chair for using its time to launch a scathing attack on Shaheed. The Chinese Delegation said Shaheed had relied “only on BBC and New York Times” to slander and smear China.

The Special Rapporteur was “wantonly” spreading false information, the Chinese representative said, adding that Shaheed lacked “basic professional ethics and serves as a political tool for Western countries”.

The Chair said: “I would like to remind the speaker that I cannot allow derogatory or inflammatory remarks to be made against a special rapporteur. That is not allowed by the rules. No personal attacks should be made.”

Ahmed Shaheed’s Report

Introducing his damning report about Islamophobia world over at the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday, Shaheed said institutional suspicion and fear of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have escalated to “epidemic proportions.”

The UN Special Rapporteur said that “numerous” States, regional and international bodies were to blame. In a report to the Council, he cited European surveys in 2018 and 2019 that showed that nearly four in 10 people held unfavourable views about Muslims.

In 2017, 30% of Americans viewed Muslims “in a negative light”, the Special Rapporteur added.

Source:https:Newsin.asia

Sri Lanka is worried about the new draft resolution put forward by the Core Group led by UK, which would be voted on March 22.

Overview

If the happenings during the month in Sri Lanka are any indication, the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, voted to power by 6.9 million Sinhalas to restore Sinhala pride and Buddha Sasana as he claims, did not cover itself with glory. This was evident in the government conduct on three issues which peaked during the month – troubled ethnic relations, the handling of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) meeting on Sri Lanka’s human rights accountability, and challenges of governance. Perhaps, the bonhomie showed by visiting Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, despite accusations of Islamophobia voiced by Muslim minority, was the only moment of cheer for the government.

Significance of P2P march

Perhaps for the first time since the 70s, Tamils of all hues – Jaffna and Easterners, Muslims and Tamils of Indian origin (Up country Tamils) – came together, across political affiliations, to march peacefully for five days to voice their demands. They covered a distance of 750 km from the eastern town of Pottuvil to Polikandy in Jaffna in the North, to draw attention to demands, ignored by successive governments, as well as concerns on current issues.

The march held from February 3 to 9, now embedded in Tamil lore as P2P, did not draw much attention in mainstream media, though Tamil media estimated the participation of a thousand people. Apparently, it was timed to draw international attention on the eve of the UNHRC meeting slated to discuss Sri Lanka’s human rights accountability issue. The proceedings of the UNHRC session, so far, indicates they had achieved their aim.

The P2P march is a watershed moment for a number of reasons. For the first time, besides Tamils from north and east, plantation Tamils and Muslims had joined hands to project their demands peacefully. It was led by civil society organisations, with Tamil and Muslim political parties taking a back seat.

Slogans raised at the march voiced, much more than longstanding demands of Tamils of North and East, like forcibly disappeared, vacation of land under occupation of security forces and release of LTTE suspects still in custody without due legal process. They also protested against denial of burial rites to Muslim victims of Covid pandemic, continued recourse to Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), denial of minimum wage of Rs 1000 per day to plantation Tamils and aberrations of Sinhala majoritarian rule against minorities. This would indicate, the patience of minority population is wearing thin over the government’s continued indifference to their grievances. This increases the likelihood of minority politicians coming together for making common cause to build upon the Tamil idiom to further their political aspirations.

Two mainstream political parties the SJB (clone of its parent UNP) and the JVP – came out in support of the Tamil marchers. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who is politically savvy, would remember that the P2P was reminiscent of the early 70s, when Tamils started projecting their demands for autonomy peacefully. It later snowballed into satyagraha movement under Dr SJV Chelvanayakam’s leadership and opened the gates for Tamil separatist struggle.

Wasted opportunity at UNHRC

The four-week long 48th session of the UNHRC conducted virtually, has so far gone according to script. HR Commissioner Michelle Bechelet’s report (analysed last month in Sri Lanka Security Trends) was taken up for discussion, with 40 countries presenting their views in the interactive dialogue that followed.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardane’s address was largely defensive, trying to counter Ms Bechelet’s report with recycled arguments, rather than breaking new ground to tone down the damage caused by the report. He said her report has “unjustifiably broadened its mandate and scope” to incorporate many issues of governance and matters that are essentially domestic, and dismissed the previous resolutions brought at the UNHRC as politically motivated. Few would be convinced by his argument that the former Sri Lanka government decision to co-sponsor UNHRC Resolution 30/1 resulted in compromising national security, which eventually led to the Easter attacks of 2019.

Representatives of the UK, Germany, Canada, Norway and the US shared the concerns raised by the OCHR and called upon Sri Lanka to share a time table for the implementation of the recommendations mentioned in the report.

India did not allow the recent hiccups in its relations with Sri Lanka to highlight the core aspects of Sri Lanka’s human rights issue. India’s Permanent Representative, Indra Mani Pandey, noted that India was an active participant in the discussions on the seven resolutions on the question of human rights in Sri Lanka since 2009 and Sri Lanka remained a close friend and immediate neighbour.

“We believe that respecting the rights of the Tamil community through meaningful devolution contributes directly to the unity and integrity of Sri Lanka.” Therefore, she added India advocated “delivering on the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil community is in the best interest of Sri Lanka.” India called upon Sri Lanka to take steps to address such aspirations through reconciliation and full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

Sri Lanka is worried about the new draft resolution put forward by the Core Group led by UK, which would be voted on March 22. Sri Lanka would consider certain comments and clauses of the draft resolution as provocative. For instance, it takes note of the passage and operationalisation of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, counsels the government to respect local governance including holding of elections to provincial councils and ensure they are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the 13th Amendment.

It asks Sri Lanka to provide sufficient resources and technical means for effective functioning of the Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations and stresses the importance of maintaining support to these institutions, “safeguarding their independent functioning.”

It expresses serious concern over emerging trends over the past year, which “represent clearly early warning signs of a deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, including the accelerating militarization of civilian functions, erosion of the independence of the judiciary and key institutions responsible for the promotion and protection of human rights, ongoing impunity and political obstruction of accountability for crimes and human rights violations in emblematic cases.”

Presumably, the draft resolution would be toned down in its final form; but the writing on the wall is clear – Sri Lanka cannot do business as usual, if it wants to maintain its win-win relations with its traditional Western allies. India in 2010 had provided valuable support to Sri Lanka in the UNHRC in shaping the final resolution. With China assuring Sri Lanka its support in international forums, how would India handle Sri Lanka’s request for help in the UNHRC, remains to be seen when the final resolution takes shape.

Future

Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group summed up the situation in Sri Lanka in his paper, “The Rajapaksa family’s return to government has put an end to tentative efforts to address the legacy of civil war and brought in more centralised, militarised government, anchored in Sinhala majoritarianism. As Sri Lanka’s longstanding ethno-religious tensions continue to linger, the presence of hard-line Sinhala nationalists in power rules out any accommodation of Tamil political claims. Once-fringe ideas of militant Buddhist groups regarding violence and hate speech against Muslims are increasingly being adopted as government policy.”

The Rajapaksa government has so far shown neither the willingness, nor the ability, to tackle these issues dispassionately. The Rajapaksas weakest link is the ineptitude in handling foreign relations, which has caused maximum damage to the country. This was seen in all critical situations: continued insensitivity in handling India’s concerns, embarrassing the new US administration by undiplomatic comments, and clumsiness in handling Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Colombo and the inability to strategize the approach to the UNHRC session. The after effects of this weakness is likely to impact the country in the coming months.

[Col R Hariharan, a retire MI specialist on South Asia and terrorism, served as the head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90. E-mail: colhar@gmail.com Website: https://col.hariharan.info]

State Minister of Provincial Councils & Local Government Roshan Ranasinghe says a collective decision will be reached pertaining to the conduct of the Provincial Council Election.

Speaking to media in Kandy the State Minister said Provincial Councils exist at present without public representatives, adding that activities and productivity is minimal.

State Minister Ranasinghe added concerns will arise if officials engaging in management duties resort to fulfilling duties that a politician is expected to execute.

He therefore highlighted the importance of public representatives to Provincial Councils.

The State Minister charged that elections were delayed by the good governance government and vowed to ensure the conduct of elections as a government on the directives of the President and Prime Minister.

On a separate note State Minister Roshan Ranasinghe said the former government came into power labelling the then government as thieves, and charged the good governance government of causing the controversial Treasury bond transactions and other financial malpractices.

He also claimed that national security was compromised under the former government.

The State Minister said the economy that was at a 7.2% growth rate when being handed over by the Mahinda Rajapaksa led government, was handed back in 2019 having dropped to 2.7%.

He charged the good governance government of being one of the worst governments to date.

State Minister Ranasinghe also claimed the Leader of the Opposition should have inquired into public grievances during his term as a Minister adding that the public is fully aware of his pretences.

Catholics in Sri Lanka today marked ‘Black Sunday’ as a mark of protest over the failure to find those linked to the Easter Sunday attacks.

Worshippers wore black face masks when attending mass today while some were dressed in black.

Religious leaders from the Buddhist and Muslim faiths also supported the protest by attending some of the services.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith demanded that the Government find the main perpetrators of the deadly attacks.

“Our effort is to establish who was actually behind the attacks,” Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said in a statement.

Ranjith told a press conference last week that he was unhappy with the lack of progress in the inquiry, and laid out an ultimatum.

“If the authorities fail to come up with answers as to who was behind the attacks by the second anniversary of the bombings, we will call for a nationwide black-flag campaign,” he said.

The campaign would involve Sri Lankans flying a black flag above their homes as a sign of protest, the cardinal added.

The US Justice Department in January charged three Sri Lankans with supporting terrorism for their alleged participation in the attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

All three are in custody in Sri Lanka but have not been charged locally. The Justice Department said it would support their prosecution in the country.

At least 45 foreigners, including five Americans, were among those killed.

A Colombo-based Tamil hotelier of Indian Origin, Velusamy Muthuswamy, has announced the formation of a political party called Ilankai Bharatiya Janatha Katchi (IBJK) to further the socio-economic development of all Sri Lankans, especially the Tamils in the plantation areas and the war-torn Northern and Eastern provinces.

It will promote education, multiple language skills, sports and entrepreneurship, Muthuswamy said.

He made the announcement in Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka on Saturday. Muthuswamy told the Jaffna media that that radio journalist M.Indrajith will be the party General Secretary and V.Dilan, a businessman, will be the Treasurer. The party would be known in English as Sri Lanka Bharathiya Janatha Party (SLBJP) and in Sinhala as Sri Lanka Bharathiya Janatha Paksaya (SLBJP).

Secular and Multi-ethnic

Releasing the party’s manifesto Muthuswamy said that the IBJP will be a trans-ethnic and trans-religious party and would be open to all ethnic and religious groups. It will work for the welfare of the downtrodden in all communities.

Cooperation Not Confrontation

Muthuswamy told this correspondent that the IBJK will not take a confrontational path to achieve its aims but will seek the help of the Sri Lankan government and foreign governments to fulfil it aims.

“Confrontation with the government has not yielded results in Sri Lanka. Cooperation is the only way forward. This was acknowledged even by R.Chanakayan, an MP belonging to the ITAK(Federal Party), in a recent interview,” he pointed out.

The IBJP’s aim will be to uplift educational standards among Indian Origin Tamils and the Tamils in the war-affected Northern and Eastern Provinces, he said.

“Educational standards are poor among the Indian Origin Tamils in the plantation areas and have fallen steeply in Jaffna. The Ilankai Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to seek and provide facilities to teach English and also Sinhala as these two languages are essential to get employment. I will also get businessmen to teach entrepreneurship.”

He pointed out that the Tamils are nowhere in Sri Lankan sports. “This is because there are no facilities for sports development in the areas they live in or the schools they go to. I consider sports a necessary appendage of education,” he said.

Family Background

It is his family background which has made him focus on education. “ I am 73. Three generations ago my family was in the plantations as workers. But I broke away from servitude by setting up a hotel (eatery) and a bar and followed these up with a travel agency. I utilized my earnings to educate my nine children, four of whom are now doctors. At the request of my educated children I closed the bar and kept the hotel. I opened a ticketing agency which has world-wide connections. I want other Tamils to follow my example,” the entrepreneur said.

Why Political Party?

Asked why form a political party to achieve non-political aims like education and sports, Muthuswamy said that governments and foreign missions will open their doors to his organization more readily if it is a political party with political potential.

He denied that the Ilankai Bharatiya Janatha Katchi has anything to do with the Indian BJP. “There is no link with India’s BJP so far. But I admire Mr.Modi. His schemes are progressive and he is achieving results.”

SLPP’s Bid and Deb’s Declaration

Some months back, the Chief Organizer of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Basil Rajapaksa, had told the media that he would like to organize the SLPP on the lines of the BJP in India and the Communist Party of China apparently to instil discipline and ideological consistency in the cadres of the SLPP to ensure political success. However, the SLPP has not established any link with either the BJP or the CPC.

Later, the Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb raised the hackles in Sri Lanka (and Nepal too) by saying that India’s Home Minister and BJP honcho Amit Shah had told him that the BJP would one day rule Sri Lanka and Nepal.

While Nepal formally protested, the Sri Lankan government did not react officially but it let it be known unofficially that there is no provision in Sri Lankan election law to register foreign political parties.

Subsequently, Tripura Chief Minister Deb put the lid on the controversy by saying that Amit Shah had made the remark only jokingly.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that he would not allow Tamil or Islamist extremism to raise its head under his rule.

Speaking in Weragala, the President insisted that the perpetrators of the 2019 April 21st attacks will be punished under the current government.

“It is our duty to punish them. We will do that,” Rajapaksa noted.

Citing the presidential commission’s report on the April 21st attacks, the President blamed the previous government for being incapable of preventing the bombings.

“Page 306 the report states, based on this evidence it is difficult for the commission to ascertain why the government including PM Ranil Wickremesinghe failed to take steps to quell Islamist extremism,” he observed.

The President also responded to accusations that he has failed in his presidency.

“I have not failed. For 20 years I went to war for this country and then served as the defence secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was then that we managed to end the 30-year long war,” Rajapaksa remarked.