In conversation with Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. I begin this interview with a pointed question, asking Dr. Saravanamuttu to flag anything the government has done well since it assumed power in 2005, in the domains of governance and human rights. I go on to ask Dr. Saravanamuttu why it is that what he sees as enduring challenges to human rights, peace, development and governance are not issues the majority of voters agree with, or are able to discern.
We also talked about the nature of economic activity and development in the North and the East, where Dr. Saravanamuttu noted that “economic development by itself cannot be the sole instrument of national unit, reconciliation, integration”. Sri Lanka’s political culture and the growing intra-party violence within the UPFA, the future of Tamil politics, reconciliation, the role of the international community, prospects for dissent and democratic debate post-war and modes of progressive engagement between the Tamil diaspora are also issues broached in this interview.
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Sri Lanka ‘guilty’ of war crime
January 17 2010- BBC Sinhala
The Sri Lanka government was found guilty of war crimes, a peoples tribunal in Ireland has said.
In its preliminary findings, the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka (PTSL) that conducted hearings from 14 to 16 January in Dublin has also concluded that the Sri Lanka government is also guilty of crimes against humanity.
However, the-pro Tamil Tiger groups’ accusation that the government carried out Tamil genocide at the last phase of war between the security forces and the LTTE needs to be investigated.
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I only wanted a credible, independent investigation
January 16 2010 – Lakbimanews
UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston raised a hornet’s nest recently by resurrecting the controversial Channel 4 ‘execution’ video and deeming it to be authentic on the basis of a report produced by three independent experts. The government immediately rejected the findings, accused him of being politically motivated and refused to heed his call for an inquiry. LAKBIMAnEWS interviewed Alston on some of the niggling questions his investigation had raised.
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Sri Lanka court frees Tamil editor on bail
January 11 2010 – AFP
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s court of appeal on Monday freed on bail a Tamil editor whose 20-year prison sentence last year for supporting “terrorism” drew international criticism, a court official said.
J.S. Tissainayagam, who edited North Eastern Monthly magazine in Colombo, was told to surrender his passport and to post 50,000 rupees (437 dollars) in bail pending a full appeal hearing, the official said.
Tissainayagam has appealed his conviction in August on charges of raising money for terrorism and of causing racial hatred through his writings about Tamils affected by the country’s 37-year separatist conflict.
The sentence of 20 years in jail with hard labour was condemned by the European Union, the United States and international press freedom groups.
In May, US President Barack Obama cited Tissainayagam, who also wrote for the Colombo-based Sunday Times newspaper, as one of the “emblematic examples” of a persecuted journalist.
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Tamils fight over two Sinhala war heroes
January 03 2010 – Lakbimanews
The main political formation of Tamil political parties, the Tamil National Alliance, would announce its stance on the presidential election tomorrow, but, if current developments are any indicator, the decision would hardly be a consensus. Cracks are wide open in the once cohesive TNA: one constituent party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) has broken ranks with the rest to announce a unilateral boycott of the election. An earlier proposition by the TNA’s influential troika, party leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, Mavai Senathiraja and Suresh Premachandran to support the common opposition candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka was shot down at a party’s parliamentry group meeting. New Delhi, which had been brokering a grand bargain of a political solution in exchange of TNA support to either of the main candidates has been displeased with TNA loner, Sivajilingam’s candidature, and denied him entry into India.
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