Open letter to Navi Pillai, in order to make her mission to Sri Lanka meaningful

This listening to interested parties and civil society is an exercise which is not new to Navi Pillai having listened to the Tamils of the diaspora and the anti Sri Lanka NGOs, Human Rights Activists, members of the Darusman Committee,  and all that caboodle.  This exercise of listening unless she is calm and equanimous  will only confuse further her already confused mind about Sri Lanka.

But from what has been reported she seems to be asking the wrong questions, though she said at the out set that her visit is within the frame work of human rights.  However, she should be intellectually cautious  to  elucidate the psychological essence  from the answers the people give for the questions she poses.

Pillai should also keep in mind the American sponsored Resolution against Sri Lanka which begins:

That States must ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism complies with their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law, as applicable,

This is a strange statement inserted into the resolution by  America, as it is  the one Nation in the world today that leads the rest of the Western nation against “their” terrorism, which infringes  the above “principle”. 

It is in that light,   where  the  very perpetrators of crimes against humanity are the ones  who  sit on judgment against  Sri Lanka  which over came thirty years of suffering by  elimination a ruthless group of terrorists, that Navi Pillai should  make her investigation to understand  whether  there is any reason why Sri Lanka should be held accountable for the elimination of terrorism.

Therefore, when she is listening to the people  she should understand their mental attitudes,  whether they are expressing their own views, whether the message they try to give contain facts or whether they are made up, and fictitious , whether they are hateful  and baseless insinuations, they sham or lie, or  whether they are just and sincere,  etc.

The Sinhala majority are looked at by the Tamil people with bias and anger  without justifiable reason for accusation of racism, chauvinism, and their discrimination towards the minorities. In order to gain insight into the real situation that existed before terrorism and exists after, Navi Pillai should also study the mental attitude of the Sinhala people. For that  Navi Pillai should also meet the Sinhala civil society in the south.

Sinhala people despite all the accusations levelled against  them are generous, friendly, forgiving and sociable.  They have nothing against the Tamil people. They ask nothing of them other than to   accept the Sinhala people as their compatriots,  share with them the motherland which belongs to every one, extend to them an unbiased hand of friendship, and give up the notion that the Tamil people are different from the rest of the people and therefore they should have their own Tamil Eelam. 

The riots of Sri Lanka were not begun by the Sinhala, but  they were brought into to it through  provocation by the Tamils of the North acting on their own or instigated by others with vested interest, meaninglessly murdering  Sinhala police men and a businessman. 

The ambitious Political leaders of the North in order  to win over the  Tamil voters portray  the Sinhala people in the South as racists, against Tamil people, and that they deprive the Tamil people of their rights.

This bias began with some Tamil  politicians asking for equal rights when Sri Lanka had just won  Independence and was trying to build a nation of the people dispersed and communally separated by the Colonial rulers practicing divide and rule policies.  The high caste Tamil political leaders  who were mostly Western educated lawyers, liked this separation as it gave them a political leadership amoung the Tamil people  and enhanced their social stature.

But after the elimination of the Terrorists Sri Lanka has evolved, and there is no discrimination against the minorities. The Tamil people cannot any longer complain that they cannot communicate with the Government in their own language as Sri Lanka follows a

tri-Lingual policy.  Tamils  have equal opportunities with the rest of the people in  Sri Lanka.  They have been provided with equal education opportunities.  There are Tamil men and Women recruited to the Armed Forces.

The Tamil  people are not segregated from the rest of the people.  But now the TNA is trying to segregate the Tamils from the Sinhala in the North. In the South the Tamils  live side by side with the Sinhala and the Muslims. They have acquired land and property in the south and have their own business premises.   They work as doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, businessmen and administrators every where in Sri Lanka.  They have Kovils and religious places in the South as much as they have them in the North.

But yet the Tamil political leaders have brain washed the poor Tamil civilians to believe that they will continue to suffer as long as they are with the Sinhala and other Communities in a unitary state of Sri Lanka, therefore  the Tamil civilians are trapped into demanding  a separate Tamil Eelam State.

It is here that Navi Pillai should look closely  into the 1^st Clause of  the US sponsored Resolution against Sri Lanka:

Calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the constructive recommendations made in the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and to take all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans;

The difficulties of the implementation of the LLRC is not due to laxity or disregard for its implementation by the government, but the main obstacle for its implementation comes from the Tamil politicians- mainly the TNA and its supporters like  Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu. 

Therefore, it should not be taken as an unwillingness on the part of the Government.  It is necessary that Navi Pillai does not  give too much importance to  what the TNA,  and the Tamil Catholic Priests have to say about the government and their demand for a separate Province for the Tamils.  None of them are interested in a genuine reconciliation of the Communities as they are the stake holders for a separate Tamil Eelam State.   

The Catholic Priest Fr. Emmanuel has no interest what so ever for the reconciliation of the Tamil and Sinhala Communities, and the Catholic Priests in the North follow him and they are all for separation.  Therefore, Navi Pillai cannot get anything important for her search for the truth of what happened or is happening  in the North. All what they do,show or speak about  are with a view to separate and not to reconcile.

Outwardly the Tamil politicians will say they do not want a separate Sri Lanka, but a separate  Provincial area for the Tamil speaking people, amounts to separating the Tamil people from the people of other Communities. 

But why should the Tamil people in the North be separated from the rest of the people.  It is a retrograde idea, we in the 21^st Century, should have progressive ideas.  It is time that Sri Lanka which has come out of a ruthless terrorism because of the separatist idea of the past go forward.  The idea of a separate Province for the Tamils being inculcated into the minds of the Tamils of the North would be an impediment  for the Tamil people to  fall in line with the other communities for a progressive march forward.

Navi Pillai should also meet those Tamils who ran away from the terrorists who were keeping them as a human shield and came to the safety of Armed forces which rescued them.  She should ask them  who fed them when they were finally in the camps, ask them who gave them clothes, and provided other necessities .  

Because Ms.Navi Pillai, the 300,000 or so Tamil men women and children who were rescued by the Armed Forces had to be given three meals a day and provided them with other necessities of life.   The Sinhala people from the south prepared packets of meals  and handed them over to the Army, which had them  transported by air to the North, where the IDP camps were located. The Sinhala people collected clothes and other necessity for the IDPs and had them transported by air.

Everybody is asking for accountability, violation of human rights,  but nobody asks how these 300,000 IDPs were looked after.  While the people in the South were providing food and other amenities, the terrorists sent a suicide bomber who blasted herself in the midst of the rescued Tamil civilians killing many including the Soldiers who were helping them.

Ms.Navi Pillai,  during the week you will be in Sri Lanka , do not be  like a “detective” collecting  only evidence against  the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces as to how the   Tamil people were inconvenienced, put in danger, or how their human rights were violated by them,  because there were many  more acts of  humanity  done by the Armed Forces you accuse for war crimes. 

The Armed Forces helped the people they rescued by carrying  the old, the wounded or the children in their arms, and on  hand made stretches.   They fed them with their own rations going without meals themselves, some of them died shot by the terrorists when they were in the act of saving a disabled, or a wounded Tamil man , woman or a child running away from the terrorists.

Those acts and tragedies  have also to be taken into account when you finally make your report.  Those acts of kindness and humanity of the Armed Forces nobody will come forward to tell you.  Therefore, you have to seek out  such IDPs who  were rescued by the armed forces and ask them appropriate questions to extract the truth. It is important as those act are not compatible with the accusation of war crimes

The Armed Forces that the TNA says should not be in the North, are very much needed in  the North, to avoid another spate of terrorism.  That is probable only because the Tamil politicians like those of the TNA  fan the  fires of hatred against the Sinhala and keep alive  the anti Sinhala bias.  

After the World War  America and its allies have permanent armed forces(NATO)  stationed in Germany, Japan, and in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere, and the British have their Armed forces permanently stationed in Cyprus and Gibraltar. 

Sri Lanka after having suffered for thirty years from  terrorism that began in the North to carve out a separate Eelam State, should also have  permanent army camps in the North and the East to protect the country and the people against a recurrence of such a situation.

Ms.Pillai  should also ask the Tamil civilians how much they know of the Sinhala people, and how have they come to  know of the Sinhala people .  Because many Tamil Civilians in the North have not gone to the south and had no contact with the Sinhala to  know about them, they merely repeat what the Tamil politicians like those of the TNA keep telling them- brain washing them against the Sinhala.

Therefore, your visit to Sri Lanka will not give you the essential information to form a valid opinion, unless  you probe into  the thoughts, attitudes, and  the nature of the people who give you “evidence” . It is that which will give you a clue to understand why the Tamil people in the north are complex and unable to understand the reality of  living  together with other communities, as they do in the South, but parrot about a separate Eelam State because the TNA MPs had been telling them .

That is why it is necessary that in the North too there should be a mixture of Communities as it is in the South quite contrary to what the TNA MPs profess, which is  for their own political benefit and not for that of the poor Tamil civilians of the North.  The Tamil people of the North would be better off living side by side with the members of other Communities instead of the forced segregation proposed by the TNA.

Navi Pillai should not fall into the trap of  red herrings that will be  thrown before her  to distract her attention from real issues.  Media freedom is one such, if she were to collect one days publication of all news papers and tabloids, she will find all those journals carry items attacking the government,  the President and the Ministers. All news papers do that in complete freedom without any censure.  But yet they complain that the government denies press freedom.

Disappearance of persons, attacks on journalists, are the issue that are continually raised, and attending to those issues will not get you any where.  Navi Pillai should instead see the overall development plan, where no one is discriminated for religion, language or communal difference.

She should see who are really making the reconciliation process difficult. She may observe  that in Sri Lanka there is a climate of peace where all communities could live together happily and the difficulties for such unity come from the Tamil politicians and from the  Tamil Diaspora, and some Catholic Priests.

Lastly with regard to the last clause in the US sponsored  resolution against Sri Lanka:

3. Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant special procedures mandate holders to provide, in consultation with, and with the concurrence of, and the Government of Sri Lanka to accept,, advice and technical assistance on implementing the above-mentioned steps;, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to present a report on the provision of such assistance to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session.

Navi Pillai  knows that Sri Lanka fought against a ruthless terrorism for three decades.  No one came to “ advice or give technical assistance” to Sri Lanka Government  or its Armed Forces in the difficult task of ending terrorism in Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka after elimination of terrorism, went through an unprecedented  period of  a development process , and came out of the state of a developing country to become a middle income country, all that was without “ advice or technical assistance” from any one.  And Sri Lanka  wants none of it now.

Therefore, Navi Pillai would have understood after her visit to this Island that Sri Lanka needs no ones advice or technical assistance now to develop the country, reconcile the people and progressively go forward as an Independent Sovereign State.

It is time that the UN Human Rights Council is told that Sri Lanka should be left alone to reconcile the people and implement the recommendation of the LLRC, and that it had not  in eliminating terrorism committed any violation of human rights and that its Armed Forces  have done a heroic job of work first in the elimination of terrorists,  and secondly in the Sri Lanka’s development plan.

Finally Navi Pillai should demand the UN Human Rights Council that it should  not allow US and its allies to systematically pass resolutions against Sri Lanka calling for accountability and accuse its Armed Forces for war crimes,  for which there is no evidence what so ever.

C.V.Wigneshwaran TNA's Chief Ministerial Candidate gives a new twist to 13 Amendment.

The TNA’s Chief Ministerial Candidate C.V.Wigneshwaran is supposed to be a jurist, but unfortunately he seems to have got every thing wrong. He has said in a statement to  Colombo Gazette,  referring to the Indo-Lanka Pact,  “This is an international agreement. This came about following an agreement between India and Sri Lanka. But if it is going to be changed then India must be consulted.”

Wigneshwaran has to read up his law books before making such a statements as the Indo-Lanka Agreement is a bilateral agreement, and it has not the character of an International Agreement.

The 13 Amendment  is no more a part of that Agreement , but  an Amendment to the Constitution  of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka need not consult  India to remove the 13 Amendment from the Constitution.

“International agreements too may lapse through war or denunciation, or when a fundamental change in circumstances occur”

The Indo-Lanka Agreement was entered into for a specific purpose of disarm the terrorists, and bring peace to Sri Lanka.  Since the circumstance have changed and India could not keep its part of the agreement the Indo-Lanka pact has lapsed.

The 13Amendment was entered into the Constitution of Sri Lanka  as Sri Lanka’s part of the Agreement, for India to fulfil its part of the agreement- which was to disarm the terrorist and bring about peace in North and East.  

As the Indo-Lanka pact is not valid any more as India failed to keep its part of the agreement the government of Sri Lanka is not bound any more to maintain the 13 Amendment in the Constitution or Consult India to remove it from the Constitution.

Wigneshwaran has said that the 13^th Amendment came about as a solution to address issues faced by Tamils.  He is wrong as the Indo-Lanka pact was not to address solution faced by the Tamils, but as a solution to end  terrorism and bring peace to  Sri Lanka.

He had further said that the Tamils have issues and it is “ shocking” if the Sinhalese Majority are not aware of that.”  But he does not seem to know that the  Sinhala Majority also has issues.

Wigneshawaran is living in a different Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka of to-day we know has removed the cancer of terrorism and is on the way to reconcile the Communities to take the country forward as a nation of  united people not separated by narrow communal differences.

If this is the language that Wigneshawaran speaks, he will be another barrier for the reconciliation of Communities if he were to be the Chief Minister of the North Provincial Council. It would be unfortunate not only for the Tamil people of the North, but also for Sri Lanka as a whole.

His political views are hackneyed and out of date. They are not different from that of the dead terrorist Prabhakaran.  It is no surprise that the TNA has selected him to be its Chief Ministerial Candidate.

If these are the types of Jurists we have it was no wonder that the Sri Lanka Constitution was wrongly interpreted by the  Supreme Court on the question of the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake.

Sri Lanka welcomes Navi Pillai as a visitor and an open minded fact finder.

Navi Pillai has said that she does not come to criticise Sri Lanka, and that her visit is within the framework of human rights. 

But there is a small hitch in her statement,

“I frame myself within the human rights standards set for the whole world by all the governments of the world including the government of Sri Lanka. So I’m not writing my statute. I’m looking at the framework that was also developed by Sri Lanka. So if I raise criticism its whether they are complying to those standards,”

It is with regard to the human rights itself. The human rights standards set for the whole world cannot be applied to Sri Lanka. Unlike other countries in the world Sri Lanka is the only country that went through  thirty  years of  utter misery instilled by a ruthless group of terrorists. 

How can those who have not gone through that intense suffering for thirty long years ever understand what it was like ?  Any sacrifice it seemed worth just to end that unbearable mental agony the Nation was going through.

The elimination of that terrorism cost a lot in lives and material leaving many maimed, the memory of that thirty years of suffering will remains for ever embedded in the history of the Nation. Under such circumstances what accountability can any one ask Sri Lanka to give for the elimination of that terror, and bringing back peace.

No one member of the International Community through out that period sympathised with Sri Lanka and its people and helped the successive governments to eliminate  terrorism, but instead helped in aggravating the terrorist situation, demanding from the government a political solution, by the  foreign  NGOs stationed in Sri Lanka, human rights activists, and foreign Ambassodor and governments.

Through out that period, though there had been a steady flow of foreign Ambassadors, government representatives, NGOs into the areas controlled by the terrorists eating and dining with them, none of them raised the question of human rights with the terrorists, or demanded the terrorists to give up terrorism and negotiate with the government for a peace settlement , though such demands were made to the government which was then the victim of terrorism.

It was when the situation was getting dangerously out of control of the Government that in 2005 the President elected by the people realised that the International Community was  working to a secret Agenda. The Western Governments while  demanding the government to come to a peace settlement, were helping the terrorists to form themselves  into  a “military force” allowing them to purchase arms, telecommunication material, and even preparing  airstrips for a terrorist Air Force. 

The President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse  understanding  the dubious role that was being played by the International Community demanded the Norwegian mediators to arrange with the terrorists for peace  negotiations.  The terrorists wanted such negotiations held in  foreign venues  and agreed to send delegations.  After attending one or two sessions of negotiations in venues desired by them the terrorists themselves abandoned the negotiations and made it an occasion to purchase arms and military material to strengthen their  terrorists forces.

The Government of Sri Lanka observed that the terrorists were only marking time preparing themselves for a major armed attack against the Government Forces. It was then that the Government  took a decision to give up the peace solution, and decide on a military solution when the terrorists closed the sluice gates of a tank depriving the farmers of water.

That was the beginning of a military operation against the terrorists that resulted in their elimination.

It was after the elimination of terrorism that the International Community  which  failed in its  secret Agenda commenced  accusing the Government of Sri Lanka for violation of Human Rights, and its Armed Forces for war crimes.

Navi Pillai from a Tamil Community  which suffered segregation under  South African  Apartheid  Government, may have undoubtedly  at some period of her life, hero worshipped Prabhakaran the terrorist leader as a Tamil  rebel leader seeking freedom for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka segregated by an apartheid Sri Lanka Government.

The memory of that  prejudice against the Sinhala Government of Sri Lanka,  against which Prabhakaran  had taken up arms may still be lingering  in her mind. 

It is  therefore important that Navi Pillai on the first day or two of her visit see Sri Lanka  comparing it  with the sordid conditions of apartheid in South Africa, and immerse herself in the breath of fresh air of freedom and peace every body in this Island paradise of Sri Lanka without distinction of  race, colour, religion  or  communal difference  enjoy.

It is only then  she will understand that violation of human rights, and accountability are a far cry from the reality of  peace, freedom of moment  and progress that Sri Lanka has offered to its people be they Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or other, after the elimination of a brutal terrorist group.

This reality of peace, freedom and on going  development and progress are after a ruthless terrorism which it  eliminated with the  minimum loss to civilians  in air strikes and tactfully using small weapons to protect civilians , and shoot at the terrorists, while  the terrorists were using heavy guns planted amoung the Tamil Civilians held as a human shield.  

The Sri Lanka military offensive against the terrorist was not like the irresponsible air strikes by the  USA and allied forces to eliminate  a “dictatorship” in  Libya , which began by shooting 110 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles by US and British Naval forces into Libya.  NATO would not give the number of bombs dropped in Libya, but one American  Website makes a comparison:

 “NATO bombed the inhabited part of Libya, which is just about the same size in square miles as Massachusetts, and with just about the same population of 6,700,000 human beings. So if you want to imagine what happened to Libya, imagine 14,000 bombs and rockets raining down on Massachusetts.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/27/1197266/-14-000-Bombs-on-Libya-Massachusetts.

In the boarder villages of Pakistan the number of civilian deaths resulting from US Drone attacks have been reported as :

 “The secret government document was quoted by the London Bureau of Investigative Journalism (LBIJ) in a report and reveals: “Of 746 people listed as killed in the drone strikes outlined in the document, at least 147 of the dead are clearly stated to be civilian victims, 94 of those are said to be children,”

These are just two cases of civilians killed by the US and the Western Countries in their  theatres of war which need not be repeated for which Navi Pillai as the UNCHR has not demanded accountability.

Navi Pillai at the end of her visit to Sri Lanka is to make a report of her findings to the UNHRCouncil in Geneva.  When making her report she should think twice about  Sri Lanka’s accountability, and violation of human rights in its military operations to eliminate terrorism, as ,

(i) she has failed to raise the question of  accountability  from the USA and its Western allies for  far greater number of recorded  killing of civilians, violation of human rights and  war crimes. 

(ii) the Sri Lanka’s military operations against the terrorists were justified and was an urgent necessity to arrest the continuous massacres of innocent men, women, and children, through every imaginable methods of murder, assassinations, massacre and destruction.

(iii) In that war Sri Lanka made many sacrifices, and  any  civilians deaths   cannot be with any stretch of imagination be called  planned or deliberate acts of  criminality by the Armed Forces.

(iv) The Armed Forces which rescued nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians kept as human shields by the terrorists had no reason, necessity or desire to kill or maim the Tamil Civilians escaping  from the terrorists seeking their help.

(v) Navi Pillai should also understand after seeing for herself the cordial existence of  different Communities, that the Government of Sri Lanka protects and serves all its people providing facilities without discriminating against one Community  or  another, whether Tamil or Muslim.

(vi)  Navi Pillai should also understand that there are always in any country or community disgruntled elements who are never satisfied with what they have, compare their circumstances with those of others and grumble, complain and make difficulties.  They are not saints without faults.

Fact that there are so many organisations working freely criticising the government is proof of respect for media freedom, which interested parties project as denial of such rights by the Government.

Navi Pillai should take all these into consideration when making her final report, without harping excessively on violation of human rights, and accountability.

Upul Jayasuriya, President BASL abuses his position seeking information to discredit Sri Lanka.

There was a news item in the Colombo Page on 20 August, 2013, that the President of the Sri Lanka  Bar Association Upul Jayasuriya plans to write directly to  the  Commonwealth Secretariat calling for transparency and to release two legal opinions sought by the Commonwealth Secretariat on the Impeachment of former Chief Justice Shiranie Bandaranayake which are reportedly withheld.

Upul Jayasuria appears to be taking the initiative to turn the Association of the Lawyers of Sri Lanka a Political Party.  It is not the role of the Bar Association to be concerned about  those members of the Bar who had been appointed to public  positions and whose services have been terminated for malpractices.

As Lawyers they  should know what the law is, and if they think that the law had been misused or misinterpreted they should know how  to deal with it without appealing outsiders to intervene.  It is a real shame for Upul Jayasuriya to abuse his position as the President of the Bar Association to take up the case of the impeached  Chief Justice, when a new Chief Justice has already been appointed .

A Bar Association as a professional body of lawyers is responsible for the regulation of the legal profession and dedicated service to  its members.  Bar Association has not the right to interfere when one of its members  has been charged for malpractices and  punitive procedures have been initiated.  It may provide the member necessary assistance to defend in the inquiry .

A Bar Association has to be loyal to the country, and should know what an Impeachment is and how it should be conducted.

In the case of the Impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake the impeachment had been carried out according to accepted procedure and such acceptable procedures  according to the Constitution of Sri Lanka should not be vilified by calling for the opinion of foreign jurists.

 A countries legal system and jurisprudence should  be developed by its own jurists, to make it an acceptable National Legal System. 

It is not  the decisions or declarations by foreign  and International Jurists that should be sought to challenge the procedures followed in dealing with the members of the Judiciary by the Legislature.

Shirani Bandranayake being  a friend of Upul Jayasuriya is no reason for him to misuse his present position as the President of the Bar Association to appeal to the Secretariat of the Commonwealth, on behalf of her.  If  it is her desire to continue to  fight against her impeachment it is a matter for her to do on her own, even if she is a member of the Bar Association.

Law also demands certain politeness and respect, in that respect Upul Jayasuriya lacks social refinement or civilised behaviour.  He is using  the position that has been thrust upon him to abuse it to act in favour of an impeached Chief Justice,  completely overlooking the present incumbent. It is being disrespectful to the Chief Justice even if Upul Jayasuriya does not like him. 

Apparently the information Upul Jayasuriya is demanding from the Secretary General of the Commonwealth is of a confidential nature which the Secretary General has already explained, and therefore it is  pretentious and  high handed on the part of  Upul Jayasuriy to  use his position as the President of BASL  to demand  an information which is not within his right to  demand when the matter has been declared confidential.

He appears to be playing into the hands of those who are working against Sri Lanka, and it is apparent from his choice of the time to call for the information when Sri Lanka is preparing to receive the Heads of the Commonwealth. Upul Jayasuriya’s  intention is no doubt  to damage further  the image of the government of Sri Lanka.

The same information had been requested by none other than the Canadian High Commissioner to the UK, and the SG of the Commonwealth had informed , “ …….. that the there was a longstanding practice of successive Secretaries-General that communications in support of Good Offices engagements were privileged and it would be "injurious to the discretion, trust and ultimately the effectiveness of the Secretary-General’s Good Offices" if the sources and nature of privileged communications were revealed.”

Upul Jayasuriya knows this, and he also knows that the  so called independent legal opinions  had been given by South Africa and British Jurists whose intentions vis à vis Sri Lanka is no secret.
Jayasuriya had stated, “We are stakeholders in this issue so whether the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake was wrong or right, we have every right to know,". 

Jayasuriya is stepping out side his position as the President of the Bar Association seeking the information when the SG of the Commonwealth had already explained why such information cannot be released. 

Jayasuriya’s intentions are questionable, as having such information now  will serve no purpose other than to “throw mud “ at the Government of Sri Lanka.

What is important is the  decision Sri Lanka had taken on the Impeachment.  The opposition political parties were trying to make it an issue to make the Government unpopular, and Upul Jayasuriya seems to be going along with them.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka should bring a vote of no confidence on Upul Jayasuriy and elect a person without political interest in his place.

Sri Lanka Lawyers should learn to respect Sri Lanka and defend it against those who seek to discredit the country.  They should show  the world that they are themselves capable of giving  acceptable legal opinions  without seeking the decision of foreign lawyers to serve their purposes.

Upul Jayasuriy should grow up to learn that the past is past and it is in the interest of the Country and their profession to understand that reality and look forward to different matters more useful to the country and their profession.

Navi Pillai should come to Sri Lanka with an open mind unencumbered with prejudices.

If Navi Pillai is on a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka, she should set aside her prejudices and come with an open mind.  Then and then only will she see for herself  how Sri Lanka exists  as a country with three Communities making up her population. 

But if she is coming to see to what extent she could justify her prejudices against the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people of  the majority Community, then it is better she stays back and learns about Sri Lanka from its enemies-the Tamil Diaspora, American  Sate Department, the NGOs, Amnesty International, and other anti Sri Lankan human rights  activists.  Because with her mind full of such prejudices the facts of reality of Sri Lanka will not sink into her mind.

The Government of Sri Lanka has invited her to see for herself to what extent the Government of Sri Lanka has provided facilities to improve the condition of living of the  Tamil people in the North and East after the elimination of terrorism.  She will be able to see that  the facilities provided to North and East  are far more than those that have been provided to the South. 

She will also be able to  evaluate for herself  whether in the infrastructure development, and the provision of  facilities of health, education, water and other  public services, there is discrimination against the Tamils of the North and East in relation to the people in the South.

But all this will be possible if Navi Pillai is wise and intelligent  to see through those many anti-government forces who will infiltrate into her presence to murmur into her ears calumnious misinformation that will distort her vision of reality.

For instance the Tamil National Alliance in the  mere fact of they being  members of a political party of high Caste Tamils are depending on the low caste Tamil majority in Jaffna who with their mental acceptance of the Tamils of high caste as their superiors by divine right of Hindu Caste System,  may vote for them to represent them in the Provincial Council.

In that mental assurance, though up to now the TNA MPs have not contributed in anyway or planned any future projects for the development of  the North,  they have been travelling to different countries of the world where there are pro-terrorist Tamil diaspora organisations, seeking their help to form in Sri Lanka a Tamil Eelam State.

The TNA other than its ambition to set up a separate Eelam State has  no practical plan to contribute to the development of Sri Lanka as a United Nation of Sri Lankans, leaving aside the ethnic differences of the Communities in Sri Lanka. 

The TNA speaks of LLRC only to show that  the Government of Sri Lanka is not for reconciliation, not withstanding that all  proposals the TNA is coming forward with are separatist to keep the Tamil Community  away from the Sinhala Community, which is  opposed to reconciliation TNA complains the Government is not complying with.

If Navi Pillai would listen to the TNA delegation which is scheduled to meet her, intelligently with an open mind, without being swayed  one way or the other as it is expected of her, she will perceive  their  separatist Agenda for the Tamils of the North of Sri Lanka. 

The TNA ‘s primary  demand is the demilitarisation of the North, and the release of the members of the Tamil Terrorist group now under detention.

What is the motive behind this demand ?

The North without the presence of the military, and the release of the former members of the Tamil Terrorist  group would create an ideal situation to  organisation a militant Tamil group who will awaken the terrorist “sleepers”, who are awaiting the proper time to awaken to recommence terrorism if necessary to separate the North for a Tamil Eelam State. 

They will demand  the Military to be confined to the barracks during the NPC polls, and reduce the number of forces present in the North.  

What is behind this demand ? 

With the Armed Forces Confined to Barracks and the  numbers reduced, the TNA could create a situation where the Tamil  people of the North could be made to vote for the candidates of TNA under duress. 

The people could be moved in groups under the control of militant Tamils perhaps recruited from amoung those sympathetic to terrorism, to create a fear psychosis amoung the Tamil people which will deny them  voting  for the Candidates of their choice, but to the Candidates suggested by the Militants of the TNA. 

The people in such an eventuality may not have any one to turn, with the military confined to the barracks, not able to rush to different place where trouble are being reported due to  the lack of enough soldiers as the number of Armed Forces are reduced.

It was in the North that terrorism became possible, because there were Tamils with the mentality of those in the TNA.  There is only a military solution to terrorism.

If there is ever a possibility for  terrorism to arise, it will  again  be in the North, as the Tamil political leaders such as those in the TNA would only encourage such an evolution rather than  curb it. It is therefore for that reason a strong  all time Military presence is essential in the North and East than any where else in Sri Lanka.

The other issues the TNA delegation will demand Navi Pillai to take up would be the plight of the Tamil political prisoners, war crimes, and disappearances.  These are matters that are controversial and without proof, which  every one against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces for the elimination of terrorism continues to question in different forums.

But Navaneetham Pillai should not waste her time in Sri Lanka  going through  what she had already familiarised herself in the Geneva Human Rights Council Sessions. 

Navi Pillay if she is smart would see in this demonstration of the TNA Delegation to portray  the Government of Sri Lanka as discriminating against the Tamils in the North, is that TNA is meeting her not to discuss its  proposals for the development of the North for the benefit of the Tamil people and how they propose to effect the reconciliation of the Communities.  But the TNA Delegation is meeting her  to indirectly demand her support as a “Tamil” for her  to propose the presence of a Foreign Mission  to facilitate their plan to separate North from the rest of the country, and turn it into a separate Tamil Eelam State.

It is important that Navi Pillai should not restrict her visit to Jaffna.  She should visit the Southern parts of Sri Lanka and meet the Tamil people living there, and see the Tamil business establishments.  She should also meet the Tamil public servants and the Tamil employees  in the private Sector working in the South. She should see how families of different communities live side by side in Colombo and other Towns.  She should visit a few Sinhala families as well those among the rich and the poor.

This is important as Navi Pillai is aware how the black people including Indians in South Africa  were separated from the whites and put into  ghettos.  In  America  and in European countries people are still housed in  separate areas mostly away from the whites. 

In Sri Lanka  there are no such ghettos where the Tamils are housed separated from the Sinhala and Sinhala have special residential areas.  In Sri Lanka all communities live together in the towns except that in the country side there are  Muslim villages, Tamil villages and Sinhala villages close to each other without any sense of segregation.

These are the matters that should concern Navi Pillai to  understand  how things are different in the south , where members of different Communities exist as friendly neighbours  along side each other.
Because  as she is intelligent she may question why the same mixture of Communities should not be there in the North.  Such mixture of Communities will  enhance the understanding , friendly inter-communication, and reconciliation to form a union of communities instead of the  absurdity of separation.

That is the only way to reconcile the Communities and seal the formation of a nation of people with the common purpose of developing Sri Lanka the motherland of every one of them without differentiating one community from the other for reasons of ethnicity, religion or language.
Navi Pillai should be made to understand that necessity and for that greater purpose to leave aside those allegations the TNA is highlighting, such as the plight of the Tamil political prisoners, war crimes, and disappearances, in order  to keep the Communities separated and help the formation of a separate Eelam State for the Tamils.

What is of greater necessity for the welfare of the Tamil people ? Is it Separation  from the  other Communities or uniting with the other Communities to form one with them all ?
If Navi Pilla who is herself a Tamil is for the welfare of the Tamil people  of Sri Lanka she should not give in to TNA, but agree to the  second option of the Tamil Community uniting with the other communities of Sri Lanka to form one Nation of Sri Lankans.

Stop vain slaughter of Animals to make sacrifices at Munneshwaram, and to celebrate Bakr-Eid.

utter brutality of killing is unpardonable

Not because  Sri Lanka is a Buddhist Country that  slaughter of animals as religious sacrifice should stop, but any where in the world killing of animals for religious purposes to satisfy a God or a deity is savage, and meaningless, and no God will be honoured to have animals being killed as a Sacrifice for him. 

The God of the Bible wanted blood sacrifices and peace sacrifices and  the people of Israel made these sacrifices at the Tabernacle and the Arc of God. Bible is full of such sacrifices carried out to satisfy the God . After 516BC the Jews made sacrifices only at the temple in Jerusalem. 

Jews eventually evolved their religious practices, and built Synagogues the Centres of  Jewish teaching and later of worship.  After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD  70,  the Jewish ritual of sacrifices came to an end.  Their belief system evolved around the Synagogue and savage uncivilized animal sacrifice became history.

Of the three Abrahamic religions  Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Jews and Christians have become  civilized people and stopped making animal sacrifices to their God. It is still the followers of Islam that are savage and uncivilized  and continue to make animal sacrifices in celebrating their religious festivals such as Bakr Eid. 

In India .. the All India Muslim Personal Law Board vice-president and Shia cleric Maulana Syed Kalbe Sadiq, in a statement said "It is my appeal to Muslims to completely restrain from sacrificing the cow on the Eid-ul-Azha. India is our country and we should respect the feeling of Hindu brethren who are in the majority." 

Will the Muslims in Sri Lanka listen to this wise man’s appeal ?

Now in India apart from the Muslims, the Hindus as well make animal Sacrifices. In India it has taken a most savage turn.  Thousands of animals are being killed for religious rituals.  The absurdity  of these sacrifices apart from their savage inhuman aspect is said to be the  sacrifice of various animals of different sizes not so much as a religious ritual but as a show of  riches and social standing.

“As affluence in India rises, more and more larger animals such as bovines, camels and increasingly horses are slaughtered to show the ‘status‘ of the person making the sacrifice. Slaughter was symbolic and never meant to be a status parade that it has become.”

These slaughter of animal attracts large number of  devotees who bring  their animals for slaughter, and it looses any sanctity when the slaughter becomes an amusement, “.. it is increasingly common to see the ‘spectacle’ of animals slaughtered publicly for the amusement of those witnessing the slaughter.”

Despite the laws prohibiting slaughter of animals in India, there are vast number of illegal ritual slaughters. 

In Sri Lanka too there is such a savage slaughter of animals in Munneshwaran Kovil in Chilaw.  On the 25 August, 2010,  300 goats and 600 chicken had been slaughtered , this despite the Cruelty to Animals Ordinance.  

There is a news item today that the Munneshwaran Kovil is now preparing for their annual ritual of animal slaughter.  It is therefore high time that the Government leaves aside its lackadaisical attitude and issue strong instructions to stop the slaughter of animals as sacrifices, warning those who incite killing and those who bring animals for sacrifice liable to be charged under the relevant laws.  The Government should not hesitate stop this most inhumane, uncivilised, and barbaric move on the grounds of hurting the sentiments of India, TamilsNadu or Tamils. 

The Tamil terrorists slaughtered innocent men, women, and children for 30 long years until a determined President turned up to stop the savagery.  But why cannot this President, who defied the terrorists not stop the slaughter of innocent animals.

There are those who bring in democracy to allow the slaughter of innocent animals on the ground that the people should have the freedom to worship according to their traditions.  But that should not be at the cost of the lives of innocent animals that cannot call out for help.

are these human beings who aretorturing these innocent Animals before chopping off their heads ?

Sri Lanka has a Buddha Sasana Ministry, which has become absolutely useless, unable even to decide matters on which they should pass laws. There was a bill once presented to stop  illegal conversion and to this day no one knows what has become of it.  In the mean time they are preparing to pass laws to prohibit publications defamatory of the major religions.  But more important issues are not touched because it fears antagonising the other religious faiths.

If that is how the Buddha Sasana Ministry functions it is better that the government scraps the Ministry altogether, saving a considerable sum of money as the Ministry actually serves no useful purpose.  If the Ministry is active it should not hesitate to  implement the Cruelty to Animal Ordinance, and stop the Munneshvaran Kovil from making its  intended slaughter of animals.  The Ministry should draw up legal documents  making it illegal to make animal sacrifices for religious or any other purpose.

There were human sacrifices in the  Aztec and Mesoamerican civilisations.  But after the conquest of these countries by Spanish Conquistadors  these human sacrifices were stopped.

In the present fear of the Government of Sri Lanka to  displease other countries and other religions  it is frightening to imagine  what the government of Sri Lanka would have done if  there is a  Community in Sri Lanka which makes humans sacrifices in the performance of their religious ceremonies.   The Government may perhaps not intervene not to displease the religious sentiments of that Community !!!

The false religious ceremonies of Munneshvaran Temple should be stopped in the name of humanity whether it hurts religious sentiments of those “savage” devotees or the rich trustees of the Kovil.

In India there was Sati an ancient custom where the widow is burnt alive on the funeral pyre of the husband.  In 1987 India passed a law banning the practice of Sati.  But yet hey say there are reports of incidents of attempted Sati.  If it exists in Sri Lanka  what will the Government do ?  Will it shy away from banning such savagery or just close its eyes not wanting to hurt the religious sentiments of the devotees ?

These may sound absurd propositions, but is it not similar to what the government is doing in shying away from passing laws to stop slaughter of innocent animals as religious sacrifices ?

It is time that the Government takes a firm decision to stop the animal sacrifices by Muslims to celebrate Bakr Eid,  and stop animal slaughter by Munneshwaran Kovil   now and for ever.

 If  human sacrifice by Aztecs  had been stopped, the Jews have stopped blood sacrifices, and Christians do not make any sacrifice of animals either ,  surely the Muslims could stop animal slaughter for their festivals,  and Munneshvaram Kovil can stop animal slaughter for Kali.