http://austms.blogspot.com.au/
02 March 2021
GENOCIDE AGAINST ARMED COMMUNISTS
One lead member of the Tamil Diaspora
stated in his communication :
[There is no Tamil government. There is no legitimate place
in an international formal fora for Tamils, as Tamils don't have a government.]
If the above were true as in Ultimate Reality – then there is no
Tamil Nation either. I however believe that there is a true Tamil Nation
developed by every true Independent Tamil of Sri Lanka. But towards this the
boundaries through which we became self-governing need to be Sri Lankan due to
the fact that this realisation happened due to fellow Sri Lankans becoming our
other side and therefore our Opposition. If we are not two sides of the same
coin, then we are withdrawing.
Let us take for example some points
from the Draft Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,
headed:
‘Promotion reconciliation,
accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ and analyse in the
consciousness Mrs Ambihai
Selvakumar of the UK, director
of the International Centre for the Prevention of Genocide (ICPPG) who
has declared that she would fast unto death, as she demands that the UK government refers the Sri Lankan government to the International Criminal Court.
1.
Item 7 of the said report:
[7. Sri
Lanka’s armed conflict emerged against the backdrop of deepening discrimination
and marginalisation of the country’s minorities, particularly the Tamils. The
30-year war between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), as well as earlier insurgencies in the south, were marked by
persistent and grave human rights violations and abuses by both parties,
including extrajudicial killing, widespread enforced disappearances, arbitrary
detention, torture and sexual violence that affected Sri Lankans from all
communities. Thousands of children were systematically recruited and used as
fighters and in other roles by LTTE and other armed groups, Muslim and Sinhala
communities were forcibly expelled from the North, and civilians were
indiscriminately killed in terrorist attacks on public places and transport by
the LTTE. Successive High Commissioners have consistently condemned these
acts. ]
The rebellion in South was NOT due to
minorities but was against Communists. Hence the Human Rights violations were
due not to race but against Communists who resorted to armed rebellion. Mrs Ambihai Selvakumar’s claim that it
was Genocide applies to armed Communists who waged war against the elected government.
Mr Sinnathurai Srivas makes a more valid connection:
[Tamils had a chance at least to sit at a table to
negotiate solution in Oslo. But the Chines infiltrators amongst us made sure it
was a failure.]
2.
Item 9 of the said report:
[9. During
the final stage of the conflict with the LTTE in 2009, there were credible
allegations of indiscriminate shelling by Government forces, including in the
densely populated ‘No Fire Zones’, and of attacks on protected objects,
resulting in massive civilian deaths and casualties. The LTTE prevented
civilians from leaving the conflict area.
Strict controls over humanitarian supplies by the Government caused
additional deaths and suffering. LTTE cadres and their dependents are believed
to have been extra-judicially executed after handing themselves over to Sri
Lankan armed forces. More than 250,000 people were detained for months in
military-run closed camps for internally displaced persons.]
The above confirms that the actions by
the government were against the LTTE. Given that the LTTE killed Tamil
Political leaders it was Genocide of Elected Politicians.
That being the case, the recourse is
indicated by the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Easter
Sunday bombings.
Ms Kishali Pinto
Jayawardene who is a highly respected Sri Lankan legal analyst discusses the
possibility of bringing legal action
against former President in her Sunday Times article ‘The Easter Sunday
commission and the indictment of a president’:
[No bar to legal
action against a former President
Article 35 (1) is clear on this point. It states
that, ‘while any person holds office as President, no proceedings shall be
instituted or continued against him in any court or tribunal in respect of
anything done or omitted to be done by him either in his official or private
capacity.’ Thus, the legal position that a former President may be liable for
such acts upon leaving office is firmly settled in our law and it does not
really need grandstanding by party lawyers before television cameras to stress
the point. This is evidenced on first principles, going by the literal meaning
of Article 35(1) of the Constitution.
……Presidential immunity was also discussed more
recently in the notable Dissolution Judgment of the Supreme Court (Rajavarothiam
Sampanthan and Others v. Attorney General and Others, 2018), where
the Court reiterated that, Article 35(1) only protected ‘..a President
[so long as he holds office] from being sued in respect of any act or omission
done by him in his official capacity qua President or in his private
capacity.’
The Court went on moreover to note the signal
change brought about by the 19th Amendment where even a sitting
President may be liable to a fundamental rights challenge. That, as we may
recall, was retained in the 20th Amendment following a not
inconsiderable struggle. So while this point surely needs no belabouring, we
are on a more contested question here, namely whether criminal liability
follows, inter alia, from the fact that the former President knew of
a possible terrorist threat but “proceeded to India and then Singapore from
April 16 to April 21 without making any acting appointment for the post of
Minister of Defense.”]
As
highlighted yesterday through my article headed ‘LTTE LEADER LACKED INTUITION TO PROTECT HIS GROUP?’, the Sri
Lankan government then headed by Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa also knew about what they
were going to do. :
The
Sydney Morning Herald article ‘World's
Tamils can only watch as Sri Lanka edges closer to war’ (https://www.smh.com.au/world/worlds-tamils-can-only-watch-as-sri-lanka-edges-closer-to-war-20080112-gdrwj7.html
) was published on 12 January 2008 – more
than a year before the Mullivaikal attack which ended in May 2009. As per that
presentation:
[Schalk's
research on the 17,000 Tiger "martyrs" should also caution Western
politicians who try to lump them with al-Qaeda as suicidal terrorists. Although
the Tamils are mostly Hindu (against the majority Buddhists backing the
Government) their struggle has no religious character. They are buried, not
cremated. They are not promised any glorious afterlife.
Dr Kohona said it was popular
outrage at Tiger ceasefire violations that had forced the Government's hand. But he also made it clear that Colombo thought the Tigers
were now beatable, and dismissed fears Sri Lanka was heading for an all-out war
with massive civilian casualties.
"The LTTE doesn't have the
capability to launch an all-out confrontation any more. It's seriously lacking
in cadres, and we also believe its levels of ammunition are very low since the
sinking of the four supply ships," he said. In his last annual "Great
Heroes' Day" address on November 27, the Tigers' supremo, Velupillai
Prabhakaran, himself seemed to strike an unintended note of desperation when he
railed at the international community for moves to isolate his movement.
Colombo hopes
that a "moderate" Tamil majority outside the Tiger zone of control in
the north-east will accept a proposal for devolution within a unitary state
that a constitutional review committee will publish in coming weeks.
But this raises the question why
Mr Rajapaksa could not wait these few weeks to publish his proposals for a
political solution and assess the reaction. Instead he has chosen the path of
military conquest, one on which many of his predecessors have been bloodied
before.]
As per the above
article:
[Australia's
help for the Colombo Government against the Tigers may go further than
financial sanctions. In Canberra this week, its visiting Foreign Affairs
Secretary, Palitha Kohona, was appreciative of the intelligence support Colombo
has been getting from "friendly governments".
An improved flow of intelligence, including
local tip-offs, had helped pinpoint key Tiger figures such as Thamilchelvan or
last week an intelligence chief known as Colonel Charles. With the interception
of four Tiger supply ships last year by the Sri Lankan Navy, "we did work
in close contact with friendly governments", Dr Kohona said.
Including
Australia? "I wouldn't want to name the governments but we did have
considerable help," he said.
As per Wikipedia, Dr Kohona was Member of the
Sri Lankan delegation to the UN GA, from 2006 - 2014
Is it therefore not essential that
UNHRC question Dr Kohona through an internal process and also find out why the
Australian government of that time headed by Mr Kevin Rudd did not heed the
warning ?
Above
all else, now that Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa is no longer President – he needs to be
questioned in a court of law along the lines proposed by the Easter
Sunday commission. It is also
possible to sue the current president along the lines as Rajavarothiam Sampanthan
and Others v. Attorney General and Others, 2018 .
A true Tamil governor
would do that before begging foreign governments. I did that against many –
including Mr Howard when he was Prime Minister. When Mr Howard lost his seat –
I knew that my belief based action had also joined others belief that Mr Howard
had failed us in terms of racial equality. THAT is the way Natural Justice
delivers to true seekers. In contrast a professional Tamil who to my mind was
by effect an LTTE supporter wrote as
follows:
[….Or
as I said there is some sort of phobia. You see things are wrong everywhere, be
it NSW uni or courts in Jaffna or even in Thunaivi. This is something unusual.
The fault is with you or the rest of the world. ]
If the
above is also belief based – then a UNHRC resolution against the Sri Lankan
Government will be hijacked to be in favour of alleged Tamils of Sri Lanka and
the likes of me would be disenfranchised because we are Sri Lankan Tamils and
not Eelam only Tamils.
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