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May 12th, 2008

Sri Lanka: Government Wins Eastern Polls

The much hyped Eastern Provincial council elections were held last Saturday ( 10, May ) with the government winning 20 of the of the allocated 37 seats.United National Party won 15 seats and JVP and TDNA won 1 seat each.While the government hailed this as a major victory in the fight against terrorism the two major opposing parties and many independent observers complained about rigging and many incident of tampering. Blogger were divided in their opinions with some supporting it some criticizing the violations and some questioning the validity of Provincial councils.

Lanka Rising in his post The result of the election: the victory for democracy and defeat for separatist terrorism gives a very detailed analysis about the elections and the events leading up to it. There are few nice comments as well with some heated discussion :)

The long march of democracy in Eastern province started with the liberation of Mavillaru sluice gate from LTTE and restoring the supply of water for the innocent farmers in the area. It was a time when LTTE artillery were even targeting Tricomalee town and strategic Navy camp as a result of shameful CFA signed by UNP leader Ranil Wickramasingha and Prabakaran. The monks of JHU timely influenced the government to take speedy action at a time when new UPFA government seemed to be trapped with the CFA signed by previous UNP leadership. The success of Mavillaru operation not only prevented another attempt of LTTE to chase away Sinhala and Muslim farming community from Eastern province, but also mark the beginning or new democratic era in Eastern province.

Court Jester questions the validity and the use of provincial councils and also questions whether the government has truly liberated the Eastern Province in his post Provincial Council Elections and related issues.

I have long taken a dim view of these Provincial Councils: all they do is add another layer of unnecessary bureaucracy to an already inefficient administrative system. If anyone knows what value the provincial councils add to the public let me know.

The report goes on to state that “The LTTE had resorted to various terror acts to intimidate and keep voters away from polling booths”.
So the LTTE appears to be active again in the East. We are left to wonder if they re-infiltrated the cleared areas or whether they were actually cleared out as thoroughly as previously claimed.

Dennam Batey in his post Eastern Polls - Yet another ‘crucial' (to whom it is crucial is questionable) election is over !!! criticize the usual post election statements where the winners take it all and the losers cry foul and points out that no party has yet to appoint an independent body to hold elections.

We can remember the days of UNP and CBK where hundreds and thousands of votes were rigged and laws were grossly ignored. Why cry only when you are in the opposition?

Deane's Dimension has a very different view of things in his post Terrorists and Government win in the rigged Eastern Polls where he states that terrorism is fine as long as the terrorists support the government.

See, it's often mistakenly thought there's a war against terror in Sri Lanka. Nonsense. Most Sri Lankans, the ruling party and particularly the president is fine with terrorrism as long as the terrorists are on ‘their' side.

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April 15th, 2008

Sri Lanka: Our Lady of Madhu and the Bishop

Nishadha Silva · 08:16 · South Asia

lingua → es

Sri Lankan government forces are closing in on Madhu area in Mannar district and it is said that this capture will be very beneficial for the morale of the troops and the government. In the event of army advancing, the Bishop of Mannar Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph has moved the statue of Our Lady of Madhu deep into the LTTE controlled areas. This has received a mixed reaction from the Sri Lankan blogosphere. The shrine is considered one of the holiest Catholic spots in Sri Lanka, and is known to attract Catholics regardless of their ethnicity. Despite its importance, the fact that is is situated in the conflict zone has meant that fewer devotees visit the shrine over the years.

Lanka Libertarian strongly questions the Bishop's motives in his post Time for Mannar Bishop Rayauppu Joseph to speak up.

He has allowed priests under him like the ones depicted above to participate in LTTE propaganda and has not disciplined them as far as i know. Bishop of Mannar himself has attended LTTE propaganda rallies and other functions, including reportedly the funeral of roasted murderers like Thamilchelvan and have turned a blind eye to child soldiers participating in such functions.
All of that lead us to believe he is a willing collaborator of a murderous fascist group.

Kanabona.com offers a different view siting that an unarmed catholic priest can't do what he wants in a LTTE controlled area in his post Opinion: Our Lady of Madhu and the Bishop of Mannar .

As for the frequent allegation of bias of the Mannar Bishop and his Diocesan priests towards the tigers, once again it smacks of total insensitivity to the complexity of the situation.

For one thing the Bishop has continuously stood for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. He has consistently denounced war and violence. At the last Presidential Elections he unsuccessfully appealed to his followers to exercise their franchise, contrary to LTTE orders against it. The late Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga was a good personal friend of his - all of this demonstrates his impartiality in the crisis.

It must stressed that a substantial portion of the Mannar Diocese lies in LTTE territory so the Bishop of Mannar is not in a position to take on the Tigers as much as he would like to. It is easy for the JHU to shout hoarse from their safe well secured confines in Colombo, but for an unarmed priest of God to openly challenge the world's most ruthless terrorists in their own territory is an impossible task.

transcurrents.com talks about the people who are caught in the crossfire and goes on to add why capturing Madhu is this significant for the president in his post Madhu Church: Tragic Casualty of Politico-Military Crossfire.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a devout Buddhist but the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa is an equally devout Catholic. Shortly before his Presidential election campaign in 2005 Rajapaksa wished to go to the Madhu church with his wife.

Since the Madhu church was in LTTE controlled territory, “permission” was sought from the Tigers for the visit. Rajapaksa was Prime Minister then. The LTTE laid down the condition that once inside LTTE territory, Rajapaksa should dispense with his security detail and rely only on Tiger escort. This was unacceptable and the idea of a Madhu visit was aborted.

The issue however rankled in Mahinda’s mind. During his election campaign he often referred to the fact that though he was Prime Minister he was not allowed to visit some parts of the country.

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April 7th, 2008

Sri Lanka: Bomb blasts and an ongoing conflict

Nishadha Silva · 08:21 · South Asia

lingua → hi · zht · zhs

A senior parliamentarian and one of the most important ministers in the present government was assassinated by the LTTE. The bomber is believed to have come disguised as a Marathon runner. DefenseNet gives a brief update of the incident, but the post created some heated debate and in my opinion it gives a glimpse of the average Sri Lankan's mind, who are so used to people getting killed by bomb blasts. Below are some of the comments, read the full post Minister Jeyeraj Fernandopulle killed in Weliweriya Blast

Rover -
“Jeyaraj dead ,Thats that, now lets move on.”

MyShadow -
Yes, i am gone mad…,how many of this country men will get killed, how many will blasts will keep happening in this country,
you say that “We can't dwell on the death of a single guy”
you say that in front of your computer. thousands and thousands are killed. may be you are in a foriegn country in a good position
may be you are a sadist who don't worry about people get killed, boombed
did you die ? someone died, and you say move on…

Other than the minister close to 10 people have died and among them is national marathon champion Mr.Karunasena better known and “Marathon Karu” and National Athletic Coach Mr.Lackshman De Alwis.About Sri Lanka speaks about the other prominent people injured in this post.

Meanwhile, the war continues in Sri Lanka with government claiming to kill many Tiger cadres while LTTE denies them strenuously, what most people don't hear about is the displaced people because of the war, who live in refugee camps, sometimes denied even the basic human needs, although the government speaks highly about the liberation of North not much is mentioned about the displaced persons.

ground views speaks about forgotten IDP's from the North where he mentions the hardships the Muslims and the other in that area had to suffer for more than two decades.

For these Muslims, who once led peaceful and productive lives in the north of the country, their lives were shattered when they were ordered to leave their homes in just two hours – or face dire consequences. Leaving everything they possessed behind them, they fled with their families, hoping no doubt to return when things calmed down.
Little did they know that their lives, which had turned topsy–turvy in the blink of an eye, would remain so and in fact only worsen, for the next two decades.

Although not as unforgiving as ground views transcurrent.com also speaks about the difficulties faced by the IDP's especially about the security concerns faced by them.

Despite the diversity of circumstances, Mr. Kalin identified several key issues affecting all of the IDP and returnee communities with whom he met. The predominant concern among IDPs is physical security. The Representative was struck by a pervasive sense of fear and uncertainty among those he spoke. Sources of insecurity are varied, but include the following: continued incursions and attacks by the LTTE; disappearances, abductions and looting; threats and attacks upon individuals by irregular and armed groups such as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalaip Puligal (TMVP), including infiltration of camps at night; incomplete or delayed mine-clearance; approaches used by security forces in response to security incidents, including roundups, methods to identify suspects, and detention of individuals without proper notification of family members of the reasons for and location of the individual's detention.

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