Comments on: De-militarizing Democracy and Governance in Sri Lanka: From National Security to Human Security

By: punitham

punitham — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:15:26 +0000

Darini
Thank you for writing this.
I wish to clarify a few points though:
1.”they have been disappointed” -
The reason why the barriers and checkpoints still linger on has got to do with the the structural violence that began post-independence and pre-LTTE
2.”capital city, whose many beautiful trees had been cut down” -
In the last three decades of army occupation, Northeast lost untold flora of trees and bushes – the forest cleared to put up the recent camps for 300,000 IDPs is only a speck of dust in comparison. In the last three years alone a large number of trees were cut down in Northeast by the Army.
3. ”The last three years of war to defeat the LTTE saw a serious erosion of governance structures, democratic institutions” -
Because the government institutions were not democratic enough in the first thirty years, we came to have the war in the last thirty years. But there seems to be no change even after the LTTE have been decimated:
Internment camps for Vanni IDPs
IDP camps thoghout Northeast.
Restricted access for aid agencies and ICRC and UN to all camps in Northeast
Northeast still cut off from the rest of the country.
Media have no free access to the Northeast
Sinhala fishermen plunder the sea around the North(UTHR report of 10 June) – assisted by the Navy
Tamil fishermen still have severe restrictions in fishing
Forced settlement of Tamils in the East away from their original homes in the East.
Abductions/murders/”disappearances” continue in Northeast without investigations
Recommendations of UN, ICG, AI, IBA and ICJ of last few decades not yet begun to follow.

By: Grim Hope

Grim Hope — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:05:11 +0000

@Dayan Jayatilleka

I am still waiting for reply from you about Lionel Bopage’s claims? Seems like you are ditching from answering those. I think you are loosing your credibility.

Lionel Bopage says
“As a matter of fact, in the 80′s, it was Dayan Jayatilleka and Tamil militant groups (including his EPRLF) that demanded the establishment of a separate state of Tamil Eelam to address the issues of the Tamil people. Dayan was a frequent visitor at JVP public meetings demanding that the JVP accept Eelam as the only solution to the national problem. ”

According to Lionel Bopages claims and the Gotabaya’s theories, you are a traitor as well. Just like the Prabhakaran etc

So what do you say? I think other readers should question this also. Basically, he is a reformed traitor, just like the JVP etc… What this basically says is that… people need to be given a second chance….people change situation change…

By: Pearl Thevanayagam

Pearl Thevanayagam — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:11:14 +0000

I have vilified Dayan long eonough but at least he has some blood from his father, an intrepid and just journalist who never cowed down to those in power. Dayan may be booted out but unlike Rajiva he would stand on his own merit.

By: Dayan Jayatilleka

Dayan Jayatilleka — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 10:34:47 +0000

Does Darini know how long it took after the Good Friday accords, for the infamous Crossmaglen checkpoint with its towers and electronics, to come down?

Man, oh man….

By: The Underdog

The Underdog — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:41:11 +0000

@ Justin

There seems to be some attempt at remorse from Sinhala and forgiveness from Tamils at dbsjeyaraj.com
It’s a start.

By: The Underdog

The Underdog — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:32:55 +0000

Just a clarification: the IMF loan, if it comes, can only be used for external payments (imports, loan repayment to foreign creditors); it can’t be used for paying salaries. This is a condition of the loan. The money goes to the central bank, not the treasury. The IMF lends money to help a country resolve a foreign exchange crisis, not a fiscal crisis. So our inability to pay salaries will not change even if we get the loan.

One other point: from the conversations I’ve had with many people in Colombo, I haven’t met anyone who expected the checkpoints to disappear immediately after the war. Among the Sinhala and Muslim community, there’s even a preference for the continued presence of checkpoints to ward off the perceived threat from Diaspora-funded insurgents.

By: Pearl Thevanayagam

Pearl Thevanayagam — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:02:02 +0000

Darini once again epitomises the so-called intellectuals who preach from the pulpit but do not see that when they point a finger at a person four more digits are pointing towards self. The NGOs are but a recent phenomenon who exploit the island’s conflict to their own betterment. Case in point is that Tsunami saviours descended on this isle with kudos but Tsunami victims are still awaiting redress. Surfers from Britain came to Sri Lanka not to help the East but to get freebie holidays in sunny Sri Lanka. Indigenous Sri Lankans have been cheated by the INGOs. The country needs to get rid of this pseudo NGO menace and their profiteering from the misery of suffering Tamils. If the govt is guilty of perpetrating misery on the Tamils in the North and East these INGOs stand accused of exploiting them even more. Exceptions are religious missions and ICRC. All the others are cottage industries who cannot wait for the next funding application to yield kudos fortheir merriment. Somehow Mahinda senses this although I do not approve of his nationalism.

Pearl Thevanayagam

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:00:20 +0000

With a twist of strategy, Mahinda Rajapakse said “for reconciliation to happen there must be a mix of ethnicities”. This he said to defend his view that there should be no federalism in Sri Lanka(SL), in an interview with a correspondent of “Hindu” newspaper. But Tamils are asking for the independence of Tamil Eelam(TE), also with a “mix of ethnicities”, and not federalism.

Though a “mix of ethnicities” and aa “unitary state” existed for the past 60 years, there was no reconciliation in SL. Instead, a mental virus of anti-Tamilism, similar to anti-semitism, was planted into every Sinhalese to end up in an irreversible Sinhala culture of cruelty, ruthlessness and injustice to Tamils.

Reconciliation is not a word for an eloquent political rhetoric or international deception. It is a Christian concept, based on the bringing together of distanced sinful man to holy God, by Lord Jesus Christ, dying on a cross as a sacrifice.

Surely, reconciliation is a powerful spiritual tool to bring together the distanced, affected and wronged people to the affecting and wronging people, if only done with true spirit and lots of love. It worked in South Africa and it can work in SL.

Experts say that for reconciliation to take place anywhere the precursors are; truth, justice, accountability, remorsefulness and restitution. The order of these factors may differ but all of them will have to take place without leaving out any of them.

Fittingly, the Sinhalese should be made to see the truth that it is wrong to discriminate, subjugate, murder and rule over Tamils and occupy their land forcibly.

Also, the Sinhalese will have to accept the political truth that Tamils have their homeland – although Sinhalese also lived along with them; named it as Tamil Eelam democratically in 1976-1977 by the fathers of the present Tamils; and have the right of self determination according to the UN conventions.

Even if the political truth is known, without accountability and justice, there will never be remorsefulness from the Sinhalese and forgiveness from the Tamils to achieve reconciliation.

If the Sinhalese are not willing to accept accountability for Tamil genocide, displacing about 300,000 civilians, killing and maiming tens of thousands and bombing and destroying property, they are not ready for reconciliation.

If the Sinhalese are not willing to bring the war criminals to justice in a neutral court like the Hague, they are unwilling to reconcile with Tamils.

Reconciliation is a holy concept and should be handled with honest remorsefulness and love. Can Mahinda Rajapakse do it? He says he can. If done two years ago,it would have saved the island and its people from a ruthless war, war crimes and genocide.

By: chanuka

chanuka — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:21:51 +0000

you were whining about the war while it was being fought. you’re whining about the post-war scenario now that it’s won. to what end? whose pocket are you in? any intelligent person will realise that although the military victory is complete, there are still pockets of terrorists out and about, especially in colombo. these need to be routed out before normalcy can fully return. as for the increase in armed forces spending, perhaps you should take a look at the democracies you kowtow to and see what they spend on defence. hell, switzerland is the world’s largest producer of landmines. so before you get on your ngo-funded high horse, take a look around the world and understand this: rose tinted spectacles are all very well, but hard decisions take strong leadership. if you’d have had your way, the war wouldn’t have been won. how disingenuous to whine now about how the post war situation isn’t the hunky dory utopia you want it to be.