Comments on: Submission before Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) by Chandra Jayaratne

By: Punitham

Punitham — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 18:03:32 +0000

Chandra
I can’t wait for the day your proposal comes true.

Thanks and best wishes for 2011.

By: LankaLiar

LankaLiar — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 01:23:34 +0000

Chandarna
If you look at the systems, laws and constitution of Sri Lanka although they are not adequate but sufficient to protect Tamil people and give them somewhat reasonable but second rated livelihood in Sri Lanka. But they have failed even to deliver that. The law and the constitution whatever is left in it has not been applied to Tamils. It failed to protect them and deliver justice just because they were Tamils. This is the real problem in Sri Lanka. You can create any constitution enact any law sing any song write any Chindanaya but when it comes to Tamils they are ineffective and irrelevant. You can go and murder any Tamil and get away. rape any Tamil woman and escape, so is kidnapping burring them alive destroying their places of worship anything that you want. But as long as the victim is Tamil nothing will protect them nor perpetrator will be punished. The majority will even call it a humanitarian operation to humiliate them even more. It is in the implementation of these documents we have the problems and in the recent future there is no sign of this behavior getting corrected. That is why the only solution is to devolve power in other words hand the implementation of the law and constitution in the hands of Tamil in their areas. It is not for the sake of dividing the country but because of the only alternative to deliver the constitutional and legal rights to Tamil. Can any commission or parliament change the culture and the behavior of the people who are in charge or who are involved in delivering these to the Tamil?. The answer is no. This was instilled into the minds of the Sinhalese by the so called leaders (I hate to use this word) the clergy and the culture. It is futile to go into such academic exercise to project and suggest any system when we clearly know that nothing even a signed agreement will be implemented if the subject involve Tamils. This is the plight of the Tamils and the culture of the majority of the Sinhalese. Can any body change this. The second one is very difficult to change. So the problem is lack of civilization. That is all. Nothing else. Tamils all of them know about it. I wish this will not happen to any other community in Sri Lanka. But in the case of Tamils it can because they are Tamil who gave everything for the country Sri Lanka. That is why even it this hour they can be very proud.

By: Saro

Saro — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:27:01 +0000

This Chandrana, if implemented, will go a very long way in redressing the grievances of disadvantaged linguistic communities. But the genuine fear is that this Commission is used as a diversionary tactics just as the APRC. No visionary observer noted any optimism from this Commission.

By: TT

TT — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 03:15:30 +0000

Punitham,

So the UN, the Commonwealth, the other UN agencies, the president, the parliament, the opposition, religions, the whole world, etc, are all at fault but you? Did it ever occur to you that you MIGHT be wrong?

(The word “you” is used in its proper English usage).

Should the world change for you or should you change for the world?

By: punitham

punitham — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:01:25 +0000

The world would have degenerated irreperably before man reforms the UN.

The UN has been a platform for expert damage control exercise for successive governments of Sri Lanka(and some others) for decades and there is no signs on the horizon that it will change for a long time to come.

The Commonwealth has been UNASHAMEDLY silent on Sri Lanka(and some others).

Intergovernmental bodies are platforms for ”sovereign” governments who have actually no sovereignty over the sections of their citizens whom they oppress.

The oppressed have no future in this world of injustice though they may have Buddha statues under every tree and bush.

By: Belle

Belle — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 23:51:06 +0000

Just listened to His Highness’ speech at the UN. Why does the UN allow speaking rights to country leaders who have refused transparency in ruling processes and war matters at both international and local levels? With what conscience does it provide a platform for such leaders to tell lies to the entire world, to make claims that are totally unverifiable? Isn’t it ironic that war victims and oppressed peoples around the world, bearing the scars of violence on their bodies as immediate visible evidence of the truth of their stories, cannot use this platform to tell their stories, but Hitlers can?

There should be rules regarding speech at the UN. If somebody cannot or refuses to verify what s/he claims, s/he should not be allowed to address the UN. His Highness should have been required to prove that it was indeed a “humanitarian” war as he claims before he ascended to the podium.

Looks like it’s easier to lie at the UN than at humble municipal courts.

By: punitham

punitham — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:52:47 +0000

if this article is turned upside down you get:

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/09/no_nation_on_earth_can_wish_sr.html#more
No nation on earth can wish Sri Lanka’s Tamil community more good fortune than Sri Lanka itself
by Mahinda Rajapaksa

By: Conscience

Conscience — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:18:58 +0000

The world is full of good intentions. But without honest appraisal and implementaion it can all be nullified. A classic case is the country’s constitution which says what it does not mean since the unilateralist one of 1972 and does what it does not say! Sri Lankan especially minorties lives started getting awry since Sinhala Only Act of 1956. The 1972 Constitution said there are two official languages-Sihala and Tamil- but to date Tamil has not been implemented even in the north and east where the majority of Tamils live! How many Pacts and Agrements have been unilaterally aborted or torn up till now? This is the REAL underlying problem. The LLRC or any other Commission can never set right political problems which are allowed to fester and foster to benefit politicians in perpetuity!

By: Sie.Kathieravealu

Sie.Kathieravealu — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:28:31 +0000

I would like to make my own submissions to the LLRC. But I am not aware of the procedure to make the submissions. Can anyone help me?

By: Groundviews

Groundviews — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:56:52 +0000

Sri Lanka urged to apologise for war
By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Colombo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/09/100923_llrc_chandra.shtml

A business leader in Sri Lanka has called on the government to apologise to the country for the suffering created during the civil war.

It was the latest in a series of submissions given to a government-appointed commission examining the final years of the conflict.

It has also emerged that witnesses in the north had accused the armed forces of killing civilians in shell attacks.

But the government places the blame for the war squarely on the defeated Tamil Tiger militants.

Once more, this commission has been hearing submissions which will cause the authorities some discomfiture.

Shelling refugees

Chandra Jayarathne, former president of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, said that last year, as well as celebrating its war victory over the Tamil Tigers, the government should have undergone what he called a process of atonement.

“I hope sirs your process will lead to a public expression of regret and apology on behalf of all the leaders and governments of the past, specifically to the war victims and to the nation at large,” he told the Lessons learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

“If Austrtalia and other countries could have done that after so many years I see no reason why the leaders of this nation cannot come to it now.”

Mr Jayarathne also listed what he said were some damaging perceptions at large concerning the situation in the north.

These included the notion that disappearances and arbitrary arrests were continuing.

He said the panel should look into these perceptions and make recommendations accordingly.

According to accounts emerging from the panel’s visit to what was the Tamil Tigers’ last stronghold earlier this week, a Tamil civilian who fled the war zone accused the navy of repeatedly shelling refugee boats as they crossed a lagoon to escape, even though they shouted that they were civilians.

Eight people were killed. A woman described how her daughter and son-in-law were also killed by shells as they fled.

Witnesses also said the Tigers violently tried to stop them escaping.

Only a few journalists were allowed to report on the proceedings in Mullaitivu but these accounts came from Tamil-language newspapers.