Dear Dr P. Saravanamuttu,

I have discussed the Land Issues in a separate post as promised. Please see link below.
http://groundviews.org/2011/09/02/should-sri-lanka%e2%80%99s-youth-get-ready-to-confront-armed-intervention-two-years-after-the-war/#comment-36318
Please contribute your views in the discussion there.

My response (August 30, 2011 • 2:22 am) to yours of August 24, 2011 • 7:46 pm in this thread is also awaiting your views.

Dr. Saravanamuttu, thank you for answering my question.

“being opposed to devolution does make for a conflict ridden Sri Lanka, though.”

Are you saying that Sri Lanka would have less conflict or no conflict if there was devolution? Could you please explain this idea more?

“That he should mouth off on this subject to an international media organization or indeed to any media organ in public, undermines governance. Officially he is a secretary to a ministry. HIs minister is the president and defense secretary and his brother whose official public pronouncements on this issue are different. Who calls the shots? Who indeed should be allowed to?”

Would you have had the same reaction if GR had publicly endorsed devolution?

Dr P. Saravanamuttu

Thank you for your reply.

You say, “the issue with regard to accountability is the need to lay the matter to rest to the extent possible, through an independent investigation of the allegations made.”

War is dirty and unfortunately civilians die in war. Could you please elaborate on the modus operandi that you propose and any established precedents of accountability of a democratic govt placed in similar circumstances?

You say “The allegations and counter allegations, the contestation of the evidence provided as biased and manufactured, keep the issue alive and keep it alive to fuel and sustain notions of injustice and grievance. “

Ask yourself the question, what evidence has CH4 provided?
Can it stand up in a court of Law?
There was a multitude of SL govt videos and pictures available in the public domain and yet the CH4 was crammed with LTTE propaganda material filmed by their embedded cameramen, the so called “Truth Soldiers”.
Does tha make it balanced?

Dr Noel Nadesan a Tamil of standing, points out to a Slipper clad man in uniform within the group that slashes the throat of a young man. He points out that SLA soldiers never wear Slippers when going on operations in uniform.

The ONLY hospital available to the LTTE in the war zone does not have a SINGLE LTTE cadre injured or dead within it’s precincts. Where were the LTTE injured? While civilian corpses were on display there were no LTTE corpses visible. Where were the LTTE corpses? Were all of them camouflaged in CIVILIAN clothes?

With such obvious indicators pointing to biased and manufactured evidence, how can an intellectual like you, even consider CH4?

You say “2009 should not be allowed to fuel conflict in the way that 1983 did “

Agree with you unreservedly.

You say “and only a credible, independent investigation can do this.”

I have my reservations on what you mean and hence will await your clarification.

You say “Furthermore, there is a crucial need for a national accountability mechanism to reverse the culture of impunity in respect of human rights violations.”

Agree with you unreservedly. Such a mechanism should be an integral part of any Democracy to ensure good governance.

You say “The Muslims come into the picture because a post conflict situation requires a political settlement of the conflict which has affected them as well. Constitutional reform in this regard is about the future of Sri Lanka and all of the peoples who inhabit it.”

Is it not strange to see Tamils taking the forefront and not the Muslims in asking for a political settlement? Are they incapable of independent political negotiation? Is this not a devious attempt at increasing the Numbers like the “Tamil Speaking” phrase was used to annex the Muslim population to buttress the Tamil demands?

You say “Regarding land, please have a look at CPA’s report on land issues in the east and the report on land issues in the north which will be published by the end of the month. Also do read the thirteenth Amendment. Land powers to provinces is not a license for them to discriminate against any community in the country.”

I have read the thirteenth amendment.
Initially it accepts the per capita principle in dealing with land but filibusters it later, in another clause.
Land is probably the biggest bone of contention that fuels mistrust amongst the majority of Sri Lankans. The refusal by the Tamils to share Lanka’s resources equally “fuels and sustains notions of injustice and grievance more than anything else”.

Due to it’s importance, I will deal with the Land issue in a separate post.

You say “As for the Singapore model, I do not think that Sri Lanka should turn its back on the democracy, however flawed, that we have enjoyed since independence. To do this would be to invite more conflict”.

I am not suggesting the adoption of the Singapore model of Governance. I am aware that Singapore is a quasi police state. Yet EIP is a fair and Democratic Policy, that ensures per capita distribution of the scarcest resource of all, Land.

EIP recognises per capita distribution, just like the thirteenth amendment. But unlike the thirteenth, it does not have a filibuster operating within it. EIP is still operative (has been for over 20 years) and has ensured peace, in a country that also saw Ethnic Riots in the past. Should we not learn from that experience?

Sambar,

You ask “What kind of silly logic is this? ”

Why is it silly? Because you got caught with your pants down?
Rubber Flip Flops are worn in the USA too but not by US Soldiers in UNIFORM.

No Sri Lankan Soldier in UNIFORM wears rubber slippers Sambar.
That is what Dr Nadesan, a Tamil himself, points out and he is not a medical doctor or an idiot.

Remember that the purported soldiers are shown in UNIFORM

I wonder why you skipped the following statement

“CH4 did not have a SINGLE LTTE Cadre injured or Dead in battle, within the ONLY hospital accessible to the LTTE in the war zone. War it seems, only injures and kills Civilians as CH4 claims”

CH4 has tripped on it’s own lies and you are making a fool of yourself trying to white wash them.

Yes I have seen your reply about Percival and I do not agree with what you have written. Will give you an appropriate reply in due course.

Dr.Hoole made a wise decission at the right time to move out of the country.I think Sara shall follow him sooner or later.We need such people.Else our silence will confirm they are always right.

I am not sure if I get you here Wijayapala. Why would I oppose it?

You wrote: “Countering Indian and Western pressure through Chinese protection and loans, the Rajapaksha regime believes it can get away with it”

Not so!
Rather it is exactly because the Rajapakse regime full well knows that it has the support of the west and India that it believes it can get away with anything – note also that the west and India only goes as far as saying that the GOSL itself must investigate the allegations of its own war crimes.
What is this Chinese protection you are talking about?
There is none!
Anyway, China could never protect the Rajapakse regime or any SL regime against any serious insistence (not mere cosmetic ‘pressure’ for the media to report) from India and the west.

Proof that India/Delhi is not serious about proper settlement for the Tamils but is only concerned about its own interests in the region is in the Indian foreign minister S. M. Krishna’s recent comment that the problems of Sri Lanka was a terrorist one; and like Gothabaya, Krishna too maintains that now that the LTTE is gone the problems of Sri Lanka are gone too.

Reply to Percival:

http://groundviews.org/2011/08/15/abuse-violence-and-bullying-post-war-sri-lanka-is-indeed-a-peaceful-place/#comment-35996

You have quoted Nadesan: “Have a close look and you will find among the so-called soldiers a man in SLIPPERS. Sri Lankan soldiers never go about in slippers when they go out on operations”.

What kind of silly logic is this?
So wearing slippers is proof of LTTE persons? Colombo is then full of them and from all communities too.
Maybe SriLankan soldiers never go about in slippers when they go out on combat operations, but this is a torture operation!
Also many Karuna men helped the SL forces and were among them, maybe they wore slippers during combat as well as torture operations.

(I have replied to what Percival wrote).