tw news-features

Parliamentarian T. Maheswaran and one of his bodyguards were killed and 12 people were injured when a gunman opened fire at the MP and other worshippers at the Ponnambalavaneswarar temple, a renowned shrine for Lord Shiva near the Colombo port.

The killing of a Tamil democratic leader T. Maheswaran comes amidst a world mourning the brutal killing of Benazir Bhutto, leader of Pakistan People’s Party and the best hope of restoring democracy and order in Pakistan. Military dictator Pervez Musharraf blamed others while there has been many news reports suspecting his role in the killing.

The government of President Mahinada Rajapakse posses a similar track record.

News agency Indo Asian News service (IANS) in a news report on Tuesday Jan 1st said, quoted an unnamed ‘leading military expert’ saying “the assassination had serious security implications because the temple was located outside the Colombo harbour, a high security area. If the Tamil Tigers have done it, it is cause of more worry because it shows they are prowling in the city in a high security zone,“ the expert told IANS.

[Her world crashed: heartbreaking picture of slain parliamentarian Thyagarajah Maheswaran’s distraught daughter Pavatharani (8), as she weeps for a father who will never return home]

The Sri Lankan Defence ministry quoted the police as saying that the gunman was injured when the MP’s guards fired back after coming under attack.

However its being suggested that Sri Lankan government authorities may coerce the suspect or the entire arrest may be a drama to pin blame on others.

The Government of Sri Lanka has not investigated the killings of other Tamil parliamentarians - Nadarjah Raviraj nor Joseph Pararajasingham. N. Raviraj was killed during daylight at a Colombo high security zone in Nov 2006 and Joseph Pararajasingham was killed during the Christmas mass in Batticaloa in 2005.

A Sri Lankan Deputy minister P Radhakrishnan told BBC Sandeshaya that the government should take the full responsibility as three Tamil MPs are killed since President Mahinda Rajapaksa took over since November 2005. “MP Joseph Pararajasingham’s killer is still at large in Batticaloa,” the Up Country Peoples Front (UPF) parliamentarian told BBC’s Elmo Fernando.

The slain MP is a legislator from the Colombo District belonging to the United National Party (UNP). The UNP said the slain legislator has planned to reveal the widespread human rights violations in Jaffna.

“He was planning to make a special statement at the parliament on abductions and killings in Jaffna on 08 January,” UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said.

Work towards ending impunity

Meanwhile a Sri Lankan media rights group has urged the media to work towards ending impunity in Sri Lanka.

The Free Media Movement (FMM), a Colombo-based media rights group, in a press release issued Tuesday, strongly condemned the assassination of United National Party (UNP) MP T. Maheswaran, and said the murder adds to the “incredible number of political killings and the suppression of those who seek to bring to light gross human rights abuses,” in Sri Lanka, and FMM is “mindful that the Sri Lankan Police have been unable and unwilling to bring the killers of other high profile political figures.”

The statement called upon the media to investigate this killing and larger and disturbing erosion of democracy in Sri Lanka, with a view to upholding all human rights for all and end impunity.

Related: Martyrdom staring at Sri Lanka Human Rights defender Mano Ganesan

COLOMBO, 28 November 2007 (IRIN) - “Groundless public accusations can seriously compromise our ability to carry out humanitarian and development work and are also putting the safety and security of UN staff and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners at risk,” Neil Buhne, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sri Lanka, said in a recent statement released by the UN Inter Agency Standing Committee (ISAC) country team.

Buhne’s warning came in response to recent accusations against the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by members of the Sri Lankan opposition, widely circulated in the local press. They include allegations that the UN agency had imported “combat rations” allegedly destined for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), that it had channelled finances to a banned organisation, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), and that its staff participated in a local protest in June 2007. On 26 November UNICEF was accused of providing the LTTE with bullet-proof vehicles.

On 22 November a member of parliament from the People’s Liberation Front, Wimal Weeravansha, asked about the intended use of a container of ready-to-eat-meals UNICEF had imported. “This kind of food is not for the consumption of civilians,” he told parliament. “Usually, this kind of food is needed for military units that engage in guerrilla warfare and that’s why these food parcels are known as ‘combat rations’.”

The UNICEF shipment was impounded the same day by Sri Lankan customs authorities.

The office of the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Colombo said in a 23 November statement that the meals were imported on behalf of 12 UN and other agencies, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UN Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Food Programme, for consumption by their staff in emergency situations.

UN to cooperate with any government investigations

“While the UN acknowledges and fully supports the right of a sovereign government to investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing, the circumstances of this action [impounding] appear to have been driven by unsupported statements in parliament earlier that day by a member of the opposition,” it added. Nonetheless, said Buhne, “The UN and its partners will follow established procedures agreed with by the government, including cooperation with investigations of any alleged misconduct.”

Regarding accusations by some Sri Lankan political parties that UNICEF was financing the TRO, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in a 23 November statement said UNICEF had agreed to make public an audit of its transactions in Sri Lanka to prove there were no ongoing dealings with the TRO. The TRO was banned this month in the USA and subsequently in Sri Lanka for acting as a front for the Tamil Tigers.

UNICEF spokesperson Gordon Weiss told IRIN UNICEF had stopped working with the TRO in early 2006. He also rejected Weeravansha’s charge that UNICEF had provided bullet-proof vehicles to the Tamil Tigers. “Only one vehicle was modified to withstand blasts and it is still being used by UNICEF,” Weiss said.

Three UN staff involved in demonstrations

On the issue of staff involvement in demonstrations, UNICEF headquarters in New York is currently considering action against three staff members from its Sri Lanka office who took part in a public protest, the UN agency’s Colombo office said. The 6 June protest had been organised by local civic groups to decry rising violence against aid workers.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on 23 November asked UNICEF country representative Phillippe Duamelle “to take appropriate action against the staff members who participated in the demonstration, including the withdrawal of the concerned international staff and the termination of local staff.”

However, by the time the government request was conveyed, according to Weiss, a UNICEF internal inquiry into the protest incident was already under way.

Weiss told IRIN that one of the three UNICEF staff has already left the services of the UN agency, while the other two, one international and the other a Sri Lankan, are still working in UNICEF’s Colombo office.

“We take any transgression by a staff member extremely seriously,” said Weiss, adding that UN staff are barred from taking part in any activity that would compromise UNICEF’s impartiality. [irinnews.org]

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

The significance of the date September 26th has become another example of differences in perception illustrating the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka. To most members of the Sinhala community it is the day on which Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike died in 1959 after being shot in Colombo the previous day by a Buddhist monk. To many members of the Tamil community it is the day on which Rasiah Parthiban alias Thileepan died in 1987 at Nallur after a 12 day fast unto death campaign protesting actions of the Indian and Sri Lankan Governments.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party has been for many decades observing Sep 26th as a day honouring the memory of its founder SWRD Bandaranaike.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has also been commemorating the day and even the fortnight preceding it in honour of Thileepan.

In recent times two other incidents have added to the date’s significance in LTTE annals. It was on September 26th in 1990 that Bhanu the LTTE Jaffna commander of the time hoisted the tiger flag atop the ramparts of the Jaffna Fort after the armed forces abandoned it. Incidently the Present Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse and current army commander Sarath Fonseka were involved in this evacuation then.

The other incident was in 2001 when senior LTTE leader Vaithilingam Sornalingam alias “Col” Shankar was killed in a claymore mine explosion on Sep 26th while he was motoring along the Oddusuddan - Puthukudiyiruppu road in the Mullaitheevu district. Shankar was the man who pioneered the LTTE’s airwing and a close associate of tiger supremo Velupillai Prabakharan. The Army’s Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) or deep penetration squad was allegedly responsible for the assassination.Nowadays the tigers honour Shankar also on the 26th.

[Performance at an Arts Festival held at a Sea Tiger base on Sep 19, 2005]

Re-appearance

Among ceremonies held this year to observe Thileepan day was the release on Sep 26th of an audio CD titled “Siragu Viritha Puligal” (tigers unfurl wings)consisting of songs about the LTTE’s air wing.This particular event was held at the “Maaveerar Mandapam” (great heroes hall) in Puthukudiyiruppu.While the widows of Lt. Col Chutta and Lt. Col Kunjan lit the special lamps it was the lot of “Col” Shankar’s widow Kuha to do the honours by receiving the first disc of the newly released CD. What was more important as well as interesting was the identity of the person who released the CD officially and handed it over ceremonially to Kuha: Read The Full Article here - Sea Tiger Chief Soosai “Surfaces” After Accident at Sea, in transCurrents.com

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

“They seek him here;they seek him there; they seek him everywhere”.

These lines from a doggerel about the scarlet pimpernel perfectly sums up the life and times of KP - the elusive chief procurer of arms and armaments for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The latest round of excitement is over the reported arrest of the man in Thailand. New Delhi and Colombo are supposedly requesting Bangkok to extradite KP to their respective countries. But there is a hitch. Despite the initial blaze of publicity about KP’s arrest the Thai authorities are now denying that the arrest ever took place.

Obviously there is something here that just does not seem “right” but as Andy Warhol observed famously every one is entitled to fifteen minutes of fame. Now KP is having more than fifteen minutes of fame or is it notoriety?

But who is this man and what has he been doing?

The man known as KP was born on on April - 6th - 1955 in the northern coastal town of Kankesanthurai (KKS). His name was Pathmanathan and his father’s name was Selvarajah . Though he was known by a number of names and aliases in later life KP’s real name was Selvarajah Pathmanathan. [Read the full article in transCurrents.com]

By PK Balachandran

Tamil-speaking Muslims from Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Malaysia are now re-discovering and re-establishing linguistic, cultural and religious ties which had weakened considerably over the last 400 years.

Islamic literature in Tamil has provided the rallying point for the new hands-across-borders movement.

There has been a series of conferences and workshops on Islamic literature in the Tamil language in Colombo and Chennai over the last few years, with Chennai having held the seventh between May 25 and 27.

“It was a roller coaster ride, with workshops on a number of subjects,” said Rauff Hakeem, Sri Lankan litterateur and cabinet minister.

“The quality of the presentations was quite good. We were glad to find that a number of non-Muslims in Tamil Nadu were doing research on Islamic literature in Tamil. And it was good to hear them praise the Muslims’ contribution to Tamil literature,” Hakeem said.

One of the major resolutions passed was that universities in these countries should establish Chairs in Islamic literature in Tamil. The Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu is the only university having a Chair in this now. Sri Lankan Muslims proudly state that the first occupant of the Chair was a Sri Lankan Muslim, Prof MM Uvais.

The Chennai conference provided opportunities for Tamil-speaking Muslims to rediscover their roots and interact with a Tamil-speaking Muslim Diaspora.

“We were constantly running into Indian and Malaysian Muslims who had owned businesses in Sri Lanka before the ethnic conflict in the island. They were in shipping and gem trading. Some broke into Sinhalese on seeing us!”

“And in Ervadi (Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu) local Muslims showed us Portuguese-style mansions which their ancestors had built with money earned in Sri Lanka,” Hakeem recalled.

In the 1960s, a good chunk of the Indian Muslim community in Sri Lanka took flight because of the communalisation of politics. In 1915, the anti-Muslim riots were directed mainly against Muslim traders from India, called “Coast Moors.”

When the Portuguese and other European powers persecuted the Muslims of Sri Lanka and India from the 16 th.Century onwards, many fled to South East Asia where they became petty traders and artisans.

“During the dark days of persecution by the Portuguese and the Dutch, Muslim poet-preachers from Tamil Nadu helped Sri Lankan Muslims keep their faith. Over 2,000 literary works were produced at that time,” Hakeem said,

The Portuguese introduced the “cartaz” or a permit system, which in effect, prevented Muslims from using many ports in South and South East Asia. In Sri Lanka, they were driven away from the prosperous Western coast. Under Dutch rule, they were not given government contracts.

The Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu favoured the Portuguese over the local Muslim traders. The British favoured the docile Hindu Chettiars. The British also developed Madras as a port and neglected Muslim-dominated ports in the South, like Cuddalore (then known as Islamabad), Nagapattinam, Thondi and Adhiramapattinam.

Because of their conflict with the Sri Lankan Tamils and a new found fascination for the culture of the Arab world, the Muslim elite of Sri Lanka began a movement to shed religious, cultural and linguistic links with the Tamil Nadu Muslims. The emergence of new states after 1947 created new barriers between the Tamil-speaking Muslims of the region.

But as the Islamic Tamil literature conferences are showing, ties between the Tamil speaking Muslims across borders had not vanished.

And there is hope that they can be salvaged and nurtured.
[Courtesy: Hindustan Times]

By Ranee Mohamed

Today is the 47th birthday of Tiran Alles. It is far from being a happy birthday. In fact, it is the bleakest birthday ever experienced by this man whose parents have done more for other people’s sons and daughters than it is humanely possible in this lifetime.

[Tiran Alles greeting President Mahinda Rajapakse during merrier times]

Ralph I.T. Alles has been acclaimed as teacher, principal and educationist par excellence. Emerging from Royal College, as teachers, both Alles and his wife Rohini Alles, are today leading figures in imparting an international education to thousands of children.

Not only that, investigations have revealed that on the instructions of their eldest son Tiran Alles, the couple had assigned special teachers to prepare the President’s youngest son for his London examinations.

It is also learnt that the President’s youngest son arrived at a special section of the Gateway International School till the last day leading upto his examinations. He had received specialised lessons in physics and computing among other subjects.

Pay back

It was only last week that the young lad sat for his examination and soon after, as if by way of a twisted pay back, Alles’s own son, the apple of his eye, Tiran was arrested by the Terrorism Investigations Department while he was seeking treatment for a severe allergy and other complications at the Nawaloka Hospital.

Though it was medically advised that Tiran Alles not be exposed to trauma lest his condition worsens, there was nothing that his parents, brother and immediate family could do to arrest the agony, humiliation and interrogation that followed the arrest.

At his Kuruppu Lane residence in Borella, there is a constant supply of cool drinks as people from all walks of life stop by to offer their ’sympathies’ at the fate that has befallen the dynamic young Tiran Alles, who was the former Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Authority.

His mother Rohini Alles is ill; the tears in her eyes are not drying. She is not able to get up from her chair. This teacher who has shown only loving compassion to the thousands of children she has taught in her 50 year old career as a teacher is today at a loss for words. On medication, Rohini Alles, who was in control of her self at the tragic death of her younger son Malik Alles, in 1984, is today unable to come to terms with the fate that has befallen Tiran Alles, who is very much alive but is dealing with a fate as dark as death itself.

Dark grief returns

Alles’ youngest son, Malik Alles died at 17, when a cricket ball hit him on his head at the D.S. Senanayake College grounds in 1984. The anguish that the Alles’ fell at that time was felt by the entire nation.

“I remember that time, there were many photographers trying to capture our grief. On Wednesday, May 30, too I felt that same dark grief as photographers flashed their cameras and crowded around us after Tiran was taken into custody,” said Ralph Alles. For the Alles’ the pain of losing a son that ripped them apart 23 years ago, returned again this year, this time threatening to rip their very being.

It was painful to see this educationist cry. But locked in their bedroom, these two teachers with a teaching career of over 50 years have been crying uncontrollably day and night. Their anguish is taking a toll on them, for at 70 years, their frail bodies are now weighed down with an unbearably heavy heart.

“Why? Why? Why?, did this happen to me?” queries Alles in distress. The tears well in his eyes and he reaches out with an unsteady hand to wipe them. These hands steadied a ten thousand children. But today there is no one to steady Alles in a way that is meaningful, for the only thing that he wants is to see his son Tiran, safe and free.

Confusing

“If he has done wrong, then he has to be punished. Then he ought to be taken to courts. But this continuous ‘arresting’ from time to time is confusing. I think my son is being politically victimised. He is a man who would do anything for his friends and when he started this newspaper I knew that it was to help his friends. He did not know anything about media or journalism and I do not think he even knew the editorial content in his newspaper,” said Alles.

Visitors believed that it was a strange coincidence that Tiran Alles was arrested 24 hours after Mangala Samaraweera said ‘no’ to rejoining the government.

In the centre of controversy is also the newspaper of Tiran Alles’ which, it is learnt, was warned by the powers-that-be to tone down.

Rohini and Ralph Alles and their other son Harsha had in fact opposed the idea of Tiran Alles starting a newspaper. They had even opposed his entry to politics. “Politics is a dirty game in this country and we vehemently opposed his decision,” said Alles. But the family had finally given in.

Tiran Alles is blessed with this close-knit family. But today he is unable to see his own children. His eldest son, sitting for his A.S. examinations is suffering from uncontrollable fever. He is asking for his father. His daughter who is sitting for her G.C.E. O/Ls is in deeper turmoil. They want their father back.

Strange twists

“How can I look at the faces of these children? What do I tell them when they ask for their father,” asked Ralph Alles, crying helplessly.

Life is full of strange quirks and twists for R.I.T. Alles, who built D.S. Senanayake College in 1967 with only a 100 X 20 temporary building. He also built another school called the C.W.W. Kannangara College in Galle for children affected by the tsunami and the children of fisher folk. In addition to this he has been imparting an international educational with Gateway for over two decades. Alles who has throughout his 50 years or so been showing the way to thousands of children is today unable to save his own child.

“I have instilled great qualities in my children. It was only Tiran who was able to have a foreign education. After sitting for his A/Ls, he went abroad. He studied in the UK for two years but I always told him that he has to come back and serve the country,” said Alles.

Tiran Alles had opportunities to settle down abroad but the family’s way of thinking is ‘Country Before Self,’ Alles’ Motto that prevails at D.S. Senanayake College. “When I was at D.S. I was given a scholarship to England. At the end of the scholarship, I came first in the batch of 14 scholarships. Our salary was then only three sterling pounds. The professor offered me a job as deputy principal. ‘We will pay you Sterling Pounds 120,’ he offered. I had just started D.S. Senanayake College, the shed was made into a small building, and the challenge was - here is a job as deputy principal in the UK with living quarters, education for my children and other perks. But I put country before self and I came back. This is what I instilled in my children too, to put country before self,” cried Alles.

“The largest number of officers who sacrificed their life for their country are from D.S. Senanayake College. Because this was instilled into them, this is the environment in which Tiran Alles was brought up,” said Alles.

Sad situation

“When I look at the situation now, I wonder whether I made the correct decision by not accepting that job. Who knows, then my younger son would not have died.

“Today we are undergoing a life and death situation. Today when I go to hospital to see my son I have to get permission from the police constables or CID there to just look at my son for a few minutes. I am allowed a limited time, I can speak only a few words, and when I see him there, surrounded by policemen, words fail me. Why this grief, why this trauma, what wrong have we done….” he asked in tears.

[Parents of Tiran Alles accompanied by ousted minister Sripathi Sooriyarachchi rushing to the Nawaloka hospital as TID detectives grilled Mr. Alles. Pic by Saman Kariyawasam]

Look what I have done for my country and look what the country is doing to my children…” cried Alles in tears.

“Tiran was at the airport for three years, first as the deputy chairman and then as the chairman. Many visitors to and from the airport made many glowing comments about the airport and it is during his time that the airport really blossomed. We were also very proud to know that he did not take a salary from the airport. He did not take his official vehicle. He did not use his official quarters. I know of instances when even for official work he traveled at his own cost,” said Alles.

“During Tiran Alles’ time, the profitability of the airport increased sevenfold. We are surprised that he is being investigated for financial dealings. We are shocked to see that either in the press or anywhere no questions are being asked about the dealings of the airport for it is during his time that billions of rupees and dollars came by way of expanding of the airport, by way of duty free shops. I am sure the government has access to this information and we are surprised why not one question is asked about the airport..” said Alles.

Maubima

“We began Gateway after mortgaging our house. Tiran Alles achieved success through his own perseverance,” he said.

When it has been pointed out by the powers that be that Tiran Alles’s Maubima was being critical of the government, his father had advised Alles to either close the newspaper or stop the publication of material critical of the government in the newspaper for one week. Thereafter in one issue the newspaper had refrained from publishing critical material. The following week, due to the freezing of their accounts, only 16 pages had been published. and thereafter folded.

“Tiran had such strong qualities. His was a true friend and his belief in friendship was admirable. If he was a friend, then he was a friend in good times and in bad. We know that he is being victimised because of his ‘friendship’ with certain people,” said Alles.

“This is a tragedy for us. I have lost one son and I do not want to lose another before I close my eyes… I am appealing to everyone at home and abroad, I am appealing to the powers that be to save my child who I know has done no wrong. He, in keeping with my motto has always put country before self,” said Alles.

“He neglected his company the CBE and worked for the development of the airport and for the country and for what he has done I really thought that he will be made a king or something….. cried his father, touching his temples and looking around in anguish at his crying wife. He looks away from her, with a blurred, tear tinged vision at his kingdom which is now beginning to fall apart. [thesundayleader.lk]