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By K. Arvind

“The world is a beautiful flower vase – filled with scorpions” – Taraghay, father of Warlord Tamerlane

In our on-going debate and the search for peace many well-meaning men and women of learning across the ethnic divide are sharing their thoughts and prescriptions to reach that goal all of us yearn for. But there are others too actively moving – though not exactly in the same trajectory. In Izzath Hussain’s “Indian factor and moral power”, the writer puts forward the bizarre suggestion that the Jaffna people – where the vast population are innocent and non-combatant men, women, children, infants, the sick, the infirm and others – be subject to starvation as a means to put down the armed rebellion there.

I quote Hussain: “the question has to be asked why the Sri Lanka government has not regarded as having the right to put down a purely internal rebellion – by ANY MEANS including the use of FAMINE’ (emphasis mine). He repeats the suggestion several times over. That such a cruel and insensitive suggestion should come in this enlightened 21st century from someone said to be a former career diplomat, ambassador and a noted contributor in matters of public interest – is indicative of the intensity of our prolonged conflict indeed had shattered many usually stable minds once capable of offering gentle succour and solace – but now remain twisted.

I expect the government, at whose direction Hussain’s advice is projected, will reject this with all the contempt that it deserves though the lethargic pace at which the matter is handled can go to support the argument that there can be within the State side elements, however small in number, whose hidden agendas are served by the shortage of essentials in the Peninsula.

Those of us who have read Hussain’s writing for some time note he has a particular kink against the Indian government in general and Tamils in this country – in particular. I recall his previous writings where he has mocked Tamil sufferings and generally placing the universally sympathized Tamil position in dubious light. Controversy is not something new to Hussain. The ink is still not dry on his last one in the columns of the “The Island” where he gave his own interpretation of history vis-`E1-vis Leonard Woolf – that was immediately challenged.

Transparently betraying his anti-Indian tirade, without any foundation or provocation at all, he astonishingly suggests India put forward a candidate to “sabotage” Dhanapala’s chances. If such a charge is unsubstantiated it will amount to an attempt to create hatred of India in the eyes of our nationals. It may be noted the Sri Lankan government, fortunately, has never ever travelled down this road of thinking on this subject. The fact is Sashi Tharoor is still joint hot favourite along with Korea’s Ban Ki-Moon and although Jayantha Dhanapala seemed to have most of the necessary qualifications to make the ideal UN-SG, whether one likes it or not, India has more clout in the international arena than we do and will naturally use it in favour of its own preferred candidate.

Personally, it would have pleased me immensely if Dhanapala, who has just withdrawn his candidature, was to grace that lofty position. Hussain goes further and – once more recklessly and without evidence, suggests “India is determined to sabotage all our chances for prestigious international posts and membership at executive levels in UN institutions. The intention, it was surmised, was to see that Sri Lanka was internationally regarded as a country of no account whatsoever in the affairs of the world.”Come, come, good man – there has to be first a rationale and then an end to your divisive games. Sri Lanka remembers Dr. Gamani Corea who occupied that high post of Secretary General/UNCTAD and worked harmoniously with senior Indian diplomats during his long tenure – marked by much acclaimed distinction. Giving a conspiratorial flavour to Steve Mann’s visit, Hussain tells us Mann was here to warn us “there is a real danger of Indian intervention” – obliquely suggesting the US was warning us to fall in line with Indian thinking – or else? Mann was here, it is widely believed in circles close to government, to give support to the theory of the international community that a National Consensus between the major South Sri Lanka parties will bring the country closer to a durable solution.

To suggest “India broke up Pakistan” is to betray again your prejudice against India and to display ignorance of the Indo-Pakistan conflict of 1971. Hussain then rediscovers his posture and says, “Pakistan government was wrong in denying Sheikh Mujibur Rahman his rightful place to lead Pakistan presumably in terms of having won the larger number of seats for the Awami League than Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP.

This is, in fact, what brought about the break of Pakistan. Indira Gandhi was no fool to sit and watch when so much that can affect the future of her vast country was happening around her. When the leaders of the East Pakistan rebellion called for Indian intervention and help, she naturally obliged. General Yahiya Khan did not “take power” in Dhaka after the elections – as Hussain casually suggests. He “illegally seized” power using his armed might against the weak and dis-organised to-be Bangladeshis. Then by his and the conduct of his troops in the following period Yaihya was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of East Pakistani civilians earning him the unenviable sobriquet “the Butcher of .” When I visited the University of Dhaka ten years later, I found the bitterness against Yahiya’s men still intense – particularly among women students there whose memory of the brutal desecration against their colleagues in 1971 remained still fresh.

For Hussain to suggest the imposition of man-made famine in Jaffna “as legitimate in warfare down the millennia” is preposterous and inhumane.

Hussain’s other macabre emphasis “to put down the rebellion – by any means” would qualify him to be in the inner circles of Saddam Hussain where over 5,000 women, children and others were killed by chemical warfare in Shanakhasiya and other villages in the Kurdish populated areas of Iraq in March 1988 – one of the many charges against Saddam Hussain being tried for war crimes presently. Resort to “by any means” was that part of the Final Solution the Nazi’s carried out against the Jews during WW2 – which a more compassionate, tolerant and enlightened world considered unacceptable.

The principle that wars should be regulated by rules is now the accepted universal norm. Treatment of both combatants and civilians under these Covenants rules out starvation or the denial of food, medicine and essentials as instruments of war strategy.

By the way, in strict legal terms, Sri Lanka is “not at war.” The Hague Convention IV respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land of 18/10/1907; the Geneva Conventions (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th) on Armed Conflicts and International Law which the Sri Lankan legislature certified on 26.02.2006 – are in support of this Dhaka principle.

In conclusion, whereas the political leadership in the country, analysts and historians are generally agreed LTTE is a product of aberrations from the side of successive Sri Lankan governments since the 1970s, Hussain strangely seems to suggest otherwise. While the LTTE have committed many crimes to be globally condemned for, it must be said they were born, indisputably, as the result of majoritarian chauvinism and the lack of political foresight and wisdom in different administrations of different political persuasions who alas failed to differentiate between “the wood from the trees” – at least so far as understanding the ethnic affair is concerned.

It has been said more than once if you remove the latter you simultaneously remove the former from the body politic of this lovely but troubled land – home to us all. Let us leave the business of suggestions and proposals in the search for our peace to those “without an axe to grind” in the issue.

Fortunately, we still have many in our society above prejudice and possessed of the intellectual wherewithal to map out an acceptable solution – hopefully soon. I might conclude using Hussain’s own chosen quotation in the hope we do not earn for ourselves the misfortune where “Fools and scoundrels guide the State.”

Sri Lankan newspapers have honoured and are paying tribute to veteran journalist Ajith Samaranayake in their recent Editorials.

Ajith, who died aged 51 on Wednesday Nov 22, after a brief illness, began his brilliant career in 1975 at Lake House.

He was also a prolific writer on the arts, drama, cinema, literature, on current personalities and contemporary events. He was also renowned as one of the best leader (editorial) writers in the country and as a political commentator.

He frequently wrote to Sinhala newspapers and some of his articles were translated and published in Tamil newspapers.

The following are Editorials from Daily Mirror, The Island and Daily News:

Island: A journalist and gentleman

Ajith is no more! The icy cold hand of death has cruelly removed from our midst a brilliant journalist and wonderful friend. We are at a loss for words to describe how diminished we are. Our sorrow knows no bounds.

Ajith (Samaranayake) began his brilliant career way back in 1975 at Lake House as a young radical bubbling with zest and burning passion for the printed word. Having already cut his teeth on writing at Trinity, he took to journalism like a duck to water. Under the tutelage of heavyweights of the day, he rose to the cruising altitude of Sri Lankan journalism in no time.

He joined The Island at its inception and went on to edit The Island Sunday Edition. No respecter of political potentates and their commissars, he led the charge against the dictatorial regime at that time from the front to keep the popular struggle to democratise Sri Lankan politics alive. He also lent his voice fearlessly to mass movements for democracy and human rights.

There was hardly a subject that he didn’t write about. He excelled as a literary critic, political commentator and editorialist par excellence. Anything that he wrote, the people devoured avidly. His columns sold newspapers. To us the fellow scribes, it was a pleasure to be with Ajith and see him at work. He would sit in his editorial chair stroking his greying beard and suddenly he would spring into action. He would take out his small typewriter—by the ear as we jokingly said—and produce a juicy copy in record time and disappear equally fast after finishing it to exercise his elbow at a watering hole, a habit that never deserted him. He apparently thought on the same lines as Mark Twain, who said:

All say, “How hard it is that we have to die”- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

Following the false beginning of a new era in 1994, immersed in the prevailing zeitgeist, he went whence he had come—to edit The Sunday Observer. His going back was a mistake as he used to confide in the editor of this newspaper whenever they met. At the time of his death, he was Editor of The Friday tabloid.

Ajith obsessively strove to maintain what he fondly referred to as gravitas in journalism, which is fast disappearing with packaging taking precedence over content in today’s newspapers, as he recently pointed out in a column. He jealously guarded editorial freedom and had the knack for having a tiff with those who wielded authority. He knew there was a Brutus behind every pillar in state media institutions but didn’t give two hoots about the consequences that his defiance would lead to. For, he didn’t care for positions. A good journalist, it is said, works with the resignation letter in his pocket.

The tragic death of his sister last week dealt a devastating blow that Ajith could hardly withstand. Since then, he had been battling death in an ICU of a Colombo hospital. A fighter to the last, he may have thought like Donne:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so`85

With Ajith’s untimely demise, gone is a man who never bartered standards and ethics of his profession for personal gain. Ajith leaves us sad but proud.

Adios amigo!

Daily Mirror: Our departed friend Ajith

It is with a deep sense of grief and loss that we pen these words after hearing of the death of our friend and fellow journalist Ajith Samaranayake. His untimely demise has removed from Sri Lanka’s Fourth Estate one of the best, if not the most versatile and accomplished among English writers.

Besides his outstanding achievements in his profession, he was a remarkable human being with sterling qualities. Always smiling and cheerful and never letting his colleagues down or betraying them, he endeared himself to everybody who had the fortune to work with him. He belonged to a fraternity of media men that kept their head high, remained independent and acted according to the dictates of conscience without succumbing to powers that be for selfish gain.

Ajith was a prolific and fluent writer. It was indeed a treat and marvel to watch, during his days at the Island, how he hammered his way through his editorials on an old-fashioned typewriter emitting a staccato sound around the office. As he was unfamiliar with the touch system he used his forefinger to type but finished the task at breakneck speed before he adjourned for lunch.

He was one of the best lobby correspondents in the country. His accounts of parliamentary proceedings interspersed with wit and humour were widely and avidly read by those desiring to get an objective view of what transpired in the House. He earned an honoured niche as a literary and art critic contributing many columns and articles to the newspapers.

All his fellow journalists loved him and he in turn was close to them. He was always quick to write an appreciation whenever the death of a colleague occurred. He brought out in his inimitable style how each of them enriched the profession of journalism in this country.

It was unfortunate that towards the end of his sojourn here, the reading public was deprived of the effusions from the prolific pen he deftly wielded from the time he took to journalism as a young man fresh from a leading school, Trinity in the Hill Capital. The void that his death has created at a time when journalists writing in good English are a vanishing tribe, is certain to remain unfilled for a long time to come.

We offer our condolences to his wife Mano and other members of his family.

Editorial By Daily News

THE sudden demise of journalist and writer par excellence Ajith Samaranayake has not only caused shock and sorrow among fellow scribes but has also cast a pall of gloom over the entire media scene of which was a live wire.

As seen from the tributes that kept pouring after the sad news broke out, Ajith was no ordinary journalist. His genius was evident to those of his colleagues and not least the readers who lapped up his articles on wide and varied topics.

Ajith wrote on a broad canvas and there was practically no subject that eluded his pen. The depth of the analysis of his subjects made for compelling reading. Ajith had no peer for the uncanny turn of phrase and he brought out the nuances in the craft which could only come from a genius.

Although Ajith was not in the field during what is described as the golden era of Lake House journalists in the 60s and early 70s, there is no doubt that he could wear the mantle alongside such giants as Denzil Peiris, Tarzie Vittachi and Mervyn De Silva et al in those halcyon days of independent journalism.

He brought out the best from the old school of journalism to bear on the contemporary times which was evident from his swashbuckling style that held readers in thrall.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that The Island and the Sunday Observer where he was editor at different times, upped their circulation purely through the overwhelming demand by readers for Ajith Samaranayake bylined articles.

His topics ranged from politics, personal profiles to arts and culture. His editorials were lively and dynamic and went into the core of the issue while the appreciations he wrote on the demise of colleagues and other worthies were simply out of this world. As a lobby correspondent he had no equal in his time.

Those of us who were close to him knew Ajith as an independent thinker who brooked no interference from any quarter in his line of duty.

Though known to be of a socialist bent he however was no bigot and liberally engaged in political discourse with his colleagues, bringing forth the depth of his knowledge of men and matters.

Ajith cultivated a large circle of politicians who were on first name terms with him but he never deigned to be at their beck and call. He was the quintessential journalist who made is mark through sheer brilliance in his chosen field.

Ajith was also known to espouse the cause of colleagues who had fallen foul with the establishment and was generally the pivot around which journalists fraternised.

He would go to any lengths to defend a colleague, a trait which was demonstrated in ample measure when he once publicly challenged a one time all powerful deputy defence minister over his remark that he would imprison journalist who failed to toe the line.

In a way he was a rebel who called a spade a spade and often formed the bulwark against attacks on the journalist tribe.

His views were often reflected in his spicy articles which titillated the reading public. Ajith walked with Presidents and Prime Ministers but never lost his balance and wore his childlike simplicity at all times.

Ajith was a powerhouse of knowledge on almost on all contemporary topics and his anecdotal writing style gripped the reader to the pages.

Though conferred with high posts in the newspapers Ajith was modest to a fault and it was common to see him in the company of a band of journalist colleagues trekking to his famous haunt in the blazing sun. Ajith made waves with his writing, like the waves of sympathy that has engulfed the media scene today with his passing away.

Comparative analysis of the intricate conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka

By Dr. S. Narapalasingam

The complexity of the calamitous conflict in Sri Lanka due to the intransigence of the warring parties with regard to their divergent aims has not been fully grasped by the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donors Conference – the United States, the European Union, Japan and Norway, who are pressing the warring parties to stop fighting, comply with the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and seek a negotiated settlement. Issues such as one-party self-rule for merged Northern and Eastern provinces, implicit in the way the settlement is being sought by the rebels have added another dimension complicating the resolution of the conflict. This has resulted in the killing of many politicians and intellectuals committed to democracy, pluralism and unity of the people and the country, as well as members of Tamil groups opposed to LTTE’s ideology and aims. Many Tamil civilians have also been killed in the course of consolidating the rebel outfit, LTTE as the sole representative of Sri Lankan Tamils. Thus, the war for independent Tamil Eelam has been waged with dual aims. On the other hand, the parties on the other side of the ethnic divide want to preserve the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and the central features of the failed unitary/majoritarian system.

Conscious of the unbridgeable gulf between the conflicting aims, their promises, declared commitments as well as public announcements are dodgy. At present, the government is trying to exploit the global ‘war on terror’ to convince the world that Sri Lanka too is being challenged by acts of terrorism unleashed by the LTTE this year. It has been declaring that its actions are only defensive against the offensives of the LTTE. On the other hand, the LTTE which also says it is compelled to take defensive actions is trying to convince the world the State terror is killing innocent people and causing severe hardships to the living by depriving them of food and other essentials. The sad aspect is that both parties are responsible for the humanitarian crisis and are equally guilty of the reluctance to take the initiative to end the killings and sufferings of the people. The exigent problems of the people in the East and North are being exploited to demean the enemy.

Hopefully, the above introductory remarks will help to grasp the hidden differences between the conflicts in Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka discussed in this article and the consequential difficulties in seeking a negotiated political settlement to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Northern Ireland’s experience

On the invitation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, British Labour MP Paul Murphy, who was the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during 2002-2005 visited Sri Lanka November 14 – 16 to share his role in the Northern Ireland peace process that followed the U.S.-brokered 1998 Good Friday or Belfast Agreement. He hoped the leaders in Sri Lanka could learn from their experience. At a meeting organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce on November 14 he drew attention to the following facts:

(i) There was hardly a family in Northern Ireland that was not affected by the violent sectarian conflict. It was the realization that no one could actually win the war and hence there was no point in continuing it that influenced both sides to seek a political settlement.

(ii) The will of all stakeholders to succeed in reaching a political settlement, the right structure for negotiations and an all-inclusive process led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The agreement was able to contain the violence stemming from clashes between Catholics and Protestants, even though it was tested at many different junctures.

(iii) What is needed in Sri Lanka is a home-grown solution. “A solution in one part of the world cannot be taken 5000 miles away in the hope that it works; it won’t work because the causes are different.” In Northern Ireland case, “the causes of the conflict ultimately boiled down to identity and self-esteem”.

(iv) If the stakeholders to the conflict are “as creative and imaginative as they can and if there is a will nothing is impossible.

These points were also mentioned in his media briefing after he met with the LTTE leaders in Kilinochchi. The crucial role played by the U.S, Irish and British governments in reaching the Good Friday Agreement was not emphasized. In Sri Lanka’s case, Norway the only country directly involved in the 2002 CFA and the now forsaken peace process had a different role not as powerful as the countries that exerted pressure on the parties in the Northern Ireland conflict. Furthermore, Sinn Fein a political party in the democratic mainstream led by Gerry Adams, a former IRA member was recognized by all governments as the political wing of the IRA. The chief negotiator of Sinn Fein, Martin McGuinness a former IRA guerrilla is known for having steered the development of a coherent political strategy through the most trying of times. He visited Sri Lanka early this year and met leaders in Colombo and Kilinochchi. He also told it was the realization by the parties to the conflict in Northern Ireland that the war was not winnable and its continuation would only increase further the losses and the suffering of the people that influenced them to stop the combat and seek a negotiated political settlement. This realization has not yet dawned on the leaders of the warring parties in Sri Lanka.

Importantly, the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party John Hume played the key role in persuading both sides to negotiate for a political settlement. On 7 February 2000, John Hume told: “There are terrible choices for all of us to make, if the agreement falls. This is a very historic time. For the very first time in our history the will of the Irish people as to how they share the island of Ireland has been established and made clear in joint referenda. It took immense effort by two Governments, the US President, all the political parties on this island and the massive support of the people of Ireland to achieve this prize. I now appeal to the IRA to show their deep respect for the will of the Irish people. I ask them to demonstrate for all to see their patriotism and desire to move the situation forward by strengthening the peace process through beginning voluntarily the process of decommissioning.”

[Paul Murphy, special envoy of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in Kilinochchi: Photo - TamilNet]

Paul Murphy after meeting the LTTE political wing leader S. P. Tamilselvan and other members in Kilinochchi on November 16 said there are striking similarities between the two conflicts. Although the number killed in the Northern Ireland conflict is about 3,500 compared with 65,000 in Sri Lanka, in terms of the ratio to the population of 1.5 million and 20 million the difference is not significant. A simple statistical comparison of the fatalities does not reveal the intricate differences between the two conflicts. This is not to deny there are some striking similarities. In the Sri Lankan conflict, more than 3,400 civilians, military personnel and rebel fighters have been killed and tens of thousands of Tamil and Muslim families displaced from their habitats during the ten months of this year. The number killed so far this year is about the total that died during the three decades of the Northern Ireland conflict. In addition to the lakh already in Tamil Nadu, more than 10,000 Tamils mostly from Trincomalee and Mannar have fled there this year. In Sri Lanka the number of fratricidal killings is also very high and the victims are all Tamils. Importantly, the irresponsible way the war was conducted over a long period in Sri Lanka is also a distinct factor that is hindering a mutually acceptable political solution.

Sinn Fein did not claim to be the sole representative of the Catholics and obstruct John Hume’s move to end the fighting and start the negotiation process. It did not interfere with the right of the people to vote freely, nor avoided facing the electorate. The other main party, the Democratic Unionist Party led by hardline priest, Rev. Ian Paisley backed by the Protestants too did not assert to be their sole representative. Besides the main Catholic Sinn Fein and Protestant Democratic Unionist Party, there were other parties, namely, the Alliance Party, Ulster Unionist Party, Progressive Unionist Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party that were involved in the peace negotiations. This enabled the Good Friday agreement to contain the violence stemming from frequent clashes between Catholics and Protestants. The success as mentioned by Paul Murphy during his recent visit is due to the “all inclusive process” that led to the Good Friday Agreement. The leaders of the different political parties in Sri Lanka are not as conscious as their counterparts in Northern Ireland, particularly with regard to the concerns and future of the people. In the case of the LTTE it has managed to create a situation where even the main political party which had the support of the Tamil voters is subservient to its strategy to establish ‘Tamil homeland’ in North-East Sri Lanka. Those minor parties not toeing its line are regarded as ‘friends of the enemy’. They are referred to as paramilitary groups and not as political parties representing the Tamils.

In the last election to the 108-seat Northern Ireland Assembly, voters from both communities elected the two hardline parties – the DUP and Sinn Fein. Although, it was agreed Rev. Ian Paisley of the DUP would be the First Minister and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein would be the Deputy First Minister, the power-sharing establishment is not functioning as intended because of the insistence by Rev. Paisley that the Deputy Martin McGuinness must pledge an oath of allegiance to the Police Service of Northern Ireland that is dominated excessively by Protestants. However, all parties are optimistic this problem will be resolved, because of their determination to avert the volatile past.

TNA not like Sinn Fein

LTTE’s political wing has only a leader without the normal grouping. The TNA an alliance of four Tamil parties with 22 members in the Parliament is not the political wing of the LTTE. The parliamentarians are required to be the spokespersons of the militant LTTE that has proclaimed to be the sole representative of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. They have no role in the talks between the LTTE and the government and are not even consulted before the talks.

They are expected to espouse the LTTE’s cause in Colombo within and outside the Parliament. Although the slain TNA parliamentarian Nadaraja Raviraj was conscious of the need for a potent organization in the struggle to free the minority Tamils from Sinhalese majoritarian rule, he had expressed publicly views that were not quite in line with LTTE’s ideology. The TNA parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan at the press conference called by the Anti-War Front at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on November 13 said: “He (Raviraj) resolutely stood for pluralism, democracy and human rights.” What he did not tell publicly was that the late N. Raviraj was against separation. He wanted a federal system in a united Sri Lanka for all ethnic communities to co-exist amicably. The tributes paid by the Sinhalese, Muslim and Tamil leaders from different political persuasions and religious faiths demonstrate that the brutal murder of a promising leader is a loss for the country as a whole and not just for the Tamils alone. He strived for a peaceful settlement of the conflict through dialogue and compromise.

In an interview with ‘Weekend Standard’ January 28, 2006 Raviraj had told: “I don’t endorse any kind of killing as a democrat and as a person who is totally committed to non violence. In fact I don’t encourage violence in what ever form. We are only members of the Tamil National Alliance and we have joined hands with the LTTE not on the military side, that must be very clear and we have nothing to do with their military matters. Of course, we have very close contacts with them on the political side in order to find a political solution to the ethnic problem. We wanted to get the LTTE into the democratic stream. In order to get them in we are even sacrificing our political careers and we say you talk to the LTTE only. So we are making this type of sacrifice, in order to see an end to all kinds of killings and violence. This is our real ambition. So as you say para-military people or ex-militant people or other political party cadres had been killed, I do not deny it. Those are facts. And it has to be stopped. There is no other way to do it other than for us to engage in talks”.

To the query, “where do things stand now”, he replied: “I am a person, who always believe in hope and I am always optimistic. I would like Sri Lanka to survive without any major problems and all of us should live as equals. We want this country to prosper. There is no question about this matter or this stand”.

The demise of Raviraj at the present time, another liberal Tamil leader who had peace embedded in his heart and mind is very unfortunate for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Current situation in Sri Lanka

The current situation in Sri Lanka is the worst in the long period of the separatist war. Its ramification to a peaceful settlement of the conflict and to the character of future society has not influenced the thinking of the leaders, who have the power to prevent the looming disintegration of human and social values. The alarmingly rising crime rate in Sri Lanka is certainly an offshoot of the ongoing war. Professor S. T. Hettige of the Colombo University has said, the violent crimes are manifestations of a deeper malaise the country is facing. He said: “The whole country is giving way. There is a high wave of crime. There has been a total failure of governance for several decades”. Politically motivated killings and the worsening law and order situation seem to have had no effect on the attitudes of political leaders. Good governance like ‘just and honourable’ peace seems to be a mere slogan to dupe the people.

The pitiful situation in the North and East serves to know the mindset of those responsible for causing and sustaining it. The frank Helen Olafsdottir from Iceland, the spokesperson of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) with only few monitors from Norway and Iceland remaining after those from the EU countries quit the island, in an interview with ‘The Nation’ was asked: “The LTTE has barred some international agencies from transporting food to the North. What is your observation?” She replied: “This is inexcusable but as always there are two sides of the coin. The LTTE is threatening the ship traffic to Jaffna and preventing e.g. the ICRC from transporting items to Jaffna. This is wrong. At the same time we have suggested to get a human corridor established in Vakarai so that aid may be transported into the area but to no avail. The SLMM feels that it has the needed guarantees from the LTTE but the GOSL is not allowing us even to go through the checkpoints. This is limiting our freedom of movement and violates the CFA. Both are not doing their best in order to alleviate the suffering of the people. Tigers are based among civilians and then the army bombs those places where civilians are. Both are wrong.”

To another question: “How do you view the closure of the A-9 road and the irregular supply of food to the North that has led to a crisis in the peninsula”, she replied: “Our view is simple here. The A-9 should be opened as soon as possible because keeping it closed violates the CFA.” Like Allan Rock, the special advisor to the UN representative for children and armed conflict, who implicated in his report both the Karuna group and the security forces in the forcible recruitment of children in the East based on his findings during his 10-day visit to the North and East, Helen Olafsdottir too has become unpopular among some section in the southern polity.

The Karuna faction has also been added this year to the UN Secretary General’s “list of shame” that aims to discredit governments and armed groups committing grave crimes against children. This list is included in the latest report of the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Security Council released on November 17. The plight of the Tamils in the East is different from their counterparts in the North because of two rival Tiger groups operating there.

The aerial bombings of areas under LTTE’s control that started after the suicide bomb attack in Colombo in April and escalated with subsequent provoking attacks by the LTTE, killed civilians including many children. The target of the suicide bomber was Sri Lankan Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who survived after sustaining serious injuries. Following the wide protests within and outside Sri Lanka on civilian casualties, the targets of Sri Lankan Air Force are now identified ‘Sea Tiger bases and training camps’. Although no civilian casualties have been reported, the people in the surrounding areas live in constant fear.

Ten lorry loads of food were sent on 17th November, from the Batticaloa Kachcheri to Vakarai and Kathiravelli. They were stopped at Navalladdy south of Mankerni Army checkpoint by the soldiers and directed to return. Eight lorry loads with food sent the next day were also stopped at the Maankerni checkpoint and were not allowed to proceed further. According to the military, the displaced persons who fled the rebel-controlled Vakarai area sheltering in the Mankerni refugee camp in government controlled area looted the supplies in the consignment. As a result about 12,000 families in the rebel-held Vakarai and Kathiravelli in Batticaloa district were denied essential supplies.

The government announced that the refugees (IDPs) in Mankerni would receive adequate essential supplies, while the difficulty in sending the essentials to rebel-held Vakarai is because of the artillery firing by the LTTE. According to some reports, the LTTE is forcibly preventing the civilians in the areas under their control to move to government-controlled areas in the East. Some 8000 anti personnel mines have been buried around Vakarai to prevent the people crossing over to government controlled areas. In the move to weaken the enemy, one party is trying to draw the civilians to its side, while the other is preventing them from leaving for their strength and protection.

Using civilians as weapons

The latest UTHR(J) Special Report No. 23 has vividly conveyed the callous actions of both sides in showing their power and determination regardless of the dire consequences. On the earlier tragic events in Muthur and Sampur, it says: “Both the Government and the LTTE conducted their military operations without the slightest concern for the civilians, who in the affected areas were mainly Muslims and Tamils. The Government’s bombing and shelling, claimed more than 100 civilian lives and injured about thrice that number. It knew of the presence of the displaced in Muthur schools, but nevertheless shelled them. The LTTE shelled government positions from civilian concentrations. It paid back the civilians in the village of Sampur by using it to direct cannon fire at the naval base in Trincomalee, without any thought for them.

Little reaches the public domain about the plight of the Tamil refugees of the area that is almost beyond belief. Many of the displaced were already living in Eechilampattu when troubles started in July. They fled to Vakarai and Panichchankerny in the LTTE-controlled part of Batticaloa District to escape the exchange of missiles by the Government and the LTTE. From the beginning of October, Vakarai and Panichchankerny have been regularly bombed and shelled by the Government. Many of the refugees have fled back across the Verugal River into Eechilampattu, where there is absolutely no access to any relief agency. The LTTE’s publicity campaigns too have made very little of the plight of these refugees. Their thrust at Geneva was the humanitarian crisis in Jaffna, to a large extent engineered by them, with a view to having the A9 trunk road open for their own ends”.

The report in condemning the closure of A-9 at Muhamalai entry-exit point by the government has said: “The A-9 road must be opened because the people have the right to travel and to trade and it has been Jaffna’s main lifeline for 65 years after barriers were imposed on sea borne trade with India. The LTTE’s abuse of this lifeline is an issue that must be tackled separately.” In Sri Lanka both the warring parties are impervious to the plight of civilians caught in the fighting. Much worse is the use of the humanitarian disaster to portray the enemy as vicious and inhuman, when both are unwilling to defuse the crisis.

[From left; US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, Norway's Minister of International Development Erik Solheim, Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi, and Herve Jouanjean, the European Commission director general relations, at a news conference at the State Department in Washington - Photo Courtesy: DailyMirror/AP]

The Co-chairs’ statement issued after the review meeting in Washington D.C. on November 21 asked the Sri Lankan government to reopen the A-9 highway and called upon the Tamil Tigers to cooperate with the government in the humanitarian initiatives that are implemented through the relief organisation to help the civilians. The statement urged both parties to work together to depoliticize the humanitarian aspects of the conflict and to respect human rights. Given the past record of the warring parties paying no heed to earlier statements of the Co-Chairs, it is very doubtful whether there will be positive response to the latest call.

The Island editorial 24th November has poignantly said: “However noble their intentions may be, the Co-chairs are, we are afraid, not making a worthwhile contribution to peace making. They are only behaving like a group of preachers trying as they do very hard to impress the virtues of non violence, compassion and respect for human rights on the warring factions, knowing very well that they are pouring water on a duck’s back. Nobody seems to pay heed to their preaching but they go on pontificating. Thus, the Co-chairs have wasted their time and money on meetings. The suffering of civilians remains far from ameliorated, violence escalates and the death toll rises. ……. Bland statements which leave much unsaid are not going to take us anywhere”.

Strategy to promote hatred

The strategy used by the LTTE to demean the enemy since the time they were fighting against the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) has been exposed by many analysts. Tisaranee Gunasekara in her weekly columns in the ‘Asian Tribune’ and the ‘Sunday Island’ of 19 November 2006 has warned the government of the consequences of reacting irresponsibly in retaliation as is happening now to LTTE’s strategic hostile actions.

To quote: “The fate of the IPKF is particularly instructive. The North Eastern Tamils welcomed the IPKF as their saviours. In order to gain the upper hand in its anti-IPKF war, the LTTE needed to effect a change in this pro-Indian mentality of the Tamils. The method used by the Tigers was diabolically simple – targeting the IPKF from population centres (including hospitals and temples) and melting away, leaving the hapless civilians to bear the brunt of Indian retaliation. The shelling of the city of Jaffna and the killing of medical personnel in the Jaffna hospital were instances of the LTTE using this tactic with devastating effect. The civilians had to pay a horrendous price, but the Tigers achieved their objective. Faced with indiscriminate (often lethal) attacks by the IPKF, the majority Tamil perception of the Indian army changed – from friend and saviour to The Enemy”.

She has also condemned the Vakarai killings of innocent displaced families with children and old persons and the acute food shortages in Jaffna as a result of the A-9 closure. “Such blows that hurt the civilians, would not only turn the population against the Army and make things worse for us in Tamil Nadu it will also de-legitimise the Lankan cause internationally”. The LTTE’s pre-Eelam objective is to force the withdrawal of the ‘occupying forces’ from the ‘Tamil homeland’ by creating conditions that induce the people to object to their presence. Sri Lankan government has so far failed to come up with a counter strategy to win the confidence of the people in the North and East. The LTTE’s strategy also prevented the government from embarking directly on moves to win the confidence of the Tamil people in the North-East. However, the present government has gone recklessly too far in challenging the LTTE’s strategy. Most Lankan refugees sheltering in crowded camps in Tamil Nadu have said they came to escape from the hostile acts of Sri Lankan armed forces. There is no doubt that this tactic has worked in the past but it is doubtful whether it will continue to remain effective.

It is mind-boggling some professionals and other well-to-do expatriate Tamils have failed to see the self-destructive nature of the war for control over the land to be liberated from Sinhalese hegemony. It is also irresponsible for the Tamil media serving the Tamil Diaspora to promote racial enmity and give slanted versions of developments in Sri Lanka. Very little is being done by way of forming public opinion to move away from warfare towards political settlement and peace.

The lack of will

The desire for peace is one thing and the will to seek peace is another. It is in the latter, the courage and determination have been lacking among the Sri Lankan leaders. The way the control of a part of the island, home to three different ethnic communities is sought has a bearing on unity and peace. The latter are crucial for the well-being of future generations. This is where the dogmatic thinking runs the risk of endangering the future of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The political parties in Northern Ireland despite many difficulties succeeded in transforming the Good Friday Agreement into the political process that is now underway. India’s position in the Lankan ethnic conflict may be considered as similar to that of the Republic of Ireland in the Northern Ireland sectarian conflict. The Catholics and Protestants did not join forces to humiliate and bring about the withdrawal of the Irish Republic from involvement in conflict resolution. In the Sri Lankan conflict, both the LTTE and the Premadasa government jointly undermined the 1987 Indo-Lanka agreement and India had to withdraw her Peace Keeping Force after losing 1,200 soldiers in the effort to restore order and normality in North-East Sri Lanka. Now when the international community is keen on India’s pro-active role in settling the conflict, President Mahinda Rajapaksa does not want India’s direct involvement but only help in weakening the LTTE!

In Sri Lanka, there was no concerted effort to exploit the February 2002 CFA and initiate a political process. Why? Different parties will give contradictory answers. The stark truth is our leaders have not been moved by the yearning for peace of the majority of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims to transform the truce into a political process. It is their hunger for power that influenced their minds to stick to their own political ambitions, regardless of the adverse consequences the future generations will have to endure. The real motives of the CFA signatories were dubious. Both the government and the LTTE had no intention of going resolutely for permanent political settlement through compromise. Among the Sinhalese there are many whose hearts and minds are synchronized to take the bold move towards unity and lasting peace by adopting a federal structure but they are unable to influence the political leaders who seem to be concerned more about their future than that of the country. In the case of Tamils, the strategy of the principal power seeker is to eliminate the lot seeking an amicable settlement based on trust, internal and external realities and the future of the community in the new world.

In the talks held when the cease-fire agreement was largely observed with no major clashes between the government forces and the LTTE, both sides avoided discussing the core issues. The assassins and the targeted victims were mostly Tamils during this ceasefire period. The December 2002 joint agreement to explore a federal system for settling the conflict reached in the third round in Oslo was acclaimed by many yearning for lasting peace as a breakthrough in the sad saga of the island since independence. The international community welcomed the move and promised full support in establishing a suitable federal structure. Their backing was evident from the June 2003 Tokyo Declaration of the donors, including India the closest neighbour having special interest in the present and likely future developments in Sri Lanka in so far as these concern her own territorial integrity and stability. The light seen at the end of the tunnel vanished when the LTTE declared that there was no agreement to opt for a federal model in lieu of separation. This U-turn is widely known to be due to the rejection of the federal structure within united Sri Lanka by the top LTTE leader. It also highlighted the apolitical nature of the conflict.

The sad thing is the Tamils do not have leaders like John Hume and Martin McGuinness in some position of influence to initiate a realistic political process and ensure its success. The remaining few visionaries have little influence over the actors to avert the risk of losing even the position that the Tamils had in 1987. We seem to have reached a stage where only the gracious moves by others will avert the impending downfall. This seems to be the feeling now of many in Jaffna. In a recent interview the NDTV correspondent had with people there, he reported, “even people in authority like the catholic bishop of Jaffna ask for India to intervene again”. Bishop Dr Thomas Savundranayagam has said: “Certainly by ourselves we can’t achieve peace. We are a very small group of people, a minority. In other countries also peace was achieved by the intervention of international community. For us the best country is India. India must not be simply a spectator but must play an active role in bringing a lasting peace.” This realization should have dawned two decades ago.

[The writer is Former Additional Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, Sri Lanka and UN Advisor, Development Economics/Planning]

Journalist Ajith Samaranayke who wrote the popular “Sunday Essay” column in the Sri Lanka’s Sunday Observer passed away on Wednesday. He was a journalist who had inspired a generation of journalists in Sri Lanka.

In paying tribute and honour to the Journalist loved by thousands of readers, TW News Features, reproduces his column in the aftermath of the December 2004 Tsunami, which appeared in the Sunday Observer of January 2, 2005:

God, Nature and technological man
Sunday Essay by Ajith Samaranayake

Nature (now that we no longer believe in God) has chosen December as the cruellest month for Sri Lanka.

Tortured by a protracted fratricidal war, subjected to two insurrections of the southern youth within a space of 25 years and plagued by all the multiple ills of a Third World economy, this once paradise isle was last Sunday chosen for the dubious distinction of being the country which suffered the worst damage from the Tsunamis tidal wave which wrought havoc across South Asia.

["Tsunami took away lives, I am still sad." - Photo: HumanityAshore]

The irony, of course, was that except for the occasional floods accompanying monsoon rains Sri Lanka had hitherto being immune from every other kind of natural disaster and that indeed Sri Lankans had delighted in this condition which they had taken as being almost divinely ordained.

Deadly earthquake

Normally it should have been the most propitious of days. The previous day had been Christmas and this was Sunday and a Poya day, the last of the year. In fact television footage of people fleeing from the killer wave showed women and children dressed to observe ‘sil.’ But while the people were in a holiday mood the sea was hatching a deadly earthquake which sent its tremors through the ocean bed.

As eye-witnesses on the beach recalled the sea was suddenly sucked away. The waves rose 20 foot, then 100 foot and roared and stormed inland breaching the conventional barrier between the sea shore and the town, uprooting everything in their path. The most pathetic victims of the sea’s fury were the children who could not run to safety and for whom their mothers are still wailing in the pitiless glare of the TV eye.

Science on the pedestal

If we lived in an age which believes in gods it would have been easier to have reconciled ourselves to such a tragedy. Primordial man propitiated the deities which he saw even in the form of trees and stones because he lived in fear of the elements. Water, fire, the sea were all unknown and alien elements to ancient man who felt himself trapped in a hostile universe. But it is now long since we banished the gods from our secular, liberal, democratic, scientific universe.

Goaded by the Enlightenment and the Renaissance and with the benign shades of Darwin, Freud, Marx and all those other prophets looking down on us we have consigned the gods to outer darkness and enthroned Science on the pedestal. But all our careful measurements and charts, our Early Warning Systems and other scientific panoply and paraphernalia are sometimes of no avail. There is more on heaven and earth than can be dreamt of in our petty philosophies.

But in a secular age what consolation do we hold out to those who mourn the dead? How explain the sudden and relentless fury of a hitherto placid sea which had swiftly become a devourer? How explain the suddenness with which their loved ones had been snatched away even while they were going through the motions of daily living?

Television footage showed even hardened and sophisticated westerners reacting with trauma, shock and even tears to the calamity. For a stark moment man in the new millennium, armoured supposedly against all calamities by his rational technological outlook and advanced political philosophies, has been rendered helpless by Nature and orphaned and left abandoned, his cities ruined and laid low and all his grand inventions and constructions in disarray.

This was nowhere more starkly illustrated than by the devastation caused at the Thai tourist resort of Phuket if not Sri Lanka’s own southern tourist resorts if on a smaller scale. Here were two economies substantially thriving on the western tourists whom they succeed in inveigling to their sun-kissed beaches. Both worship at the temple of tourism with a fervour even if most people in these countries do not realise that the tourist industry is a kind of replication of the old colonial relationship between the westerner and the native which they had shed at independence.

One fell stroke

True the western tourist does not exploit the native in the same way that the White Raj did. On the contrary the natives are even grateful for the dollars and the Deutschmarks which come their way but ultimately this relationship between the tourist and the native is debasing of human relationships. But in one fell stroke the paradisal beaches were denuded.

The worshippers of the Sun were hounded by another of Nature’s elemental forces, the Sea. Suddenly the lights went out in the pleasure gardens of the fabled East.

As always it was the poorest of the poor who were affected. The rich in their upstair flats or high-rise apartments were immune from the fury of the sea run amok. Whether it was in the East or South of Sri Lanka or in South India it was those who are already ground down by poverty who were struck down by the tide as well.

Hence their sense of despair and helplessness for not only were they being bludgeoned by an economic system which they did not understand but here was Nature itself turning against them.

Most of them were fisherfolk who had been used to treating the sea as a source of bounty, the prime source of their sustenance. True some of their men had been lost at sea at times but that was for them a part of the natural order of things. But the sea going berserk and devouring them and their possessions was something they were not used to.

Hence the endless litany ‘We have lost everything.’

Similarly a country fragmented by every kind of division imaginable has been united by the cruel bond of a shared misery. Both Galle, Matara and Hambantota districts in the deep South of Sri Lanka and the Northern and Eastern Provinces have suffered devastation on an unprecedented scale.

Some of the hardest hit areas have been Batticaloa and Ampara in the East and the Mullaitivu, Vadamarachchi and Kayts areas in the North. On account of their relative inaccessibility the wretched of the North and the East have been at the butt end of a particularly cruel misery.

Reports said that even by Tuesday relief had not reached substantial sections of those affected in these areas. Misery eschews the man-made divisions of race, religion, caste and tribe. Time was when we in Sri Lanka flattered ourselves that we were unlike any other country.

Not only were we immune from every kind of natural disaster but politically and socially too we were superior to all the other Asian and African countries which had attained Independence along with us. We were the first British colony to receive universal adult franchise.

We had a high literacy rate thanks to free education and health care too was free leading to low infant and maternal mortality rates and high life expectancy. But most strikingly Westminster-style parliamentary democracy had taken successful root in Sri Lanka so that the country was periodically changing governments without bloodshed or recourse to strongmen riding at the head of the military.

The afflux of time was to strip us of most of these illusions. Increased majoritarian attitudes and a sense of intolerance on the part of the Sinhalese was to lead to the alienation of the Tamil people and a serious erosion of the consensual basis of the political order.

Failure to evolve a planned economy which would address the priorities of the country at large and the interests of the generality of the people rather than those of a bloated urban elite and dependence on the nostrums of the wise men of the IMF and the World Bank have led to the stagnation and the crisis of the economy. A failure of vision on the part of the national political leadership has led to a sense of national drift and a sense of rudderlessness. And now as the unkindest blow comes calamities from which we had fondly imagined ourselves to be immune.

Perhaps this is the hour of reckoning and Tsunamis the agent sent by whatever power to make Sri Lanka confront its collective conscience. In this interregnum between the expiry of the old year and the advent of the new marred now by the country’s greatest tragedy Sri Lanka has received the opportunity to look inwards and examine its own conscience.

The days of national mourning should culminate in the country emerging reinvigorated by such a self-examination. Where did we go wrong as a nation and as a people? Why did we fail to build a Sri Lankan nation after Independence but rather preferred to fritter away our chances in petty communal and political bickering. Why have we failed to bring about social justice and economic egalitarianism? On the contrary in the face of this collective tragedy which has struck the poorest of the poor what is apparent is that the gulf between the rich and the poor has widened alarmingly.

The rich are no longer just rich but plutocrats while the poor are being steadily pushed to the fringes of our consumerist society. The festive season now become a national nightmare demonstrated how wide this hiatus was with the supermarkets groaning with all kinds of superfluous goods which the majority of the people can not afford even to think of buying even while the advertising industry and the electronic media foster a hunger for such goods among the populace.

It took a tidal wave taking away the lives of the poor for the super-rich to call off their New Year’s Eve balls although it is a moot point whether this will make them out down on their lives of conspicuous consumption.

It is also worth asking whether the Jathika Hela Urumaya has served the Buddhist public in any way by injecting the Maha Sangha into parliamentary politics and whether by purpose or accident introducing religious fissures into an already fractured polity and raising strident alarmist cries quite contrary to the spirit of Buddhism. It is a sad paradox that a country where ‘pirith’ is chanted both in the morning and evening through loudspeakers should have fallen prey to such an unprecedented catastrophe as a tidal wave.

And so the sea has struck and retreated. The earth made desperate by the despoliation, denudation and depradation inflicted on it by senseless human kind has extracted its vengeance. It is a terrible revenge no doubt but the question is whether we will learn its lessons and when?

By Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

“HIV is weapon of mass destruction”- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General

The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow, unfortunately and there is concerning evidence that some countries are seeing a resurgence in new HIV infection rates, which were previously stable or declining. However declines in infection rates are also being observed in some countries, as well as positive trends in young people’s sexual behaviours.

According to the latest figures published on November 21st 2006, by UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update, an estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and important increases in Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, where there are some indications that infection rates have risen by 50% since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.

A seminar organizes by the Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment, and the International Labour Organization/United States Department Of Labour (ILO/USDOL)- HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme for Media Personnel in Sri Lanka, was held at the Galle Face Hotel on November 22nd 2006.

[Poster about HIV/AIDS displayed at Galle Face Hotel]

Ms. Tine Staermose, Director of International Labour Organization delivered a speech on ILO’s concerns regarding HIV/AIDS.

The following are the excerpts of her speech:

“The ILO is particularly concerned about how HIV/AIDS influences people of working age. The HIV epidemic affects adults of working age around the world. The active populations of nations with a resulting impact on the labour force production, enterprise performance, and economic growth. Sri Lanka is not a high prevalent country. But this does not mean that we should stay complacent and only prioritize other. I believe that we shall mobilize ourselves and our communities to be ready to tackle a potential epidemic. We have seen globally, for individual countries the consequences of the epidemic include mounting pressure on the health services, social security system, falling life expectancy, a contracting workforce, loss of skilled labour, lower productivity from farms and enterprises, and a reduction of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This is turn mean that progress towards development including the achievement of the global decent work agenda is being undermined by the incapacity and loss of government officials, business people, trade union activists, and community leaders.

The ILO estimates that over 26 million workers in their productive prime are infected with HIV. It has also calculated that the size of the labour force in high prevalence countries will be between 10% and 30% smaller by 2020 than it would been without HIV/AIDS. The epidemic cuts the supply of labour, undermines livelihoods, encourages discrimination, compromises enterprises growth, and economic development. We have also seen that it can have a detrimental effect on child development with many more children falling into child labour. Because the workforce of the future is weakened by the fact that children are being taken out of school early to help care for sick relatives, to raise income for the family, or they have lost one or both parents to AIDS. The burden of care falls especially hard on women, and increasingly on the elderly, who take care of orphaned children and try to maintain family income.

The workplace-private or public, formal or informal suffers because production may be disrupted and productivity reduced just as direct labour costs are rising. Productivity is affected by the loss of skilled and experienced workers by absenteeism, and by falling workplace morale. Market demand may be affected as increasing number of people divert their income and savings to health-related spending. And others loose confidence in companies that take no action in high prevalence situations. Rising costs include medical treatment, funeral costs, insurance, replacing, and training and retaining staff. Just as additional expenditure is needed on essential services and social protection the national economy is weakened by a contracting productive sector, falling tax revenues, and a decline in foreign investment.

This scenario of what is happening in a number of high prevalence countries is a stark reminder of what could happen anywhere, where national efforts are not mobilized in time and correctly targeted. Also here in Sri Lanka. It is important to be both practical and highly ethical about it. There is a range of good materials and tools that can be used. The International Labour Organization Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS is a blueprint for workplace action. It provides practical guidance to governments, employers and workers as well as other stakeholders for developing national and workplace policies and programmes to combat the spread of HIV, and mitigate its impact. It covers the key areas of prevention and behaviour change, non-discrimination, care and support. The success of the Code lies precisely in its practical application.”

Dr.Dayanath Ranatunga, Programme Officer (Training) of HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme of International Labour Organization, delivered a speech on Basics of HIV/AIDS and global and national situation.

The following are the excerpts of his speech:

“The first HIV infected person was reported in San Francisco, USA on June 5th 1981. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was discovered in 1983. The first HIV infected person was reported in Sri Lanka in 1986. He was a foreign national. The first Sri Lankan, who was infected with HIV was reported in 1987.

So far 815 HIV positives have been reported up to September 2006. 151 deaths have been reported up to now. 24 children have been reported to have infected with HIV.

Although Sri Lanka is a low prevalent country, but at high risk. Because of low level of condom use, prevalence of high risk behaviours, and close proximity to India. 5.3 million HIV positive cases have been reported in India. People of North and East of Sri Lanka travel to South India, due to the escalating violence in those areas. North and East of Sri Lanka are vulnerable parts. Western Province has 62% of HIV reported cases.

95% of HIV transmission is through unprotected sex. 3% of HIV is transmitted through mother to child, 1% through blood transfusion, and 1% through by drug users injecting drugs, the rest of the drug users inhales drugs. Although no formal studies have been carried out, Sri Lanka has an estimated 30,000 drug users according to Panos Global AIDS Programme in July 2006.

Sex is a hidden factor in our society. We do not have a healthy discussion about sex. The age to have sex is coming down to 16 or 17 years. The trend is changing.

We use condoms not to prevent HIV/AIDS, but to prevent pregnancy. Reported HIV cases on males 60%, and females 40%. The proportion is 1: 1.5. Women are more vulnerable because of biological factors, social factors, cultural factors, and financial factors. 40% of women in India got infected through their husbands according to a recent survey.”

[Poster about HIV/AIDS displayed in Sinhala, Tamil and English at Galle Face Hotel]

Dr. N. Edrisinghe, Director of National STD/AIDS Control Programme, delivered a speech on National response to HIV/AIDS.

The following are the excerpts of his speech:

“Anti Retro Viral Treatment (ARV) began in latter part of 2004. World Bank strengthened the national response. From December 1 st 2004 82 beneficiaries started to receive free Anti Retro Viral Treatment (ARV). 213 people have developed AIDS.

The National AIDS Council was established under the chairmanship of the President Mahinda Rajapakse. 1.8 million US dollars is allocated. This global fund will be utilized to educate the school children in ten districts, and five estate sectors in Sri Lanka in the next five years.

And we will sign a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) soon with the Clinton Foundation to fight against HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka.

People Living With HIV/AIDS are being looked after in a better way in Thailand. We should create awareness among the people about the mode of transmission, prevention, treatment, care and support.”

[Poster about HIV/AIDS displayed at Galle Face Hotel]

Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment Athauda Seneviratne was the chief guest at seminar on HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme for Media Personnel in Sri Lanka.

The following are the excerpts of his speech:

“HIV/AIDS is like death threats. We try to escape from death threats. Likewise we try to escape from HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is a deadly disease. We are culturally concerned community.

Marriage is important. Bond between a man and a woman is necessary. And our society accepts one partner concept. Sex is essential to have children. Otherwise we will not be able to make our community grow. But we should not become sex starved society.

We are afraid to go for blood test. We need to be bold to go for blood test to make sure about our HIV status. HIV/AIDS becomes a threat to the whole human race.

We all have to get together and act together to battle against HIV/AIDS. Migrant workers, factory workers, and plantation workers should be educated more on HIV/AIDS.”

Dr. Indira Hettiarachchi, Natinal Programme Coordinator, HIV/AIDS Workplce Education Programme of the International Labour Organization spoke about the objectives of the programme.

The following are the excerpts of her speech:

Dr. Indira Hettiarachchi the National Project Coordinator addressing the participants explained the objective of the programme is to Create awareness on basics of HIV/AIDS and the global and local situation ,Sensitise participants on stigma and discrimination and its social and economic implications and to Sensitize media personnel on sensible reporting and their responsibility in prevention of AIDS and elimination of stigma and discrimination.

She also said that the ILO/USDOL- HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme has many project partners comprising employers organizations, Trade Unions and the corporate sector. Thirteen leading companies in the hotels, plantations and manufacture sectors are implementing HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in their workplaces and several of them have developed Workplace HIV/.AIDS Policies. Nearly 50 District Labour Officer’s Trained by the project as Master trainers are conducting awareness programmes in factories in many parts of the country. The project provides assistance to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment to reach the male migrant workers through the Foreign Employment Recruiting Agencies. She emphasized the need to provide information to the people who have less access to information through appropriate media channels.

People can go to the Government STD Clinics (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) located in twenty six places, to do blood test for HIV. They are located in Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Puttlam, Chilaw, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala, Kurunegala, Kegalle, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Badulla, Ratnapura, Negombo, Ragama,Colombo, Kalutara, Galle , Balapitiya, Matara, and Hambantota.

Source: humanityashore

Contact: Dushi.Pillai@gmail.com

[Full Text of FMM Press Release]

The passing away of Ajith Samaranayake a leading journalist of Sri Lanka and a founding member of the Free Media Movement (FMM), saddens us. Ajith was a long time activist for media freedom in Sri Lanka . He held the post of chief editor in number of newspapers including The Island and The Sunday Observer. He was a role model for many journalists and continued to be an active participant and activist for press freedom and media rights initiatives championed by the FMM.

Ajith leaves his wife to whom we extend our deepest condolences.

We celebrate Ajith’s life as one of Sri Lanka ’s leading journalists committed to professional journalism and media reform. Throughout his career, he explored the challenges of peace- building, good governance and democracy in Sri Lanka in a manner inspired by principles of professional and ethical journalism. His vision for media was one that would articulate the aspirations and concerns of all peoples in Sri Lanka . Conciliatory, deeply insightful, vigorous, passionate and committed, Ajith’s writings over the years show a journalist not averse to controversy and who welcomed public debate of his ideas and opinions.

He continued to write on the need for a Public Service Journalism culture in Sri Lanka to address the lack of professionalism in journalists he saw around him.

Putting words to action was never a problem for Ajith – he was a deeply committed activist for media freedom in Sri Lanka and participated in many public campaigns on Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Information and Public Service Media.

He was unafraid to lend his voice to strengthen campaigns against media censorship, as evident in his vocal condemnation of the banning of Aksharaya earlier this year, a film by Ashoka Handagama .

His writing and his voice inspired many of us to become better journalists, and helped us frame contentious, complex issues in a manner that did not inflame violent passions. His legacy will be a corpus of journalism that strengthened the development of professional media by example.

We will miss him.

No. 237/22, Wijeya Kumaratunga Road , Colombo – 05., Email : fmm@diamond.lanka.net, Fax: 011-4714 460

www.freemediasrilanka.org