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Wartime FM calls for tangible measures to counter Geneva threat
‘How come those who voted for Fonseka still push for an int’l war crime probe?’
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Wartime Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama (2007-2010) yesterday (17) said that those who had been tainted by their association with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were seeking the cooperation of external and internal elements to undermine the democratically elected government.
The former minister alleged that a coordinated campaign was underway ahead of the scheduled 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Bogollagama said that the recent high profile intervention made by the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) and Tamil Makkal Tesiya Kootani (TMTK) backed by several civil society groups for international accountability mechanisms to probe Sri Lanka should be properly countered.
R. Sampanthan (TNA), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (TNPF) and retired Supreme Court Justice C.V. Wigneswaran (TMTK) and eight other parties, including the Bishop of Trincomalee signed a petition dated January 15, 2021 addressed to 47-member states of the UNHRC called for a new resolution with or without Sri Lanka’s consent. They requested UNHRC members to involve other organs of the UN including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to take appropriate action by reference to the International Criminal Court and any other applicable and effective international accountability mechanisms to inquire into the crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Having failed to achieve Eelam through terrorism and conventional military means, those who still believed in the division of the country on ethnic lines were seeking international intervention, the former Minister said, urging those hell-bent on foreign intervention not to play politics with accountability issue.
Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009. Responding to another query, the former minister said that the TNA had quite conveniently forgotten how the LTTE forced the political grouping to recognize Velupillai Prabhakaran as the sole representative of the Tamil people. The LTTE exploited that tag to the hilt until the Army put a bullet through the head of the Tiger supremo on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, Bogollagama said. The former Minister emphasized the pivotal importance of Sri Lanka taking stock of the situation without further delay because a new resolution seemed inevitable.
Bogollagama said that Lord Naseby’s disclosure in Oct 2017 in the House of Lords could be part of Sri Lanka’s overall defence along with certain revelations made by Wikileaks since 2011. Continuing efforts to fault Sri Lanka over genocide of Tamil people should be dealt with for once and for all, the minister said, pointing out that both TNPF and TMTK reiterated genocide allegations at the onset of the current parliamentary sessions.
Bogollagama also made reference to wartime US Defence Attaché in Colombo Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith contradicting in public during an international seminar in Colombo war crimes accusations, two years after the conclusion of the war.
The former minister said that Tamil parties’ rhetoric shouldn’t be taken lightly. Asked whether he endorsed the efforts made by the SLPP to counter the threat, the ex-lawmaker said that the joint intervention made by the British-French governments in late April 2009 to halt the military offensive against the LTTE on the Vanni east front indicated the level of Western interest in the issue at hand. “I don’t have to remind you what the then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s comment on his government’s obsession with the war against the LTTE,” the former MP said, referring to a leaked classified US diplomatic cable originating from their mission in London at the height of the war here.
The former minister said that for the first time one-time LTTE mouthpiece, the TNA had the backing of two more political parties based in the North. Bogollagama pointed out though Wigneswaran quit the TNA in spite of having entered active politics through the outfit in 2013, the one-time Northern Province Chief Minister was working with the TNA and Gajandrakumar Ponnambalam’s TNPF on a common agenda. Geneva was going to be a big challenge, Bogollagama said, adding Western powers’ real interests and motives were wider issues than accountability in Sri Lanka.
Bogollagama said that the TNA owed an explanation as regards its relationship with the LTTE?. Having recognized Prabhakaran in late 2001 as the sole representative of Tamil people, the TNA, on behalf of the LTTE ordered Tamils to boycott the 2005 presidential election, Bogollagama said. The TNA represented the LTTE’s interests until the very end, Bogollagama said, recollecting how the European Union in the aftermath of 2004 parliamentary election faulted the TNA for winning 22 seats in the Northern and Eastern Provinces with the LTTE stuffing ballot boxes on its behalf.
Bogollagama said war crimes accusations collapsed five years before the previous yahapalana administration co-sponsored an accountability resolution in Geneva. How could the TNA explain backing war winning Army Chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s candidature at the 2010 presidential poll and the Northern and Eastern districts, including Digamadulla voting for him overwhelmingly though he lost the election by a staggering 1.8 mn votes. The TNA should have been challenged both in and outside parliament for its stand on unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, having backed the very man who executed the war.
Bogollagama pointed out how high profile accusations made by the then Northern Province Chief Minister Wigneswaran as regards poisoning of LTTE cadres undergoing rehabilitation (Aug 2016) and the Army being responsible for Mannar mass graves (2019) proved nothing but propaganda.
Bogollagama insisted that all evidence should be placed on the table, studied vis-a-vis 2015 Geneva resolution co-sponsored by the then government and remedial measures taken. It would be pertinent to mention that the government went ahead with co-sponsorship in spite of the then Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha rejecting the draft proposal, the former Foreign Minister said.
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PCoI on Easter Sunday attacks:
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC is not bound by recommendations made by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (P CoI) into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, or presidential directives in that regard, according to authoritative sources.
They said that the AG couldn’t under any circumstances initiate legal proceedings until he had received the full PCoI report.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa received the PCoI report on Feb 1. The President’s Office delivered a set of PCoI reports to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Feb 23, a day after the report was presented to the cabinet of ministers. The Island raised the matter with relevant authorities in the wake of a section of the media reporting the PCoI recommending punitive measures against former President Maithripala Sirisena, Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, IGP Pujitha Jayasundera, Chief of State Intelligence Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena, Chief of National Intelligence retired DIG Sisira Mendis and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) leader and Samagi Jana Balavegaya MP Rishad Bathiudeen et al over the Easter Sunday carnage.
Sources pointed out that due to the inordinate delay in sharing the PCoI report with the AG, the department hadn’t been able to take preliminary measures required to initiate the proceedings. Sources said that a team of officers would take at least six weeks or more to examine the report before tangible measures could be taken.
With the AG scheduled to retire on May 24, 2021, even if the AG Department received the P CoI it would be quite a tough task to initiate proceedings ahead of retirement, sources said. However, in terms of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution enacted in last October, both the AG and the IGP could receive extensions beyond 60 at the President’s discretion.
Dappula de Livera received an Acting appointment as the AG a week after the Easter Sunday carnage whereas his predecessor Jayantha Jayasuriya, PC, was elevated to Chief Justice.
Responding to another query, sources said that the Attorney General two weeks ago requested Secretary to the President for a copy of the P CoI. However, the AG was yet to receive one, sources said. In spite of the AG not receiving a P CoI copy, the AG had instructed the IGP to obtain a copy of the report when he requested the police to complete investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage. The AG issued specific instructions after having examined police files pertaining to the investigations.
The IGP, too, hadn’t received a copy so far though some sections of the report were in the public domain.
Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage displayed at a live political programme on Derana a copy of the P CoI report he received at the cabinet meeting earlier in the day.
Sources said that the Attorney General’s Department couldn’t decide on a course of action in respect of the Easter carnage on the basis of a section of the report. In terms of the Commission of Inquiry Act (Section 24), the AG enjoyed significant powers/authority in respect of investigations; sources said adding that the Department urgently required both the P CoI report and police investigations report. The Attorney General’s Department has raised the delay in receiving a P CoI report amidst the Catholic Church attacking the government over the same issue.
Sources said that ministerial committee appointed to study the P CoI report couldn’t decide on how to proceed with the recommendations and the matter was entirely in the hands of the AG. Sources pointed out that the delay on the part of the government to release the report had received the attention of sections of the international media, including the New York Times. Public Security Minister retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera having met Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith at the Bishop’s House on Dec 8, 2020 said that the AG would get a copy of the P CoI report once the President received it. Minister Weerasekera said that the CID had handed over the relevant files after having completed investigations into eight blasts. Referring to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report on the Easter Sunday carnage, the former Navy Chief of Staff said that all such documents would have to be brought to one place and considered before initiating legal proceedings. Acknowledging that there could be delays, lawmaker Weerasekera said that on the instructions of the Attorney General a 12-member team of lawyers was working on the case. The minister vowed to expose the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks. Investigations continued while some of those wanted were overseas, the minister said.
The minister acknowledged that the Attorney General couldn’t proceed without the P CoI report. Minister Weerasekera reiterated that once the President received the P CoI report, it would be sent to the Attorney General. The minister said that there were documents two to three feet high that needed scrutiny. The minister assured comprehensive investigation. The minister said that investigations pertaining to eight blasts had been completed and the reports handed over to the AG. However, the Attorney General had found shortcomings in those investigations.
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By Saman Indrajith
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Sunday bombings had failed to identify the mastermind of , the JVP said yesterday.
Addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte, JVP Propaganda Secretary MP Vijitha Herath said that the PCoI report had levelled accusations against former President Maithripala Sirisena, former IGP and head of intelligence for their dereliction of duty, shirking of responsibilities and not taking action to prevent the attacks and negligence. There were reference to the causes of the terror attacks and actions to be taken to avoid such attacks and the influence of extremist organisations. “However, there is no mention of the mastermind of the attacks, the handlers of the attackers and those whose interests the carnage served. It is also not mentioned whether there has been any foreign or local organisation behind those attacks. As per the PCoI report the attack took place as a result of culmination of extremism.
“According to the PCoI the extremist activities were a result of the prevailing political situation then. The entire nation was waiting to see who was responsible and who masterminded those attacks. The PCoI has failed to identify the true culprits responsible for the terror attacks. The report says that the leader of the suicide cadres killed himself in the attacks and it was a puzzle. That means those who are actually responsible for the attacks are still at large. The report does not provide exact details of the sources of the attacks. The PCoI had sittings for one year and five months. It summoned various persons and got their statements but it has failed to shed any light on the terror attacks. Everybody knows that the top leaders of the government and heads of security and intelligence establishments failed in their duties. Ranil Wickremesinghe was the second in command and he too is bound by the responsibility but the PCoI report fails to identify him as one of the persons against whom legal action should be instituted. The PCoI has treated Wickremesinghe and former President Maithripala Sirisena differently. We are not telling that this report is a total failure but we cannot accept this as a complete report. The PCoI handed over its report to the President on Feb 1. After 23 days it was sent to Parliament. Now, a copy of the report is there in the parliamentary library for the perusal of MPs.”
Herath said that the PCoI did not have powers to take punitive action. “It only has powers to name those responsible and recommend action to be taken against those named.
