"தமிழர்" என்ற சொல்லை நீக்குமாறு முதலமைச்சர் சி.வி.விக்னேஸ்வரன் தெரிவித்தார்.

வட மாகாண ஆளுநரான முன்னாள் இராணுவ இனப் படுகொலையாளனை அகற்றுவதன் பேரால் ஏகாதிபத்திய NGO க்களுக்கு வழி திறந்து விட முயல்கின்றது வடக்கு மாகாணசபை.

சிவில் சமூகத்தை சேர்ந்தவரை ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கவும்: வட மாகாண சபையில் பிரேரணை

செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை, 10 டிசெம்பர் 2013 12:38 0 COMMENTS
-குணசேகரன் சுரேன், எஸ்.கே.பிரசாத்

சிவில் சமூகத்தை சார்ந்தவரும் மனித உரிமைகள் தொடர்பான பூரண அறிவுடையவருமான ஒருவரே வட மாகாண ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என தீர்மானமொன்று நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.

வட மாகாண சபையின் மாதாந்த அமர்வு இன்று செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை காலை முதல் நடைபெற்று வருகின்றது. இதன்போதே ஜனாதிபதிக்கு முன்வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த பிரேரணை சபை உறுப்பினர்களினால் ஏகமனதாக நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

சிவில் சமூகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த வட மாகாண தமிழர் ஒருவரே ஆளுநராக நியமிக்குமாறு ஜனாதிபதியிடம் பரிந்துரைக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற பிரேரணையொன்றை மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் எம்.கே.சிவாஜிலிங்கம் சபையில் முன்வைத்தார்.

இந்த பிரேரணையை ஆறுமுகம் கந்தையா சர்வேஸ்வரன் வழிமொழிந்தார். எனினும் இந்த பிரேரணையில் மாற்றத்தை ஏற்படுத்துமாறு எதிர்க்கட்சி உறுப்பினர் செனவிரத்ன எ.டி. தர்மபாலா வேண்டுகோள் விடுத்தார்.

இதனையடுத்து, குறித்த பிரேரணையிலுள்ள "தமிழர்" என்ற சொல்லை நீக்குமாறு முதலமைச்சர் சி.வி.விக்னேஸ்வரன் தெரிவித்தார். தமிழர் என்ற சொல் வேண்டாம் என்றால் வட மாகாணத்தை சேர்ந்த ஒருவர் என்பதையும் நீக்க வேண்டும் என மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் கனகரத்தினம் விந்தன தெரிவித்தார்.

இறுதியாக சிவில் சமூகத்தை சார்ந்தவரும் மனித உரிமைகள் தொடர்பான பூரண அறிவுடையவருமான ஒருவரே வட மாகாண ஆளுநராக நியமிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற பிரேரணை சபையில் முன்வைக்கப்பட்டது. இது அனைத்து உறுப்பினர்களினாலும் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளப்பட்டதையடுத்து ஏகமனதாக சபையில் பிரேரணை நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

அத்துடன் வடக்கில் இராணுவத்தை அகற்றி சிவில் சமூகம் உருவாக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என்ற  பிரேரணையும் மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் எம்.கே.சிவாஜிலிங்கத்தினால் முன்வைக்கப்பட்டது. இதனை மாகாண சபை உறுப்பினர் கனகரத்தினம் விந்தன் வழிமொழிந்தார். இப்பிரேரணையும் ஏகமனதாக நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டது.

குறிப்பு:

வட மாகாண ஆளுநரான முன்னாள் இராணுவ இனப் படுகொலையாளனை அகற்றுவதன் பேரால் ஏகாதிபத்திய NGO க்களுக்கு வழி திறந்து விட முயல்கின்றது வடக்கு மாகாணசபை.

காணி நிலம் வேண்டும்! இராணுவம் நில்லாத காணி நிலம் வேண்டும்!!

Tribunal rules government guilty: (Colombo Gazette)

Tribunal rules government guilty
December 10, 2013
1386057538_PPT tribunal

The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) which concluded its second hearing on Sri Lanka in Bremen, Germany today, found the Government guilty of committing grave human rights abuses and also found that India, Britain and the US were complicit in those crimes.

An eminent panel of jurors were assembled by the PPT to hear charges made against Sri Lanka by the International Human Rights Association (IMRV) in Bremen and the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL).

The charges were that the British, US and Indian states are guilty of complicity in the allegations raised against the Sri Lankan government.

The first phase of the Tribunal, which was held in January 2010 in Dublin, was the first ever international effort to investigate the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final stages of the protracted conflict in Sri Lanka.

The second phase was held this week with the participation of direct victims as well as expert witnesses from Europe and several other countries.

In addition to this, reports and documents compiled by different international and local organisations and human rights groups since 2009 were also submitted to the Panel.

Among those who spoke at the tribunal are members of the Tamil Diaspora and ‘No Fire Zone’ Director Callum Macrae.

Rulings by the people tribunal are usually are sent to major international bodies and many have been discussed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva so the ruling on Sri Lanka is likely to be passed on to the Council ahead of its March 2014 session. (Colombo Gazette)

India Continues Secret Military Ties with Sri Lanka

India Continues Secret Military Ties with Sri Lanka
By N C Bipindra - NEW DELHI
Published: 01st Dec 2013 09:46:48 AM

  Chief of Indian Navy Admiral D K Joshi (left)with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse

India’s diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka may face rough weather due to pressure from political groups in Tamil Nadu, but its defence ties would continue as usual through joint training, sharing of warfare expertise and military exchanges.

Indian Defence Ministry sources say that “political diplomacy with Sri Lanka may go through its pulls and pressures from political parties in Tamil Nadu, but military ties would not get tied down by such considerations” and would go on as usual.

“Political issues won’t affect military ties. There is an Indian security consideration involved in defence ties with Colombo. Sri Lanka is a very important nation in the maritime domain in the Indian Ocean Region,” a senior Defence Ministry official said.

There was also a clear signal in this regard in the form of Indian Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi’s five-day visit to the island nation this week, where he met the Sri Lankan political and military top brass to share critical inputs on military matters concerning the Indian Ocean region.

The Navy chief’s visit, though, was down played by the Indian defence establishment, whose members refused to talk about it till the visit was over, just as the External Affairs Ministry played down Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse’s two-day stay in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday.

Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother Gotabaya met with senior officials in the Indian External Affairs and Defence Ministries, but the meetings were kept under wraps till he left for Colombo on Friday.

In the case of Admiral Joshi, while Colombo went public about his visit and participation in the Galle Maritime dialogue that focused on Indian Ocean Region, New Delhi preferred to maintain a stoic silence about his visit.

Only earlier this month, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had skipped the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Colombo, where India was represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. The Indian government took this decision under pressure from political groups in Tamil Nadu who are opposed to any diplomatic ties with Sri Lanka over the ethnic Lankan Tamils’ rights issue.

Indian Navy chief, during his stay, attended the Galle dialogue earlier in the week where he pitched for regulation of private maritime security forces, against the backdrop of the recent Indian experience in detaining an American-owned cargo ship off the Tamil Nadu coast.

Joshi was joined at the meet by naval leadership from 35 other maritime powers from the region. He also interacted with Gotabaya there. During his stay, Joshi met Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff General Jagath Jayasuriya and Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, where the two sides discussed
various military cooperation topics, particularly in the maritime domain such as anti-piracy operations and maritime crimes.

On the last day of his visit, Joshi met President Mahinda Rajapakse, where the two discussed the Indian offer to train Lankan Navy officers in the B.Tech course at the Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala, Kerala.

The Indian Navy chief assured priority to Sri Lankan officers at the INA from among the foreign applicants. Sri Lankan foreign minister professor G L Peiris was present during those discussions, in which bilateral cooperation in anti-piracy operations was a key topic, say sources.

The two sides also talked about curbing the attacks on Indian fishermen at the high seas by the Lankan naval forces.

Indian Navy chief travelled around the island nation to several major maritime locations, including Trincomalee and Mannar.

Power Play

After the PM skipped the commonwealth summit, India is believed to be going through a phase of having lowest leverages with Sri Lanka in recent years. But there is an opportunity to up the leverage with Sri Lanka interested in ensuring the UNHRC reprimand in March next year is not that harsh. India hopes this allows
it to play a role, so that it regains strategic space in Sri Lanka. It requires this ‘leverage’ to be able to extract commitments from Colombo on fishermen issues, keep the lid on inclination in the ruling regime to dilute 13th amendment and that the northern provincial government is allowed to function.

Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict

Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 11:08 GMT]

After an assessment of evidences presented by eyewitnesses and experts, judges of the Permanent People’s Tribunal reached unanimous consensus that the Sri Lankan state was guilty of crimes of genocide against the Eezham Tamils and that the genocide is continuing even after the end of the military operations against the LTTE. Concluding the four day session with a press conference at Bremen on Tuesday, the judges also noted that the Sri Lankan military did not have capacity to commit genocide on its own and that it was supported by the UK-USA-India axis. While the judges held the USA and the UK to be complicit in the genocidal process, they were of the opinion that more evidence was needed as regards India’s role.

PPT Session II at Bremen, Germany

The Eezham Tamils were killed not as individuals but as a group and the target of the Sri Lankan state was the destruction of the identity of this group, the findings noted.

The judges took care to highlight the significance of the usage of the term ‘Eelam Tamil’ to refer to the genocide-affected Tamils from the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka.

Noting that the protracted history of genocide extended much before the beginning of the armed conflict, the Tribunal asserted that the Sri Lankan state continued to commit acts of genocide after the end of the “genocidal onslaught” against the de-facto state of the LTTE.

This, however, was not possible without the assistance of world powers.

The UK’s historical role in assisting Sri Lanka, its complicity in procuring arms in aiding and shielding the perpetrator of genocide was discussed.

The judges also noted that the USA’s military-to-military relationship with Sri Lanka enhanced the capacity of the latter to commit genocide. The Tribunal was of the opinion that US role in the peace process tilted balance in favour of the Sri Lankan state and led to the massacre of Tamils in 2009.

However, the Tribunal wished to postpone deliberations on India's role in the genocide pending submission of potential evidence.

Responding to a question from TamilNet on the failure of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Sri Lanka, Dr. Denis Halliday, one of the judges, opined that the R2P doctrine introduced by Gareth Evans was a cover for intervention but not genuine humanitarian intervention, as evidenced in the case of genocide against Eezham Tamils in the island.

The UN has failed the Eezham Tamils and maybe even complicit in the genocide, he said, also noting the failure of the International Community to take appropriate steps.

Burmese democracy activist Maung Zarni, answering a question on the use of the label of ‘terrorism’ to the LTTE, said that terrorism was a "discursive, strategic and political term" cooked-up by world powers as regards to their geo-political interests.

Comparing LTTE and Nelson Mandela’s ANC, he said that a whole movement cannot be labelled as terrorist on the basis of few acts.

=========================
Following are the names of judges selected by the PPT:

Gabriele Della Morte is a researcher and Professor of International Law at the Università Cattolica di Milano. He was also associate professor in International system, institutions and rules, Chargé de cours at the Académie de droit international humanitaire et des droits de l'homme of Geneva (2007-2008), counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) (2003-2004), Law Clerk for the Prosecutor Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2000) and member of a government delegation for the establishment of the International Criminal Court (1998).

José Elías Esteve Molto, international lawyer and legal expert on Tibet. He is the main lawyer who researched and drafted both lawsuits for international crimes committed in Tibet and a recent one for crimes in Burma. He is a Professor in International Law at the University of Valencia. 

Daniel Feierstein
Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Professor in the Faculty of Genocide at the University of Buenos Aires and a member of CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas - The Argentine National Centre for Scholars). He has been elected as the president of the 'International Association of Genocide Scholars'.

Sévane Garibian
An expert on Genocide and International Law. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva and Lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel, where she teaches Legal Philosophy and International Criminal Law. Her work focuses on issues related to law facing State crimes.

Haluk Gerger
A respected academic and a Middle East analyst who was imprisoned in Turkey for his political activism. He is known for his support for Kurdish people's right to self-determination.

Javier Giraldo Moreno
Colombian Theologian and human rights activist based in Bogota. Known for his depth of analysis in contextualising genocide affected communities. He is Vice-President of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal.

Denis Halliday 
Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He resigned from his 34 year old career in the UN in protest of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the Security Council. Laureate of the Gandhi International Peace Award.

Manfred O. Hinz 
Professor for Public Law, Political Sociology and Sociology of Law at the University of Bremen. He has a long history of engagement in solidarity with liberation struggles in Africa, specially Namibia and the West Sahara. He, for several years, held the UNESCO chair for human rights and democracy of the University of Namibia whilst he was a professor there. 

Helen Jarvis
She served as Chief of the Public Affairs Section from the inception of the the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the special Cambodian court which receives international assistance through the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT). The court is commonly referred to by the more informal name the Khmer Rouge Tribunal or the Cambodia Tribunal.

Øystein Tveter
A Norwegian scholar of International Law and a member of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights in the Philippines.

Maung Zarni
He is a Burmese democracy activist who founded the Free Burma Coalition in 1995. He is one of the few Burmese intellectuals who have come forward to unconditionally oppose the increased discrimination and violence against the Rohingya Muslims and publicly criticised Aung San Suu Kyi on this issue.

Source:Tamilnet