By Dilrukshi Handunnetti

For those who still believe that Sri Lanka is the epitome of Buddhist values and a celebration of diversity and dissent, the human rights record of this country should rightfully add a shameful tinge to our collective cheeks. As a nation, we have indeed seen better times with diversity appreciated and impunity absent, a far cry from today's reality of being classified among the world's worst nations - with good reason.

It is not just the flagging human rights record, naturally intensified with the military excesses amidst intense warfare and the infamous Liberation Tigers and their atrocities, but the paramilitary groups, some of them LTTE breakaways and some not, goon squads operated by ex servicemen and some with ministerial blessings that collectively draw a very bleak picture.

On the other side of the coin we find the festering ethnic wounds that had rendered over a million people refugees from time to time, now with the official figure of the displaced reading over 300,000, trapped without safe passage in to government controlled territory.

Add to this Sri Lanka's international ranking as the second worst place for journalists, coming a close second to Iraq. Since 2006, the shocking statistics reveal that some nine journalists have been killed, 27 assaulted and five abducted.

During the first three weeks of January 2009, we had a premier television/radio installation MBC/MTV attacked causing a loss of over Rs. 200, international award winning editor of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunge assassinated and Rivira Editor Upali Tennakoon knifed. The cumulative impact has been a devastating exodus of journalists and intense fear among the media community.

The breakdown in law is so complete, there is torture and assault in prison cells, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of those in custody, enforced disappearances, extra judicial killings, assaults and threats that are alarmingly on the increase.

This is why the findings and recommendations contained in Human Rights Violations In Sri Lanka 2008 by Intellectuals for Human Rights (IfHR) reveal the gruesome picture of a nation in deep crisis and the ethnic dimension that cannot be ignored. 

Importantly, the researchers faulted the LTTE, TMVP, other armed groups, government security forces and high-ranking government officials for the rights violations mentioned in the report.

Killings

The report records 23 instances of killings including those of UNP Parliamentarian Thyagarajah Maheswaran on January 1, 2008 and the LTTE claymore blast that killed Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake on January 8, 2008. The second incident injured 14 persons.

January also recorded the discovery of four burnt bodes in the Yala National Park, the recovery of another 16 bodies of youth hacked to death in Anuradhapura and a LTTE suicide bomber exploding himself in Thinnaveli on January 31.

On February 24, two TMVP cadres were killed when a suicide cadre blew himself up in Kalawanchikudi and on February 29, a suicide bomber blew himself up injuring seven others.

March 6 recorded two devastating incidents. In the first, TNA Jaffna Parliamentarian K. Sivanesan was killed in Kanagarayakulam and in the other, Chief Government Whip and Minister of Highways Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and 13 others were killed in a suicide attack in Weliweriya. Some 90 others were injured.

On May 13, an advisor to Minister Douglas Devananda, lawyer Maheshwari Velyanthan was shot dead by suspected LTTE militants in Ninelladi. Three days later, 10 persons including seven police personnel were killed and 95 injured when a LTTE suicide bomber rammed into a bus carrying police officers.

On June 2, TMVP Eravurpattu Pradeshiya Sabha Deputy Chairman, Aiyathurai Pushpanandan and his bodyguard were shot dead by a pistol gang in Kalawanchikudi.

Thevalachchenai police recovered the body of Kaliappan Gunaseelan, an EPDP cadre on June 27 after being abducted, tortured and hacked to death.

On July 10, three civilians from Wattegama, Kurunegala were shot dead by suspected LTTE cadres in Kalmunai. An LTTE suicide cadre riding a motorcycle blew himself by striking against a three-wheeler killing a civilian and injuring nine others in Vavuniya town on September 28.

Among the major incidents recorded again is the suicide bomb attack on October 6, killing 28 persons including NCP Opposition Leader Major Gen. Janaka Perera. Another 86 sustained injuries.

On October 9, Agriculture Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena escaped a suicide attack in Boralesgamuwa. The cadre blew herself up killing a civilian and injuring five others. On October 16, police recovered four dead bodies of farmers in the Kanchkudichchiru area.

Private Secretary of the Eastern Province Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy Nandakopalan alias Raghu and his driver were assassinated by an unknown group on November 14. On November 16, Dr. S.W. Palitha Pathmakumara of the Vavunathivu rural hospital was shot dead while on October 25, three persons from one family in Eravur village were killed. Seven persons belonging to two families were massacred by unidentified gunmen on November 26 in Kalawanchikudi. The next day, chief priest of the Kali Kovil in Batticaloa, Subramanium Kamalrasa was shot dead.

Abductions 

The report also recorded 18 abductions, despite government claims that the spate of abductions ceased following the arrest of Nishantha Gajanayake, the ex air force officer who operated an underworld gang. As the abductions grew in number, the white van came to be identified with the military style abductions.

Vimalan of Negombo was the first to be abducted in 2008 in Minuwangoda on February 11, and Kamalanathan Koneswari and Thuwaini Perera being abducted on February 12 in Batticaloa, again in a white van. Armed men in Pettah abducted Naduvilan Saraswathi on April 29.

June recorded two incidents. On June 11, five persons from Wattala and another from Vavuniya were abducted in Colombo by groups traveling in white vans wearing clothes similar to military uniforms. On the 22, Devadasan Sureshkumar was abducted at a fuel station in Batticaloa.

A Tamil youth was abducted in Kudaapaddu in the Negombo police division on October 28 by a group traveling in a white van.

A textile shop worker in Vavuniya was abducted on November 6 and another civilian abducted on the next day in Vavuniya town itself. On November 10, a mother of three was abducted in Pottuvil while on the 11th, armed gangsters in a white van abducted a Muslim businessman in Dehiwala.

On November 14 and 15, unidentified gunmen abducted three persons including two school children in three places in the Jaffna peninsula. On the 15th again, a Tamil youth was abducted in Wellawatta and two days later, another Tamil youth was abducted near People's Park, Colombo by a group clad in army uniform traveling in a white van.

The same day, 15th, suspected LTTE cadres abducted four persons in Horowpathana. A woman NGO worker was abducted by armed persons traveling in a white van near Serunuwara on November 19.

On the 22nd, a 53-year-old owner of a temporary lodge  in Vavuniya was abducted by a group traveling in a white van. The same type of vehicle was used in the abduction of a Tamil youth in Linganagar, Trincomalee on the 25th while on the 30th, president of the Karadippooval Rural Development Society was abducted by unidentified armed men at Vavunathivu.

Violence against media

The past year set the trend for the violence that engulfed the media in the first month of 2009. Setting the tone and pace, 2008 recorded  increasing violence against journalists, media workers and attempts to legally gag the media through oppressive regulations. The violence perpetrated against the media, according to the IfHR, was more political with security forces, police, politicians of both the ruling party and the opposition involved in the incidents.

Among the trends observed was the dissenting voices that came under attack and more defence reporters being targeted. A repulsive attempt to introduce fresh broadcasting regulations  to control all aspects of private television broadcasting was made on October 27 by the Ministry of Mass Media and Information which was thwarted.

The Defence Secretary in an interview expressed a need for the reintroduction of criminal defamation naming two media institutions that in his opinion, needed to be prosecuted for their reportage. He also famously summoned and reprimanded the president  and general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA), following a peaceful protest held in support of Associate Editor, The Nation, Keith Noyahr who was mercilessly assaulted in May.

The first physical attack was recorded on January 2, when a Vavuniya based journalist, Mahnomen Subramaniyum was threatened. On January 7,  an unidentified group attempted to enter the house of SLWJA Secretary, Poddala Jayantha.

Attacks

On the 10th, a Bingiriya provincial journalist  Victor Somaweera was stabbed and threatened. On the 16th,  A.A. Bandara, a Sirasa TV provincial correspondent  was threatened and assaulted in Buttala.

Associate Editor of the state controlled Thinakaran, Suhaib M Kasim was stabbed at his Colombo residence on January 28.

Sugath Dharmapriya, a news producer of Derana TV was abused and assaulted by  an IP from Mt . Lavinia Police on February 23. In an ugly display of his earlier performance, Minister of Labour Mervyn Silva threatened MBC journalists and robbed their cameras in Kelaniya on March 20. 

A key highlight last year was the brutal attack on  Associate Editor, The Nation, Keith Noyahr who was abducted outside his residence. Following the attack, many journalists fled the country.

Jaffna Correspondent of Shakthi TV,  P.Thevakumar was abducted on May 28 while returning home in Vaddukkodai.

Paramilitary groups

On August 26, Nagalingam Kennyoodsan, an ITN producer in Dehiwala was arrested on suspicion while on August 28, Colombo Medical Faculty students harassed and assaulted three journalists who were on a news assignment.

On October 23, Managing Director, Uthayan, E. Saravanapavan complained that paramilitary groups prevented the distribution of the paper and placed his staff under grave security threat.

While making recommendations, the IfHR report apportions blame to the ruling government, LTTE, TMVP, EPDP and other parties that contributed to the increasing violence. It insists upon the fulfillment of state responsibility to resolve the serious human rights situation and the obligation to act and to ensure justice for victims. 

Given the further deterioration recorded, it is incumbent upon the administration to ensure good governance, the implementation of the 17th Amendment in a bid to depolarise vital sectors and to foster human rights.

It seems that the reward, as in the case of those who adapt unpopular but people oriented stances is to receive a bullet in one's skull, as in the case of The Sunday Leader Editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge. But this society, with its flagging human rights record, needs more such men and women.

And as Wickrematunge predicted and recorded in his final editorial published posthumously,  "In the wake of my death, I know you will make all the sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come out of this one, too." This may be true yet again.

As Dr. Martin Luther King in one of his famous speeches noted, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Silence is no longer golden in Sri Lanka. It is a country that bleeds and now cries for help.