Author Archive
June 7, 2010 at 2:54 pm · Categories: Human Rights, Mannar, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, War Crimes | by MCM Iqbal
The recent discovery of mass graves at Ganeshapuram in Kilinochchi and at Nachchikuda in the Mannar Districts has been very much in the news during the past weeks. Such finds need not surprise anyone. Following an analysis of satellite images taken during the height of the war, the American Association for the Advancement of Science has already reported that on 19th April , 2009 the images showed the roads in the ‘Civilian Safe Zone’ to be mostly deserted. The images taken on the 24th April, 2009 showed a large grave yard in the same area. The report adds, that
the analysis identified three different graveyards, counting a total of 1,346 likely graves. The satellite images …
May 29, 2010 at 2:16 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, Reconciliation, War Crimes | by MCM Iqbal
Louise Arbour of the International Crisis Group is reported to have said during an interview in the BBC that the government violated the laws of war by blurring the line between combatants and civilians, and that its killings of civilians were not accidents. Perhaps in response to this, speaking to the BBC Tamil Service recently, the Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Palitha Kohona is reported to have said that the commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation set up recently by the government is sufficient to investigate the allegations of humanitarian standards and human rights violations during the war.
Let us therefore have a look at some of the commissions of inquiry appointed by the governments in the …
May 23, 2010 at 6:30 am · Categories: Colombo, End of war special edition, Human Security, IDPs and Refugees, International Relations, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by MCM Iqbal
The recent Parliamentary Election has resulted in the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance, obtaining a resounding victory at the general election. However, the number of seats won has fallen just short of a two-thirds majority which President Rajapakse was hoping for. This election confirmed the fact that he has continued to maintain the popularity he had gained following the decimation of the LTTE in May, 2009. It is likely he will be able to get the support of some of his sympathizers in the opposition to enable him to push through the Parliament the constitutional amendments about which there had been much talk before, during and after the elections.
This remarkable victory augurs well for a country which has for more than …
March 23, 2010 at 12:29 pm · Categories: Colombo, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by MCM Iqbal
Several Commissions of Inquiry into Disappearances of Persons (COIs) had been appointed by successive governments since 1990. Of these, the writer had been the Secretary to what is known as the Central Zone Commission and the All Island Commission appointed in 1994 and 1998, respectively. Militancy of Sinhala youth in the South and the Tamil youth in the North resulted in what the NGOs estimate to be the disappearance of nearly 60,000 youth from various parts of Sri Lanka. However the Commissions appointed in 1994 received only 27,526 complaints. Of these 10,136 complaints were inquired into by the All Island Commission appointed in 1998. The following comments and observations are made as a corollary to the book that is being …
July 19, 2009 at 8:14 pm · Categories: Colombo, Constitutional Reform, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War | by MCM Iqbal
(The writer was one of the secretaries of the first Provincial Council of the Western Province)
1. Introduction
In the aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, many expected the government to put forward the promised political solution to the problems of the Tamils which led to the war. Those who expected this were disappointed when the President said at a recent interview with the ‘Hindu’ newspaper that the solution would be …
March 18, 2009 at 7:00 am · Categories: Colombo, Human Rights, Human Security, Peace and Conflict | by MCM Iqbal
The modus operandi of the widespread abductions and disappearances we witness in Sri Lanka today is similar to what we saw in the late 1980s and early 1990s. President Rajapakse, who was a Member of Parliament then, was in the forefront of the struggle against these incidents. Now his regime has become one of the world’s worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances. Members of the security forces, police and pro-government groups are alleged to be involved in these incidents.
The government has demonstrated an utter lack of resolve to inquire and investigate into these incidents. It downplays the problem, denying the scale of the incidents and blaming unknown persons for them. It is being said that since the government …
