Diaspora Hails De-listing, Offers Assistance
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Reconciliation moves in Sri Lanka has received a much needed boost with the Tamil Diaspora offering assistance after the government de-listed several organizations accused of having links with the LTTE.
The New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the de-listing opens the doors for discussions, which will prevent future conflict and ensure healing between and within communities.
“HRW welcomes the de-listing of diaspora groups. This is a positive step towards the reconciliation process if it leads to the kind of honest and difficult discussions that are necessary for mutual understanding, preventing future conflicts, and healing between and within communities,” HRW Asia Director Brad Adams told The Sunday Leader.
Following a review on the groups and individuals listed over alleged terrorism links, the government announced last weekend that there was no intelligence or evidence justifying the listing of eight organisations and 267 persons. However, groups that continue to espouse separatism, including eight organizations and 157 individuals, remain proscribed.
The amended list gazetted by the government, removes the ban on the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the British Tamil Forum (BTF), Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) and the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), among others.
The new gazette notification has also lifted the ban on the head of the Global Tamil Forum, Father S. J. Emmanuel.
Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Father Emmanuel said that the listing of Tamils and organizations by the former government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa was done with an evil intention of tarnishing the Tamil Diaspora as terrorist or potential terrorists before the international community.
This, he feels, was done to justify Rajapaksa’s own state-terrorism against the Tamils at home and weaken the democratic and non-violent efforts of the Diaspora Tamils vis-a-vis the international community.
“As a consequence, many Tamils of the Diaspora were prevented by fear from visiting their loved ones still in Sri Lanka as well prevented from undertaking humanitarian assistance for the victims of war,” he said.
While many still remain on the list of proscribed groups and individuals, Father Emmanuel says he considers the attempt by the new government as an attempt to correct, at least partially, the ‘evil actions’ of the Rajapaksa regime in the interest of good governance and to show the goodwill of the new government towards the Diaspora Tamils as encouraged by the international community.
“Hence while welcoming the goodwill attempt of the new government, we of the GTF will wish that sooner than later that the whole list be done away with, since it was a 100% evil act of the Rajapaksa regime against the freedom and democratic rights of the Diaspora Tamils to continue their struggle for the rights of the Tamils and the well being of all peoples in Sri Lanka,” he said.
Father Emmanuel has been in self-exile since 1997 after the then government accused him of supporting terrorism. He says the allegations even damaged his personal standing as a Catholic priest including through false accusations in the website of the Defence Ministry when it was under the then Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
“The present government has understood me better and the President and the foreign Minister have invited me to come back and help in the work of reconciliation. Since I am in the first place a Catholic priest working always for reconciliation by the path of truth, justice and accountability, I am closely watching the developments and efforts made by the government,” he said.
Father Emmanuel however says he had told President Maithripala Sirisena that reconciliation cannot be done by politicians alone and that all four religions must also take an active role.
“All four religions must also take an active role in that effort because, as pointed out recently by Samantha Power, reconciliation or inclusiveness should come from the people. Till now, except for the late Sobitha Thera, the other religious leaders are conspicuously silent,” he said.
Father Emmanuel says while he will continue his efforts for reconciliation from London where he is based, he will return home when necessary for a more active role.
The other well known Diaspora group, which was de-proscribed by the government, is the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC).
David Poopalapillai, the National Spokesperson of the CTC, said that his organization welcomes the initiative by the new Sri Lankan government to de-list some of the Diaspora organizations from the March 2014 list, including the CTC.
Poopalapillai told The Sunday Leader that all along CTC has said that the original listing itself was arbitrary and not based on facts, and was implemented by the previous government to silence many in the Diaspora.
“We had written to both the previous and the present government to produce evidence or de-list the CTC. All in the Diaspora can play an important part in rebuilding Sri Lanka, and this action is in the right direction as we move forward,” he said.
The new government, after taking office this year, said it will de-list some Tamil Diaspora groups in order to seek their support to work with Sri Lanka.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera also had talks with the GTF in the presence of the Tamil National Alliance and former Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim in London this year.
The GTF and other Tamil Diaspora groups are to be invited to Sri Lanka to attend a diaspora festival set to be organized by the government.
While most Diaspora groups had welcomed the initiatives of the new government, there are some, including the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) and its leader, former LTTE negotiator V. Rudrakumaran, who continue to be critical of Sri Lanka and are pushing for an Eelam State. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government banned several organizations operating on foreign soil as foreign terrorist organizations, utilising the UN Security Council Resolution 1373, which was brought about by the Unites States on September 28, 2001 after the attack on the New York twin towers on September 11, 2001.
The then government raised concerns over the alleged activities of the Tamil Diaspora saying they could fund another war in Sri Lanka.
United Nations Regulation No. 1, approved by Parliament in 2012, obliges the government to review and update its list of proscribed organisations at least once a year. The new government, resolute in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, undertook a systematic review process in order to update the list of organisations.
The new government said it was willing to negotiate with the Diaspora and look at their concerns and work with them instead of sidelining them.
The government last week urged other groups and individuals banned in Sri Lanka over terrorism links to renounce separatism in addition to taking other necessary measures so they can be considered for de-proscription.
“We hope that other groups and individuals make similar public commitments condemning violence and renouncing separatism in addition to other necessary measures.
Then they too can be considered for de-proscription and join other formerly proscribed organisations, both in the North and South, who have successfully entered the democratic mainstream and are now working for the betterment of Sri Lanka,” the Foreign Ministry said last week.
As a result of this review, the Foreign Ministry says Sri Lanka’s law enforcement and intelligence services are now able to target their resources more efficiently and focus their energy on genuine threats improving the security of all Sri Lankans.
The Sunday Leader