Platform for Freedom (Nidahase Wedikawa) conducted a Press Briefing on the forthcoming Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva, which will be held in March 2013, on the 20th of February 2013 from 3:00 p.m onwards at the CEPA Auditorium
No. 29, Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7. M.A. Sumanthiran Member of Parliament for the Tamil National Alliance, Dr. Nimalka Fernando of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Attorney at law Sudarshana Gunawardana of Rights Now – Collective for Democracy, Brito Fernando of the Families of the Disappeared, Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) addressed this press briefing.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDnspSlljXU#
Safa / February 21, 2013
The clear distinction between country and the government is very important. The negative aspects caused by the anti democratic actions of the govt have drawn the attention of the UN and International Community.
The actions proposed by the UN are positive for the people of this country but against the undemocratic and racist policies of the govt. The govt is trying to hide under the cover of sovereignity while carrying on with its racist agenda.
More strength to the ‘Platform for Freedom’.
/
kumar david / February 21, 2013
Agreed with Mr Safa. This is a vital and important distinction.
/
WK Costa / February 22, 2013
Mr Sumandiran also accept these facts
1. 13 ammendment which has no mandate and unconstitutional was forced on Sri Lanka in a blood shed in 1987
2. The so-called international community and the UNHRC did not help Sri Lanka in this unlawfull Indian interfearence and in any of the barberic acts of the LTTE in those time including 87/89 when over 100000 youth were killd or made dissapeared either.
3. Any governemt try to implement 13a would be fallen the next day and no government including the MR wants to get sucided in this trap as the US and EU set and wishes.
4. LLRC and the NHRAP (action plan) are two different things.
5. LLRC is not given any mandate and the government has agreed to implement only those constituent or mandated (passed as a law in the parliment) and already started implementing those.
6. 50% of the Tamils live away from the North and East and therefore and due to the reason given in above (3) the PSC that reprecent the country has to decide the devolution of pover and not India or the so-called int. com. or the UNHRC has any thing to do with this internal matter.
7. LTTE was fighting for a separate state and the TULF and you all and the west funded NGO’s were supportive of that and providing theoretical back ground for the VPs who is the common enemy of over 99% of the people of this country who do not want it to repeat it and want stop it ant any cost.
8. Thus you too and the those NGO’s also are accountable for the 100,000 or so deaths happen in those 30 years or so and deciving and motivating the Tamil youth and the VP with false theories.
9. International community is not only the US and the EU
10. They can not interfere if democracy prevails and the country is capable of handling any of it matters.
11. You predict that the country will be in dager of isolation and try to threat but due to the fact mentioned in above 7 and 8 no responsible body care what you say.
12. Harder the appeal you make to the international community deeper the palce you have in the country (perhaps you might earn your bread over this business that run over the dead bodies and diaspora of 2 tamil youth generations who were once identified as highly educated and proffessional)
13. If you are against the people elected government you are against the country
14. If you want to help the country do join with the people and the people elected leaders to find fair solutions without asking the people leaders to swalow poison.
15. Sri Lankans are determined to stand with dignity even without any out side help as they understand this truth.
/
siri elapatha / February 22, 2013
Well said sir,thank you for giving them wisdom,which they really lack of.truth always the enemy of all sort of NGO,s.
/
AMT / February 21, 2013
Well said Mr. Suma, what Sri Lanka needs is Leaders of such inteligence to save our Sri Lanka from becoming a failed state?
You are an upcoming statesman from Sri Lanka. May the Good God Bless you abundantly
/
Senguttuvan / February 21, 2013
Mr. Sumanthiran MP made his points in his characteristic competency both in English and his mother tongue. His Sinhalese will improve with the passage of time. It was refreshing to see a TNA MP speak the language coherently. I am sure this will be welcome across the South – where it is becoming increasingly clear the Sinhala electorate is moving rapidly towards greater understanding, reason and justice to Tamils after decades of these being denied to them over one pretext or the other. I also had occasion to hear Mr. Sumanthiran speaking to audiences both at Galle and Matara – in events sponsored by left-leaning Sinhala movements. Similarly, it will be good to see Tamil-speaking Sinhala MPs speaking to audiences in the North. The late Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was the nearest who came to that but I am sure
there could be others – particularly from the now trilingual Eastern Province.
I recall attending a meeting arranged by the late Vijaya Kumaratunga’s party at Independence Square in the 90s when they had brought in a Sinhala speaking LTTEr. This was when the War was very much on. Even at that time, the large crowd present welcomed himwith loud and prolonged applause. It can be argued, therefore, despite our strong feelings for “our side” submerged within us there is that desire to come together in peace and reconciliation. Hopefully, events such as this will go a long way to generate greater goodwill.
Senguttuvan
/
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / February 22, 2013
Senguttuwan,
I endorse your sentiments re: Sumanthiran and the direction he is taking. We have to convince the Sinhala people first that we have problems and get their overwhelming backing, rather than relying on the international community or agencies to provide us solutions. I think we are playing into the hands of the government and the extreme elements by leaning excessively towards the international community and agencies. We need to be playing a ball game , which we have stupidly not played since independence. We have to work towards making the Sinhalese and Muslims our allies,rather than alienating them. This approach will us results we have hitherto not seen, albeit slowly . This effort should be based on truth and nothing but the truth.
Mr.Sumanthiran, please bring in more right thinking Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims into what could be one potentially a movement for good governance.
Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
/
Jogan / February 22, 2013
There is no chance of good governance as long as there are violence prone Buddhist Monks and extreme Sinhalese. They do want absolute control over other ethnic and religious group.
Sri Lanka can not move forward with sinhala dominated armed forces who are not trained to see and do the RIGHT activities.
/
Real Peace / February 22, 2013
Jegan
I do agree with you. Home grown solution to the ethnic conflict is never possible in this country.Dr RN will never be able to understand this simple truth.
International input/mediation/intervention is necessary to being about a settlement in this country. A great opportunity was missed in 1987 because of prabaharan’s inexcusable blunders after blunders. Glad he has gone. Tamils have no option other than looking to the international community.
/
Dev / February 22, 2013
Rajasingham Narendran will repeat what his masters voice (HMV) says to him.
/
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / February 22, 2013
I hear VP’s voice in your words!
Dr. RN
/
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / February 22, 2013
When did you make any arguments about anything?
Dr.RN
/
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / February 22, 2013
I am sure you have forgotten the Indian intervention of 1987. What more intervention than we have than that- more than one hundred thousand Indian troops, war planes, heavy armour, Sri Lankan troops confined to their baracks, etc. We cannot expect a bigger intervention that.
The result- we were left worse off than we were. JRJ , Premadasa and VP made sure the Indians left in disgrace and the 13th amendment, the only positive result of the Indo- Lanka agreement was rendered meaningless.
I am sure some are cannot anticipate the probability of more of the same or worse. I learned the lesson in the halfway because I lost my mother, brother and a domestic worker, in a manner no one in this world should witness, as a result of the Indian intervention.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran.
/
Dev / February 22, 2013
ha ha when everything else fails and you fail to counter my arguments you resort the the “LTTE” card, just like your master !!!
/
Real Peace / February 22, 2013
RN
Read my comment again (and again if you don’t understand).
I said …”Tamils have no option other than looking to the international community.” In 1987 stupid Tamils thought VP would give them Tamil Eelam, that’s why they danced to their music. If VP had not been obstructive in 1987 problems could have been solved without further bloodshed. You would not have lost your loved ones. Also, international input includes sanction, expelling SL from international organisation etc – SL govt would not last even a few months…….!!!
/
Rohan / February 23, 2013
“His Sinhalese will improve with the passage of time.” There was a fluent Sinahla speaker – but he had to take a bullet… His name is Raviraj.
/
justice / February 21, 2013
The UN must take note of the indifference of the government towards of its own LLRC’s Report.
/
Jogan / February 22, 2013
The current government seems to be only concerned with Buddhist Sinhala dominance throught the entire isle.
The King and the siblings etc wants to continue their regime for ever and ever by controlling the armed forces and by having military intellegence officers. The white vans ,Bodhu Bala group etc are also for the same purpose.
/
Real Peace / February 22, 2013
What a trilingual display! Make this guy the President of this country….there will be milk & honey flowing all over Sri Lana AGAIN…..!!!!
/
Jogan / February 22, 2013
There are also equally qualified Sihala citizen who can be the Head of the Country!
We need a new constitution with judiciary supreme and without the political input
Into the judiciary.
/
Navin / February 22, 2013
“Sri Lankans who Love their Country must Ask International Community to Censure the Rajapaksa Regime”
—
Did TNA ask the International Community to censure LTTE when it was killing Sinhalese civilians, blasting airports, seaports, buses, trains, etc. etc.????????????????
/
Real Peace / February 22, 2013
Navin
When Mahinda went to Geneva to complain about the UNP govt why didn’t he also complain about the JVP for killing Sinhalese civilians, blasting parliament, buses, trains, etc. etc.????????????????
Sumanthiran, unlike Sampanthan, refused to dance to the music of the LTTE and that’s why I like him.
/
fred / February 22, 2013
Mr Sumanthiran is like a breath of fresh air to provide some relief from the stale and stifling conditions that are about. One of the reasons for the Sinhala/Tamil political divide and the mutual suspicion that prevails is that (for as long as we can remember, anyway) Tamil politicians have failed to articulate their message in the South and the Sinhala politicians have similarly failed to take their message to the North. Communication is the great bridge builder; it is isolation that destroys. So, it is good to see a Tamil MP who has made the effort to speak in Sinhala – and does he not do it so well! If there were more like him (from both the North and the South) people from both the South will begin to appreciate that they have more in common than divides them, that they have similar concerns and similar problems and together as one people they could achieve much. Mr Sumanthiran comes across as a reasonable person, someone you are prepared to listen to even if you may not agree with everything he has to say. I wish him well.
WK Costa’s points about 13A are reasonable but Mr S was not so much canvassing the merits of such things but pointing out how undertakings given by the government have not been honoured.
We see again around us the rumblings of anti minority sentiment. Those who are behind this may well find that their efforts end up being counter-productive. Having only recently emerged from the darkness of the war, most people will not want to go through another similar nightmare. They are mature enough and have the benefit of their experience to know that communal and racial and religious politics are of no avail. I believe the country is ready to turn away from such things and to look to leaders of commonsense and moderation.
/
fred / February 22, 2013
Sorry, in line 10, ‘from both the South’ should have read ‘from both the South and the North’
/
Ruvan W / February 24, 2013
Badly needed: a Sinhala MP of the calibre of MP Sumanthiran, who will be able to speak in a fearless and non-partisan way about national issues – as a Sri Lankan, not a Sinhalese or Tamil.
/
Kumar Abayasekara / February 24, 2013
Honourable Sumanthiran is a national asset. A man of wisdom who is sincere in moving Sri Lanka towards a real democracy with respect and dignity for all. Listen to him and Sri Lanka will be restored to a peaceful and prosperous nation. Sri Lankans need to live in dignity and peace. They have suffered for too long. My tears are for this nation. May all Sri Lankans experience the rest (from the current unrest) to get on with their lives. It is time for government and opposition MPs to forge an alliance to make peace, rehabilitate the displaced, feed the hungry, home the homeless, ensure security and freedom of speech and allow displaced brothers and sisters to return to their homes. Theses solutions are not difficult. Now is your opportunity in history to restore and heal the nation. Miss it and we will have hell. Grab it and we will have a future for generations.
/
Senguttuvan / February 25, 2013
We need many more Kumar Abayasekera’s – more from the Sinhala Only speaking large Sinhala electorate in the rural areas – most of whom still suffer from the long and regular dosage of anti-Tamil rhetoric
gunned into their persona.
Senguttuvan
/
Kumar Abayasekara / February 26, 2013
Most of our issues in ethnic diversity stem from the lack or inadequacy of underpinning values of human worth in our wold views. If we continue to classify human worth as Sinhalese Buddhists, Tamil Hindus, Muslims, etc we end up reducing our worth, limiting our potential and fall into petty and often violent ethnic divides. Within these ethnic divides are flawed world views which cause much internal strife. Consider for example, the caste and class systems within the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. There is little within the realms of secular humanism, liberalisms of various hues, nationalisms, patriotism, Marxism, capitalism or even from evolutionary biology that will inform us of our worth. Our dignity and respect for each other are direct derivatives of this worth. Even the Human Rights declarations have not informed us regarding their underpinning values. This is a pre-requisite to understanding our worth. Is there then a world view or world views that will confer on all humans (homo sapiens sapiens) the world over an equal and unique (different to the rest of the animal kingdom etc) worth inspite of our diversity? A worth that does not depend on our caste, religion, status, wealth, education, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability etc.
Only by embracing an inclusive world view (where all humans have access to rights and have freedom to discharge responsibilities) and yet have respect for our differences will we be able to see the perspective of our ‘other’. Consider for instance the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and his world view. Herein might lie the key to the solution.
The time has come for us to shed the historical baggage of ‘who did what to whom’ and move forward. We should refrain from defamatory and inflammatory politics. Listen to the perspectives of those who differ. They might enrich us. Do not cancel them as ‘conspiratory forces against the nation.’ The process of real reconciliation (not apparent reconciliation) will be a painful and costly exercise in the short term but a durable and profitable exercise to all in the long run.
Sri Lanka is a nation of great potential. The end of military conflict can only be ensured by sustaining the rebuilding of the nation which specifically includes peace, security, dignity and respect for ALL her inhabitants.
/
Hela / February 26, 2013
Kumar,
Well said. Hope there is understanding that peace, security, dignity & respect doesn’t flow from ethnic based approaches or defending mono ethnic enclaves. Inclusiveness require transcending narrow ethnic, religious & caste bases.
I am not yet convinced of Sumanthiran’s bona fides. Previously he appeared to have delivered different messages to his Northern constituency & overseas Tamil diaspora constituency vis a vis Sinhalese. His political party, TNA is still primarily rooted in a separatist mind set and punishing those who stopped LTTE on it’s separatist tracks.
Then, all of them got their legitimacy among Tamils from the Vadukkodai resolution, an idealogy still prevails. We have not yet heard any message contrary to Vadukkoddai message.
Can Sumanthiran deliver a different (i.e. different from Vaddukkodai that legitimised subsequent violence not only against state but against both Sinhalese and Muslims) and inclusive message consistently among all communities including his own?
/
Senguttuvan / February 27, 2013
I fear reader Hela over-emphasises the Vattukottai issue. The mood at that time of the Tamil Nation (starting from the 1960s when many countries in the world breaking away from Colonialism were seeking their own destinies) was for a Separate future if the Sinhala-majority Govt continues to deny the Tamils their dues. The space “for a viable alternative acceptable to the Tamil Nation” was both in the discourse as well as documentation then. The Tamil leadership has watered this down today to include “within an undivided” discourse. It is up to the Rajapakses to convince the Sinhala electorate to come to terms with reality. Why are they reluctant or refuse to do what is necessary when the electorate and environment is with them.
Senguttuvan
/