By Colombo Telegraph –
“On September 16, President Rajapaksa called for an investigation to verify a death threat against Paikiasothi Saravanamuttu, or ‘Sara’, Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. As mentioned in ref. A, Sara received a letter on August 20, 2009, threatening him with death for his alleged role in pushing the EU to revoke GSP-plus trade concessions for Sri Lanka. At the time he received the threat Sara immediately forwarded a scan of the actual letter and the envelope in which it arrived to a wide range of diplomatic, civil society, and other persons. He contacted top members of the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) to inform them of the threat and to demand they investigate it and ensure his safety.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
A Leaked ‘Confidential’ US diplomatic cable, dated September 18, 2009, updated the Secretary of State regarding the threatening letter received by Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and founder member of the Board of the Sri Lanka Chapter of Transparency International on August 20, 2009. The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified and signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo Patricia Butenis.
The ambassador wrote; “A half-page advertisement appeared in the local Daily Mirror on September 16, which condemned the death threat on Sara, explained in detail his actual position on GSP-plus, and defended his reputation. (NOTE: Sara has called for a continuation of GSP-plus along with an improvement by the GSL on its human rights record. END NOTE.) The statement was signed by about 125 prominent persons and human rights advocates in Sri Lanka.”
“Later on September 16, during a Cabinet meeting, the president questioned whether the death threat was real and reportedly called his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Ministry of Defence to ask him to investigate. Media reports say the president stated that an international conspiracy was clearly at work trying to ruin Sri Lanka,s reputation and that this signed statement could be used against the country. He asked that officials follow up with the signatories to the statement to question them on whether they really believed Sara had been threatened. Sara told Embassy staff that the police came and took a statement from him again today, for the third time, about the threat. Post discretely will contact some others on the list to see whether the police questioned them.” Butenis further wrote.
Placing a comment she wrote; “The president appears to be attacking the veracity of Saravanamuttu and his supporters for domestic political purposes, attempting to portray Sri Lanka as under threat from a conspiracy of Western international actors and their local allies. This appears to contradict a recently inaugurated attempt to boost Sri Lanka’s image in the eyes of the international community — especially the EU — in the run-up to the GSP-plus decision (ref B). This is a tough balancing act but one Rajapaksa will have to perform deftly as both the GSP-plus decision and the domestic election season approach.”
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Read the cable below for further details;
VZCZCXRO8998 OO RUEHAG RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR DE RUEHLM #0894 2611130 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 181130Z SEP 09 FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0541 INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 1907 RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 8936 RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 7174 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 5131 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 3313 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 5087 RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1364 RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0622 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 4197 RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 9501 RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 6802 RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 1293 RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 3738 RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000894 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PREF PHUM PTER EAID MOPS CE SUBJECT: PRESIDENT QUESTIONS VERACITY OF CPA DIRECTOR DEATH THREAT REF: A. COLOMBO 890 ¶B. COLOMBO 860 Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (U) On September 16, President Rajapaksa called for an investigation to verify a death threat against Paikiasothi Saravanamuttu, or &Sara8, Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. As mentioned in ref. A, Sara received a letter on August 20, 2009, threatening him with death for his alleged role in pushing the EU to revoke GSP-plus trade concessions for Sri Lanka. At the time he received the threat Sara immediately forwarded a scan of the actual letter and the envelope in which it arrived to a wide range of diplomatic, civil society, and other persons. He contacted top members of the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) to inform them of the threat and to demand they investigate it and ensure his safety. ¶2. (U) A half-page advertisement appeared in the local Daily Mirror on September 16, which condemned the death threat on Sara, explained in detail his actual position on GSP-plus, and defended his reputation. (NOTE: Sara has called for a continuation of GSP-plus along with an improvement by the GSL on its human rights record. END NOTE.) The statement was signed by about 125 prominent persons and human rights advocates in Sri Lanka. ¶3. (C) Later on September 16, during a Cabinet meeting, the president questioned whether the death threat was real and reportedly called his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Ministry of Defence to ask him to investigate. Media reports say the president stated that an international conspiracy was clearly at work trying to ruin Sri Lanka,s reputation and that this signed statement could be used against the country. He asked that officials follow up with the signatories to the statement to question them on whether they really believed Sara had been threatened. Sara told Embassy staff that the police came and took a statement from him again today, for the third time, about the threat. Post discretely will contact some others on the list to see whether the police questioned them. COMMENT: -------- ¶4. (C) The president appears to be attacking the veracity of Saravanamuttu and his supporters for domestic political purposes, attempting to portray Sri Lanka as under threat from a conspiracy of Western international actors and their local allies. This appears to contradict a recently inaugurated attempt to boost Sri Lanka's image in the eyes of the international community -- especially the EU -- in the run-up to the GSP-plus decision (ref B). This is a tough balancing act but one Rajapaksa will have to perform deftly as both the GSP-plus decision and the domestic election season approach. BUTENIS
justice / January 1, 2013
The fact that 125 prominent persons and human rights advocates defended him against the false accusation,vindicates Sara who always stood for justice and good governance.
His stance was often countered by the usual “pro LTTE” label which even now is affixed to those who expose injustice and demand justice & fairplay in politics.
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Piranha / January 1, 2013
Rajapaksa, like many politicians before him uses every opportunity to blame the foreigners and the human rights defenders to further his political aims. Sara has been a fearless and defiant fighter for human rights in the country for a long time and has been a thorn in the side of the thug politicians with autocratic intentions. It is good that he has wide support among the decent educated people of Sri Lanka.
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C. Wijeyawickrema / January 2, 2013
Sara is an English-speaking, Colombo-living Tamil, one of the few friends CBK had to even get for her birth day lunch. He knows how to do ballroom dancing.
If Sara gives up his separate country idea or if Sara goes to Tamil villages in Jaffna and help them in the filed he can project himself different from Mano Ganeshan or TNA MPs.
I do not think Sara is considered by the govt as a threat any more than Wickremabahu is not considered a threat by the govt.
Karuna Amman and even Pillian perform better than Sara among Tamil villagers.
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Rajan Walpola / January 2, 2013
Can anybody tell me what this Parky has done to Tamils (or to Sri Lanka) other than servcing with his big lip?. He will sing to the tune of his Western Masters to please them sothat he could make his supper.
Is Parky himself be able to answer this simple question?
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Deshapremiya / January 2, 2013
Only Frederica Jansz received more death threats than this dollar eating rogue. The strange thing is, these threats are never carried out.
He even claimed a mad man who burnt himself on Havelock Road a political killing by the government.
This guy is financing his millionaire’s lifestyle through this crap and Butenis always thrived on contacts like him. They serve American interests for a few dollars.
And the way he speaks, ah……. apparently it is enough for [Edited out] !
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K.A Sumanasekera / January 2, 2013
Intersting what one poster says about this Gentleman. That is Sara is English Speaking and good at Ball Room Dancing.and has no pull among the village Tamils.
Sara’s agenda is no different to the LTTE proxy the TNA in trying to create separate homeland.
But Sara is operating under the direct supervision of the Western handlers ,with the “Human Rights ” tag.
And their immedeate aim is to get rid of Rajapaksa.
The English Speaking Tamils in the Diaspora classify themselves as Colombo Tamils,obviously because they posses the attributes of Sarvanamuttu.
And these Diasporeans are generally well educated,in well paid jobs and wealthy.
They consider themselves sophisticated and different to the Jaffna Tamils who are from non city areas..
Colombo Tamils do not like to mix with them, as this group is thought to be less educated and village type who strictly stick to their cultural manners.
Considering that class difference has been the norm in Srilanka for centuries and even after the LTTE. it is not a surprise to see it in the West.
When Prabkaran was calling the shots , the Diaspra had to put up a united front as most of the LTTE activists couldn’t give a tuppence about the class.
Now things seem to be different.
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Panda / January 2, 2013
A true democracy will find journalists and peace activists able to freely say what they feel, and criticize any government or leader at free will. The ugly practice in our country is, journalists and activists are either kidnapped, assaulted, threatened, or killed. No one is held responsible for crimes against our media personnel or citizens like Sara. Blaming other governments, especially from the West, is now becoming a habit for the Rajapaksa regime. Any negative situation is immediately blamed on others, and the failure to address the issues, and deflect from their own failures are obvious. Personal attacks on Sara and others are totally unnecessary. Anyone from any background should have the RIGHT and FREEDOM to criticize the government, and not face threats and harassment. It only shows a lack of leadership, justice, and looks like a dictatorship.
It seems we are a democracy only in name.
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Park / January 2, 2013
Two issues, first issue, I think the Government of Sri Lanka has two cards to play. One foreign countries are trying to destabilize Sri Lanka (as if Sri Lanka is a global power). Second card LTTE is raising its head again. Outside these two cards, may be in different colours and different motifs, there is nothing else the present Government of Sri Lanka could play.
Second issue, there have been inquiries after inquiries requested or ordered by the President. However, there has been no report or analysis of these investigations. Here again there are two possibilities. One, the orders of the President was just for show, or two, no one takes the orders of the President seriously. Result of both these are same.
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Friends of WikiLeaks - Chicago / January 2, 2013
Hello, brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka! Join the worldwide campaign to defend WikiLeaks and keep the revelations coming!
WikiLeaks: http://wikileaks.org/
Friends of WikiLeaks: http://wlfriends.org/
From your friends at Friends of WikiLeaks – Chicago, IL
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dicky Bird / January 6, 2013
Sara in Colombo …
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy
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Dakuna Athapatthu / January 15, 2013
Love Sri Lankan cricket. The rest is all s-h-i-t !
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