{"id":37753,"date":"2012-04-09T07:57:56","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T07:57:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=37753"},"modified":"2012-05-07T21:01:58","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T21:01:58","slug":"wikileaks-abductions-has-again-taken-center-stage-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wikileaks-abductions-has-again-taken-center-stage-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"WikiLeaks: Abductions Has Again Taken Center Stage In Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colombo Telegraph<\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue of abductions has again taken center stage in Sri Lanka as President Rajapaksa prepares to travel to Geneva to deliver a speech to the International Labor Organization on June 15 and meet with Louise Arbour. On June 1, President Rajapaksa announced a new committee designed to aid family members of abductees obtain information. However, he also publicly dismissed 90% of reported abduction cases as fictitious, attributing them instead to things such as elopements, tax evasion and foreign employment. Also on June 1, two Tamil Red Cross employees were abducted and killed. Their bodies turned up a day later more than 50 kilometers away. Human Rights Commissioner Jayawickrama told EmbOffs that the government has resolved 880 of the approximately 1100 abduction cases reported in 2006. But ICRC statistics show there are still hundreds of unresolved abductions cases. The number of such cases increased approximately tenfold from 2005 to 2006; 2007 is on track to be twice as bad as 2006. In a meeting with the Human Rights Minister, the Ambassador urged that the government work with the organizations tracking abductions to reconcile the figures and take the actions needed to stop abductions.\u201d the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Colombo Telegraph<\/a> found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable is classified as \u201cCONFIDENTIAL\u201d and discuses \u201cabductions\u201d . The cable is written the Ambassador Robert O. Blake\u00a0on June 6, 2007.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Extracts from the cable;<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President reportedly added that in \u2018a large number of these cases police records showed that the alleged victims had been domestic servants who left the homes of employers, instances of eloping by lovers, and husbands or wives who left home due to domestic disputes.\u2019 (Note: The cases Embassy is familiar with do not fit these profiles. Moreover, it appears highly unlikely that the proportion of cases that can be accounted for in this manner even approaches ninety percent.)\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Rajapaksa called Ambassador on June 4 and said the killings might have been intended to embarrass him before his trip to Geneva to speak to the International Labor Organization (ILO) plenary on June 15. He noted that there had been similar killings just prior to previous trips abroad. He was unsure who was responsible, but, since investigators so far had found that the abductors spoke Tamil and English, he speculated that they may be involved with either the Karuna group or the splitoff Pillayan faction. The Daily Mirror reported on June 6 that President Rajapaksa visited the bodies of the slain Red Cross workers to pay his respects and also met with representatives of the ICRC and the Sri Lankan Red Cross. According the report, Rajapaksa has given police officials an ultimatum to find \u2018vital clues\u2019 leading to the killers within seven days, or he will bring in foreign investigators to solve the crime. The Mirror also quoted Rajapaksa as stating \u2018whoever they are, the purpose is to bring disrepute and embarrass the government.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn separate conversations with the President and Human Rights Minister Samarasinghe on June 4, Ambassador commended the government for establishing the new committee to aid family members of abductees, but asked the latter whether the committee would be able to get results. Samarasinghe conceded that this was \u2018the million-dollar question.\u2019 He told Ambassador that the report of One-Man Commission Tillekeratne was with the President for review, and offered to brief Ambassador on the main conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSutter provided EmbOffs with an internal ICRC document graphing the numbers of disappearances, detentions, international humanitarian law (IHL) violations and child recruitments for 2005, 2006 and the first four months of 2007 (Embassy version of graph e-mailed to SCA\/INS). The charts demonstrated that human rights indicators have deteriorated dramatically in every category, with the exception of child recruitment. For example, the ICRC documented 149 disappearances in 2005, 1134 in 2006 and 571 in January-April 2007. The graphs also showed 50 IHL violations (such as torture) in 2005, 1064 in 2006 and 677 in the first quarter of 2007. As a result, Sutter concluded that although police appear to be maintaining international standards for detention procedures, the number of cases falling outside of formal arrest and detention procedures was a \u2018significant problem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe GSL is getting the message that the international community is serious about human rights. What is less clear is whether the GSL intends to make a genuine effort to fix the problems. For example, our civil society interlocutors are quick to acknowledge that the number of abductions, especially in Jaffna, fell significantly in the wake of Assistant Secretary Boucher’s visit there – but there are indications that the incidence of violations is now rising again. Sri Lanka already has at least three committees, multiple ministries and the HRC, all with mandates to work on human rights issues. We do not share the President’s assessment that the killings of the Red Cross workers were meant specifically to embarrass him. It seems more likely that young, unsophisticated Karuna faction thugs were carrying on their usual business of eliminating rivals or suspected LTTE operatives without a thought as to what wider ramifications their brutal acts might have. At the moment, the government is involved in a damage control exercise over that incident, and is hoping to avoid embarrassment when the President goes to Geneva. The President’s willingness to meet UNHCHR Arbour is encouraging, but much more remains to be done on human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the cable below for further details;<\/p>\n

VZCZCXRO6964\r\nOO RUEHBI RUEHLMC\r\nDE RUEHLM #0805\/01 1571108\r\nZNY CCCCC ZZH\r\nO 061108Z JUN 07\r\nFM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO\r\nTO RUEHC\/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6188\r\nINFO RUEHRL\/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0442\r\nRUEHKA\/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0163\r\nRUEHIL\/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7144\r\nRUEHKT\/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5249\r\nRUEHLO\/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3799\r\nRUEHNE\/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1045\r\nRUEHNY\/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3871\r\nRUEHOT\/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 1104\r\nRUEHKO\/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2956\r\nRUEHCG\/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7732\r\nRUEHBI\/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5394\r\nRUEHON\/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0222\r\nRUEHLMC\/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION PRIORITY\r\nRHEFDIA\/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRUEHGV\/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2094\r\nRHEHAAA\/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY\r\nRHHMUNA\/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY\r\nRUEHBS\/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY<\/pre>\n
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000805 \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nSIPDIS \r\n\r\nDEPARTMENT FOR SCA\/INS\r\nMCC FOR S GROFF, D TETER, D NASSIRY AND E BURKE \r\n\r\nE.O. 12958: DECL: 06\/05\/2017\r\nTAGS: PGOV<\/a> PREL<\/a> PTER<\/a> PHUM<\/a> MOPS<\/a> CE<\/a>\r\nSUBJECT: SRI LANKA: EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS OF RED CROSS\r\nWORKERS MAKE HEADLINES BEFORE RAJAPAKSA SPEECH IN GENEVA \r\n\r\nREF: A. COLOMBO 561\r\n     \u00b6<\/a>B. COLOMBO 733\r\n     \u00b6<\/a>C. COLOMBO 463 \r\n\r\nClassified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The issue of abductions has again taken\r\ncenter stage in Sri Lanka as President Rajapaksa prepares to\r\ntravel to Geneva to deliver a speech to the International\r\nLabor Organization on June 15 and meet with Louise Arbour.\r\nOn June 1, President Rajapaksa announced a new committee\r\ndesigned to aid family members of abductees obtain\r\ninformation.  However, he also publicly dismissed 90% of\r\nreported abduction cases as fictitious, attributing them\r\ninstead to things such as elopements, tax evasion and foreign\r\nemployment.  Also on June 1, two Tamil Red Cross employees\r\nwere abducted and killed.  Their bodies turned up a day later\r\nmore than 50 kilometers away.  Human Rights Commissioner\r\nJayawickrama told EmbOffs that the government has resolved\r\n880 of the approximately 1100 abduction cases reported in\r\n\u00b6<\/a>2006.  But ICRC statistics show there are still hundreds of\r\nunresolved abductions cases.  The number of such cases\r\nincreased approximately tenfold from 2005 to 2006; 2007 is on\r\ntrack to be twice as bad as 2006.  In a meeting with the\r\nHuman Rights Minister, the Ambassador urged that the\r\ngovernment work with the organizations tracking abductions to\r\nreconcile the figures and take the actions needed to stop\r\nabductions.  End Summary. \r\n\r\nNEW COMMITTEE TO HELP ABDUCTEES' FAMILIES\r\n----------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>2.  (C)  On June 1 President Rajapaksa met family members of\r\nsome of those who have disappeared, announcing a new\r\ncommittee to look into inquiries submitted by families\r\nregarding their missing relatives.  The committee will be\r\ncoordinated by the capable Human Rights Minister Mahinda\r\nSamarasinghe and will include several members of Parliament\r\nwho have been active in calling for action on abductions\r\nsince many of their constituents were victims.  (Previously,\r\nfamilies had generally sought information through\r\ninterventions by members of Parliament or other politicians.)\r\n After President Rajapaksa's meeting with the family members,\r\nthe Presidential Secretariat issued a statement quoting the\r\nPresident as saying that according to the research of\r\n\"One-Man Commission\" Mahanama Tillekeratne (ref A), nearly\r\n90% of those reported as abducted had returned.  The\r\nPresident reportedly added that in \"a large number of these\r\ncases police records showed that the alleged victims had been\r\ndomestic servants who left the homes of employers, instances\r\nof eloping by lovers, and husbands or wives who left home due\r\nto domestic disputes.\"  (Note: The cases Embassy is familiar\r\nwith do not fit these profiles.  Moreover, it appears highly\r\nunlikely that the proportion of cases that can be accounted\r\nfor in this manner even approaches ninety percent.) \r\n\r\nTWO RED CROSS WORKERS ABDUCTED AND KILLED\r\n----------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>3.  (C) Also on June 1, armed gunmen claiming to be police\r\nofficers abducted two Sri Lankan Red Cross employees from\r\nBatticaloa at the Colombo train station.  The two Tamil\r\nworkers were part of a larger group of six Red Cross\r\nemployees in Colombo to receive training on tsunami relief\r\nefforts.  They were separated from the other four by the\r\ngunmen, who said that they were needed for questioning.  The\r\nbodies of the workers were discovered the following day in\r\nthe central town of Ratnapura by the local news affiliate,\r\nwhich displayed the bodies on television.  The killings come\r\napproximately one week after the government of Sri Lanka \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000805  002 OF 005 \r\n\r\nreassured international NGOs that its workers were safe,\r\ndespite increasing threats from paramilitary factions. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>4.  (C) On June 5, 2007, the Daily Mirror published an\r\narticle quoting police sources stating that they believe the\r\nTamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) or \"Karuna group\" was\r\nresponsible for the Red Cross employees' killings.  In the\r\nsame article, TMVP Peace Secretariat Chief Mahesh (ref B)\r\ndenied TMVP involvement, claiming that the one of the\r\nvictims, Mahadevan Chandramohan, was his cousin.  Mahesh's\r\nrelationship to Chandramohan, not verified by the Daily\r\nMirror, is doubtful.  In any case, Chandramohan probably\r\nlived in LTTE-controlled territory until recently when he\r\nleft to take employment with the Red Cross. \r\n\r\nRAJAPAKSA CONCERNED THAT RED CROSS KILLINGS\r\nMIGHT HURT GSL'S IMAGE INTERNATIONALLY\r\n------------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>5.  (C) President Rajapaksa called Ambassador on June 4 and\r\nsaid the killings might have been intended to embarrass him\r\nbefore his trip to Geneva to speak to the International Labor\r\nOrganization (ILO) plenary on June 15.  He noted that there\r\nhad been similar killings just prior to previous trips\r\nabroad.  He was unsure who was responsible, but, since\r\ninvestigators so far had found that the abductors spoke Tamil\r\nand English, he speculated that they may be involved with\r\neither the Karuna group or the splitoff Pillayan faction. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>6.  (SBU)  The Daily Mirror reported on June 6 that President\r\nRajapaksa visited the bodies of the slain Red Cross workers\r\nto pay his respects and also met with representatives of the\r\nICRC and the Sri Lankan Red Cross.  According the report,\r\nRajapaksa has given police officials an ultimatum to find\r\n\"vital clues\" leading to the killers within seven days, or he\r\nwill bring in foreign investigators to solve the crime.  The\r\nMirror also quoted Rajapaksa as stating \"whoever they are,\r\nthe purpose is to bring disrepute and embarrass the\r\ngovernment.\" \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>7.  (C) In separate conversations with the President and\r\nHuman Rights Minister Samarasinghe on June 4, Ambassador\r\ncommended the government for establishing the new committee\r\nto aid family members of abductees, but asked the latter\r\nwhether the committee would be able to get results.\r\nSamarasinghe conceded that this was \"the million-dollar\r\nquestion.\"   He told Ambassador that the report of One-Man\r\nCommission Tillekeratne was with the President for review,\r\nand offered to brief Ambassador on the main conclusions. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>8.  (C) On June 5, Poloff met with Member of Parliament and\r\nCivil Monitoring Commission Director Mano Ganesan, who\r\npointed out that Colombo's main train station is located in a\r\nheavily-guarded, high security zone.  Ganesan concluded that\r\nabductions carried out there could only occur through police\r\ncomplicity or incompetence.  Ganesan opined that the\r\ngovernment of Sri Lanka has lost some control over the\r\nparamilitary factions it has secretly supported.  He argued\r\nthat the government's willingness to allow paramilitary\r\ngroups to operate extra-judicially has deteriorated into a\r\ngeneral sense of lawlessness among certain segments of\r\nsociety.  Ganesan thought it was more likely that the\r\nkillings were aimed at LTTE supporters who had been targeted\r\nfor some time with no thought by the perpetrators into the\r\neffect it might have on the President's international\r\nappearances. \r\n\r\nVICE-CHANCELLOR RAVEENDRANATH'S FAMILY\r\nACCEPTS REPORTS OF HIS DEATH\r\n-------------------------------------- \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000805  003 OF 005 \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>9.  (C)  The abduction and killing of the two Red Cross\r\nemployees is the highest profile case since the abduction of\r\nEastern University Vice-Chancellor S. Raveendranath who\r\ndisappeared on December 15, 2006.  The family held out hope\r\nfor Raveendranath's safe return for several months,\r\npetitioning President Rajapaksa personally for help.\r\nPublished media reports state that the family has now\r\naccepted that he is dead and are planning a Hindu funeral,\r\neven though no body has been recovered.  Raveendranath's\r\nson-in-law, Dr. Malaravan, told us that he has received\r\ninformation that long before the recent split in the Karuna\r\nfaction, TMVP military commander Pillayan personally\r\nkidnapped Raveendranath on Karuna's orders and killed him\r\nafter three days of torture in Karuna's Welikanda camp.  We\r\nalso have received a number of second hand reports that\r\nRaveendranath was held, and killed, at Welikanda.  The family\r\nstill faces the hurdle of obtaining a death certificate from\r\nthe GSL before his pension can be released to the widow.\r\nCurrently, it is taking eight years from the initial police\r\nreport to obtain death certificates for those who are feared\r\ndead, but for whom no body has been recovered. \r\n\r\nMFA TOUTS ITS ABDUCTION INVESTIGATIONS\r\n-------------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>10.  (C) The government is working diligently to burnish Sri\r\nLanka's international image.  On June 4, Embassy received a\r\ndiplomatic note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which\r\ndocuments Tillekeratne's investigation into 14 of the\r\napproximately 350 abduction cases submitted by the Ambassador\r\nto the Presidential Secretariat on March 20 (ref C).\r\nAccording to the note, six persons have either left Sri Lanka\r\nor applied for passports since their disappearance.  Five\r\nhave been traced by Jaffna police or have returned home.  Two\r\nbodies of those on the list have been found with gunshot\r\ninjuries, and one has been arrested by the army and turned\r\nover to the police.   The fourteen cases represent, of\r\ncourse, only about four percent of the total we submitted.\r\nThe diplomatic note also discussed 96 cases submitted by the\r\nNGO Asian Human Rights Commission, the status of\r\ninvestigations by the Commission of Inquiry (CoI), the\r\nsituation of Internally Displaced Persons, the humanitarian\r\nsituation in Jaffna and other parts of the north and east,\r\nhumanitarian access and threats to NGOs, and Tsunami\r\nreconstruction.  The Ambassador urged Human Rights Minister\r\nSamarasinghe to use his new committee to gather information\r\non all previous abductions, investigate them, and most of all\r\nput a stop to new abductions. \r\n\r\nHRC COMMISSIONER TOES THE PARTY LINE\r\n------------------------------------ \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>11.  (C) According to Colombo Human Rights Commissioner D.\r\nJayawickrama, Tillekeratne has produced a more detailed\r\nreport in which he disposes of 880 of the more than 1100\r\nabduction cases reported in 2006.  Jayawickrama was unable to\r\nprovide a copy of Tillekeratne's report, saying that we would\r\nneed to seek the report from Tillekeratne's office rather\r\nthan from the Human Rights Commission (HRC).  Relying on his\r\nrecollection of Tillekeratne's report, Jayawickrama\r\nreiterated the reasons President Rajapaksa cited for the high\r\nnumber of abductions.  He also added a few others, including:\r\npeople attempting to avoid tax liabilities, people defecting\r\nto the LTTE or being abducted by the LTTE and people\r\ndeparting for employment abroad without informing their\r\nfamily members. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>12.  (C) Jayawickrama noted that the HRC has ten regional\r\noffices throughout Sri Lanka, and that its approximately 170 \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000805  004 OF 005 \r\n\r\nemployees have access to detainees throughout the country,\r\nwith the exception of the LTTE-controlled Vanni.  When asked\r\nif this included detention facilities operated by\r\nparamilitaries such as the Karuna group, Jayawickrama said\r\nno, because these were not government institutions, adding\r\n\"but we are in touch with them (the Karuna group).\" \r\n\r\nICRC DEBUNKS GSL ABDUCTION CLAIMS\r\n--------------------------------- \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>13.  (C) EmbOffs also spoke to International Committee of the\r\nRed Cross protection officer Christoph Sutter (strictly\r\nprotect) on June 4 to discuss the ICRC's access to detention\r\nfacilities.  Sutter confirmed that the ICRC enjoyed excellent\r\naccess to GSL detention facilities throughout the\r\ngovernment-controlled areas, adding that as far as the police\r\nwere concerned, the legal procedures for detentions were\r\ngenerally being followed, that treatment was humane, and that\r\ninstances of mistreatment were quite rare.  Exceptions to\r\nthis were generally attributable to the elite STF police\r\nunits, the Special Tactics Forces.  Sutter stated that he\r\ncould not be sure the military was following the same rules\r\nconsistently, noting that the military security forces often\r\nused paramilitaries for \"special tasks\" that they could not\r\ncarry out themselves.  Sutter stated that the ICRC did not\r\nhave access to paramilitary camps, such as Karuna's base in\r\nWelikanda, but that he doubted that the paramilitaries held\r\nmany prisoners.  Instead, he believed that those taken by\r\nparamilitaries were either turned over to the army, or more\r\noften, killed.  Sutter observed that LTTE intelligence\r\noperates in government-controlled areas, including the\r\ncapital, using the same techniques as the\r\ngovernment-supported paramilitaries.  He thought it\r\nreasonable to assume that therefore a small percentage of the\r\nabductions and extrajudicial killings in the South might be\r\nthe work of the LTTE. \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>14.  (C) Sutter provided EmbOffs with an internal ICRC\r\ndocument graphing the numbers of disappearances, detentions,\r\ninternational humanitarian law (IHL) violations and child\r\nrecruitments for 2005, 2006 and the first four months of 2007\r\n(Embassy version of graph e-mailed to SCA\/INS).  The charts\r\ndemonstrated that human rights indicators have deteriorated\r\ndramatically in every category, with the exception of child\r\nrecruitment.  For example, the ICRC documented 149\r\ndisappearances in 2005, 1134 in 2006 and 571 in January-April\r\n\u00b6<\/a>2007.  The graphs also showed 50 IHL violations (such as\r\ntorture) in 2005, 1064 in 2006 and 677 in the first quarter\r\nof 2007.  As a result, Sutter concluded that although police\r\nappear to be maintaining international standards for\r\ndetention procedures, the number of cases falling outside of\r\nformal arrest and detention procedures was a \"significant\r\nproblem.\" \r\n\r\n\u00b6<\/a>15.  (C) COMMENT: The GSL is getting the message that the\r\ninternational community is serious about human rights.  What\r\nis less clear is whether the GSL intends to make a genuine\r\neffort to fix the problems.  For example, our civil society\r\ninterlocutors are quick to acknowledge that the number of\r\nabductions, especially in Jaffna, fell significantly in the\r\nwake of Assistant Secretary Boucher's visit there - but there\r\nare indications that the incidence of violations is now\r\nrising again.  Sri Lanka already has at least three\r\ncommittees, multiple ministries and the HRC, all with\r\nmandates to work on human rights issues.  We do not share the\r\nPresident's assessment that the killings of the Red Cross\r\nworkers were meant specifically to embarrass him.  It seems\r\nmore likely that young, unsophisticated Karuna faction thugs\r\nwere carrying on their usual business of eliminating rivals\r\nor suspected LTTE operatives without a thought as to what \r\n\r\nCOLOMBO 00000805  005 OF 005 \r\n\r\nwider ramifications their brutal acts might have.  At the\r\nmoment, the government is involved in a damage control\r\nexercise over that incident, and is hoping to avoid\r\nembarrassment when the President goes to Geneva.  The\r\nPresident's willingness to meet UNHCHR Arbour is encouraging,\r\nbut much more remains to be done on human rights.\r\nBLAKE<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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