Monday, Jul 22, 2002
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By V.S. Sambandan
Charging the Government, the Tigers and Norway, which brokered a ceasefire agreement early this year, the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) said in a report that values of democracy and human rights "appear to be in abeyance.'' In a special report released ahead of a scheduled visit by the U.N. Special Representative for Children, Olara Otunnu, to Sri Lanka next month, the organisation lists instances of child conscription by the Tigers. "The credibility of the peace process hinges on the issue of child conscription because all that is palpably going wrong is intimately linked to it,'' the report said. "Although extortion by the Tigers is a major irritation, it is the cruelty of child conscription and its sinister purpose that continues to erode the confidence of Tamil civilians in the peace process,'' the report said, giving details of what it describes as how the conscription gained momentum with the arrival of the LTTE's intelligence chief, Pottu Amman, in Batticaloa this April. The UTHR-J which started its work in Jaffna, subsequently moved out of the northern town. After the assassination of one of its founding members, Rajani Thiranagama, by the Tigers, the members of the organisation live in hiding outside Jaffna. While there has been no independent confirmation of the reports by the UTHR-J, Tamil sources in the northern Vavuniya town said there was a "definite evidence of an increase in the conscription by the Tigers.'' In a heating up of the southern political scene, the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, "has sought the views'' of the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, on the continuation of a Minister, who has levelled charges against her. After the car episode of the past few weeks, a fresh round of charges and counter-charges has surfaced with a hand bag as the focus of the harangue by the two main parties, the United National Party, headed by Mr. Wickremesinghe and the Opposition People's Alliance, headed by Ms. Kumaratunga. A UNP Minister's charge was that the President had brought to the last Cabinet meeting a handbag "fitted with sophisticated surveillance equipment.'' Subsequently, in a letter to Mr. Wickremesinghe, copies of which were published in the media today, the President, who also heads the Cabinet, said that the Minister, Ravi Karunanayake "hurled the allegation'' that she "had brought bombs to kill the Prime Minister.'' The nature of the allegation was "so serious and his behaviour so unacceptable, that I cannot have him as a member of my Cabinet any more,'' the President said, seeking Mr. Wickremesinghe's views on the issue. Mr. Wickremesinghe, in his reply, copies of which were also published, denied those charges against the Minister. Though Ms. Kumaratunga heads the Cabinet, she had sought the views of the Prime Minister, in accordance with a mutual agreement that the Cabinet of Ministers will be appointed on his recommendation. "I appreciate that this agreement has been observed by your excellency,'' Mr. Wickremesinghe said. The Cabinet spokesperson, G.L.Peiris, in a statement said consultation with the Prime Minister was "mandatory constitutional requirement.''
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