Response to the visit of President Mahinda Rajapakse to New Delhi.

The Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi - 110 101
India

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Subject: Regarding the visit of President Mahinda Rajapakse to New Delhi.

We are aware that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is schedule to visit New Delhi on the 8th of June 2010. At this juncture we as concerned citizens of South Asia would like to lay out a few basic concerns.

As concerned citizens of various nations in this region, we have silently witnessed the human tragedy that unfolded in Sri Lanka, due to the war that was savagely fought to an end in May last year.

As you are well aware, since the declared ‘end’ of this war, there are many international human rights organisations including the US State Department Report in October, 2009, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Rapporteur on Extra- Judicial Killings have declared beyond any further doubt that there is a dire necessity for investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes during the final phase of that war for certain, if not from before. While the aggression and the resulting violence are two-sided in a conflict situation, we firmly believe the onus of respecting law and order and honouring international commitments falls more heavily on an elected, democratic government, than on an armed organisation that was banned by over 35 countries including India.

We are of the firm opinion that India as a member country of both SAARC and the Commonwealth of Nations, as a democratic country and a neighbour, cannot afford to ignore the human tragedy of the ethnic Tamil minority in Sri Lanka. Of the over 2.4 million Tamil people in Sri Lanka, over 300,000 were wholly uprooted from their ancestral villages and thrown into barbed wire camps as refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs). These camps were administered by the Sri Lankan military and though access was severely curtailed, it was widely known that abject conditions in these camps are in violation of all human decency and the rights of the displaced.

We are now faced with a situation of a country, parts of which have been ravaged by war, where a long term solution in not in sight. Political will for a long term solution can only be assured with enough pressure on the Sri Lankan government at the regional and international levels. To this end, we would like to briefly outline a few basic concerns.

They are:
1. The wholly militarised approach of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) in handling IDP issues and their supposed resettlement without a well thought out, democratically designed and publicly declared programme;
2. Continued military rule in Tamil areas with paramilitary groups allowed to operate in collaboration with State security forces;
3. Lack of any credible system or mechanism for redress and reconciliation offered to the war affected Tamil people;
4. The delay in providing any just political solution to the aggravated ethnic crisis that developed into an armed conflict and protracted war.

We would like to urge the Indian government to take an unambiguous stand on the Sri Lankan government during and after the war. As an intrinsic part of the post war reconstruction efforts in Sri Lanka, it is incumbent upon India to insist on; basic standards of human rights to be maintained at all times; that adequate steps be taken towards to address the long and short term grievances of affected communities; and a long term political solution to the ethnic struggle be worked upon.

We therefore appeal to the government of India, on behalf of all concerned citizens in India and South Asia who wish to see democracy flourish in the region, to impress upon the Sri Lankan President and his government to take steps immediately to implement -

1. A holistic, pragmatic “recovery programme” for the war-devastated regions of the country, which would be discussed and approved in the Sri Lankan parliament and would be provided with a credible level of budgetary support, equal to the magnitude of the task. This programme should be monitored by a parliamentary select committee, and be implemented through provincial council administrations in the North – East, that would address all issues of
a) The affected people in the North, in the Vanni and the East, including widows, Orphaned children and ex-combatants, in resettling them in their own villages or in Places of their choice;
b) Southern war victims in border villages; and
c) Disabled soldiers, the war widows and the parents/dependents of those missing in action.
2. Demilitarising of the whole society within a stipulated, short time frame that would immediately disband all paramilitary groups and establish law and order in the whole society;
3. Reconstitute the most recently appointed (May 17) Presidential Commission on “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation” as a South Asian Commission on Reconciliation and Reparation in Sri Lanka, as an independent commission responsible to the SAARC, with a mandate to resolve all issues of the war including disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrests, issues of war widows and orphaned children, discussed and approved in SL parliament;
4. Accept a South Asian eminent civil society group that includes representation from the mainstream media, to visit war affected areas as a fact finding mission.

We urge you to include the above mentioned issues in your deliberations with the Sri Lankan president. We hope that the Indian Government will take a firm stand supporting the rights of the people of Sri Lanka, especially those most affected by the war. This in turn we hope will generate the political pressure needed to ensure that the basic rights of the people in Sri Lanka are assured to them. It is only through such efforts can the island nation ensure for long term peace, justice and dignity.

As this is a serious public issue of importance, we wish to inform you that this appeal would be released to the media as public information.

Thanking you,

Signed -

1. E. Deenadayalan, Concerned Citizens for South Asia
2. Tapan K. Bose, South Asia Forum for Human Rights
3. M. Subbu, New Trade Union Initiative
4. Saheli Women’s Group, New Delhi
5. Ashok Choudhary, National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers
6. National Alliance of People’s Movement
7. Xavier Jayeraj, South Asian People’s Initiatives (SAPI), New Delhi
8. Jatin Desai, Focus on Global South
9. Delhi Forum, New Delhi
10. Ravi Hemadri, Concerned Citizens for South Asia
11. Justice Rajinder Sachar, New Delhi
12. Kuldip Nayar, New Delhi
13. Vasanthi Raman, Senior Fellow, Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi
14. Sumit Chakravarty, Mainstream, New Delhi
15. Surendra Mohan, New Delhi
16. Anuradha Chenoy, New Delhi
17. Rita Manchanda
18. V. Joseph Xavier sj, Superior and Head - Research, Indian Social Institute, Bangalore
19. Saheli, New Delhi
20. Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, Amnesty International
21. Kavitha Muralidharan, journalist, Chennai.
22. Mary E John, Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi
23. Anusha Hariharan, Student, JNU, New Delhi
24. Kalyani Menon-Sen, Jagori, New Delhi
25. Pamela Philipose, Women Feature Service, New Delhi
26. Priya Thangarajah, NLSIU, Bangalore
27. Ramlath Kavil, Mumbai
28. Supriya Madangarli Mumbai
29. Viji P Penkoottu, Kerala
30. Fr. Soosai Arokiasamy S.J., Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Delhi
31. Jothi SJ, Director, Udayani SOcial Action Forum,Kolkata
32. Dr Veena R Poonacha , Director, Research Center for Women's Studies, SNDT Women's University, Mumbai
33. Geeta charusivam
34. Stan Swamy, Bagaicha, Ranchi
35. AXJ. Bosco SJ, CITRA, Secunderabad
36. Rudi Heredia, ISI, New Delhi
37. Paul Vaz, Mumbai
38. Anto Joseph, Manthan, Patna
39. JESA Patna, Bihar
40. Sunny George Kunnel, De Nobili College, Pune
41. The Director, Indian Social Institute, New Delhi
42. Social Centre, Nagar, Maharashtra
43. Dr. Lazar Savari SJ, Professor, St. Joseph’s College, Trichy, Tamilnadu
44. Thomas Kocherry, World Forum of Fisher Peoples (WFFP)