WHO CARES ABOUT CIVILIANS........!?!?

NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY
Do we care for our own people? From all available independent reports, there is a huge humanitarian crisis in the Vanni. Reports speak of tens of thousands of internally displaced civilians undergoing immense hardship without proper shelter, inadequate sanitation and insufficient food, water, health and education facilities. All of them have fled from their homes because they do not want to be caught in the cross fire. They face a threat from all fronts in the ongoing war.

Credible reports have suggested the LTTE, on account of battle losses, is facing a shortage of fighting cadres. They are therefore conscripting young civilians. The older civilians are also being forcibly given military training ostensibly for defensive purposes – how to act in the face of aerial bombings and shelling. But the civilians are in no mood either for conscription or for undergoing any type of military training, defensive or otherwise.

At the same time, the civilians have to face aerial bombardment from the state forces. In the earlier stages, the Air Force was careful to avoid civilian targets, even though misinformation sometimes led to civilian deaths as in the case of the schoolchildren undergoing first aid and reportedly some basic military training as well. In that case, the innocent schoolchildren certainly did not voluntarily seek either first aid training or any form of military training. But on the whole, bombings were directed at selected targets which were mostly accurate, as in the case of the strike on the house where Thamilselvan was having a meeting. But with the intensification of the ground war, and the fighting moving to civilian areas, the aerial bombardment has not been as selective as before.

Faced with these twin dangers, it is not surprising that the civilians have sought to move to safe ground, away from the crossfire. But the movement has been of such proportions that it has caught the civil administration completely off guard. Reports suggest that there is inadequate shelter, food, water and sanitation for the massive movement of displaced refugees. This is a crisis which it is the duty of the Government to deal with in a humanitarian way. It is a pity to hear Government spokespersons denying that a crisis exists. The battle against the LTTE should not in any way mean that the Government abandons its duty by its people. The Government has to make arrangements for a safe corridor for these IDPs to move to more secure areas. If that is not possible in the current scenario, the Government must, if necessary with the assistance of aid agencies, provide adequate shelter, health and sanitation facilities for these IDPs and ensure that there is sufficient food and water for their needs.


Winning the battle, losing the war?


These people may be living in a region politically controlled by the LTTE, but that was not of their choosing. They are simple marginalised civilians who have no where else to move. Showing a lack of concern for their welfare and denying that they are suffering in any way will only drive these people into the arms of anti-democratic forces. With the military making advances on the war front, the Government seems totally unconcerned about winning over the Tamil people. President Rajapaksa has been talking of liberating the people of the North but the way the IDP issue is being handled is certainly not the way to do it. Here was an opportunity to show the Tamil people that they were considered as equal citizens entitled to equal protection. That opportunity is being squandered.

Indian National Security Advisor M K Narayan’s warning that the Government may win the battle and lose the war has provoked the expected response from Sinhala nationalists. But more thoughtful analysts like former diplomat Nanda Godage have urged the Government to re-think what Rajan Hoole has rightly called the failed strategy. Even Gotabaya Rajapakse has reacted on similar lines. The tragedy for both the Sinhala and Tamil people has been their political leadership’s short-sighted vision. They have sought to appease and remain prisoners either to Sinhala supremacism or to Tamil terrorism. They need to break out of this mindset that appeasement is the only way to stay in power. Chandrika Kumaratunge was perhaps the only leader in the recent few decades to have pursued a vision of a united Sri Lanka with justice for all the diverse groups that form our nation. She had the benefit of support of fellow visionaries among the minority politicians like Lakshman Kadirgamar, Neelan Tiruchelvam and Mohamed Ashraff. But sadly we seem to have lost that enlightened leadership. Petty personal agendas by the present parish pump politicians have replaced an enlightened vision for the communities and constituencies that form our nation.


Rizana Nafeeka Case


It was certainly good news from Saudi Arabia that the young girl from Mutur has won the first stage of her appeal against the death sentence imposed on her by the Saudi courts. Apart from the fact that Rizana Nafeek was a minor, many here as well as international human rights agencies that took up her case were convinced that she was innocent of the charges levelled against her. Rizana, then still a minor but sent by an employment agency that falsified her age as being six years older than she was, was sent for domestic employment to Saudi Arabia in 2005. Within two weeks of her employment in a household, she was left alone to bottle-feed a four-month old baby. The baby apparently choked and Rizana had no idea of how to handle this situation and she had called out for help. By the time help arrived, the baby was dead. Her Saudi employers accused her of deliberately strangling the baby to death – an accusation taken up by the Police. She was coerced into making a confession on these lines – she signed the confession prepared for her in Arabic. Later, when speaking to a Tamil speaking official of the Sri Lankan Embassy, she related her story and signed another statement in Tamil retracting her original confession. The local Court went by her first confession and sentenced her to death by beheading. She had thirty days to file an appeal.

Thankfully, at this stage the Asian Human Rights Commission stepped into the picture, took up Rizana’s case and raised the 50,000 Saudi Riyals needed to lodge the appeal. This was done and the Appeal Court has again referred the case back to the original court. Rizana’s lawyers argued that there were flaws in the Arabic translation of Rizana’s statement in Tamil, that she was hired to work only as a housekeeper and not as a nanny, and besides she was a minor at the time of the alleged offence. The case is far from being over as local media reports based on a Foreign Ministry release seem to suggest. This is the fourth or fifth time that the case has moved back and forth between the appeal court (the Supreme Judicial Council) and the local High Court. She has now been in prison now for three years, but the latest move suggests that there is increased hope that justice will be done.

It was amusing to read the Foreign Ministry statement trying to claim credit for the partial success of the appeal. In fact, when Rizana had thirty days to file an appeal, our Foreign Ministry apparently did not respond to the request from our Mission in Riyadh for authority to lodge the appeal. If not for the prompt intervention of the Asian Human Rights Commission, the hapless Rizana would have been a goner. Indeed, a senior official of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau had reportedly told the local Lakbima newspaper that there was no point in lodging an appeal as the case against Rizana was strong!

Governments have a duty to assist any of their citizens who fall into trouble, rightly or wrongly, outside their country. This includes providing them with legal representation. In this case, what has succeeded is the humanitarian intervention of the Asian Human Rights Commission and other international NGOs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Their activists have also bombarded the Saudi authorities with letters and emails from all over the world seeking clemency and justice for Rizana. If she is to receive justice, Rizana needs continuing support from the agencies and individuals that have been supporting her.

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