Why Sri Lanka's Detention of Mrs Balenderan

Jayakumari Is So Sinister
Callum Macrae-Writer and filmmaker-01/10/2014
Just over 200 days ago the Sri Lankan authorities arrested a Tamil mother
Balenderan Jeyakumari and her teenage daughter! Mrs Jeyakumari had "een
#am$aigning to find out %hat had ha$$ened to her &'(year(old son Mahindan %ho
disa$$eared after a$$arently "eing taken $risoner "y the Sri Lankan authorities at the
end of the %ar in 200) a##used of mem"ershi$ of the Tamil Tigers!
Mrs Jeyakumari and her daughter
%ere %ell kno%n a#tivists %ho had "een among the #ro%ds %hi#h mo""ed British
$rime minister David *ameron %hen he visited the former %ar +one in Jaffna in
,ovem"er last year!
Three months later Mrs Jeyakumari sent me a video address in %hi#h she %arned that
she %as "eing follo%ed and harassed as a result of her #am$aign! -.nkno%n fa#es
follo% me and tra#k me %henever I return home after $rotest rallies! This is a serious
threat and at times I am s#ared to live here! I go for all these $rotests shouting from
the streets for my son's release! Lots of $eo$le are taking $hotogra$hs of us I do not
kno% all of them!-
She added/ -I have "een follo%ed on several o##asions! I am living in this village %ith
my daughter! So sometimes %e are terrified to live here!-
Shortly after%ards ( on the &0 Mar#h 20&1 she and her daughter %ere arrested! The
ne2t day in London I %as at a *ommon%ealth $ress #onferen#e attended "y Sri Lankan
foreign minister 3rofessor 4L 3eiris ( Sri Lanka %as "y then the *hair in 5ffi#e of the
*ommon%ealth!
I asked him ho% he #ould 6ustify the arrest of Mrs Jeyakumari given the
*ommon%ealth's #ore #ommitment to free s$ee#h! 7e said that he #ould not #omment
until the eviden#e had "een e2amined adding/ -This %ill ha$$en in due #ourse! There
is 6udi#ial s#rutiny! 8nd I think it is very %rong to #ome to a #on#lusion "efore the fa#ts
are looked at o"6e#tively and in de$th!-
More than 200 days later there is still no sign of any su#h -6udi#ial s#rutiny-! ,or is
there likely to "e any "e#ause this is not a"out any kind of 6udi#ial $ro#ess this is
sim$ly a"out the silen#ing of #riti#s!
Mrs Jeyakumari remains held %ithout #harge ( her daughter in ill(defined -$rote#tive
#ustody- in an or$hanage! Mrs Jeyakumari's #ontinued detention in#ommuni#ado
%ould "e ine2#usa"le in any #ir#umstan#es "ut it is $arti#ularly sinister given that she
is an im$ortant %itness %hose testimony should "e availa"le to ., investigators
#arrying out an international in9uiry ( agreed "y the .nited ,ations 7uman :ights
*oun#il last Mar#h ( looking into the #rimes #ommitted "y "oth sides in the Sri Lankan
%ar %hi#h ended in 200) and the ongoing a"use of human rights in that #ountry!
Mrs Jeyakumari's arrest #ame shortly "efore that in9uiry %as endorsed "y the #oun#il (
"ut the intimidation of those %ho might %ant to give eviden#e to that in9uiry
#ontinues! Just last %eek the .,'s De$uty 7igh *ommissioner for 7uman :ights
;lavia 3ansieri said/ -The ongoing #am$aign of threats harassment intimidation and
re$risals "y "oth state and non(state a#tors sin#e Mar#h against #ivil so#iety grou$s
human rights defenders and vi#tims' organisations in#luding those engaging %ith the
international in9uiry is de$lora"le!- She added/ -This #limate of intimidation and
threat #onstitutes a real #hallenge for the investigation mandated "y the 7uman :ights
*oun#il!-
In $arti#ular she #ommented on the #redi"ility of Sri Lanka's mu#h trum$eted
-domesti#- investigation into disa$$earan#es adding that the intimidation of
%itnesses/ -.ndermines the $ros$e#ts for Sri Lanka's o%n domesti# investigations
%here %itness and vi#tim $rote#tion has long "een a ma6or #on#ern!-
The ongoing intimidation is also des#ri"ed in a "log $osted yesterday <00th Se$tem"er
20&1= on the British 7igh *ommission %e"site "y de$uty high #ommissioner Laura
Davies %ho des#ri"es ho% on a re#ent tri$ to the ,orth >ast -it gradually "e#ame
im$ossi"le to ignore the fa#t that I %as "eing %at#hed! Worse it %as #lear that the
$eo$le I %as meeting %ere having follo%(u$ visits or $hone #alls asking %hat I had
done and said!- She added that this intimidation %as -#learly frightening to individuals
and their families! I %as saddened "ut not sur$rised that several $eo$le %ere too
s#ared to meet me!-
The res$onse of the Sri Lankan government to all these #on#erns should $erha$s not
sur$rise us! They #ontinue to do e2a#tly as they al%ays have ( %hile maintaining an
almost laugha"le fi#tion for domesti# #onsum$tion!
;or e2am$le %hile the ., and .? de$uty high #ommissioners %arned of re$ression of
%itnesses and the silen#ing of dissent Sri Lanka's state "road#aster ( under the
headline/ -., se#retary general has #ommended the $resident's leadershi$ and the
$rogress a#hieved "y Sri Lanka under his leadershi$- last %eek re$orted/
-*ongratulating $resident :a6a$aksa on his leadershi$ Ban a#kno%ledged the
$rogress that has "een made in Sri Lanka in the years after the %ar and e2$ressed his
o$timism that the remaining #hallenges %ould also "e over#ome %ith this ty$e of
$oliti#al leadershi$!-
In fa#t the .,'s offi#ial re$ort of the meetings said the se#retary general raised
#on#erns over -religious violen#e- en#ouraged the $resident to -$rovide $rote#tion to
asylum(seekers- and said he e2$e#ted Sri Lanka to -engage $atiently and faithfully
%ith!!! the 5ffi#e of the high #ommissioner for 7uman :ights-! In fa#t the Sri Lankan
government has so far refused to #o(o$erate %ith the in9uiry and has even refused it
entry to the #ountry!
8nother re#ent $loy enthusiasti#ally re$orted for domesti# #onsum$tion "y the
government %as a re#ent statement issued "y that %ell kno%n friend of demo#ra#y the
government of >gy$t! It re$orted that 22 #ountries in the -Like Minded 4rou$- have
#ondemned the ., en9uiry into the events in Sri Lanka as -un%arranted-!
The Sri Lankan government's a$$arent delight over this re$ort %as rather undermined
t%o days ago %hen Sri Lanka's former 3ermanent :e$resentative to the ., in 4eneva
Dr! Dayan Jayatilleka said that in $ra#ti#e the statement suggested su$$ort for Sri
Lanka is haemorrhaging at the ., 7uman :ights *oun#il! 7e $ointed out that
su$$ort for the government's su$$ort at the .,7:* had in effe#t dro$$ed from 2)
votes five years ago to &2 %hen the in9uiry %as set u$ to 6ust seven no%!
7e added that %hat %as $arti#ularly alarming for Sri Lanka %as %hi#h mem"ers of the
.,7:* had not signed! -I'm not talking a"out the Western nations ( "ut mem"er
states that should have signed this- he said! -;or instan#e @ietnam has not signed this
India has not signed Bra+il has not signed South 8fri#a has not signed!-
But even the most avid su$$orters of the government kno% that ignoring %orld
o$inion feeding nonsense to their domesti# audien#e and setting u$ endless domesti#
in9uiries and #ommissions <%hi#h $rodu#e re$orts that are at "est %hite%ashes or at
%orst are su$$ressed= is not a sustaina"le solution! Like the offensively a"surd #laim
that they had a $oli#y of -+ero #ivilian #asualties- during the %ar this kind of nonsense
%ill inevita"ly "e e2$osed in time!
But the $ro"lem is %hat ha$$ens in the $eriod "efore they are e2$osed/ Be#ause these
$revari#ations and $al$a"le fi#tions are not designed to #onvin#e they are designed to
"uy time! ;or e2am$le %e no% kno% that %hile $eddling the line a"out -+ero #ivilian
#asualties- during the last fe% months of the %ar as do#umented in my film ,o ;ire
Aone they #ons#iously and deli"erately targeted and massa#red Tamil #ivilians %ho
had gathered in those +ones for their o%n safety! They %ere in the %ords of the then
.? foreign se#retary David Mili"and -"uying time-!
In the same %ay today %hile $eddling nonsense a"out -e2$anded- in9uiries into the
disa$$eared or misre$orting Ban ?i Moon's -su$$ort- for Sri Lanka's $oliti#al
leadershi$ they are a#tually #arrying out an ongoing #am$aign %hose aim is nothing
less than to $ermanently #hange the ethni# make(u$ of the Tamil areas in the north
and east!
Through the use of ma6or strategi# land(gra"s systemati# se2ual violen#e $oliti#al
re$ression enfor#ed disa$$earan#es and %holesale $lantation "y non(Tamil families
and "usinesses they are assaulting Tamil identity and ethni#ally re(engineering the
entire region!
The #lear danger is that "y the time most Sri Lankan $eo$le have seen through their
government's ultimately unsustaina"le #laims ( and the %orld finally #alls the
government's "luff over its fake domesti# $ro#esses ( it %ill "e too late! The ethni# re(
engineering of the north and east ( argua"ly the final offensive of the %ar ( %ill have
su##eeded!
The %orld failed to a#t %ith suffi#ient s$eed and seriousness to sto$ the massa#res
during the %ar! Is it a"out to fail againB
Follow Callum Macrae on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Callum_Macrae
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