Sri Lankan envoy 'war crimes'

SRI Lanka's high commissioner to Australia, former navy Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, should be investigated for war crimes, a brief before the Australian Federal Police says.

The submission, from the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section, has compiled what a source has told The Age is direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Witnesses - former Sri Lankan residents now living in Australia - can attest to the crimes, the source said

Admiral Samarasinghe was the commander of the Sri Lankan navy's eastern and then northern areas, as well as naval chief of staff, during the final years of the country's bloody civil war with separatist terrorist group the Tamil Tigers.

In the final months of fighting in 2009, according to the United Nations, up to 40,000 civilians caught in the north and east of the country were killed when government forces moved against the insurgent army.

Separate and independent allegations have been made, to the jurists' commission and other investigators, that naval ships fired directly on unarmed civilians as they fled the conflict.

There has been no evidence Admiral Samarasinghe was involved in shelling, or gave direct orders to that effect, but the submission before the AFP states military superiors hold a responsibility for the actions of those under their command.

A spokesman told The Age that ''the AFP is currently evaluating the submission. Therefore it is not appropriate to comment further.''

Admiral Samarasinghe told The Age that all of his - and the navy's - actions during the conflict were legal. ''There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behaviour,'' he said.

''The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives of civilians from clutches of terrorists.''

The commission submission has been sent to the AFP and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as to the offices of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. It calls for investigations into Admiral Samarasinghe and other key military and political figures, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is commander-in-chief of Sri Lanka's armed forces, with a view to issuing arrest warrants against those responsible.

The International Commission of Jurists is an independent international law body, based in Geneva. It holds consultative status with UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the African Union.

The Australian section made a similar submission over allegations of war crimes during East Timor's struggle for independence - and evidence it gathered was used by that country's

Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, the official body set up to investigate human rights abuses.

President of the Australian section is former NSW Supreme Court justice and attorney-general John Dowd. He declined to comment.

But independent of the commission dossier, another member of Sri Lanka's diplomatic corps with links to Australia is already under investigation by the AFP for his alleged role in possible war crimes.

In May, The Age detailed allegations against dual Australian-Sri Lankan citizen Palitha Kohona.

Dr Kohona, who was an Australian diplomat in the 1980s, and is now Sri Lanka's representative to the UN, is accused of sending, via intermediaries, text messages to defeated Tamil Tigers and civilians, telling them they could surrender, unarmed and under a white flag, to government troops.

About 20 followed the instructions. Eyewitnesses report they were loaded into army trucks. They were later found, shot dead, nearby.

The AFP has confirmed it is evaluating the allegations against Dr Kohona ''with a view to determining any potential breaches of Australian law''.

Dr Kohona has denied the allegations, admitting he sent the messages, but saying they were never a guarantee of safety, only advice on how best to surrender. ''I never had the authority to issue orders to troops or to discuss surrender terms of any terrorists, either directly or indirectly.''

Admiral Samarasinghe enjoyed a distinguished 37-year-career in the Sri Lankan navy. He was commander of the Eastern Naval Area, then commander of Northern Naval Area between 2007 and 2009. In May 2009, the final month of the war, he was made navy chief of staff, before being promoted, two months later, to navy commander.

Admiral Samarasinghe resigned his commission in January to take up his diplomatic post in Canberra. At the time of his appointment, foreign affairs officials reportedly saw his nomination as ''problematic'', in light of his command role in a military accused of serious human rights violations. But his appointment was not opposed.

Since the end of the war, allegations the navy fired on civilians have been raised inside Sri Lanka and out. The country's reconciliation tribunal heard from a woman that in May 2009 she tried to escape the war zone in a boat.

''We held two white flags and on seeing the Navy we called them 'Aiya, Aiya' [sir, Sir]. There was sudden shelling and eight died on the spot . . Navy hit; Navy attacked and many people died.''

Part of the commission submission is further testimony from Tamils now living in Australia that shelling came from the sea in the final weeks of fighting.

Admiral Samarasinghe said this week: ''All conduct of the Sri Lanka Navy was within the rules governing domestic and international laws.

''There were no orders given to fire by anyone to Sri Lanka naval vessels. Rules of engagements were clear to all commanders.'' He said the accusations levelled at him, and at other members of the Sri Lankan military and political establishment, were politically motivated.

''I was part of the Sri Lankan military which prevented the most brutal terrorist organisation from dividing my country. Those that still have aims to divide Sri Lanka continue to hurl baseless, unsubstantiated allegations.''

A UN report this year found it was ''unable to accept the version of events held by the government of Sri Lanka''.

It said the government deliberately shelled no-fire zones where it had encouraged civilians to shelter, as well as attacking the UN, food distribution lines and Red Cross ships rescuing the wounded.

''The government systematically shelled hospitals on the frontlines … [and] deprived people in the conflict zone of humanitarian aid, in the form of food and medical supplies, particularly surgical supplies, adding to their suffering.''

The report was equally condemnatory of the separatist Tamil Tigers, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It said they used civilians as hostages and human shields, forcibly recruited children as young as 14 to fight, and shot - point-blank - any civilians who attempted to escape the conflict.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/sri-lankan-envoy-war-crimes-20111016-1lrm7.html#ixzz1awxNEA2k

இன்றைய 'THE AGE' பத்திரிகையில் முதற்பக்கச் செய்தியாக இச்செய்தி வந்திருக்கிறது.

உலகெங்குமுள்ள, தமிழனத்தின் அழிவில் பங்கு கொண்ட போர்க்குற்றவாளிகளை, அடையாளம் கண்டு நீதியின் முன் கொண்டு வர வேண்டியது, ஒவ்வொரு தமிழனதும் ஒவ்வொரு மனிதனதும் கடமையாகும்!. நாங்கள் ஒருவர் அல்லது இருவரைக் கூண்டில் ஏற்றினால் மிகுதியை உலகம் பார்த்துக் கொள்ளும்!

இந்த ஒரு விடயத்தில் மட்டும் எங்கள் தனிப்பட்ட அரசியல் பாதைகளை விட்டு விலகிச் செயல் படுவோம்!

Sri Lanka diplomat accused of war crimes

Ben Doherty

October 17, 2011

Denial ... Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe.

SRI LANKA'S high commissioner to Australia, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, should be investigated for war crimes, a brief before the Australian Federal Police says.

The submission, from the International Commission of Jurists' Australian section, has compiled what a source has told the Herald is direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy.

There are witnesses - Sri Lankans now living in Australia - who can attest to the alleged crimes, the source said.

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The then Admiral Samarasinghe was commander of the navy's eastern and then northern areas, as well as naval chief of staff, in the final years of the bloody civil war against the separatist terrorist group, the Tamil Tigers.

In the final months of fighting in 2009, according to the United Nations, up to 40,000 civilians caught in the north and east were killed when government forces moved against the insurgents.

Separate and independent allegations have been made, to the ICJ and other investigators, that naval ships fired on unarmed civilians as they fled the conflict.

There has been no evidence Mr Samarasinghe was involved in shelling, or gave direct orders to that effect, but the submission before federal police states military superiors hold ''a command responsibility'' for the actions of subordinates.

Mr Samarasinghe said all of his - and the navy's - actions were legal. "There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behaviour,'' he said.

"The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives [of] civilians from clutches of terrorists."

The Australian section's submission has also been sent to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as to the offices of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. It calls for investigations into Mr Samarasinghe and other military and political figures, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is commander-in-chief of Sri Lanka's armed forces, with a view to issuing arrest warrants.

The president of the Australian section is the former NSW Supreme Court justice and attorney-general John Dowd. He declined to comment.

But independent of the dossier, another member of Sri Lanka's diplomatic corps with links to Australia is already under investigation by federal police for his alleged role in possible war crimes.

In May the Herald detailed allegations against a dual Australian-Sri Lankan citizen, Palitha Kohona.

Dr Kohona, who was an Australian diplomat in the 1980s and is now Sri Lanka's representative to the UN, is accused of sending, via intermediaries, text messages to defeated Tamil Tigers and civilians, telling them they could surrender, unarmed and under a white flag, to troops.

About 20 followed the instructions. Witnesses report they were loaded into army trucks. They were later found, shot dead, nearby.

Federal police have confirmed they were evaluating the allegations against Dr Kohona "with a view to determining any potential breaches of Australian law".

Dr Kohona has denied the allegations, admitting he sent the messages, but saying they were never a guarantee of safety, only advice on how best to surrender. "I never had the authority to issue orders to troops or to discuss surrender terms of any terrorists, either directly or indirectly," he said.

Mr Samarasinghe enjoyed a distinguished 37-year-career in the navy. In May 2009, the final month of the war, he was made chief of staff, before being promoted, two months later, to navy commander.

He resigned his commission in January to take up his diplomatic post in Canberra.

Foreign Affairs officials reportedly saw his nomination as "problematic", in light of his command role in a military accused of serious human rights violations. But his appointment was not opposed.

Since the end of the war, allegations the navy fired on civilians have been raised inside Sri Lanka and out. The country's reconciliation tribunal heard from a woman that in May 2009, she tried to escape the war zone in a boat.

"We held two white flags and on seeing the navy we called them 'Aiya, aiya' ['Sir, sir']. There was sudden shelling and eight died on the spot … navy hit; navy attacked and many people died."

Part of the ICJ submission is further testimony from ethnic Tamils now living in Australia that shelling came from the sea in the final weeks of fighting.

Mr Samarasinghe said last week: "All conduct of the [navy] was within the rules governing domestic and international laws.

"There were no orders given to fire by anyone to Sri Lanka naval vessels. Rules of engagements were clear to all commanders."

He said the accusations levelled at him and at other members of the military and political establishment were politically motivated. "I was part of the Sri Lankan military, which prevented the most brutal terrorist organisation from dividing my country. Those that still have aims to divide Sri Lanka continue to hurl baseless, unsubstantiated allegations."

A UN report this year found it was "unable to accept the version of events held by the government of Sri Lanka".

It said the government deliberately shelled no-fire zones where it had encouraged civilians to shelter, as well as attacking the UN, food distribution lines and Red Cross ships rescuing the wounded. "The government systematically shelled hospitals on the front lines … [and] deprived people in the conflict zone of humanitarian aid, in the form of food and medical supplies, particularly surgical supplies, adding to their suffering."

The report was equally condemnatory of the Tamil Tigers. It said they used civilians as hostages and as human shields, forcibly recruited children as young as 14 to fight, and shot - point-blank - any civilians who attempted to escape the conflict.

A federal police spokesman told the Herald: ''The AFP is currently evaluating the submission. Therefore it is not appropriate to comment further.''

http://www.smh.com.au/national/sri-lanka-diplomat-accused-of-war-crimes-20111016-1lrmd.html

NEWS RELEASE: Time for Rudd to act on call for Sri Lankan war crimes tribunal‏

Time for Rudd to act on call for Sri Lankan war crimes tribunal

Responding to today's report about war crimes in Sri Lanka Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon has urged Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd to add his voice to the growing international call for an independent investigation into the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war. (SMH http://tinyurl.com/4y5jrdz)

"The report from the Australian Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists linking the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Thisara Samarasinghe with war crimes in Sri Lanka is extremely serious,” Senator Rhiannon said.

“With a delegation from Sri Lanka, headed up by their President Mahinda Rajapakse due to arrive shortly in Perth for CHOGM, the Australia Government can no longer refuse to take action.

"Mr Rudd should follow the lead of the British and Canadian Prime Ministers, who have both spoken about Sri Lankan war crimes.

“I understand that Admiral Samarasinghe’s claim that ‘the Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage’, is untrue. Australian’s who were in the conflict zone in 2009, have told me that the Navy engaged in direct fire from the seashore into heavily populated civilian areas throughout the last five months of the war.

“According to a former United Nations spokesperson up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the later stages of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009.

“In May 2010, my colleague Adam Bandt said the Australian Government would not be wise to accept ex-military officers for diplomatic positions. This appointment should once again be revisited in light of the ICJ submission to the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions,” Senator Rhiannon said.

to: president@icj-aust.au

cc: chai@icj-aust.au, sec-gen@icj-aust.au

The Hon John Dowd AO QC

Ph: +61 (0)2 8249 3221

Fax: +61 (0)2 9266 0742

Subject: Sri Lanka diplomat accused of war crimes

Dear Hon. John Dowd,

I would like to thank your continued effort in bringing justice to hapless people in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan officials continued to enjoy impunity under the UN conventions which they have violated.

Only a free and meaningful investigation can result not only in peace but better Human Rights for all.

Thank You!

Sincerely,

--------------------

Australia pressured to investigate Sri Lanka envoy for warcrimes

By Rob Taylor

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government came under pressure on Monday from rights groups and lawmakers to investigate Sri Lanka's top envoy to the country for war crimes, risking a diplomatic row ahead of a summit of leaders from 54 Commonwealth nations next week.

The International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ) Australian section has handed police direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy during the last stages of the bloody civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009, The Age newspaper said, citing unidentified sources.

Sri Lanka's Canberra high commissioner, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe was the navy's eastern and then northern areas commander, as well as chief of staff, in the last months of the war, during which naval ships allegedly fired on civilians as they fled the conflict, the paper quoted the ICJ as saying.

"The report ... is extremely serious," said Lee Rhiannon, a senator from Australia's influential Greens Party, which backs Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority Labour government.

"With a delegation from Sri Lanka, headed up by their President Mahinda Rajapaksa due to arrive shortly in Perth for (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting), the Australia government can no longer refuse to take action."

Police confirmed they were evaluating the ICJ's brief, received last Friday, but said in an email that they would not comment on possible charges or action until the process was completed.

Australia's government, already wallowing in opinion polls, will be reluctant to add a diplomatic upset to domestic concerns about carbon taxes and border security already worrying voters.

Samarasinghe told The Age that all of his and the navy's actions in the final months of fighting were legal under the rules of conflict.

"There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behaviour. The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives civilians from clutches of terrorists," he said.

There was no evidence Samarasinghe was directly involved in or gave orders for shelling, The Age said, but the submission before Australian police stated that military superiors held "a command responsibility" for the actions of subordinates.

Amnesty International last month said between 10,000 and 20,000 civilians were killed in the war's last months, but a national inquiry has failed so far to investigate war crimes by both the army and Tamil rebels.

Sri Lanka deflected a Western-led push for a war crimes investigation at recent U.N. Human Rights Council sessions. Western nations are still calling for an independent probe for killing thousands of civilians in May 2009.

A United Nations advisory panel's report says there is "credible evidence" that both sides committed war crimes, which the government hotly contests. Many of the allegations originated with pro-Tamil Tiger sources or propaganda outlets.

Canada has publicly criticized Sri Lanka over its human rights record, setting the scene for a confrontation at the Commonwealth summit next week, at which human rights protesters have also promised to target "war criminals and parasites" among leaders.

The Greens Party's Rhiannon said Australia should follow the lead of the British and Canadian prime ministers, who have both spoken about Sri Lankan war crimes.

Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd would not immediately comment on the accusations as they were with police, but a spokeswoman for Rudd said Australia had already asked Sri Lanka to respond to the United Nations.

While Sri Lanka is not the official agenda for the Commonwealth summit, Australia expects the issue to come up among leaders as Colombo was hosting the Commonwealth meeting in 2013, she said.

"Australia takes allegations and investigations of war crimes seriously," the spokeswoman added.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE79G00C20111017?irpc=932

இச் செய்தி தொடர்பான AFP யின் செய்தி :

http://news.yahoo.com/australia-police-sri-lanka-war-crimes-dossier-051619201.html

ri Lanka high commissioner to Australia, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe accused of war crimes

16 October 2011, 3:31 pm

by Ben Doherty

Denial... Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe

SRI LANKA’S high commissioner to Australia, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, should be investigated for war crimes, a brief before the Australian Federal Police says.

The submission, from the International Commission of Jurists’ Australian section, has compiled what a source has told the Herald is direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy.

There are witnesses – Sri Lankans now living in Australia – who can attest to the alleged crimes, the source said.

The then Admiral Samarasinghe was commander of the navy’s eastern and then northern areas, as well as naval chief of staff, in the final years of the bloody civil war against the separatist terrorist group, the Tamil Tigers.

In the final months of fighting in 2009, according to the United Nations, up to 40,000 civilians caught in the north and east were killed when government forces moved against the insurgents.

Separate and independent allegations have been made, to the ICJ and other investigators, that naval ships fired on unarmed civilians as they fled the conflict.

There has been no evidence Mr Samarasinghe was involved in shelling, or gave direct orders to that effect, but the submission before federal police states military superiors hold ”a command responsibility” for the actions of subordinates.

Mr Samarasinghe said all of his – and the navy’s – actions were legal. “There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behaviour,” he said.

“The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives [of] civilians from clutches of terrorists.”

The Australian section’s submission has also been sent to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, as well as to the offices of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. It calls for investigations into Mr Samarasinghe and other military and political figures, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is commander-in-chief of Sri Lanka’s armed forces, with a view to issuing arrest warrants.

The president of the Australian section is the former NSW Supreme Court justice and attorney-general John Dowd. He declined to comment.

But independent of the dossier, another member of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic corps with links to Australia is already under investigation by federal police for his alleged role in possible war crimes.

In May the Herald detailed allegations against a dual Australian-Sri Lankan citizen, Palitha Kohona.

Dr Kohona, who was an Australian diplomat in the 1980s and is now Sri Lanka’s representative to the UN, is accused of sending, via intermediaries, text messages to defeated Tamil Tigers and civilians, telling them they could surrender, unarmed and under a white flag, to troops.

About 20 followed the instructions. Witnesses report they were loaded into army trucks. They were later found, shot dead, nearby.

Federal police have confirmed they were evaluating the allegations against Dr Kohona “with a view to determining any potential breaches of Australian law”.

Dr Kohona has denied the allegations, admitting he sent the messages, but saying they were never a guarantee of safety, only advice on how best to surrender. “I never had the authority to issue orders to troops or to discuss surrender terms of any terrorists, either directly or indirectly,” he said.

Mr Samarasinghe enjoyed a distinguished 37-year-career in the navy. In May 2009, the final month of the war, he was made chief of staff, before being promoted, two months later, to navy commander.

He resigned his commission in January to take up his diplomatic post in Canberra.

Foreign Affairs officials reportedly saw his nomination as “problematic”, in light of his command role in a military accused of serious human rights violations. But his appointment was not opposed.

Since the end of the war, allegations the navy fired on civilians have been raised inside Sri Lanka and out. The country’s reconciliation tribunal heard from a woman that in May 2009, she tried to escape the war zone in a boat.

“We held two white flags and on seeing the navy we called them ‘Aiya, aiya’ ['Sir, sir']. There was sudden shelling and eight died on the spot … navy hit; navy attacked and many people died.”

Part of the ICJ submission is further testimony from ethnic Tamils now living in Australia that shelling came from the sea in the final weeks of fighting.

Mr Samarasinghe said last week: “All conduct of the [navy] was within the rules governing domestic and international laws.

“There were no orders given to fire by anyone to Sri Lanka naval vessels. Rules of engagements were clear to all commanders.”

He said the accusations levelled at him and at other members of the military and political establishment were politically motivated. “I was part of the Sri Lankan military, which prevented the most brutal terrorist organisation from dividing my country. Those that still have aims to divide Sri Lanka continue to hurl baseless, unsubstantiated allegations.”

A UN report this year found it was “unable to accept the version of events held by the government of Sri Lanka”.

It said the government deliberately shelled no-fire zones where it had encouraged civilians to shelter, as well as attacking the UN, food distribution lines and Red Cross ships rescuing the wounded. “The government systematically shelled hospitals on the front lines … [and] deprived people in the conflict zone of humanitarian aid, in the form of food and medical supplies, particularly surgical supplies, adding to their suffering.”

The report was equally condemnatory of the Tamil Tigers. It said they used civilians as hostages and as human shields, forcibly recruited children as young as 14 to fight, and shot – point-blank – any civilians who attempted to escape the conflict.

A federal police spokesman told the Herald: ”The AFP is currently evaluating the submission. Therefore it is not appropriate to comment further.” courtesy: Sydney Morning Herald

Edited October 17, 201114 yr by nunavilan

source:http://transcurrents.com/news-views/archives/5173

Rudd quizzed over envoy

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe.

SHADOW foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop has demanded that Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd reveal whether the government knew about the allegations against Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe before it accepted him as Sri Lanka's high commissioner.

Admiral Samarasinghe was a senior officer in command of the Sri Lankan navy's northern and eastern areas during the final years of the civil war in Sri Lanka. It has been alleged in Australia, and to Sri Lanka's reconciliation commission, that the navy fired on unarmed civilians fleeing the conflict. He is not directly implicated in shelling attacks, but the brief argues that he held ''command responsibility'' over subordinates.

The brief, compiled by the International Commission of Jurists Australian section, has been submitted to federal police, which are assessing it. The commission argues Australia has an obligation, under international law, to investigate the allegations, and, where appropriate, lay charges.

Ms Bishop told The Age yesterday: ''The allegations against the Sri Lankan high commissioner are extremely serious. Kevin Rudd should review whether the government was aware of the allegations prior to accepting his appointment as high commissioner, and whether the government undertook any inquiries or investigations into the appointment.''

An official from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed during a Senate hearing yesterday that the Prime Minister had been given ''advice'' about Mr Samarasinghe's appointment, but was unable to say what that advice was or when it was given.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said it would be inappropriate to comment on the ICJA brief as it was being considered by the federal police.

She also said there was ''an expectation that Sri Lanka will be the subject of discussion by Commonwealth members'' at the CHOGM meeting next week.

The admiral denies the allegations.

The Greens called for Mr Rudd to push for members of the Sri Lankan government to be brought before the International Criminal Court - despite the fact Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the court - and for the federal government to ban Sri Lankans from CHOGM, which meets in Perth next week.

A UN report this year found that up to 40,000 civilians were killed in the final weeks of the war, and found that government troops bombed hospitals and food supply lines.

President of the ICJA and former attorney-general John Dowd said those responsible for war crimes should not be allowed to go unpunished.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-quizzed-over-envoy-20111017-1ltoc.html

AFP considers war crimes investigation against Sri Lankan dipomat

MARK COLVIN: Less than a fortnight before the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth there are calls for the Commonwealth to suspend or even throw Sri Lanka out of the organisation.

The Australian Federal Police have confirmed that they are considering whether there is sufficient evidence for a war crimes investigation against the country's top diplomat in Australia.

Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe was Sri Lanka's navy chief. Now he's high commissioner to Canberra.

In a statement the AFP confirmed that they'd received a submission compiled by the International Commission of Jurists, a legal rights lobby group composed of respected legal figures.

The allegation is that former admiral Samarasinghe was in charge of navy ships which fired on unarmed civilians as they fled the fighting in the final stages of the civil war.

He says there is no truth in the allegation.

But as Peter Lloyd reports similar accusations against a Sri Lankan military officer turned diplomat in Europe triggered his recall to Colombo.

PETER LLOYD: Meena Krishnamurthy went to Sri Lanka seven years ago and fell in love with a Tamil man she says worked as an accountant with the rebel movement.

From January 2009 the pair joined other Tamils fleeing the fighting in the north-east.

As the Sri Lankan government surrounded and overran the Tamil Tiger movement, Meena says she witnessed the Sri Lankan navy firing at civilians onshore.

MEENA KRISHNAMURTHY: I really want Australians to understand that I saw a massacre of people so recent.

PETER LLOYD: From the battlefield have come video recordings and written testimony from survivors like Meena Krishnamurthy accusing the Sri Lankan forces of crimes against humanity, mostly based on the central accusation that innocent, non combatant Tamil men, women and children mixing with fleeing Tamil soldiers were herded onto slivers of coastal territory and shelled into oblivion.

The accusation against former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe turns on the question of accountability. There is no evidence that he was directly involved in shelling civilians, nor is anyone yet claiming that he gave direct orders to that effect.

But the submission to the Federal Police reportedly does say that the admiral as a military commander holds what is referred to as "command responsibility" for the actions of his subordinates.

In January he resigned his navy commission to take up his diplomatic posting in Canberra and today he spoke to the ABC to deny the allegations.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: I specifically reject, totally reject such allegations. Such allegations are baseless.

PETER LLOYD: International law professor Donald Rothwell from the ANU says the Federal Police do have power to investigate.

DON ROTHWELL: Yes the Australian Federal Police have capacity under the Commonwealth Crimes Act and related legislation giving effect to the Geneva conventions which would allow the AFP to conduct investigations into the commission of war crimes that occurred overseas including crimes against humanity by any person including non Australian citizens.

PETER LLOYD: So they have the power but in practice how would they carry out the investigation?

DON ROTHWELL: Ultimately what's the real obligation, what's the incentive? Well the incentive is that Australia is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. That statute does create certain obligations for Australia to conduct these types of investigations and indeed I think there's a very strong argument that Australia both legally and morally needs to do so.

PETER LLOYD: But how strong could the case be if it's based largely around the witness testimony of people who were on the other side of the fight?

DON ROTHWELL: Well this is always going to be the difficulty that arises in these cases and that is the quality of the evidence that can be gathered together and the issues that will arise in terms of any recommendation for prosecution going forward before an Australian court because all of the evidence will predominantly be located overseas and the difficulty of actually gathering together sufficient evidence for which there would be a reasonable prospect for a conviction.

PETER LLOYD: Don Rothwell.

For this matter to go any further the AFP would have to prepare a brief of evidence for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. It's then the DPP's call on whether to press a charge.

But there's just one problem - his excellency Thisara Samarasinghe enjoys diplomatic immunity. It can only be revoked by the Sri Lankan government.

The front page news of the Commission of Jurists submission comes just before the three day Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth, starting on Friday fortnight. Sri Lanka's president will be among those attending.

The submission reportedly calls for investigations into president Mahinda Rajapaksa who is commander-in-chief of Sri Lanka's armed forces.

The president of the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists is former New South Wales attorney-general John Dowd.

JOHN DOWD: If the Commonwealth is to mean anything at all on issues like human rights it has to look to the actions of its members. This is one of its members who's the putative next host in 2013.

PETER LLOYD: What action would you like CHOGM to take against Sri Lanka?

JOHN DOWD: Well they should I think suspend it from the councils of the Commonwealth until Sri Lanka does something about a war crimes tribunal and the other recommendations of the expert panel committee.

And if it does continue to do nothing it has to look at suspending Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth because they've done it to other countries for offences less than war crimes.

PETER LLOYD: Last month the Swiss attorney general announced plans to investigate allegations that Sri Lanka's second most senior diplomat to Switzerland and Germany was involved in war crimes.

The former general Jagath Dias was accused of ordering his troops to fire on civilians and hospital targets during the final offensive against Tamil Tigers. The general was recalled to Colombo.

Tamils in Australia are hoping for something similar to happen here.

MARK COLVIN: Peter Lloyd.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3341654.htm

Australian police examine Sri Lanka war crimes dossier

Australian police have confirmed they're examining a war crimes dossier alleging Sri Lankan authorities shelled civilians during the civil war.

The International Commission of Jurists provided the brief to police, which includes testimony from Sri Lankans who say they were attacked by government forces.

But the I-C-J denies reports that the brief names former Navy chief Thisara Samarasinghe, now Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia.

The controversy comes ahead of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to Australia for CHOGM - the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting - next week.

Reporter: Joanna McCarthy

Speakers: John Down, International Commission of Jurists; Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia; Lee Rhiannon, Australian Greens Senator; Australian MP Don Randall, deputy chair of the Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group

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McCARTHY: The International Commission of Jurists says it originally compiled its dossier for use in an independent war crimes tribunal on Sri Lanka. It includes testimony from Sri Lankans who are now living in Australia, who allege they were attacked by government forces.

The ICJ's John Dowd says they've now handed the dossier to the Australian Federal Police.

DOWD: So that if they considered that a prosecution should be brought, they're in a better position to be able to do that.

McCARTHY: But he denies the ICJ is singling out the former navy chief Thisara Samarasinghe, now the High Commissioner to Australia.

DOWD: We're not commenting on anybody, other than the facts of the civil war and the war crimes. We're not naming anybody. That's a matter for the police, they have a job to do, we're not going to hinder them by nominating particular people.

MCCARTHY: The High Commissioner is the Sri Lankan navy's former eastern and then northern areas commander. He strongly denies allegations that any war crimes were committed by subordinates in his command.

SAMARASINGHE: I will totally reject such baseless and unsubstantiated allegations. I was Sri Lankan navy, never fired at civilians, they fired at terrorists when they were fired upon, and they the terrorists, is the group that fired at civilians. And during my command of the navy there was no conflict. The conflict was over when I took over the navy, but when I was in command of the north, as the area commander, was the final stage of conflict, was taking place in the east. However, I would always and very authentically say that the Sri Lankan navy, at any stage of the conflict, did NOT deliberately or otherwise, target civilians or fired at the civilians.

MCCARTHY: The final offensive against the Tamil Tigers ended in May 2009. It brought to a close a conflict that had lasted 26 years - but Amnesty International says ten to 20,000 civilians were killed in those final months. A United Nations advisory panel has found there is "credible evidence" that both sides committed war crimes, which the government strongly denies.

Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon:

RHIANNON: The UN has reported up to 40,000 people died, there's growing momentum around the world, for a war crimes tribunal, and now, Australia, the foreign minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, should throw weight behind this call.

MCCARTHY: A spokeswoman for the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says the Australian Government has made no secret of its concerns about civilian casualties during the final stages of the war. She says Australia's view is that accountability and reconciliation will be a crucial part of long-term peace in Sri Lanka and Australia has made such views known to Sri Lanka.

But John Dowd says more needs to be done.

DOWD: I'm sure that Foreign minister Kevin Rudd has made those representations and I was already aware of that. But it's not enough to do it, directly, diplomatically. It's got to be Australia speaking out publicly on the matter. A communication of a diplomatic nature does not get the public aware of the issues and it doesn't let the rest of the international community, to raise the issue and bring pressure on the Sri Lankan government.

MCCARTHY: But supporters of the Sri Lankan government say human rights groups are just trying to embarass Colombo ahead of next week's meeting. Don Randall is a federal opposition member of parliament, and deputy chair of the Sri Lanka parliamentary friendship group.

RANDALL: It's designed to try and embarrass the Sri Lankan President when he's in Australia, in front of CHOGM, in front of an international audience. The timing's just too cute to be not recognised for what it is. And as I said, you have this group sorely on the world, who're endeavouring to and discredit a democratically-elected government, who's been through one of the most vicious civil wars. There're faults on all sides, I'm not suggesting that there're not any issues to be dealt with, but that's been dealt with internally, in Sri Lanka, by the Lessons Learnt and REconciliation Commission that the Sri Lankan government has set up, it's taking evidence. And can I say that it's interesting the human rights committee hasn't even made a submission to that Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation dody in Sri Lanka.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/asiapac/stories/201110/s3341864.htm

Edited October 17, 201114 yr by கந்தப்பு

எமது தொடர் அழுத்தத்தால் காமன்வெல்த்தில் இருந்து சிங்களத்தை விலக்க வைக்கவேண்டும் !

Edited October 19, 201114 yr by கந்தப்பு

Human Rights campaigners want Canberra to investigate Sri Lanka war crime allegations

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Efforts by human rights groups to get the Australian Federal Police to conduct a war crimes investigation into Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Australia could cause a diplomatic row at next week's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Perth.

The push has already prompted calls by the International Commission of Jurists for Sri Lanka to be sanctioned at the meeting.

In Canberra, the opposition has been demanding to know whether the Government knew of allegations against the former navy second in charge, retired Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, before it accepted him as high commissioner.

Rights campaigners have revealed to PM that they began preparing a legal submission to the Federal Police only after it became clear that both Sri Lanka's government and the United Nations were not going to proceed with an investigation into claims of war crimes in the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war.

Peter Lloyd reports.

PETER LLOYD: Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa has never accepted the right of the United Nations to investigate the end of the civil war. He refused to let a UN panel speak to ministers or officials.

Back in May when the UN report was made public, the Rajapaksa regime called the document fundamentally flawed and patently biased.

The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said he had no power to launch a fully-fledged war crimes investigation unless the Sri Lankans agree to it. So in the absence of action, the International Commission of Jurists stepped in.

It prepared a submission to the Federal Police, among other agencies, that sets out a case for Australia to investigate war crimes.

Media reports named the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Thisara Samarasinghe as a former top navy commander and possible prosecution target.

But John Dowd, the head of the Australian section of the ICJ, declined to name names when he spoke to PM.

JOHN DOWD: Well, we're not talking about the contents of the submission, that's material we furnished to the Australian Federal Police, asking them to carry out an investigation or to continue investigations they've already begun. That's a matter for them and it's our duty to provide them with the information and to assist them in their task.

PETER LLOYD: What's the motivation behind it?

JOHN DOWD: We've been collecting evidence for over a year of war crimes within Sri Lanka. There has not been an independent war crimes tribunal set up; there've been egregious breaches of war crimes legislation, humanitarian, human rights law and nothing's happened thus far.

And we therefore have to go to the Australian Federal Police who are the people tasked, under Australian law, with looking at international war crimes.

PETER LLOYD: The United Nations report on the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka found credible allegations of war crimes on both sides of the conflict.

It said heavy shelling by the Sri Lankan Government may have led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths, while Tamil Tiger separatists contributed to the carnage by using civilians as human shields.

This is an excerpt from that report.

VOICEOVER: The panel found credible allegations which if proven indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international law and international human rights law was committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

PETER LLOYD: The UN said Sri Lankan troops encouraged civilians to gather in three no-fire zones and then carried out large-scale shelling.

When the fighting stopped, the UN said, government troops carried out summary executions of former Tiger fighters.

Sri Lanka's current high commissioner to Canberra, Thisara Samarasinghe, was then the second in charge of the Sri Lanka’s navy.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: Sri Lankan navy never targeted civilians and never shelled any location during the final stages.

PETER LLOYD: The high commissioner is emphatic in his denial that the navy fired on civilians.

THISARA SAMARASINGHE: I am totally denying any allegations, whoever it may be, that the Sri Lankan navy fired at civilians.

PETER LLOYD: Under questioning at Senate Estimates today, the federal police commissioner, Tony Negus, spoke for the first time about the submission his department received from the ICJ.

TONY NEGUS: It's quite a lengthy document; in fact it's almost a ream of paper, in the context of - to give you an idea of what size the document is.

They are complex legal areas and particularly where most of the evidence that can be obtained is usually offshore and we need to make sure that it is a reasonable chance of the matter progressing.

So there's a lot of factors for consideration before we actually take these matters forward to a prosecution sense.

PETER LLOYD: Commissioner Negus said the AFP had not been asked by government for its views on the appointment of Thisara Samarasinghe before he arrived in Australia.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Peter Lloyd.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3342709.htm

A diplomatic dilemma of the Sri Lankan kind

30 Comments

Bruce Haigh

John Dowd, president of the Australian chapter of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), has named the current Sri Lankan high commissioner to Australia, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, in a submission containing allegations of war crimes.

Admiral Samarasinghe joined the Sri Lankan navy in 1974 and retired in January 2011.

John Dowd, in a statement released on October 17 said:

"Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 must not be allowed to go unpunished. The expert committee established by the United Nations secretary-general found credible allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law."

The submission has been handed to the AFP for investigation. In doing so John Dowd said the ICJ in Australia had put together a brief of evidence which corroborated and substantiated the findings of the UN secretary-general's expert panel.

"Since October 2009, such evidence has been taken from witnesses in Australia and overseas. It is clear,"

said John Dowd,

"that Australia has an obligation to investigate and, where appropriate, to prosecute those responsible. Under Commonwealth law, there is ample possibility to prosecute these most serious offences here, where Australia has custody of a person and where immunity does not apply."

Receipt of the submission presents the AFP with something of a dilemma. It currently has a presence in Sri Lanka working with the Sri Lankan navy, army and police in preventing persecuted Tamils from leaving the country by boat for Australia.

The armed forces of Sri Lanka occupy traditional Tamil lands in the north. There are now emerging credible claims of rape and other abuse by members of the occupying forces against Tamil women and those old people and children that remain who are seeking to eke out a living with what few assets they have left.

The Sri Lankan police have blood on their hands, having engaged in the extra-judicial killing of Tamils. They have been involved in the murder of Sri Lankan journalists. Press freedom is all but dead in Sri Lanka. In 2009 the editor of The Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickrematunge, was murdered. In the same year JS Tissainayagam, a Tamil journalist and newspaper editor, was jailed for 20 years for publishing editorials critical of the government in 2006.

Over the years the Sri Lankan High Commission in Australia has conducted a campaign of harassment against Sri Lankan Tamils living in Australia. They were assisted by the AFP, who saw nothing wrong in visiting and intimidating Tamils in their homes at odd hours.

A Victorian Supreme Court Judge, Paul Coghlan, strongly criticised the AFP during his summary at the conclusion of a trial into the alleged terrorist activities of three Tamil males at the end of March last year. One of the accused, Arumugan Rajeevan, had the novel experience of being "unarrested" by AFP agents. He was pulled over as he was driving to a meeting, and arrested and handcuffed at gunpoint. Realising they did not have the legal grounds to arrest him, the AFP "unarrested "him. Coghlan also commented that Rajeevan had been abused during his interview which was an "absolute departure from normal principles". No admission of fault or attempt at recompense was made.

Admiral Samarasinghe, as chief of staff of the Sri Lankan navy, oversaw the shelling of Tamil soldiers and civilians trapped in what had been declared a safe zone at the end of the civil war. The navy then blocked attempts by the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate the injured, women and children from the safe zone.

The UN report estimates 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed towards the end of the war, some, as already noted, by the navy. In addition, 4,000 Tamil soldiers (LTTE) are being held incommunicado by the government. The 500-page UN report notes that:

"The fact that interrogations and investigations as well as 'rehabilitation' activities have been ongoing, without any external scrutiny for almost two years, rendered alleged LTTE cadre highly vulnerable to violations such as rape, torture or disappearance, which could be committed with impunity."

There are precedents for seeking Samarsinghe's recall. In September of this year General Jaghat Dias who was Sri Lanka's ambassador to Germany and Switzerland was recalled to Colombo after the Swiss government contacted the Sri Lankan government concerning accusations that General Dias ordered troops of the 57th division, which he commanded, to fire on civilian and hospital targets during the army's final offensive against the separatist Tamils in 2009.A report by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights accused Dias of participating in acts of torture and the execution of rebel fighters.

In 1995 Australia rejected the nomination as ambassador of retired Indonesian General Herman Mantiri. His nomination was rejected on the basis of war crimes committed by Mantiri against the East Timorese. In 2005 and 2008 the Canadian government refused to accept nominations for the position of high commissioner put forward by the Sri Lankan government, for reasons associated with human rights abuses.

The Australian Federation of Tamil Associations has called for Admiral Samarasinghe to be sent back to Sri Lanka.

Bruce Haigh is a political commentator and retired diplomat who served in Sri Lanka.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3577470.html

Secrecy and denial are also war crimes

MORE than two years since the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, new evidence alleges that both sides of this brutal conflict committed serious crimes against civilians.

There are implications for Australia's rule of law, and three possible perpetrators with an immediate connection to our shores.

Sri Lanka's 25-year war culminated in 2009. Hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians were swept up in a final siege as Sri Lankan troops closed in on the Tamil Tigers. The guerillas held women, children and elderly people as human shields. Government assaults killed many thousands.

A brief of evidence handed last week to Australian authorities by the International Commission of Jurists (Australia) reportedly includes eyewitness testimony from those who lost family and friends in those months. A number of witnesses are Australians, or Australian residents.

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Compiled by Australian lawyers, this brief apparently triangulates incidents of the killing of civilians. These include attacks on hospitals; targeting civilians with bombardment after directing them to particular areas; striking civilians with cluster and phosphorus weapons; using civilians as human shields; summary executions; torture; disappearance and the denial of food and medicine.

The commission's brief reportedly urges the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and Australian Federal Police to investigate three people in particular.

The first is Sri Lanka's new ambassador to Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, formerly an admiral whose ships allegedly bombarded civilian "no-fire zones" declared by the government. Similar allegations compelled Sri Lanka to withdraw another of its military envoys from Germany.

The second is Palitha Kohona, a dual Australian-Sri Lankan national, once an Australian foreign affairs functionary and now Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN in New York. He is accused of having lured a group into surrender who were then summarily executed. Kohona denies that he held any authority that led to these murders.

The last is Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's popular president. As commander-in-chief, he bears responsibility for the alleged wrongdoing of his men. Rajapaksa faces a civil suit in the US over similar allegations. In a fortnight he will arrive in Perth to meet other Commonwealth heads of government, as well as the Queen.

The Tamil Tiger leadership was all but wiped out in 2009. Those left to face allegations of murder are from the victorious army. Sri Lanka now smarts under increasingly detailed allegations it says unfairly targets them. It nominates the commission among a lengthy list of agitators supposedly bent on destroying its hard-won peace.

Reading from the cheat sheets compiled by international publicity agencies such as Bell-Pottinger, whose murky Sri Lankan links with disgraced former British defence minister Liam Fox have just been exposed, Samarasinghe said that the commission's brief was "politically motivated".

However, this response underscores the confusion between politics and law that has bedevilled modern Sri Lanka. Disappearance and murder became the stock-in-trade of politics under successive governments. Political interference, fear of retribution, and the deleterious effects of a constant national emergency have sapped the deterrent powers of its once respected judiciary.

During the war, the government controlled the siege area. No foreign journalists could fully report on the conflict. Unlike the killing fields of Bosnia, no independent witness has had access to Sri Lanka's battle zone since.

The best evidence of what happened amid the fog of war lies with people who were there. They are beginning to talk with groups such as the commission.

Don't-ask, don't-tell no longer works with war crimes. The international community has become increasingly intolerant of governments solving their internal problems with impunity.

Ethical considerations aside, a secure and orderly global framework requires that international laws and treaties be respected, even when responding to an insurgency.

Yet Sri Lanka's consistent response to allegations since the end of the war has been blanket denial. For years its envoys insisted their forces were not responsible for a single civilian death. As a result of pressure from emerging evidence, they now admit they may have been responsible for some civilian deaths, albeit unwittingly.

Australia has a duty, under our own laws and in accordance with our international legal obligations, to investigate credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Julia Gillard should join Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's public commitment and boycott next year's Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting should Sri Lanka not satisfactorily account for the deaths of civilians. Incredibly, CHOGM 2013 is scheduled for Hambantota, Rajapaksa's hometown.

Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka during the war, is the author of The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/secrecy-and-denial-are-also-war-crimes/story-e6frg6ux-1226170008985

Greens want Sri Lankan envoy recalled

The Australian Greens want the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia recalled as the federal police consider a dossier on alleged war crimes.

Fairfax reports the brief of evidence from the Australian arm of the International Commission of Jurists links the high commissioner and former navy Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe to the shelling of unarmed civilians at the end of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war in 2009.

Mr Samarasinghe has told Fairfax that human rights groups and other pro-Tamil campaigners are being manipulated by the Tamil diaspora in Australia.

Greens leader Bob Brown says the government can reject diplomatic nominations on the basis of war crimes.

He wants Prime Minister Julia Gillard to ask the Sri Lankan government to recall Mr Samarasinghe and if they don't, to expel him.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon says Australia needs to show it won't turn a blind eye to allegations of war crimes.

"There is mounting evidence the High Commissioner was implicated in war crimes when he was naval chief of staff and commander of the Navy's eastern and northern areas in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war," she said.

"My office is in direct contact with two Australian Tamils who witnessed artillery fire from the sea where the Sri Lankan Navy were patrolling into densely populated civilian areas."

The Greens think there should be an independent investigation into the allegations.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8362141/greens-want-sri-lankan-envoy-recalled

Commissioner hits back over Tamil war crime claim

Urgent ... AFP commissioner Tony Negus is treating the brief "as a matter of urgency". Photo: Jim Rice

SRI LANKA'S high commissioner has accused human rights groups and jurists of being pawns of a well-funded and sophisticated Tamil lobby, but claimed allegations he may have committed war crimes will not damage relations between his country and Australia.

In a lengthy interview, Thisara Samarasinghe also cast himself as a uniter of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia, claiming he devoted as much time and attention in his role to the two groups.

The Herald revealed this week that the Federal Police are considering a brief which suggests Mr Samarasinghe and other Sri Lankan government figures should be investigated for war crimes allegedly committed in the dying days of Sri Lanka's civil war.

Mr Samarasinghe is explicitly named in the International Commission of Jurists' submission being evaluated by the AFP.

The AFP commissioner, Tony Negus, told a Senate hearing yesterday the AFP were treating the brief ''as a matter of urgency''.

Mr Samarasinghe was commander of the navy's eastern and then northern areas at the time and the brief suggests that naval ships fired on civilians fleeing the conflict, which ended in 2009.

There has been no evidence Mr Samarasinghe was involved in shelling, or gave direct orders to that effect, but the submission before federal police states military superiors hold ''a command responsibility'' for the actions of subordinates.

''There is no command responsibility in the navy in that sense,'' Mr Samarasinghe said yesterday.

''You send a ship out with rules of engagement. At sea [the commanding officer] has to take his own mission to safeguard the men he commands. I was the eastern commander in 2007. When the conflict ended I was northern commander. The final conflict was not in the northern command, it was in the eastern command.''

The ICJ's Australian section is headed by the former NSW Supreme Court justice and attorney-general John Dowd.

Mr Samarasinghe would not comment directly on Mr Dowd's motivations for preparing the brief.

Mr Samarasinghe said human rights groups and other pro-Tamil campaigners were being manipulated by the Tamil diaspora in Australia, which was a major fund-raiser for Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka.

''For whose purpose are they doing this? Are the poor Tamil people in the north [of Sri Lanka] getting any benefit from this?

''I don't know what the agenda of these people is. These types of things give oxygen to people who have a vested interest.

''You have to ask John Dowd why he is doing this.''

Mr Dowd declined to comment when contacted by the Herald.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/commissioner-hits-back-over-tamil-war-crime-claim-20111018-1lyt9.html

Sri Lanka envoy rejects allegations

SRI Lanka's high commissioner has accused human rights groups and jurists of being pawns of a well-funded and sophisticated Tamil lobby, but claimed allegations he may have committed war crimes will not damage relations between his country and Australia.

In an interview with The Age, Thisara Samarasinghe also cast himself as a uniter of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia, claiming that he devoted as much time and attention in his role to the two groups. The Age revealed this week that the federal police are considering a brief that suggests Mr Samarasinghe and other Sri Lankan government figures should be investigated for war crimes allegedly committed in Sri Lanka's civil war.

Mr Samarasinghe is explicitly named in the International Commission of Jurists' submission being evaluated by the AFP.

The commission's Australian section is headed by former NSW Supreme Court justice and attorney-general John Dowd.

Although Mr Samarasinghe would not comment directly on Mr Dowd's motivations for preparing the brief, an adviser to the high commissioner said Mr Dowd was a long-time Tamil sympathiser and could not be considered unbiased.

However, Mr Samarasinghe said human rights groups and other pro-Tamil campaigners were being manipulated by the Tamil diaspora in Australia.

Mr Dowd declined to comment when contacted by The Age.

Mr Samarasinghe also denied that he represented the majority Sinhalese ethnic group in Australia, rather than the Sri Lankan community as a whole.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/sri-lanka-envoy-rejects-allegations-20111018-1lyqn.html

சீனா போஸ்ட் என்ற சீனா நாட்டு ஊடகத்திலும் இச்செய்தி வந்திருக்கின்றது.

Australia faces pressure to probe alleged war crimes linked to Sri Lankan envoy

CANBERRA -- Australia's government came under pressure on Monday from rights groups and lawmakers to investigate Sri Lanka's top envoy to the country for war crimes, risking a diplomatic showdown ahead of a summit of leaders from 54 Commonwealth nations next week.

The International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ) Australian section has handed police direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy during the last stages of the bloody civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009, The Age newspaper said, citing unidentified sources.

Sri Lanka's Canberra high commissioner, former Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe was the navy's eastern and then northern areas commander, as well as chief of staff, in the last months of the war, during which naval ships allegedly fired on civilians as they fled the conflict, the paper quoted the ICJ as saying.

“The report ... is extremely serious,” said Lee Rhiannon, a senator from Australia's influential Greens Party, which backs Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority Labor government.

“With a delegation from Sri Lanka, headed up by their President Mahinda Rajapaksa due to arrive shortly in Perth for (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting), the Australia government can no longer refuse to take action.”

Police confirmed they were evaluating the ICJ's brief, received last Friday, but said in an e-mail that they would not comment on possible charges or action until the process was completed.

Australia's government, already wallowing in opinion polls, will be reluctant to add a diplomatic upset to domestic concerns about carbon taxes and border security already worrying voters.

Samarasinghe told The Age that all of his and the navy's actions in the final months of fighting were legal under the rules of conflict.

“There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behavior. The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives [of] civilians from clutches of terrorists,” he said.

There was no evidence Samarasinghe was directly involved in or gave orders for shelling, The Age said, but the submission before Australian police stated that military superiors held “a command responsibility” for the actions of subordinates.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/australia/2011/10/18/320201/Australia-faces.htm

Sri Lankan Tamils press for justice

By Michael Perry

PERTH, Australia | Mon Oct 24, 2011 2:31pm IST

PERTH, Australia (Reuters) - Meena Krishnamurthy still remembers the coloured slippers littered in the dirt around a bombed-out orphanage in Sri Lanka and a legless teenage girl unable to leave her dirt bunker, begging for a drink of nearby contaminated water.

Then there were the bodies, too many to count, including her own stillborn baby which she was forced to bury in a bucket before hastily retreating as Sri Lankan troops advanced.

Australian Krishnamurthy was 23 when she landed in Sri Lanka in 2004 for what she says was a return to discover her Tamil heritage. There was a ceasefire in country's 25-year war with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) she fell in love with a Tamil man.

But by the time she left in 2009 at the end of the war, she says had witnessed firsthand the atrocities of one of modern Asia's longest-running wars.

Now, three years later, she has decided to speak out publicly, asking why no one has been held accountable for the atrocities she witnessed in the closing stages of Sri Lanka's war against the Tamil Tigers.

"What I witnessed was a massacre," recalls Krishnamurthy, referring to the final battlefield in Mullivaikkal on Sri Lanka's northeastern coast.

That tiny stretch of beach is where Sri Lankan troops finally defeated the Tigers, who had surrounded themselves with hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians as human shields.

Western nations are pushing Sri Lanka for an independent probe into allegations that thousands of civilians died in May 2009 as government troops closed in on the Tamil Tigers, a group on the terrorism lists of more than 30 countries.

Canada has criticised Sri Lanka over its human rights record, setting the scene for a confrontation at a Commonwealth summit in Perth, Australia this week.

It has threatened to boycott the next summit, due to be hosted by Sri Lanka in 2013.

More than 50 leaders are expected at the October 28-30 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Sri Lanka has rejected accusations of human rights abuses but said it was impossible to avoid all civilian casualties during the final offensive to wipe out the Tigers. It warned that the issue could split the Commonwealth, made up mostly of former British colonies.

Protesters say they will target the Perth summit and, among a number of demands, will single out "war criminals and parasites", including Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT INQUIRY

Krishnamurthy said she taught English to Tamils, sometimes Tiger rebels. She said her boyfriend was an accountant for the Tigers, who was forcibly conscripted in the later stages of the war.

She said neither was involved in LTTE actions, but she has no idea of her boyfriend's whereabouts today.

Sri Lanka's pro-government newspaper The Nation reported on Sunday that Krishnamurthy was recruited as a propagandist and worked under two senior LTTE leaders, Nediwayan and Castro, who head one of the best-financed remnant LTTE groups from Europe.

The LTTE itself attacked civilian targets throughout the war and was widely accused of forcibly recruiting children to its ranks, and at the end of the war, almost anyone between the ages of 13 to 50.

She said she survived the worst of the war by living in dirt bunkers, cowering like everyone else at the sound of aircraft, waiting for the inevitable bombing or shelling.

"You watched the wounded lying at the wheels of vehicles seeking cover from the bullets and shells. They reached their hands out, skeletons of hope, asking for a soul to save them," she told Reuters in an interview.

"But you had to save yourself, so you walked past them, turning away with guilt. You could not help them, but you can help them now, this is why I am doing this," she said.

"The truth can no longer be hidden from the world as memories will be shared."

A U.N. advisory panel report says there is "credible evidence" both sides committed war crimes, which the government rejects.

"Both the LTTE and government forces violated the laws of war and that...should be investigated by a credible and independent body," the International Crisis Group (ICG) said last week.

The ICG has issued several reports documenting charges that the military targeted civilian sites, including hospitals, and that Tiger rebels killed and silenced opponents, recruited child soldiers, and attacked civilians in the majority Sinhalese community.

Sri Lanka's Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is due to present a war crimes report to Rajapaksa on Nov. 15, and many in Sri Lanka expect it will, like many previous probes, find little and bring no one to book.

"Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 must not be allowed to go unpunished," said John Dowd, president of The International Commission of Jurists, Australia (ICJA).

ICJA last week handed Australian police what it says is direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy during the last stages of the war in 2009.

Sri Lanka's Canberra high commissioner Thisara Samarasinghe was the navy's eastern and then northern areas commander in the last months of the war. The high commissioner rejects any wrongdoing, but the ICJA says military superiors hold "a command responsibility" for the actions of subordinates.

TAMILS SAY THEY STILL LIVE IN FEAR

Speakers at a Global Tamil Forum in Sydney last week spoke openly about their dreams of justice, but said the outlook for Tamils in Sri Lanka was bleak, with rights abuses continuing.

"It's been 3 years (since the war ended) and all we are seeing in the north and the east is a slavery position. We feel that we are slaves. It is strongly militarised," said Tamil National Alliance MP Eswarapatham Saravanapavan.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was formerly the political proxy for the Tamil Tigers, but has since the end of the war dropped demands for a separate nation for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils.

"Most of the things are not brought to light...when the night comes it is the army who rules," Saravanapavan. "People are scared. They live in isolated places and the army can do whatever they want."

(Reporting by Michael Perry, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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