In a statement issued on Thursday, the HRCP said, “The attacks on religious processions in Lahore and Karachi have once again highlighted the fact that besides posing a threat to the integrity and stability of the state the militants, operating under the umbrella of belief, will inevitably step up violence against the sects they disagree with.

“As a rule, such attacks have been followed by an exclusive focus on the security aspect and not at all on the extremist organisations that orchestrate these attacks or the root causes of intolerance. One such organisation has claimed the responsibility of the attacks in Lahore. The government may have banned extremist groups in theory, but they retain their ability to strike at will,” the statement added.

Source: Daily Times – 03.09.2010

Emerging from the ongoing meeting at Hotel Sheraton in the city, Quayes said at a press briefing that they would come up with the complete outcome on the draft today.

“We’ve progressed much…we can say nearly 80 percent work is done. We hope we’ll be able to come up with the final outcome today,” he said.

Asked about the contents of the draft, Quayes declined to divulge anything. He said, “We’ve the responsibility of preparing a draft…it’ll go through two more processes once the draft is done. We’re working on it and all the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries are very sincere about the issue.”

Earlier, the two-day meeting tasked with finalising the draft of the ‘Saarc Charter of Democracy’ began at Hotel Sheraton in the morning.

Representatives including parliamentarians, high commissioners, high officials from the eight member countries–Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives–are attending the meeting.

Leaders of the Saarc at the 16th Summit in Thimphu, appreciating that all member states had evolved into multiparty democracies, underlined the challenges faced by them in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable government.

In this regard, they emphasised on regional cooperation to strengthen good governance.

As per a decision of the Summit, Bangladesh circulated the Concept Paper on Charter of Democracy and convened the inter-governmental meeting in Dhaka.

Recognising the inherent link between democracy and development, the member states expressed their commitment to have a Saarc Charter of Democracy, which will strengthen democratic institutions and process, promote practice of democracy at all levels of government and society, and promote rule of law.

The ongoing meeting is examining the broad principles on democracy for inclusion in a regionally agreed document and also how the Saarc member states, people’s representatives and civil society can work towards strengthening democracy and democratic practices in South Asia.

Source: The Daily Star – 05.09.2010

CMEV National Coordinator, D. M. Dissanayake said that if the appointment of the heads of the seven commissions is done by the President through the 18th amendment the independence of the commissions may be lost. “It is vital to have an independent Election Commission in order to ensure that there will be free and fair elections. If we don’t have one then there is no certainty that elections will be held properly,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake said that in the recent past the people had lost faith in the election system in the country and that the proposed 18th amendment will not change this. “The people did not have any trust in the election results of the past few elections that were held. During these elections the Elections Commissioner did not utilize his powers with respect to the abuse of state resources and controlling the functions of the media. These will not be controlled if we allow the 18th amendment to be implemented,” he said.

Source: Daily Mirror – 03.09.2010

Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) yesterday charged that the proposed 18th Amendment to the constitution would inflict a severe blow to Sri Lanka’s democracy because the new amendment allowed the president to appoint members to the ‘Independent’ Commissions.

CaFFE spokesman Keerthi Tennakoon said the reforms replaced the present 10-member Constitutional Council (CC) with a five-member committee comprising the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition as ex officio members but eventually the president would have the final say in appointments to the independent commissions.

“The new five-member committee will only be consulted by the president who will have the power to appoint members to the independent commissions including the elections commission,” he said.

Mr. Tennekoon said under article 55 of the 18th Amendment the cabinet of ministers would be vested with powers to appoint, transfer, promote, take disciplinary action and remove from office the heads of government departments.

“CaFFE strongly opposes this move as it reverses the set objectives of the 17th Amendment and is a blow to democracy and the conscience of our nation,” he added urging the government to hold a referendum before the implementation of the proposals.

Soucrce: Daily Mirror – 03.09.2010

(New York) – A US State Department report released on August 11, 2010, shows that Sri Lanka has not yet conducted an effective investigation into laws-of-war violations by government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final months of the war that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. The report states that one post-war government inquiry was “ineffective” and that a second inquiry, just under way, raises concerns about its mandate and composition.

“The US State Department report shows that nearly 15 months after the war, the Sri Lankan government has accomplished nothing for the victims of war crimes,” said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. “Real progress on justice demands an international investigation.”

The 18-page State Department report, mandated by the 2010 Appropriations Act and prepared by the Office of War Crimes Issues, examines two ad hoc bodies that the Sri Lankan government established after the 26-year armed conflict ended in 2009.

The State Department report concludes that the “Group of Eminent Persons,” a committee created to examine more than 300 alleged laws-of-war violations detailed in an October 2009 US State Department report, was “ineffective” and “did not produce any discernible results.”

The report states: “The Department of State is not aware of any findings or reports of the Group. The Group did not appear to investigate allegations or to make any recommendations pursuant to its mandate.” The Group of Eminent Persons missed several deadlines for its report, the last in July, and now has been subsumed into the new commission.

The State Department report expresses concerns about the mandate and composition of the second panel, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which has just started its work. The report notes that “the terms of reference are ambiguous as to what types of harms they cover and whether the investigation is linked to violations of international law.”

The report also says that there are “questions concerning the independence and impartiality of some members of the commission,” including the chairman, C.R. De Silva. It noted that De Silva’s “relationship to the government” and “his involvement in the failure” of a previous commission “could compromise the independence and impartiality” of the commission.

The report also concludes that several experts commissioned by the government to examine a video of alleged extrajudicial executions by army soldiers were government and army experts and that such an inquiry “should have been undertaken by individuals without an interest in the outcome of the forensic analysis.”

The report notes “the history of failings of a series of past [Commissions of Inquiry] established in Sri Lanka.” Sri Lanka has a long history of establishing ad hoc inquiries to deflect international criticism over its poor human rights record and widespread impunity, Human Rights Watch said. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has established more than 10 such commissions, none of which have produced any significant results.

On June 22, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a three-person Panel of Experts to advise him on next steps on accountability in Sri Lanka. The US and other governments have supported the panel, which follows up on the commitment to investigate abuses made by the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to Ban in May 2009. Sri Lankan officials have called the panel “an unwarranted and unnecessary interference with a sovereign nation.” In July, demonstrations against the panel led by a Sri Lankan government minister blocked access to the UN compound in Colombo, prompting Ban to recall the UN’s ranking official in Sri Lanka temporarily and to close one of its offices. The Panel of Experts is to present its findings in four months.

“The State Department report shows that countries should be looking toward the UN to see justice done in Sri Lanka,” Ross said. “The support of the US and other governments for the UN Panel of Experts and the implementation of its recommendations is crucial.”

Source: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/11/sri-lanka-us-report-shows-no-progress-accountability

by Raza Rumi of the Friday Times

AUGUST 13, 2010

Following the August 2 murder of the MQM leader Raza Haider, ethnically opposed factions have killed 86 people in Karachi and the violence continues. Three ‘secular’ parties are in the driving seat – the PPP, MQM and ANP – but all with past records of mutual hostility. The Friday Times speaks to Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch on the implications of recent events…

Where does responsibility for the current spate of targeted killings in Karachi lie?

The assassination of MQM provincial assembly member Raza Haider is condemnable and his killers should be apprehended. But the fact is that the subsequent and preceding killings in Karachi are equally unpardonable. Well over 80 people are dead and hundreds have been injured. While the MQM’s anger is to be expected, as a coalition partner in the Sindh government, it is incumbent upon the MQM to uphold the rule of law and not become party to its disruption. There are very many actors seeking to destabilize Karachi, such as radical Islamists and those seeking to damage the transition to democracy in general. The violence in Karachi is a collective political failure of the MQM, the PPP and the ANP and unless it is arrested, all three parties will suffer. In such a situation, only militants and extra-constitutional forces will be the beneficiaries.

What do you think of the Sindh government’s reaction?

The Sindh provincial government’s response reveals both its weakness and the divisions therein. Instead of being focused on deterrence and the security of citizens, members of the Sindh government have played the blame game. Admittedly, the Sindh government finds itself in a tough situation both politically due to its composition and in the face of the stark reality that all political actors in Karachi are heavily armed and the state has been unable or unwilling to disarm them to date. The government’s incapacity in the face of these political cadres is clear. But it is for the parties that form the Sindh coalition to restrain those over whom they have influence from persisting with violence.

What can the federal government do?

The federal government needs to engage the political actors in Sindh in a frank if private dialogue about the relationship between criminal mafias and their political patrons and about the role of real estate mafias” in fomenting violence in particular. Karachi is a young multi-ethnic city that cannot afford the economic or political marginalization of any of the major groups living there regardless of who controls government. These are issues that have been swept under the rug for too long. And any responsible government should seek to face them and arrive at negotiated solutions. The only other option is ongoing bloodshed.

Can the army play a role in bringing peace to Karachi?

Perhaps not formally but privately the military could certainly urge those it has influence over to behave in a rights-respecting manner.

What do you make of the international community’s inattention to rising targeted killings in Karachi?

The international community appears to have largely ignored the developing situation in Karachi. In the immediate term this is simply because international attention is rightly focused on the massive devastation caused by the floods and its horrendous aftermath which will unfold in the coming weeks. But Karachi is too strategically important for the international community to ignore a serious ongoing destabilization of the metropolis. It is important that when the US and others engage with the province’s political actors and the country’s national security establishment, they make clear to these allies that a return to the rampant human rights abuse and mayhem of the 90s in unacceptable. They also need to make clear that there will be zero tolerance for any hint of a politics that seeks space for abusive behavior and bloodshed as quid pro quo for keeping the Taliban in check.

Source: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/13/karachi-too-strategically-important-international-community-ignore-its-destabilizati

Florington Asirwatham, the Country Director for NVPF, said that no reason had been given. He was of the view that this cancellation was to do with the general tightening up of visas for NGO’s in the country, as opposed to a direct conflict with the government on the Human Rights Defenders programme, which is still active in the North and East of the island.

Source: The Sunday Leader – 26.08.2010

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) says that over 5000 cases of human rights violations in Sri Lanka are still pending, unresolved, due to the non-appointment of commissioners. The commissioners who are appointed by the Constitutional Council itself is no longer operative.

Up to date, during 2010 alone, there have been around 7500 reported cases, not counting cases carried forward from the previous year. These 7500 cases include torture, harassment, arrest and detention, missing persons, death in custody, termination of employment, pension benefits, and medical negligence among many others. Of these 7500 cases, 2200 cases have been disposed of mostly through mediation.

HRC Secretary, Chandra Ellawala said that they cannot issue recommendations to resolve the balance cases without the presence of the commissioners. “We do the preliminary investigations and prepare things for the commissioners to look into but we cannot issue recommendations to complainants, without them,” Ellawala said.  He was however unsure if the commissioners are in the process of being appointed.

Source: The Sunday Leader – 26.08.2010

A lot of crime reporting includes the daily tallying up of what police sources tell us. But, occasionally it also involves shining the light on the police themselves. The media has a short attention span, and what that means for many of the burning social issues is that they get overlooked or ignored even after being visible. Such is the level of impunity within the police force that very rarely feathers get ruffled by media reports.

So it came as no surprise that Inspector Dol Raj Shahi, who was accused of helping an inmate escape from the Dillibazaar jail on August 14, was freed from judicial custody on the orders of the Kathmandu District Court. No surprise either, that the police officers accused of misdemeanor always get a clean chit from the judiciary. What is intriguing in the case of Shahi is that no reporter knew when he was taken into judicial custody. Things became public only when he released. The grapevine has it that he was released at the behest of a former police chief.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The abduction of businessman Sanjay Surekha is mired in a controversy of its own magnitude. Kidnappers let Surekha off the hook only after his kin paid more than US$ 200,000 ransom. Police later managed to arrest the culprits. But Additional Inspector General of Police Kalyan Kumar Timalsina, going beyond his jurisdiction, put pressure on the investigators to release the detained kidnappers on bail, promising that they would remain in contact with the police, which they never did. A probe panel formed by the Police Headquarters found AIG Timalsina guilty.  The probe panel submitted the findings to Police HQ and Home Minister recommending action against AIG Timalsina, but the punishment never came about.

Police HQ still says that investigation is still underway. The report, which is yet to be made public, had also found Timalsina guilty of interference in the investigation into the theft of US$ 300000 from Chinese traders. More surprisingly, the police took action against police personnel of the lower rank, Makar Shrestha and Constable Ram Hari Subedi. But Timalsina remains immune, thanks to political connections.

The police administration won’t book top ranking officials but it does not spare the rod when it comes to taking action against the rank and file. It is also quick to declare the involvement of lower rank police personnel’s involvement in crimes. But when it comes to information about the top brass, things are stonewalled.

Another case that raised questions over the extent of corruption in the police force is the murder of media entrepreneur Jamim Shah on February 7. Despite knowing the close nexus between the killers, including Babloo Shrivastava and former DSP Jagadish Chand, some high ranking police officers let Shrivastava slip away. Investigators had also substantiated the involvement of other senior police officers for their failure to arrest Shah’s killer. Only a few at the bottom of the hierarchy were reprimanded.

Human rights organisations as well as media investigations have implicated DSP Bhola Rawal in the death of Sanu Sunuwar in police custody at the Metropolitan Police Circle Kalimati in the third week of May. But DSP Rawal, who is a close relative of the current Home Minister Bhim Rawal, remains free. The list goes on.

There is no dearth of good cops. But those with good reputations have not been given responsibility or promotion. Yet, a determined few can make a difference. The turnaround in Kathmandu in the last few months is a case in point. Let’s hope this glimmer of hope becomes a rule and not an exception.

Source: The Kathmandu Post – 30.08.2010

Kamala Tamang, 29, lost her husband Santosh Tamang seven years. He never came back.

On Monday, watching “Shadows of Hope’, a documentary film about the family members of those who went missing,  and produced by the International Community of the Red Cross and Nepal Red Cross Society, she recalled how her husband disappeared and her ordeal began.

“Not knowing whether he is dead or alive, I am still hopeful he will be back someday,” she says, holding her 9-year-old daughter.

As the international Day of Disappeared is being commemorated worldwide, Kamala, a conflict victim, cannot even demand of the concerned authorities that they trace the whereabouts of her loved one.

She, who hails from Kavre, a district neighbouring Kathmandu, last saw her husband as he was set to head towards a neighbouring village. “He did not say where he was going,” she recalls. “I thought he would return soon.”

Many days passed, Kamala has not heard anything of her husband. The shadows of hope still remain—her family members have not done the last rites for her husband in the hope that he will be back someday.  Above all, after her husband’s disappearance, it is getting worse by the day. Kamala has difficulty in eking out a living. She works as a daily wage earner.

She is alone raising her daughter, who was just two-and-half-year when Santosh disappeared, and it is a problem for he to give her a good education because she does not have enough income.

What Kamala finds hard is convincing her daughter as to the whereabouts of her father. The elderly father of Santosh, Chandra Man Tamang, 56, who lost his he only son to the insurgency, went from pillar to post in search of Santosh who who was just 21when he disappeared.

The old man at last learnt from a local Maoist leader that Santosh was killed in an encounter with the state security agencies.

Yet, he is not ready to believe it because he has not seen his son’s body. “I cannot forget my only son. For me, justice is what means the most now,” said Tamang as tears rolled down his cheeks.

It is not that the state has not extended support but whatever the state has given, it is not sufficient for this bereaved father who lost his sole breadwinner.

ICRC says that many of the family members whose loved ones, most of them were married and who disappeared in the conflict are finding it hard to eke out a living. Some of them are mentally disturbed.

Source: The Kathmandu Post – 30.08.2010