Columns

Karuna leaving CID headquarters after giving a seven-hour statement. Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi

International organisations are expressing concern over the recent controversial remarks by Karuna (his nom de guerre) the LTTE’s onetime Eastern Commander who now goes by the name Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan.

He is contesting the Digamadulla district as a candidate of the Akhila Ilankai Maha Sabha and is at the eye of a political storm after remarks that the Tiger guerrillas massacred about 3,000 troops in Elephant Pass and Kilinochchi.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) tweeted, “We note that #Karuna, former LTTE commander & Government minister, is being questioned for alleged past crimes. He should also be investigated for wholesale recruitment of child soldiers, a crime under int’l law. Accountability should apply to everyone in Sri Lanka.” The tweet carried the official Twitter handle of UN Human Rights — @UNHumanRights.

A United States backed resolution which Sri Lanka co-sponsored and later backed out, is before the UN Human Rights Council. This is the first time a guerrilla leader had confessed to massacring troops – a matter which the resolution calls for a probe together with alleged war crimes committed by troops.

Mr Muralitharan made a seven-hour long statement to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday. According to CID sources he has admitted to making the remarks but had declared he was unaware of the seriousness. Based on disclosures made by him, detectives are to record statements from others in the east, these sources said. Thereafter, a report is to be sent to the Attorney General’s Department, they added.

The New York based Human Rights Watch called upon the Government to investigate and appropriately prosecute Karuna for war crimes “and other grave human rights abuses.”

Mystery calls to unemployed graduates in Jaffna

Unemployed graduates and those who registered with local Divisional Secretariats in Jaffna seeking employment received a strange call from the office of a national political party assuring them state jobs in exchange for a vote for the main candidate of that party.

The candidates who received such calls said the caller who identified himself as speaking from the party office instructed them to attend a meeting in the party office to ensure a state job once the candidate is elected.

They are clueless on how their personal information registered at the Divisional Secretariats has landed in the party office.

The caller reportedly said: “If you need the job, you have to send …. to Parliament,” while urging unemployed youths to take part in the election propaganda work of this local politico.

Mayors to be evicted

The Election Commission is to ask the Police to move in to evict three Mayors who have reportedly failed to quit their official residences and are conducting election campaigns from there.

According to EC regulations, Mayors are required to vacate their official residences once they submit nomination papers. Two other Mayors including that of the Jaffna Municipal Council reportedly vacated their official residences.

As per the law, if a Mayor fails to get elected, he can return to his or her Mayoral post.

No more videos from President’s media unit

A video of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa admonishing top officials of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), released by his media unit, went viral on social media, and drew critical reactions from sections of the Opposition.

Since then, several other meetings have been chaired by President Rajapaksa. However, only news releases and not a video account are now being released by the unit.

Muslim scholars want laws to regulate madrasas

With the advent of terrorism by extremist Muslim groups, madrasas or centres of education for Muslims, have remained a controversy.

The matter came into sharper focus in Sri Lanka after last year’s tragic Easter Sunday massacres that left 268 men, women and children dead.

Now, a group of Muslim scholars and professionals have just concluded a study on these institutions. In their report, they are asking the Government to introduce legislation to bring madrasas under an official accreditation board.

Here are highlights of the executive summary of the report: “Madrasa education has a long history in Sri Lanka. It had been in the country traditionally for several centuries in some form or the other. The Madrasa system, for the first time, had been established in an organised manner in 1870. By the time Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, there were approximately 10-15 madrasas. This number had gradually grown; during the period of 2000-2009, this number had grown to an exceptional level.”

“At present, there are 317 madrasas registered with the Department of Muslim Cultural Affairs and few more are still unregistered. Madrasas are started and managed by individuals and groups in different localities in Sri Lanka. Most of them are very small units with an average of 50 students. Few units among them have more than 100 students. The course duration of these madrasas is seven years of teaching Quran, Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence, and related sciences, which has about seven batches with least numbers of students in each of them. This situation leads to poor productivity and inefficiency of madrasas.”

“To facilitate changes, it is recommended to enact legislation. All madrasas should be brought under the Madrasa Accreditation Board (MAB), consisting of eminent scholars and reputed professionals. Considering the size and numbers of madrasas, it is recommended to introduce a rationalisation plan to establish larger size madrasas and managed by a properly constituted board of management, under the purview of the MAB.”