We are perturbed by the recent report of the Human Rights Watch titled “Recurring Nightmare - State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka” which has inter-alia cast aspersion against our party, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP).

It is our contention that the section of the report under the subtitle Eelam People’s Democratic Party is biased, written with malicious intention and with an ulterior motive of causing defame to the party, EPDP and its leader Mr. Douglas Devananda.

We give below our reasoning for arriving at such conclusions.

Your main allegations against the EPDP are,

Your accusations are based mainly on the following:

Let us look at your allegations one by one and see whether there is any justification in leveling such allegations.  

1.         Individual members (of EPDP) did continue to maintain weapons.

You have cited the report of the Co-chairs and an article in Hindu to authenticate your findings.

According to your report the Co-chairs in their statement dated May 30, 2006 has reported that the government of Sri Lanka “has failed to prevent attacks of armed groups, including Karuna and violent elements of EPDP.”

You have further stated that the “Hindu” reported on February 23, 2006 that “the LTTE has repeatedly criticized the government for what it claims is its failure to disarm paramilitary groups, including the EPDP, as a major violation of the CFA.”

The best institution to verify the correctness of this fact is the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The SLMM in its report covering the period 24 February to 28 May 2006 has in no uncertain terms stated,  “SLMM has not been able to confirm the LTTE allegations that armed groups opposed to LTTE are operating in Jaffna nor the presence of an active Muslim armed group” (See note1)

Rather than reporting the contents of a news paper (Hindu), which refers to a statement made by LTTE as an authentication to your finding, it would have been more plausible if you have tried to find out what the SLMM has stated in this regard and reported accordingly. The SLMM is mandated to monitor and report any violation of the CFA. If, the EPDP members are found carrying weapon it is a violation of the CFA.

2.         2.         Continuing operation of armed EPDP cadres in the islands off the Jaffna peninsula.

You have cited this statement from the report of the UN Special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, after a mission to Sri Lanka in late 2005.

You have reported only a section of the relevant paragraph from the said report. If you have reported the relevant paragraph in its entirety, it would have given a different meaning to the reader.

The paragraph inter-alia states, “thus, reflexive references to “paramilitaries” rather than “political parties” dangerously distort the facts. As long as these groups continue to be targeted, they will require protection from the military, which is facilitated by locating their residences and political offices near military posts. This protection unavoidably results in the appearance of cooperation with the military. (See note 2) 

3.        3.            The involvement of EPDP armed cadres alongside Sri Lanka navy personnel in the killings

                          of 18 civilians on northern Kayts Island on May 13-14, 2006.

You have cited the report of the Amnesty International (AI) dated May 16, 2006, reports of UTHR and D.B.S Jeyaraj to substantiate this statement.

In this instance too you have failed to report what exactly the AI has reported. Moreover, while you reported what AI had stated immediately after the incident on May 16, 2006, you have failed to report what the AI has stated in the subsequent report in this regard. AI in its subsequent report (Report 2007) has stated as follows.

“The navy denied responsibility for a spate of incidents in May. Details remained unclear but the incidents resulted in casualties and deaths on Kayts Island off the Jaffna Peninsula, which included the deaths of 13 Tamil civilians, among them a four-month-old baby and a four-year-old boy”.

The AI has not mentioned anything about the EPDP in its subsequent report. (See note 3).

Further, the SLMM, whose report is more authentic in these regard has not mentioned anything about the involvement of EPDP members in this incident in its report covering the period 24 February to 28 May 2006. (See note 3)

If you have reported the relevant paragraph of the said AI report in its entirety and the subsequent report of the AI along with what the SLMM has stated in this regard, it would have given a different perception to a reader.

4.              May 2006 attack on the office of the pro-LTTE newspaper, Uthayan.

We may presume that this local human rights groups by referring late Mr. P. Sooriyamoorthy as Mayor of Trincomalee, have made a technical error since they are living in far off country without knowing the ground situation, but how can we accept that Mr. P. Sooriyamoorthy spoke with Mr. V. Anandasangari, while he was in a coma stage in the hospital. (see note 4 for full detail).

5.         In at least two “disappearance” cases, the families strongly believed that the

            perpetrators were members of the EPDP.

It is astonishing to note that you have made a serious allegation on a political party that has continuous representation of the people of Jaffna for over a decade simply on the grounds that some of the perpetrators spoke in Tamil and went in the direction of EPDP Achchuveli office.

Will any court of law in the world accept this even as a prima facie evidence to make such serious allegation? 

EPDPers are not the only people who speak Tamil in Jaffna; people of Jaffna do not speak Spanish or Italian, all of them speak Tamil. The road from Puttur to Atchuvelli does not lead to EPDP office only; it extends up to Jaffna town (about 15 KM) with number of cross roads and by-lanes interconnecting. 

6.         6.        A number of other witnesses also referred to EPDP “camps” in Jaffna as places where they

                      went to search for their missing relatives.

7.         7.       A number of witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they approached EPDP offices while

                     searching for their “disappeared” relatives and tried to inquire within EPDP camps.

8.         8.       A relative of Sivasothy Sivaramanan, a man who “disappeared” after he had been taken away

                     by a group of armed men, some of whom spoke Sinhala and some spoke Tamil, said that he

                    met with Douglas Devananda three times. Each time, the EPDP leader promised to find his

                    son, yet the young man remains missing to date.

EPDP is a political party committed to serve the people and have political offices in all the districts of North and East provinces of Sri Lanka except Killinochchi and Mullaitivu. We have an office in Colombo and Puttalam. In Jaffna district alone we have twelve offices. Our leader Mr. Douglas Devananda is a Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister.

People of all walks come to our offices daily seeking redress against number of issues. Most of the issues are related to Government Departments, Ministries, and Government Institutions etc.

We try to help them by speaking or writing to the head of the department, institution or the relevant ministry or minister. If necessary we take up the issues with the Cabinet of Ministers or the President.

If their issues remain unresolved they come to us repeatedly until they find redress to their issue.

In case of arrest of persons by the police or armed forces, the family members of the affected parties seek our assistance to secure the release of the person in custody.  We assist by contacting the officer responsible for the arrest, find out the cause for the arrest and help wherever possible, for the release of the person. In case of judicial custody we render legal aid. As because we render this service, it cannot be construed that we are responsible for the arrest or that the person arrested was in our custody.

As a responsible political party, representatives of the people and as a cabinet minister we render these services free of charge.

Families, whose kith and kin or relatives disappeared, missing or have been abducted is no exception to this. They too come to us seeking our help to speak to the government authorities, especially to the police and armed forces to find out whether they are in their custody and if so to secure their release.

The cases referred to above (No. 6 – 8) in your report are those who have sought our assistance to speak to the police and armed forces to find out whether the missing family member or relative are in their custody. It is astonishing to note that as because they have come to the office of the EPDP repeatedly seeking help, you are alleging that the EPDP is responsible or accountable for the disappearance.  

Conclusion

We are at a loss to understand that an esteemed organization like Human Rights Watch has made such irresponsible allegations against the EPDP without any substance and on hearsay. As we have clearly demonstrated in the preceding paragraphs, your report is partial and baseless. You have failed to verify your findings, particularly with regard to EPDP members carrying arms, with the SLMM, which is the body, authorized to monitor such ceasefire violations.

Further, out of ninety nine testimonies that were collected by the Human Rights Watch (out of which ninety three were from Northern Province), only in one case of one (that of Thiyagaraja Saran) you have found a trivial reference to EPDP which you have exaggerated and reported out of proportion. It is also shown in the top of the list (annexure 1) of testimonies documented. This shows the malicious intention of the report.

The leader of the EPDP and the members of the EPDP have a long history of sacrifices and have been living with the people in the North and East and striving to address the problems of the people. After the EPDP entered into the political main stream in 1987 with the signing of Indo Lanka Accord, it has been in the forefront of protecting the human rights of the people. It helped improve the human rights situation and restored normalcy by establishing mechanisms in the Tamil areas. Since we have been the only party remaining all along with the people in the North and East, people used to come to our offices, tell their woes and get their problems redressed. People are fully aware as to how the EPDP works and helps the people when they are in distress. It is due to these reasons, during the elections the people have proved that they are with us in spite of the LTTE threats and violence. It is no wonder the LTTE had to assemble the TNA to counter our popularity

We request you to kindly re-investigate your allegations and submit an addendum to the report based on your new findings.

If we all truly believe in protecting and promoting human rights of people in a war torn country, we should take extra caution while reporting the violations. We shall be thankful if HRW could verify with us, if and when it receives any allegations against our party.  Dialogue and discussion that allows us the right of defence should be principle of organizations that wish to take the moral high ground.