Sri Lanka’s northern cities will hold local polls for the first time in nearly three decades today and though the civil war is over, fear and intimidation remain rife, poll monitors and opposition politicians say.
Voters in the separatist Tamil Tigers’ self-declared capital of Kilinochchi and in Mullaittivu, where they were defeated by government forces in May 2009, will elect local councilors for the first time in 29 years.
The northern Jaffna district, under military control in the latter half of the 26-year civil war, will be holding its first local government election in 12 years.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, eager to gain support in the north, toured the area this week to launch development projects and promised more of them, in a war-ravaged region that remains firmly under military control.
“More money has been allocated to your province than the other provinces. There is no place for communal politics in Sri Lanka in the future and narrow-minded politics is unwanted in the future,” Rajapaksa, who is from the Sinhalese ethnic majority, told a crowd in mostly rote Tamil this week.
Rajapaksa’s government led the offensive to destroy the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), culminating in a final battle in May 2009 that ended the guerrilla group’s campaign for a separate state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority.
Since then, Rajapaksa has promised to rebuild the north, shunning calls for political reconciliation in favor of economic development under what he calls “The Northern Spring.”
However, violence has persisted and militias who fought for the government have used force to retain their influence. Election monitors have cataloged many violations, including the use of state resources for campaigning and the use of violence.
“Everyone knows certain sections of the military and the political groups operating in Jaffna are behind these [violations],” said Keerthi Thennakoon, executive director of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections. “A well-calculated fear psychosis has been created among Jaffna and Killinochchi voters.”
Opposition politicians, including those elected from the north, have complained they have little access to the area and say they expect intimidation to keep turnout low.
“Unknown people have placed a killed dog in front of one candidate’s house, while other candidates have seen a funeral wreath on their front doors,” said parliamentarian M.A Sumathiran, from the former LTTE political proxy the Tamil National Alliance.
He said soldiers are going from house to house “insisting people must vote for the government party, and with all this intimidation of our candidates and the public, no action has been taken so far.”
The government has denied any wrongdoing.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Sinhalese Marxist party which in past decades led two violent insurgencies, said the military would not let them put up campaign posters and followed candidates during canvassing.
“The government badly needs to win this election at any cost to show the international community that their undemocratic and controlled governance in the north has resulted in development and thus people are supporting them,” JVP parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake said.
Rajapsksa is under heavy pressure from the West to engage in political reconciliation of a sort acceptable to the TNA and to investigate accusations of war crimes during the war’s final phases to which a UN-sponsored report has drawn attention.
‘SHARP COMPETITION’: Australia is to partner with US-based Lockheed Martin to make guided multiple launch rocket systems, an Australian defense official said Australia is to ramp up missile manufacturing under a plan unveiled yesterday by a top defense official, who said bolstering weapons stockpiles would help keep would-be foes at bay. Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the nation would establish a homegrown industry to produce long-range guided missiles and other much-needed munitions. “Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” Conroy said in a speech. “That competition is at its sharpest in our region, the Indo-Pacific.” Australia is to partner with US-based weapons giant Lockheed Martin to make
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters
Pets are not forgotten during Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, when even Fido and Tiger get a place at the altars Mexican families set up to honor their deceased loved ones, complete with flowers, candles and photographs. Although the human dead usually get their favorite food or drink placed on altars, the nature of pet food can make things a little different. The holiday has roots in Mexican pre-Hispanic customs, as does the reverence for animals. The small, hairless dogs that Mexicans kept before the Spanish conquest were believed to help guide their owners to the afterlife, and were sometimes given
RSS