Colombo. 1983: The LTTE’s first attack against government forces led to rioting against the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. The ‘Black July’ riots are seen as the starting point of the conflict. Photograph:JLR/AP
by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam
(August 14, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the article ‘Lawlessness threatens property rights’ by the Asian Human Rights Commission– published in Sri Lanka Guardian.
I am going through legal battles myself in relation to a Colombo Land and hence I read with stronger focus than I otherwise would have. When something ‘happens’ and we did not directly ‘cause’ it to happen but feel it has happened to us – we tend to picture it in the form that we invested in. Hence the same action would be seen as racism by one and sexism by another and crime by another. In my draft submission forwarded to our lawyers I cover this area as follows:
2. Basis of Appeal
2.1 Judicial Bias
2.2 Error of Law
2.3 Error of Facts
2.1 Judicial bias:
- Lack of Judicial Independence & Negation of Prior Knowledge/Memory at the start of the hearing and not including Objective as well as Subjective evidence provided by the Plaintiff to match against and Balance the evidence by the Defendant to arrive at the net balance that ought to have formed the basis of Judgment.
It is submitted that his Honor whilst using ‘Balance of Probabilities’ in making the decision –establishes through this judgment that his Honor did not start off with zero base; that his Honor did not clear his mind of any prior knowledge of the parties concerned and hence used the Defendant’s Claims as evidence, whilst attributing zero value to the Plaintiff’s independent objectively measurable evidence as well as verbal evidence by the Plaintiff and other witnesses for the Plaintiff .
It is submitted that to arrive at a judgment based on Balance of Probabilities one needs to :
2.1.1 Start from zero prior knowledge of the parties to the conflict and subjects giving evidence.
2.1.2 Use independent objective evidence in the order in which they were produced, to confirm the boundaries and the substance of the event they confirm.
2.1.3 Travel with the mind of the subject, at the time of the event, about which evidence is being given
The Asian Human Rights Commission says in its submission to the Public – through Sri Lanka Guardian ‘The Asian Human Rights Commission has, for over 15 years now, constantly drawn the attention of the Sri Lankan public to the ever deepening situation of lawlessness in the country. We have also pointed out that while threatening the lives of citizen's lawlessness will also finally threaten property rights. From around the country there are stories of the way in which the criminal elements, almost always with the support of the police, have threatened the property rights of many families and on some occasions such threats have resulted in serious crimes such as the murder of those who resist the expropriation of their property. When the legal system fails bewildering situations such as this become common occurrences. The underground elements acquire a power to decide the fate of people and their property.’
It’s true that this land-grab is a ‘territorial’ outcome confirming that we have descended towards animal kingdom. On the other hand there is over-regulated areas of our society – through direct applications of mere theories/book knowledge – which to my mind led to JVP and LTTE uprisings. Threats to Property Rights is on the rise in Northern Sri Lanka also. Tamils outside Sri Lanka call it colonization. Tamil leaders call them abandonment. Each one gives form as per their current pain.
To my mind, a legal owner who abandons the land and therefore ‘hoards’ is as bad as one who steals / forcibly occupies but uses the property. Sri Lanka does recognize ownership through physical possession. Section 3 of the Prescription Ordinance 22 of 1871 confirms title if one has ‘ undisturbed and uninterrupted possession by a defendant in any action, or by those under whom he claims, of lands or immovable property, by a title adverse to or independent of that of the claimant or plaintiff in such action’
The person who is below the line of discriminative thinking and who is beyond the influence of a leader with discriminative thinking – is likely to use ‘possession’ to ‘own’. This is the result of lack of education for life but education merely for living (money and status).
The Asian Human Rights Commission confesses to having failed to influence the Government towards exercising armed powers towards protecting ‘private property’. It is understandable that a Government that is preoccupied with protection of Public Property through armed forces (which is also by possession) would not see protection of private property as a priority unless it is their own private property. That is our reality in Sri Lanka.
So, what can the Public do? Those of us who are able to use the legal system must keep working the legal system through the laws that best reflect our Truth and if we can integrate our investments at global level – that would help address the ethnic issue as well. First we need to accept that there are many angles from which different groups would see the same problem and in any sovereign country there is an equal and opposite opportunity to every problem. We just need to be independent to see both at the same time.
The simplest answer to Rev. Pereira would be to either seek the company of Buddhist leaders and/or ask for JVP’s protection – the way some Tamils seek the protection of the Hon Douglas Devananda these days, and LTTE prior to 2009.
Given that Rev Pereira is Christian, it is possible that the problem is due to religion also. It is difficult for us to identify the ‘cause’ because those who are attacking are not of similar thinking to us. Ward Place carries also the karma (good as well as bad) of J R Jayawardene who resided at Ward Place. Land retains the true forces – positive as well as negative and invokes it in the people who physically occupy it. Hence ‘Vastu Shastra’ in designing homes. Given that J R Jayawardene failed to protect the properties close to his home suburb during Black July attacks in 1983 I believe there is serious damage to the Natural Ownership of all residents in that area. Below are some excerpts confirming this:
“I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people now… Now we cannot think of them. Not about their lives or of their opinion about us… The more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here… really, if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy…”
-- from an interview with J.R. Jeyawardene by Ian Ward. London Daily Telegraph, 11 July 1983
“… In an even more inflammatory move, it was decided to have a mass public funeral for the soldiers in Kanatte, the main cemetery in Colombo, on Sunday 24 July.
Thousands of people arrived at the cemetery but the bodies failed to appear. Having been kept waiting for several hours, the restive crowd was told that the funeral had been cancelled. Large sections of the crowd dispersed towards busy Borella town near the cemetery. Within minutes, Tamil establishments in Borella went up in flames. There is some evidence that those responsible for the attacks on Tamils in Borella were not those who were at the cemetery. This raises some worrying possibilities which President Jeyawardene had no intention of investigating: he probably knew the answer.
Jayawardene’s home is only a stone’s throw away, and there is not the slightest possibility that he could not have seen Borella on fire. However, there were no orders from him to the police or the armed forces to stop the arson and murder, nor was a State of Emergency declared. With the number of police and armed forces on the streets, there is no question that they could have controlled the situation if they had wanted to, or were ordered to.”
-- “Sri Lanka's Week of Shame: The July 1983 massacre of Tamils – Long-term consequences.” Brian Senewiratne. http://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/07-28_Consequences.php?uid=1866 Published 28 July 2006.
When the legal system fails – we need to resort to the system of Natural Justice. Rev. Pereira has also asked us to pray to the Lord. We often do not know the cause but we know the effects as per our own experiences and if we seek within we will always find the cause within. If we cannot – then we must accept it as ‘Act of God’. The opportunities will flow later – as they did for many Tamils affected by July 83 riots. This acceptance actually develops belief that God will save us and protect us. If we believe in a particular system that system will deliver the opportunities at a later tome. This then means that the God/Belief in us would communicate with the God / Belief in the other person.
I often took this approach when facing armed officers here in Australia and there in Sri Lanka. The answers always came through other armed officers present at that time at that place. The worst risk I remember is when I was threatened with enforced medication for alleged mental illness whilst in custody. I prayed after pleading with a lady doctor and they contacted my husband who urged them to contact Medical Staff at the University of NSW. They did not give me the medication but sent me back to prison. I believe that my belief in the Medical staff shared with my family protected me through investors in common in the Medical system. Later at the prison it was the prison nurse who overrode the doctors from the hospital and helped me get transferred to a normal area from the psychiatric section that I was placed in. The nurse said ‘there has been a mistake’ and assured me that I would not be enforced with medication.
We need to start believing in the people of our area, through the belief in us. If we cannot believe – we do not belong there. We often ‘picture’ as per habits and grooming – without taking into account the realities of our environment. To the extent of our true belief in the legal system – the legal system will protect us. If our belief in the Church is deeper than our belief in the legal system – then the Church will protect us. One avenue is through deployment of security officers.
The solution is in the same area where the problem is. We often look elsewhere because of our grooming and the greater benefits that come from that wider system. The experiences of Rev. Pereira cannot be worse than those who were affected by the July 1983 riots. Vast majority of them did not know about the LTTE now. Almost all do now. Timely action through any avenue available to us personally will always be rewarded.
Majority votes are for local areas. Where the legal system does not work reliably and we are not able to contribute to improve it – we need to move to an area where we are part of the majority power that naturally works.
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