THE DEFENSE OF OUR PEOPLE

Charged by the Brisbane City Council for damaging “significant vegetation”, in reality some bushes of grass and gum-tree saplings in my back yard, tried and convicted by a Magistrate in a potty little suburb in Brisbane, and awaiting sentencing on September 20, 2007, my mind is too confused to write a proper article on the terrible suffering of our Tamil people. However, someone has to address the dreadful things which are happening to our people, and to ask for international help. I apologise if this article is disjointed and poorly presented. It is the best I can do at this time.

In the four DVDs I have recently released to show the world the suffering of our people in the North and East, I said, “The Sri Lankan Armed Forces having finished with the East, the North will follow, if we do nothing.”

We did nothing
• The North followed (shelling on 22 August 2007, bombing the next day), and now, 29August, Mannar. The next will be the Wanni, if we continue to do nothing.
At a recent talk to expatriate Tamils, I was asked, “What is the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) doing?” I chose to answer the question with another, “What are you doing”. The answer is “Nothing, other than hallucinating about Eelam and trying to shift  the responsibility for its achievement, to the LTTE”.
What can we do?A great deal. Addressing the 29th AGM of Illankai Thamil Sangam, USA, in November 2006, I spelt out what we can do. This was reproduced in the Souvenir “Turning Points. Building bridges for the Hope of our children”. Tammy Sriharan, the dynamic (non-Sri Lankan wife of the straighttalking, no nonsense President, Sri Haran, might still have a copy. Drop a note to Sangam at P.O.Box 46, Maryknoll, New York 10545 or log on to www.sangamevents.org, drop a cheque (or, as you call it, ‘a check’) and get a copy. You will find two articles,
1. A comprehensive article on the history of the Tamil struggle – “Chronology of the Tamil struggle and the turning points in the Sinhalese-Tamil relationship” by M.Nadarajan. This is essential reading for those who need to know what they should
.
2. “Lobbying the International Community” by me.

In this article I set out the score. “The only three ‘forces’ that could possibly block Rajapakse’s disastrous agenda to prevent a war (it is too late for that) which will be unwinnable (by either side) and unstoppable, and which will only result in a massive destruction of life and property, and economic bankruptcy are:
1.The international community – in particular the crucial aid-donors,
2. The military power of the LTTE,
3 The Sinhalese people in the Sri Lankan South, where opposition to the war is escalating – not because of any empathy towards the Tamils but because they have to pay the human and economic costs of a war.
I went on to expand on this nebulous entity, “The International Community”, and said “This is far wider than is generally accepted and should include:-
 1 Foreign Governments and their respective Opposition politicians
 2. Non-Sri Lankans living in these countries  3 The expatriate Tamil community, now a million people.
Each group has a specific role to play and must be targetted separately.” I then set about addressing the problem of a well-organised ‘dis-information campaign’ launched by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) over the past several decades, to convince the world that the only problem is ‘Tamil Tiger terrorism’. The real problem is, of course, Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism.

I launched a series of DVDs (I have lost count – I think about half a dozen) - to show the world what has been happening to our Tamil people (yes, they are my people as much as they are yours).

I opened the batting in every DVD with, “I am a Sinhalese from the majority community. I am not a ember of the brutalised Tamil people. My concerns are entirely humanitarian. I quit Sri Lanka some 30 years ago and who runs that country, whether it is Mahinda Rajapakse or any one else, is of no concern to me as long as it is run without bloodshed, chaos and the extensive violation of human rights and the taking of the country to a fascist dictatorship and economic ruin, fighting an unnecessary war.”

In the updated and expanded DVDs (July 2007), I included a piece on the ‘War of National Liberation of the Tamil people’ and pointed out that what was going on was a War, whether the GOSL admitted this or not. If it is a ‘War’, Humanitarian Law applies and the participants (GOSL and LTTE) are combatants. Banning one side and calling them ‘terrorists’ is not only unhelpful (since you cannot negotiate with terrorists), but on Humanitarian Law, is illegal.

The DVDs vary in length (and depth), from 120min to 20min. The long one is comprehensive, covering everything from Vijaya, the grandson of a  lion who founded the Sinhala race(!), to Mahinda Rajapakse, today’s  Dutugemunu, the Sinhalese worrier from the same area that Rajapakse comes from, who killed the just Tamil king Ellala. This DVD is too long for people in a hurry, or with a short attention-span i.e. politicians.

The shortest, International Appeal to stop bloodshed in the Tamil Areas is for the ‘tell-me-about-itin-a-few-words’ people.
I begged of people to have a copy of this DVD on the desk of every politician and decision-makermin every country. Was it done? No. Why not? Because the expatriate community cannot see the importance of the absolute need to show the world the ground situation in the North and East. So, the GOSL gets away with mass murder, bordering on Genocide.

In June 2007, I was in Geneva for the UN Human Rights Council meeting, where I addressed some 15,000 people who protested outside the UN building, in pouring rain (there’s dedication for you). I would go again for the September meeting if I could have afforded the fare. I cannot, thanks to the trumped-up charge by the Brisbane City Council which I have referred to. The day after the massive protest (the largest Geneva has ever seen), I was in the UN lobbying the diplomats and others, from a number of countries. Almost every one of the 30 people I saw, asked me for the DVDs which they had heard about, but not seen. Did I give them a copy? No, I did not. Why not?  Because none was available. There’s poor organisation for you.
Opposing us was the sleek Sri Lankan Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva,   promoting the GOSL and its murderous Armed Forces, ironically called ‘Security Forces.  He was backed up by the Sri Lankan Attorney General, Solicitor General, an array of Rajapakse’s Ministers, spewing out disinformation by the bucket load, and handing out glossy brochures which had even more lies.  It is this stark difference in approach by the two sides, which makes the Tamil struggle remain a struggle, and why a  brutal, indeed bestial, regime survives.

The window of opportunity
There is a fast-closing ‘window of opportunity’ for the Tamils. Despite Rajapakse’s grandiosity, the GOSL is on the financial rocks (evidence- the recent desperate attempt to raise $500 million at any rate of interest), and in the human rights dog-house. If anything is going to sway the IC in favour of the Tamils, it has to be the escalating violation of human rights, by the ruthless, brutal Sinhala regime, led by a murderous bunch in uniform, in yellow-robes, and ‘national dress’, with or without a red shawl.

Some of them wave multi-barrel rocket launchers, and cheer the Kfir bombers as they drop their deadly load on schools, hospitals, refugee camps, homes, or just Tamil civilians. If it is Tamil, it is fair game. Others wave red flags claiming they are Marxists, which must make Marx turn in his grave. Others wave copies of the Mahavamsa, that textbook of anti-Tamil ethno-religious chauvinism, masquerading as a historical document.
We could have had these extremists and political opportunists on the mat if we had played our cards well. We could have shown the world that in the face of such brutality, bestiality and subhuman behaviour by the GOSL, there is no alternative to a separate Tamil State. Eelam. But we have failed, the window of opportunity is closing,  and the Tamils in the North and East are gradually disappearing.

As I have said in the DVDs, Eelam is not the creation of the Tamil Tigers or the Tamil people. It is the creation of Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism, political opportunism and the exclusion of the Tamils from the decision-making process for at least the past half century, which has sabotaged the building of a Sri Lankan nation. If Sri Lanka is to be a Sinhala-Buddhist nation, then there is no alternative to a separate Tamil State, Eelam. It is as simple as that. This is the message we have failed to deliver internationally,  and why so many thousand Tamil lives arebeing lost. And now?

The bombing and shelling of Jaffna has started. On  21 Augusat 2007, the GOSL shelled the Poonakari-Vadamaraachi East area in the Jaffna Peninsula. from 8am to 4 pm. The following day, Mullaitivu was bombed. 16 bombs were dropped in an area where GCE (A level) students were about to sit for their examination. On 29 August 2007, there was an artillery attack on areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers in the
Mannar district.
And then? The rest of the Wanni will be bombed, as surely as day follows night I am not sure how many Tamils are left in the North and East, I suspect there are less than a million. The question is whether the Sinhala regime in Colombo, their murderous Armed Forces, the yellow-robed not-so-cleanly-shaved supposed followers of Buddha, and the Sinhala ‘patriots’ of this Sinhala-Buddhist nation, want to shed every drop of Tamil blood. If they do, it is Genocide.

Genocide
As I have repeatedly said in all the DVDs, Genocide is defined in the  Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , as an act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Genocide has nothing to do with numbers killed, it is the intention and the act(s)  to achieve this intention that are important in defining Genocide.

Methods of achieving Genocide.

There are several ways to achieve genocide. One can murder them in large or small numbers, murder them at once, or gradually, starve them - by blocking the A9 Highway, the only land access to the Jaffna Peninsula with some 600,000 civilians, 150,000 of them children, block survival-activities of the population by bombing fishing villages and boats, banning fishing, and imposing serious constraints on agriculture by declaring some of the most fertile areas of Jaffna as ‘High Security Zones’, block the supply of fertilizer and agricultural equipment and impose endless curfews which prevent the population from leaving their homes. One could  bomb and shell markets, businesses, homes and hospitals, and prevent  essential medicines from reaching the people. The GOSL has done all of these (and much more) to make sure that the Tamil people
in the North and East do not survive. Once the intention is there to commit genocide, the methods that can be adopted to achieve the desired goal are endless

Different types of genocide.
In addition to ‘conventional Genocide’, one must recognise ‘Educational genocide’,‘Cultural genocide’,  and  ‘Economic genocide’. These I define as  ‘the intention, backed by the act, of “destroying in whole or in part the education, culture or economy of a national, ethnic, racial or geographic group”. The GOSL is guilty of all of these
Can we stop this?
Yes we can, but time is running out. As I have said over and over again, the most powerful force the Tamils have is a million expatriate Tamils living and working in the richest countries on earth.
This is very different from other theatres of conflict eg East Timor, Sudan, Upper Burma, and many other places.
The Sri Lankan situation is unique in at least two important ways.
1. The massive number of highly trained and skilled people in the expatriate Tamil community
2. The Tamil Tigers, with a well-organised and trained army, a navy, and even a (rudimentary) air force, capable of creating panic  in the adversary. No other guerrilla force in the world has these facets.

Will the Tamil Tigers be crushed?  I do not think they will be. Janaka Perera, of ‘Chemmani-fame’ (or ill-fame) in an interview just a few days ago says that he has never had any doubts that they can be crushed. Gotabaya Rajapakse, another genius  from the Sri Lankan military and the current Defence Secretary, says he will do so, just give him 3 years.   People with little understanding cannot see that the Tamil Tigers are not the problem, it is Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism that is the problem. As such, crushing the Tigers will not produce a ‘solution’. What has to be crushed is Sinhala ethno-religious chauvinism, and this they will not do,being the leading proponents of this doctrine.
The only solution they have is the Kfir bomber, multi-barrel rocket launcher, the mass murder of Tamil civilians, and destruction of their property. Their ‘vision’ for Sri Lanka is a blood-drenched country wrapped in a Lion flag with a Sinhala-Buddhist label as an emblem. A better Sri Lanka, divided if necessary, is possible.
Of one thing I am certain – the GOSL can crush anything, but will not be able to crush the will of the Tamil people for freedom from the racist and murderous Sinhala regime. The only way to crush this is by genocide using whatever military hardware is necessary. We do not have the power to stop this slaughter, but protest we must and will; resist we must, and will.

There are three groups of people in this world -. those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know what happened. The vast majority of expatriate Tamils are in the latter two groups. Our problem is to move them to the first group. If we succeed, there will be not just a ‘solution’, but a just solution.

All the brutality currently being unleashed on our people can delay, but not alter, the final result.
In fact, it will make it the only possible result.
The most important need is to develop the necessary ‘mind-set’. The Sinhala mind-set for centuries has been the ‘Mahavamsa mind-set’. It is the Tamil mind-set which is the problem. This is still in the pre-Independence era. It has to change, to accommodate the ground reality. The Tamil mind-set has to be a Separate Tamil State, Eelam. There simply is no alternative. This is not an attempt to divide and destroy the country, but to divide and enable all parts of Sri Lanka to develop. Essentially, it is an attempt to reverse the Colebrook-Cameron ‘Reforms’ of the British (1833), which has had such a disastrous effect on Sri Lanka, in particular, the prevention of development of the Tamil North and East.

Once the necessary mind-set is in place, there has  to be positive action. This has to be an involvement in the struggle. One of the most serious problems with Ceylon, as it then was, was that Independence from Britain was obtained without a struggle. This is in sharp contrast to what happened in India. In Ceylon, there was no involvement or participation of the population. Hence the failure to build a nation. History must not be allowed to repeat itself in the evolution of Tamil Eelam. This is why I have, in numerous addresses across the world, urged people to ‘get involved’.

This calls for some degree of self-sacrifice, generosity, risk, sweat, and commitment. The ‘reward’ will be a Nation which will be a pride to all of us who participated in its production. The alternative is to watch the Genocide of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, for that is surely the agenda of this brutal, fascist, irresponsible and murderous regime in Colombo, the most dangerous that has ever taken power in that county.
The immediate problem is the survival of the Tamil  people. The only three factors that can prevent the wiping out of the Tamils is, as I have said,
1.  International public opinion (which is why I made the DVDs),
      2.   The military power of the LTTE,
      3.   The political power of my people, the Sinhalese, in the South.
These have to be our priorities, whatever the difficulties and the risks, if our people in the North and East are to survive. The strategy of the GOSL, well-planned, well-financed and well conducted, with whatever it takes by way of expense, bribery, or intimidation. This is what has to be beaten. What the Tamil need is
not better military equipment or even an air force (neither of which are possible), but a strong, well organised and run, international pressure campaign to show the bad faith of the GOSL where a just and equitable result is concerned. It must be pointed out that negotiating with this regime is an exercise in futility, something that had been documented over the past 50 years. There simply is no intention or the will, for the Sinhala Government, present or past, to settle this problem in a just and equitable way. There is no reason to believe that it will change. If that is reality, and it is, what is the purpose of further negotiations? The Tamil National Armed Force opposing the brutal Sinhala Force has to be supported. If it is weakened, the Tamils will be back to square one, sitting under the conference table, rather than at it, picking up the crumbs which fall from the Sinhala masters at the table. this is what the Tamils did for three decades before their youths picked up arms to force the Sinhala regime o look at the Tamil problem seriously. Until then, the Tamils and their problems were a joke.

Blind Freddy can see the GOSL strategy to cope with this reality. Block LTTE fund-collection abroad, criminalise those who support them, arrest, charge and imprison those who even collect funds for humanitarian purposes, and have the LTTE banned in every country (interestingly, they are not banned in Sri Lanka itself!)
What has never been explained to me is how it is legal to supply funds and military equipment for a Government to bomb its citizens (believe it or not, the Tamils are citizens of Sri Lanka), but it is illegal to supply funds or military equipment for the Tamils to mount a defence. It is something that must be challenged openly and firmly, with a demand for answers from the international community.

In my recent travels across the world, the overwhelming impression I got is that the expatriate Tamil community is simply afraid. It has now become a fearful thing to be a Tamil. The GOSL has managed to get foreign governments to criminalise an entire community, the expatriate Tamil community. It is totally unacceptable and if we cave in, the GOSL would have won, at least abroad. We simply cannot afford to let this happen.

It is worth remembering that if we stand as one, they cannot arrest us all. The problem is that we do not stand as one but are crouched in fear with our heads below the parapet wall, afraid to even admit to being Tamil, let alone being a supporter of the Tamil struggle for justice. Those who dare to raise their heads above the wall, or do the right thing i.e. to support those in the North and East who, in the eyes of their Government, are non-people, find themselves locked up.

This is happening all over the world, Melbourne, Sydney, New York, Toronto, London and probably many other places which I am not aware of. This must be challenged, as we are doing in Melbourne, at whatever the cost.

Three young Tamil boys, one of them a close friend of mine, were arrested, two in Melbourne, one in Sydney, and detained on an absurd charge. An application for bail was refused by a potty little Magistrate. However, when one of them had his bail application taken up in the Supreme Court, it was granted. The Magistrate got the message and granted bail to the other two. In the bail application, I submitted the reasons why it was inappropriate, indeed illegal, to charge them. If any one wants a copy of my Submission, I would be glad to send it to them. There are compelling reasons why what is happening to our Tamil boys in several counties, can be challenged on Humanitarian Law.
I will not deal with the third (and very important) problem of lobbying the Sinhalese in the Sinhala South. I plan on releasing a DVD targeting the Sinhalese. There are several Sinhalese groups in the South, almost all of them from the Left, who are addressing, or trying to address, this crucial problem. They must be supported.
There is not the slightest doubt as to the final result. The history of liberation struggles of an oppressed people over the past 100 years, has been  liberation. Sri Lanka cannot be the exception. In front of the UN in Geneva is a string of flags from all the UN countries. At one end are empty places. One of them is for the flag of Tamil Eelam.

LIES, DAMN LIES AND THE BRISBANE CITY COUNCIL 1 Dr Brian Senewiratne replies

Thank you for asking me to respond to your queries  about the replies you have had from the
Brisbane City Council (BCC). Daniel David’s article on the net is essentially correct. There have been a few omissions, since he did not have access  to some of the letters I have had. The sequence of events he describes is correct and attempts by the Mayor to claim otherwise, is simply dishonest.

My wife (73) and I (75) have been charged  and convicted for  “interfering with protected vegetation” on our property in Brisbane. We will be sentenced on September 20, 2007. What we will do after that, I do not know. Our bank balance is low, very low, fighting this outrageous Case for so many months (which BCC made sure of, by dragging it out as long as possible).

I am not given to swearing but on this occasion I will. I swear on Almighty God or the Bible or
whatever, that I have not cleared ‘protected vegetation’. For a start, there could not have been
protected vegetation in the area in question, since it is our backyard which I have regularly mowed for the past 30 years.

I have enough credibility in the international arena, and in Australia, to say this without having to swear. This is not necessarily true of BCC whose employees have, as we will see, lied on oath, having hypocritically taken the Bible in their hand. As a Christian, I wish they had left this Book aside, if they were going to do what they did.

Going well beyond the realms of credibility, during the trial, BCC claimed that our whole property had‘significant native vegetation’, despite there being a house and a large mango plantation.

If dragging us through the Courts on a patently false and malicious charge was not enough, BCC has decided to compulsorily acquire two thirds of our land, in a completely illegal act. It is in violation of the Acquisition of Land Act 1967, hence unlawful, and ultra vires the power of Council.
Before I deal with this gross abuse of power, I will state what I said in Geneva at the June 2007 UN Human Rights Council meeting. Referring to Sri Lankan Government violating the human rights of its citizens, I said, ”The citizens of a country should not rest their hopes too much on the Law, the Courts and the Constitution. Justice, fair-play, truth and conscience lie in the hearts of men and women. When that dies, no Law, noCourt, and no Constitution, will save them”.

When I came here 30 years ago, I did not dream that a comment relevant to Sri Lanka will also apply equally well to Australia. What has been tried and convicted on August 8, 2007, is not just a couple in the closing years of their lives, but Australia, which is now on par with some of the more dreadful countries. Australia does not need to be there.


The Charge  
         
1) “Interference with protected Vegetation when the interference was not strictly in accordance with the permit issued by Council”.
        2) “Failing to comply with the Compliance Notice dated 11 November 2004 ”.
For good measure, it is a criminal prosecution. The implication and sly insinuation is that we are criminals. It is a shameful proposition. The Mayor might have a more user-friendly explanation. Whatever his convoluted explanation, on 20 September 2007, my wife and I will be asked to stand up, and be sentenced like any convicted criminal. Does that bother me?  Not half as much as it bothers me about the damage done to the good name and international standing of Australia, still struggling to put behind it the outrageous acquisition of Aboriginal land (with peanuts being paid as compensation) - Mabo or no Mabo. There is a particularly Australian phrase, “a fair go”. I doubt whether what has happened to us, with worse, much worse, to come,  is a shining example of this.

Charge 1. 
     
What was the ‘protected vegetation’? Some miserable gum-tree saplings (there are thousands on the land), which were making it impossible for us to access the lantana, a noxious weed, we were ordered to clear. As one of the expert witnesses, a legendary “fair-dinkum Aussie” observed during our trial, “Dr and Mrs Senewiratne were damned if they did, damned if they didn’t”. It was the decency and inherent fairness of people like him, which contrasted so strikingly with those who gave evidence against us, who had neither. Most of them were BCC employees and others with despicable vested interests.

As I have said, and I will say it again because of its importance, there could not have been any ‘protected vegetation’ since the area in question is our back garden which had been regularly mowed by me for years (till the BCC clamped a Vegetation Protection Order and then an Environmental Protection Order to devalue the land, in preparation for acquisition). So, whatever vegetation was there, and still is there, is secondary growth.

How much of this supposedly ‘protected vegetation’ did we clear? About 100 sq meters out of the  26,000 square meters which BCC is about to compulsorily and completely illegally, take from us. Why just 100 sq.m? Because that was all that was necessary for the clearing machine to access the lantana. So, all this fuss, this criminal charge, this terrible trauma, humiliation and expense, is about 100 sq m of insignificant secondary growth? Yes, it is. Unbelievable. Yes, unbelievable, in a so-called ‘civilized country’. I suggest that this  unbelievable action has more to do with intimidation and bullying than any sanctimonious concerns about the environment.
For a start, there is a mass of lantana growing on BCC property on the other side of our fence and virtually every BCC land in the area!

What were the ‘conditions of the permit’ which we failed to observe ‘in strict accordance’? It is hilarious. The BCC Permit was that a 10 metre firebreak be cleared all round the property and the area cleared be replanted and watered for a period of 2 years.  The ‘Environmental Experts’ in BCC do not seem to understand that a fire-break is to clear vegetation. Having cleared it, if it is replanted, it is an exercise in futility, as are most of the activities of  BCC.


The only source of water is our garden tap.  A measurement showed that a garden hose would have to run for 1.2 km to cover the entire periphery of the block.  The pressure generated would not be enough to move the water, let alone work sprinklers. If they did work, the area covered by each sprinkler is such that there would have had to be 1,200 sprinklers, probably more.

We would have had to use domestic water, since the creek that runs across the land is dry for most of the year. I remind you that we are on level 5 water-restriction which prohibits even the watering of your garden  The Magistrate made the point that there were no water restrictions at the time. That was absolutely correct, as one would expect from someone of his standing.  Did I hear someone say that Australia is a dry continent and a drought is always on the cards?.  So, whatever was planted would have died. We could, of course, have re-planted, re-re-planted and re-re-re-planted for 2 years (which BCC said we will have to do).

The entire suggestion was preposterous, and I wrote to the Council saying that the conditions on the Permit were unacceptable.
BCC responded by sending another Pest Control notice asking us to clear the lantana and other weeds, or face prosecution. Because of this, the drought, and the increasing fire hazard (we had already had a major fire  which  took our garden shed and very nearly our house and those of our neighbours for which we would have been liable), I decided to clear the lantana and other weeds, as well as the dead branches on the ground and some of the scrub, leaving the large trees, as requested by the Fire Officer.  I had to hire a machine with a long arm to do this as much of the lantana was growing on the other side of the creek.

In the subsequent Court Case against us, a Council worker (who boasted about her qualifications which was made much of in the judgment), said in evidence, that she had told me not to use a machine to clear the lantana. That was an absolute lie said in Court, under oath, and constitutes perjury. In most countries one would be locked up, here there was applause.

According to this BCC ‘expert’, waving her shining degrees, the only acceptable way of clearing lantana is to cut each stem and put a drop of poison on the cut stem in 15 seconds! I need hardly dwell on the absurdity of this – we are talking of  8 acres of land. I’d challenge her to go over several acres across which lantana had spread, cut each stem and put a drop of poison within 15 seconds. She would have been there for years, by which time the lantana, growing in profusion in the adjoining BCC property, would have come back to our land!

Charge 2
.
Lets leave the absurd and move on to the ridiculous - the Compliance Notice’ of 11 November 2004.
1. Cut down and remove 5 dead trees on the property
2. Remove all the dead branches and scrub that the machine had placed in a dry gully (which BCC could not distinguish from a creek)
3. Prepare the soil, mulch and replant the cleared  area of some 8,000 sq. metres with 4,200 trees, shrubs and ground cover (most of which had not existed there previously), space as specified, water and look after them for 2 years, replacing any dead plants.


It is of interest that the area we were asked to plant was land which the Council wished to acquire. Effectively, we were the ‘gardeners’ for the BCC. What I would dearly like to see is BCC planting 4,200 plants in this area, and watering them with water that is available only in their imagination. I doubt if I will have that pleasure.

We complied with 1) and 2) but not with 3) since it was physically impossible to do so. As I have said, the area they wanted replanted is too far away to be watered.  During the Court Case, a Council Officer said we could have hired a water bowser to come in and water the plants. This is yet another absurd suggestion since there are no roads in the land other than our driveway. There are certainly no roads where BCC wanted the plants put down.

This is the evidence, “beyond all reasonable doubt”, on which we were found guilty and convicted.  Incidentally, the property is jointly owned, but we are being charged and convicted, individually.
Presumably, each one will be sentenced individually. So if we get fined, say $20,000 (the fine imposed on us by BCC was $35,000 for clearing ‘protected vegetation’), it will be $20,000 x 2 = $40,000!!! In algebra we called it Q.E.D  quad erat demonstrandum. -  that which had to be demonstrated or, in this case,‘achieved’.

Now for the real agenda – acquiring our land
BCC had decided to  compulsorily  acquire 2.591 hectares of our land. What for? For “environmental  purposes”. Is that legal? Of course, not.
Lets look at the Law, check it yourself, it is on the net. In Queensland, freehold land is acquired under the Acquisition of Land Act 1967. Land can be compulsorily acquired for a essential road, hospital, school etc but not for a vague ‘Environmental purpose’. “Environmental purpose” is not identified  in the Acquisition of Land Act 1967. As such, the action is prima facie,  unlawful, ultra vires the power of Council.

Did we point this out to Council? We sure did, and at no small cost. And the response? Let me quote Doug Muir, the Acquisitions and Disposal Officer BCC, 6 July 2007, “This matter has again been considered by Council, which after due consideration of the objection……..,is still of the opinion that the land described is required, and has resolved to make an application to the Department of Natural Resources and Water for approval to the proposed resumption”. Amen.(the ‘Amen’ is mine).

Recently I was invited to meet the Shadow Health Minister to discuss restructuring the Health system. Also present was a prospective MP who happened to be a long-standing Councillor. I spilt out my tale of woe. With disarming honesty she said, “Council cannot compulsorily acquire your land for environmental purposes. Council simply does not have the power. I have been in Council for long enough to know that”.

The small matter of being ultra vires the power of Council does not bother BCC. As I have said, I had a letter from the appropriate BCC Officer that BCC had decided to ask the Minister of Natural Resources and Water to resume the land. Priya Thamoderam, Vice Chair of the Tamil Writer’s Guild, London, who has spent endless hours trying to stop this injustice, wrote a desperate appeal to the said Minister. The reply was that the Minister was in fact not the right person. The right person was the Minister of Local Government, Planning and Sport! So BCC had sent the acquisition request to the wrong Minister! The roars of laughter from Priyas’s office in London, were heard here. Metaphorically, I mean. To lay on  aninternational comedy show is not a recognised function of BCC.

The face behind the Agenda 
Of interest is a letter circulated by a ‘gentleman’ who has bought one of the houses adjoining us. He urges the others in the area to write to the Lord Mayor and their Councilor,  “It is in our interests as local residents (to have this land acquired)…….The alternative is a never ending threat to development on Doctor’s block and this one (that’s the next block)”.He goes on, ” … the increased cost of a subdivided block could go beyond what Council is prepared to pay.  We must beat this developer now and have the whole of both  blocks acquired and rehabilitated as conservation land”. The cat is very much out of the bag.

This gentleman is in for a shock. I had a very experienced property lawyer from Sydney  who told me what will happen (as has happened many times). Council will take this land from us, wait till the dust settles (and my death), change the current classification of the land from “Emerging Communities” to a more user-friendly one, block it up and sell it, making about a 500% profit. The reason, if reasons need be given, “People don’t have a place to live and it is the responsibility of a caring Council to address this humanitarian issue by releasing land” (as they offered to do for me in return for a gift (see below).

A problem
I am not sure how the Mayor is going to explain this one, but there is a (small) problem. I have a letter from the Kim Shields, BCC Asset Officer, Land Acquisition, dated 13/4/05 which states, “Council desires to secure an area comprising two hectares in area.  That area comprises all the land with the Environmental Protection Area designation.  The same area is covered by VPO (Vegetation Protection Order)  The valuation has been assessed on the basis that a 7,200 m2 lot could be developed but the remaining part of the 2.0 hectares would be provided to Council free of cost as a condition of the development”.

So, BCC is acquiring 2 hectares in an Environmental Protection Area (also covered by a Vegetation Protection Order)  but 7,200 sq metres of this so-called protected area can be developed provided I donate the rest to BCC free.   What BCC must explain is how an “environmentally protected area” become unprotected by the act of donating part of it to Council?  When I did not agree to this nonsense, 2.0 hectares suddenly became 2.591 hectares. The  extra 0.591 hectares is completely cleared land behind my house i.e. part of my back garden which has no “protected” vegetation (because I have mowed it for the past 30 years)  Come off it.  We are not stupid!

Post-acquisition  
The Mayor, in response to some very worried people  in this country and in many countries outside Australia says, “When acquired, this land will form part of an extensive land holding by Council in the area dedicated to preserving the natural bushland and wild life corridor” That had me in fits of laughter. In the middle of this “natural bushland” is a very unnatural quarry, a massive one at that, owned and run by…….. guess? Yes, BCC.


As for wild life running across our land, running where? The adjoining lands are fully developed with stacks of houses. Beyond that is the main road (Creek Road) with 4 lanes of traffic. I rather like the idea of animals racing from the forest into people’s homes, and then crossing Creek Road  to be knocked down by passing vehicles. Animals are not that stupid (Kamalini and I did a degree in Zoology before I did medicine).
The despicable strategy of BCC which I have set out, is a pathetic attempt to bully us, tarnish our image, portray us as criminals and irresponsible people who cannot be trusted to look after the environment, and even unfit to own land which must, in the public good, be taken away from them. When it is, it must be ensured that we are not in a position to defend ourselves by financially taking us to the wall on some trumped-up charge, so that we have no option but to accept whatever crumbs are thrown at us by BCC. It is a dreadful thing to do. It is a violation of basic civil rights which we must resist, and will.
Think about it. Council workers have lied to have people convicted on a criminal charge, denying them a fair trial and justice. Has Australia got down to that level? It must make us all sit up and worry.

Each time one has to defend one’s self from unjust, even illegal, acts exercised by a Government, an Institution or any other body, in a frank abuse  of power, the nearer one moves towards fascism. If we do not challenge this unfettered abuse of power, we become part of the problem. Compensation
 
The compensation for illegally stealing some 2.591 hectares of my land is laughable -. $430,000 for 2.0 hectares (it has since increased to 2.591 ha ie 26,000 sq m). A doctor who works at the local hospital has just bought a 700 sq m block down the road and paid  $750,000 i.e $1,000 a sq m. And what is BCC offering us for 26,000 sq m? I told you. Get your calculator out and see what ‘big time’ stealing is.

Actually BCC is not even offering that. If you look at Kim Shields’ letter, what it says is that we can get $430,000 for the land that BCC has kindly allowed us to develop. There is no monetary offer, as such, from BCC.

The Mayor has written to you that if I am not satisfied, I can go to the Land Court. And who will  pay for that? It will not be ourselves, because we have already been taken to the cleaners by the lantana case and our combined bank balance is in three figures.
.
When the Minister (once BCC gets the right one) signs the document, its all done bar the shouting. Most of my life’s ‘savings’ – what I hoped would enable me to stop seeing patients and do what I really want to do – to address the major human rights violations in a number of places, will be gone. In most countries they call this stealing, here they call it ‘Environment purposes’. Excuse me while I laugh.

The Mayor and Deputy Mayor must explain 
1.  The claim by the Mayor, sent to heaps of you, which states that the decision to acquire the land was subsequent to the Court Case. “   The decision to the compulsory acquisition of the Senewiratne property for environmental purposes was made independently of the prosecution some considerable time after the prosecution was well advanced”.  This is a half-truth. Remove the ‘compulsory’, and it becomes a blatant lie.   The decision to acquire the land, as informed by the letter from Council, was dated July  2002, the Court Case was filed in August 2005.  There is a strong possibility that whoever in BCC is putting out this falsehood is doing so to try and show that the intimidation of a Court Case and the attempt to take us to the financial wall, was not done to force us to accept whatever was on offer from Council for the land.



2.  The claim by the Mayor that we can go to the Land Court is equally absurd.  Having taken us to a serious depletion of our financial resources, where does he think we can find the money to pay for lawyers to appear for us in the Land Court?
3.  If environmental concerns are the reason for the acquisition of our property, can the Council explain
   
  a) How it is that a quarry right in the middle of a so-called environmentally sensitive area is still functioning. Obviously environmental sensitivity is applicable only to other people’s lands.
  b) How it is that lantana is growing freely on BCC property immediately adjacent to our land and in several other areas in Brisbane Clearly, BCC does not seem to practice what it preaches, or is it some special ‘protected’ noxious weed?.  The clear impression is that ordering us to clear the lantana and then charging us for doing so in a  manner unacceptable to Council, has an ulterior motive that has nothing to do with lantana but much to do with intimidation.
   c) How is it that if we were prepared to donate part of the 2 hectare bock that Council wanted, the rest of this ‘environmentally important’ area suddenly lost its importance and could be developed? Bribery of a sort (donation of land) seems to be the answer to ‘environmental concerns’. Is that BCC policy? If it is, rate-payers and the public have a right to know.          

BCC is doing well 
In his letter to you, the Mayor boasts that BCC has “an extensive landholding”. With land prices sky rocketing, that is very good (economic) news. I only hope that this was not acquired the same way that BCC is proposing to acquire my property.
A postscript in the letter of the Mayor to some of you says, “our credit rating remains a healthy AA+ and rate rises have been the lowest in 15 years”  Just as well, since with rate payers being taken to the wall, higher rates will not be payable by some, who, alas, now include me and my wife.

There is some confusion here. It is the same confusion that exists with the public hospitals. A hospital is not judged by its 5-star buildings, but on how it treats its patients. A Council is not judged by its AA rating, but how it treats its rate-payers. Where BCC is concerned, it is abysmally poor.

What happens next? 
Court Case
We will be Sentenced on 20 September 2007 in the Holland Park Magistrate’s Court by His Honour, Magistrate Arnold. We will be asked to stand and be sentenced like tow common criminals. My lawyers want me to plead in mitigation, saying that it is my first offence, what great things I have done in the field of Human Rights etc.  I will do no such thing. I am not going to say it is my ‘first offence’, which is an admission that I have committed an offence. I have not. As I said at the start of this document, I swear on almighty God that I did not clear protected vegetation. BCC does not have a scrap of evidence to prove that ‘protected vegetation’ was at the path I cleared to access the lantana and to reduce the fire hazard. I could not even do the latter because a BCC office, bright there by the neighbours, stopped me. Why should I say Ihat this is a ‘first offence’?


To get on my knees and grovel is not my style. I will leave the Court with my dignity intact. The nature of the Sentence is up to the Magistrate. I will not grovel to have this altered. What do I want to do?

Leave Australia. If Kamalini was not there, I’d leave the day after I am sentenced. Leave and go where? Anywhere, where people are treated better than I have been by BCC. I’d hand over the sale of my property and my house to my solicitor, ask him to deposit in my bank the peanuts he will get, less his charges,  and deal with the next victim. I see no reason to live in, or contribute in any way, to a fascist dictatorship where people in authority lie on oath, where people are convicted for offences they have not committed, and then
have their property acquired completely illegally. Why should I? I can make a contribution to one of a dozen countries where I will be treated better. It could be a country with a much lower ‘rating’,BCC can keep its gross injustices. And its AA+ rating.

What can you do? 
Or rather, what more can you do? Nothing, absolutely nothing.  Should you write more letters? To whom? And for what purpose? You will get the same reply, now firmly embedded in the hard-disk of the BCC computer, which a single stroke on the key board will ‘emit’. Save some poor clerk the bother.

I guess we still have the Media – the conduit to the last remaining “Court” – the ‘Court of Public Opinion.’ If ordinary decent people, those who vote in Counsellors, the Mayor, MPs, Ministers etc know  what is happening to others among them, there might be some action. BCC could, of course, tell the whole lot to go to hell, as they have done to the Acquisition of Land Act.
Do the  rest of the Councillors know all this? I do not know. Should they be informed of the injustice that has been done, with much more to follow? I do not know. Can they be contacted? Yes they can, their emails are on the BCC website. Are they decent people? I do not know, but I hope so.

Will God help? I do not know. You can try Him, I know from personal experience, this current problem excepted, that He can, and does. He can handle most things, BCC might be the exception. Do I still believe in God? Yes, I do, He (and public opinion) are all I have left in a world seeped in injustice. I will not allow a unjust, crooked, bullying, lying, and sinful organisation to get between me and my God. If I do, I will lose  much more than I have.

Do I regret coming to Australia?

I did have a wide choice of countries. So, do I regret the choice I made to come here as Associate Professor of Medicine and Visiting Physician? “Yes” and “No”. “Yes I do, because I have lost all, or nearly all”. “No I don’t because I have met some of the finest people on planet earth”.  Australia is a wonderful country, one of the finest I have lived in. On a rating from 0 -100, most of the people, the ordinary Aussies, are in the 80 -100 group, some, whom I count as friends,  are 110+. At the other end are a set of bastards, rating from 5-0, some -10.  Most are in BCC and the rest on the other side of my fence (and whom I had invited to use my pool and in return, gave very damaging and totally false evidence against me at the trial).

In choosing a country to live in, it is important to see how their citizens are treated. Some of thesecountries at the bottom of the economic ladder, in the so-called ‘Third World’, with an abysmally poor AA rating, whatever that might be, treat their citizens in a more just way. Had I been single, I would have moved to one of them tomorrow, telling BCC that they can have the bloody lot, as so many others, unable to fight any longer, have done Let me get back to where I stared – that piece I said in Geneva about Justice, fair-play, truth and conscience lying in the hearts of men and women and that when that dies, no Law, no Court, and no Constitution will save the citizens.  Australia is not yet a Republic and should sing “God save our Gracious Queen”. We can replace this with “God save our gracious people, from the likes of those in BCC”.

Brian Senewiratne      30 August 2007  

BCC Quarry in 'protected area'                     My land BCC
                                                                               want nearly 2/3
           

The rubbish we cleared(100sq m)
to access Lantana at the back

                                                                                

Lantana flourishing on BCC land

                                                                                     

                                                                                           

Senchcholai bombing- the legal dimension

Today is the first anniversary of the outrageous bombing of Senchcholai by the Sri
Lankan Air Force. There are certain specific features of this massacre which sets it apart
from all the other atrocities committed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). In
addition to being a humanitarian outrage, there is  a legal dimension which demands
international action.
1.  It is one of the few acts admitted to by the GOSL After an initial denial, the GOSL
freely admitted to the bombing, and even claimed it was ‘precise and well
targeted’.
2. There were credible international observers on the spot who documented that the
claim by the GOSL (that those bombed were ‘terrorists undergoing military
training’) was untrue.  
3. The victims were all females entering their reproductive age, which raises the
question of genocide.
4. The victims were the best students from several  schools in the area. They were
potential leaders of society. It is the potential leaders, be they Tamil Members
of Parliament or school children, who are being taken out by the Sinhala
regime.
5. They were reaching a level in their education which would have enabled them to gain
employment and support their family. It was not just the children who were
blasted, but the entire family an extended family.
6. Humanitarian Law (The Law of Armed Conflict,  jus in bello) was breached, indeed
flouted, by the GOSL. The GOSL can, and should, be  charged in an
international court, and the families compensated for violating Humanitarian
Law..

The bombing
This has been extensively documented by many people, myself included. Only a
synopsis is needed here.
On Monday,14 August 2006, when some 400 female students in GCE (O level) and
GCE (A Level) classes from different schools in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi had gathered
in the Senchcholai orphanage for a 10-day seminar on first-aid instruction and
leadership skills, the Sri Lankan Air Force dropped 16 bombs, killing some 61 children
and 4 staff members, and injuring 130, some seriously.
 The Sri Lankan Government claims.
The Sri Lankan military immediately denied responsibility for the crime. The Defence
establishment admitted to Reuters that the Air Force had attacked “LTTE-held territory in
Mullaitivu”, but refused to give details of the targets. With  mounting international
concerns, Group Captain Ajantha Silva told Associated Press that the military had proof
that this place was an LTTE base.  Getting entangled in a web of lies, the Defence Ministry denied that the Air Force had
attacked civilian targets, “The Sri Lankan Air Force bombed pre-identified LTTE gun
positions and LTTE camps in the Mullaitivu area this morning, Monday August 14”,
adding,  “Air Force personnel confirmed that the bombings were precise and well
targeted”
1
.

Confronted with incontrovertible evidence of a slaughter, a spokesman for the GOSL,
Chandrapala Liyanage, told AFP, “It is a lie to say that schoolchildren were targeted. The
Air Force bombed a LTTE training centre. We don’t know if they moved child soldiers
there.”
Moving from ‘small liars’ to ‘big liars’ who can face prosecution, Keheliya Rambukwella,
an Australian citizen, who is the Sri Lankan Government Defence Spokesman and a
Minister in President Rajapakse’s government, stated at a press conference in Colombo
(Tuesday 15 August 2006), that the ‘former’ orphanage had been used as an LTTE
training camp, and  that “children trained there had been involved in recent attacks on
the Sri Lankan armed forces at Muhamalai over last weekend”.
Brigadier Athula Jayawardena, a military spokesman, told the media, “…the camp that
was hit is a jungle area with a firing range.” He said that the military had monitored the
area for years and had only attacked the site after weeks of gathering intelligence,
including from spies, and analyzing the target. carried away by his enthusiasm, the
Brigadier admitted that the military had been planning this attack for weeks, if not longer.
Neither the Minister nor the Brigadier thought it necessary to offer the slightest proof for
their claims.

As for the daggering statements issued by both UNICEF and the Nordic Sri Lanka
Monitoring Mission (SLMM), (see below), the Brigadier thought it unnecessary to
address this. The Minister, however, did. He said that if the SLMM and UNICEF had any
doubts, the government would take them to the area. The government did not need to
take these people to the area, they  had already been there, and given their verdict.
The Minister issued some worrying threats, laying the foundations for further attacks. He
said, “Once trained with arms one cannot count them as normal children. If a child
comes with a gun to shoot a soldier you cannot expect them to stand there and hug him.
At a time like this we cannot look at their age but instead what they are aiming to do”.
No, the children do not need to be hugged. If they ‘come with a gun’, they should be
arrested. To claim that a professional soldier is unable to arrest a schoolgirl, is
unacceptable.
Even if the bombed area was a Tamil Tiger weapons training facility (which it was not),
the bombing was still completely illegal since the victims were unarmed.
I
                                             
1
 I guess that was true. It was very well targeted in that it killed 51 children on the spot! International observers
UNICEF, which has an office nearby, was on the spot in minutes. The following day,
UNICEF representative, Joanna van Gerten, told the Media, “At this time, we don’t have
any evidence they are LTTE cadres”.
The Swedish Head of the SLMM, Major General Ulf Henricsson and his team arrived at
11 am, made their observations, and spoke to eye-witnesses. Major Henricksson,
appearing on Sisira TV in Colombo, said,  “We couldn’t find any sign of military
installations or weapons. This was not a military installation; we can see (that).”  He said
he had seen the bodies of children when he visited the scene on the day of the bombing,
and saw no LTTE camps in the area. In an interview given to The Nation on 20 August
2006, Henricsson said,  “I think we counted 12 bombs which was confirmed. They
were mostly fragmentation bombs which explode in the air and spread out a lot of
pellets or fragments”

UN spokeswoman Orla Clinton told the media,  “What we know at the moment is that
these seem to have been students between 16 and 18, A-level students, from the
Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu areas, who were on a training course in first-aid”.
Comments by (a few) concerned Sinhalese.
Journalist Vilani Peiris, a Sinhalese like myself, reporting from Colombo, said,
“Stripped to its bare bones, Rambukwella’s argument runs as follows: the LTTE trains
child soldiers, the orphanage contained children, therefore it was a legitimate target. In
other words, the entire population - children, as well as men and women - is being
treated as the enemy.

It is the same logic as employed by the Israeli government to justify its war crimes in
southern Lebanon. On the basis of destroying “Hezbollah infrastructure”, the military
levelled villages, towns and cities, killing hundreds of civilians. After bombing the town of
Qana, killing at least 28 people including children, Israeli authorities continued to
maintain that the building was used by Hezbollah to fire rockets, despite all evidence to
the contrary (produced) by journalists and aid workers.”
He ended his outstanding article with,  “No one in the Colombo political and media
establishment has called the Mullaitivu bombing by its right name: a war crime for which
those responsible in the government and the military should be charged and
prosecuted”.
A war in Sri Lanka
If the full significance of Senchcholai is to be appreciated, it mist be looked at in the
context in which it has occurred.
As I have detailed in all the updated and expanded DVDs I have recorded on the Sri
Lankan conflict, it is crucial to appreciate that what is going on in Sri Lanka is a War. It is
a  war of national liberation of the Tamil people in the  defence of their right of selfdetermination. Let us look at the component parts of this statement.
Self-determination
Self-determination is the collective right of a people to freely determine their own political
status, and to pursue economic, social and cultural development. It is a fundamental
right enshrined in the UN Constitution and in all major human rights Constitutions that
have followed.
To qualify for self-determination, there must be

1. A history of Independence or self-rule, in identifiable territory
 2. A distinct culture
 3  A will and capability to regain self-governance.
The Tamil people have all of these. They have a history of self-rule in the North in an
identifiable territory, (the Jaffna Kingdom), which functioned from the 13th– 17th century,
perhaps longer. They have a distinct Tamil culture. They most certainly have the will to
regain self-governance, as evidenced by the 1977 General Election where there was
overwhelming support from the people in the North and East, for a separate State, Tamil
Eelam. There is the capability to do so, as evidenced the establishment of a de-facto
State of Tamil Eelam comprising 4 large districts in the North – the Wanni.
 In achieving  self-determination, there is a well-recognised path. First, peaceful
negotiations. The Tamils have a very long history of peaceful negotiations with the
Sinhala political leadership over some 50 years.

If these peaceful negotiations fail, then the next  step is a liberation struggle. The UN
Declaration of Human Rights, signed by Sri Lanka in 1948, recognises this right. Let me
quote from the Preamble:
“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort,
to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by
the rule of law”.
The human rights of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka have not been protected by the ‘Rule
of Law’ since 1956. The ‘Law’ (Constitution) has been deliberately and systematically
altered to enable discrimination against the Tamil  people (the Sinhala Only Act,
Standardisation of University Entrance Marks, the omission of Section 29 of the
Soulbury Constitution (specifically inserted to protect minorities in the Independence
Constitution under which Sri Lanka got Independence) from the 1972 Constitution, the 6th
 Amendment to the Constitution which violated the rights of the Tamils in the North
and East to be represented in Parliament, and more.

This has resulted in tyranny and oppression of the  Tamil people which, in turn, has
resulted in ‘rebellion’ of the Tamils in the North and East. This ‘rebellion’ is the ‘liberation
struggle’.
 A ‘liberation struggle’ becomes ‘war’, when the criteria of war are met. A ‘war’ is an
action carried out by military forces, utilising the methods and material of war, to defeat
by military means, the military forces of the opponents (enemy). This is what has been going on in Sri Lanka for more than a two decades. The conflict is
between the military forces of the Sri Lankan Government and the military forces of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, Tamil Tigers). The methods employed are
those of a war. The material used (AK47, Kfir jet bombers, multi-barrel rocket launchers,
helicopter gunships), are those that are used in war. In other words, if it looks like a war,
and sounds like a war, it is a war. There is no denying that this is what has been going
on in Sri Lanka for more than two decades.
If ‘war’ is what is going on, then Humanitarian Law (also called the Laws and Customs of
War, Law of Armed Conflict, or the Latin words jus in bello), must apply.  
.
Humanitarian Law has two Sections
1. Governing the conduct of combatants i.e what they can and cannot do - the
Hague Law, based on the Hague Convention of 1899 and 1907
2. The treatment of persons affected by the war - the Geneva Law, based on the
Geneva Conventio of 1964.
A ‘Declaration of War’ is unnecessary for there to be a ‘War’. For example, in the USViet Nam War, there was never a formal declaration of War, but a very real War took
place.. Many countries deny a war is taking place for at least three reasons. Firstly,
admission of ‘War” means that Humanitarian Law applies, and that restricts what can
and cannot be done. Secondly, many donor countries  restrict foreign aid to parties
engaged in War. Thirdly, in a war situation, damage to property is not covered by
insurance.

The result is that the terms “Terrorism” and “Counter-Terrorism” are used, rather than
what it should be called - “War”.
If ‘War’ is what is going on in Sri Lanka (and it most certainly is), the bombing of schools,
hospitals, refugee camps, orphanages etc is not only a violation of human rights but is,
in terms of Humanitarian Law, illegal. If it is ‘illegal’ the responsible party can, and must,
be prosecuted, as Vilani Peiris, the Sinhalese journalist, stated.
I might add that if ‘war’ is what is taking place, the combatants have ‘combatant-status’.
To label one of the ‘combatants’ and call them ‘terrorists’ is not only unproductive (since
one cannot negotiate with ‘terrorists’), it contravenes Humanitarian Law i.e it is illegal.
These fundamental points must be appreciated when evaluating what is going on in Sri
Lanka, if rational decisions and actions are to be taken.

 Senchcholai bombing
There is not the slightest doubt that the deliberate, targetted bombing (admitted to by the
GOSL), of unarmed civilians in Senchcholai, documented to be unarmed by credible
people from the international community (SLMM, UNICEF etc), is a war crime for which
the GOSL must be prosecuted. Simply crying out that it is an outrage (which it is) is not
good enough. The prosecution and conviction of the  criminals responsible and the
payment of compensation to the victims and their families is essential. This is the
responsibility of the International community. Genocide
Genocide is defined by the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide , as an act committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Genocide has nothing to do with numbers
killed, it is the intention and the act(s) to achieve this intention that are important in
defining Genocide.
Here is evidence. The number of Tamil Children killed before the recent fighting have
been,
• under the age of 5 years, 365,
•  6-10 years, 494,
• 11-17 years, a staggering 4,094.
..   To these can be added those killed in Senchcholai and in many of massacres that have
occurred after President Rajapakse came into power.
Why would they want to kill children? The answer is ‘ Genocide’

Methods of achieving Genocide.
There are several  ways to achieve genocide. One can murder them in large  or small
numbers, as has been  occurring in the Tamil areas for two decades. One could starve
them - by blocking the A9 Highway, the only land access to the Jaffna Peninsula with
some 600,000 civilians, 150,000 of them children. One could block the  survival-activities
of the population by bombing fishing villages and boats, banning fishing, and imposing
serious constraints on agriculture by declaring some of the most fertile areas of Jaffna as
‘High Security Zones’, blocking the supply of fertilizer and agricultural equipment and
imposing endless curfews which prevent the population from leaving their homes. One
could  bomb and shell markets, businesses, homes and hospitals, and prevent  essential
medicines from reaching the people. The GOSL has done all of these (and much more)
to make sure that the Tamil people in the North and East do not survive. Once the
intention is there to commit genocide, the methods that can be adopted to achieve the
desired goal are endless

Different types of genocide.
In addition to ‘conventional Genocide’, one must recognise ‘Educational genocide’,
‘Cultural genocide’,  and  ‘Economic genocide’. These I define as  ‘the intention, backed
by the act, of “destroying in whole or part the education, culture or economy of a
national, ethnic, racial or geographic group”. The GOSL is guilty of all of these
If the charge is Genocide in all its different forms, the bombing of Senchcholai is
powerful evidence for the prosecution. This one act has features of ‘conventional’
genocide, educational genocide, cultural genocide,  and economic genocide (the girls
were of an age capable of becoming the bread-winner of the family). It is also significant
that the girls were entering the child-bearing age.Action

If Genocide of the Tamil people is what is going on in Sri Lanka, those responsible must
be charged. The post-World War2 trials have shown that it is not just the person
committing the act who has to be charged. The entire ‘line of command’, all the way to
the very top can, and should be charged. It is up to the international community to take
the necessary steps to bring those responsible to justice and, what is equally important,
to compensate the families who have lost so much.
It is of critical importance to appreciate that it  is only by prosecuting those who are
responsible for these acts that would introduce some degree of accountability to a
situation where none exists. If we take no action, we become part of the problem, rather
than part of the solution.
 
Brian Senewiratne                                                Brisbane Australia      14 August 2007

The outrageous harassment of Dr Brian Senewiratne- By Daniel David

I am drawing the attention of the international Tamil community to the outrageous harassment of Dr Brian Senewiratne by the Brisbane City Council (BCC). It  could result in Dr Senewiratne dropping out of the struggle of the Tamil people, and getting back to full-time Medicine. Should this happen, the loss to Tamil struggle for justice will be serious.
The problem is that the BCC has decided to acquire  Dr Senewiratne’s land and pay peanuts as compensation. As a ‘softening up’ process, he (75) and his wife (73) have been charged for clearing lantana (a noxious weed) – which, incidentally, the BCC ordered him to clear, and then charged him for clearing it in a manner unacceptable to Council! BCC filed a criminal charge, yes, believe it or not, a criminal charge, for allegedly damaging ‘precious vegetation’ (growing on his land, mind you). Lawyers appearing for the BCC advised Dr Senewiratne and his wife to lead “Guilty”, adding that BCC had $1.5 billion (of rate-payer’s money) to fight the case if he chose to do otherwise. Dr and Mrs Senewiratne rightly refused to plead‘Guilty’ and went ahead defending themselves. Their legal charges have now amounted to quarter of amillion dollars and this is likely to increase, since the BCC has said that if the judgement goes against them,they will appeal. The cost of defending a case in the Appeal Court is $35,000 a day. The costs so far have taken Dr and Mrs Senewiratne to the financial wall. It has wiped their bank balances and savings and are now eating into their superannuation.

The real agenda of the BCC has now surfaced. Last month Dr Senewiratne  had an acquisition notice for two thirds of his property, estimated at several million dollars for which a compensation offer of $430,000 has been made. Once the legal bills from the spurious “lantana’ charge are met, that will leave nothing.
As any decent person will agree, this is not just an injustice, but an outrageous act of frank robbery.  I am appealing to the expatriate Tamil community to lodge an immediate protest to the Mayor, and Deputy Mayor of the Brisbane City Council, the Premier of Queensland, and the Leader and Deputy Leader of theOpposition. Action is urgent since Dr Senewiratne is about to lose most of his property which will result in the Tamils losing his invaluable services.

My contact with Dr Senewiratne 
Dr Senewiratne has been my treating doctor for three decades. I am now on permanent dialysis for kidney failure complicating diabetes. I know exactly what has happened with his land since I have lived in this area for nearly 50 years.
I was one of Dr Senewiratne first patients when he  arrived in Brisbane, Australia in 1976 and have continued to be treated by him. He arrived in Brisbane with just $35, all he was allowed to take out of Sri Lanka. He was then a full-time Physician and Associate Professor in Medicine in the University of Queensland. His salary was a mere $19,000 a year, which, even at that time, was a paltry sum of money.Unable to afford the school-fees for his two children, he literally worked day and night (treatingpublic
patients and teaching medical students and young doctors from 7am to 5pm, and then seeing private patients from 6pm to midnight).
He has made a major contribution not only to patient care and the training of young doctors, but has addressed the significant problems in the health service in Queensland.  In recognition of the latter, he was nominated by The Queensland Whistleblower’s Action Group as  “The Whistleblower of the Year” in 1995, for exposing the chaos in the Public Hospitals in Brisbane.

His tireless activity in the area human rights abuse in Sri Lanka over the past 40 years is too well known to require elaboration. Last year (2006) he was publicly recognised and awarded plaques of appreciation by expatriate Tamils in New York, Toronto and Brisbane.


The land
Arriving with just $35, his wife and two children,  he managed to make ends meet by sheer hard work. Taking a bank loan in 1978, he bought 10 acres (4.7 HA) of land which was essentially a dump in which people had dumped old cars, car parts, refrigerators, and refuse. Buying a rider-mower, he physically cleaned up the place, and got a house built on the land.  The land adjoins a forest owned by the BCC, a large part of which was being quarried by BCC (Pine Mt Rd quarry). The explosions were so severe that to build a house on this land was a significant risk.
As the explosions eased off and with land prices in the area rocketing up, people started moving into the area. Some of them had ‘connections’ with BCC, and fancied having an unbuilt area adjacent to them.
  Devaluation 
Then started a systematic program to devalue the land so that when ‘acquisition-time’ came, the compensation payable would be negligible.
The first round in this despicable plan was fired in 1992 when Dr Senewiratne received a notice from BCC that a ‘vegetation protection order’ was being imposed on half his land. The hypocrisy beggars belief. Here is a Council so concerned about protecting the environment to impose a restriction on clearing vegetation on private property, but not concerned enough to stop quarrying a huge area in the middle of the adjacent land, the Whites Hill Forest Reserve, (which continues to this day!)
The ‘vegetation protection order’ was accompanied by a reassuring letter from the then Mayor saying, “It will not prevent you from developing this land”.
The next round was in 2000 when the ‘vegetation protection order’ was changed to an ‘environment protection order’. There was now a restriction of what could even be mowed.
The land which, up to that point, had been kept in a good condition with the undergrowth cleared, could not be mowed or cleared. The result was that lantana and other weeds took over.
Then came a series of notices from BCC that ‘noxious weeds’ including lantana, were growing on the land and that this was an offence. Would Dr Senewiratne clear the weeds or face prosecution.

Aside from weeds taking over the land, the uncleared vegetation constituted a serious fire hazard. A fire did occur on the land, burning a shed with hundreds of patients notes stored in it. Some of my early records which documented my diabetes and kidney damage dating back to 1976 were destroyed in the fire.  The fire would have also taken his house, had not the fire brigade arrived with the fire just meters away from the house. The Fire Officer declared that what existed was an unacceptable fire hazard and should another fire occur, and the wind was blowing from the North, nothing could be saved, especially since there was no accessible water.
Dr Senewiratne applied to BCC for permission to clear the undergrowth and lantana, as suggested by the Fire Service and ordered by BCC.  BCC responded with a permit to clear the lantana and a firebreak.

He went ahead and started clearing the lantana and undergrowth if only to prevent a major fire wiping out his house and those of his neighbours whose homes abut the whole length of the eastern side of his land.
A few hours into the clearing, a BCC officer arrived and declared that damage was being done to “sensitive native vegetation”, and would he stop the clearing immediately (which he did).

He was then issued with a ‘Compliance Notice’ which requested him to cut down 5 dead trees on the land, remove the cleared vegetation from a dry gully and  replant the cleared area with some 4,200 plants (specified by the Council and most of which had never existed on the property), water and look after them for 2 years and replace any dead plants. BCC said that the cost of the plants would be $4,200. However, when a local nursery was contacted, the cost was estimated at $50,000.


That aside, there was no water in the area and simply no way that the plants could be watered. During the Court Case, one of the Council officers giving evidence, said that Dr Senewiratne could have paid for  a water tanker to come in to water the plants! This was in a land of 10 acres with no roads.
Dr Senewiratne cut and removed the dead trees and cleared the gully (as ordered to), but did not do any planting, since it was an absurd request.

The next was a charge sheet. a criminal case, yes, a criminal case, filed by BCC for damaging vegetation and not replanting as requested. BCC’s so-called ‘experts’ say that what Dr Senewiratne should have done was to cut each Lantana twig and put a drop of poison on the cut stem within 15 seconds! They are talking about a 10 acre property! If that is not absurd, I do not know what is.

As I have said, the case, which is currently being heard, has literally taken Dr Senewiratne to the financial wall and an Appeal is certain if Council does not win
Some weeks ago, the final act was played out. A notice was sent from BCC that two thirds of the land was being acquired.   Acquired for what? For protection of the environment – but BCC continues to operate a huge quarry in the adjoining property.
The land adjoining Dr Senewiratne’s on the other side, has been fully developed with scores of houses. There is no way animals, (even if they were there – which they are not), could traverse his land since there is nowhere they can go, the adjoining land being, as I have said, a fully built up residential area. So the ‘wild-life’ protection canard of BCC is nonsense. So are the supposed ‘environmental concerns’. All of this is  sheer bluff and nonsense. The hidden agenda however, is very real.

Compensation
The compensation offered is laughable. BCC are about to acquire 2.7HA (27,000 square metres) of land. One building block of 500 square metres in this prime residential area currently costs about $350,000. A simple bit of arithmetic will indicate the potential value of the land. And what is BCC’s offer? A generous $430,000 for the lot! They say that they will get an “independent” valuer appointed by the Council (!) to value the land.  If that is not robbery, I don’t know what it is.

Intention
Dr Senewiratne has for years told me that his intention was to sell this land when he reached 70, stopseeing patients and devote his entire energy to what he has wanted to do for the past 3 decades – to campaign for justice in Sri Lanka.  Brisbane City Council has seen to it that that is a pipe dream.
What we are looking at here is a serious injustice done to someone who has played, and continues to play, a major role in addressing the escalating violation of human rights in Sri Lanka.
If we do not act and  Dr Senewiratne has to get back to full-time Medicine (which he will have to do, if  only to pay the lawyers, the Tamil community will lose a very powerful and effective lobbyist.
This acquisition must be stopped or Dr.Senewiratne compensated on the current property values (not on the
intentionally devalued price).
The alternative is for BCC to give Dr Senewiratne a land of the same size in another part of Brisbane (BCC owns thousands of acres in this area), in what is generally known a ‘land-swap’. Simply to take his land and pay peanuts as compensation, is just not acceptable.
Aboriginal Australians can testify to the grabbing  of their land and the payment of peanuts as ‘compensation’. This has gone on for 200 years and  has brought Australia international discredit. It is outrageous that this despicable activity still goes on and is now affecting others, as is seen from what has happened to Dr Senewiratne. It is a land-grab -  nothing less than stealing. It should not occur in a country such as Australia, and if it does, it is up to Australians and the rest of the world to see that those responsible for this outrageous behaviour do not get away with it.

A Land swap
To be realistic, BCC will never pay Dr Senewiratne  what this land is really worth. As such, the  only alternative is for him to be given an equivalent piece of land in the area, in exchange. Having lived in the area for 50 years, I know full well that BCC owns hundreds of acres on land in the vicinity. Much of this is scrub with lantana and other weeds growing in the unkempt land. All of this cannot be contain “protected” vegetation and an attempt by BCC to claim that it does is simply not acceptable.

Action
If you would like to act, write to the Mayor, Cr Campbell Newman and the Deputy Mayor, Cr David Hinchcliffe, expressing your sense of outrage at this serious injustice.
Brisbane City Council does come under the Queensland Government. As such, it is appropriate to also write to the Premier of Queensland, Hon Peter Beattie, and  the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Hon Jeff Seeney and Hon Dr Bruce Flegg, all of whom know Dr Senewiratne, and who may well be unaware of this gross injustice done to him by BCC.

To write to the Media is most important. Some of the TV Channels have recently expressed serious concern at the injustices committed by BCC, and are prepared to give this sort of totally unacceptable behaviour by petty bureaucrats, the necessary publicity. Several of the journalists listed below know Dr Senewiratne as one of the few outspoken doctors on the state of the Health service. I doubt if any of them know what he is being subjected to by bureaucrats with a despicable agenda in the BCC. If they did, they will most surely act. I give below, their addresses
I hope you will contact as many of them as possible, and express your concern at what is going on and urge
that they act to prevent a serious injustice. An international protest could well make a difference to stop this outrage.
Daniel David
Brisbane
Australia                                                                                                                      30 June 2007


Here are the addresses
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Writing to them is essential.
Mayor.    Cr.Campbell Newman

 email    LORDMAYOR@brisbane.qld.gov.au
 Address  GPO Box 1434
     Brisbane
     Australia 4001
Deputy Mayor.  Cr  David Hinchcliffe
  email   central.ward@ecn.net.au


Address Shop 11, 31 Duncan Street,  Fortitude Valley,
               Australia 4006
The Premier and Opposition
Hon Peter Beattie MP
Premier of Queensland   ( who has known Dr Senewiratne for years)
Level 15 Executive Bldg,   100 George St, Brisbane, Australia 4000
                                  email   premiers@ministerial.qld.gov.au
Hon Jeff Seeney, MP  Leader of the Opposition, Queensland Parliament
                     Level 6, Parliamentary Annexe, Alice St, Brisbane, Australia 4000                      
                                         e-mail:   leader@opposition.qld.gov.au
Hon Dr Bruce Flegg, MP     Deputy Leader of the Queensland Opposition (who knows Dr                        
Senewiratne  very well).
                                      18 Brookfield Rd, Kenmore Australia 4069
                                           email:   moggill@parliament.qld.gov.au
 Media
Tracy Grimshaw –  Channel 9.  She hosts “A Current Affair”
         She is a much-respected journalist who has repeatedly asked to be informed of    
injustices such as is happening here.
               
           Channel 9,  Sir Samuel Griffith Drive, Mt Coot-tha, Australia 4066
                     email: aca@nine.com.au  
Ross Coulthart – Channel 9 Sunday program. He has known Dr Senewiratne for many years and
has hosted programs with him. He will be shocked to hear what is going on.
                     
                       POBox 27, Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia 2068
                            email: rcoulthart@nine.com.au
 Network's A Curr               ent Affair and is
David McEvoy – Channel 7. Director of Today Tonight  Current Affairs program            
                               Channel 7, Sir Samuel Griffith Drive, Mt Coot-tha, Australia 4066
                                                email:   DAVID_MCEVOY@btqpo.ccmail.compuserve.com
Cathy Border - Channel 10 (who knows Dr Senewiratne very well. He has often appeared  on her              
Channel re. issues on Public Hospitals.)
                               
                           Channel 10, Sir Samuel Griffith Drive, Mt Coot-tha, Australia 4066
                                                       email:  cborder@networkten.com.au
 
Kerry O’Brien  Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC TV), 7.30 Report
                         He is  a multi-award winning journalist
                            ABC,  GPO Box 9994,  Sydney Australia 2001

Concerning Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury & his Comments about Sri Lanka's 'surgical military action'

 "If the physical assault on our people in the North and East is not enough, we now have to put up with the support given to the brutal regime in Colombo from the Head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. He just ‘dropped in’ or, to use his words ‘making a passing visit”. Speaking with the Press, and describing what the GOSL is doing, this is what he said,

“It is undoubtedly inevitable that what you might call surgical military action against terrorism should take place”.

Did he actually say this? I had several emails to say that he did not, and that what he did say was twisted by the Media. These emails included one from a senior Tamil, yes Tamil, Anglican clergyman. What these and other apologists were not aware of was that I actually heard the Archbishop over the BBC Sinhala service.How do I know it was him? Well, I have attended a Service in Westminster Abbey and have heard him speak. I know his voice and his accent. There is no place for doubt nor a place to mount a cover-up operation.

I decided to let my blood pressure settle and also give the Archbishop time to apologise to the Tamil and Muslim people in the North and East. It is now 10 days. With no apology coming from the Archbishop, I decided to write him a letter. I felt that a Sinhalese, and an Anglican Christian, had to do this. I knew full well that a Hindu was unlikely to do so, and for a Tamil to do so would have been less effective.


The Archbishop says he ‘dropped in’ to see how the Church is coping. Well, he will not find his Church in the Dalada Maligawa which is where the Mahanayake of Asgiriya lives, or at Temple Trees which is where the President lives. He will not find his Church in amiable conversation with the likes of Douglas Devanada. He will find his battered Church, or what is left of it, in Kayts, Mannar and Jaffna, which he carefully avoided. This is hypocrisy. If it from the Head of the Anglican Church it makes no difference. It still is hypocrisy. 


What I am urging you to do is to write to the Archbishop and tell him what you think of his irresponsible, inflammatory and thoroughly unacceptable statement. My letter to him has his address which, in any case, you can get from the net.


There are one million expatriate Sri Lankan Tamils scattered all over the world. Even if 20% of them are Christians, it is still an awful lot of people. If a couple of thousand letters arrive on the Archbishop’s table, it will, or might, may a difference. This is what Amnesty International has taught us i.e that when thousands of letters arrive on even a tin-pot dictator’s desk, it can make him sit up and think. A couple of thousand protests arriving on the table of a person holding high office, but is completely ignorant, has no idea what he is talking about, and is giving tacit support to one of the most brutal regimes to rule Sri Lanka, might make a difference.


The Archbishop says that he has been called “The comic vicar of the nation”. I have no problem with that. If Britain wants a ‘comic vicar’, it is not my problem. However, to export him to make inflammatory statements which a brutal regime might use, indeed WILL use, to pursue its murderous assault on its people, is completely unacceptable.


I have just had an email from a shocked Tamil clergyman in Jaffna that a statement is expected from the Archbishop’s office in London and that once it comes out, Duleep de Chickera, the Colombo Bishop, will issue a statement. I don’t think these guys realise the damage done. A ‘Statement’ is not what is needed. What is needed is an unqualified apology to the Tamil and Muslim people in the North and East, and a clear denunciation of what the President and his Army are doing to our people.


The indisputable impression is that where the Tamil struggle for justice is concerned, whether one wears a yellow robe or a white robe is of little importance. The sentiments expressed by the wearer are the same.


Will those who know what is happening to our people in the North and East, please take the trouble to send this person a letter of protest? It is the least that we can do for our people who live in this devastated area, facing indescribable problems.


There is no reason why the writer must be a Christian. He/she can be Hindus, Islamist, Buddhist or half-Buddhists such as myself, or those who believe in nothing. It is a protest about a thoroughly irresponsible and inflammatory ‘call to war’ by someone who does not know what the heck he is talking about and, despite his claims to the contrary, cares even less.


In my letter to him I have enclosed my letter to his Prime Minister which I wrote last year, my letter to him in June 2006, and the outstanding analysis of Brad Adams, the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, which he sent the Pope when he heard that Rajapakse was going to Rome. I am not enclosing these here but will be glad to send them to anyone if they have problems in getting them. I will also be glad to send you the recording from the BBC broadcast if it disappears from the net.


A number of people have asked me to send the Archbishop my recent DVD on the suffering of the Tamil people. I have sent not one but all four! Will they be watched? Probably not. He is too busy praying or doing what Archbishops do. That was what I was told last year when I flew to London to apprise him of the serious human rights violations that were occurring. When I was told that he as too busy, I suggested that they appoint two Archbishops, one to pray, and the other to listen to the problems facing his flock.


There is one more thing the expat Tamils, especially the Church-going ones can do. This is to get my letter to their local Church and say, “This is what our Archbishop has done, and this is the response of a Sinhalese Christian. What are you going to do? If nothing, may I know why?”


We have no power to prevent the Archbishop from making irresponsible statements which puts the lives of thousands of innocent people on the line, but we have the power to protest. Protest we must, and will. I urge you to join me.


Brian Senewiratne                                                                             Australia