The former chief cricket writer for Australia’s The Age newspaper Trevor Grant has slammed leading Sri Lankan cricket player Kumar Sangakkara for his continued efforts to paint Sri Lanka as a ‘haven of peace and tranquility’.

See below for selected extracts of his article ‘Sangakkara, batsman and propagandist extraordinaire’.

Leading Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara is currently in Australia to play cricket but he also appears to be auditioning for a job in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s propaganda unit.

As he did on the England tour last year, Sangakkara takes every opportunity in Australia to suggest that his homeland has become a haven of peace and tranquility.

He did so again this week when sending a message to the protesters who plan to gather at the MCG on Boxing Day, calling for an Australian cricket boycott on future tours and matches against Sri Lanka.

“It is interesting that Jayasekara is being put forward as the Sri Lankan representative in Australia to defend the indefensible, an acknowledgement that the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Thisara Samarasinghe, has singularly failed to get his message across.”

”Australians are quite used to weighing the facts, they saw through the propaganda of the South African apartheid regime, the lies over East Timor and weapons of mass destruction and it is only a matter of time before the truth will out on the treatment of Tamils and the political enemies of the corrupt Rajapaksa regime.”

Bruce Haigh, a former Australian diplomat who served in Sri Lanka and a member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, has written, slamming Australia for being complicit in the genocide of Tamils and called for the country to cut sporting ties with the country.

His comments come as the Sri Lankan cricket team begin their tour of Australia. 

Extracts have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.

"Who would have thought that in 17 years, Australia could have gone from being a leading champion in the global fight to end the racial discrimination of apartheid to siding with the corrupt and venal government of Sri Lanka in the genocide of Tamils."

"Australia has become complicit in the genocide of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. Asylum seekers that arrive in Australia are being given no opportunity to make a statement of claims. Acting on the advice of the Sri Lankan government, they are being returned to Sri Lanka on the basis that they have no claims. Any claim they make is regarded as spurious."

Speaking at the recently held "Youth Maaveerar Naal" in London, Imperial College London student Visakan Balakumar called on his fellow university students to intensify the struggle against genocide during a speech on behalf of his university's Tamil Society.

The speech has been reproduced in full below.

"Dear ladies and gentleman. We gather here today to remember those brave souls who gave their lives. Those brave souls who gave their lives for us, for our homeland and our nation. Their selfless acts of bravery in the line of duty mark some of the greatest achievements in the history of the Eelam Tamil nation, our Eelam Tamil nation.

The full script of the address by the Tamil Youth Organisation UK, at 2012 Maaveerar Naal remembrance event held at the Excel Centre, London. The address was made by Mario Arulthas of TYO UK.

"Vannakkam,

"Maaveerar naal serves not only as a reminder for us to call for the end of oppression of Eelam Tamils, but for us, as a Tamil nation, to stand strong and united as we always have to commemorate our brothers and sisters who have sacrificed their lives, their youths and their ambitions for our homeland.

Today, we students have once again reunited to honour thousands of our fallen heroes who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Tamil Eelam. It’s heartbreaking to say that all of their graves have now been desecrated and destroyed by the Sri Lankan state. However, our maaveerar will never remain unmarked pages in our history. Each one of these courageous men and women will remain forever engraved in our hearts, serving as pillars of our nation.

"We, the Eelam Tamil youth gather here today, to remember the ultimate sacrifice. We remember those that perished in a struggle against the oppression, destruction and genocide of our people.

Today, we remember selflessness. We remember the selflessness of the brave young men and women, who gave up their personal hopes and aspirations and devoted their own lives to a struggle against the oppression of our people.

These were people like you and I, they also had dreams and ambitions. These were future doctors, lawyers, entertainers, teachers, artists and future parents. But recognising the dire circumstances our people were living through, our brothers and sisters, rose courageously to be the van guards of our nation’s inalienable right to exist, so that one day each one of us could live out our own dreams in our own homeland, free and dignified.

"Nothing can bring back the estimated 30,000 civilians who died in 2009 in the closing months of the war in Sri Lanka, but if the UN is to learn from its shocking failure to protect those civilians it must do more than mouth regrets and resolutions."

J. Stafford is a member of TAG's advocacy team (Tamils Against Genocide)

Nov 1-14. The UPR on: the Significance of Context, of Terror and lest we forget, the Tamil Question

On Thursday 1 November, Sri Lanka stood to account before the Human Rights Council. Procedures, protocols reassuringly followed, the Sri Lankan delegation exuding calm professionalism, consummate politicians with seemingly measured, reasonable responses. They interjected occasionally, as is fitting, seen to be engaging with the recommendations. The lines they were following carefully articulated in their national report. And then, of course, on the 5th November, 100 of the recommendations were rejected - a record.

But all this was anticipated. The chair at the side event on the 31 October, Nimalka Fernando - President of International Movement Against all Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) made the point that the contents of the National Report were directly contrary to the knowledge and experiences of the side event panel.  The Sri Lankan state approach was predictable. As Alan Keenan from ICG observed, that the Government chose to impeach the chief justice on the very day of the UPR speaks volumes to the state’s arrogance and level of contempt for international institutions. 

(See video of UPR here) 

But it is a contempt masterly deployed, and, most disappointingly, one that garners support from diverse quarters. Sri Lanka attends the UPR and in so doing, in submitting to the procedures, the reports, the recommendations, the whole show, is able to firmly reinforce its message and self-representation. As a state it enjoys legitimacy at the UN. It is one among other states, part of a club.

Tamil Youth Organisation - UK have released a press statement on the recent review of Sri Lanka at the UPR.

Full statement below:

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) 2^nd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Sri Lanka formally concluded on Monday the 5^th of November 2012, with the outcome once again confirming the urgent need for drastic action to force Sri Lanka to abide by its human rights obligations.

Sri Lanka has rejected outright 100 out of 210 recommendations made at the UPR. These included those made by a number of countries calling for the implementation of recommendations from Sri Lanka’s very own flawed LLRC report, as well as those made by the more credible UN Panel of Experts’ report.

Although TYO-UK welcomes some of the effective recommendations made by countries, including the calls for accountability for war crimes and for ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, many of the recommendations lacked the required strength to effect tangible change on the island.

Nearly all of the recommendations fail to take into account the ethnic nature of the conflict that continues to blight the Tamil people to this very day. What remains unchanged is that it is Tamils who suffer the consequences of the “time and space” that was requested by Sri Lanka, and granted by the international community.