The Peace Secretariat has often noted that perhaps the most insidious threat to the efforts of the Sri Lankan government to promote peace through pluralism and democracy comes from political opponents who will say or do anything to promote their own agendas.

The latest Human Rights Watch report on Sri Lanka, issued as a submission to the UN Human Rights Council in connection with the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka, repeats several canards that have been refuted in the past, with no response from HRW to the detailed rebuttal of their falsehoods. In particular it begins its offensive by claiming that ‘Sri Lanka security forces have conducted indiscriminate bombing and shelling resulting in civilian casualties’.

I was sent recently an essay entitled ‘Pax Americana, the EU, and the Tamil Resistance Movement (TRM), written by Peter Schalk of Uppsala University. Prof Schalk has been concerned with Sri Lankan affairs for many years now, and this shows, in his rather dogged adherence to the battles of the seventies. His view is that the EU ban on the LTTE is ‘part of a falling in line with a worldwide pax americana’ which the man explains as analogous to the pax romana, which he also then has to explain.

Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission has finally gone over the top in attacking the Head of the Peace Secretariat in scatological terms, though clothed in impeccable literary references as befits a former scholar.

He is upset that I am amused by much, but doubtless he intends everyone to be amused by this latest effusion, which suggests the direction in which he is taking the poor Asian Human   Commission. Certainly I am amused, but there is room for sadness too, in his failure to think, which is unusual in the man and suggests that he is very deeply involved emotionally.

The Peace Secretariat is amused at the intemperate reaction of Sir Nigel Rodley, ‘an eminent person from Britain’ as he was described, to the revelation that the eminent Indian head of the IIGEP Justice P N Bhagwati has made it clear that he does not accuse the government of lacking political will with regard to the Commission of Inquiry into several cases concerning Human Rights. Such blustering on Sir Nigel’s part simply confirms the impression some elements in the IIGEP had helped to create, that their prime motive was to engage in confrontation with the government of Sri Lanka, without regard to propriety or the truth.

The Peace Secretariat welcomes the extremely dignified manner in which Sri Lankan forces regained control of the Madhu Church premises on behalf of the people of Sri Lanka. Whilst anti-governmental organizations persist in talking about indiscriminate attacks on civilians, the record of the forces, in which not one civilian life has been lost in the course of army offensives, speaks for itself.

One of the more predictable aspects of the silly season, when Sri Lanka’s human rights record gets attacked in preparation for review in Geneva, is that the usual suspects should reiterate the old discredited stories. Certainly there are areas in which the human rights record can be improved, and the government has already taken steps to deal with issues raised by Special Rapporteurs such as Phillip Alston and Manfred Novak and Walter Kalin. But there are certain areas in which it could not agree with certain claims, concerning which it asked for evidence, only to be met with a deafening silence.

The Soccer Carnival, organized jointly by SCOPP, the Eastern Governor and the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Eastern Province proved to be a resounding success, attracting large crowds. The event served as a boost to the game of soccer and young sportsmen of the area.

A Medical Camp for the residents of the Noracholai and Alankudah camps was successfully conducted at the Alankudah Muslim Vidyalaya on 23rd February 2008.

Several meetings with regard to democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka were held during the recent visit to the Netherlands of Secretary-General of the Peace Secretariat in Sri Lanka, Professor Rajiva Wijesinha. His main programme involved the 5th anniversary of the Dutch 3rd Chamber, an aid advisory group to which he had belonged in 2004. However the Sri Lankan Embassy in the Netherlands also arranged a series of briefing visits in The Hague on Friday April 18th.

Since the liberation of the Eastern Province from the clutches of terrorism in 2007, development activities sponsored by the Government of Sri Lanka have been implemented on a large scale across the Province. As part of the development process, there have been several activities and attempts to engage the youth of the Province in a range of ongoing work, thus enabling integration, building of ethnic harmony and economic development.

The Peace Secretariat notes with sorrow the claims of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) that ‘Colombo lacked the political will to investigate grave rights abuses.’ It was claimed also that the government was ‘blocking efforts to ensure minimum standards were maintained in probing serious abuses’ and that ‘the government's tone "was becoming increasingly disrespectful (of the experts)."