Fabio Massimo Castaldo

Parlement européen
Bât. WILLY BRANDT
06M007
60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60
B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel
 
Dear Fabio Massimo Castaldo

RE: Strengthening Reconciliation Processes in Sri Lanka,2017-2021

 
Please share the following with the EU parliament:
 
https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/18405.html
Strengthening Reconciliation Processes in Sri Lanka,2017-2021
Commissioned by: German Federal Foreign Office, Delegation of the European Union to Sri
Lanka and Maldives     Co-fubded by: European Union
Context Since the civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, successive governments have taken a
variety of measures to advance the process of reconciliation. …………………………
 
The following cannot ‘’advance any process of reconciliation’’:
 
A.  Post-war hyper-militarisation of war-torn North/East:
 
a.The war was over on 18 May 2009 and the *Vanni(=Mullaitivu + Kilinochchi districts) -
*formerly controlled by the LTTE was made out of bounds for the public and ICRC on the
following day till January 2010.
Security Forces Headquarters- Mullaitivu( SFHQ-M) was established on 5 June 2009 –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Forces_Headquarters_%E2%80%93_Mullaitivu
Security Forces Headquarters Kiinochchi( SFHQ-K) was  raised on 29 June 2009 –
https://alt.army.lk/sfkilinochchi/history-sfhq-kilinochchi
 
Of the five districts in Northern Province, Jaffna came to have its Security Forces
Headquarters in 1982 and Vavuniya and Mannar came to have a joint Headquarters, SFHQ-
Wanni in 1998.
 
There are nine provinces in Sri Lanka:
Northern Province
Security Forces Headquarters - Jaffna (SFHQ-J) – 3 Divisions
Security Forces Headquarters - Wanni (SFHQ-W) – 5 Divisions
Security Forces Headquarters - Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) – 3 Divisions
Security Forces Headquarters – Mullaitivu (SFHQ-MLT) – 3 Divisions
Mankulam – 1 Division; Paranthan – 1 Division
2.Eastern Province - 3 Divisions
3.The other seven provinces - 4 Divisions
- List of current Sri Lanka Army formations – checked: up to March 2021, but a small change
occurred in April followed by a big change in October(see D below)
 
b.Militarised PTF
Pl note d no of military officers without a single Tamil and without a singe person from the
North:
Presidential Task Force(PTF) for ‘’Resettlement, Development and Security’’ in the
Northern Province was formed on 7 May 2009: https://reliefweb.int/report/sri-lanka/sri-
lanka-president-appoints-new-task-force-rebuild-north 
 
 c.Post-war Militarisation for PsyOps in the North:
i.‘’A 2009 report ….…… Conduct of Aggressive Intelligence Operations and
pursuing Psychological Operations to rehabilitate the mind set of the public to tilt their
affinity will also be facilitated by such a deployment. In this context the Sri Lanka Army
persists with the view that the control of the major Townships, Population Centers and the
Population should be vested with them. A committee composed of the three service chiefs
reportedly drafted the plan. It entailed increasing the size of the armed forces by a total of
210,000 soldiers over the five years up to 2015………..’’ - Sri Lanka Army - Troop
Strength, https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/sri-lanka/army-troops.htm
 
ii.Securitization and its discontents: the end of Sri Lanka's long post-war? Jonathan Spencer.
-Posted online 05 July 2016. The paper is a revised version of the Keynote Lecture delivered
at the 29th Annual Conference of the British Association of South Asian Studies, held at the
University of Portsmouth in April 2015. The theme of the conference was the securitisation
of South Asia, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09584935.2016.1141176
 
d. SFHQ-Jaffna website and News Archives:
All the news about how the Army went about carrying out PsyOps: running pre-schools and
giving presents to the tiny tots in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, visiting primary and secondary
schools and giving presents to children, arranging matches in football, volleyball and cricket
to youths, giving milk powder to pregnant women and cleaning open grounds in schools,
temples and hospitals. But soon the government started giving contracts for building houses
for war IDPs without calling for tenders from the public denying the war-affected people
employment.
News Archives:  
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010
-  http://www.cimicjaffna.com/NewsBackbodyMain.php
 
e.The News Archives disappeared towards the end of December 2019:
 
The matter of hyper-militarisation o ar-torn North/East as raised at to public meetings at
Leiden University and Humanity Hub on 18 & 19 December 2019.18/19 December 2019.
News Archives disappeared on 31/12/2019 and were replaced by Community Progrmmes
and Military Programmes with icons on the toolbar. There is another category, Photo Story
without an icon on the toolbar.
 
The Header of the website has now turned scary - the former blue background with two
Palmyra trees on the top left hand corner (seen in the attachment, Visits by British
Diplomats) is now replaced by a black background with two crossed swords in place of the
palmyrah trees. 
 
f. Rare and partial adoption of one of the requisites of multiple UNHRC resolutions:
Consultation Task Force on  Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF):
Funding agents of projects in SriLanka and all those who are interested in the resolution of
the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka would benefit Sri Lanka if they are kind enough to read:
A report on reconciliation, Sanjana Hattotuwa, 08 January
2017, https://sanjanah.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/a-report-on-reconciliation/
Sanjana H was a senior researcher at Centre for Policy Alternatives, Sri Lanka for 16yrrs and
curated the citizen journal, Groundviews (https://groundviews.org/) for 11yrs.  He has just
finished his PhD at University of Otago.

 
B. a.Analysis of Sri Lanka school textbooks:
a. across the curriculum( at least in the last 6 decades):
 
’’ 4. The analysis suggests that truth-seeking is weak, with no teaching about the historical
roots of the conflict or contemporary issues..’’ – The Role of School Curriculum in Sustainable
Peace-building: The Case of Sri Lanka, Jeremy Cunningham and Suren Ladd,
2018, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745499918807027
19. ‘’Ignoring historical fact, these textbooks tended to portray Sinhalese Buddhists as the
only true Sri Lankans, with Tamils, Muslims and Christians as non- indigenous and
extraneous to Sri Lankan history.’’ - The Two Faces of Education in Ethnic Conflict: Towards a
Peacebuilding Education for Children, Kenneth D. Bush and Diana
Saltarelli(2000), http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/insight4.pdf’’
  - Sri Lanka School Textbooks Must Embrace Multiculturalism To Start Peace-
Building, https://www.scribd.com/document/456004931/Sri-Lanka-School-Textbooks-Must-
Embrace-Multiculturalism-to-Start-Peace-building
 
b. Education is used to create enmity between various ethnicities:
Looking specifically at Civic Education textbooks:
Grade10 textbook on Civic Education (Fifth Print 2019),
http://www.edupub.gov.lk/Administrator/English/10/civic%20G-10%20E/civic%20G-
10%20E.pdf
 
Chapter 01 - Democratic Governance
It vilifies Federalism but says: ‘’most countries including SriLanka are implementing
democratic governance.''
Federalism has been an ''F word'' in Sri Lanka because Tamils started to ask for Federalism
as a solution to oppression of ethnic minorities before the armed rebellion for separation
emerged. Most Sinhalese have been totally opposed to Federaliam and had been making
mockery of it in many ways. Instead of teaching the children that #Federalism is one way of
doing Democratic Governance, Education in Sri Lanka is misused to create enmity between
the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils.
 
Chapter 05 - Conflict Resolution in a Democratic Society
p.105/114 - reasons for conflicts in Rwanda, South Africa, Israel/Palestine, Russia,
Somalia/Ethiopia, Middle East, Irish War and War of the Cross are given. Nothing about the
conflict in Sri Lanka! The word Sri Lanka is not mentioned even once in the chapter!
 
When I visited the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation(ONUR) in Colombo in
December 2016 after writing to them about Chapters 1 and 5, I was told that the Ministry of
Education did not wish to discuss the contents of textbooks they produce. I later learned
that when the Chairwoman of ONUR raised the issue with the Minister of Education in early
2019 he told her that the National Institute of Education(NIE) refuses to listen to him. After
all NIE was established by the Ministry of Education mainly to produce textbooks! 
 
When UNICEF and the govt of Netherlands carried out a project, Peacebuilding,
Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA) in 2012-2016 with 14 countries long afflicted
with conflicts(Burundi, Chad, Cote d’ivore, Dem. Rep. of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Myanmar,
Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, State of Palestine, Uganda and Yemen), Sri
Lanka did not join them: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573879.pdf
 Reports from programmes along this line are very encouraging.
 
C. Economic denuding of the North:
The Army has been returning the land in the High Security Zone extremely slowly to IDPs
displaced to make HSZ in 1990 during the war.
Now there are more than 1,000 families waiting to return to their lands in the HSZ. Just
before the start of UNHRC sessions the government has been collecting information about
the lands from the families numerous times,  the last time being just before
UNHRC48, pic.twitter.com/x9Brz2GDNq
 
The Military in the North have been grabbing huge swathes of land for its economic
activities, particularly agriculture and tourism.
In the early 2010s, they started selling their agricultural produce in Jaffna markets at lower
prices than the local farmers causing the latter huge losses, some even committed suicide.
They also facilitated Sinhalese from their villages to come and flood Jaffna town as street
vendors selling all sorts of things at low prices making the local merchants go bankrupt,
some were even driven to commit suicide. After several yrs the Sinhalese vendors left Jaffna.
Now the Army takes its produce from the HSZ and other places to the South of the country,
mostly to the Army Welfare
shops., https://www.dailynews.lk/2020/10/14/local/231438/army-produced-rice-stocks-
army-troops
 
Army farm - 10 April 2011 - https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?
catid=13&artid=33784 
ii. Sprinkler Irrigation Successfully Experimented in Palaly Army Farm, 26 January
2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_XMLzVtrmM 
iii.Foundation Stone Laid for the Palaly Tank, 10 July
2019, http://www.cimicjaffna.com/Cimicnews_2019_07_10.php
iv. New Building For Yoghurt Production Project for Army Seva Vanitha Unit(a
welfare group for army families), 18 July 2020, http://cimicjaffna.lk/content/new-
building-yoghurt-production-project-army-seva-vanitha-unit
v. Jaffna Army Farm Leap Forward, 23 June 2021, http://cimicjaffna.lk/content/jaffna-
army-farm-leap-forward

Diversified Mega Agriculture, Afforestation, Farming & Livestock Projects of the Army Bear
Fruits, 9 September 2021, https://www.army.lk/news/diversified-mega-agriculture-
afforestation-farming-livestock-projects-army-bear-fruits  
''No solution for over 3,000 IDP families living with friends, relatives'' - Jaffna IDPs in
welfare centres to be resettled before 2022, 9 February 2021, 
https://www.themorning.lk/jaffna-idps-in-welfare-centres-to-be-resettled-before-2022/ 
 
Six months later the govt asks for details of IDPs: IDPs reply:
Request for a transparent process with adequate time period to provide information on
military occupation of private land in the Jaffna District

 
D.12yrs after the war was over,  militarisation, militarisation, militarisation:
 while the whole world is engaged in achieving SDGs.
 
Milestone 'Way Forward Strategy 2020-2025’ Launched,
22/12/2020, https://army.lk/news/milestone-%E2%80%98sri-lanka-army-way-forward-
strategy-2020-2025%E2%80%99-formally-launched-army-hq
 
Kilinochchi Commander Made Final Address For Troops Prior To Redeploy, 21 July 2021,
https://alt.army.lk/sfkilinochchi/content/kilinochchi-commander-made-final-address-
troops-prior-redeploy
 
Former SFHQ-Kilinochchi, Now Operational HQ of the Just-raised 1 Corps of the Army,
21/10/2021, https://army.lk/news/former-sfhq-kilinochchi-now-operational-hq-just-raised-
1-corps-army
 
''This recruit training course was originated as a concept of the Commander of the Army
under the first phase of recruitment of 20,000 soldiers for the year 2021 under the
objectives set by ‘Sri Lanka Army Way Forward Strategy’.''
Security Force Headquarters (Jaffna)to Commences its First Ever Recruit Training Course to b
e Conducted in Jaffna, 27 April 2021, http://cimicjaffna.lk/content/security-force-
headquarters-jaffna-commences-its-first-ever-recruit-training-course-be
 
''The 2nd recruit training course at Battalion Training School Vidaththalpalai, Jaffna of 52
Infantry Division under Security Forces Headquarters Jaffna commenced during a simple
ceremony on
07 October
2021. ..............'' - Recruit Training Course Comprising Tamil, Muslim & Sinhala Youths Beg
ins in 
Jaffna, 7 October 2021, http://cimicjaffna.lk/content/recruit-training-course-comprising-
tamil-muslim-and-sinhala-youths-begins-jaffna 
 
 
F. While the menace of militarisation goes on non-stop in the post-war North,
the South has been busy in a number of ways:

1.a. http://archives.sundayobserver.lk/2016/10/09/spe-the-02.asp
WINGS 2016 – ‘A festival of arts on reconciliation’ in Sri Lanka
21October  2016 - 13November 2016 in Kilinochchi(Northern Province), Amparai(Eastern
Province) and Colombo(capital: govt ministries, foreign missions, international airport, etc
make it an important place of gathering of all sorts)
''Reconciliation'' between Tamil areas(North/East) and Colombo?  What about the other
seven provinces predominantly with Sinhalese who vote in the party in opposition to power
when the governing party tries to do something beneficial to Tamils = exemplary ethnic
outbidding Sri Lanka is well-known for?

b. The only event I attended: On 9 November 2016 afternoon during the *Festival of Arts on
Reconciliation at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka 
In the session I chose: one teacher showed the audience hate- mongering History in a
secondary school textbook in Sinhala medium during a panel discussion. (Connects with B.
above)

2. The following is like Panadol to treat Cancer:

https://twitter.com/ices_lk
a.Bystander Behaviour and why it matters, 25 October 2021 .....
b.Other People’s Shoes, 2 November 2021 ......
c.Memory and History, 22 November 2021,
pic.twitter.com/D3cP9QYq7t
The zoom meeting was recorded. Those(including the funders) who have not watched it
please ask for the recording and watch it: when the two discussants came to the point on
the school textbooks on History Education one discussant said:
It’s going to be much worse soon; just wait till you get the new textbook – I have learnt
from reliable sources that the mythological Ravana is going to take an important place in
History Education.

Please note comments and replies to tweets cannot be posted on this

website: https://twitter.com/ices_lk
Funders, if your genuine motive is reconciliation in Sri Lanka, please insist that the executing
agents use websites that allow interaction between the public and the website.

G. We have been greatly encouraged to write to you by your message to the Cnference on the
Global State of Human Rights: ‘’…. on behalf of th people who have no voice on their rights
in their on country ……’’

#StaySafe
Yours sincerely
Puni Selvaratnam
Spokesperson, Women for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka
14, Tamarind Yard
London E1W 2JT, UK
06 December 2021