COC appreciates the President Sirisena’s decision about not defending armed forces who committed disappearance and killing of civilians.

Mar 30, 2017

Citizens’ Organizations’ Collective (COC) called for a press conference held at CSR in Colombo on March 30, 2017 and appreciated the President Sirisena’s decision about not defending armed forces who committed disappearance and killing of civilians.

Addressing the press conference Co-convener of Left Centre Chameera Perera said that who gave the order to Brigadier Deshapriya who responsible for attacked the people who demand right to water in Ratupaswala?

“One corporal and soldier have been arrested for that attack. Is it fair? The person who gave the order should be punished. As the Defense Minister President Mahinda Rajapakse and former Defense Secretary should responsible for the Ratupaswala attack.”

He added, “Military never attack to civilians without an order.”

Aluth Parapura Convener Akanka Hettiarchchi said that do not protect any culprits who responsible for the Ratupaswala attack under the label of “Ranaviru”

Chamara Nakandala, Convener of Parapuala Balaya also appreciated the President Sirisena’s decision and urged government to do not protect those who are found guilty for crimes.

During the press conference leaders of COC pointed out the government have a duty bound to deliver justice to victims and witness to the January 8th Peoples’ mandate.

They also spoke out about misuse of EPF Fund, Wimal Weerawansa’s Hunger Strike and Central Bank bond issue.

Mean while, in a recent event at Defense Services School in Kurunegala, President Maitripala Siriserna said he was unable to protect those who are found guilty of acts that are not connected to the national security and those who are guilty of killing media persons or sportsmen.

reported by Lawrence Ferdinando

Raviraj Murder: Court of Appeal orders CID to find whereabouts of three acquitted Naval officers

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Court of Appeal today issued an order directing the CID Director to provide information regarding the whereabouts of three navy intelligence officers who were acquitted and released from the Raviraj murder case.

 At a previous occasion, three navy intelligence officers were noticed to appear before Court regarding a revision petition filed by the wife of former TNA Jaffna district MP Nadaraja Raviraj.

When the revision petition came up before Court of Appeal Justice H.C.J. Madawala and Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya, the Court was informed that the notices had not been sent to the three navy officers because the authorities have still not been able to locate their whereabouts.

Accordingly, the CID Director was noticed to appear in Court on May 19 by Court of Appeal to submit a report regarding the three navy officers. 

The petitioner Sasikala Raviraj, the wife of slain MP filed a revision application seeking an order to set aside verdict of Colombo High Court dated December 23, 2016 to acquit and release all accused from the case.

On December 23, 2016, five accused including three navy intelligence officers, accused to have murdered the former TNA Jaffna district MP Nadaraja Raviraj were acquitted and released from the case after they were found not guilty by the jury trial.  

The verdict which was delivered by High Court Judge Manilal Waidyatilleke as per the unanimous decision reached by the jury, comes following one month long trial.

The jury’s decision was that the accused cannot be convicted based on the evidence in the case.

The petitioner stated that a trial by jury cannot be appointed in this case since three charges out of five have been levelled under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

The High Court allowed to proceed with the Raviraj murder trial in absentia of the three accused Palana Sami Suresh alias Sami, Sivakanthan Vivekanandan alias Charan and Fabian Royston Tusen who were evading Court since the beginning of investigations.

The indictments were filed against six accused Palana Sami Suresh alias Sami, Prasad Chandana Kumara alias Sampath, Gamini Seneviratne, Pradeep Chaminda alias Vajira, Sivakanthan Vivekanandan alias Charan and Fabian Royston Tusen on five counts, including committing themurder of former MP Nadaraja Raviraj and his security officer Lokuwella Murage Laksman under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Penal Code.

Three accused who were not present before Court, had been identified as ex-LTTE cadres affiliated to the Karuna faction. Wijeya Wickrema Manamperige Sanjaya Preethi Viraj was made State witness for the Raviraj murder trial.

Raviraj was shot dead near his residence at Manning Town in Narahenpita during the period between November 9, 2006 and November 10, 2006 when he was driving his vehicle along Martha Road.

The CID recovered the trishaw and the weapon alleged to have been used in the killing of the former Parliamentarian.

Sri Lanka: Govt. and Int’l Community must ensure the UN Resolution!

GTF calls on Sri Lanka and the International Community to ensure the UNHRC Resolution is fully implemented in a faithful and timely manner

(March 30, 2017, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) cautiously welcomes the unanimous adoption of the resolution ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ (34/L.1) at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). This resolution, in effect, reaffirms the full implementation of the Resolution 30/1 of 2015. The fact that the resolution was sponsored by forty seven countries and twenty seven countries spoke at the Interactive Dialogue on Sri Lanka is reflective of the strong commitment of the international community to peace, accountability, justice and reconciliation for all the peoples of Sri Lanka. We are grateful to every one of these countries, in particular to the main sponsors Unites States, United Kingdom, Montenegro and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and all other countries that worked admirably and consistently in the background to make this outcome possible.

The tone set by the High Commissioner Zeid’s report as well as the statements from several country representatives is unmistakable. Sri Lanka has made some notable progress but, despite these efforts much more work remains to be done. A common thread underpinning most of the country statements was that a comprehensive, time-bound implementation strategy was urgently needed, and that only full implementation of Resolution 30/1 would advance peace, human rights, accountability and reconciliation.

GTF is pleased that Sri Lanka once again co-sponsored the resolution and reiterated to the Council that the Government was ‘determined to stay the course.’ But, for the victims of Sri Lanka’s brutal war, words alone cannot provide relief, and time is long-past for credible actions and concrete outcomes. For the Tamil community, and particularly for the victims, their confidence that Sri Lanka would faithfully honour its international commitments, and that they would receive justice in a reasonable time-frame is fast eroding. It is not just the worryingly slow progress, but more importantly the conflicting narratives from the leaders of the country that dash their hopes. Widespread calls from the Tamil community that no extension be given to Sri Lanka needs to be understood in this context.

GTF strongly feels that Sri Lanka’s top leadership along with the government has to transform its contradictory narrative on accountability to a consistent one, which is neither apologetic nor defensive but principled and forceful that articulates genuine accounting as a fundamental prerequisite to overcome the country’s dreadful past. The government needs to redouble its efforts among the Sinhala people by accurately conveying the beneficial role international community could play in promoting accountability and genuine reconciliation, and that accountability measures will only aim to identify elements responsible for serious crimes, rather than targeting any institution as a whole.

GTF also calls on the government to wholeheartedly embrace the report of the Consultation Task Force and formulate a comprehensive strategy, with a time-line and detailed benchmarks, to address all aspects of the transitional justice mechanism identified in Resolution 30/1. Our considered view is that this should incorporate confidence-building measures that include immediate land and prisoner release and urgent actions on missing persons, and a credible judicial mechanism that should include a special counsel, foreign judges and defence lawyers, and authorised prosecutors and investigators.

The unfortunate fact is that the victims and their families from the Tamil community historically have very little faith in the government, and any belief that justice is possible is entirely due to the assurance of international involvement. Several resolutions passed at the UNHRC and the key roles played by major international powers have undoubtedly helped build their trust in the impartiality of the UNHRC processes, and has been very important in preventing them from descend into a state of despair. Therefore, it is in the interest, not just of the Tamil community but of all communities, that such trust in the international system is strengthened through the concerted actions of the international community by ensuring that Sri Lanka faithfully meets all its commitments.

To quote High Commissioner Zeid, “This critical opportunity in Sri Lankan history cannot be missed. I urge the government and people of Sri Lanka to prioritize justice alongside reconciliation to ensure that the horrors of the past are firmly dealt with, never to recur.” GTF calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to do just that by publicising and acting on a comprehensive reform and transitional justice plan, and the international community to ensure that the set path towards transitional justice remains on track.

On our part, the GTF would like to reaffirm its commitment to assist such a process that will lead to true accountability and a sense of closure to the trauma experienced by the surviving victims from all communities.

Moral universalism or immoral nativism

Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects, totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have done by the most eloquent denunciations, the most compelling of logical rebuttals.” -  Aldous Huxley in his revised forward to Brave New World. 

Friday, 31 March 2017

Two things happened last week that made me tear up the few pages I had written and start anew. Both events compelled me to reappraise the zeitgeist we live in. Zeitgeist is one of those German words that crept into English usage to express the spirit of social change, the bewildering unpredictability that characterise a period, a generation or an age.

First was an encounter in the form of a conversation. The second was a piece of learned writing that dealt with the public imagination of our time.

I spent last Sunday afternoon in the company of an ambitious, articulate, US-educated professional (when in college in the US, he was a member of the Young Republians. As part of his Political Science degree program at a prestigious university, he interned under a Republican Congressman).  He was rancorously critical of my  judgmental and condemnatory remarks concerning the views of Major General Kamal Gunaratne in his book ‘Rana Maga Osse - Nandikadal’ in my article ViyathMaga - reverting to the dictator state.

His censorial riposte brooked no retaliatory reasoning. “You simply don’t understand what we went through. You can now afford to pontificate because such illustrious soldiers who fought for our nation delivered us from evil that has no match in human history.”

I made a tentative reference to the funeral of former terrorist and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuiness. I pointed to the words of the pastor at his funeral.  “There are people in this church today whose presence would have been unthinkable only a generation ago.” That was the wrong thing to say.

The intensity of the expletives, the profanity of opinion it elicited had to be heard to be believed. Benedict Anderson was right when he said that nations are imagined communities. The vehemence, the energy, the fanaticism with which he defended the war hero and savaged my urbane multi-culturalist worldview convinced me that ours is a nation that is singularly and universally more imagined than any other nation on this planet.  

Public imagination

The second encounter was more rewarding. I read the recent essay by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka published in Global E Journal of the Center for 21st Century Global Dynamics of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Jayatilleka in this paper deals with Public Imagination, albeit in a global sense in the age we live in. He starts off with characteristic gusto. “In the construction of a new public imagination, as in every other form of human endeavour, you are caught between two realities: you have to go back to where you got it wrong, but you can’t go back home again.”

Indeed! We have to go back to where we got it wrong. In retracing our steps, we need not go back home. But then, what was our home and where was it?

Then, it dawned on me. This subject of our public imagination had a direct bearing on my earlier encounter with the unabashed and avid admirer of Major General Kamal Gunaratne - the war hero who claims that his soldiers advanced against the enemy with “loaded weapon in one hand and a book on human rights and rules of engagement in the other, with hearts brimming with affection and love for the people they were to protect and safeguard.”

In our public imagination they carried a loaded weapon in one hand and the book of human rights and rules of engagement in the other. Post-war triumphalism has no doubt contributed to an equally ambidextrous public imagination.

Here we speak of our post-war public imagination. The Rajapaksa tribal order appropriated our public imagination. It was done cleverly and with great élan. In fairness, I must say that Dr. Jayatilleka was not always the naïve nativist that he has turned out to be or pretends to be in his new incarnation of in-house ideologue of the Rajapaksa family in general and the theoretical tactician of the Gota for President Movement in particular.

Dr. Jayatilleka, our Ambassador in Geneva during the time hostilities ended and author of Long War, Cold Peace, knew where our public imagination was headed to and who steered its direction.

The publisher of Dr. Jayatilleka‘s Long War, Cold Piece describes the purpose of the book. Long War, Cold Peace deals with politics and its extension: war. Most wars generate in their aftermath, a process of reflection. “This book is an analytical interpretation of what led to the war, what the most significant lessons of that experience were and what could prevent a recurrence of conflict.”  

Praise for Gota

Now to return to the subject of public imagination and what happened to our public imagination after the war ended, we need go no further than the first paragraph of the preface which Dr. Jayatilleka writes. Of the need for reflection after conflict he says: “It is the practice, one may say the duty of the state and civil society, of artists and analysts to do so. It is usually the case that the period after a war, is one of profound ferment and productivity in the intellectual, artistic and policy realms. From WW II Europe to post Vietnam America that has been so. Sri Lanka for the most part, seems a sad exception. We have almost ceased to analyse, to think.“ (Emphasis mine).

Our public imagination was choked. But there were short, sharp grasps for fresh air by some intellectuals. Prof. Nira Wickremesinghe of Leiden University is one.

In October 2013 she published a paper - Producing the Present: History as Heritage in Post War Patriotic Sri Lanka. Who choked our thinking? Who trampled on honest analysis?

Here I must again thank Dr. Jayatilleka. His recent statement that Gotabaya will create a 21st century technocratic state surpassing the grandeur of a pre-Chola Lanka rang memory  bells as  loud as the bells of Notre Dame reminding me of the percipient, predictive study of the Rajapaksa- ruled patriotic state by a Sorbonne-educated Lankan academic.

Prof. Wickemesinghe wrote that in post-war Sri Lanka, more than ever, nostalgia permeates heritage practices in Sri Lanka. She disentangled the state-sanctioned ideological construct of the triumphant Sinhala-Buddhist state celebrating its victory over un-national secessionist forces.

Nearly four years ago she warned us that “banal nationalism” could easily alienate cultural minorities. Today not a day passes without us hearing of the smart patriotism of Gota that escapes the grasp of dumb jackasses such as this writer.

Who shapes the public imagination in Sri Lanka? A footnote in her paper provides a clue. “In the popular press it is no longer historians who discuss matters relating to the past but amateur historians who write without abiding by the protocols of the profession. Among these are Bandu de Silva, a former diplomat who frequently contributes to the English language newspapers The Island and Daily News and Nuwera Eliya Hemapala and Ellawala Medananda, who write for the Sinhala dailies.  Jürgen Habermas is a political philosopher who has grappled with historical questions from Nazism and student movements of the 1960s to the early phases of globalisation. He makes an observation relevant to our discussion in the form of interventions of what he reads as historical public imagination that leads to the harrowing history of Germany in the 20th century.  It is worth listening to him.

“We have an intuitive knowledge of the intricate relations among past, present and future where the individual is concerned; but it is far from obvious how to apply that knowledge to a collected actor like a nation.” 

BBS

The Bodu Bala Sena, which is a fairly substantial reflection of post-war public imagination, was conceived promoted and sustained by the state, which in the opinion of this writer, in its entirety is Gota-conceived, Gota-promoted and Gota-sustained. It is a substantial reflection of our post-war public imagination.

Prof. Wickremesinghe frames her paper with a quote from anthropologist Michael Herzfeld: “The state – actually a shifting complex of peoples and roles…”

The BBS is an instrument of our contemporary public imagination. It served and serves a Sinhala Buddhist entrepreneurial class.

To return to the pivotal theme of this essay, there is no doubt that Dr. Jayatilleka is one of our brightest, smartest political commentors enjoying international repute. This writer can only endorse the editors of the Global E Journal of the Center for 21st Century Global Dynamics. His essay on Public Imagination in contemporary times is outstanding, compelling and provocative.

I turn 75 this year. I was 18 when the world learnt of the subject of his Doctoral Dissertation Moral SieraMaestra.  He inherited at birth the positives and negatives of the legacy of Moral SieraMaestra.  So I have no quarrel with him if he says that Fidel Castro approximates Nietzsche’s Roman Caesar with the soul of Christ. Not true, but it can pass.  But I have a quarrel with him when he attempts to tell us that Gotabaya Rajapaksa possesses even an inkling of the soul of a Siddhartha.

The time has come for Dr. D.J, the son of Mervyn De Silva, who coined the phrase ‘Mongrel Nationalism’, to choose between moral universalism and an immoral nativism.  

Ragging In Sri Lankan Universities (Trincomalee Campus)

By Hasmin Haniffa –March 30, 2017

Hasmin Haniffa

Tears are not new to me, it eases heart. But this time it has failed to do so. My sister left her higher education in Trincomalee campus due to severe ragging of so called protectors of free education “seniors”.

That was a pleasant morning, sister was so happy as she’s entering Trincomalee campus for her higher studies dreaming of becoming an English teacher. Everything was set. Bought a lot of items as she won’t be able to visit home often as it’s about 300km away from home. It was a Thursday and the journey has begun. I couldn’t join the family trip to Trinco as I had final MBBS exams.

Parents returned home in the evening handing over my sister to the responsible ones in the faculty so they would seriously look after her. She stayed at the hostel.

On Sunday night sister called me and said “It’s worse here, it’s a lot of ragging, very difficult to tolerate the way they behave and every one of us haven’t slept more than 1 hour in a night since I arrived here. You will recognize it seeing our eyes. Just now a batch mate took some pills to kill herself and some of us are going to hospital secretly for emergency medical care. Don’t tell this to anyone as we’re not supposed to tell these things to families”. I could clearly hear my heart beating after she said about the suicidal attempt, how much these children are mentally stressed. She continued,”Brother, we’re taken to the canteen early morning around 6.00am and all of us are packed inside. We’re not allowed to buy food from canteen, we can’t carry water bottles, we can’t even keep a handkerchief with us. And we’re not allowed to sit. When the food arrives at the table we have to squeeze it so it becomes to fluid state and comes through our finger gaps and later it’s thoroughly inspected by seniors weather the act has taken place properly, and if not under supervision it has been carried out. Then we have to eat it and I couldn’t because I became nauseous still I had to eat it. Yesterday we were kept at faculty canteen from early morning till the evening 5’O clock and Ragging was carried out. All of us were kept standing since morning to evening and then we were brought to hostel and we’re not allowed to sleep in there. We’re given various activities and essays to be written. We’re supposed to carry out some orders of seniors like knocking the sub warden’s room intermittently all night. And again in the early morning we have to go to canteen to get ragged. Some pretty girls are separated at times and taken privately to an adjacent place and a lot of boys were talking to them for hours and hours”.

On Monday morning she called me and said, “I feel some difference, I don’t think I would make it through here, come immediately to take me home”. I was horrified and I kept my final MBBS exams aside and rushed to Trincomalee early in the morning from Colombo. Just before I get down from the bus, warden who’s the Department head of Sidhdha medicine called me and said “can’t wait, come quickly by a three-wheeler”, and I became anxious hearing that. I arrived at the hostel premises soon as possible and I’ve witnessed that she has become restless and appeared fearful and she said, “Brother, we have to leave this place immediately”. I took her home, it’s around 1.00am when we arrived at home. And the following day she has got admitted to Kurunegala teaching hospital and I have informed the education minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam regarding this immediately.

My sister entered the faculty with lot of beautiful dreams in her heart. She’s a brilliant kid. She got 3″A” results for her A/Ls. And now in the name of free-education and some purposeless hidden agendas this free bird’s wings were chopped off. As a family we’re in a lot of pain and the most difficult situation of our lives. I had to witness a lot of tears. I don’t like to explain it further as my heart wouldn’t tolerate it.

I have found out that every year newly entered children leave the campus due to ragging. I met a boy who left 3 years back due to ragging. Sub warden said this year including my sister it’s 5 pupils. And some said we won’t come back and the true number is higher than this.

How much very beautiful dreams, how much effort of parents and their dreams of giving their child a better future become shattered. It’s not just one, its five shattered dreams, five parents and families with full of tears in their eyes with a lot of broken hearts.

When I’m talking to a retired Army personal who’s now a three wheel driver there whom I’ve hired to reach the faculty said, “I’ve witnessed some girls holding some other girls by their hair, and pulling to take them somewhere”. Boys come to girls’ hostel building call for them and take out the girls as they want and take them to the faculty. One person came and called all the junior girls to come out, but they haven’t, then another 5 came, the girls haven’t come out, and in minutes time came about 25-30 and threatened them to come outside the hostel and taken them to the gymnasium, as witnessed.

This ragging occurs in a systematic manner. Apart from physical Ragging a huge mental pressure is given to newly entered children up to a level they commit suicide and quit their education.
The so called “seniors” have shattered the windows of the examination hall in the faculty and set fire with tyres and black flags were put everywhere inside the premises demanding to continue ragging after some faculty inquiries.

Read More

Act passed, but no information officers appointed

Mar 30, 2017

Especially, police and the three armed forces do not have their information officers, and the information sought cannot be given. 

 

With the implementation of the RTI, large numbers have sought information, but some state institutions refuse to give the information requested, said commission member S.G. Punchihewa.

 

This is a violation of the people’s right to information, he said, adding that the Media Ministry has been told to appoint the information officers where necesary.

SRI LANKA’S FIGHTING PRIEST: FR JEYABALAN CROOS

Image: Fr Jeyabalan Croos has worked to make the conditions of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka known to the outside world. He has not lowered his guard and still claims “the right to freedom” of his people. © s.deshpriya.

Pierre Cochez, Jaffna.-30/03/2017

Fr Jeyabalan Croos is undoubtedly a fighter. The events that he has faced and the commitment that he has shown leave no doubt that he has a taste for combat, risk, and movement.

He is a Tamil priest who was ordained in 1982 for the Diocese of Mannar in the north of the country, in this land where land and sea mingle together.

It was here that the Portuguese boats landed the first missionaries, who would convert a good part of this coastal people.

Bishop Joseph Rayappu played a key role in the defense of the Tamil people during the civil war that opposed Tamils and Sinhalese.

“He was the voice of the Tamils,” says Fr Jeyabalan, who himself played a significant role, crisscrossing the country by motorbike in a white soutane to make the conflict known to humanitarian workers and journalists from elsewhere.

“The government wanted a war without witnesses so that it would remain secret,” he says. “I had to take risks to make it known to the outside world.

“I transported CNN, BBC and Reuters journalists on my luggage rack,” he explains.

Seated comfortably in a lounge room in the moist evening air at the Jaffna seminary, where he teaches, Fr Jeyabalan seems ten years younger than his 62 years.

Shortly after being ordained, he experienced the “Black July” of 1983 when thousands of Tamils were killed, expelled or burnt by Buddhists in reprisal for attacks led by Tamil Tiger rebels.

He recalls the meals he served to the refugees coming towards Mannar, before leaving to study in Rome for five years.

“I passed my license (in theology) there,” he says. “That helped me greatly, particularly in preaching.”

Later, he returned home to teach for the first time in the Jaffna seminary before working in a parish where he sought support from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). He made initial contact with JRS via an Indian Jesuit, Fr Amal, whom he had met in Myanmar.

It was during this period that he took to his motorbike and began to travel through the Tamil region.

“The Sinhalese soldiers respected my white soutane,” he says.

“Those Buddhists respected religious. Among them, monks are kind of living gods,” he explains.

“On the other hand, the situation was much more delicate with the Indian peacekeeping force which was deployed in the region,” he adds. “They did not know what a religious was and I could not expect any favorable treatment when I moved around.”

Fr Jeyabalan knows what it is to be a priest, however.

“My life is both prayer and action. I am not alone in my fight. Christ is my guide and I often ask myself what he would have done in my place. All Christ’s attention was turned towards the condition of people,” he says.

Now, in Jaffna, as elsewhere on the island, the guns have fallen silent. Fr Jeyabalan observes that the new generation of priests whom he is training have come looking for a “secure place, an easy and comfortable life” in the seminary.

He rages against those who transform seminaries into “peaceful museums whereas we need to take risks and confront the dangers of the world”, he says.

He finds his inspiration in the book, “Jesus before Christianity,” by South African Dominican Albert Nolan.

“He [Nolan] tried to analyze Jesus Christ before he was God. He saw him as a fighter, as a man who faced challenges,” he comments.

In Jaffna, there are few people who believe that the “Tamil problem” is resolved. The city is making a slow comeback after decades of war and isolation.

Yet the gap is widening between the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, in the south which is caught up in an economic frenzy, and the Tamil capital in the extreme north.

“I would not say we are living in peace,” comments Fr Jeyabalan.

“Certainly, the guns have fallen silent. But we are demanding the liberty of our people, freedom of expression, and for the moment, I do not see things improving,” he says.

Concerning past events, he makes no particular demand that the culpable be punished. But he wants to know the truth.

“We want to know what happened to the disappeared,” he says determinedly.

“We are conscious that 90% of the disappeared are dead. However, we want to know their stories. We ask those who committed reprehensible acts to accept their responsibility.”

Croix

A clash with UNHRC in the making

Situation points to a future clash between Sri Lankan Government and the UNHRC as prevailed during the last Government

• Govt. will have to cater to both these extremisms
• President says one; Premier another and FM another  
• Government is facing a threat of isolation by the   local masses as well

Considering the contradictions between the Government’s dealings with the international players in respect of human rights and its media statements issued for local consumption, one would wonder whether it is the international community or the people of this country or both or itself that the Government is going to hoodwink.

2017-03-31

Last week the Government cosponsored another resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as it did in 2015. This year’s resolution was nothing but a move to give two more years to the Government to implement the commitments of the 2015 resolution. Therefore it was a very short resolution as the first resolution on Sri Lanka adopted in 2012 calling for the implementation of the recommendations of Sri Lanka’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). Establishing a special court with foreign judges among others, was the major recommendation that had been made in the 2015 resolution.

Hence it must be very clear to anybody that the Government has again ensured its commitment to institute a legal mechanism for accountability with the participation of foreign judges, including those from the Commonwealth countries, as specified in the 2015 resolution by cosponsoring this year’s resolution.

However, it is amazing and in a way puzzling, to understand the statements made by the leaders of the Government, including President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe against the participation of foreign judges in the accountability process, while Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was requesting more time for the implementation of the resolution.
Leaders of the Government seem to presume that the people before whom they assure that no foreign judges are allowed in the accountability process do not have access to the information about the goings on in Geneva or that the international players do not hear what they pledge to the local populace with regard to the accountability process.

When the UNHRC passed the resolution in September 2015 not a single politician in the Government opposed or disowned it. Neither Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera nor Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, who led the Sri Lankan delegation at the UNHRC in Geneva, did agree with the US or the other countries that initiated the resolution to institute a mechanism with foreign judges, without the sanctions of the leaders of the Government.

On September 24, 2015, the day the resolution was adopted, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the 50th Anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lanka Chapter of the CIMA. 

The Prime Minister in his speech said he had exchanged views with the Sri Lankan delegation in Geneva over the content of the resolution. He told the audience that Sri Lanka would co-sponsor the resolution and the inquiry would be held under the current legal framework of Sri Lanka.
However, the Prime Minister had said even while the UNHRC was in session this time that there was no room in the Sri Lankan Constitution for the inclusion of foreign judges.

When the resolution was adopted in 2015, the Government argued that it upheld the dignity of the security forces by singling out only the culprits in those forces, who violated international human rights and humanitarian laws. 

When President Maithripala Sirisena returned to the country after participating at the United Nations General Assembly in the same year the Maithri faction of the SLFP had put up posters in Colombo praising him for upholding the dignity of the security forces, which apparently implied the resolution that was passed in the UNHRC a few weeks ago.

However, the situation has now changed. 

One might think that Foreign Minister Samaraweera had acted on his own or gone against the wishes of the President and the Prime Minister, when he cosponsored the two UNHRC resolutions.
Whatever the contradiction between statements made by the leaders then and now, the international community would expect the Government to implement the commitments of the resolution that had been reassured by the Government this year as well. 

Leaders of the Government have to institute and set in motion an Office on Missing Persons (OMP), a mechanism for “truth seeking, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence”, introduce “security sector reforms ensuring that no scope exists for retention or recruitment into the security forces of anyone credibly implicated in serious crimes involving human rights violations”, investigate all alleged attacks by individuals and groups on journalists, human rights defenders, members of religious minority groups and other members of civil society, as well as places of worship, and to hold perpetrators of such attacks to account and to take steps to prevent such attacks in the future, review the Public Security Ordinance and review and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA),among others.

As the President’s faction in the SLFP faces tough competition in securing the power within the party from the faction led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which is playing the patriotic card, the Government would face difficult times ahead in implementing these commitments.
Already the President seems to have given in and irritated the civil society groups that helped him at the Presidential Election by expressing sympathy towards the security forces personnel arrested in connection with various crimes committed during the last regime.

However, while speaking at the Defence Services School in Kurunegala on Wednesday he said that he was not ready to make a war hero, even a suspect of the charges levelled against the security forces on the alleged violation of human rights during the war.

The situation points to a future clash between the Sri Lankan Government and the UNHRC, as prevailed during the last Government, while the Government is facing a threat of isolation by the local masses as well. 

One incident involving former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is tasked with the reconciliation process points to the threat of isolation. 

She last week told a Jaffna audience that although those who killed civilians hiding behind the war would not be condoned, the war heroes who safeguarded the country from the terrorists would not be hauled before courts and punished.

Interestingly some newspapers from both the north and south had taken her to task for her remarks.
Tamil papers highlighted her reference to the “war heroes” and one paper editorially lashed out at her describing her remarks as racist, while some in the south highlighted, what she said about those who killed civilians in the name of the war. 

The Government will have to cater to both these extremisms to save itself from isolation. 

Boosting exports a solid way to get out of our debt crisis 

*UNP says JHU leader has illegally sold the luxury car

*Duty-free vehicle permits: UNP MPs prefer cash grant 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe while addressing a press conference last year said that he would not let groups with vested interests create unnecessary problems within the country by spreading rumours and lies about the proposed ECTA with India

31 March 2017

Sri Lanka’s debt has increased from Rs. 7.3 trillion to Rs. 9.4 trillion in the last two years, with domestic rates moving up from 6% to 10.74%. On a domestic portfolio of Rs. 4,277.8 billion there would be an additional cost of around Rs. 202.1 billion and for the new borrowings, the total cost would be Rs. 113.25 billion. An amount of more than Rs. 315 billion would be required to pay back interest. Repayment of the foreign debt as at 1 January 2015 was Rs. 3132 billion. This has now moved up to Rs. 4,070 billion. Furthermore, the rate of the US dollar to the Lankan rupee in January 2015 was 131.00 and by March 2017 the US dollar to Lankan rupee was around 152.50.

This FX depreciation of around 16% is now having huge implications on all sectors. Furthermore, the downward performances of equity markets, with foreigners exiting both equity and debt securities, has negatively impacted the rupee. We cannot allow interest rates to move up and the Lankan rupee to depreciate any more without a clear strategy.

Better coordination

For a start the Central Bank should ideally come under the purview of the Finance Ministry like in the past 50 years to ensure both the Treasury and the Central Bank sing from the same hymn sheet.

Secondly, to get out of this FX crisis it is best that we start focusing on increasing our export income and tourism income using the 60 plus embassies overseas. The Government has aggressively looked to sign FTAs with China, India and Singapore to boost our export growth and FDIs.

In fact, the Prime Minister, speaking at the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) sessions at the BMICH some time back, said that the Economic Cooperation and Technical Agreement (ETCA) with India that will be signed soon will enable Sri Lanka to have closer engagement with India, especially the five southern states, which together with India are the fastest-growing segment of the Indian subcontinent and at the moment have a combined GDP of $ 500 billion.

He also said that Sri Lanka was negotiating another FTA with Singapore and they were very receptive because they believed that Bay of Bengal countries would be fast-growing countries with fast-growing incomes in the next 20-30 years.

Under the One Belt initiative with China, Sri Lanka is also negotiating a FTA and comprehensive economic partnership dialogue with Japan. The Prime Minister’s move to fast-track the FTAs with Singapore and China and the ETCA with India is with a view to generate new investments and jobs. He knows we cannot protect our economy by stagnating behind tariff walls. The best protection possible is a mutual lowering of tariff barriers among friendly nations so that all may benefit from the free flow of goods.

Increased economic activity resulting from increased trade will provide more job opportunities for our young workers. Our industry, agriculture and services will benefit from increased export opportunities as other nations agree to lower their tariffs. Increased exports and imports will benefit our ports, steamship lines and airlines as they handle an increased amount of trade. Lowering our tariffs will provide an increased flow of goods for our consumers.  Our industries will be stimulated by increased export opportunities and by freer competition with the industries of other nations for an even greater effort to develop an efficient, economic and productive system. The results can usher in a dynamic new era of growth unlike in the past where exports dwindled and Sri Lanka had to rely more on remittances and foreign loans.

Growth in exports

Exports are probably part of the answer of where we will find job growth. However, the issue of exporting our way to job growth is harder than it appears. When a country exports goods, it sells them to a foreign market, that is, to consumers, businesses or governments in another country. Those exports create opportunities and bring foreign money into the country, which increases the exporting nation’s GDP.

So at a time when good jobs are in short supply, building exports is imperative. But as we boost our exports we will have to start producing more goods that are more labour intensive, that way as exports grow it will become a more productive engine. Therefore job growth isn’t just about where jobs are today; this is where jobs for our young Sri Lankans will be tomorrow.

They need to be job ready. Today the world’s powerful customers and fastest growing markets are beyond our borders. So if we want to find new growth streams, if we want to find new markets and new opportunities, we’ve got to compete for those new customers—because other nations are competing for those customers day and night.

Trade barriers must go

More compelling for free trade is the dramatic upturn in GDP growth rates in India and China after they turned strongly towards dismantling trade barriers in the early 1990s. In both countries, the decision to reverse protectionist policies was not the only reform undertaken but it was an important component. In developed countries, trade liberalisation, which started earlier in the post-war period, was accompanied by other forms of economic opportunities, for example a return to currency convertibility, resulting in rapid GDP growth.

Moreover, the argument that historical experience supports the case for protectionism is now flawed. The economic historian Douglas Irwin challenged the argument that 19th Century protectionist policy aided the growth of infant industries in the United States. Promoters of free trade should not worry that trade openness results in chaos for some developing countries.

Trade is only a facilitating device.  If a country’s infrastructure is bad or has domestic policies that prevent investors from responding to market opportunities such as licensing restrictions, very little progress can be achieved.

Critics of free trade also argue that trade-driven growth benefits only the rich and not the poor. In India for example after economic and education reforms nearly 200 million people have come out of poverty. In China, which grew faster, it is estimated that more than 300 million people have moved above the poverty line since the reforms were initiated. Every major trading nation today is actively negotiating bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs).

However, for free trade agreements to work for Sri Lanka we need to work hard to improve our competitiveness and change the way we run our administration. But we need someone with a backbone in the Government to give leadership to this effort to get ourselves out of this debt crisis. A Cabinet reshuffle is not the answer, good leadership is!

VIP security for Kiriella’s daughter !

Mar 30, 2017

The daughter of higher education and highways minister Lakshman Kiriella, who is his personal secretary, is getting VIP security in violation of the accepted procedures, reports say.

Bodyguards given for the minister are providing security to her as well. Due procedure prevents VIP bodyguards from being detailed for work outside their duties.

 

As the private secretary to a minister, she is getting a VIP protection that is not available not even for a provincial councilor. A PC member can obtain VIP security only on recommendation by the defence secretary that the PC’s life is under threat.

 

Kiriella’s daughter is using her father’s bodyguards to protect him, and also they are made to cover her with an umbrella while in the sun.

 

When contacted, the police media unit refused to answer questions.

The Debt Trap – A myth, Reality Or Political Propaganda?

By Abdul Samad –March 30, 2017 

Abdul Samad

Leading up to the presidential elections in January 2015, national debt was a major topic of discussion. It was considered as a major failure of the Rajapaksa regime, and was used as political propaganda by the unity government to influence voters. The objective of this article is to understand the gravity of this issue.

Generally, national debt of any country is measured as a percentage of its GDP. It reflects the ability of a country to repay its debt without requiring further assistance. Any financial institution or a government, prior to assisting a country considers two major factors. Present debt level and the potential of growth. An article published by Business Insider U.K. in Oct. 2015 listed out seventeen countries with the highest debt levels. Below table gives the information together with GDP growth of the countries.It comes as a surprise that Japan ranks as number one. It’s the third largest economy in the world. Bank of Japan currently has a negative interest rate monetary policy aimed at spurring growth. It continues to add stimulus in the form of mortgage backed securities and various other tools. Thus, expanding the balance sheet of the central bank adding to national debt. The above table also suggests, most of the countries do not experience robust growth. This questions their ability to re-pay debt. Does it mean the above countries are worse off than Srilanka? Singapore is considered as the economic miracle of the last fifty years. It was also one of the active participants from the Asian region to negotiate the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States of /America, a landmark trade agreement. Such is its economic presence in the region. Do Srilankans enjoy a better quality of life than the Singaporeans? It is worth noting, there are some European heavyweights in the above table. Sluggish growth is a common factor. The European Central Bank akin to the Bank of Japan currently adopts a very accommodative monetary policy aiming to achieve economic growth. The Federal Reserve of the United States of America raised rates in its last policy meeting, only for the second time since the 2008 financial crises. Almost a decade of accommodative monetary policy has ensured the lowest unemployment rate (under 4%) since 2008. Has excessive debt stopped America from being the largest economic superpower of the world? The result of such monetary policy has led to vibrant capital markets. Dow Jones is at record high levels akin to all major European indices. The bull market in America is nearing a decade. It is often the case with most of these countries that the capital market performance is a fair reflection of the economy’s performance.

Now, let us look at Sri Lanka and some of its peers in the SAARC region. The below table provides the information.Comparing India and Srilanka would not be right, two different economies with different geographical settings and size. The difference is too much to put it into perspective. Nonetheless, it’s worth mentioning that compared to Sri Lanka, India faces far greater Economic development challenges. It’s always vulnerable to socio-economic shocks more than Srilanka. Its large domestic market acts as a shield against global economic shocks. India’s growth is much driven not by its efficiency, but by its sheer size of the domestic market. Domestic politics and the media are two main obstacles to radical economic reforms. With Modhi in power, things are looking much better on the economic front. Does debt stop India from being the fastest growing major economy in the world?

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