Irainativu protest for return of land from Sri Lankan Navy passes day 90

The people of Iranaitivu have now been protesting for over three months for the return of their land from the Sri Lankan Navy.

30 Jul  2017

The protest reached day 90 on Saturday.

“The government and military continue to betray us by refusing to return our land,” one protestor said.

“However no matter how many times we are deceived, we will continue to struggle for the return of our land and our sea from occupation.”

Irainativu is an islet off the west coast of Kilinochchi district from which around 176 families were displaced in 1997.

The families have struggled to build livelihoods from displacement, being blocked off from their traditional fishing waters and having had to leave behind their livestock and cultivation lands.

Related Articles: 

25 June 2017 : SL police threats against protesting Mannar priest condemned by Catholic Diocese

06 May 2017 : Irainativu villagers demand return of land from Sri Lankan Navy

Education should be reformed to create creative capital and not mere human capital

Rolf Dobelli 

Monday, 31 July 2017

The objective of education should be to create relevant and applicable wisdom among students
The continued economic prosperity of a nation depends on its having a critical pool of wisdom. Those with wisdom learn from the past with impassion, live in the present, map out the future avoiding a repeat of past mistakes and strengthen past achievements. When a society is equipped with a majority of such people, it becomes a critical pool.

Education should be reformed to create creative capital and not mere human capital.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

A ROLE FOR THE ICRC

with Ravi Ladduwahetty-2017-07-31

The Office of the Missing Persons Act, which was originally brought in 2006, was amended in February this year. The Cabinet approved an amendment to the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Act No. 14 of 2016, by removing Paragraph (a) of Section 11, stripping it of the power to 'enter into agreements, as are necessary, to achieve the mandate of the OMP, with any person or organization.'

The proposal to remove the paragraph was made by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP Bimal Ratnayake. "The Legal Draftsman has drafted the amendment to Section 11 of the OMP Act and the Attorney General has confirmed that the provisions of the Draft Bill are not inconsistent with the Constitution and is not subject to any of the prohibitions or restrictions imposed by the 13th Amendment," a Cabinet Memorandum, by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, read.

After considering the memo, the Cabinet granted approval to publish the said amendment, to the OMP Act, in the Government Gazette and present it to Parliament for approval.

When the OMP Act was debated in Parliament, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake pointed out that MP Ratnayake's proposal had been missed at the Committee Stage of the Bill. The Prime Minister assured the JVP that it will be included in the Act after discussing it with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

The aim and objective of the Act is to trace missing persons, which is a very positive step in the right direction, another hallmark of democracy.

Now, this is a function that is performed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It has the mandate for that and this is generally done in instances of armed conflict. There are also provisions in the Geneva Convention for that purpose. This is a process for either combatants or non combatants in the context of armed conflicts.

This has been given legal effect in 2006 with further amendments in 2017. The second aspect is that this Act empowers to provide information of missing persons of their whereabouts. In the international context, that obligation is granted to the ICRC which has all the powers in terms of the resources and the mandates. They also have the institutional knowledge and the capability to handle matters in relation to missing persons, unlike persons who will be appointed to such a Commission which is appointed through a local mechanism. Some of the examples of these are the Manouri Muttetuwegama Commission and the Paranagama Commission, which were seen to have deficiencies as well. They were seen to be deficient and they wanted a well structured mechanism to deal with these.

ICRC

Now, the next question is the manner in which a Missing Person could be classified and designated. One of the definitions of a missing person is a person whose whereabouts is unknown in terms of an armed conflict.

Then, what is relevant and moot in Sri Lanka is in the context of the North East Armed Conflict and it is in this context that the definition of a Missing Person has become very controversial today. This is due to the original definitions which have been provided by the academia, but politicians such as Udaya Gammanpila also have given various interpretations to it as well.

Section 27 of the Office of the Missing Persons Act specifically states and defines a Missing Person, as an individual who is either a combatant or a non combatant, a member of the Armed Forces or Police or a member of a rebel force (read LTTE). However, in the international context, the North East Armed Conflict is not an international armed conflict.

It is the ICRC which has techniques across the borders and those systems are superior to any system that Sri Lanka could come up with. Moreover, the ICRC is very independent in dealing with these matters and they also maintain very professional confidentiality. They have been doing it from the time of World War II and they have the Institutional Capability as well.

This brings to mind an ancient Chinese proverb which says that one must get advice from a person who has swum across the river in the night and not even not swum the river during the day time! It is swimming the river in the night that is more arduous and that advice would be best.

The second aspect of the Office of the Missing Persons Act is the victims of political disturbances or civil unrest of which the supreme examples could be the JVP insurrections in 1971 or 1988-1989.
It will be futile to prove or probe these matters as there is bound to be no evidence in that direction at all!

So, it will be futile for the Government to allocate further funds and resources especially in the backdrop of this moribund and beleaguered economy, at further expense of the tax payer when there is a sensible professional alternative in handing this role by the ICRC. If the government has some extra funds, it can give the ICRC. When it appoints its own people, then that will lead to corruption and also political nuances. Retaining an international organization will also lead to the confidentiality of the matters as well.Furthermore, no one will be able to use the ICRC material for prosecution either, which is also the silver lining in the dark clouds.

This could be reached at raviladu@gmail.com

Vetoing women prejudic in politics

2017-07-31

The year 1931 marked a milestone in the history of Sri Lanka, with women receiving the right to vote and get involved in politics. However today, the representation of women in local politics has been the lowest among the South Asian nations. Sri Lanka is ranked 180 out of 190 in the IPU ranking of female representation in Parliament as of July 2017, which of course was reason to raise concern. 
The Parliament passed the Local Authorities Elections Act No. 1 of 2016, to increase women’s representation at the local govt level as an advancing step to improve women involvement in politics. Until the amendment passed in 2016, the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act No. 22 of 2012 only provided for a 25% non-mandatory quota for both women and youth. Following the Amendment, a 25% mandatory quota for women was introduced, by increasing the total number of seats at the local authority level by one-third which is an optimistic result. 

Vetoing women prejudic in politics.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

Reforming Islam & The New World Order

By Ameer Ali –JULY 31, 2017

Dr. Ameer Ali

Ever since the current wave Militant Islamism led by Al-Qaeda burst out of Saudi Arabia, the birth place of Wahhabism, captured an international foothold and destabilised many a household and nation the call to reform Islam has become louder and louder. Although one can understand the emotional anxiety of the callers in the context of the horrific acts of violence and terror unleashed by Muslim extremists their emotions only demonstrate on the one hand the enormity of ignorance that prevails amongst the callers about this living faith, which is by any count is the way of life of nearly one-fifth of humanity, and on the other their refusal to see the crucial link between Islamist militancy and the so called New World Order with its neo-liberal economic paradigm.

To start with, the reform seekers seem to assume that there is a monolithic entity called Islam that needs to be refined and reformed by someone like the Pope or by a governing body like the Vatican in Catholic Christianity. On the contrary, there is neither a universally recognized grand mufti nor an internationally empowered Muslim religious institution that can initiate and implement binding reforms in the world of Islam which now stretches from the Canada in the west to China in the east and from Scandinavia in the north to New Zealand in the south. This demographically vast and geographically dispersed faith community although united theoretically in the fundamental beliefs of Islam yet differs significantly in the translation of those beliefs in practice.

In reality, living Islam is a smorgasbord of beliefs and practices, customs and traditions, and, rulings and debates that are so multifarious and sometime even contradictory that it is almost impossible to condense them into a single entity. The name Islam itself was a convenient moniker invented by the Orientalists in the 18th and 19th centuries who essentialised the theological, juridical, philosophical and cultural heterogeneity that pervaded the Muslim world since the 7th century in order for that invented entity to be compared and contrasted with Christianity and Christian civilization of the inventors with a deliberate intention of denigrating the faith of the Muslims. 

Within the spiritual amalgam of Muslims are the Islams of the mystics or Sufis, of the theologians of different schools within the Sunni and Shia sects, of the philosophers and rationalists, and above all of the syncretic faith of the Muslim masses, just to name a few.  All these islams derive their existential rationale from the way each of them interpret the original sources of the faith mainly the Quran and the actions and sayings of the Prophet, the Hadith.  Even within a particular variety of Islam some believers view these sources as contextually constrained and therefore their contents are subject to debates and discursiveness, while others believe that they are context-free and time-free and therefore should be accepted on face value. The militant Islamists belong to the latter category and herein lies the crux of the problem regarding reformation in Islam. Which Islam does one want to reform?

In a free and competitive market for goods and services the ones that are of superior quality would naturally fetch a high price and would be demanded intensely while the inferior ones would lose demand and disappear from the market eventually. Some goods and services may come and go with season and fashion. This economic truism is also applicable to the market for ideas and ideologies.

Militant Islamism driven by its narrow interpretation of the foundational religious texts is a recent and minority ideology that has captivated the attention of certain sections of world Muslims. However, what sustains that ideology as a threatening force to world peace and stability is not its theological content per se but the political and economic environment that surrounds it. This environment is the so called NWO.

The inequities and injustices embedded in NWO, especially in the Muslim Middle East, is closely linked to the rise of Islamist militancy. It is a pity that those who are demanding reforms in Islam do not seem to comprehend this umbilical cord between Islamist militancy and NWO.

None of the post-colonial Muslim Middle East regimes embraced the Islamist ideology when they became independent. Only Saudi Arabia which was not colonized declared Islam as its constitution with its ultraconservative Wahhabi teachings. Even in the pre-colonial Ottoman Empire which governed the territories of the post-colonial nations Islamism was not the ruling ideology. Islam and Islamism became a rallying cry only when the Ottomans faced an existential threat from the emerging Western nations, especially from Britain and France.

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New Inland Revenue Bill to further Parliament’s control over source of public finance: AG

By S.S. Selvanayagam-Monday, 31 July 2017

In a written submission to the Supreme Court concerning the Inland Revenue Bill, the Attorney General has reiterated that the proposed Bill is a law enacted in furtherance of Parliament’s control over a source of public finance and does not violate any of the provisions of the Constitution.
Inland Revenue Head Office 
Additional Solicitor General Farzana Jameel, with Senior Deputy Solicitor General Arjuna Obeysekere, State Counsels Suren Gnanaraj, Kaniska de Silva, Chaya Sri Namuni and Hashini Opatha, appeared for the Attorney General and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera. They made this submission on behalf of Minister Samaraweera and the Attorney General.

New Inland Revenue Bill to further Parliament’s control over source of public finance AG.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

Maithri-Ranil to take strong decisions to renew ‘Yahapaalanaya’! 

Jul 31, 2017

President Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have met at the home of finance and media minister Mangala Samaraweera and discussed at length how to solve conflicts of opinion between the two main affiliate parties of the government, reliable sources say.

They stressed the importance of facing collectively the challenges before the government. The president raised with the PM the criticism of the SLFP by UNP general secretary Kabir Hashim and other ministers. During his visit to Bangladesh, the president inquired from minister Malik Samarawickrema about Hashim’s critical remarks at the opening of an office of Kolonnawa UNP organizer S.M. Marikkar.

Also, media has reported that a majority in the UNP has taken strong reservations to SLFP minister Dilan Perera’s having seriously criticized the UNP’s conduct. The two leaders agreed to make sure that such contradictory situations would not occur in the future, the sources add.

They also decided to be firm with regard to strikes and other acts of sabotage by the joint opposition and to create a new public confidence on the government. They also agreed to discuss with relevant state institutions how to speed up investigations into fraud, corruption and crime as promised to the public when forming the government on 08 January 2015.

Parakrama Dissanayake

What is behind China's purchase of a port in Sri Lanka?

29 Jul 2017 

Billion-dollar deal reached over Hambantota port, despite protests over security fears, including from India.

The long-delayed $1.1bn sale of a 70 percent stake in Sri Lanka's Hambantota port, which straddles the world's busiest east-west shipping route, has been signed off in Colombo.

It will help Sri Lanka get on top of mounting debts and adds another important link in China's "New Silk Road".

But many in Sri Lanka see it as a sellout, and India is worried about China moving into its backyard.

Can Sri Lanka keep its worried neighbours on its side, while trying to play a bigger role in China's ambitious trade plans?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Nasal Rajapaksa - Joint opposition MP

Einar Tangen - Political affairs analyst

K.C. Singh - Former deputy secretary to the president of India

Source: Al Jazeera News

SRI LANKA MINISTER’S STAFF BANS NEWS FIRST

31/07/2017

News First, a Sri Lankan TV network has complained to the Hatton police that Minister Palani Digambaram’s press officer, Aruna Ratnayake, removed its microphone at a public function held in connection with the National Breastfeeding Week on 30th July.

It says the removal of its microphone amounts to harassment and a violation of right to information.
News First says it had received an invitation, dated July 28, 2017, from the Government Information to cover the event.

The microphone was removed before Minister Digambaram addressed the gathering.
The Island

An open letter to BOI, PPP on petroleum, gas and electricity industry

By Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya-Monday, 31 July 2017

So, here we go again. There is a new team leading the Board of Investment. A new PPP agency is in the making, whatever PPP means. PUCSL, the electricity industry regulator, has recently approved an all-diesel power generation plan (name board says ‘gas’ but to the delight of many, they will run on diesel). The oil refinery is ageing and falling apart. While the entire world is drawing comfort in their energy business with low energy prices, Sri Lanka is shivering, moving dangerously towards full-scale power blackouts, shortages and price increases. Why?

To the Board of Investment

Your previous Chairman said in early 2015 that he has received four “proposals” to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and that all four will be built. Note: The whole of India has only three terminals; the BOI wants Sri Lanka to have four terminals.

Obviously, the BOI Chairman did not know how much one cost, that the market is only for Sri Lanka (a gas terminal is not a garment factory, to manufacture and export), and that each one costs about $ 700 million. So he accepted “proposals” from four parties, boasted about it and did not allow a systematic process to be followed in procurement. Finally, two and a half years later, all four terminals, their proponents, local agents and the Chairman himself are gone with the wind. Sri Lanka is back to square one.

Adding insult to injury, the Government reportedly issued letters of intent to two countries to build gas terminals. What a joke? Governments do not issue letters of intent to another government. They are not worth the paper on which they are written on. Letters of intent are commercially binding documents, issued after a serious procurement process. You do not issue a letter of intent on an undefined project. Such flimsy documents in the bureaucratic jargon are called ‘non-binding MOUs’. So with a flimsy MoU on a gas terminal, Sri Lanka is again back to square one.

So as of now, Sri Lanka’s dream of importing natural gas is only what it means: i.e. a pipedream and if systematically approached, it need not be a pipedream.

Gas terminals are petroleum industry businesses. Therefore, the Petroleum Ministry should be making decisions on when and where it should be located and what size this terminal should be built. However difficult the bureaucracy, policy and decisions should be managed by the Ministry, not by the BOI. The correct way to do a LNG terminal is as follows:

Step 1: Sri Lankan experts (if required supported by international experts) decide where, what type and what size of gas terminal we need. This has already been done many times over, more firmly in 2014, with a feasibility study produced.

Step 2: Sri Lanka decides what financing mode to follow. The first investment most suitably can be from the State sector, with multilateral banks supporting. Subsequent investments can be privately raised.

Step 3: Prepare bid documents and call for bids to build the terminal. If the decision is for a private investment, issue a structured document calling for binding proposals, bid bonds included. Do not accept (flimsy) “proposals” from friends of the Government for they do not know the gravity of the project.

Step 4: Go ahead and do it!

Finally, BOI, remember that a gas terminal or a power plant is not a garment factory. It costs a lot more, gas customers are all local and if you get it wrong (or not do it at all), it has serious impacts on your own investors who are energy customers, if the gas terminal investor runs away.

LoIs, MOUs, mean nothing to Sri Lanka. Even if it takes time, a structured approach will be the winner. Sri Lanka has tried the approach of ‘call a friend and ask him to build a terminal’ for more than 20 years with no results! The systematic professional approach will be the winner, not the hasty deals, even with a friendly government.

Why? Remember that a gas terminal or a power plant is not a garment factory. The customers are local.

To the new PPP agency

News is flowing in about a belated decision over a new agency to handle PPP projects, whatever that means. In general, PPP means private-public partnerships but in most countries PPP has a different, more practical meaning: “Giving public projects to the private sector, with no competitive bidding, at their design, at their price, and agree to buy their product or service at their price.” Let us assume that in Sri Lanka this will not be the case.

For some projects, PPP is not workable. If a feasibility study says a private investment is not viable for a given project, then it is not viable. Period. Projects can be financially unviable but they can be economically viable. Example: Railway development.

There is no purpose in searching worldwide for that illusive investor for a financially unviable project. Surely there will be enough investors and their agents coming to you saying ‘we will do it, we will do it’ only to run away when their bankers examine and reject the project. By then, Sri Lanka would have wasted a good five years welcoming the bogus investors, filling up newspaper headlines with photos of men in black suits shaking hands with the PPP agency.

We have enough examples, haven’t we? The Katunayake expressway, solid waste management, export refinery in Hambantota. With each project, Sri Lanka wasted over 10 years and only the first one was built ultimately. Not in PPP. Some leaders in Sri Lanka clearly identified what the private sector can do and what they cannot do. Other political leaders and their catcher boys are still learning how to define a project!

Again remember that in the energy sector, both in electricity and hydrocarbons, the customers are all local and getting the correct type of power plant, gas terminal or refinery at the correct price and at the correct time are most important.

To both BOI and PPP agency

The energy sector has certain technical and economic realities. Although solar and wind are useful additions, they cannot stand alone and supply the customers. They need a strong grid, held stable by conventional generators, running cheap. That’s what all countries racing towards renewables did; first the stable power plants, and then the dash to renewables. So renewables are all out in the open while conventional generators are hidden in the jungle, doing their duty to keep the supply stable and patch up when renewables die down.

Sri Lanka started it at the wrong end, but not without reason. We started off with only hydropower, and underwent immense hardships when reservoirs ran dry. In living memory, we have had blackouts in 1974, 1979, 1983, 1987, 1992, 1996, 2001 and 2002 but not thereafter. Did we get better after 2002? No! Governments got wiser, found avenues to award short-term rush-rush contracts, wasting precious money on diesel plants to bridge the gap. They are doing it today as well. If you do not believe this go to the Galle, Hambantota, Kurunegala and Pallekelle substations. How you identify a major substation is when you see tall power lines ending there, and starting off from there. The name board says ‘Grid Substation’. Watch the diesel bowsers going into nearby yards, many a day; listen to the hum of the diesel engines. Do you hear them? That’s it. You have found it. The ingenious way to make you believe Sri Lanka runs on solar panels but actually produces electricity using diesel. Right now 41% of electricity comes from diesel. More is on the way and yet more is coming after the regulator, the PUCSL, ordered CEB to build more diesel power plants (with a name board ‘gas’) for the next 20 years!

Sri Lanka’s electricity system cannot withstand the loss of the largest generator because we have too many weak generators: hydro, solar, wind and diesel. All competitor countries have more reliable power systems. In technical jargon we call it inertia and stability, but the blue-eyed boys in finance and politics do not want to hear any of that. They hate science and mathematics, therefore engineering. Energy is heavily linked to engineering and mathematics. No way out.

Your other investors who use electricity and petroleum have to be told that Sri Lanka’s is not an engineered electricity system and that it is designed by very knowledgeable politicians and the committees that sit in all ministries other than the Energy Ministry, the BOI, and shortly, in the PPP agency. Have more committees to do what the Energy Ministry should do, and when the crisis hits, run away and let the Energy Minister manage it.

SAARC offers a full bundle of grass to our bullocks -those protesting against SAITM !

(Lanka-e-News - 31.July.2017, 6.30AM)  While a group of opportunists which includes  the Neanderthal revolutionaries and   GMOA terrorist team of doctors are staging murderous protests only  against the  private medical education in the country ,the SAARC general secretary Amjad B.Sial has proposed to launch a SAARC medical College in SL for students, in line with International standards at economical  rates for students .

This proposal was made at the international conference of health ministers of SAARC countries which was  held in Colombo on the 29 th.

SL which accepted this proposal wholeheartedly has agreed to take the responsibility and play the lead role in this undertaking, the  SL health minister Rajitha Senaratne who participated in the conference   made this revelation.

Though our Nenderthals cannot understand anything in the right perspective , the intelligent  State diplomats of South Asian countries  have understood there is a huge demand for medical education and a great many are seeking it in  wealthy European countries. Therefore it is their view  opportunities and  facilities should be provided to our students to receive medical education of  international standard  based on  reasonable charges within the zone. 

While such concern is being shown towards SL and its medical education , in contradistinction , our own so called doctors of the GMOA ( government medical officers association ) now better known as government medical oppressors association owing to their heartless attitude to suffering  patients in hospitals ,  have never ever thought of making any sacrifice on behalf of the country or the patients . They only jeopardized the lives of patients by staging anti SAITM  strikes with hypocritical motives and to serve evil  political agendas.    While enjoying free education at tax payers’ expense,  raising their private channeling fees unendingly  and demanding perks and privileges from the government unrelentingly these medical officers now rightly  dubbed medical oppressors have never asked what they can do for the country or the sacrifices  they can make  even in a health crisis when the country is facing an epidemic.

Amjad the secretary of SAARC is a foreign service officer with a wealth of experience . He was in Pakistan’s foreign service for 33 years and has a thorough knowledge in his sphere of operations. India,  Pakistan , Sri Lanka , Bangla Desh , Bhutan ,Nepal , Afghanistan and Maldives are the South Asian countries coming under the SAARC organization. SAARC is represented by 21% of the world population , and it represents 4 % of the world economy. Such a community with that infinite capacity deciding to launch the first  international medical College in SL is indeed a blessing .

Yet to the two legged  buffaloes of SL who are staging protests to close down SAITM this blessing is another bundle of grass for them to devour.  Undoubtedly going by their puerile conduct and mental imbalance  , these imbeciles and idiots are going to stage protests in front of the railway  station and scream through a megaphone that ‘SAARC organization is a tool of the imperialists ,’ and ‘ Amjad Thambiya should resign forthwith from the SAARC secretary post’ 

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by     (2017-07-31 01:05:47)

Alert SriLankan cabin crew members avert a major incident onboard UL 166

 July 31, 2017 

Alert cabin crew members aboard SriLankan Airlines’ flight UL 166 managed to avert a major incident that is believed to have been caused by the ignition of a lithium battery pack or mobile phones in a passenger’s hand luggage. The incident reported on July 30, 2017 when the flight was en route to Colombo from Kochi.

 

Passengers broke out in applause at the decisive manner in which the crew handled the situation, as none of the 202 passengers or any of the crew suffered any injuries and the Airbus A330-200 aircraft landed safely at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) at the scheduled time.

 

Shortly after the meal service on the 70-minute flight was concluded, alert cabin crew members in the aft area of the aircraft noticed smoke appearing from an overhead luggage bin. The cabin manager and the captain were immediately informed. The aft cabin crew members rapidly armed themselves with fire extinguishers and opened the bin. Upon finding a bag emitting smoke, they sprayed it with an extinguisher. The crew then removed the bag from the overhead bin and carried it quickly away from the passengers to the aft galley, at which time it began to emit smoke once again at a faster rate. Suspecting a lithium fire, they adopted the lithium fire extinguishing procedure by immersing the bag in a container of water. The situation was successfully contained and the bag ceased to emit smoke. Upon investigation, the crew found a lithium battery pack and two mobile phones in the bag.

 

The flight crew immediately informed air traffic controllers at BIA and the aircraft was met on arrival by dangerous goods experts, firefighters and other safety related personnel. Since the situation was under control, passengers did not require emergency evacuation and disembarked in the usual manner.

 

SriLankan Airlines has launched an investigation into the incident, as have the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka.

 

With its prime priority being the safety and well-being of its passengers, SriLankan Airlines provides all its cabin crew with rigorous training in the handling of all types of emergency situations, including possible fires on board. Also, the Airline has been actively involved in global safety measures with regard to spontaneous ignition of Lithium batteries. In October 2016, SriLankan imposed a total ban on the carriage and usage of ‘Samsung Note 7’ on board its aircraft.

 

SriLankan Airlines commends the crew of flight UL 166 for their vigilance, timely action and calmness under pressure in adopting the proper procedures, which avoided a major incident.

SRI LANKA: When the law ceases to be a command that must be obeyed

By Basil Fernando-July 31, 2017

A lawyer practicing in Negombo was abducted on the night of 12 July 2017 and taken to a deserted field. There six persons, two of whom were wearing camouflaged uniforms, beat him thoroughly on his back and his head, threatening him that, “you should not be messing with us,” and “you should not try to fight with the police”. Holding a gun to his head, they threatened to shoot him. They also took off his shirt, took two mobile telephones from his pocket, stole all the money he had in his wallet, around Rupees 30,000, and threatened to sexually abuse him, removing his trousers and underwear. When the lawyer finally retaliated and said, “I am merely doing my job as a lawyer and you better do your jobs,” they again assaulted him and then drove away.

With great difficulty he found his way back home, where his wife called 119, following which a police jeep arrived at his house. His wife told them what happened, and he wanted the police to take his statement. The officers replied that he should go to a police station and make a complaint. His wife took him to the Ragama hospital, where he was admitted and examined by a judicial medical officer. He tried to get the hospital police to come and record his statement, but they failed to appear.

 His wife went to the Ragama Police station and requested them to come and record a statement, but they also failed to do so. The lawyer was discharged from the hospital two days later. He then contacted the Ragama police several times and asked them to record his statement, but to no avail. After another two days, a police officer finally came to take his statement, but when he asked for the reference, they refused to give it. Finally, he made a complaint to the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, presenting in a lengthy affidavit everything that has happened to him.

Amongst other things, the affidavit also stated that this attack relates to his work as a lawyer and for no other reason. The Bar Association asked his wife who is also a lawyer to come to Hulftdorp to meet the President and the office bearers of the Bar Association, which she did. She was promised that the Bar Association will take action to ensure a thorough investigation.

However, a few days later, the lawyer found that some innocent persons have been arrested and allegedly tortured to confess for being responsible for this attack. They were produced before a Magistrate and remanded, and the lawyer was asked to come to an identification parade to identify the alleged culprits. He refused to do so, telling the police that no proper inquiry into the incident has been made, and the proper culprits have not been identified, although there are several CCTV cameras along the way where he was abducted. At the same time, neither his mobile telephones nor his money has been recovered.

The lawyer informed the Bar Association that a fake inquiry is being conducted with the view to cover up the crime and to give the impression that an inquiry is being conducted. He has asked the Bar Association of Sri Lanka to ensure that the inquiry be handed over to a special CID unit, and to take the inquiry out of the control of the Ragama police station.

The problem this lawyer has faced is being faced by many throughout the country. Either no inquiry is conducted into the complaint or a fake inquiry is conducted, and persons unrelated to the crime are produced in courts to give the impression that a successful inquiry has been conducted.

The purposes of these fake inquiries are manifold. As in the case of the lawyer, the reason for the fake inquiry may well be the fact that after the Bar Association has intervened in the case, some senior police officers have been in touch with the lawyer as well as the police. The arrest of some persons may have been to create the impression on these senior officers that the problem has been solved and that the officers at the police station have done their duties. In other instances, the fake inquiries are for the purpose of hiding and saving the actual culprits. In these instances, either the relevant inquiring officers have been approached by the culprits, or in some instances the police themselves are involved to some degree or the other in the crime. Or, in other instances, it may well be after failing to solve the crime, to cover up their failure, the police find substitute perpetrators. This is manifest in many cases of torture and forced confessions.

It is unfortunate that today, in Sri Lanka, getting an inquiry into a crime requires considerable pressure. To circumvent the difficulties in getting complaints registered and investigated, people approach higher police officers, the National Police Commission, the Human Rights Commission, or even the media. Another common method is to approach a powerful local personage, such as a politician.

While the Criminal Procedure Code of Sri Lanka has lengthily laid down what the police are expected to do by way of registering complaints of crime and investigations into these crimes, the Criminal Procedure Code is no longer a law to be obeyed always. The difficulties involved in a pursuit of a complaint are such that many people prefer to find solutions other than those relying on the police. At the same time, the police, the prime institution for law enforcement, find many ways to circumvent their obligations in discharging justice.

If one was to make complaints regarding these issues to the courts, then there are other insurmountable difficulties such as enormous delays in the adjudication process. The same lawyer mentioned above has made another complaint 08 years ago about an attack on him by the police, and the fundamental rights application that he filed, before the Supreme Court is still pending.
Some of the ways which have been found to mock the seekers of justice is amazing. In one instance, a group of police officers including the OIC assaulted a young man and threw acid on his eyes as a result of which he lost the sight in one eye permanently. After the complaint and much agitation through the media, the police finally filed a criminal charge against one police officer the OIC, by then the OIC was already dead. While the other officers who were living were not charged, only the dead policeman was charged.

When the law is mocked to this extent, what scope is there for the pursuit of justice by person whose rights and dignity have been seriously violated? The ultimate outcome is, that the legal process favours the violator and the not the victim.