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A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thursday, September 2, 2021
Arrests and COVID cases climb in Sri Lanka as army chief issues warning
31 August 2021
Sri Lanka’s COVID death toll hit a grisly new figure earlier today, as more than 9,000 deaths were reported in total, making it one of Asia’s hardest-hit regions by the pandemic.
As an economic crisis and food shortage emergency also grips the island, the Sri Lankan security forces have meanwhile carried out spates of arrests with 581 people detained in the past 24 hours for allegedly violating quarantine curfew laws. A day earlier, 718 more people had been arrested, reaching a total of 61,587 individuals having been arrested for quarantine law violations since October 30, last year.
As the daily death toll topped over 200 per day this week, reports emerged from health professionals on the island that the true toll from the pandemic may be at least twice as high with authorities resorting to mass cremations to clear “bodies piling up at hospitals and morgues”.
After significant public pressure, Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced a ten-day lockdown, which has since been extended, following repeated calls from the healthcare profession, opposition parties, and trade unions.
However, the recommendations put forth by Sri Lanka’s Medical Association called for a minimum of a four-week lockdown to bring overall transmission down and avoid overwhelming health systems.
Amnesty International raised concerns over Sri Lanka’s response to the pandemic highlighting that public health officials have been silenced for “critiquing health policies” whilst many human rights activists have voiced concern that state forces have used the virus to normalise military occupation. Sri Lanka’s vaccine rollout has been spearheaded by military personnel with limited involvement of public health officials.
The militarised response to the pandemic has also seen an escalation in incidents of harassment, intimidation and surveillance.
In the North-East, state forces have continued to subject Tamils and Muslims to harassment and violence under the guise of enforcing COVID-19 regulations. In recent weeks Sri Lankan soldiers forced Eravur residents to kneel with their hands held up on the roadside for allegedly violating lockdown restrictions and in Mullaitivu, a Tamil youth was assaulted by police officers for allegedly not wearing a mask.
Despite the reports of military abuse, the war crimes-accused head of the Sri Lankan army Shavendra Silva, issued a public warning to “not misuse curfew and stay home”.
Silva added that the president has instructed the police to take “strict action against those violating the curfew”.
“Only essential services, apparel, construction workers, agriculture, health workers, pharmaceuticals and media would be allowed to operate” while, “supermarkets, restaurants and banks would remain closed and people [are] urged not to leave their homes,” he added.
Silva served as the commander of the 58th division during Sri Lanka’s military offensive in 2009 which stands accused of executing surrendering Tamils, sexual violence and the deliberate shelling of hospitals. He was placed in charge of the island’s coronavirus task force despite having no prior public health experience.
In May, Silva declared “there is no need to panic” despite Sri Lanka’s case count steadily increasing and confirmation of the UK variant in Colombo. As head of the COVID-19 response, he also opposed enforcing lockdown despite the recommendations of state health officials to get ahead of the spread and avoid overwhelming health systems.
