Sri Lanka’s frenzied response to UN report

31 January 2021

The Sri Lankan government lambasted a report from the United Nations human rights chief last week, as it sent a response which defended accused war criminals, denied reports of rights abuses and slammed accusations of ongoing discrimination.  

In an almost 20-page response sent to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a draft version of which has been seen by the Tamil Guardian, the Sri Lankan government called her report “speculative, presumptive and unsubstantiated opinions”.

The response was sent to the United Nations on Wednesday, just hours before it was publicly released, following days of intense deliberations between senior Sri Lankan government officials. The Sunday Times reported that Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was “angered” by the report and had “summoned a meeting at his Secretariat last Monday to obtain the views of the participants for a strong response”.

UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s report warned of the “seeds of future violence and conflict” in Sri Lanka, as she called for member states to consider “asset freezes and travel bans” on Sri Lankan officials accused of human rights abuses and for the country to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Ahead of its public release, the Sri Lankan government responded directly to Bachelet by accusing her of making “sweeping, impetuous conclusions”.

'Majoritarian and exclusionary rhetoric'

The response began by rejecting the report’s findings that “Sri Lanka’s armed conflict grew out of progressively deepening discrimination and marginalisation of the country’s minorities, particularly the Tamils”. “Any attempt to attribute the war waged by the LTTE to alleged “discrimination and marginalization” of Tamils, therefore, should only be perceived as an attempt to justify and legitimize the ruthless terrorism unleashed by the LTTE,” said the government.

“It is reminded that the conflict that took place in Sri Lanka was between the Government forces and a ruthless terrorist outfit,” it continued.

Sri Lanka went on to “categorically rejects unsubstantiated opinions expressed in the report,” including the deep concern in the report over “the increased use of ethno-nationalistic and majoritarian rhetoric and symbols by the President and other senior Government figures, which define public policies that appear to exclusively reflect the perceived interests of the Sinhala Buddhist majority, and with minimal consideration for minority communities”.

“Ethnic and religious minority communities are left behind and excluded in such official discourse, and often perceived and treated as posing a threat,” it added. “Such an approach has serious negative implications for reconciliation, peacebuilding and religious tolerance, and carries the seeds of future violence and conflict.”

Rajapaksa receives blessings from Sinhala Buddhist monks last year.

Sri Lanka chose to respond by rejecting those comments and instead said “the role and contribution of Buddhism in shaping Sri Lanka’s over 2500 years of history has been immense, and the Buddhist teachings of peace and tolerance have helped different faiths and beliefs to flourish and harmoniously co-exist side by side in Sri Lanka for thousands of years.”

“This has been reflected in Article 9 of the Constitution which requires the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana,” the draft response added.

'No proven allegations'

Sri Lanka was more fervent in its denial of war crimes and atrocities committed by its armed forces, particularly with regards to the final phase of the armed conflict in 2009, which saw tens of thousands of Tamils massacred.

“Sri Lanka’s military is a disciplined entity tasked to protect the country’s territorial integrity,” it claimed, stating that the military offensive was “legitimate action”.

“Civilians who fled the clutches of the LTTE during the final phase of the war were accommodated in welfare villages,” Sri Lanka added, referring to the camps where more than 300,000 Tamils were detained. The Times of London noted at the time that as many as 1,400 people were dying in those camps every week.

It went on to slam previous UN reports which detailed the atrocities committed in 2009, stating it “does not extend any credence or legitimacy” to them. In particular, Sri Lanka defended the current army chief Shavendra Silva and defence secretary Kamal Gunaratne, maintaining that “no factually substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations exist”. This is despite Silva being barred from entry to the USA for his role in overseeing war crimes, including the execution surrendering of Tamils.

The Sri Lankan response also rejected “the allegation of militarization of civilian Government functions”. “These senior officials have been picked based on their expertise and professional qualifications, having regard to giving effective implementation of Government policies,” it claimed.

On Sri Lanka’s policy of forcibly cremating suspected coronavirus victims, despite Islamic belief and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance, Colombo continued to assert that “the protocol of cremation is adopted based exclusively on scientific and public health grounds”.

'Sweeping, impetuous conclusions'

“UNHCR is engaged in an exercise of building a negative perception of a Government that has only spent a few months in office,” Sri Lanka added, claiming the High Commissioner had made “sweeping, impetuous conclusions”.

It added there were “baseless forecasts” and “a wealth of misinformation”, and claimed it was an attempt “to mislead the United Nations and international community”. The Sri Lankan response concluded that the report had a “preconceived, politicized and prejudicial agenda which certain elements have relentlessly pursued to trigger such disproportionate and unwarranted measures against Sri Lanka”.

In the aftermath of the report release, Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary has made multiple remarks to the island's southern media, where he has repeatedly rejected the report's findings, hit out at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United States and the Tamil diaspora, and claimed that thousands of forcibly disappeared Tamils are abroad “living somewhere”.

Read more:

Core Group have indicated ‘consensus resolution and another year’ claims Sri Lankan foreign secretary

International calls for accountability and sanctions on Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan foreign secretary rejects 'unsubstantiated' UN report

Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary hits out at UN, USA and Tamil diaspora

Sri Lankan foreign secretary slams UN Human Rights Council and claims disappeared Tamils are 'abroad'

Meanwhile, foreign secretary, Jayanath Colombage who himself stands accused of being complicit in torture, 

Claimed that his government was awaiting the text of a proposed consensus resolution from the Core Group – consisting of Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and the UK, despite overwhelming calls for an international accountability mechanism to be mandated.

As Colombo-based diplomats signalled their willingness for a consensual resolution last week, international human rights groups lambasted the move, highlighting that Sri Lankan government has not shown any support for “an international process to end the cycle of impunity and advance accountability”.

Read more:

 ‘A consensual resolution will not achieve anything’ – human rights groups urge core members to adopt a ‘tough’ resolution on Sri Lanka

UN report warns of ‘seeds of future violence’ in Sri Lanka

 Mohan Pieris Accuses UNHRC In Geneva Of Being Tool For ‘Vanquished Terrorists’; Suffers Rebuke From UN Secretary General

JANUARY 30, 2021

Disgraced former Chief Justice and Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s envoy to the United Nations in New York Mohan Pieris embarrassed himself and the Government of Sri Lanka in his very first address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday (28), accusing the Human Rights Council in Geneva of being a tool of terrorists.

Mohan Pieris

With the whole world in the chamber, Pieris also accused UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet of engaging in an “exercise” in regime change in Sri Lanka, in her latest report to the Human Rights Council, which was a damning assessment of the Nandasena Regime’s human rights trajectory.

The exercise was an attempt to score points with his masters in Colombo sources told Colombo Telegraph.

The humiliating incident occurred as the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres presented his annual report to the UN General Assembly that did not specifically mention Sri Lanka. However during an informal interactive session soon after the Guterres’ address, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Mohan Pieris thought it fit to question the motives of the UN Secretary General and the UN system with regard to its concerns on human rights in Sri Lanka.

“I was fascinated with the theme that we must make it happen together, which was perhaps said a countless number of times during your presentation.

But Sri Lanka has a problem. We are made to feel we are not in it together. It’s 12 years since the end of the conflict and we have come a long way from those times. The temperature in the country is very low now. It is peaceful. But it appears that the global temperature for Sri Lanka, particularly in the Human Rights Council has been maintained at an all time high and that’s regrettable.”

Mohan Pieris who has a dubious record as a gross human rights violator during his tenure on the bench added “It appears today that the vanquished…it appears that terrorist groups and terrorism is making use of very civilised mechanisms to unleash a different kind of terrorism. To walk themselves into the very mechanism that protect a civilised world.”

“Should our mandates extend to interfering with local processes such as perhaps an exercise in a change of regime which is being critiqued in a recent report form the human rights council,” the Sri Lankan Envoy continued.

Pieris’ decision to equate the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), victim groups and human rights organisations as tools of “vanquished terrorists” invoked a strong response from Secretary General Guterres who decided to use the opportunity to school the former “Chief Justice” in the UN’s commitment to truth, justice and reconciliation. The Secretary General told Pieris that the involvement of others would be drastically reduced if the Sri Lankan Government takes reconciliation and justice seriously.

“It is important to recognise that in today’s world there is a growing concern and interest including international institutes from the human rights and legal dimensions on post conflict situations, mainly reconciliation and accountability. I hope that all the interventions that are taking place at present will help the process of effective reconciliation and effective accountability. ..a country has to heal its wounds. Truth is essential for this and without truth and reconciliation it is impossible to move forward. ..Accountability is an important instrument in that regard. I can only hope that the Sri Lankan people and the Sri Lankan government will take seriously these two needs, reconciliation and accountability and reduce the interest of other entities to be also directly involved,” the Secretary General of the United Nations said.

Antonio Guterres is a former prime minister of Portugal and served as the UN High Commsioner for Refugees prior to being elected as the UN SG. He was an activist against the Portuguese dictatorship until 1974.

Mohan Pieris on the other had is a disgraced Chief Justice who in 2013 entered to through the ‘exit’ with a large contingent of military personnel to be placed as Chief Justice after the flawed impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake.

While Pieris was ‘CJ’ he informed the UN Committee on Torture that journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda was comfortably and safely living in a certain country; and when called upon by a court of law to disclose which country that was, replied that “only god knows”. Presiding over a torture and custodial death case as “Chief Justice” Pieris once proclaimed from the bench that terror suspects have no human rights after the custodial death of PTA prisoner Ganesan Nimalaruban, who died in police custody under torture. Nimalaruban was not charged for a crime at the time of his death. Nimalaruban’s parents had filed the fundamental rights petition that came before Peiris.

Prior to being elevated to the position of CJ Peiris was Chairman of the Seylan Bank, Director of Lanka Logistics (the arms purchasing unit of the Ministry of Defence), Director of Rakna Lanka Security (a security company established by then Defence Secretary Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa), Legal Adviser in the Ministry of Defence and Attorney General.

Through Mohan Peris the Sri Lankan government has framed its human rights issues as an extension of the war on terror and repeatedly eluded that those raising concerns on human rights, including the High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, activists victims and all others as terrorists.

In the past Sri Lanka has been successful in keeping its human rights war crimes related issues out of the agenda in New York. Mohan Pieris on his own volition, without reason or provocation has raised Sri Lanka’s human rights issues at the UNGA. A senior career diplomat quipped that Pieris’s desire to please his political masters and get a sound bite into local media has now not only highlighted Sri Lanka at the UNGA but ensured a strong and embarrassing rebuttal by the Secretary General himself.

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Sri Lanka Govt to recruit 200 ex-military personal to monitor prison offcials.

Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard near the Welika maximum prison in Colombo on November 10, 2012. Sri Lanka's military was called in to quell the worst prison riot in nearly three decades that left at least 16 people dead and 43 wounded, officials said. AFP PHOTO / Ishara S.KODIKARA (Photo credit should read Ishara S.KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)

Image courtesy of www.gettyimages.ie.

30/01/2021

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed the formation of a special unit of retired military personnel to check all prison officers who enter and leave prisons, according to  State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation, Lohan Ratwatte.

Ratwatte has told The Island that earlier only junior prison officers were frisked, but recent developments had shown the need to frisk even the most senior prison officials.

The objective was to stem the flow of drugs, cellphones and money into the prisons, he said.

“The President has instMilitary ructed us to recruit 200 military personnel who retired after 12 years in service. We are trying to recruit them soon.”
IS

What’s in store in Geneva for the Sri Lankan Government

 

UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s report on Sri Lanka contains a devastating and unprecedented critique of the handling of human rights in the country, and its recommendations have escalated the possible interventions of the Council beyond anything that has been proposed to the Council to date

Saturday, 30 January 2021 

The UN Human Rights Council’s first session of the year 2021 to be held from 22 February to 23 March is the most important because it opens with the participation of member states at the ministerial level, known as the High-Level Segment. Often, foreign ministers, ministers of human rights, justice ministers and others of similar rank speak at the Council on behalf of their countries and take up issues of human rights around the world.  

As in the other two sessions held later in the year in June and September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights presents her own reports of the work commissioned by the Human Rights Council. In addition, experts appointed by the Council on thematic issues known as Special Procedures also present their reports on their country visits and studies of human rights situations in the countries designated for scrutiny.

The report of the High Commissioner on Sri Lanka contains a devastating and unprecedented critique of the handling of human rights in the country, and its recommendations have escalated the possible interventions of the Council beyond anything that has been proposed to the Council to date. 

The logic of this escalation is based on the High Commissioner’s conviction of an accelerated deterioration in civic, political, minority, religious and other democratic rights under the present administration which she explicitly states needs the UN Human Rights Council’s “urgent attention”. 

The High Commissioner will also be presenting her findings to the General Assembly in New York through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in furtherance of her mandate specified in General Assembly Res-olution 48/141. In this context, some of her recommendations assume an added significance. 

There are recommendations that she makes to the member states that Sri Lanka should not ignore.  One is that member states may consider the referral of the Sri Lankan case to the International Criminal Court. This is unprecedented. A reading of the report clearly suggests that this was occasioned by what she perceives as the early warning signs of a dangerous trend: rapidly escalating militarisation and the closing of democratic space by the present Sri Lankan administration, rather than as a response to the Tamil Diaspora lobbyists’ long-standing demands.

Another recommendation is the application of the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, which was first proposed by previous Human Rights High Commissioner Zaid-al-Hussain. 

Universal Jurisdiction enables a state to claim criminal jurisdiction over a person accused of a crime regardless of their nationality and place the crime was allegedly committed. Former President of Chile, Augusto Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998 on a Spanish warrant charging him with human rights violations in Chile during his time in office. He was extradited to Spain and was tried in a Spanish court under the principle of “universal jurisdiction”. His claims of immunity were rejected by the British Courts on the grounds that torture and crimes against humanity did not form part of the “functions” of a head of state. 

No member state acted on High Commissioner Zaid-al-Husain’s urging with regard to Sri Lanka, agreeing to let Sri Lanka investigate alleged violations of human rights through local processes. The context in which it has been suggested this time is significantly different from previous years with High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet emphasising the current practices of the Sri Lankan government which she describes as “trends emerging over the past year, which represent clear early warning signs of a deteriorating human rights situation and a significantly heightened risk of future violations, and therefore calls for strong preventive action.”  Such language during peacetime in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern all round and warrants serious attention.

The Sri Lankan Government will have to respond. If it doesn’t do so effectively, it will have an impact not only on the Government but also on individual officials, because the High Commissioner also recommends “possible targeted sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans against credibly alleged perpetrators of grave human rights violations and abuses”. The current Army Commander has already had a travel ban imposed on him, and as such these should not be regarded as empty threats. 

In addition, she recommends the application of “stringent vetting procedures to Sri Lankan police and military personnel identified for military exchanges and training programme”. Sri Lanka has already faced the consequences of this form of punitive action where members of the Sri Lankan military were denied opportunities for training. Furthermore, the report calls for continued review of Sri Lanka’s contribution to UN peacekeeping operations.

Even if Sri Lanka were to ignore the contents of the High Commissioner’s Report, it will still have to deal with the consequences of its recommendations, if any of the member states or indeed individuals decide to act on them. An effective response will be essential if Sri Lanka is not to be seen by possible investors as a place likely to deteriorate into violent conflict and widespread human rights abuses. That is not an attractive climate for investment decisions.

The Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs has claimed that Sri Lanka is a peaceful country 12 years after the end of the war and to be accused of human rights violations was “unfair”.  This will not be a good enough defence in Geneva where the issues brought up in the report have little to do with peace now but with lack of progress on accountability for alleged incidents of war crimes, failure to establish credible local processes, reducing space for democracy, increasing militarisation, and surveillance of civic actors and journalist, to list a few.

Asserting that no one has the right to dictate to us about democracy contradicts the logic of the UN Human Rights Council that all member states of the UN have a duty to speak on any concerns regarding human rights, including political and civil rights. There is in fact an open agenda item called “Any other matter requiring the Council’s attention”. During the war years, Sri Lanka was brought up often under this agenda item even if it was not formally included in the agenda. Sri Lanka needs a far better strategy of engagement which takes that into account. 

Three Special Procedure mandate holders of the Human Rights Council issued a joint appeal to the governed of Sri Lanka on 25 January 2021 urging the Government to stop what they termed “forced cremations”. This issue will surely be brought up at the Council and the language of the joint appeal indicates the form it will most likely take. 

The Special Rapporteurs attribute the Government’s decision to disallow burials of COVID fatalities to “discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism amounting to persecution of Muslim and other minorities in the country”. This is very strong language and the Rapporteurs were hardly detained by the peaceful nature of the country at present. A Government Minister’s protest that they will be guided by the WHO and local experts will inevitably fail to convince the Council due to the fact that both WHO guidelines and a stellar committee of local experts appointed by the Prime Minister, recommended both burial and cremation as safe options for COVID-19 fatalities.

The Secretary/External Affairs fears that the north will hijack the agenda of the Council to target Sri Lanka. The Human Rights Council does not have any veto-wielding members and membership is based on equitable geographic distribution. This means that there are fewer member states from the global North and more from the global South. 

Sri Lanka was already placed formally on the agenda of the upcoming session as per earlier resolutions which requested the High Commissioner to monitor and report on its progress to the Council at this session. Her latest report on Sri Lanka is presented in that context.

It has been revealed that the External Affairs Ministry is awaiting the draft of a resolution on Sri Lanka being proposed by UK, Canada, Macedonia, Germany and Montenegro. It is expected to be a ‘consensual resolution’. The Foreign Secretary stated in an interview with the Daily Mirror that this was “the only thing on the table”. If this is the case, it is an important fact. 

Consensual Resolution requires a consensus between the parties by definition. If it fails to achieve that or is challenged by Sri Lanka, it will be presented to a vote at the Council. It is then that the 47 member states of the Council will support or oppose the resolution which will be adopted if a majority of countries vote in support. However, all member states of the UN and ECOSOC registered NGOs, if they inscribe their names to speak on the matter, are able to present their views before the vote, to persuade the voting members either way. The Global South can have its say as much as or even more than the Global North. 

While this administration withdrew from previous resolutions which were co-sponsored by the earlier regime, this resolution will need the Government’s full engagement through our diplomats in Geneva if it hopes to persuade the Council of its position on Human Rights in Sri Lanka. Given the tone and tenor, Conclusions and Recommendations of the High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka and the perception of the Special Rapporteurs of Sri Lanka’s motivation in its public health decisions on COVID-19 deaths, the Government of Sri Lanka has its work cut out for it.

(Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka is the author of ‘Mission Impossible-Geneva: Sri Lanka’s Counter-hegemonic Asymmetric Diplomacy at the UN Human Rights Council’, Vijitha Yapa, Colombo, 2017.)

 Seeing Sri Lanka Through ‘Google Trends’ In 2020

By Tharosa M. Rajaratne and Dr. Nalin S. Gama-Arachchige –JANUARY 30, 2021

Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic evolved into becoming the chief governing factor behind all human activities worldwide during the year 2020. This unanticipated turn of events ultimately instigated a paradigm shift in the social sphere to what is known as the ‘new normal’. From an ideal standpoint, it is evident that this new normal will remain as is in the foreseeable future. At present, Sri Lanka is facing the second wave of the COVID19 pandemic, with a total case count exceeding 60,000; becoming the 139th out of 211 countries and territories, in terms of cases per million citizens. The ‘new normal’ is characterized by adaptations and setbacks of citizens. Thus this article intends to analyze the social reflexes of Sri Lanka, shown in to various sociological aspects, by means of Google Search Trends during the first year under the COVID19 pandemic.

Google is the search engine of most electronic devices by default, and also the most preferred among the internet users of Sri Lanka. The Google search data encompass the search queries requested on YouTube, Google Images, and Google News. Since all the search queries are recorded based on location, frequency, and time, the relationship between contemporary world events and their corresponding social reflexes can be built along a timeline, i.e. trends, in this case, during the year 2020. The internet certainly plays an active role in the new normal situation essentially to comply with the novel social etiquettes. The Google Search trends related to Social awareness, Healthcare, Economy, Self-care, and Education sectors provide a useful insight into investigation of the social behavior with COVID-19.

Awareness and Healthcare

A considerable cohort of internet users accesses the internet for awareness purposes. This includes the recurrent use of the Google Search Engine to follow news updates on isolated or ongoing incidents. The search terms Coronavirus and COVID and their immediate word derivatives elucidate valuable information concerning the initial reaction to the pandemic. The following figure presents evidence of the relative search interest of the Sri Lankan citizens of the terms Corona, Coronavirus, and COVID.

Figure 1 – Relative Search Interest of the terms Coronavirus, Corona, and COVID

According to Figure-1, several surges in the Google search volume can be seen along the timeline, notably following major outbreak incidents that took place in January, March, July, and October 2020: the first Positive Case within Sri Lanka, First Wave, Lockdown, Kandakāḍu Outbreak, and Second Wave, respectively. The overall popularity and the concern regarding the pandemic had reached its peak during the 50-day lockdown, followed by a rapid decline until the outset of the second wave in October. The official designation of the disease (i.e. COVID19) was not present until 22nd February 2020, and this void has been adequate for the generic term Coronavirus to be consolidated within the urban dialect until the start of the second wave. Despite the concern and the popularity regarding the pandemic has shifted away from the spotlight at present, the trends suggest that more internet users now use the word COVID over the generic term Coronavirus. Search volumes of the most prevalent locations related to the pandemic, coincide with each major outbreak incident stated above: China, Italy, Kandakāḍu, and Brandix respectively. The concern about the disease from a geographical standpoint also shows a similar declining trend.

Search requests relating to death (mortality), and symptoms have also surged similarly. Figure-2 evidences the much-anticipated surge of search requests due to the novelty of the situation during the first wave. Although the majority of COVID19 attributed deaths took place during the second wave, the popularity concerning mortality-related search requests crowned in late March, after the very first COVID19 attributed death recorded in Sri Lanka on 28th March. The interest then plummeted down to pre-first-wave levels by as early as June and it continued to maintain a fair plateau to this day. In contrast, the general interest around the search term Symptoms remains at a higher level during the same period, and also a noticeable increase is seen during the second wave in contrast to the search terms related to mortality. Fair reasoning can be built as to the civilians who have started to maintain a resilient stance towards the pandemic while raising their self-awareness about the disease, or have moved past the imminent dangers of the pandemic in a rather negligent manner. Apart from the aforementioned examples, notable terms such as Quarantine, Lockdown, and Hand sanitizer have followed a similar trend to that of Death, whereas the terms Face masks and Curfew have followed a similar trend to that of Symptoms.

Figure 2 – Relative Search Interest of the terms Death, and Symptoms

Economy

The escalation of the online grocery shopping and delivery and a considerable shift from conventional shopping behavior was much predicted by the turn of the pandemic, as many countries encouraged the citizens to shift to buying online. However, Google Trends and actual evidence regarding this matter demonstrate that Sri Lanka has shown a very repulsive stance. The search interest around online grocery shopping and delivery services only began to skyrocket with the very onset of the lockdown and completely vanished by the end of the lockdown. The reason for this particular behavior can be explained by the unsatisfactory customer experiences (such as packaging defective products and expensive substitutes against customers’ consent, and hidden charges etc.) and the lack of proper technical infrastructure (such as reliable and responsive hotlines, websites, and mobile apps), that were seen throughout the online shopping. Hence, online shopping was only perceived as a survival stunt but not as a sustainable alternative, and it sufficiently reinforced the customers’ necessity of resorting to the conventional ‘visiting and buying yourself’ shopping methods at the earliest. 

The concern regarding telecommunication and internet services (specifically data packages and free data) during the lockdown period, has recorded an all-time-high within a five-year window, likely as a response to the increased data consumption among individuals to access various online services during the lockdown.

It is no revelation that the lockdown period created an unavoidable financial turmoil that led to reduced liquidity, increased bankruptcy and unemployment. The search trends and evidence relating to Bank Loans, Interest Rates, and Fixed Deposits reveal that individuals have pursued financial assistance and aid, to re-stabilize their economic state after the lockdown period. Similarly, the search trends around Real Estate sales have also surged in the same period, indicating growth in reinvestment schemes.

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Special Presidential CoI appointed to decide the fate of dozens of Sri Lankan opposition leaders: stripping civil rights and expelling from Parliament

 

30/01/2021

Today president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa appointed a special presidential commission to decide the fate of dozens of opposition leaders including Ranil Wickremasinghe, Mangala Samaraweera, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Rauff Hakeem, Sarath Fonseka, R. Sampanthan, M.A. Sumanthiran, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Malik Samarawickrama, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne and senior lawyer J.C. Weliamuna.

It allows the CoI to hold any inquiry or investigate or part of the same to be done without public awareness, I hereby direct and allow you that neither should be done in public.

Presdient has authorized and empowed, the said Commissioners, to conduct or cause the conduct of necessary investigations and inquiries and require  to transmit to him the Final Report or Interim Reports within three months of the date hereof under your hand, setting out the findings of your investigations and inquiries, and your recommendations, conclusions and imposed punishments relating thereto.

The gazetted notification of the appointment given below.

1. Hon. Dhammika Priyantha Samarakoon Jayawardena Esquire
Judge of the Supreme Court
2. Hon. Khema Kumudini Wickremasinghe
Judge of the Supreme Court
3. Hon. Rathnapriya Gurusinghe
Judge of the Court of Appeal

To :
Greetings !

Whereas, as per the Report and the Commission of Investigation appointed by virtue of the powers vested in me by Section 2 of the Commission of Inquiry Act (Chapter 393) holding office for a period commencing on 08th January 2015 and ending on 16th November 2019, and/or prior to the Presidential Election and/or General Election in the months of January and August, 2015, respectively, to investigate and obtain information on alleged activities to directly or implicitly political victimization against public officers, employees of public corporations, members of the Armed Forces and the Police or any other person, the said report which is in 3 volumes including Correction of Letters and printing errors, was submitted to me.

Noting that, after submitting the final report of the Commission of Inquiry to the Cabinet of Ministers, which is in 3 volumes including Correction of Letters and Typos, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the implementation of the decisions and recommendations under items 08, 09 and 10 of that report.

The above said decisions and recommendations of the final reports states, that by establishment of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Financial Investigations Divisions of the Sri Lanka Police of the Special Investigations Unit of the Sri Lanka Police was established contrary to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

These were established by a set of people of a political organization under the name of Anti – corruption Committee and a National Executive Council, which was establish against the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and contrary to the provisions of the same, with the intention of directly or indirectly retaliate the Complainants who are mentioned in item number 09 and 10 of the above said investigation report.

And, whereas, noting that, for implementation of Decision No. 1 and Recommendation 1, mentioned under Item No. 08 in the final report of the Commission of Investigation mentioned above, the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to take the necessary steps to create another suitable mechanism as recommended by Parliament or to appoint Special Presidential Commission.

Now therefore, I, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka reposing great trust and confidence in your prudence, ability and fidelity, do hereby in pursuance of the provisions of Section 2 of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act No. 07 of 1978 National State Assembly which was amended by the No. 4 of 1978 of Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act (Special Provisions) by these presents do hereby appoint you, the said;

1. Hon. Dhammika Priyantha Samarakoon Jayawardena Esquire Judge of the Supreme Court
2. Hon. Khema Kumudini Wickremasinghe Judge of the Supreme Court
3. Hon. Rathnapriya Gurusinghe Judge of the Court of Appeal
to act upon the below mentioned matters,

1. Including the above mentioned facts in the report, if respondents mentioned in the item No. 08 of the above report was,
I. Violating the provisions of the Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, while destructing the oath which had been given in accordance with the provision of the said Constitution
II. Abuse or misuse of power, interference, fraud, corruption, criminal misuse, criminal breach of trust or nepotism
III. Political retaliation against some one
IV. When,

(a) Making any appointment or transfer,
(b) Granting a promotion,
(c) Terminating the service, of some one Due to any type of disorder
(d) Violating of any written law

as my commissioners in order to further investigate and report whether above malpractices have done and what extent are the above respondents so responsible, and to recommend whether a person should be subjected to a community disability according to the provisions of Article 81 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Section 9 of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act No. 7 of 1978, as amended by the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry (Special Provisions) Act No. 4 of 1978.

Further, I do hereby appoint you the said Hon. Dhammika Priyantha Samarakoon Jayawardena, Judge of the Supreme Court to be the Chairman of the said Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Further, I do hereby authorize and empower you, the said Commissioners, to conduct or cause the conduct of necessary investigations and inquiries and require you to transmit to me the Final Report or Interim Reports within three months of the date hereof under your hand, setting out the findings of your investigations and inquiries, and your recommendations, conclusions and imposed punishments relating thereto.

Further, if you decide to hold any inquiry or investigate or part of the same to be done without public awareness, I hereby direct and allow you that neither should be done in public.

And, I do hereby direct all Government Officers, Officers of the Statutory Boards and other persons from whom you may request assistance or information for the purposes of your investigations or inquiries, to give all possible assistance to the task at hand and provide all possible information.

Further, I hereby declare that the provisions of Section 14 of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act No. 7 of 1978 National State Assembly, shall apply to this Special Commission of Inquiry.

Given at Colombo under the Seal of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka on this 28 day of January Two Thousand and Twenty one.

Read as a PDF:Special CoI 221253 -300121

Special-CoI-221253-300121 by Thavam Ratna

How sound is SriLanka’s collective consciousness?

The basic requirement to develop a country is to get the wholehearted support of all citizens. If a group of people think that this country can be developed by the majority community by suppressing the minorities, they are imbeciles. Let alone a country, even a factory cannot be run in this manner – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Saturday, 30 January 2021 

Throughout the world the political leaders, whether they are democratic or autocratic, try to influence the collective consciousness of the society in order to establish their power. The people should be vigilant whether this proposed collective consciousness would be in the best interests of the nation.

US example

President Joe Biden took his oath as 46th President of USA recently. Unlike previous Presidential Elections of US, there was a degree of uncertainty until such time he took oath. The reason was that the former President Donald Trump hatched a constitutional coup which was the first of this type in the American history. 

Trump started to express his doubts in the election process during the early stages of the campaign. Trump who had a loose tongue was bold enough to say that he would not accept the election results if he was defeated. He repeatedly created a doubt in the minds of his supporters of the counting of postal votes. Once the election was over and Biden got a clear majority, he falsely said that he won the election. His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Trump would start his second term in January 2021. His team filed cases in the states where Biden won marginally against the election results. Those were thrown away. 

I was suspicious whether he would try to meddle with the representatives of the states at the time of the Electoral College decision. It did not happen, and Electoral College decisively confirmed the presidency of Joe Biden. Finally, at a rally he persuaded his supporters to raid Capitol Hill at the time the Congress was ratifying the decision of the Electoral College. Congress ratified the decision, but the tragedy was that there were 147 Republicans in both houses who voted to overturn the election results which was unbelievable. Ultimately Mike Pence, Vice President and the President of the Senate, became a hero for merely fulfilling his duty. 

I can understand one mad person working against the democratic norms of the greatest democracy of the world and rallying his supporters to get his mad idea fulfilled, but considering the US norms, I cannot understand that such a number of his party representatives of the Congress were mesmerised by his mad idea. Trumpism should not have been Republicanism. 

Trump mislead the collective consciousness of the Americans. His supporters were carried away and he was able to convince a considerable number of Republican Senators and House Representatives. Over a period of time, he was addressing the rural Americans and promoting American white supremacy which was against the American liberal ideals developed over centuries. Eventually he worked to divide America. 

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, this rhetoric of misleading the collective consciousness in order to gain power was going on over decades. 

Bandaranaike created a false patriotism by nationalising privately held assets and businesses. This patriotism was reduced to providing employment in these businesses to the political supporters of the successive political parties. Eventually the government budget had to finance these loss-making institutions. Still, this false patriotism is powerful enough to create a public opinion that we should continue with the State ownership of those entities. 

It is beneficial to the rulers, therefore they promote this false patriotism by misleading the collective consciousness of the people. Then the people request the continuation of the entities with state ownership although they themselves are at the receiving end of this whole game. No one is requesting the government or forcing it by demonstrations to run those institutions profitably.

Bandaranaike politicised the ethnocentrism in Sri Lanka. It was once again misleading the collective consciousness for political gains. It was true that the power which was held by the elite should be given to the ordinary people and it should be done across the island without ethnocentric biases so that when the state started communicating with the people in their language, English should have been replaced not only by Sinhala but also by Tamil as well.

These two points, false patriotism and ethnocentrism was used by the wife and the political children of Bandaranaike to come to power by misleading the collective consciousness of the people. Sirimavo Bandaranaike did it and failed miserably. Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa also did it. The irony is that they cannot sustain it when they come to power.

That is the dilemma faced by the President today.

False patriotism

In respect of false patriotism, which was spearheaded by him during his campaign, there were three main points which would work against his premise.

Firstly, he himself contributed to sell the national assets during the regime of his brother. The premises of the Shangri-La Hotel was sold to China outright. Colombo International Container Terminal was built by the Chinese and the Chinese management company owns 85%, which is an excessive percentage and only 15% was held by the Ports Authority. Ownership of the Chinese built Port City was given to China and later it was reversed to a long-term lease by the previous Government. Hambantota Port was built on a high interest loan from China and the previous Government had to give to China on a long-term lease since it could not service the loan.

Secondly, the economic situation of the country was very bad due to bad financial management of the successive governments. From day one of the independence the governments spent more than they earn except for two years where M.D.H. Jayawardana was the Finance Minister, hence the country is trapped in debt since the borrowed money did not contribute to the economic growth effectively. We have an unproductive public service and the successive governments continued to enlarge it for political gains except for two years when Ranil Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister in 2001. 

Wickremesinghe’s farsighted act was condemned by many politicians including his supporters who placed themselves ahead of the country. Our rule of law is not trusted, wage rates are not attractive, and the government policies are not consistent. Hence the foreign private investors do not come. On top of that the present Government reduced its revenue by way of massive reduction of the income taxes with the blessings of the self-centred private sector. 

Therefore, the country will have to take drastic economic reforms including privatisation of Government assets and businesses, enabling them to run more effectively and reduction of size of the unproductive and mostly arrogant public sector. Problems cannot be solved by merely printing money. The Government will have to tell the truth to the people and the people also should understand the truth ahead of the Government.

Thirdly, it is the tug of war between the US bloc and China. The Government has already antagonised the US bloc comprising US, Japan, and India. The MCC agreement was not accepted by the Government and the US ambassador claims a level playing field in Sri Lanka without favouritism to Chinese companies in Sri Lankan projects. 

This Government rejected the Light Rail Transit project funded by Japan. India was of the view that current protests against the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Colombo Port is supported by the Chinese. The previous Government had given India and Japan the right to develop ECT in order to counter the Chinese influence which was a creation of the previous Rajapaksa regime. 

People by and large do not get a benefit if the assets are kept with the Government and mismanaged. Instead, they will get a benefit only if the assets are managed profitably. Venezuela owns their oil fields which amounts to 20% of the world oil reserves and at present the country is having a hyper-inflation. 

The problem of the country is bad and corrupt governance. Only imbeciles can shout against selling national assets while keeping mum on corrupt and inefficient governance and economic management of the country and colossal losses of the public institutions which is the root cause of selling of national assets. No one can manage or influence an effect. The cause should be managed and influenced not the effect. Ethnocentric, by heart non-Buddhist, political Bhikkus are trying to manage the effect and wants to be the heroes in the collective consciousness of the masses.

It was reported that the Government decided to sell 49% of the shares of the operation company of ECT to Indian and Japanese investors while retaining the majority shares 51% of the operation company and the ownership of the asset. It should be noted that 65% of our re-exports are coming from India and it is advantageous to get them connected here. 

None of these demonstrators who are against the selling of 49% of ECT, including Bhikkus and the JVP, effective demonstrated against Chinese acquisitions of State assets which were far greater than this acquisition. This imposes the question whether all of them are Chinese puppets and the question is posed on the basis that the country should not get aligned to any superpower. 

If the Government antagonises India the country should be ready to face the political ramifications of which the country is having bitter memories in the 1980s. However, the unions of the Ports Authority are suggesting offering the Western Terminal to the Indians rather than the Eastern Terminal.

Ethnocentrism

In respect of ethnocentrism, which is the other premise of the President’s election campaign, the Government is going to get blocked soon. Submitting her report to United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), HR Commissioner Michelle Bachelet came down hard on the Government on its failure to fulfil the commitments made.  She proposed that the member states of the Human Rights Council consider invocation of universal jurisdiction, referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and sanctions against targeted individuals such as asset freezes and travel bans. These are far-reaching proposals. 

In addition to that Tamil parties along with the Tamil civil society members and the religious leaders have written to the member states of the UNHRC that the President of UNHRC should refer the matters on accountability in Sri Lanka back to the Secretary General for action which includes reference to the ICC. 

The US, which would most probably reengage with UNHRC and EU of which the major countries are in UNHRC, accounts for 25% each of the Sri Lanka exports market. Moreover, EU in 2015 re-granted GSP+ facility for our exports which promoted much needed exports to the economy. Government policy of forceful cremation of the COVID-19 affected bodies of Muslims is widely criticised in the international arena. 

There is a strong resistance from within and from outside to implement two main rhetorical pronouncements of the Government. The prevalent collective consciousness of the people of false patriotism and ethnocentrism is not sustainable. Hence this collective consciousness is stupid. It dragged the minorities also towards ethnocentrism and now all are in the same soup enjoying it like crabs in the pan.

The basic requirement to develop a country is to get the wholehearted support of all citizens. If a group of people think that this country can be developed by the majority community by suppressing the minorities, they are imbeciles. Let alone a country, even a factory cannot be run in this manner.

Trump’s precedence

We have noted the actions of Donald Trump. Being an undeveloped democracy with weak institutions, we should be proud that we did not have such an anti-democratic person as our Head of State. USA could afford it with its strong traditions and institutions who are not afraid to challenge anybody within the framework of the law. 

Sri Lanka is not like that especially after the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. We can observe the changed behaviour of the judicial system. We should not forget the scenario on the night of 8 January 2015. According to newspaper reports there was a plan to grab power forcibly. After the resistance of the senior Government officials, the then President, who was a seasoned politician, decided to relinquish power. It is imperative that we all manage our collective consciousness against such acts.