Tag: Sri Lanka war

Another UN Indictment. But Will Sri Lanka Change?

A recently-released report by the UN Human Rights Council underlines that impunity is the core problem in Sri Lanka.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has come out with another scathing denunciation of Sri Lanka’s culture of impunity which it says has contributed to its present economic mess. But it remains doubtful if Colombo will ever punish those who killed innocent Tamils in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Unlike in the past, the Sri Lankan government is in the midst of a painful exercise and needs international support, particularly from the West, to put its badly derailed economy back on the rails. So, rejecting any UN report summarily will be diplomatically and politically difficult.

While there is widespread anger against the political class, there is no mass sentiment against the now powerful military in much of Sri Lanka, populated by the majority Sinhalese community. The anger, of course, persists in the north and the east, the former war theatre.

To that extent, Sri Lanka remains ethnically divided, notwithstanding the signs of unity seen among different communities during the recent mass protests against the economic crisis which forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in July.

Nevertheless, the annual report on Sri Lanka, to be discussed during the 51st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva starting on September 12, makes hard-hitting criticism of the many deficiencies in governance in the island nation.

An unedited version of the report, accessed by this writer, underlines that impunity is the core problem in Sri Lanka.

It says that even 13 years after the end of the Tamil separatist conflict, impunity remains a central obstacle to the rule of law, reconciliation and sustainable peace and development, with much of Sri Lanka’s north and east still dominated by military presence.

The exhaustive report has praised the anti-government protests, saying they represent “an important starting point for a new and common vision for the future” in a country that continues to undergo convulsions amid the economic mess.

Demonstrators run from tear gas used by police during a protest demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, amid the country’s economic crisis, near the president’s residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 9, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte.

It welcomes some decisions of the government headed by new President Ranil Wickremesinghe, but faults him for continuing to rely on the same clutch of military brass, including those charged with serious human rights abuses in the war against the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lanka has repeatedly promised to get to the roots of the rights abuses but has not really done so. Previous governments, particularly those headed by the Rajapaksas, have dismissed the charges against the military, which now plays a major role in various levels of administration. 

Also read: Sri Lanka’s Army Calls the Shots

The UN body says that even as victims of rights abuses await truth and justice, Colombo has failed to pursue an effective transitional justice process to hold perpetrators of gross human rights violations accountable. 

“Rather, they (governments) have created political obstacles to accountability, actively promoted and incorporated some military officials credibly implicated in alleged war crimes into the highest levels of government,” the report says. “This impunity emboldened those committing human rights violations and created a fertile ground for corruption and the abuse of power.”

The economic crisis underscores the indivisibility of human rights, the UNHRC says. 

“For sustainable improvement, however, it is vital to recognise and assist Sri Lanka to address the underlying factors, which have contributed to this crisis, including embedded impunity for past and present human rights abuses, economic crimes and corruption. Support from the international community will have meaningful and sustainable impact if Sri Lanka undertakes deeper structural, constitutional and political reforms to strengthen democratic checks and balances and restore the independence of institutions.” 

This process is, no doubt, underway but there are clear signs that there is no unanimity in the Sri Lankan political constituency on the way ahead. 

A demonstrator holding the Sri Lankan national flag is silhouetted during the protest against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Photo: Reuters

The former regime of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has returned to Colombo, has come under criticism for obstructing the process of accountability including by intervening in police investigations and court proceedings in several high-profile human rights cases. 

There has been almost no progress in most human rights cases highlighted in previous UN reports. In many instances, hearings have been postponed repeatedly while many cases have merely lingered on. In others, there has been active reversal in the form of acquittals on appeal and presidential pardon granted to those accused or convicted of grave violations. 

On the contrary, the families of the disappeared who have been staging roadside protests since 2017 keep facing harassment, intimidation and violence. 

Also read: Impunity for Rights Abuses and Corruption Underlying Causes for Lanka’s Collapse: UN Report

While denouncing the ethno-religious majoritarianism promoted by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the report welcomes President Wickremesinghe’s declaration on August 8 in which he celebrated the country’s ethnic and religious diversity. 

The ousted president appointed 28 serving or former military officers in government ministries between 2020 and 2022. After the cabinet ministers quit in April, most officers relinquished their positions. “However, President Wickremesinghe has since continued to rely on military appointees and involve the military in law enforcement.”

The UN wants the new government to embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation and to carry out the deeper institutional and security sector reforms to prevent the recurrence of past violations. It admitted that many challenges lie ahead, including painful economic reforms, and the risk of further violence. 

The report noted the continuing significant deficit in confidence and trust between the government, protest movement and broader civil society.

Among the other suggestions the UN report offers is to reverse the drift towards militarisation, end reliance on draconian security laws and crackdowns on peaceful protests, and show renewed commitment to security sector reforms and to ending impunity.

It should recommit to a genuine, comprehensive and transformative transitional justice process, with benchmarks and timelines for implementation. It should pursue a more fundamental constitutional reform through broad-based and consultative processes to strengthen democratic checks and balances and devolution of political authority. It also wants military presence cut in the northern and eastern provinces.

M.R. Narayan Swamy is a veteran journalist.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Protests Anti-Muslim Remarks of Top Buddhist Monk

As per media reports, the chief prelate of the Asgiriya Chapter called for a boycott of all Muslim-owned businesses, alleging that they were working to “sterilise” the Sinhala population. 

New Delhi: Three days after a top Buddhist monk stated that he condones the stoning of Muslims, Sri Lankan finance minister Mangala Samaraweera on Wednesday strongly came out against the statement and said that “true Buddhists” should unite against the “Talibanization” of the religion.

However, there has been no other vocal condemnation from other politicians, including from the top leadership.

In fact, Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday took part in a religious ceremony to consecrate relics presided over the top monk who had preached social boycott and physical violence against Muslims.

The sermon by chief prelate of the Asgiriya Chapter of Buddhism Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana was made on June 15, but reported in the media a few days later.

Also read: Sri Lanka: Hundreds of Muslim Refugees Flee Negombo as Communal Tensions Flare Up

As per media reports, the chief prelate called for a boycott of all Muslim-owned businesses, claiming that they were working to “sterilise” the Sinhala population. 

“Don’t buy from those shops. The young people who ate from those shops, I think, will not be able to have/lose their children. You should know this,” he said.

His remarks came after a nationalist Sinhala paper had claimed last month that a Muslim doctor had “sterilised” over 4,000 Buddhist women.

The monk did not name the doctor, but asserted that women devotees wanted him stoned.

“Such traitors should not be allowed to stay free. Some upasaka ammas (women devotees) said he should be stoned to death. I don’t say that, but that is what should be done. If one of our people did that to the other community, we will slice them. Laws and rules are not necessary. We should unite as Sinhala-Buddhists. We should not look at colours and vote. We should elect people who think of the (Sinhala) race and the country,” he stated.

Incidentally, the Sri Lankan news portal EconomyNext reported that the senior-most police officer of North-western province, whose wife worked in the same hospital as the muslim doctor, was being probed for fuelling the rumours to cause “racial hatred”. Till now, “no evidence” has been unearthed by ongoing investigations of the accusations of sterilisation against the doctor, as per another report.

On Wednesday morning, Sri Lankan finance minister Samaraweera was one of the few political voices who protested stridently against the remarks of the senior Buddhist monk.

There have been no statements yet from President Sirisena or the Sri Lankan prime minister.

The situation in Sri Lanka has a parallel to its larger South Asian neighbour, India, where political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi have similarly remained silent through communally-tinged remarks of ruling party politicians.

In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monks are part of the political mainstream. They have also seen as leading the front in fanning majoritarian Sinhala sentiments.

Also read: Sri Lanka Should Not Turn a Blind Eye to the Ascent of Wahabi Extremism

The island nation has only been at peace over the last decade, after the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers group after a 26-year-old campaign. The civil war began as a result of long-term tensions over discriminatory official policies and finally broke out after devastating riots against minority Tamils in 1983.

Following the May 21 Easter Sunday bomb attacks which was carried out by an Islamist terror group, there have been a series of riots targeting the Muslim community in the Indian Ocean country.

A view of the damage at St. Sebastian Catholic Church, after bomb blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels on Easter, in Negombo, April 22, 2019. Photo: Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha

A parliamentarian monk from United National Party (UNP) went on a hunger strike demanding the resignation of two Muslim Governors and minister for having links to the suspects. Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) general secretary Gnanasara Thero, who had been pardoned by President Sirisena, had also threatened to join the campaign if the governors were not fired.

No proof has been shown so far for the allegations, which has been strenuously denied.

Nine Muslim ministers and the two governors resigned in first week of June in a joint move to protest the ‘victimisation’ of the community, even though they had red-flagged the perpetrators to security authorities.

Even then, Samaraweera had been among the lone voice to express caution.

The resigned Muslim ministers had also met the senior monk as part of efforts to reach out of the politically influential Buddhist clergy.

The communal aftermath of the Easter Sunday attack is also enmeshed in the jostling between political parties with the presidential elections scheduled towards the end of this year.

As per media reports, the main target of the campaign against the Muslim ministers is minister Rishad Bathiudeen, who did not ally with Mahinda Rajapaksa to give him parliamentary majority after President Sirisena made him prime minister in October 2018. Sirisena had to reinstate UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, with the Supreme Court also terming his actions as unconstitutional.

Incidentally, the sermon of the chief prelate had begun with an endorsement of Chamal Rajapaksa as the next presidential candidate, even though the opposition has not yet taken a decision. Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana had previously also held the UNP responsible for “destroying” Sri Lanka.

Review | History Flows for All: The War and its Aftermath in Sri Lanka

‘Water is for All’ by Duleep de Chickera poses some difficult questions about Sri Lanka’s past and the challenges facing its future.

Ethnic and religious polarisation have been spreading in South Asia and afar in recent decades. Sadly, sections of the intelligentsia and the clergy have also been fuelling divisive nationalist forces and xenophobia.

A welcome counter to this trend are Bishop Duleep de Chickera’s thoughtful and inspiring reflections compiled in Water is for All, which raise difficult questions about Sri Lanka’s past and the challenges facing its future.

In the spirit of de Chickera’s work, one could claim history is for all. History should not be the captive of historians, including with their periodisation of war and post-war and the privileging of acts by the powerful, rather, history flows with various ideological currents and narratives that should be the subject of critical reflection to shape the future.

And in this work, it is the struggles of people in times of war and its aftermath, through tragedy and disappointments, in hope and in despair, which are the subject of the epistles to his church and communications to the broader world. These courageous and consistent interventions during some of the most challenging times in Sri Lanka form the public theology of de Chickera.

Water is for All
Duleep de Chickera

Water is for All consists of writings between 2002 and 2017, during both de Chickera’s tenure as Bishop of the Colombo Diocese of the Anglican Church and in the years after as he continued as a member of two organisations that sought to engage state and society on the direction of the country; namely the Congress of Religions and the Friday Forum.

The publication of this work coincidentally weeks after the recent Easter attacks and the ongoing backlash, is a refreshing source for coexistence as the country again faces tumultuous times.

Engaged writing

Soon after the end of the war, as with other major events that affected Sri Lanka, there was a flood of writings including by international journalists and scholars. Indeed, we live in a time of sound bites and marketable commercial publications. Those writings approach problems and crises as if they will run away, and a profitable return on the product may be lost.

In contrast, Water is for All comes a decade after the war, when the people about whom and for whom it is written have had their own time to reflect. A work spanning eight years before the end of the war and eight years after the war, the text is a critical check on those writings that merely seek to capture an encapsulated narrative of the war and its end; which has been the preoccupation of both the nationalists who mobilise around the history of the war and of the international peace and conflict industry that consumes cases of Third World tragedies.

It is also fitting that the culmination of this painstaking engagement of over close to two decades is a work published by the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue. This wonderful small centre led by Marshal Fernando, has over the decades been a space for discussion and reflection for generations of thinkers and activists committed to social justice. And its many publications have sought to record much neglected progressive perspectives and experiences.

Water is for All is part of an insightful broad archive of the war and its aftermath for ordinary people. It belongs with works like The Broken Palmyrah by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), a work written by four academics from Jaffna during the thick of war in the late 1980s, where they recorded the sufferings of ordinary people even as they warned against the dangerous direction of Tamil politics. That committed work cost the life of the young Marxist feminist and medical doctor Rajani Thiranagama.

Then there are diaries of the Dutch missionary Ben Bavinck, who secretly recorded developments during his efforts at humanitarian relief from 1987 to 1994 and then when he lived in Jaffna for the next decade until 2004. His daily records were published some years ago in two volumes titled Of Tamils and Tigers. Water is for All is also such a work taking risks in the interest of the people with prophetic warnings.

Themes for our times

The themes in the work range from opposing liberalisation, challenging the moves to reinstate the death penalty and solidarity with the Rohingya refugees from Sri Lanka who were evicted by goons. The attacks on the media and draconian legal measures pushed for political expediency are challenged by timely interventions. The many manoeuvres of the regimes in power to twist the workings of the state in the interest of the powerful are condemned.

Early on in the work, a statement on Independence Day 2002 reflects a commitment to the marginalised:

“The basics of life must be made available to all. Uncongested shelter, clean running water, electricity, toilets and wholesome food on the table are basic rights that cannot be denied the many any longer. … The needs of the powerless much be highlighted. Just economic policies for the voiceless must formulated and implemented forthwith. … We are also to be vigilant that unbridled liberalisation of the economy can and does lead to social hardship for many and class polarisation.”

In this way, de Chickera seeks redress from structural violence with a commitment to social justice. Furthermore, he confronts brutal violence during the war and repression in its aftermath, with impartial interventions. From his pastoral visits amidst the dangers of travel during the war, and from communications of those affected by the war, he amplifies war affected people’s concerns. Condemnation of assassinations, horrendous massacres by the security forces, the LTTE’s ruthless killings civilians including those Tamils who sought to flee the war zone and the despicable practice of child recruitment, are all recorded forthrightly.

From his position as a Church leader, he cannot merely record events, but also has to engage those in power, to pressure them to change direction. And in this endeavour he has been a bridge builder among religious and ethnic communities, uniting those he can in the cause of the powerless. When his warnings are not heeded, his statements become words of protests on behalf of the oppressed.

Water is for All speaks so much to our times. There are a number of Easter Sunday messages from the past, even as we are confronted by the recent Easter attacks and the backlash. Here is one such example from 2007 Easter Sunday titled, Hope in Despair.

“This year we celebrate Easter, the festival that commemorates the resurrection and new life in Christ, in circumstances of death and despair. The East has become a full blown battlefield. The culture of killings, abductions and child conscriptions which have been the order of the day is now more intensified with aerial bombings, multi-barrel shelling and claymore mines. … This unabated continuation of violence and human suffering suggests that our national crisis is in fact a crisis of integrity. It did not happen overnight but has developed over the years. We are inheritors of a tragic tradition of populist and insensitive political strategies that intimidate and dehumanise people and communities. There has been no end to the intrigue, manipulation and corruption within the ranks of the powerful. Privilege and authority continue to be brazenly used for personal or sectarian gain and to protect and justify corruption, waste and the violation of the rights and dignity of others. Those with a mandate to unite the people in a healthy and free democratic environment divide and rule through a counterproductive political culture.”

For the recent generations who increasingly have a short memory, such powerful records can rekindle memories about the devastating past and trigger questions about a worrying future. Drawing on such experiences from the past are critical to reclaim a just future that has again and again proven elusive.

There is much in Water is for All as Sri Lanka faces dangerous times after the Easter attacks; chauvinist forces are holding the country to ransom, even as they demonise and mount attacks against the Muslim community. It is ultimately a call for co-existence with other communities, to speak out for those living in fear and to find our own forms of protest on behalf of the oppressed.   

Ahilan Kadirgamar is a member of the Jaffna People’s Forum for Coexistence and Senior Lecturer, University of Jaffna.