Editorial

Rape continues

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Saturday 13th February, 2021

What has befallen the precious assets of this country, under successive governments, reminds us of Nanda Malini’s beautiful song, ‘Ratakarawanta nam masuran ethiwa kete’ (which roughly put into English means ‘if the country is to be run with enough funds in the coffers’). It is replete with heavy sarcasm and biting satire. Urging the rulers to sell all national assets and treasures to raise funds needed for governing the country, it says, among other things, Sigiriya can be quarried and Sinharaja rainforest felled to obtain timber regardless of public protests. One may have thought a few decades ago, when this song was first sung, that the lyricist, Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne, had employed hyperbole to infuse it with dramatic effect to deliver its powerful message, but, today, one is convinced otherwise.

Sinharaja is already facing rape. Land grabbers are encroaching on it with impunity. Environmental groups and the media have exposed this racket, but the racketeers always have the last laugh. As if the damage the world heritage site has suffered at the hands of politically-backed encroachers were not enough, the government has, in its wisdom, permitted the construction of a road through some parts of it. Worse, some ruling party politicians have sought to vilify the protesting environmentalists as a nuisance and impediment to development! They have thus sent the wrong message to their henchmen, who are now grabbing sections of the Sigiriya sanctuary. This forest is home to a wide range of flora and fauna including elephants. The racketeers’ modus operandi has been to grow food crops inside the sanctuary before fencing off the areas they have encroached on. This, they have been doing unopposed during the last several weeks. The media has published pictures of their illegal operations, but no one in authority has taken any action against the destruction of the sanctuary; officials are reportedly passing the buck.

The Sigiriya land grab has aggravated the human-elephant conflict. With their natural habitat shrinking, wild elephants invade villages frequently, posing a danger to humans and running the risk of being shot dead or killed by hakkapatas (improvised explosive devices hidden in fruits or covered with sticky rice). Unless the racketeers are stopped and brought to justice urgently, they will be emboldened to begin quarrying the Lion Rock before long!

Environmentalists complain of a move to have a road built, dividing the Knuckles Mountain Range, according to a report we publish today. A proposal to this effect is to be presented to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during a Gama Samaga Pilisandarak event in the near future, we are told.

What is happening around Sigiriya has vindicated the environmentalists who predicted that racketeers in the guise of cultivators would capture forest lands. According to media reports, there is a tug-of-war between the Forest Department and the Divisional Secretariat concerned over the land grab. Nobody seems to be responsible for protecting the sanctuary. This sorry state of affairs has come about due to a controversial gazette which removed the so-called residual forests from the purview of the Forest Department and placed them under the Divisional and District Secretariats, which lack expertise and the will to protect forests. Ordinary administrators are scared of overweening, corrupt politicians responsible for destroying forests. One should not be so naïve as to think the Forest Department is perfect. But the protection of forests requires specialised, dedicated personnel like professional foresters.

The government sought to justify the issuance of the aforesaid gazette by claiming that it would benefit the landless farmers who were unable to dull the pangs of hunger, but the environmentalists and the media pointed out that it would help racketeers rape forests. What they feared is now happening. The situation is sure to take a turn for the worse with more and more politicians and their backers moving in to grab forest lands.

One can only hope that the other places mentioned in Nanda Malini’s song—Sri Dalada Maligawa, Sri Mahabodhi, Sri Pada, etc.,—will be safe from the pseudo-patriots in positions of power.

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