Midweek Review
Significance of US Senator’s visit to SLNS Gajabahu
The Indian High Commission announced on Friday (01 Sept. ) the postponement of much touted Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit (02-03 Sept.). Cancellation was announced just hours after India declared Singh’s scheduled visit to review bilateral defence ties. Singh was to hold talks with President Wickremesinghe who also holds the defence portfolio and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. The PM recently reiterated his commitment to Sri Lanka’s unitary status thereby rejecting calls for full implementation of 13th Amendment to the Constitution. According to India HC statement Singh was to review the entire gamut of India’s defence ties with Sri Lanka. The Defence Minister was also scheduled to visit Nuwara Eliya and Trincomalee. “This visit of Shri Rajnath Singh reiterates India’s continued commitment in furthering the existing warm and friendly relations with Sri Lanka. The visit is an important landmark in deepening the enduring bonds of friendship between the two countries in the defence sphere,” HC stated, adding that it was based on a press release issued on 01 Sept. by Press Information Bureau – Defence Wing, Government of India in New Delhi.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
A short video clip of luggage being loaded to SLNS Gajabahu P 626 at the port of Colombo on the afternoon of 9th July, 2022, went viral as the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave up resistance to a public protest campaign. Some television stations, too, carried that video. The print media followed. Until then SLNS Gajabahu hadn’t been in the public domain. Having joined the SLN fleet a decade after the successful conclusion of the war, the vessel never had a real opportunity to grab public attention.
The President and the First Lady Ayoma reached Trincomalee in SLNS Gajabahu on the following day though many believed the vessel’s destination was some foreign land. The couple was accompanied by the then Navy Commander Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne (retired in Dec. 2022). Actually, a vast majority of people hadn’t even heard of that vessel, commissioned on 6th June, 2019, by the then President Maithripala Sirisena.
The then US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz had been among the invitees at the commissioning ceremony as the vessel categorized as AOPV (Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel) was formerly Sherman of the US Coast Guard. It was the second US vessel received by Sri Lanka (2018). Sri Lanka took delivery of USCGC Courageous in 2004 and the vessel was commissioned SLNS Samudura P 621 in the following year. While SLNS Samudura played a critical role in SLN operations during the then Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s campaign against Sea Tigers, SLNS Gajabahu grabbed media attention last year in an unexpected manner when it was used by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and First Lady Ayoma to escape a massive violent mob, obviously instigated by outside forces.
Against the backdrop of accusations that had been directed at the US, both in and outside Parliament, over the role it played in one-time US citizen President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s removal, the United States Senator Chris Van Hollen’s visit to SLNS Gajabahu attracted public interest. The Maryland representative is a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. Hollen was accompanied by US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Julie Chung, widely accused of playing a central role in the previous President’s ouster.
‘Nine: The Hidden Story’ and ‘Galle Face Protest: System Change or Anarchy?’
authored by lawmaker Wimal Weerawansa and award-winning writer Sena Thoradeniya, respectively, dealt with the US-led project that also involved India. Chung has dismissed Weerawansa’s work as fiction.
Hollen and Chung met Navy Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera onboard SLNS Gajabahu, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s getaway vessel, on 30th Aug. The visitors had been there for about 90 minutes and Hollen fondly remembered his childhood days here, in the ’70s, when his father Christopher Van Hollen, Sr, served as the US Ambassador from 1972 to 1976 during Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s tenure as the Prime Minister. The Senator had been quite happy with the way SLN maintained the three former US Coast Guard Cutters, currently in service with the SLN. In addition to USCGC Courageous and USCGC Sherman, Sri Lanka took delivery of USCGC Douglas Munro which was commissioned in late Nov. 2022 as SLNS Vijayabahu P 621, a few days short of a month before VA Ulugetenne’s retirement. When the US delegation visited SLNS Gajabahu, the third US Coast Guard Cutter, that had been commissioned by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, was anchored next to the vessel where the meeting took place.
US and Sri Lanka are working on the transfer of a fourth US vessel to the latter in line with the overall US policy meant to enhance its influence. Do not forget Sri Lanka entered into ACSA (Access and Cross Servicing Agreement) in Aug. 2017, and the possibility of a consensus on SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) discussed during the Yahapalana administration can never be ruled out. The US strategy seems on track here with USD 2.9 bn loan package spread over a period of four years as part of that scheme. Whatever our concerns, it must be stated that the timely passing of US intelligence, regarding LTTE floating weapon warehouses, at the tail end of the war, hastened the eradication of the conventional fighting power of the enemy. That helped to finish off the LTTE within two years and 10 months.
According to a US Embassy statement posted on 01 Sept., the core objectives of the Senator’s visit were the promotion of enhanced security cooperation, deepening economic ties, collaborative initiatives to address climate change, and the advancement of democracy and human rights. Regardless of propaganda, the US is one of the worst human rights offenders. The writer is not sure what Senator Hollen learnt from civil society representatives whom he met in Colombo, many of whom are funded by the West to be their hurrah boys and gals here, and the families of the disappeared prior to the 30 August International Day of the Disappeared. The US Embassy statement, while referring to their anguish, stressed the need for transparency, justice, and accountability.
We can even understand the behaviour of the US pursuing its diabolical plans around the world, but how can the UN to be an appendage of American evil policies? The UN’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche issuing a lengthy statement last Wednesday on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances highlighted “the profound scars left by enforced disappearances on the nation’s history. He emphasized that these disappearances continue to cast a shadow of ambiguity over the lives of countless Lankans, where loved ones are neither definitively present nor absent”.
However most ironically neither the US nor the United Nations, who wept buckets on the International Day of the Disappeared on 30 August said anything here on the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the victims of terrorism that fell on 21 August, forgetting the fact that there were thousands of innocent victims of terrorism here, many of whom were Tamils, since the LTTE launched its terror campaign here in pursuit of the Eelam dream with the cold blooded killing of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in the mid-70s.
There was not a word about victims of terror or their long suffering family members here from the world body or the US when the world marked the Day of victims of terrorism on 21 August.
The UN that sheds so much tears for disappeared here, hardly says anything against terror tactics used by Israelis not only against Palestinian adults who are protesting horrors they have to undergo on a daily basis, but even against their children.
What is more concerning is the fact that Colombo-based UN officials Marc-André Franche and Edward Rees visited the JVP Headquarters on 29 August to meet its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake et al.
Last year soon after American Ambassador Julie Chung visited the same JVP headquarters, homes of several dozen then government politicians were attacked and destroyed across the country, meticulously, in one night, along with, in some cases, properties of their relatives. On the eve of those attacks Ambassador Chung also issued a statement calling on Police and the armed forces not to interfere with those “peaceful protesters.”
As we have reported previously it was not so too long ago a previous UN Resident Representative, a Norwegian, unilaterally tried to declare its compound in Colombo a refugee camp for Tamils. Luckily for us, our then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told him where to get off. Had that succeeded they would have staged attacks on Tamils here to create a storm of refugees in the country wanting to get into the UN premises for safety, then Sri Lanka as we know it would have become history overnight.
Would the US care to explain disappearances caused by its forces and agents all over the world following interventions on various pretexts? The invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the basis of going after the wholly concocted claim that Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), the abduction of hundreds if not thousands of suspected terrorists and transferring them to other countries where they were tortured. The US called the murderous project an extraordinary rendition. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government once cooperated with the US in such an operation. The Guantanamo Bay US military prison is nothing but an insult to those who really value transparency, justice and accountability. Actually US human rights violations are incalculable.
Briefing on draft Anti-Terrorism Bill
US Ambassador Chung was among those present at a briefing arranged for the diplomatic corps at the Foreign Ministry on 01 Sept. on the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, both notable President’s Counsels, briefed foreign envoys regarding the Wickremesinghe-Rajapakse government’s efforts in this regard. It would be pertinent to ask the ministers whether they were aware of any foreign governments which consult so called relevant stakeholders, including civil society and international partners, in making laws in their countries.
Having perused the statements issued by Foreign and Justice Ministries following the briefing, it was clear the foreign envoys were consulted before presenting the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill to the Cabinet-of-Ministers. Minister Sabry is on record as having said that the proposed law meant to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) addressed national security requirements, met international standards and best practices. Those who found fault with Sri Lanka for enactment of draconian security law way back in 1979 conveniently forgot why the then President JRJ had to take measures to counter Indian-sponsored terrorism here. The government lacked the backbone at least to set the record straight. This applies to the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government too.
While the US and its allies preach transparency, human rights and accountability to successive governments here some of those terrorists responsible for heinous crimes during the conflict live in those countries having received foreign citizenships and in some cases new identities. Those governments are not worried about their sordid past. Among them are hundreds of Sri Lankans trained in India, Lebanon and in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The number of terrorists who had received foreign citizenship in the West over the years is not known though the actual figure can be quite high. Among them can be those who forcibly recruited children and used them as cannon fodder and even in suicide missions. Didn’t one-time Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi fall prey in May 1991 to a child suicide cadre in the run-up to Indian parliamentary polls? Did she (the suicide cadre) receive her cyanide capsule from Australian Adele, wife of the late Anton Balasingham, British citizen of Sri Lankan origin? Balasingham who had served the British High Commission in Colombo as a translator functioned as the LTTE theoretician until he passed away in the UK. The Balasinghams couldn’t have been unaware of the dastardly assassination plot. Adele Balasingham lives in the UK. The former colonial power here hasn’t been bothered about her accountability. Some of those who had been listed as disappeared here were killed during a major Indian manhunt, following Gandhi’s assassination. They were buried there.
Quite a number of Sri Lankan terrorists, who raided the Maldives in Nov. 1988, too, ended up dead while some were arrested by the Indian military. The dead can be still listed as missing as the human rights circus continues 15 years after the eradication of terrorism here.
Obviously, the West and India wanted Sri Lanka to forget the past and restrict examination of accountability issues pertaining to the last phase of the war against the LTTE (January-May 2009). Following Sri Lanka’s triumph over the separatist Tamil movement, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that recognized the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamil speaking people in late 2001, joined external powers to demand abolition of the security law. The government never bothered at least to remind foreign governments that held the TNA in high esteem how the group served the LTTE’s terrorist programme until the very last moment.
Child recruitment continued in LTTE-held areas regardless of a UN arranged agreement finalized in 1998 during CBK administration until combined security forces destroyed their fighting structure. By late January/early March 2009 the LTTE lost its capacity to sustain its military structure. The TNA remained silent on child recruitment and the use of human shields on the Vanni east front as the military rapidly pushed the ‘defenders’ towards the east coast.
The government should be mindful of the need to take special measures to prevent children being used in terrorism. The 2019 Easter Sunday carnage reminded the complacent and utterly irresponsible Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government how the young could be exploited. Anti-terrorism law should be comprehensive to deal with security threats. The public protest campaign that ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and set Premier Wickremesinghe private residence ablaze and the property of nearly 80 lawmakers, in the current Parliament, underscored the need to be mindful of threats emanating from various quarters. In their haste to satisfy Western powers, civil society and other interested parties, the government shouldn’t disregard growing threats in various other forms though a conventional military challenge is not likely on our soil again.
UNP leader Wickremesinghe acted quickly and decisively within hours after being elected President on 20 July, 2022, to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term. At the behest of President Wickremesinghe, the military and police cleared those who had forcibly occupied the Presidential Secretariat and other government buildings in the guise of Aragalaya, weeks previously. Wickremesinghe simply ignored the US concerns over the use of force to regain control of government buildings. Had the US anticipated Wickremesinghe’s move, Chung condemned the action taken by the new President.
A complaint to Sabry
Chung met Wickremesinghe soon after troops raided a protest site in Colombo, which left nine people injured. The meeting took place before she tweeted Friday 22 July evening that she had expressed her grave concern over the “unnecessary and deeply troubling escalation of violence against protestors overnight”. “The President and Cabinet have an opportunity and an obligation to respond to the calls of Sri Lankans for a better future. This is not the time to crack down on citizens, but instead to look ahead at the immediate and tangible steps the government can take to regain the trust of the people, restore stability, and rebuild the economy. Chung did not reveal the President’s response. The President ordered the crackdown before ministers were sworn in.
A year later, the US and India in spite of their previous reservations work so closely with Wickremesinghe, the Federation of National Organizations (FNO) believes the US envoy is pursuing an agenda inimical to the country.
The day before the briefing for the Colombo-based diplomatic corps, attended by the US envoy, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, on behalf of the FNO and several other organizations, handed over a petition to the Foreign Ministry drawing Minister Sabry’s attention to Chung’s agenda. Sabry got a subordinate to accept the petition on his behalf. Dr. Wasantha Bandara who recently alleged both the government and the Opposition were dancing to the US tune and Constitutional Council member Dr. Anula Wijewardena accompanied Dr. Amarasekera.
Dr. Amarasekera pointed out how Chung and other Colombo-based envoys pursued a strategy that undermined Sri Lanka and also diminished the armed forces’ triumph over separatist Tamil terrorism. Particularly, the FNO found fault with Chung for advising the Army to build trust with minority communities to ensure lasting peace during her visit to the North. Perhaps the US envoy should be reminded that the predominantly Tamil speaking districts in the now de-merged Northern and Eastern Province at the 2010 presidential election voted overwhelmingly for war-winning Army Commander the then Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The Sinha Regiment veteran lost the election by a huge margin – over 1.8 mn votes – though he won the North and East districts handsomely. So there cannot be a question over building trust.
In spite of being asked by the TNA, the people wouldn’t have done so if they really felt humiliated by the LTTE’s defeat. Advised by the SLMC, the Muslims living in those areas, too, threw their weight behind Fonseka. Tamil speaking people probably felt grateful to the military for bringing the three decades long war to an end. Unfortunately, successive governments failed pathetically to use Fonseka’s performance to challenge the Western narrative. Unfortunately, even those opposed to US and Indian interventions conveniently remain silent. This applies to the FNO, too.
The FNO backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidature much before the SLPP (Pohottuwa party) officially picked him as its man. The SLPP had been in two minds regarding the wartime Defence Secretary therefore nationalist organizations, backed by few UPFA MPs (precursor to SLPP) and the likes of Ali Sabry, in his then capacity as Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s lawyer, campaigned for the much respected administrator. Perhaps an appraisal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency is necessary on the basis of his response to external threats unleashed within a week after the presidential election. The President survived the Swiss Embassy trap close on the heels of that country giving political asylum to CID investigator CI Nishantha Silva. Regrettably, the President never learnt from that episode. Apparently, the President felt that he could come to some sort of arrangement with the US but that never materialized. What Sri Lanka never really understood was that the Indian strategy here even to subjugate Sri Lanka militarily is compatible with that of the US as the latter desperately wants to use New Delhi against Beijing.
Midweek Review
Ranil reveals bid to get rid of him while GR was fleeing to Trinco on board SLNS Gajabahu
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Attempts had been made to compel UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to give up the premiership immediately after the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had left Janadhipathi Mandiraya in the early afternoon of July 09, 2022.
That had been the devious Aragalaya strategy meant to pave the way for Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to assume executive powers as a mere figurehead and with them easily controlling him with the threat of further upheaval. Obviously Aragalaya strategists wanted to force Wickremesinghe out of office before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa quit the presidency.
However, they may not have expected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee President’s House immediately after protestors breached its main gates.
As we recall the law enforcers simply did nothing to halt the advance of the mob right into the President’s House, as people like US Ambassador Julie Chung openly prevailed on law enforcers not to act against what she repeatedly termed “peaceful protesters”, even after they, in a preplanned operation, meticulously burnt down more than hundred properties of government politicos and loyalists, across the country, on May 09/10, 2022. So they were on the whole the proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing working with the Western regime change project here as was previously done in places like Libya and Iraq.
President Wickremesinghe discussed the challenge faced by him at the time of the Aragalaya, when he addressed a group of young legal professionals at the Presidential Secretariat on May 28.
Among those who had been at the head table was Colombo District SLPP lawmaker Premanath C. Dolawatte, an Attorney-at-Law and now widely believed to be one of those pursuing the UNP leader’s agenda.
Stressing the importance of the executive presidency in restoring stability, President Wickremesinghe recalled the situation as Aragalaya forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of Janadhipathi Mandiraya. The President said that some persons had asked him to resign as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was on board a ship and on his way to Trincomalee.
The President’s Media Division (PMD) quoted him as having told the young professionals how he declined to resign unless an MP, who commanded the confidence of the majority in Parliament, emerged against the backdrop of chaos. The President said that even if he wrote a letter of resignation, he couldn’t have handed it over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa when he was on his way to Trincomalee in a ship or flying to the Maldives to escape mob justice.
The President said that if he resigned, due to pressure brought on him by a particular person, or due to the destruction of his residence, at the top of 05th Lane, in Colombo 07, near Royal Primary, also on July 09, 2022, someone would have secured power outside the democratic process.
The President’s comments on Aragalaya didn’t attract sufficient media attention. In fact, the coverage of the Presidential Secretariat event had been influenced by the PMD media release. Both print and electronic media focused on the President pointing out that none of those contesting the forthcoming Presidential poll had assured so far that executive powers would be done away with.
Actually, at the 2019 Presidential election, SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa never referred to the abolition of the Executive Presidency or further dilution of executive powers. The wartime Defence Secretary aspired to be an all-powerful Executive President and, in fact, further enhanced the presidency with the enactment of the 20th Amendment, enacted in late October 2020. The move to introduce a new Constitution was also meant to further enhance the Executive Presidency. That report, prepared at a tremendous cost to the taxpayer, is gathering dust, probably at the Presidential Secretariat. Perhaps Gotabaya Rajapaksa should inquire from his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe what he intended to do with it. The former President has every right to seek an explanation, not only from the President, but the Cabinet-of-Ministers as well.
Let us get back to President Wickremesinghe’s disclosure of the bid to force him out of office soon after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa boarded SLNS Gajabahu (formerly Sherman of the US Coast Guard), at the Colombo harbor, to escape the pursuing mob.
Now that President Wickremesinghe again made reference to Aragalaya’s bid to get rid of him, who could have asked Premier Wickremesinghe to resign on July 09, 2022? Had there been similar demands/requests in the run-up to Wickremesinghe receiving the appointment as President on July 14?
Perhaps, President Wickremesinghe would never reveal the identities of those who demanded his resignation, obviously on more than one occasion during July 09-14 period.
Political party system in a bind
Post-Aragalaya political leadership conveniently refrained from inquiring into the overthrowing of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Nearly two years after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster, there hadn’t been an effort, at any level, to conduct a thorough investigation into Aragalaya.
No holds barred investigation into Aragalaya shouldn’t be mixed up with individual cases, such as the killing of SLPP lawmaker Amatakeerthi Atukorale and his police bodyguard, at Nittambuwa, on the afternoon of May 09, 2022, or the killing of a protester at Rambukkana on April 19, 2022. A proper probe into Aragalaya should focus on the circumstances leading to the eruption of violent protest campaign, outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence at Pangiriwatte, Mirihana, on the night of March 31, 2022, and the period till President Wickremesinghe deployed the military and the police, including the Special Task Force (STF), on July 22, 2022, to clear the Presidential Secretariat of protesters. And all those who were threatening to die for the “system change,” they were ostensibly clamouring for, simply vanished into thin air. How convenient! And how conveniently Julie Chung’s trap, too, shut on behalf of Aragalaya?
Had Wickremesinghe lacked the courage to do so, regardless of “international “condemnation”, the Aragalaya could have been still in control of the President’s House, Presidential Secretariat, etc. Wickremesinghe acted swiftly and decisively as he realized the danger in failing to bring back the situation under control, within a short period of time. Or was that all a show to hoodwink the country? May be he knew too much about JVP shenanigans, especially with the West for them being the principal mover of the demand for system change, too, to go silent, like obedient kittens, with Ranil at the helm.
National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, in April 2023, named outgoing US Ambassador Julie Chung as one of the key Aragalaya conspirators. The former JVP heavyweight went to the extent of alleging that Ambassador Chung personally met Speaker Abeywardena at the latter’s official residence in the wake of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing Janadhipathi Mandiraya.
Speaker Abeywardena never denied Weerawansa’s claim, though Ambassador Chung dismissed the allegation. However, President Wickremesinghe latest disclosure should be examined, taking into Speaker’s declaration in March this year that those who spearheaded Aragalaya even threatened him unless he cooperated with them. Speaker Abeywardena declared that Aragalaya wanted him to accept the presidency, though the Constitution stipulated that the Premier should succeed the President.
Then, obviously, those who demanded Wickremesinghe to resign, and Speaker Abeywardena to accept the Presidency in July 2020, must be the same. There cannot be any dispute whatsoever regarding the Aragalaya strategy. Obviously, ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his widely read book ‘The Conspiracy to Oust Me from Presidency’ failed to properly deal with external intervention, particularly the interventions made by Ambassador Chung.
The US, through Ambassador Chung’s interventions, ensured protection for Aragalaya throughout the high profile project as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s control rapidly eroded. The then government never really comprehended the grave implications of the April 19, 2022 Rambukkana incident. The senior police officer in charge of Kegalle, Senior Superintendent of Police K.B. Keerthiratne, had to undergo the humiliation of being arrested and remanded over a police shooting that claimed the life of a protester. Had Keerthiratne failed to order that shooting, the protesters would have set ablaze a fully loaded bowser, carrying petrol, strategically placed across the rail tracks there to create chaos and disrupt rail transport By the time the SSP and three other policemen received bail, in August, Wickremesinghe was the President.
The former President should have dealt with the Rambukkana issue in his memoirs. There cannot be any doubt, or dispute, that the utterly irresponsible government response to police firing at Rambukkana discouraged the military from taking tangible measures to thwart the overrunning of Janadhipathi Mandiraya.
The Aragalaya opened Janadhipathi Mandiraya and Presidential Secretariat for the public and they remained in their hands until President Wickremesinghe regained control on July 22, 2022.
Prez draws sharp criticism
Sri Lanka couldn’t have continued with chaos caused in the wake of the political-economic-social crisis that threatened the ruination of the war-winning country that also successfully undertook so many development projects, like building expressways in the country for the first time, badly needed new international airport and even an international harbour, that became the envy of even our giant neighbour. Speaker Abeywardena, whatever his shortcomings and failures, should receive the respect and gratitude of all for saving the country from a horrible fate. Sri Lanka’s unitary status had been at stake and the country faced the risk of disintegrating.
Having been elected as the 8th Executive President on July 20, 2022 by the SLPP parliamentarians, who had the majority in the House, the UNP leader moved swiftly to regain control. Since then, Wickremesinghe, in spite of being reduced to just one National List MP in Parliament, never looked back as he advanced his agenda.
The President’s decision to do away with the Galle Face protest site earned the wrath of those who hoped for a different outcome. They expected Speaker Abeywardena, as Head of State, at least for a brief period, pending post-Gaddafi-style Libyan administration.
The following are some of the statements issued by the “usual suspects” who blindly tow the US line, in the wake of President Wickremesinghe’s directive:
UN Human Rights Commission:
“We are alarmed by the unnecessary use of force by security forces to break up a protest camp near presidential offices in Colombo. We condemn reports of beatings of protesters, journalists and lawyers and urge authorities to halt the use of force.”
The UNHRC Sri Lanka Core Group (consisting of Canada, Germany, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the USA and the UK):
“peaceful protest is fundamental to any democracy and dismayed at the violence which took place at Galle Face on Friday.” The grouping called for full respect for human rights and the rule of law.
Amnesty International South Asia:
“…the attack on ‘GotaGoGama,’ the peaceful protest site in Colombo by the police and the military is unacceptable and authorities must stand down immediately. The right to protest must be protected. Sri Lankan authorities must immediately cease these acts of violence and release those arrested unlawfully in this manner. Authorities must also protect the freedom of the press. Journalists must not be barred from ‘GotaGoGama’. Blocking journalists from doing their jobs directly violates freedom of the press.”
Human Rights Watch South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly said:
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been telling donors and friends that he is committed to resolving the economic crisis, and yet among his first acts was to deploy a midnight security forces raid to disperse the peaceful protesters. The international community needs to act now, send a strong message that the global efforts are directed to support the people of Sri Lanka, and not to prop up abusive political leaders who undermine fundamental freedoms.”
UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said she was gravely concerned by the use of force to disperse protesters.
“Journalists and human rights defenders have a right to monitor demonstrations and their functions should not be impeded. Actions that stifle protests and right to peaceful assembly can worsen economic and political stability in Sri Lanka. Peaceful solutions in accordance with broad public consultations is the only way forward.”
The European Union:
“Freedom of expression proved essential to Sri Lanka’s current transition. Hard to see how severely restricting it can help in finding solutions to the current political and economic crises.”
UK High Commissioner Sarah Hulton expressed concern over the attack and said:
“We have made clear the importance of the right to peaceful protest.”
US Ambassador Julie Chung:
“Deeply concerned about actions taken against protestors at Galle Face in the middle of the night. We urge restraint by authorities and immediate access to medical attention for those injured.”
Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon:
“It is crucial the authorities act with restraint and avoid violence.”
The Presidential Secretariat remained in the hands of protesters till midnight July 22, 2022, out of the three State properties they took control of on July 09. Protesters evacuated from the other two – the President’s House and Temple Trees ahead of any confrontation with the military tasked to remove them!
In the absence of proper investigations…
Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga is one of the few lawmakers to question the failure on the part of relevant authorities to investigate organized attacks on government MPs. When the writer raised this issue with Minister Ranatunga a few moons ago, the Gampaha District SLPP strongman expressed serious disappointment over the status of the investigations.
Declaring that his properties at Udugampola, Gampaha, had been set ablaze in the presence of law enforcement officers, Urban Development and Housing Minister Ranatunga said that he was still awaiting the conclusion of the investigation undertaken by the Human Rights Commission. None of those who had been identified as responsible for systematic destruction of houses and other properties belonging to government members and in some cases supporters hadn’t been dealt with.
President Wickremesinghe’s recent disclosure of efforts to force him out of the Premier’s Office revealed that there hadn’t been a proper investigation into the Aragalaya at all. What is the mysterious evil hand preventing justice being done to victims of mob justice by Aragalaya? But the evil West leaves no stone unturned in seeking “justice” on behalf of the LTTE and its sympathisers, who tried to break up this country through sheer raw terror.
It would be interesting to know the status of the investigation promised by the Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, into the May 9/10 attacks on politicians’ properties. A case filed by a group of politicians, demanding an investigation into these incidents, had been withdrawn in late May, 2023 on an assurance given by the Attorney General.
The State Counsel appearing on behalf of the Attorney General assured Court that the AG had received an assurance from the Public Security Ministry that there would be a formal investigation into the incidents and secondly, the Secretary to the President promised that the Wasantha Karannagoda Committee report on the May 2022 incidents would be brought to the attention of the President.
What is the status of the promised investigation? President Wickremesinghe cannot absolve himself of the responsibility for ensuring a comprehensive investigation into violence perpetrated during 2022.
In spite of allegations that the JVP instigated an attack on Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa at the Galle Face protest site on the afternoon of May 09, 2022, the main Opposition party never pushed hard for an investigation.
Recently MP Premadasa confirmed the alleged JVP plot when the writer sought his response to SLPP MP Johnston Fernando’s declaration that Premadasa would have been lynched if his driver failed to reverse the vehicle at high-speed after the JVP mob surrounded Premadasa. Sunil Handunetti declared that both Johnston and Sajith should have their heads examined. But JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was virtually received with open arms by the same Aragalaya activists on the same day at the same venue
Another matter for serious concern is that all suspects arrested in connection with the killing of MP Amarakeerthi Atukorale were granted bail without the AG being consulted. The accusation has been made by the AG in respect of the decision taken by the Trial-at-Bar of the Gampaha High Court. We would refrain from commenting on the issue at hand as the matter is pending before the court.
The Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government has completely ignored ex-President’s allegations that the military deliberately failed to thwart the public protest campaign that was launched on March 31, 2022. Gotabaya Rajapaksa went to the extent of alleging that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General (retd.) Shavendra Silva and Defence Secretary General (retd.) Kamal Gunaratne may have failed to take tangible measures as they were under pressure due to war crimes accusations directed at them by the US. However, it must be pointed out that General Silva hadn’t been at the helm of the Army at the time Aragalaya overran Janadhipathi Mandiraya with ease.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa replaced General Silva on June 1, 2022, following the May 09 incidents which shook his government with Vikum Liyanage, also of the Gajaba Regiment as the Commander of the Army, though various interested parties found fault with Silva, who headed the celebrated 58 Division that in way spearheaded the war victory, for not protecting Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government.
The UNP also provided muscle to Aragalaya. Former MP and current presidential advisor Ashu Marasinghe and SJB MP and Minister Harin Fernando had declared the UNP’s direct role in Aragalaya whereas the JVP and its breakaway faction the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP/Peratugami Pakshaya) played a significant role. However, the vast majority of those who provided the real strength to the protest campaign were not members of any political party but angry Sri Lankans influenced by the collapsing of the economy. They also engaged in looting in some instances but there were organized groups which caused massive destruction, systematically at the behest of Aragalaya masterminds operating from behind the scene.
President Wickremesinghe should name those who had asked him to give up the premiership. Speaker Abeywardena, too, should reveal who threatened to harm him unless he fully cooperated with the Aragalaya.
By Lynn Ockersz
White-clad and smug,
In cavernous Limousines,
The dignitaries are back,
Trying out winning smiles,
Surveying the debacle,
Of these brave decades,
Of people and homesteads,
Sinking mercilessly,
In backwaters of neglect,
Which is the best proof yet,
That the land’s periphery,
Has not figured much,
On the planning boards,
Of those ‘strutting and fretting,
Their hour’ on high ground.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Jaffna district parliamentarian Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran’s recent declaration supportive of the militarily defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) particularly captured the public attention.
Then soon after, MP Sumanthiran surprised all by appearing on stage with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, in Jaffna, where the UNP leader bestowed land deeds on a selected group of people.
With them on stage were EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, MP, and Dharmalingam Siddharthan, MP, of PLOTE/TNA whose father, Visvanather Dharmalingam, MP (Jaffna District) was assassinated by TELO at the behest of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Sept 1985. (Siddharthan himself told the writer that his father and colleague Jaffna District MP Arumugam Murugesu Alalasundaram were abducted and killed in a Mafia-style TELO operation). Will deal with Sumanthiran’s Jaffna move later.
Issuing a statement ahead of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day that was marked on May 18 around the world, Sumanthiran, PC, now in his third term as a lawmaker, said: “Although it is my personal belief that a just political liberation cannot be achieved at the point of a gun, I have repeatedly stated that we cannot today decry or judge the decision taken by the Tamil youth who saw no other option at a time when oppression and military….”
The Illankai Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP went on to say: “I have also consistently emphasized that the commitment and sacrifices unselfishly made by those who took up arms on our behalf should be regarded very highly.”
Sumanthiran tweeted hours before he paid respects to those who perished in fighting and the civilians at the Mullivaikkal commemoration site. However, Sumanthiran attended another commemoration also on the same day organized at the Viharamahadevi Park by several groups, including the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), to remember “all victims of war over 30 years in the North and South.”
Some found fault with MP Sumanthiran for attending the Colombo event where organizers quite rightly refrained from making reference to any particular group or community. There hadn’t been a similar remembrance event in Colombo since the end of the war 15 years ago. The same group organized an inter-religious prayer event at the Vavuniya Town Hall grounds, also on the same day.
The GTF should be commended for taking a courageous stand in spite of criticism by those who still seek advantage of the LTTE’s crushing defeat.
Perhaps, the GTF-led group should have made reference to Sri Lankans killed overseas due to terrorism, Indian military deaths here (July 1987-March 1990) and former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in May 1991 while campaigning during a general election by a brainwashed LTTE teenage suicide cadre.
The Tamil community shouldn’t confine the war dead commemoration to those who died during the last phase of the fighting with the focus on Mullivaikkal. Commemorations whether in the North, East or Colombo should be devoid of any petty racial connotation, for all were human beings. Such events shouldn’t be allowed to cause further divisions among the communities, under any circumstances. Those who make unnecessary interventions with a view to attracting media attention should be appropriately dealt with by law enforcement authorities.
We also like to ask self-proclaimed international do-gooders why they don’t show even an iota of interest in the unimaginable suffering undergoing by Palestinians at the hands of the Israelis, while they make a song and dance about imaginary genocide they claim to have happened here during the last phase of fighting.
The ITAK is the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that had been formed in late Oct 2001 in line with the community’s overall politico-military strategy to achieve Eelam. Against the backdrop of the worst-ever battlefield defeat that had been inflicted on the Army in April 2000, Eelam seemed achievable. Having defeated the 54 Division, deployed at the Elephant Pass sector then widely believed to be impregnable, thereafter the LTTE almost succeeded in overwhelming the Army in the rest of the peninsula.
Muslims’ dilemma
The Sinhalese and Tamils should also publicly repent the suffering experienced by the Muslim community. That community suffered untold hardships for being steadfastly taking a stand against separatism. Had they thrown their weight behind the LTTE, the country could have been overwhelmed and the 2009 absolute victory over the LTTE couldn’t have been achieved. So, do not hesitate to recognize the Muslims’ commitment as a whole to Sri Lanka’s unitary status. They paid a very heavy price for being always supportive of the government stand for a united Sri Lanka, whoever was in power.
The 2019 Easter Sunday massacre, carried out by a group of extremist misguided Muslims, shouldn’t in any way be used against the community. Officers and men of the Muslim and Tamil communities served in the armed forces and police with distinction and made quite a contribution to the overall success of the war.
Just five months after the LTTE resumed war in June 1990 in the wake of the IPKF withdrawal from the temporarily-merged North and East Provinces, the LTTE ordered the Muslims out of the Northern region, comprising Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaithivu and Vavuniya giving them a matter of hours to leave. The then President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s government couldn’t do anything about it. The international community turned a blind eye. Tamil politicians remained silent. No one dared to challenge the LTTE’s inhumane and drastic move.
Twenty-one years later a deranged Norwegian Andres Breivik massacred 77 persons, mostly children in two attacks the attacker claimed was influenced by the LTTE’s eviction of the Muslim community from Northern Sri Lanka.
Did the late LTTE theoretician and ideologue Anton Balasingham approve of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s plan to force Muslims out of the Northern Province? Balasingham, the one-time British High Commission employee in Colombo, passed away in the UK, in Dec 2006, of kidney failure, a couple of months before the LTTE lost control of the Eastern Province.
Far right Breivik, then 32, a few hours before he went on the rampage on July 22, 2011, made reference to the LTTE’s eviction of the Muslim community from the Northern Province, in his so-called manifesto posted online. The following are the references (1) Pro-Sri Lanka (supports the deportation of all Muslims from Sri Lanka) (Page 1235) and (2) Fourth Generation War is normally characterized by a ‘stateless’ entity fighting a state or regime (the EUSSR). Fighting can be physical such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to use a modern example. (Page 1479).
Perhaps, Sri Lanka should have asked those who had been demanding international inquiry to include the Norwegian massacre in their agenda. One of Sri Lanka’s foremost diplomats, the late Jayantha Dhanapala, appearing before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in 2010, stressed on the need for accountability on the part of foreign governments. The then Mahinda Rajapaksa government, probably blinded by unfathomable victory, was not bothered. It only saw immediate political advantage out of the developments even forgetting the long term ramifications for the country.
Focus on Sumanthiran
Sumanthiran on his knees before the Mullaivaikkal monument
(pic courtesy Tamil Guardian)
Maybe MP Sumanthiran should have recognized the LTTE as the group that continued the war until the very end. The parliamentarian shouldn’t have hesitated to do so though terrorism cannot be justified under any circumstances. The LTTE, however, proved its conventional capabilities throughout the war. The casualties, and the losses the group inflicted on the Indian Army underscored its fighting capabilities.
As Sumanthiran entered Parliament at the 2010 General Election, perhaps he hadn’t been affected by the LTTE’s wartime strategies and unprecedented developments that characterized the conflict, with him comfortably settled down in Wellawatte.
The writer first met Sumanthiran at A.J.M. Muzammil’s (incumbent Governor of the Uva Province) residence at No 07, Alfred House Road, Colombo 03 in June 2011. Muzammil, who had been a UNP member of the Western Provincial Council (WPC), arranged the writer to interview former Tamil Nadu State Assembly Congress I member Hasanali Kuddus at his residence. The new entrant to the Parliament Attorney-at-Law Sumanthiran, too, was there on that occasion and the writer had an opportunity to seek his opinion on some contentious matters.
Naturally, matters raised herein included the recognition of the LTTE by the TNA as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people ahead of the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement (Feb 2002), LTTE-TNA joint boycott of 2005 presidential poll that cost UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe victory (the writer wouldn’t humiliate the defunct LTTE by repeating allegation that the Rajapaksas bribed the LTTE to order the boycott. The LTTE may have accepted money but the boycott was not certainly inspired by that) and still unbelievable was the TNA backing for the war-winning Army Chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 Presidential Poll. The TNA ensured a comfortable victory for Fonseka in the entire then merged North-East Province though he lost badly in the rest of the country. Mahinda Rajapaksa secured a second term by obtaining 1.8 mn votes more than Fonseka. A silly claim of computer “jilmaart” by Fonseka’s camp made his defeat even worse.
Kuddus, in an exclusive interview with The Island, strongly defended the eradication of the LTTE though concerns remained of atrocities allegedly committed by the military. Declaring that Sri Lanka couldn’t be punished on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, Kuddus said that no country would be safe if legitimate governments were deprived of the opportunity to neutralize threats posed by terrorism. If Sri Lanka could be questioned over its right to hit back hard at the LTTE, what would be the position of the Indian military battling those who had taken up arms? (Congress I member Hasanali speaks out, The Island, June 16, 2011 edition)
At the April 2010 General Glection, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won 14 seats. Thirteen were elected while the party secured just one of the 29 National List slots. The TNA picked Sumanthiran as its NL member. It would be pertinent to mention that the TNA was placed third in terms of the number of seats won at that election. The UPFA secured a staggering 144 seats, including 17 NL slots whereas the UNP-led United National Front obtained 60 seats. Nine NL MPs were among them.
The TNA tally drastically dropped due to the eradication of the LTTE. At the previous general election conducted in April 2004, close on the heels of the devastating split in the group, the TNA won a record 22 seats, including two NL slots. The European Union Election Observation Mission, in its report found fault with the TNA for being the beneficiary of poll violence unleashed by the Tigers to stuff ballot boxes in TNA’s favour. That was the best outcome for the TNA at a general election.
At the last General Election, the TNA tally was reduced to 10 MPs. It is a pity that Sumanthiran couldn’t gain the leadership of the ITAK at a keenly contested election in January this year. Jaffna District lawmaker Sivagnanam Sritharan secured 184 votes while M.A. Sumanthiran obtained 137 votes.
Let us get back to MP Sumanthiran’s appearance on stage in Jaffna with President Wickremesinghe last week. During his brief statement, the President’s Counsel made reference to the LTTE-TNA boycott of the 2005 Presidential Poll that caused Wickremesinghe’s defeat, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election and the unthinkable annihilation of the LTTE. The Presidential Media Division (PMD) quoted Sumanthiran as having told the gathering: “It is possible that the challenges in the North may have impeded your journey in 2005, a fact that I believe is now regretfully acknowledged by the people of the region.”
In the wake of a minor commotion over MP Sumanthiran’s appearance on stage with Wickremesinghe, the PC tweeted that his attendance at the state functions in his electorate shouldn’t be considered as an endorsement of the UNP leader’s candidature at the forthcoming Presidential Poll. The Jaffna District MP’s tweet is irrelevant. His declaration pertaining to the 2005 Presidential Poll clearly meant his support for Wickremesinghe.
The bottom line is that if not for that strategic mistake made by the LTTE and TNA in 2005, they could have achieved military superiority in the North after the then expected UNP victory as Wickremesinghe hardly making even a whimper against the LTTE. MP Sumanthiran’s politically charged statement in Jaffna should be examined also taking into consideration two key developments-in April 2003 (LTTE quit negotiating table) and January 2010 (backed General Fonseka).
The TNA could have used the opportunity to reach a consensus with President Rajapaksa if the party at least adopted a neutral stance. Instead, the TNA joined with the UNP and the JVP to defeat President Rajapaksa, thereby causing a lot of hostility. Backing Fonseka also dealt a severe blow to the TNA’s credibility in the backdrop of war crimes accusations directed at the Army.
GR meets Sampanthan at India House
Sumanthiran cannot be unaware of an attempt made by India in 2011 to work out an arrangement between President Rajapaksa’s government and the TNA.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan has been keen to normalize relations between his party and the government. The veteran politician appeared to have felt that such an arrangement could have helped his community and sought Indian intervention. But a section of the party sabotaged that effort, thereby undermining reconciliatory moves.
Following an incident at Alaveddi that had been staged by the group opposed to Sampanthan’s bid, an angry Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the writer of a hitherto unreported meeting between him and Sampanthan at India House on June 08, 2011. The meeting that had taken place in the presence of the then Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha could have facilitated post-war reconciliation.
Pointing out that the June 16 incident at Alaveddi was meant to harm reconciliatory moves, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that unwarranted interventions made by various interested parties, including the US, caused complications (GR alleges TNA split over Sampanthan’s reconciliation move with strapline ‘TNA pressured US State Department, several diplomatic missions to take up Alaveddi issue’ in the June 20, 2011 edition of The Island.
Recently SJB MP Mano Ganesan attacked TNA over what he called its post-war honeymoon with the government. A comprehensive post-war examination of political developments, commencing with the formation of the TNA at the behest of the LTTE, is necessary to comprehend the situation today.
The arrest of four persons in February 2017 during the Yahapalana administration, over an alleged attempt on Sumanthiran’s life, underscores the need for a wider examination of developments. The suspects held under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) were granted bail in Oct 2022.
During that administration, the TNA played quite an important role with Sampanthan receiving the Opposition Leader’s post though his party had only 16 seats, including two NL slots whereas the breakaway UPFA faction comprised over 50 MPs. But, Yahapalana bosses decided in favour of TNA. In return, the TNA helped thwart President Maithripala Sirisena’s bid to form a new government under the premiership of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Formed in late Oct 2018, the Sirisena-Rajapaksa effort collapsed in 52 days. Sumanthiran played a significant role in the counter attack in support of ousted Wickremesinghe, who continued to insist he was the Premier regardless of the appointment made by Sirisena. Finally, the SC ruled in favour of Wickremesinghe. The rest is history. However, in the wake of 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, MP Sumanthiran said something which he shouldn’t have said under any circumstances. Addressing the first anniversary event of the political weekly ‘Annidha’ on April 29, 2019 at the BMICH, the TNA spokesman justified the heinous crime. He warned of dire consequences unless the government addressed the grievances of the minorities.
Sumanthiran is best remembered for his role in working out a tripartite agreement on a hybrid war crimes court as announced in Washington in June 2016.
Political parties need to make a genuine effort to move forward. The post-war reconciliation wouldn’t be realistic until parties represented in Parliament stopped playing politics with the war. The Tamil community should accept the LTTE had ample opportunities to reach consensus with the Sinhala leadership, particularly Ranil Wickremesinghe, who pursued a strategy even at the expense of his political life. The LTTE’s cardinal sin or serious error of judgment was the April 2003 withdrawal from the Norway-led peace effort. That was meant to create an environment conducive for full scale war that the group felt could have been brought to a successful conclusion by it. The LTTE was certainly ready for war in August 2005. If not, Prabhakaran wouldn’t have ordered Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination. Full scale war commenced exactly a year later and what was widely believed to be an invincible force collapsed within two years and 10 months. Had the military not taken the civilian factor into consideration, the LTTE could have been wiped out much earlier. The ICRC said so as revealed by WikiLeaks.
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