Sovereign debt is regularly in the news even though we may not realize it. Several poor countries keep defaulting on their debt. This occurs more frequently with countries in Latin America and Africa. People have a limited understanding of how sovereign debt works. This is because sovereign debt is a bit counter-intuitive. It is true that countries borrow money just like companies and must repay them in a similar fashion. If a company fails to repay the debt, it must face the consequences of its action. However, when a nation defaults on its debt, the entire economy takes a hit.
In this article, we will understand how sovereign default is different from the corporate default. We will also understand the after-effects of a sovereign default.
No International Court
Firstly, it needs to be understood that most of this debt is not subject to any jurisdiction. When a company fails to repay its debt, creditors file bankruptcy in the court of that country. The court then presides over the matter, and usually, the assets of the company are liquidated to pay off the creditors. However, when a country defaults, the lenders do not have any international court to go to. Lenders usually have very little recourse. They cannot forcibly take over a country’s assets and neither can they compel the country to pay.
Reputation Mechanism
The next question arises that if creditors cannot compel borrowers to repay debt, why would they lend money? The answer is that they lend based on the reputation of the borrower. Countries like the United States have never defaulted on their debt. Hence, they have a small likelihood of default. As a result, they receive financing at better terms as compared to a country like Venezuela or Argentina which has defaulted in the past and is more likely to default in the future.
The entire premise of lending to sovereign nations is that if these nations default, then they will be cut off from future access to credit from international bond markets. Since countries almost always need credit to fund their growth, this acts as a major detriment. This is the reason why countries decide to pay up on their debt even after defaulting.
A 100% loss to creditors is unlikely. Usually, when a default occurs, some sort of compromise is reached, and creditors end up taking a haircut. This means that they receive at least part of the payment that was due to them.
Effects of Sovereign Default
Some of the common effects of a sovereign default are as follows:
Interest Rates Rise
The most immediate impact is that borrowing cost rises for the nation in the international bond market. If the government itself is borrowing at a higher rate, then the corporates also have to borrow at increased rates. As a result, interest rates rise and the price of bonds that were issued earlier collapse even further. Trade and commerce is negatively affected since banks are skeptical of lending money at high rates to borrowers.
Exchange Rate
International investors become wary that the defaulting country will continue to print money till it reaches hyperinflation. As a result, they want to exit the defaulting nation. As a result, the exchange rates in the international market plummet as everyone tries to sell their local currency holdings and buy a more stable foreign currency. If a country is not too dependent on international investment, then the effect of exchange rate may be marginal. However, countries which default on their debt tend to have massive foreign investments.
Bank Runs
Just like investors want to move their money out of the country, local people want to move their money out of the banks. They are fearful that the government will forcibly take possession of their bank deposits to repay the international debt. Since everybody tries to withdraw money at the same time, bank runs become the norm. Many people are not able to recover their deposits and as a result the crisis becomes even more severe and more bank runs follow.
Stock Market Crash
Needless to say, the above-mentioned factors negatively affect the economy. As a result of the stock market also takes a beating. Once again the cycle of negativity feeds off itself. The stock market crash perpetuates itself. It is not uncommon for stock markets to have 40% to 50% of their market capitalization wiped off during a sovereign debt default.
Trade Embargo
Foreign creditors are often influential in their home country. Hence after default, they convince their countries to impose trade embargos on the defaulting nations. These embargos block the inflow and outflow of essential commodities into a nation thereby choking its economy. Since most countries import oil to meet their energy needs, such trade embargos can be disastrous. In the absence of oil and energy, the productivity of an economy takes a severe beating.
Rising Unemployment
Private firms and the government both feel the negative effects of the economic climate. The government is not able to borrow and tax revenues are also at all-time lows. Hence, they are not able to pay salaries to the workers on time. Also, since there is a negative sentiment in the economy, people stop consuming products. As a result, the GDP comes down and accentuates the unemployment cycle.
Dear
Editor , Please
find below my response on listening to an interview given by the exUNP, now SJB
, finance spokesperson on his hysterical advocation of joining the world”
seemingly oblivious to all the efforts of the past two years of inviting
foreign investment ,with each visiting heads to SL ,and with each interaction
with every foreign head by SL’s head of state & the improvement in
conditions for foreign investment with legislation to make it a “one
stop shop” with the Colombo Port City Commissioning bill.
Has
he short term memory loss ( sure sign of early dementia) , that it was he and
his band of never achieved anything” colleagues who tried to stall
it asking what is the hurry”. Has he also got amnesia for
how the likes of him raised bogeys like making SL a Chinese Colony”
especially with regard to the appointees to CPC’s management commission, which
when appointed was devoid of a single Chinese face but headed by a lawyer who
defended a prominent accused in the Central Bank Robbery with well known family
connections to the UNP. So much for some of his earlier cautions.
It
is also testimony to the quality of SL media that, these questions were never
raised with those expressing these concerns even more than eight months
after they were raised , leaving it to me from thousands of miles away to do
so. It would appear to me that the SL media sees it as it’s obligation to
question every action or word of the govt but not those of the opposition
leaving it to them to exploit the media to vent all their baseless allegations
and insinuations to thwart SL’s recovery
Now
my response to the interview in question , possibly 9th or 10th Jan ‘22
I
Just don’t understand this man . Is he honest or deliberately misleading.
This govt has made foreign investment a one stop shop for Colombo port city and Hambantota manufacturing zone and has been encouraging foreign investment with every overseas visit and and overseas visitor encouraging successfully & developing neglected local industry and new industry, Tyre, motor car, Yatch building ( all the yatchs visible in the CPC Marina r locally made) ship building etc. ref Ada Derana Big Focus 9/1/21
This man was in power for four and a half years and did not do even a smidgen of what he is advocating now . Instead all they did was run the economy to ground, robbed the centra bank not once but twice and turned a blind eye on the looming Easter Sunday disaster. In the mean while these paragons of virtue looked on helplessly while their two leaders fought with each other like the double heads of a dragon .!
The govt is trying to correct the consequences of these crimes compounded by those of COvid with a monumentally successful COvid vaccination drive when COvid is consuming the rest of the world . They are just getting on top of things and trying to build up SL peoples self belief, confidence and resolve and this guy & those like him r only trying to break the resolve of the people to join in the journey. Instead they seek to drive them into despondency ably assisted by sections of rating driven and well oiled media.
Don’t do that .it is traitorous! R u DB ( deaf and blind ) not to see what is happening around U
Can’t u see that the govt is attempting to restructure loans and obtain buffers of Forex till remittances and tourism improves as is happening now and that too without being hostage to IMF conditions as you advocated . This would have led the govt to be even more unpopular, no doubt much to your delight.
I acknowledged that you can take credit for the only positive smidgen of that disastrous AYAHAPALANA regime , viz the national ambulance service.
Don’t wreck that record by playing to the gallery and to sections of rating driven & well oiled by anti national forces media, that r even worse than the gallery , trying to wreck SL’s ‘fledgling recovery..
Instead contribute to it by using your interviews to encourage potential international investors of the potential for investing in SL , a few nautical miles off the busiest sea lane in the world so using the easiest access to the East and West and the one stop shop” ease of investing in SL now. Then the world would be the Oyster in their hands for their manufacturings .
Then you will have a stake in SL’s recovery which will ease things for you too if you iinherit it some day.
Justice for Animals and
Nature welcomes the grant of Cabinet Approval for the long-awaited Animal
Welfare Bill initially drafted by the Law Commission of Sri Lanka and handed
over to the then President Mahinda Rajapakse for enactment in May 2006. It has taken
more than 15 years for the Govt. to
reach the stage of giving
Cabinet approval for this Bill that will enhance the protection given to
Animals at a level comparable with modern standards of care. Its enactment will
raise the moral stature of Sri Lanka in the civilized world.
Colombo, January 11 (newsin.asia): During his visit to Sri Lanka on January 8 and 9, the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, had clearly indicated that China is keen on going beyond infrastructural development to investing in industries in the island nation to help it industrialize and develop a Made in Sri Lanka” brand.
He also urged an early conclusion of the long drawn out negotiations on a Sino-Lankan Free Trade Agreement so that the island’s economy is put on a more solid and modern footing, based on investment and trade.
These proposals are meant to strengthen the Sri Lankan economy and enable it to earn enough to repay debts even as they release China from the charge across the world that it is on a lending spree in poor countries with the aim of taking over their assets if they fail to repay the loans. China is widely accused of practising- debt-trap diplomacy.”
In Sri Lanka, so far, China has built massive infrastructural facilities like the Hambantota port, the Mattala airport, the Colombo International Container Terminal, the Colombo Port City, the Lotus Tower, a kidney Disease hospital in Polonnaruwa and several highway and railway links. With the result, today, China is the single largest lender to Sri Lanka having displaced Japan. But still, China accounted for only a little over 10% of Sri Lanka’s external debt of US$ 51 billion in 2021.
Yet, the taking over of the Hambantota port on a 99-year lease following the inability of the Lankan government to pay back the US$ 1.1 billion loan taken from China to build the harbor, is widely cited as a classic case of China’s debt diplomacy”. However, over time, these projects, barring a few like the Lotus Tower, have started generating income. Even the classic White Elephants, the Hambantota port and the Mattala Airport derided by Forbes as the World’s Emptiest Airport”, are earning money now.
If they took so long to yield returns it was not the fault of China or the assets, but the Sri Lankan government’s lack of interest in making use of the assets in a creative way. For instance, India had submitted a plan to use Mattala airport for domestic flights through a joint venture, but the previous Mathripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe government used it for grain storage”. However, since the Rajapaksa came back to power, the airport has been attracting flights.
In April 2021, the Lankan Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga stated in parliament that the Mattala International Airport had earned an income of LKR 445 million from its opening to traffic in November 20, 2020. The Minister said that since the opening of the airport, 10,266 aircraft and 58,651 passengers arrived and 73,513 passengers took off.
As for the Humbantota port, it is attracting traffic and will see a jump when plans to build facilities in the hinterland are implemented. According to the website of Hellenic Shipping News, in September 2021, the China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) which operates Humbantota port, declared a dividend of LKR 1.05 billion to the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA), while announcing that its first half net profit had shot up by 204.7% to HK$4.71 billion (Rs 120.61 billion), from HK$1.54 billion in 2020.
For the first half of 2021, Hambantota International Port Group handled 790,000 tonnes of bulk cargo. Bulk cargo volume vaulted by 338.9% from the year before. The roll-on/roll-off terminal handled 281,000 vehicles in the first half, up by 56.2% year-on-year. The Humbantota Industrial Park had signed up 27 enterprises, the company said. It is gearing up to become a fully-functional multi-purpose port next year.
The US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City constructed by the China Harbor Company, began humming with activity recently, after the Lankan government, at long last, gave it proper legal structure. Designed to be an international financial hub it is expecting two big-ticket Chinese financial companies to set other international investments in motion, according to the Lankan envoy in Beijing Dr.Palitha Kohona.
There is criticism that about 88 hectares were leased to China for 99 years and another 20 hectares were given on freehold to China in the Colombo Port City. But this was done to compensate for the loss of US$ 380,000 per day due to work stoppage caused by a government inquiry which eventually found no wrong doing.
Alternative to Debt Restructuring
Since Sri Lanka is in the thick of a grave financial crisis. Its President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had sought debt restructuring when the Chinese Foreign Minister called on him on January 9. It appears that Wang did not commit himself to restructuring as such but said that China would assist Sri Lanka in overcoming the temporary difficulties within its capacity.” But he assured Sri Lankan leaders that he would encourage Chinese companies to invest in Sri Lanka to make Sri Lanka industrialize and establish a Made in Sri Lanka” brand.
China will continue to assist Sri Lanka in overcoming temporary difficulties within our capacity. We are convinced that Sri Lanka’s economy will walk out of the current predicament and achieve new and greater progress. Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port are the flagship projects of bilateral cooperation in building the Marine Silk Road, and two engines of Sri Lanka’s economic development. China supports Chinese enterprises in investing and developing in Sri Lanka and combining Chinese capital and experience with Sri Lanka’s human resources advantages to help Sri Lanka improve the ability of self-development, accelerate industrialization, and build the brand of Made in Sri Lanka,” Wang told Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Wang stressed the need to conclude a China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement which had run into opposition from Lankan nationalists.
Sri Lanka and China should make good use of the two engines, Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port flagship projects, tap the opportunities of the enforcement of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and China’s vast market, and discuss the restart of talks on a free trade agreement between China and Sri Lanka to send more positive signals to the world and contribute to Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and development.” Wang told President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s 227 billion rupee ‘relief package’ to state workers and low income households may boost an economic recovery but will worsen the deficit, Moody’s a rating agency said.
The handouts are about 1.6 percent of projected gross domestic product by Moody’s.
While the size of the package is moderate and will be fully funded via reallocations from the budget (6% of budget expenditure in 2022), it reduces the scope for fiscal and debt consolidation at a time when fiscal flexibility is already severely limited by the large share of interest payments in government revenue (60-70%,” Moody’s said.
Funding the package with reallocations from the budget in part reflects this limited fiscal space, which constrains the government’s ability to use fiscal policy to mitigate the impact of economic shocks.
Such measures would support domestic demand and the economic recovery as surging prices – particularly for food – stemming from global supply chain-related disruptions and some import restrictions over 2020-21 reduce the purchasing power of households.”
Analysts familiar with Sri Lanka’s fiscal track however say the package is unlikely to be met fully with re-allocation and extra spending would be needed.
If the funds are fully financed from bond markets at a higher interest rate economic growth will be unaffected (potential private sector savings will go to the budget instead of private credit) though long term growth will fall due to mis-allocation of resources.
However if interest rates are held down with more liquidity injections, the new money will spill over to the balance of payments as excess imports, analysts say, as happened in 2020 and 2021 amid a credit recovery.
Furthermore, the risk of fiscal slippage has increased with the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus,” Moody’s said.
Some countries have tightened activity and travel restrictions, and any reintroduction of measures domestically or a delay in the recovery of Sri Lanka’s tourism sector would intensify fiscal and external pressures.”
Moody’s said the fiscal deficit will could be 9-10 percent of GDP in 2022, from around 11 percent in 2021, higher than the 8.9 percent in the budget, due to less than expected revenues.
Wide deficits will keep the government’s debt burden at higher levels for some time; we estimate that the debt burden will rise to around 108% of GDP by the end of 2022 from around 101% at the end of 2020 and 87% at the end of 2019, before stabilising at the elevated 2022 level thereafter, mainly reflecting the recovery in nominal GDP growth,” the rating agency said.
Such levels are significantly above the Caa median and much higher than the government’s medium-term target of around 75% in 2025.”
Moody’s expects real GDP to grow 5 percent in 2022 from 4-5 percent in 2021, with a lower base, economic activity normalised and international borders open to vaccinated tourists.
Relief package supports Sri Lanka’s economic recovery but compounds government’s fiscal challenge
On 3 January, Sri Lanka’s (Caa2 stable) government announced a fiscal relief package worth LKR229 billion ($1 billion, 1.6% of our 2022 GDP forecast) to support the economy and alleviate the impact of higher consumer prices on low-income households.
While the size of the package is moderate and will be fully funded via reallocations from the budget (6% of budget expenditure in 2022), it reduces the scope for fiscal and debt consolidation at a time when fiscal flexibility is already severely limited by the large share of interest payments in government revenue (60-70%).
Funding the package with reallocations from the budget in part reflects this limited fiscal space, which constrains the government’s ability to use fiscal policy to mitigate the impact of economic shocks.
Furthermore, the risk of fiscal slippage has increased with the emergence of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. Some countries have tightened activity and travel restrictions, and any reintroduction of measures domestically or a delay in the recovery of Sri Lanka’s tourism sector would intensify fiscal and external pressures.
Key features of the relief package include cash handouts of LKR1,000 to citizens receiving income support, agricultural subsidies, the removal of certain taxes on food and medicine and an increase in public-sector salaries (LKR5,000 a month from January).
Such measures would support domestic demand and the economic recovery as surging prices – particularly for food – stemming from global supply chain-related disruptions and some import restrictions over 2020-21 reduce the purchasing power of households.
Consumer price inflation rose to 8.3% year-over-year in October 2021 and accelerated to more than 11% in November, with food prices surging by 17%.
We expect inflation-adjusted real GDP growth to pick up to around 5% in 2022 from around 4-5% in 2021, in part because of a lower base and because domestic economic activity has largely normalised, with international borders open to vaccinated tourists since October 2021.
However, risks remain as the new omicron variant of the coronavirus could delay such a recovery, and several countries have reversed their easing of travel restrictions. Should such risks materialise, the recovery in government revenue would likely be delayed beyond our assumptions, with fiscal and debt metrics remaining very weak for longer.
We forecast that the fiscal deficit will narrow only slightly to around 9-10% of GDP in 2022 from around 11% in 2021, mainly reflecting our expectation for lower revenue growth than the budget envisages. Wide deficits will keep the government’s debt burden at higher levels for some time; we estimate that the debt burden will rise to around 108% of GDP by the end of 2022 from around 101% at the end of 2020 and 87% at the end of 2019, before stabilising at the elevated 2022 level thereafter, mainly reflecting the recovery in nominal GDP growth.
Such levels are significantly above the Caa median and much higher than the government’s medium-term target of around 75% in 2025.
In addition, a delay in the recovery of tourism receipts would weigh on Sri Lanka’s precarious external liquidity position. As of November 2021, the country had $1 billion in foreign-exchange reserves (which in our definition excludes gold and Special Drawing Rights), covering less than one month of imports.
While the central bank indicated that reserves had risen as of the end of December with the disbursement of a $1.5 billion swap agreement with the People’s Bank of China, reserves adequacy remains very weak, with reserves at around $2-3 billion compared with $5-6 billion of foreign-currency obligations due annually through at least 2025.
SriLankan Airlines announced (10-Jan-2022) it resumed codeshare operations with American Airlines from 23-Dec-2021 (Routes Online/Lanka Business Online/Colombo Page, 10/11-Jan-2022). Under the agreement, SriLankan codeshares on the following American Airlines services:
New York JFK to London Heathrow and Paris CDG;
Miami to London Heathrow and Paris CDG;
Dallas Fort Worth to Paris CDG and Frankfurt;
Chicago O’Hare-London Heathrow;
Los Angeles-London Heathrow.
SriLankan Airlines acting CEO and CCO Richard Nuttall stated: “We are pleased to reinstate our codeshare partnership with American Airlines as SriLankan Airlines continues to expand its operations in Europe”. [more – original PR]
Suspected terrorists and foreign fighters among arrests during INTERPOL-coordinated operation
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Boosting the ability of frontline border officers to detect travelers as potential terrorists was the focus of a counter- terrorism (CT) and border management operation led by INTERPOL across Sri Lanka.
Codenamed Operation Flycatcher II, the five-day (8 – 12 November) operation saw the arrest of six suspects linked to terrorism, with further arrests and prosecutions foreseen globally as investigations continue to unfold.
The operation saw Sri Lanka’s police, border and immigration agencies undertake specialized INTERPOL training on forensic identification techniques, CT investigative skills and INTERPOL’s data sharing mechanisms before carrying out tactical operations in the field.
Right data, right place, right time
Access to information in our databases is at the heart of INTERPOL’S counter-terrorism operations, especially those that can prevent travel,” said INTERPOL’s Director of Counter-Terrorism, Gregory Hinds.
Operation Flycatcher demonstrates the importance for countries to use INTERPOL’s wide range of criminal databases in strategic places like border crossings,” added Mr Hinds.
With biometric data playing a growing role in tackling crime and terrorism, officers worked together using INTERPOL’s biometric identification capabilities to identify potential terrorism suspects.
The operation saw more than 800 hits and new uploads to INTERPOL’s wide range of criminal databases, particularly its stolen travel documents database with more than 100 million documents reported stolen from all over the world.
Stolen passports are a key asset for terrorist mobility, particularly for foreign terrorist fighters returning from conflict zones.
INTERPOL’s databases contain details on around 135,000 foreign terrorist fighters, with data collected from hotspots such as borders, battlefields and prisons.
Highlighting how terrorist activity is often linked to other crime areas, more than 200,000 checks on INTERPOL’s wanted persons database led not only to the identification of potential terrorists but also men and women wanted for forging travel documents, fraud and financial crime, weapons smuggling and human trafficking.
The focus of Operation Falcon II was to boost the ability of Sri Lanka’s frontline border officers to detect travelers as potential terrorists
Following the money trail
The financing of terrorism is a core component of INTERPOL’s strategy in the fight against terrorism.
Traveler’s names were checked against INTERPOL’s databases of suspicious financial transaction in the framework of INTERPOL’s Financial-to-Law Enforcement exercise (FINLEX).
Seven suspects and five suspicious monetary transactions were detected, prompting investigations in associated countries.
Boosting the way we work nationally to detect terror suspects travelling in Sri Lanka means making sure all our police agencies have the necessary capabilities, skillsets and mechanisms in place to prevent and investigate the crime area holistically,” said Chief Inspector Lakshman Rajakaruna who heads operations at the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Colombo.
‘This is why such a wide range of Sri Lankan agencies took part in this important operation, coming together with the common goal of tackling terrorism from all angles, together with INTERPOL,’’ added Mr Rajakaruna.
Officers used INTERPOL’s biometric identification capabilities to identify potential terrorism suspects
Local operation with global input
INTERPOL coordinated the cooperative action of nine national law enforcement agencies working together across Sri Lanka and at Bandaranayaka International Airport using INTERPOL capabilities to detect potential terrorists:
INTERPOL National Central Bureau for Sri Lanka in Colombo
Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division
Criminal Investigation Department (CID)
Criminal Records Department (CRD)
Financial Investigation Unit of CID
Financial Intelligence Unit Central Bank of Sri Lanka
Immigration and Emigration Department
Special Task Force
State Intelligence Service (SIS)
Ahead of operations, Sri Lankan agencies received and analysed INTERPOL-sourced intelligence on transnational terrorist networks to better understand their methods, motives and financing and – ultimately – to identify and arrest suspects.
Operations in the field enabled investigators to link a number of suspects to terrorist organizations active in Sri Lanka, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Islamic State (IS), and the National Thowheeth Jama’ath which was the terrorist group responsible for the 2019 Easter Bombings attack in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan agencies analysed INTERPOL-sourced intelligence on transnational terrorist networks to enable field officers to identify and arrest suspects
Easter bombings: seven strikes in 21 minutes
In April 2019, nine suicide bombers simultaneously detonated their devices in seven locations around Sri Lanka killing 269 people and leaving 500 injured.
Whereas domestic terrorism – principally from LTTE – represented Sri Lanka’s main terrorist threat for decades, the attack illustrated escalating IS-inspired religious extremism.
Cooperation between the Sri Lankan authorities and INTERPOL resulted in a number of strong leads and arrests. One of the alleged ringleaders behind the bomb attacks, Ahamed Milhan Hayathu Mohamed, was arrested in the Middle East following the publication of an INTERPOL Red Notice. He was later extradited back to Sri Lanka, along with four other suspects, following their arrest in the Middle East.
Flycatcher is a CT operation carried out in the framework of INTERPOL’s CT programme for Sri Lanka and Maldives (CT-SLaM) funded by the European Union and jointly implemented with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The first Flycatcher operation was conducted with the Maldives in July 2021 and involved officers from several national law enforcement agencies. Results included some 1,000 hits against INTERPOL’s databases, one arrest for a firearms-related crime, and intelligence gathering to feed associated investigations worldwide.
More than 200,000 checks on INTERPOL’s wanted persons database led to the identification of many potential terrorists
The Economic and Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo has rolled back the move to blacklist the People’s Bank in Sri Lanka over the row concerning the payment for a consignment of organic fertilizer containing harmful bacteria shipped by a China-based company.
The People’s Bank was blacklisted on October 29, 2021, for failing to make the payment in compliance with the Letter of Credit and the contracts.
As per the terms of the contracts, the payment for the controversial organic fertilizer shipment was slated to be made through a Letter of Credit established via the People’s Bank.
Defending its move, the Chinese Embassy had stated that the People’s Bank has witnessed vicious event of Letter of Credit default, causing huge losses to the Chinese enterprises in international trade with Sri Lanka.
The Economic and Commercial Office urged all Chinese enterprises to strengthen risk control and avoid accepting Letters of Credit issued by People’s Bank of Sri Lanka in international trade with Sri Lanka.
In September last year, the National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS), which tested the fertilizer samples sent by the Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., Ltd., revealed the detection of the microorganism called ‘Erwinia’. Several days later, Sri Lanka decided to suspend the importation of organic fertilizer from Seawin Biotech.
However, the Chinese firm retaliated, saying that the NPQS took only three days to draw a suspicious conclusion although it takes more than 6 days to identify Erwinia as per the ISPM27 rule in IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention).
The unscientific detection method and conclusion of NPQ in Sri Lanka” are not in compliance with international animal and plant quarantine convention, Seawin Biotech claimed further, urging that Swiss SGS group, a top third-party testing organization, should re-test whether the samples contain Erwinia.
But Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage later insisted that the ship carrying the fertilizer consignment containing harmful bacteria will not be allowed into Sri Lanka. He also noted that the samples from this fertilizer shipment will not be re-tested, nor will any payment be made to the Chinese firm in question.
Against this backdrop, the Ceylon Fertilizer Company (CFC) had obtained two enjoining orders from the Colombo Commercial High Court against the Seawin Biotech, its local agent and the state-run People’s Bank, preventing the payment to the Chinese firm on Letter of Credit.
The CFC first obtained a court order on October 26 against the Chinese firm in question, preventing the People’s Bank from making any payment under a Letter of Credit opened in favour of the Chinese company.
However, on January 07, Sri Lanka paid USD 6.9 million to the Seawin Biotech Group, after the Colombo Commercial High Court dissolved the enjoining order preventing the payment on Letter of Credit.
On January 03, the enjoining order in question was dismissed as all parties had agreed for a settlement to ship a new stock of standardized fertilizer.
The daily count of COVID-19 cases recorded in Sri Lanka moved to 623 today (January 11), the Health Ministry said.
According to the Government Information Department, the newly-detected cases include four individuals who recently arrived on the island.
The latest development has brought the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country so far to 593,072.
As many as 567,360 recoveries have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 10,500 active cases in total are currently under medical care and the death toll stands at 15,149, official figures showed.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 15 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 11, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,149.
According to the figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 10 males and 05 females.
Seven of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 08 are in the age group of 60 years.
In three simple
sentences Prof. S. Arasaratnam, the historian, has summed up the overarching
force that governed Jaffna. He stated: The Vellahlas (sic) were thus the key
caste in the Tamil social system. They dominated the villages and ran its
affairs. The numerous other castes served the Vellahlas.” ( p. 110 – Ceylon,
Prentice- Hall Inc. 1964). This defines the omnipresent, Vellalar-dominated
hierarchy that penetrated every nook and corner of the peninsula and dictated
its laws and customs (Tesawalamai) to the subservient
non-Vellalars. Even though Vellalars had no centralised political power during
colonial and post-colonial periods, their domineering role in every village,
apart from the power derived as influential subalterns to the colonial masters,
made casteist Vellalarism the overwhelming force
that dominated Jaffna during feudal, colonial and post-colonial times.
The only time Vellalarism lost its supremacy was to Prabhakaran. In the
Vadukoddai Resolution the ageing Vellalar leadership declared war and handed
over the gun to the non-Vellalar Tamil youth to wage war. The privileged
Vellalars who had the money, the qualifications and the English-speaking skills
went abroad in search of greener pastures, leaving the others” to fight their
war. The Vellalars who legitimised violence in the Vadukoddai Resolution were
hoping to ride into power on the backs of the non-Vellalar Tamil youth. It was
Prabhakaran that came out of the Vellalar gun. He was the first-born
child of the Vadukoddai Resolution. He took the gun and first slaughtered
the Fathers of the Vellalar Resolution which gave birth to him.
Prabhakaranism
was merely a variation of fascist Vellalarism without casteism. His
one-man regime was an ideological extension of Vellalarism run by the low-caste.
Centuries of Vellalar political culture had fertilised the Jaffna soil for the
rise of Pol Potist Prabhakaranism. He faithfully followed his predecessors in
power. Born and bred in the Vellalar culture of violence there were no
impediments for Prabhakaran to deny the Tamil people their dignity, equality
and justice. The Vellalars justified his unrestrained violence, violating every
code of the UN Charter, as a legitimate tool of Tamil nationalism”. The
depraved violence of Magha of Kalinga, the first Tamil king, Sankilli,
Vellalars and Prabhakaran reduced their own people to the level of sub-humans.
Tamil regimes were run on dehumanising Vellalar violence.
Of
all the forces that ruled Jaffna the Vellalars held power for the longest
period, mainly as subalterns during the colonial period. Consequently, they
emerged as the most influential and powerful caste in Jaffna. In particular,
Vellalarism reigned supreme, as a legalised force, from the time (1707) the
Dutch codified the Vellalar customs and laws. It was called Tesawalamai –
the laws and customs of the land. It was approved by 12 Vellalar mudliyars
before the Dutch officially made it the law of the land. The Vellalar mudliyars
endorsed the Tesawalamai because it enshrined their customs and
laws. It consolidated Vellalar power to rule the Tamils under their oppressive
laws, including slavery. The codified Vellalar laws and customs (Tesawalamai)
placed them at the peak of the caste hierarchy, enabling them to oppress and
suppress those below them with a fascist fist. It is, for instance, the force
that denied the oppressed Tamils of Jaffna their right to occupy a seat in the
bus. In Jaffna they had to travel seated on the floor boards. The Tamils found
their dignity, equality, and justice only when they travelled in the buses of
the Sinhala-Buddhist South.
The
first battle to regain and retain the threatened supremacy of the Vellalars was
led by Moddely Tambi, the Vellalar Cannecappul (clerk to the
Commander of Jaffna). He raised a force of Vellalars, including those
from the Vanni, against the Dutch for sacking him. Dutch politics of the
time was focused on balancing the rivalries of the castes which was a
politically explosive task. The Dutch didn’t stop at dismissing Moddely Tambi.
The vacancy created by the sacking of a Vellalar was filled by appointing a
member of the rival caste, Madapally. In his Memoirs the Dutch
Commander of Jaffna, Zwaardecoon, says that he sacked Moddely Tambi to reduce
the power of the Vellalars who were dominating the public service. Holding
strategic positions in the public service was a politically sensitive issue
with the Vellalars who guarded their key jobs in the administration – a means
of maintaining their supremacy — with all their might. The Vellalars were ready
to move heaven and earth” (Zwaardecoon) to maintain their supremacy. Moddely
Tambi led the riot against the Dutch to regain their position, prestige and
power. The Dutch, however, were out to cut down the power of the Vellalars who
were dominating the administration. Zwaardeecoon says in his Memoirs that he
was given the orders by the Governor to make the necessary changes,
that so many thousands of people should no longer suffer by the oppression of
the Bellales, who are very proud and despise all other castes, and who had
become so powerful that they were able not only to worry and harass the poor
people, but also prevent them from submitting their complaints to the
authorities.” He added: The Bellales, (Vellalars) seeing that they would be
shut out from these profitable offices and that they would lose influence they
possessed so far, and being the largest in number and the wealthiest of the
people, moved heaven and earth to put a stop the carrying into effect of this
plan so prejudicial to their interests. …….Moddely Tambi was the principal
instrument. He was the man who first appeared as a rebel, he had been injured
by a long imprisonment and that this induced him to take revenge…… They also
probably understood that it was my intention to diminish the influence of the
Bellala caste, and were thus induced to take this course to promote the welfare
of their caste. I think that it was also out of their conspiracies that the
riots arose from which the Commandement suffered during my absence in the months
of May, June and July. (Memoirs of Zwaardecoon – pp. 24 –
26.)
In his statement
(quoted above), Prof. S. Arasaratnam confirms what the Dutch Commandeur
of Jaffna Zwaardcoon wrote in his Memoirs: both confirm that the
Vellalars were the most powerful force in Jaffna. Zwaardeecoon, of course, was more detailed. He argues with facts about the fascist oppression of
the Vellalars who oppressed thousands of people” and their commitment to
fight for profitable offices” to prevent the loss of influence they
possessed”. He depicts them as a power-hungry malevolent force. The
Vellalars policed the villages to keep the Panchamars (the five
low-castes) within caste boundaries. Whenever the Vellalars failed to win
consent they used ruthless physical force. Sporadic mini-battles were fought in
the villages to enforce Vellalar rituals which were imposed to keep the
rebellious Panchamars in their immutable place. The post-Moddely
Tambi Vellalar violence was on a mini scale at the village level. The most
determined battle was fought at Maviddipuram Temple in 1968 when they were
organised to challenge the Vellalars head-on for the first time. They had the
backing of the Communist Party (Peking Wing) led by N. Shanmugathasan.
When the Panchamars staged a non-violent protest demanding their
right to worship in the Maviddipuram holy shrine of the Hindus the Vellalars
responded by bashing their heads with bottles filled with sand. At the time,
Rajavarothiam Sampanthan was a Vellalar MP of the Federal Party. He and
the other Vellalar MPS did not lift a finger to oppose the oppression,
suppression and persecution of the Panchamar Tamils. Prof. C.
Sunderalingam, a caste fanatic, marched up and down in the pathway to the
entrance of the Temple with a walking stick, threatening to hammer any Panchamar
daring to cross the Vellalar boundaries. Sampanthan did not take S. J. V.
Chelvanayakam, the leader of his Party, to the American Ambassador or the
Indian High Commissioner to complain about Vellalarism – the dehumanising
force that denied dignity, equality and justice to his fellow-Tamils.
Vellalarism
survived on systemic violence unleashed from time to time to retain their
supremacy in Jaffna during feudal and colonial periods. Prabhakaran was the
first who was able to turn tables on the Vellalars. When the Vellalars were on
top they did not hesitate to suppress or massacres the rebellious Panchamars.
When Prabhakaran was on top he did not hesitate to slaughter the Vellalar
leaders. For the first time the arrogant Vellalars were forced to crawl on
their fours before low-caste Prabhakaran. Both, of course, shared one thing in
common: both were fervent adherents of the old tradition of Tamils killing
Tamils.
The
Sinhala state” which is accused of discrimination” had ruled Jaffna directly
only for 72 years, leaving aside the 17 years of Sapumal Kumaraya. Of the 72
years, roughly half of it was run by Prabhakaran. Any comparison of the two
cultures in the two states will confirm that the Tamil regimes, starting from
King Magha to Prabhakaran, have been torturing, persecuting, oppressing and
massacring Tamils for centuries. Besides, it was only in the ‘Sinhala state”
that the Tamils of Jaffna enjoyed dignity, equality and justice. The Sinhala
state” never denied them the right to be human, or to go to school, or to
sit in a chair with the other children, or to walk in sunlight, or to enter a restaurant
and share a common table, or to dine together, or to have the same rights as
the Sinhalese in burying their dead, or for the women to cover the upper part
of their body with a jacket, etc., etc. In fact, the Sinhala state” raised the
dignity of the Tamil identity to the highest global level as never done before.
For instance, there are 193 flags flying at the UN. Of these, only the flag of
the Sinhala state” has given the Tamils a place. When the world salutes the
flag of the Sinhala state” they also salute the Tamils and the Muslims. No
other state, not even India, the original homeland of the Tamils, has given
such a dignified place to the Tamils. No other king/leader of Tamils has ever
raised the dignity/honour of the Tamils to such dizzy heights.
Instead of
giving the Tamil their dignity, Tamil leaders policed their society to keep the
Tamil out of their society as unwanted pariah dogs. Social distancing and
segregation were codes imposed by the Vellalars to maintain their
supremacy. Any invasion into their defined boundaries was considered a
pollution of their purity – a notion borrowed from the Indian caste system to
exclude the other” and maintain their purity, exclusivity and supremacy. In
the post-Independent era the Vellalars opened their most violent front against
the Sinhala-Buddhists of the South when they realised that their supremacy was
threatened by (a) the loss of British patronage and (b) the establishment of
majoritarian rule based on democratic principles. In the 17th century
Moddely Tambi fought for Vellalar supremacy on casteist line because ideology
of Vellalarism was a dominant force accepted by the Dutch. They could use
casteism as an argument to prevent administrative power slipping out of their
hands and going into the hands of a rival caste, Madapallys. In the 20th
century the Vellalars have lost the legitimacy to fight for Vellalar supremacy
like Moddely Tambi on anachronistic ideologies of casteism. Nowadays, they
fight to retain their feudal power under modern Western theories. Vellalar
supremacist fight under cover of minority rights, discrimination, racism,
majoritarianism and human rights. The outdated feudal language and the logic of
Moddely Tambi, the Father of Vellalarism, are no longer valid. The Vellalars
have adopted the new lingo of NGOs to justify and retain their supremacy
inherited from feudal times. The caste power has also changed into class power.
According to latest reports, the new Vellalar class/caste maintains its caste
boundaries on a low key, without some of its earlier rigours. In other
words, Vellalarism continues to be a force in Jaffna signalling the Panchamars
clearly that they are still outside the inner circle of the Vellalars
Jaffna was
a domain ruled not by the Tamils but by the Vellalars who happen to be Tamils.
The Vellalars have been the dominant caste that possessed the power to impose
their will on casteist principles. There was no space for any other caste to
make inroads into the central decision-making process of Jaffna. Ever
since Moddely Tambi’s revolt no other caste has been able to dislodge the
Vellalars from the strategic places. They dominated the commanding heights of
politics, administration, professions, civil and religious institutions. Even
today key appointments to schools and University of Jaffna continue to be
reserved for the Vellalars. This enables the Vellalars to manipulate and manage
major decisions that shape the contours of Jaffna society. Politics, religion,
customs and laws (Tesawalamai) continue to be defined primarily
by the Vellalars. No ideology – liberalism, socialism, pluralism, humanism
etc.,– ever gained even a toehold in Jaffna. Only one ideology triumphed – Vellalarism.
It is an ideology based on the claim that only the pure” Vellalars are
entitled to wield power in Jaffna. The other” is excluded and thrown out as
outcastes. In the absence of the Brahmins in Jaffna, the Sudra Vellalars
elevated themselves to be the lords and masters of Jaffna on spurious
claims of purity.
The Sudra
Vellalars, however, are the least qualified to claim the purity of the Brahmins
who are supposed to have come from the head of Brahma. The low-caste
Sudras came from the feet of Brahma, according to the classical Indian caste
tradition. Vellalarism has survived on fictitious claims of purity. Take the
case of the pure” Vellalars who have no qualms about sleeping with low-caste
concubines, or drinking toddy in low-caste taverns. Obviously, principles of
purity and superiority are raised only to grab and retain power. Vellalarism
operates on a political network systematised to consolidate power in the
hands of a dominant endogamous caste. The ideology of purity is enforced to
segregate the powerless low-castes from the Sudra Vellalars, the self-appointed
high caste. This system was devised by the Vellalars to maintain an iron-fisted
hierarchy structured on division of labour and rigid rituals. The rituals are
designed specifically to control those below them with the sole intention of
forcing the non-Vellalars to serve the power, needs and the demands of the
hierarchy. It strips human beings of their basic rights, even to walk in
the sun, and reduce them to subhuman factotums. If, for instance, a Vellalar
met a Turumban, the lowest caste forbidden to walk in
daylight, he would be hammered mercilessly for polluting the purity of the eyes
of the Vellalar. Vellalarism maintained its supremacy by denying equality,
justice, and dignity of the non-Vellalars. Dehumanising their fellow-human
beings is the most demeaning obscenity of the Vellala supremacists. It
ostracises fellow-human beings and throws them down the hierarchy to make those
at the top feel superior. Vellalarism is caste fascism of the most oppressive
kind.
The
architecture of overarching Vellalarism is layered to reinforce and preserve
its supremacist base and its superstructure. It seeks to control every aspect
of social life, from the womb to the tomb, to prevent any deviation that would
threaten its power. Each defined hierarchical layer is fenced with ritualistic
boundaries drawn to elevate Vellalar supremacy in every sphere at every level
while, simultaneously, circumscribing the living space of the Panchamar
to shrink them into subhuman non-entities. Any transgression of the
boundaries is suppressed with brutal violence to protect and maintain the
supremacy of the Vellalar hierarchy. Vellalars wield power ruthlessly to
prevent any threat to its supremacy and exclusivity, both of which are based on
self-serving definitions of purity and pollution. Its legitimacy and authority
are derived from its definitions of purity – fictitious principles introduced
arbitrarily to elevate them above the rest. Maintaining the supremacy of
the hierarchy is the primary mission of its political agenda. It resists any
external, legal, political or social incursions into its domain. Whenever it is
unable to wield political power directly, it inveigles its way into centres of
reigning power (Portuguese, Dutch, British, or Sri Lankan) in order to keep
lines of communication open to influence decision-making in its favour. If that
fails, it does not hesitate to mobilise its forces to combat any force that
threatens its supremacy. Its relentless violence is perpetrated perpetually to
pursue its casteist political agenda. Its casteist boundaries limits the living
space of the other” to exclude them as unwanted outcasts of the elitist
circles at the top. In contemporary times when the ideology of casteist
Vellalarism has lost its legitimacy the Tamil intellectuals either borrow
modern theories to justify the antiquated casteist hierarchy, or divert
attention from its horripilating history to demonise the Sinhala-Buddhists.
Vellalarism was, in short, inhuman violence to discipline and control the Tamil
slaves as subhuman factotums.
The
Vellalar intellectuals who have been crying from the roof tops of the UN and
UNHRC in Geneva are reluctant to raise their voices in sympathy with the untold
suffering of the Panchamars persecuted by the Tamil
priviligentsia. It is because the Tamil diaspora too is run by the guilty
Vellalars who justified Tamil oppression of Tamils, including abduction of
Tamil children to fight in the futile Vadukoddai War, in the name of Tamil
nationalism”. The Vellalars constructed Tamil nationalism” as their last
refuge. They could no longer hang to casteist supremacy based on outdated
ideology of purity and pollution. Besides, with internal forces of Panchamar’s
challenging their supremacy they could not present a united front against the
Sinhalese of the South. Tamil nationalism” and the language issue were constructed
by the Vellalars as a last resort to unite the fragmented peninsula on caste
fault lines. Its early manifestations of 50-50” and federalism” were
political constructions created by the Vellalar leadership who fought
only for the protection and preservation of Vellalar supremacy. The last
mission of Sir. Ponnambalam Ramanathan to London was to convince the British
masters that casteism should be preserved for the stability, law and order of
the colony. G. G. Ponnambalam did not raise 50-50” in the name of Tamil
nationalism”. Like his predecessor, Moddely Tambi, his mission too was to
prevent the erosion of Vellalar power. His cry of 50% share of power was
aimed at retaining Vellalar supremacy in the administration and the
legislature.
He did not
ask for separatism or federalism. In fact, he said: Federalism is bad for
Ceylon and worse for the Tamils.” His primary aim was to gain and preserve the
disproportionate share of power to maintain the supremacy of the Vellalars.
Through British patronage they had already gained a disproportionate share of
power in the British administration. Ponnambalam made the next move
to grab a disproportionate share of power in the legislature. That is the
meaning of 11% of Jaffna Tamils demanding 50% of power in the centre. Under the
colonial and the independent regimes their political agenda was driven to
acquire as much power as possible in the centre to preserve their supremacy.
The Moddely Tambi syndrome never let Jaffna Tamil politics. In the post-Moddely
Tambi period only enhanced variations of his grab for power was played out on
an aggressive scale. However, his casteist ideology had run out of time in the
20th century. It was of no use to his successors. They craftily took
to fashionable Western theories as their old casteist ideology based on the
Vellalar purity and pollution was no longer viable.
Vellalar
thrust for power climaxed in the Vadukoddai Resolution of 1976. By that time
Vellalarism had transformed into Tamil nationalism” – the last phase of
Vellalar casteism. Tamil nationalism” was manufactured by the Vellalars
for the Vellalars to retain their supremacist status. They declared war in the
Vadukoddai Resolution to ride into power on the backs of the low-caste youth.
It was the last gambit of the Vellalars. As usual they took to violence when
they failed to get the consent of the majority to legitimise their supremacy.
They abandoned the democratic mainstream and openly decided to go for
militarism. In the penultimate sentence of the Vadukoddai Resolution the
Vellalar leadership urged the Tamil youth to take up gun and never cease firing
until they achieved Eelam. The next step was logical: the Vellalars
weaponised Jaffna, mobilised the necessary military forces, internationalised
it, financed it from abroad, legitimised it with Western theories, lobbied for
it globally, propagandized Tamil Pol Potism as a liberating force” and, most
of all, demonised the Sinhala-Buddhists as their bogey. Like the way the
high-caste Vellalars slept with low-caste concubines, disregarding principles
of purity, they were quAite happy to go to bed with Pol Potist Prabhakaran as
long as he was fornicating with violence to produce their Eelam baby.
The
critical role played by Western theories to cover up and legitimise
Vellalar fascism as Tamil nationalism” needs a special study. In fact, there
are many Ph. Ds awaiting the exploration of the hidden history of Jaffna. In
particular, Jaffna University should confer an honorary doctorate on Selvy
Thiruchandran for her brilliant study of Vellalar hypocrisy, obscenities,
violence, oppression and fascism in here book, Caste and its Multiple
Manifestations. Of course, Jaffna university will not have the courage
to do it. At least one of the other universities must honour her for the
intellectual courage with which she has handled this tabooed subject. Despite
the censorship imposed by the Jaffna University there are a few Tamil
intellectuals who have begun to talk about the horrors of Vellalar casteism.
It’s only a trickle right now. It is time for the Tamil intellectuals to turn
it into a flood.
I
read in the media a specific cry that focused on giving a chance to JVP for
governing the country. It is a highly responsible statement and why responsible
statement published in the media? What is the logic behind this cry? People do
not know speciously about this cry, but the cry seems like a media manipulation
than genuine feelings for people that they satisfied with the policies of JVP.
For example, if it asks the investment community in Sri Lanka, would they agree
to give power to JVP with concrete policies to manage investments in the
country? It might be difficult to get an answer. Investors in Sri Lanka have
not expressed views on this matter, but I heard in the UTUBE program that
addressed by Mr Sunil Hadunneththi that he attempted to give answers to basic
economic problems from the point of view of JVP in the way Alfred Marshall
explained in the Principles of Economics and the speech further showed that JVP
is desperate to gain parliamentary seats because they dropped to three seats in
the last election.
Many
journalists who handle YouTube programs show that they need topics to attract
users and to survive using social media. The truth about social media in Sri
Lanka is, it focuses on being popularised, choosing the feeling of a few people
or diminutive issues in society to maintain the market, but it is not a true
archetype. Governing a country in the modern era is a highly responsible task
that needs broader knowledge, skills, experience and values. The major question
is that has JVP got much broader knowledge, skills, experience and values to
govern a country. A channel run by UTUBE interviewed a JVP leader, who could
not express concrete views like an excellent leader and ideas like a
responsible person to express policy ideas to govern the country. He didn’t
talk like a Good Shepard (Caring Person). He could not express I am the light
of Sri Lanka and no beggar will die without food under my administration.
People
who read print media and websites know about the cry because the idea has been
published as a major item to attract readers. But many people do not know about
it because 95% of voters in Sri Lanka don’t read print media. Neither a left
political party in Sri Lanka has gained the political power of the country, nor
it had become a major party after the election results. In this situation,
could JVP become a major party looking at the current status? The result of the
last election showed that JVP could gain only 3 seats in the country, and could
they achieve over 100 seats in the next election? If it analyses in that line,
the desire of JVP to gain power is a daydream rather than a reality.
JVP
is a talking party than proving its work, even it worked as a partner of the
government, JVP couldn’t show the capability of policy development and
implementation and policy monitoring. If they want remedial past policies,
honestly they should accept that they have done wrong in the past and have
remedial the past policies.
What
were the vital policies developed by JVP, which were supposed to implement
since the beginning of the party? This is an adamantine job in a complex
democratic society that comprises ethnic and religious groups. However, other
left political parties contributed vital policies and ideas than JVP, people or
news media did not manipulate opinion to give a chance for them to govern the
country.
When
talking about JVP, past incidents immediately come to the minds of people in
which most of them were negative because they were destructive, and to gain
power, the experience should come with excellent records, and does JVP carry
such episodes in the party history. JVP had opportunities to associate with
ruling parties in the past, but they were not capable of proving that it would
be a party to give responsibilities. The experience of people in the past
outweighs the facts. People had disgusting experiences in two insurrections
between 1971 and 1988–89. The major issue had been the death of young people,
whose parents and relatives are still crying about their death and no one
blames the government for deaths, and people’s direct responsibility to the
JVP.
This
issue invites broader views of the community, one important matter is no one
has a right to kill a person except in a situation for self-defence. During
these two insurrections, people sought security from the government, not from
JVP. That mean JVP neither had armed power nor people’s power to secure the
public and the strategy used by the government forces lost the confidence of
the public on the behaviour of JVP. The most notable point was no international
support JVP in 1971 had other than North Korea and in 1988-89 gained any
support except few organizations. This bad name about JVP is still in the minds
of people. In 1971, I could recollect that they were making lists to kill
people, then clearly expressing policies that will not be supportive of
economic and social progress. After the 1971 insurrection, Mrs Sirimavo
Bandaranaike addressed the public over the radio and explained how JVP policy
was harmful to the economy and how JVP misled poor rural youth, who do not know
about economic and social policies.
In
the second insurrection, JVP failed to convince people they were peaceful and
respected democracy. During the second insurrection, key people of the country
were killed and people understood JVP can do nothing to recover the economy and
to provide employment opportunities. The noted event was the destruction of the
computer education centre of the open university campus in the south, giving a
signal that JVP was against modernization when the world goes forward with
information technology. They set fire to many government transport buses, which
were poor people’s transport devices. Pol pot style killing of educated people
in the country led to earning a bad name for the JVP. Some people argue that
awful work by the government forces to pointing fingures to JVP if was a true
idea why JVP doesn’t interest to reveal the truth.
JVP symbolically showed that they
were loving for destruction than a party that love to build the nation. Further,
when they become a partner of the government, they could not prove those good
policies for nation-building and a party that people can trust in them. It
doesn’t show that the ruling party in current Sri Lanka is concerned about the
media cry. However, if JVP wants to gain power, they must develop policies and
publish that people could trust that such policies will support to achieve the
progress of the country. Essentially, policies need to concentrate on the
following areas.
Nuns and others pray beside the tomb of Saint Teresa, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity at its headquarter in Kolkata. AP
The New York Times recently came out with a scathing report on Narendra Modi’s India. In the article, ‘Arrests, Beatings and Secret Prayers: Inside the Persecution of India’s Christians’, it made serious charges that there has been rise in attacks on Christians in India, and these attacks are part of a broader shift in the country, in which minorities feel less safe.
Anti-Christian vigilantes are sweeping through villages, storming Churches, burning Christian literature, attacking schools and assaulting worshippers. In many cases, the police and members of India’s governing party are helping them, government documents and dozens of interviews revealed. In church after church, the very act of worship has become dangerous despite constitutional protections for freedom of religion,” said the NYT report.
This sort of narrative is not new, especially in the last seven years of the Narendra Modi regime. Last year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its annual report recommended India’s listing under countries of particular concern” along with Pakistan, China, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. Only in the Orwellian world order can the world’s largest democracy be clubbed with some of the most dangerous, fundamentalist and secretive nations.
There’s no denying that there are instances of hate crimes in India. But to loosely use terms like ‘storming Churches’, ‘burning Christian literature’ and ‘assaulting worshippers’ seems a clear case of sensationalisation. For, the India I know is overly sensitive towards minority rights, so much so that even fake Church attacks could very well initiate an intolerance debate, as was seen in Modi’s first term as prime minister.
What the report fails to mention is that these are more of exceptions rather than rules. The charges seem to be based on presumptions that the minorities are unsafe, especially in the wake of the Modi government’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As per the USCIRF report, with the CAA in place, Muslims alone would bear the indignities and consequences of potential statelessness”. To validate these assumptions, there’s a readymade evidence in the 2020 Delhi riots (disregarding the fact that the violence was first orchestrated by Islamists and ‘Break-India’ forces to paint the country black at a time when then US President Donald Trump would be in Delhi) and of course a few hate crimes against minorities and Dalits, howsoever sporadic they might be.
The CAA has nothing against Indian Muslims. It’s about the aggrieved minorities of the neighbourhood. In fact, the CAA was the Modi government’s attempt to fulfil the pledge made by the Indian Union to the minorities of East and West Pakistan at the time of Partition. India was divided in the name of religion. But to dissuade the Hindus of Pakistan from migrating into India, our national leaders led by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru assured of safety. Citing the presence of a large number of Muslims in India, they said it would guarantee their wellbeing in the land of the pure”. But when it didn’t happen, wasn’t it the duty of the Indian state to come to their rescue? The CAA was India’s moral obligation towards Hindus, mostly Dalits, who couldn’t migrate to India during and post Partition. Ironically, most anti-CAA protest sites across the country had BR Ambedkar’s life-size photos looming large in the background!
Without wasting time on casting aspersions on NYT’s liberal standing — historically, the newspaper, as Ashley Rindsberg exposes in The Gray Lady Winked, not only sided with Hitler, Stalin and Fidel Castro but also underplayed the scale of the Jewish Holocaust — one needs to look at the accusation of the shrinking liberal space and the persecution of Christians in India. There’s no denying that space has shrunk — but for traditional liberal elites who called the shots in India till 2014. As writer and novelist Amish Tripathi once told me, matter of factly, that the entire intolerance debate in India was nothing but a power struggle between the old elite and the new, aspirational one! As for the growing animosity against Christians, the real issue is conversion, often forceful, deceitful and distasteful, that is bringing Hindus into confrontation with the missionaries.
Conversion is the real issue, especially the manner in which people are being converted in India. As Arun Shourie writes in Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes, Dilemmas, the methods used by the missionaries were a combination of manipulations, monetary temptations, medical assistance, and the target groups are Dalits, tribals, poverty-stricken populations, and children — all those who could be lured, coerced and manipulated easily! As the Christian Missions Enquiry Committee, headed by Justice MB Rege, which submitted its report to the erstwhile Madhya Bharat (today’s Madhya Pradesh) in 1956, observed: We cannot call conversions for pure material gain fraudulent in the strict sense of the word; but in our view the preaching of any religion must be based on very strong spiritual and pure ethical foundations and conversions without strong faith must be deprecated as being unspiritual and unethical.”
It’s this nature of conversion that explains why missionaries publish literatures like Spiritual Advantages of Famine and Cholera, and an Archdiocese of Pondicherry tells his superiors in Europe: The famine has wrought miracles. The catechumenates are filling, baptismal water flow in streams, and starving little tots fly in masses to heaven.” It is this nature of conversion that made Mahatma Gandhi regard the missionaries as the vendors of goods” and oppose them tooth and nail. But dare you call names, and you would be branded intolerant, fascist, fundamentalist, and what not! Such has been the hold of the missionaries over Western governments, media and even academia.
The nexus between missionaries, governments and academia is an old one. British historian Niall Fergusson pointed out how evangelical activities overseas have been something the British Empire and today’s American empire have in common”, because even small numbers of evangelical missionaries can achieve a good deal furnished as they are with substantial funds from congregations at home”. Fergusson is right. For, we know how Max Mueller came in the garb of a Sanskritist but in his letter to his wife in 1866, he claimed how his translation of the Rig Veda would help uproot the Indic civilisation.
It is this missionary scholarship, aided and abetted by Max Mueller, that propounded the Aryan invasion theory, which aimed at negating the idea of a colony having a sublime civilisation of its own, especially at a time the colonial masters themselves were barbarians. Later when a few Harappan sites suddenly emerged, they revised the theory to present the Aryans as the horse-riding, war-loving white pastoral community that attacked the civilisationally advanced but non-martial, black Dravidians in Harappa and after their subjugation pushed them down south. Our ‘secular’ historians of the Nehruvian fold took to this theory as fish take to water and gave legitimacy to not just Aryan invasion/migration theory but also the Aryan-Dravidian divide.
In Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines, Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan expose a similar missionary toolkit being used for the Rawanda genocide in Africa. They quote Neels Kastfelt as saying, Although the Church did not always legitimise the genocide explicitly, they formed a close alliance with the Hutu groups that carried it out and thus shared an institutional responsibility for it”.
Elaborating it further, Malhotra and Neelakandan explain that the missionaries first sided with the Tutsi, projecting them as racially elevated”, and when political fortunes changed, they switched sides and joined hands with Hutus”. They write, The parallels this process shares with the development of a racial myth in India are striking, and issues a warning we cannot ignore. In India, first the colonial scholars fabricated an Aryan myth and boosted the pride of the so-called Aryans of India, seeing them as their own distant relatives who were now being ‘civilised’ once again. Then they switched sides to build up the so-called Dravidian identity by claiming them to be separate and victims of the Aryans.”
Over the centuries, not much has changed in the manner in which Hindus are being projected by missionary intellectuals. So, if Max Mueller then saw Shiva as a three-eyed monster” riding naked on a bull, Paul Courtright today calls Ganesh the first God with an Oedipus complex”, and Gordon Robertson refers to the Ganga river as Shiva’s sperm! Even Sheldon Pollock, an American Sanskritist seen by many as sympathetic towards the Indic civilisation, saw the Ramayana as a weapon for inflicting violence by Hindus against Muslims. He even blamed Brahmin elitism” for shaping the ideologies of British colonialism and German Nazism. Ironically, these abhorrent images of Hindus and Hinduism are being made in the US where Indians are a minuscule minority. Shouldn’t it be classified as hate literature? What if such intellectual stuff were created against Christians in India? And dare you raise your voice against such outrageous statements, and you would be charged with assault, aggression and even persecution!
This, however, isn’t just a modern phenomenon. Even in the early centuries of the Common Era (CE), there’s enough literature bemoaning persecution, violence and killings of Christians. The most defining image was the crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of Roman governor Pontius Pilate. And all oppression ceased when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman empire. Just like the NYT report on India, truth was the biggest casualty here too, as the oppressor pretended to be the oppressed, and vice-versa.
We are made to believe that the Romans were waiting to be converted and at the first given opportunity jumped the pagan ship. As British writer Samuel Johnson once said, The heathens were easily converted, because they had nothing to give up.” The fact is many Roman converted happily to Christianity. But many did not either. Many Romans and Greeks did not smile as they saw their religious liberties removed, their books burned, their temples destroyed and their ancient statues shattered by thugs with hammers,” writes Catherine Nixey in The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, a beautiful book that recounts the tragedies behind the ‘triumph’ of Christianity.
Just as the NYT claims on intolerance and persecution in modern-day India, Christians in the early Roman times talked about large-scale killings and persecution. But very few, if any, of these tales were based on historical fact. There were simply not that many years of imperially ordered persecution in the Roman Empire. Fewer than thirteen — in three whole centuries of Roman rule,” writes Nixey. We know of no government-led persecution for the first 250 years of Christianity with the exception of Nero’s — and Nero, with even-handed lunacy, persecuted everyone,” she adds.
The persecution, in reality, and unlike what’s projected in the Church literature, was mostly directed from the Christian side. Nixey eloquently shows in her book how the scale and intensity of persecution of non-Christians gained momentum with each passing year. So much so that in 423 CE, the Christian government announced that any pagans who still survived were to be suppressed. It, however, added with a sense of buoyancy: We now believe that there are none.”
Christians would often be astonished to see their counterparts being extremely tolerant and compromising even at the height of tensions. Augustine found it hard to believe that the pagans were able to worship many different gods without discord, while the Christians, who worshipped just the one, splintered into countless warring factions. Yet, this didn’t encourage him to extend this courtesy to non-Christians. It was, he concluded, the duty of a good Christian to convert heretics — by force, if necessary. Christian writers applauded such destruction — and egged their rulers on to greater acts of violence. No wonder Augastine saw these acts of terror as salvation… Oh, merciful savagery,” he would often be heard saying.
Just like the NYT and other prominent Western media houses refuse to see the excesses of the missionaries and are often seen to be siding with them, with the likes of Augastine being defended with terms like ‘zealous’, ‘pious’, or, at worst, ‘over-zealous’ for acts which would make the Taliban look a shade fairer. It seems their idea of liberalism doesn’t come in the way of conversion. They don’t see the two — liberalism and conversion — as diabolically antithesis to each other. Just like the American way of secularism never forbids a President from taking oath on the Bible. But do that in India on the Bhagavad Gita and all hell would break loose. The UK allows 26 bishops of the Church of England to sit in the Parliament. They not only have voting rights on legislation, but also lead prayers at the start of work. If we were to do anything like that, India would become a land of Hindu supremacists with no place for minorities! And thanks to missionaries and their intellectual sidekicks, Dalits and women would find themselves clubbed with minorities!
Following a
special request by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on behalf of Sri Lankan
medical students awaiting to return to China to complete their studies, State
Councillor and Foreign Minister WANG Yi immediately instructed the Ambassador
of China in Sri Lanka to work closely with the Foreign Ministry to facilitate
the return of Sri Lankan medical students.
The matter was
discussed during the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Rajapaksa and the
visiting Foreign Minister at Temple Trees this morning. Currently,
approximately 1,200 medical students, including 400 final-year students, who
were studying at Chinese medical institutions, are waiting to return to China
to complete their studies. They have been unable to return due to restrictions
imposed as a result of the pandemic. In response to the Prime Minister’s
special request, Foreign Minister Yi assured that Sri Lankan students will be
given highest priority.
During the
bilateral discussions between the two delegations, a host of other matters were
also discussed, including further support for the vaccine program, attracting
investments to the Port City and the Hambantota Industrial Zone, increasing
tourism from China to Sri Lanka, increasing Sri Lankan exports to China and
enhancing cultural cooperation, especially in the area of Buddhist ties.
Following the
discussions, the delegations signed the following agreements:
Agreement on Economic and Technical
Cooperation
Letter of Exchange on the Project of
Subsidized Housing for Low Income Category in Colombo
Handover Certificate of the Technical
Cooperation Project for BMICH
Handover Certificate of the Technical
Cooperation Project for the Kidney Disease Mobile Screening Ambulance Vehicles
Foreign Minister
Yi is on a one-day visit to Sri Lanka to launch the celebrations marking the
65th anniversary of Sri Lanka—China bilateral relations. Last year the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka issued a commemorative coin to mark the 65th anniversary as
well as the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
A set of the coins were gifted to the visiting Foreign Minister by the Prime
Minister. Conveying best wishes from the President and Premier of China to
Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Yi said, China will continue to do its
best to provide all the necessary help and support [to Sri Lanka].”
Prime Minister
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Opening Remarks
Good morning, Your
Excellency and welcome once again to Sri Lanka. Your last visit to Sri Lanka
was exactly two years ago, and I’m
happy to see you return. I believe these regular high-level visits help
reaffirm our strong and friendly relations.
This year is an
important year for our two countries. It marks the 65th anniversary of
establishing diplomatic relations and 70 years of signing the Rubber-Rice Pact.
Allow me to also congratulate the Communist Party of China on its 100th
anniversary. As you know, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued a commemorative
coin to mark these important milestones.
Excellency, I want
to thank the Government and the friendly people of China for the generous
support towards fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The consistent supply of the
Sinopharm vaccines made a significant contribution to our successful vaccine
program.
As you know,
similar to many other countries, Sri Lanka’s economy was also
greatly impacted by the pandemic. We appreciate China’s assistance towards our
economic revival and financial stability. There is still a long way to go in
establishing normalcy, but we’re
confident that with support from friendly countries like China, we will be able
to overcome these challenges soon. I look forward to continue working closely
with you and the Government of China in addressing common challenges.
Colombo, January 10 (newsin.asia): China proposes to help Sri Lanka become a manufacturing nation and to help build the Made in Sri Lanka” brand. This was revealed to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa by the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to the island nation on January 8 and 9.
China will continue to assist Sri Lanka in overcoming temporary difficulties within our capacity. We are convinced that Sri Lanka’s economy will walk out of the current predicament and achieve new and greater progress. Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port are the flagship projects of bilateral cooperation in building the Marine Silk Road, and two engines of Sri Lanka’s economic development. China supports Chinese enterprises in investing and developing in Sri Lanka and combining Chinese capital and experience with Sri Lanka’s human resources advantages to help Sri Lanka improve the ability of self-development, accelerate industrialization, and build the brand of Made in Sri Lanka,” Wang said.
Wang said that the friendly relationship between China and Sri Lanka benefits the development of both countries and serves the fundamental interest of the two peoples. In a thinly veiled reference to India, which had stopped a Chinese project in the energy sector in North Sri Lanka on security grounds, Wang said that Sino-Lankan cooperation does not target any third party and should not be interfered with by any third party.”
The Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa said that his country appreciates China’s policy of never interfering in its domestic affairs and thanked China for its long-term and enormous support” for the country’s economic and social development. China always lends a helping hand when Sri Lanka is in urgent need of assistance to help it tide over difficulties and keep moving forward,” the Lankan PM said.
Calls for China-Lanka FTA
In his talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Wang stressed the need to conclude a China-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement which has run into opposition from Lankan nationalists.
Sri Lanka and China should make good use of the two engines, Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port flagship projects, tap the opportunities of the enforcement of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and China’s vast market, and discuss the restart of talks on a free trade agreement between China and Sri Lanka to send more positive signals to the world and contribute to Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and development. China encourages competent Chinese enterprises to invest and develop in Sri Lanka,” Wang said.
Forum on Indian Ocean Islands
Wang told his Sri Lankan counterpart, G.L.Peries, that China proposes to hold a forum on the development of the islands in the Indian Ocean.
China proposes that a forum on the development of Indian Ocean island countries should be held at an appropriate time to build consensus and synergy, and promote common development. Sri Lanka can play an important role in this regard,” Wang said according to a Chinese embassy release.
Explaining the need for such a forum, Wang said that during his visit to several Indian Ocean island countries this time, he felt that all island countries share similar experiences and common needs, with similar natural endowment and development goals, and have favorable conditions and full potential for strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation.”
In his first visit outside the borders of China in 2022, Wang visited Eritrea, Kenya, the Comoros, the Maldives and Sri Lanka between January 4 and 9.
Comrades in Fight Against Hegemonic Forces
Wang told Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, that 70 years ago, China and Sri Lanka, two newly born countries, overcame difficulties and obstacles and signed the Rubber-Rice Pact, opening the door for friendly exchanges, demonstrating their national spirit in the fight against hegemony and power politics, and breaking the Cold War isolation imposed by the West based on ideology.
He further said: The spirit of the pact characterized by independence, self-reliance, unity and mutual support is deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples and reflected in the entire process of the development of bilateral relations. It is still of great practical significance and worth our further inheritance and promotion.”
A defence analyst, in his column of 5 January 2022, in a national newspaper, highlighted the ignominy Major General Udaya Perera underwent, recently, at the hands of US foreign policy and Sri Lanka’s insufferable silence over such conduct. Despite the enormous service rendered to the country, as observed by him, neither the Sri Lankan authorities nor the people blinked as the war veteran was treated as a criminal – even before he left the shores of his country.
Major General Perera is a professional and a highly-qualified soldier. He was awarded the esteemed United States Army War College Alumni Award at the US Army War College graduation ceremony for his academic performances and in recognition of his services as the International Fellow Class President. This grants him a life time membership of the US Army War College Alumni Foundation.
In 2019, the US gave him a multiple entry visa with five-year validity. Yet, in December 2021 he was barred at the BIA from boarding the plane bound for America. The retired soldier was accompanied by his wife and son on his way to visit his granddaughter in the US. He was unaware that he had been categorised by the US as a war criminal until he was prevented from boarding the flight.
This categorisation comes 12 years after the conclusion of the war against terrorism. The reasons that precipitated this denouncement are unclear. Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Defence Ministry sought clarification from the US authorities about this matter nor have they shown any solidarity with Major General Perera.
The Targeted List – so far
The Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne is unofficially a persona non grata with Australia. When he sought to get a tourist visa to Australia to witness his only daughter’s graduation, the embassy warned him that he risked arrest if on Australian soil. The Chief of Staff and Army Commander General Shavendra Silva including his family are also denied entry into the US. Sri Lanka’s most successful Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has also been denied entry into America. In 2010, the Obama Regime was angered over the Mahinda Rajapaksa Administration’s refusal, to halt the war and hand over Prabhakaran to US authorities. Ironically in the 2010, Election, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka was the common Presidential Candidate, when the Obama Regime placed a lot of emphasis in trying to oust President Mahinda Rajapaksa from being elected and install him in his stead. Outspoken Major General Chagi Gallage is also included in the US debarred list.
The basis on which War Heroes have become War Criminals
To date, none of their accusers – mainly the UNHRC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or Yasmin Louise Sooka, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa had been able to specifically pinpoint a war crime. Their allegations are hinged on a mere guesstimate of civilians that might have had perished during the final onslaught. Interestingly, none of these accusers had been able to even agree on this statistic.
Conversely, evidence showed the Sri Lankan military were both professional and humane in their operations. Most of this supporting evidence has surfaced from communication between western diplomats as revealed by Wikileaks and Lord Naseby’s findings from the British Home Office. Yet, none of the Sri Lankan Governments had utilised these to defend its military.
This is in stark contrast to India’s reaction when one of its diplomats was arrested by the US authorities and strip searched. Both the Indian Government and the people reacted sternly. The Indian Government rattled their US counterparts with an almost tit-for-tat reaction. When the Indian diplomat was eventually allowed to return home, she received a heroine’s welcome.
MI’s Mission to save the Tamil youth
Major General Perera played a much more critical role than this Indian diplomat, especially in the international circuit, both during the war and thereafter. It was he, as the deputy High Commissioner in Malaysia (from 2009 April to 2011), who was responsible for the extradition of Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias KP – the chief procurer of arms for the LTTE, who ran a global network of LTTE offices handling the procurement and logistics of weapons and the money laundering operations for the terrorists.
When the LTTE’s ground operations were crushed, KP was tipped to be Prabhakaran’s successor. However, before the disarrayed LTTE could reorganise themselves, the Military Intelligence (MI) in a clandestine operation managed to nab KP, who was hiding in Malaysia. Instead of the execution KP expected or any form of legal persecution, the authorities led by then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa worked with him to redress the issues suffered by the Tamils in the war-torn areas. Full kudos go to Sri Lanka for having rehabilitated the top terrorist mastermind to give up violence. With the full support of the then Government, KP embarked on social services to help those who were deeply affected by the war. Despite the enemy he was to the State of Sri Lanka and its people, KP did not spend even one day behind bars. KP was not the only to escape western-style justice. Many of the LTTE cadre ended working hand in hand with the MI to ensure that Tamil youth would never again be misled to their own destruction.
The ‘Double Edged’ Operation was one such strategy. Forming a shadow organisation, the former LTTE cadres worked with the MI to identify persons and organisations attempting to revive the LTTE. Shamefully, the so-called Tamil Diaspora would pay the Sri Lankan Tamil youth a paltry sum of Rs 10,000-15,000 for a subterfuge activity as blasting bombs. Capitalising on those images, they would then collect thousands of USD in the name of the Tamil Homeland. The attempts by the LTTE international network to brainwash the new generations of Tamil expatriates domiciled in the West in the guise of teaching culture and language was also uncovered by this operation.
The West-backed persecution of the MI
After the Yahapalana Government came to power with the West’s support, the entire MI team that was behind this double edged operation was detained by the CID over the un-established disappearance of tabloid journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. To this date, it is unknown whether his sudden disappearance was voluntary or enforced. Only Eknaligoda’s links with the LTTE and his dubious lifestyle came to light. However, his importance to the MI or MI’s need for him to disappear was never founded – especially when the MI spared the lives of those cadres who played a more pivotal role in the LTTE. However, the identity of this MI team was exposed and the CID detained them. Though these valiant men were cuffed and dragged in and out of courts in regular succession the CID was unable to even file a B-report. Eventually, these officers and men were released without a single charge filed against them.
Since then, the chief investigator the then CID Director Shani Abeysekara’s political agenda behind these arrests as well as other arrests made during the Yahapalana Government has unwittingly come to light. The entire telephone conversations with former MP Ranjan Ramanayake, now serving a four-year prison sentence for contempt of court, exposed Shani Abeysekera’s repugnant role. The ongoing investigations into Shani’s conduct, misuse and abuse of power and position is being deliberately misconstrued by the West as State sponsored intimidation. As such, the Government is receiving much flak from the UNHRC and the EU.
The position taken by the West must be taken in conjunction with the over-the-counter asylum received by Shani’s deputy IP Nishantha Silva – just days after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected into Office. Despite his connection to an ongoing murder investigation, the Swiss Authorities granted asylum to him and his immediate family.
This is a grave injustice to those victimised by him as well as the country as a whole. For instance, by exposing the identity of the double edge MI operators, not only that operation was sabotaged but the military careers of these diligent officers and men were also destroyed. At the same time, the indoctrination of LTTE ideology into the new generations of Tamil expatriates now continues unabated.
Sri Lanka’s apathy
The analyst observes the hypocrisy of the US to denounce Major General Perera as a war criminal and labeling our war heroes with war crimes. Iraq, Syria, Libya and Palestine are just few of the countries that have fallen victim to US’s war mongering in recent history – especially over ‘red flag operations like the one staged on entirely staged weapons of mass destruction that supposedly Saddam Hussein had.’ It is true the US hegemony is the biggest threat before global peace. However, before we fault the US or the West it is important that we examine our own attitude. We had a war against terrorism for over 30 years. Until 2005, the successive Governments and political forces failed. During the Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Administration when the war was conducted in earnest, the Opposition then who are the current Opposition, were determined to halt the military intervention underscored the extent the war had got politicised.
Despite this great obstacle it was the Security Forces that held the fort. For a long time, the LTTE held superior war technology and sympathy from the West. Time and again, due to various peace packages brokered by India and the West, our military was repeatedly humiliated and even confined behind barracks while the terrorists continued unabated to drag the country into an abyss. Yet, we survived intact because of the military’s determination and fortitude.
During the war’s final phase, with defeat imminent, the world witnessed the worst of the LTTE. While trying to smuggle their own families out of the Island, the LTTE held over 300,000 civilians as hostages against the advancing armies. The hostages, included pregnant women who were enslaved into strengthening bunkers and other defences. They were not only allowed to move into the Government designated No Fire Zones (NFZ), but increased child conscription to force families’ support, installed military hardware and discarded their uniforms to blur distinction. These are all war crimes. Adapting a zero civilian casualty policy, rescuing the hostages became the foremost priority to the military. Thus, after breaching the LTTE’s defences, the soldiers stood between the terrorists and the civilians as a human parapet wall, allowing these Tamil civilians to escape without being gunned down by the LTTE’s. These bullets were absorbed by the soldiers of the Sri Lankan Army.
Most unfortunately, it is not only the successive Governments that ignored this act of heroism but the Media and entertainment industry as well. At the very least, there is not even a proper documentary about these incidents. School curricula do not discuss the sacrifices made by our people for our future.
Recently, the a Sinhala newspaper editorial, compared the Madagascar Minister of Police and Security with the Sri Lankan counterpart. This editorial highlighted a misadventure faced by the Madagascar Minister when the helicopter he was travelling had a mechanical fault. The Minister had jumped to the seas below and had swum for 12 hours before reaching ashore. This editorial was extremely skeptical that if Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera had to face a similar misadventure, would he have been able to meet the challenge without a luxury boat or security personnel to swim with him.
Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera – A true son of the soil
Maybe it might have escaped this editorial’s writer, but Rear Admiral Weerasekera is a valiant war hero and played a significant role in the Navy to combat terrorism. He has even accompanied the Red Cross to the thicket of LTTE infested areas to bring back the bodies of Sri Lankan soldiers who were captured and tortured to death by the terrorists. It was under his leadership that the ragtag Civil Defence Force (CDF) was transformed into a formidable strength. Before, town dwellers derisively called these poorly dressed, trained and armed men Gambatta’s. After they were transformed into a professional unit, no one dared insult them again.
With their dedicated services, villagers finally received the much needed protection from the marauding terrorist gangs who brought their young recruits into an exercise known as ‘blooding’. This was when innocent villagers were indiscriminately chopped and hacked to death. Living in fear for years, these villagers sought shelter in the jungles in the night. This was ended by the CDF and that credit belongs to Rear Admiral Weerasekera.
Even after he fully retired from the services, he continued to defend our country. After the Yahapalana Government cosponsored the UNHRC Resolution 31/1 against Sri Lanka he was the first Sri Lankan and the only military officer to travel with all the necessary documents to Geneva to present the true facts concerning the war to the UNHRC and the international audience. There, he confronted accusers as Sooka who was unable to substantiate her own accusations against the Sri Lankan military.
Not a single Government official nor Sri Lankan had been able to engineer such a showdown. He did this with his own funds. He travelled extensively – in and out of the country, defending our military and our sovereignty. He even directed a film highlighting the experience of infringed villages and the transformation of the CDF.
Today, he is the Cabinet Minister of Public Security and is one of the few lawmakers who is not playing politics with national issues. Instead of recognising the services he rendered and continues to give to the Nation, this editorial has sought to degrade and humiliate him. When we treat our own war heroes in such a despicable manner, the behaviour of the West is not surprising. To put matters in perspective, when America lost the Vietnam War, the American film industry created cardboard heroes as Rambo. In Sri Lanka we have real heroes. Tragically, at best we ignore them and at worst we humiliate them. Where do we stand as a Nation and what values we hold is a serious question before us.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has brought about changes in ministerial subjects in an extraordinary gazette notification.
In this exercise , the subjects and the institutions held by sacked State Minister Susil Premajayantha has been brought under the purview of Education Minister Dinesh Gunawardane. They are the National Education Commission and the National Institute of Education .
The president also scrapped the State Ministry of Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation . The institutions and functions of that ministry have been assigned to the Justice Ministry . Mr. Lohan Ratwatte was the State Minister earlier .However, he resigned from it following allegation that he forced to kneel down some prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The Central Cultural Fund that remained under the purview of the Ministry of Economic Policies and Plan Implementation has been brought under Buddha Sasana Ministry. (Kelum Bandara)
The Chinese Embassy in Colombo says that four government aid agreements were signed during the visit of the Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, to support the Sri Lankan people.
In a twitter message posted today, the embassy said that the agreements signed are for an RMB 800 Million (LKR 25.5 Billion) Grant, BMICH Refurbishment, Kidney Disease Screening Ambulances and 1,996 Housing Units for Low-Income Families at Colombo.
The Health Ministry reported that another 461 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (10).
This figure includes 05 persons who have arrived from overseas while the remainder are community cases within the country.
This brings the tally of Covid-19 cases in the country to 592,128 while presently a total of 9,471 infected patients are undergoing treatment island-wide.
The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 15 coronavirus related deaths for January 09, increasing the country’s death toll due to the virus to 15,134.
Leader of the SLFP and former President Maithripala Sirisena said that they are against the postponing of elections and that they want elections to be held without delay.
Responding to questions from reporters today regarding reports that a gazette is to be issued postponing provincial council elections by a year, he said: We are against the postponing of the election. What we want are elections.”
He said that within the next couple of months, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will be shaped into the most prominent and strongest political party.
Sirisena added that they will present a comprehensive national programme to the country urging everyone to join with that national programme.
He said that in the future they will form a government with whoever joins that movement.
Asked whether this means they will be forming a new political alliance, the former President said that most probably they would have to form a new alliance as the old ones have reached expiry.”
It is no secret that a large number of people in this country have been severely inconvenienced due to gas-related explosions. However, there are reports of people benefiting from the crisis.
The areas of Kurunegala, Ibbagamuwa and Tittawella have been famous for their traditional pottery industry for a long time.
These industrialists, who make a living from the sale of clay-based products, have been facing severe hardships in the past due to the inability to properly market their products in the face of conditions including the spread of COVID-19.
