The lynching of Sri Lankan factory manager, Priyantha Kumara (49) in Sialkot, Pakistan on December 3, is but the latest in a long series of mob or vigilante killings in the world. Lynching goes back to the American War of Independence in the 18th Century. It is, therefore, a contribution of the United States, the world’s oldest democracy, ironically. And it survived in the US till as recently as the 1950s and 1960s. Priyantha’s case had all the hallmarks of typical lynching. In lynching, there is always a social, cultural, religious and ethnic distinction between the perpetrators of the violence and the victim.
It has a hidden cause which is distinct from the overt cause. The actual and underlying cause is portrayed differently in the public sphere so as to gain instant popular support for the lynching. The killing is done with mass participation, which enables the real culprits to escape detection and punishment. However, in Priyantha’s case, since the victim was a foreigner from friendly Sri Lanka, and the incident occurred days before the Democracy Summit in the US, the Pakistani authorities launched a quick investigation and arrested key suspects.
Normally, Pakistani lynch mobs would go scot free. According to sources, Priyantha was a quality control manager in a factory manufacturing export items. By virtue of his mandate, he was strict, which the workers apparently resented. In the process of whitewashing the factory, he had removed a poster or sticker which was an announcement of a religious event. Being a foreigner, he had not understood what was written, as it was in Urdu.
The workers objected to the removal and Priyantha apologised. But a section of workers, who could have had a prior grievance against him, interpreted his act a blasphemous one, for which the punishment is death under a Pakistani law made by President Zia ul Haq in the 1980s. The thrashing of Priyantha in no time snowballed and attracted other workers and outsiders. In mindless frenzy, the mob beat him to death and burnt his body. Hundreds of spectators, including Policemen, watched the gruesome spectacle coolly recording it on video.
The ‘Other’
Priyantha was an easy target for a blasphemy charge as he was a foreigner, a non-Muslim, and therefore, the quintessential ‘other’, who had no natural rights. In White majority US and in Hindumajority India, the typical victim of lynching is a local ‘other’, Black, Muslim or Dalit. As the ‘other’, Priyantha was outside the ambit of the law. A mob could dispose him off without any pangs of conscience. The perpetrators of the murder also knew that when the accusation was blasphemy, the Police, the Judiciary, and the Pakistani political system would not intervene.
These institutions would not oppose a religiouslysanctioned act, no matter how dubious the charge of blasphemy might be. In fact, they would intervene only at their peril. In Pakistan, those who take the law into their own to punish a person for blasphemy, are hailed as heroes. The killer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was hailed as a hero and 500 clerics backed the killing. A person does not have to commit blasphemy to be accused of blasphemy.
Human rights bodies say that personal scores are settled by slapping the charge of blasphemy especially in cases where the person concerned is a non-Muslim. Priyantha’s wife, Nilushi Dasanayake, was probably right when she said that there could have been a non-religious reason for the murder of her husband. With eleven years of service in Pakistan, Priyantha would not have been so mad as to wantonly commit a blasphemous act, she said.
Blasphemy Laws
Lynching in Pakistan is rooted in its Blasphemy laws made by President Zia-ulHaq in the 1980s under the 1973 Constitution, which had made Islam the State religion. On 5 July 1977, Zia had said that Pakistan, established in the name of Islam, would survive only if it stuck to a particular interpretation of Islam. As per Section 295 B of the Blasphemy Law, whoever willfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the holy Quran or of an extract therefrom or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable with imprisonment for life.
Section 295 C says that whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to a fine. In 1990, the Federal Sharia Court held that the death penalty is the only punishment for contempt of the Holy Prophet”. In his paper: Blasphemy Laws and Pakistan’s human rights obligations, Bilak Hayee says that death sentence became a mandatory penalty for offences under 295 C.
The accused in blasphemy cases are denied equality before law, presumption of innocence, the right to legal counsel, and fair trial. Abuses occur at every stage of the proceedings. Sections 295 B and 295 C are cognisable offences, and so, a Police officer can arrest an accused without a warrant. No proof of intent is required, which makes the victim susceptible to abuse. Religious clerics and their supporters, especially in the Punjab Province, file complaints of blasphemy based on false or flimsy allegations.
Despite weak evidence, Police Officers, prosecutors and trial courts tend to be reluctant to throw out such cases because of pressure from religious groups (such as Tehrik-e-Tahafuz-eKhatm-e-Nabuwat) Bilal Hayee says. Common Features in Lynching A look at the history of lynching will show that it has common characteristics. In lynching, a mob, under the pretext of administering justice, executes a presumed offender, often after inflicting torture and corporal mutilation. The term ‘lynch’ is traced to Charles Lynch (1736–96), an American planter in Virginia, who meted out summary justice of this kind to loyalists of the British crown during the American War of Independence (1775-1783). Later, lynching became an instrument and a symbol of power of one socioeconomic and racial group over another.
Typically, the poor, especially the Blacks, were considered prone to crime, including sexual crime, and deserving torture and a public execution outside the law. They were considered unworthy of legal protections. According to Paula Giddings, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Smith College, the number of Blacks lynched overtook the figure for the Whites in 1886. After 1886, Blacks constituted the majority. Between 1882 and 1951, 4,730 persons were lynched in the US, of whom 1,293 were White, and 3,437 were Black.
Lynching of Blacks continued till the 1950s and 1960s. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), between 1882 and 1968, 4,743 were lynched in the US and the Blacks accounted for 72 per cent of these. Charges of rape were routinely fabricated to enforce segregation and propagate stereotypes. Hundreds of Black people were lynched for murder, arson, robbery, vagrancy and even speaking to Whites with less respect than expected. Lynching was typically done by mobs.
The victims were either hanged publicly or tortured to death and sometimes decapitated or burnt. It was a public spectacle, a celebration of White supremacy. Photos of lynching were sold as souvenir postcards. Though mob lynching is not seen now, killing of people outside the framework of the law is still taking place in the US, NAACP points out. In 1998, James Byrd was chained to a car by three White supremacists and dragged to his death in the streets of Jasper, Texas. In 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot while jogging near Brunswick, Georgia. The three White men charged with killing Arbery claimed he was trespassing. The public killing of Black man George Floyd by a White cop for suspected shop lifting in Minneapolis was the most recent case of lynching in the US.
His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith today (December 12), responding to a proposal made by the Tourism Ministry, urged the authorities not to devalue Christmas.
The Archbishop of Colombo stressed that the authorities should not be allowing the sale of liquor on Christmas when it is banned on Vesak.
His remarks came during the feast of the Sacred Heart Church in Bollatha.
Citing newspaper reports, the Cardinal said the Tourism Ministry has sought approval to allow the ministry-registered hotels and restaurants to sell liquor on Christmas day.
Is this the wonder of Asia? Is this the vistas of prosperity?” The Cardinal noted that this move devalues the spirit of Christmas.
The meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers scheduled to be held tomorrow (13) will reportedly focus more attention on the foreign exchange reserves crisis the country is currently facing.
Secretary to the Finance Ministry Mr. S.R. Attygalle and the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal will also be summoned to the Cabinet meeting.
Tomorrow is the first meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers since the government’s Budget for the financial year 2022 was passed in parliament.
Meanwhile minister Bandula Gunawardena says that the agreement on the Yugadanavi power plant is also expected to be taken up for discussion tomorrow (13).
The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 714 today (December 12) as 172 more people were tested positive for the virus, the Epidemiology Unit said.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 572,902.
As many as 545,051 recoveries and 14,614 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 13,200 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.
The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 19 coronavirus related deaths for December 11, increasing the death toll in the country due to the pandemic to 14,614.
The deaths confirmed today include 13 males and 06 females while three of the victims are between the ages 30-59 years.
The remaining sixteen patients are in the age group of 60 years and above.
Perhaps a Paper written and published a decade ago may show why we need a Marketing Department .today
Proven Sri Lankan solution –
Part IV:
Marketing Dept determined prices for producers
(Ceylon
Daily News: 12 th April 2010)
Garvin Karunaratne
During
the red onion season there was a hive of activity and the Assistant
Commissioner in Jaffna ran round in circles attending to purchasing red onions
and dispatching them by the wagon load to Tripoli as well as to cities like
Galle. Once, I covered the Galle District from my headquarters at Ambalantota.
I
can remember an instance regarding the sale of red onions in Galle. Wagonloads
of red onions came from Jaffna. We sold to the traders at a wholesale price and
also sold at a cheap rate in our retail unit at Galle. It was my task to see
that traders were provided with red onions and also to see that our retail shop
never ran out of red onions. I was in Galle on a certain day and everything was
in order. I got back to Ambalantota my headquarters by night.
Private
retailers
The
next morning when I went to my office, I received a telegram from Head office.
It read ‘MP for Galle, Dahanayake reports shortage of Red Onions in Galle.
Proceed immediately, inquire and report.’ I hooked into my car in anger – it always
had my toiletries and extra clothes. I was back on my way to Galle, driving as
fast as my Peugeot 203 would take me. I went to a number of private retailers
observing whether they had red onions and finding the sale price.
I
went to our retail unit and found they had ample stocks. I had my network of
private informants whom I contacted and was satisfied that our shops functioned
well. I always built up a private spy service of friends. Then I went to meet
Dahanayake. He was not at home and I waited till he came. It was hours but I
had to meet him. He came home at around ten o’ clock in the night and was
surprised to see me waiting for him.
I
showed him the telegram and told him that there was no shortage of red onions
at all in Galle. He looked hard at me for a moment. I knew him well and was in
constant touch with him.
It
was strange and I wondered for a moment. ‘You know, Garvin, we have to please
our voters. Some fellow came and told it to me and to keep him happy I sent a telegram
to your Ministry’, I asked for the name of his informant and was told that he
cannot remember. I pointed out that this telegram gave the impression to my
Ministry that I was not doing my work well. ‘That is politics,’ he said. Next
time I go to the Ministry I will tell the Minister that everything is
satisfactory. Tell me if you have any problem? That was all.
I
submitted a report of my investigation and what Dahanayake told me, and the
Ministry took no further action. Evidently Dahanayake had contacted the
Ministry. We, Assistant Commissioners were always on pins. Working with
politicians was always demanding.
Politicians
were of two categories. One group was the Minister and the Deputy Minister in
the Ministry under whom the Department functioned. The other category happened
to be the politicians in the Districts where we worked like Dahanayake.
At
times it so happens that the requests of the District Members of Parliament
cannot be accomplished by us. A clash ensues and we get transferred overnight
to please the District Member of Parliament. We are even kept in quarantine for
a short while to please the Member of Parliament – to give him the impression
that we are punished. Eventually we are given a kick upstairs. We
administrators get used to this play of politics.
Van
sales
The
Marketing Department also made van sales. Van sales on the streets in cities
was done when there were quantities that could not be easily sold at our normal
outlets. A van with a Marketing Officer or a Manager would be sent out to
attend to street sales. The sales will go on till late in the night at times
till our stocks were sold. Our officers had to work round the clock when the
necessity arose.
The
Assistant Commissioners in the Districts advised the producers what varieties
should be produced – this was based on the demand. They attended divisional
meetings chaired by the Divisional Revenue Officers (later Assistant Government
Agents) and worked through various cooperative and rural development societies.
Low
prices
We
laid a dragnet covering all producer fairs in the island and visited them to
see that the traders offered reasonable prices to the producers. We were known
to the traders and they were aware that if they offered low prices, one of our
mobile purchasing units will be sent the very next week.
Overall
the Marketing Department did purchase less than ten percent of the crop, but we
really ruled the day to determine the prices for the producers as well as the
prices in the cities.
A
Bakery was established in Colombo which produced bread, cakes and short eats
and sold to consumers at reasonable rates. This Bakery proved to the bakers
that they could easily manage to get a profit and offer the bread at the
controlled price. Today most loaves of bread offered for sale in the cities are
short weight. This Bakery was closed down by the UNP Government.
Hospital
supplies
The
Marketing Department also had a Hospital Supplies Branch that supplied the
requirements of vegetables, fruits and essential commodities to the main
hospitals. The idea was that the hospitals would get good quality supplies at a
rate cheaper than local traders. In the case of main hospitals there was a unit
with an Assistant Manager who had to order supplies from Tripoli Market or one
of our main depots at Kandy etc. and buy the rest at cheap prices at local
Fairs.
At
times problems cropped up and were solved. At times though good quality fruits
were supplied by us, by the time the fruits reached the patients at meal time,
it was not the same fruit. The Department got the blame. Once I remember one of
our Assistant Commissioners stood in as a patient on a hospital bed, with a bed
head ticket, unknown to the hospital staff other than the doctor in charge, to
prove what was happening.
Effective
administration
The Marketing Department was really built up
overnight by Commissioner Basset. That will explain why many units even when I
joined in 1955 were housed in wooden sheds. There was no time to plan and make
up buildings. It was a case of a cement base for the floor, wooden uprights and
walls built of timber – a structure that was put up within a few days.
‘President Jayawardena and my close friend,
Ronnie de Mel, the Minister of Finance were fooled by the IMF. The IMF
has successfully taken Sri Lanka to its grave.’
Garvin Karunaratne, ‘The economic woes of today
(2021) go back to 1977,’ Lankaweb, Dec. 4, 2021
DPO vows to deliver justice to the bereaved family members of Priyantha Kumara
Participants of the walk organized by Sialkot police in solidarity with the family of Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumara. PHOTO: EXPRESS
SIALKOT:
Sialkot police on Saturday organised a walk to show solidarity with the family of the Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara, who lynched by a mob in the city earlier this month.
The walk was led by Sialkot District Police Officer (DPO) Omar Saeed Malik. Top political leadership, administration, business community, lawyers, and representatives of all religions of the district were among those in attendance on the occasion.
The participants marched from DPO office to Sialkot Chamber of Commerce building, carrying banners in support of the late factory manager.
Talking to media persons, the DPO said, “We are sorry for this incident. Sialkot police shares the grief of Priyantha Kumara’s family”.
Malik noted that most of the main culprits had been held and that they would be brought to justice. He vowed justice for the family of the deceased.
Conveying that Sialkot is a peaceful city, other participants said, “We are deeply saddened by the death of the Sri Lankan national in Sialkot”.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister Usman Dar, Minister for Special Education Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Akhlaq, Additional Deputy Commissioner Sialkot, on behalf of Deputy Commissioner Sialkot, President Sialkot Bar Council Khalid Mehmood Qureshi, vice president and senior vice president of Sialkot Chamber of Commerce, members of the interfaith harmony and district peace committees, and hundreds of people from other walks of life attended the activity.
The nation was left shell-shocked on December 3 when the Sri Lankan national was brutally lynched before being set ablaze by the mob in Sialkot over allegations of blasphemy.
LAHORE : Leaders of different faiths while condemning the lynching of Sri Lankan citizen in Sialkot expressed full support for unanimous stance of Muslim scholars against the misuse of blasphemy laws and announced endorsing declaration of Prime Minister Imran Khan and corps commander conference against those misusing blasphemy laws for personal objectives.
This was announced by Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East affairs and Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi while addressing a press conference following an interfaith meeting with clerics of Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam including the Church of Pakistan, Pakistan Ulema Council and Interfaith Harmony Council on Saturday. Raiwind Diocese Dr Bishop Azad Marshall, Faisalabad Diocese Bishop Munawar, Bishop Elon Samuel of Sialkot Diocese, Archbishop of the Catholic Church of Lahore Sebastian Shaw, Pastor of the Moderator Presbyterian Church of Pakistan Dr Majeed Abel, Reverend Emmanuel Khokhar, Allama Pir Zubair Abid, Hafiz Noman, Muhammad Aslam Siddiqui, Sikh Leader Sardar Sikandar Singh, Hindu Leader Bhaghat Laal Khokhar, Allama Asghar Arif Chishti and Shehzad Khokhar of Sialkot Diocese attended the meeting and told the media that all Pakistanis were united against extremism and terrorism. Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi said the declaration of the prime minister and corps commander conference is a clear message against extremism and terrorism and the nation must now move forward in this struggle, Ashrafi said. He said no culprit of blasphemy should be released, adding no innocent person should be punished.
We have witnessed the impassioned response of the ulema to the Sialkot tragedy, reinforcing the sacred values of peace and tolerance. There was an impressive gathering of some of the most prominent religious leaders and scholars on Tuesday when they visited the Sri Lankan High Commission in Islamabad. A joint declaration emphasised that there was no place for extremism and violence in Islam.
All news channels telecast live these proceedings that continued for a considerable time. It appeared to be a well-thought out plan to activate ulema of different religious persuasions to amplify the government’s resolve to take stern action against those who had participated in the mob violence and the lynching of Priyantha Kumara. Prime Minister Imran Khan proclaimed: I will not allow such incidents to happen as long as I am alive”.
Very well, but why has the government not sought the opinion and involvement of social scientists, historians, psychiatrists, writers, poets, criminologists and the academia as such to try to understand why this kind of violent extremism has flourished in Pakistan? And how can we contend with it in a comprehensive strategy of social renewal?
Obviously, our rulers have not been listening to the voice of reason and they are unwilling to comprehend the dynamics of how societies change and grow. Their appreciation of ideas that shape and govern human behaviour is frightfully deficient. That is how Pakistani society has descended into the lower depths of violent extremism and intolerance. The issue of blasphemy is only one dimension – though a dominant one in terms of how it excites the passions of the multitude – of our moral and intellectual deprivations.
There is little doubt that we are so terribly shaken by the Sialkot atrocity mainly because the victim was a foreigner and the incident had serious implications for our image in the world and it may impact our economic relations with other countries. Look at how vociferously the prime minister is leading the campaign to ensure that there is no recurrence of such killings in the name of Islam.
On Tuesday, a condolence reference was held for the Sri Lankan national at the Prime Minister’s Office in which Imran Khan made some candid remarks about the existing state of affairs. Our social values, he said, had deteriorated to an extent that if someone was accused of blasphemy, everyone seemed reluctant to investigate what had actually transpired. Everyone is afraid of it. In fact lawyers do not come forward and judges also refuse to hear the cases”, he was quoted as saying.
This was partly a preamble for honoring a colleague of Priyantha Kumara who displayed the courage of confronting the mob at the risk of his own life. At the reference, Adnan Malik was given a certificate of appreciation and he will be awarded with a Tamgha-e-Shujaat. However, it is true that lawyers and judges are generally afraid of taking up the case of an individual accused of blasphemy in the prevailing environment of fear and terror.
Ah, but there have been exceptions and it breaks one’s heart to realise that some heroic undertakings in defence of victims of violent religious extremism are generally not recognised. On the contrary, defenders of human rights are considered as adversaries by the ruling establishment and several are even persecuted for proactively supporting the cause of the oppressed sections of our society.
So, will someone please tell Imran Khan who Rashid Rehman was and what happened to him in May 2014. Here is a very sad as well as an inspiring story in the struggle for truth and justice in this land where forces of bigotry and obscurantism have reigned. In the process, the prime minister would also be introduced to Junaid Hafeez, who is in his eighth year of solitary confinement after being convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death two years ago, waiting for his appeal against the conviction to be decided.
Briefly, Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer in Multan’s Bahauddin Zakariya University was accused of blasphemy for something he had posted on Facebook. Rashid Rehman, a lawyer who was also a prominent human rights activist, came forward to defend him, believing that it was a trumped up case.
During one hearing held in Multan Central Jail in May 2014, three persons threatened Rashid and said that he would not be alive for the next hearing. Within a few days, Rashid was shot dead while he was working in his office, leaving the civil society to mourn the loss of one more defender of human rights. The times of similar mourning have not been infrequent, with the state invariably looking the other way.
What will change now, given the outrage that the lynching of a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot has provoked? Sadly, the evidence we have does not inspire much hope for a meaningful transformation in the policies of the rulers or in the social environment. The present and the previous rulers were manifestly not able to enforce their writ when faced with an onslaught of religious militancy.
The latest example of this seems to be the most noxious. It happened last month, instructively on Imran Khan’s watch. A secret deal with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan allowed a religious outfit that had been proscribed to return to the political mainstream and secure the release of its militants who, apart from other violations of law and order, were guilty of killing eight policemen.
It would surely not be easy for the rulers to change the course of events. This would amount to forsaking the ideas they have nurtured for so long. These ideas have survived a number of soul-destroying tragedies – and December will remind us of some of them. But once the rulers find the courage to expose these ideas to the glare of reason and sanity, new realities are likely to emerge on their mind’s horizon. This is the time when a beginning in that direction can be made.
But can a leader who considers Osama a martyr and who celebrates the Taliban victory in Afghanistan make this beginning?
A controversy has arisen regarding the Government Valuation Department issuing an assessment report within a day following an agreement to hand over shares of the Kerawalapitiya Yugadanavi power plant to an American company.
Leader of the JVP Anura Kumara Dissanayake presented the agreement to transfer the shares of the Yugadanavi power plant to an American company yesterday.
NFE Sri Lanka Power Holdings LLC entered into this agreement on behalf of the New Fortress Energy Company of the United States and Government of Sri Lanka on September 14.
>Prior to the signing of the agreement, the Ministry of Finance had requested the Government Valuation Department on July 9 to submit a report on the valuation of the Yugadanavi Power Plant at Kerawalapitiya.
Accordingly, the valuation report of the Yugadanavi Power Plant has been submitted on behalf of the Government Valuation Department within one day with the signature of the Chief Government Assessor DS Muthukumarana.
The value of a share of that power plant is between 1155 and 1252 rupees.
The All Ceylon Dedicated Economic Centres Association states that the current shortage of vegetables in the market will intensify during the forthcoming festive season.
Mettika Vithanage, Professor of Natural Resources at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, warns that the country will face a food shortage by next April.
According to the management trusts, the prices of vegetables have gone up again with the decrease in the stocks of vegetables received by the economic centres.
Accordingly, the supply of vegetables to the Nuwara Eliya Economic Center has decreased by about 60%, while the Thambuththegama Economic Center has received only 20% of the stocks of vegetables today.
While the supply of vegetables to the Dambulla Economic Center is limited to 15%, the Manning Market receives only 25% of the stock of vegetables.
The All Ceylon Dedicated Economic Centres’ Association stated that due to the lack of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, farmers will not be able to harvest their produce at the economic centres and will face a shortage of vegetables during the festive season.
The vegetable traders said that their business was also in crisis due to the increase in prices due to insufficient stocks.
Prof. Meththika Vithanage of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura says that despite warnings being issued to those responsible for a possible food crisis in the future, no one has paid attention to it.
In an exclusive interview with our news team she stated that the root cause of the current crisis is the fertilizer problem.
Residents take part in a candle light vigil in Islamabad on Wedmesdau to pay respect to the slain Sri Lankan factory manager. AFP
Every time, breaking news of a barbaric crime or terror act is reported from anywhere in the world, peace-loving Muslims the world over feel dejected and wish it had not been another tragedy that will make others glower at them with suspicion as though they too are complicit in the crime.
But often, what they dread is the case, for more than 90 percent of such inhumane and barbaric acts – like the Sialkot slaying of a Sri Lankan factor manager and the Easter Sunday massacres — are associated with Islamic extremism. Last Friday’s lynching of factory Manager Priyantha Kumara Diyawadanage in Pakistan by an extremist mob will not be the last of such acts.
No amount of ‘We Are Sorry Sri Lanka’ placards, flowers and candles at makeshift memorials and political statements denouncing the crime can bring back his life that was cruelly brought to an end as a burnt offering on the altar of bigotry in an expression of savagery that has no place in civilized society. However much Pakistanis who are humiliated by extremism dissociate themselves from the horrible act, however profound their apology is, however remorseful Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who decried the incident as Pakistan’s day of shame, is, the country will continue to be plagued by violent extremism unless and until extremism is rooted out by radical social reforms in line with the peaceful message of Islam.
The Priyantha Kumara lynching by a mob linked to an extremist outfit called Tehereek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, for tearing off a political poster that allegedly had some religious verses in Urdu warrants the immediate revocation of Pakistan’s blasphemy law or its amendment in keeping with the Islamic virtue of tolerance and magnanimity. Research shows a higher prevalence of extremism in countries that have blasphemy laws than in countries that do not have such laws. Blasphemy laws are often misused to persecute the minorities or treat them as second class citizens. Such laws are incompatible with the Islamic teaching which calls for protection of the minorities and non-interference in their worship. If the Pakistan Government fails to make use of this heartrending incident as an opportunity to bring about radical reforms, it itself will be committing an act of blasphemy because its inaction allows the badly constructed law to distort and disgrace Islam.
“What many do not understand is that there is little Islam in today’s world, although about 2 billion Muslims constitute one fourth of the world’s 8 billion population”
Pakistan was carved out of the British Raj for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Its founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah promoted a theory of two nation two state, saying that the Muslims and Hindus were two different nations and belonged to two different civilizations and therefore needed to live in separate states. The world’s first nation-state to be formed on the basis of religion, Pakistan, however, has never been a theocracy. In a 2017 BBC interview, historian Ayesha Jalal pointed out that Jinnah envisaged Pakistan as a homeland for India’s Muslims”, as opposed to an Islamic state. But she said that his theory had been used by Islamists as an ideological device” to justify claims for Pakistan to be a theocratic state.
This is Pakistan’s existential crisis. While the extremists fight for the setting up of a theocracy, secular politicians skillfully make use of Islam and side with Islamists to swell their vote banks or to whip up nationalistic emotions against archrival India. Perhaps, this was why Pakistan’s Defence Minister Pervez Khattak was seen belittling the gruesome murder of Priyantha Kumara, by calling it youthful exuberance of Muslim youngsters” and happens all the time”. He reportedly added, When the youth feel Islam has been attacked, they react to defend it.” This was while Premier Khan vowed to bring the murderous mob to justice and Pakistan police arrested more than 130 people.
If we play with fire, we get burnt. Pakistan has been burnt enough, yet it appears to have not learnt enough. Seven years ago this month, extremists carried out a gruesome school massacre in Peshawar. In this terror attack some 134 schoolchildren, aged between 8 and 18, and 16 staff members were brutally gunned down by the Pakistan Taliban. So why pamper the extremists?
In 2011, Pakistan’s Punjab Province Governor Salman Taseer was shot dead by a police guard over his opposition to the country’s blasphemy law that calls for death sentence to those who insult Islam or its holy personalities. Taseer was also calling for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was falsely accused by her neighbours of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Taseer’s assassin was hailed as a hero by a large number of extremists who took to the street to celebrate the murder. As a result of violent extremism, many non-Muslims find it difficult to accept the Muslims’ assertion that Islam is a religion of peace. What many do not understand is that there is little Islam in today’s world, although about 2 billion Muslims constitute one fourth of the world’s 8 billion population.
In Islam, jihad or holy war is not the norm, but a last resort exception to defend the oppressed. Vigilante justice has no place in Islam. The accused should be heard, Islam commands. To whatever religion they belong, the problem with extremists is their ignorance of the teachings of the religion they are supposed to follow. As historian and comparative religions expert Karen Armstrong would say, Terrorism has nothing to do with Muhammad, any more than the Crusades had anything to do with Jesus.”
Certainly violence is not the answer to blasphemy. According to the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad was heaped the worst form of scorn. He was called a liar, a magician, a madman, and possessed. Garbage was thrown over his head and stone-throwing street urchins were set upon him. Yet as commanded by God, he exercised beautiful patience — Sabran Jameelan — and when his companions sought permission to retaliate, he would teach them the virtues of patience and remind them that he was sent as a mercy to the whole world. He befriended his persecutors by practising the Quranic injunction which exhorts the Muslims to repel that which is evil with that which is good (and virtuous)”.
Unfortunately, the verses on defensive wars the Prophet and the early Muslims were forced to fight were misinterpreted by latter day Muslim rulers and terrorists for political purposes. Glorification of violence in the name of Islam became the norm. Islam’s peaceful message was forgotten. Also overlooked is the Quranic message against violence as explained in the story of angels who expressed their deep concern over bloodshed and mischief on earth when God wanted to create man. (Quran 2: 30.) It appears that instead of Islam, some Muslims are following a violent creed and calling it Islam. The fake Islam is largely practised while the real Islam remains buried. The task before the Muslims is to search for the buried Islam, resurrect it and live it.
Advocates the need for collaboration to develop a long-term vision, which can help reduce policy volatility
The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) has urged the authorities to provide an urgent solution to facilitate the availability of appropriate herbicides, weedicides, fungicides and pesticides, which are essential for the sustenance and health of the country’s plantation sector.
In addition to requesting the Government to fast-track implementation of the decision to allow private fertiliser imports, the PA also highlighted the increasing risk of Sri Lankan tea and rubber plantations facing a similar situation to the ‘coffee rust blight’ – which decimated Sri Lanka’s coffee cultivations in the late 1800s.
In the absence of inputs required to mitigate such challenges, the industry is already grappling with similar issues. The ‘Circular Spot Disease of Rubber’ for instance is spreading rapidly across Sri Lanka’s rubber plantations and has affected more than 20,000 hectares of cultivations by end-August 2021. As a result, production has plummeted in rubber estates affected by the disease.
While we appreciate the government’s eventual decision to allow our industry to acquire fertiliser, plant nutrition is only one of the several key requirements of the plantation industry,” PA Media Spokesperson, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai said. Additional inputs are also required to mitigate issues such as diseases, pests and weeds. These are essential for plantations to produce economically feasible volumes and given that our crops are nearly entirely exported, we must also adhere to stringent quality and Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) parameters.”
With the ban on glyphosate being reinstated for the third time now, we are yet again left with no immediate solutions to the problem of weed management. On behalf of all regional plantation companies, and the broader industry, we urge the Government to provide any kind of guidelines as to how the industry can arrive at a lasting solution to these are related issues,” Rajadurai noted.
In the recent past the country has seen several major changes in its policy with regard to importing and usage of agri inputs. As of November 2021, glyphosate was removed from the list of controlled substances, only for the ban to be reinstated by the end of the month. Even prior to the overall ban of fertiliser and agrochemical imports, the country has vacillated repeatedly in its stance on certain key inputs used by the plantation sector.
Glyphosate, is a herbicide which was introduced to Sri Lanka in the late 1970s and was recommended for use by the Tea Research Institute (TRI) following rigorous trials, was first banned in late 2014 over unproven allegations as to its contribution to higher instances of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) prevalent in Sri Lanka’s dry zone. This despite the kidney disease not being prevalent in tea-growing areas.
Given the ban’s adverse impact, which led to plantations finding it difficult to control weeds – which consume the nutrients provided to tea bushes – the industry saw declining yields. Tea growers also had to deploy more workers for weeding, hence incurring higher costs, putting the country at a disadvantage, given that Sri Lanka’s production cost of tea is in general higher than its competitors. These issues resulted in the ban being overturned in mid-2018. Thereafter, the country reversed its stand twice on glyphosate in late November 2021, issuing and revoking gazette notifications.
Such dire consequences highlight the need for stable national policies with regard to agri-inputs, for which the Planters’ Association requests the collaboration of all key industry stakeholders.
The daily count of COVID-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka moved to 762 today (December 11) as 184 more people were tested positive for the virus, the Epidemiology Unit said.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 572,188.
As many as 544,626 recoveries and 14,595 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the COVID-19 outbreak.
More than 12,900 active cases in total are currently under medical care, official figures showed.
The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 22 more novel coronavirus-related deaths for December 10, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 14,595.
According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the deaths reported today include 15 males and 07 females.
Six of the patients are between the ages 30-59 years while the remaining 16 are in the age group of 60 years and above.
Recently,
the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has announced it will pay Rs.10 more than the
official buying rate for US Dollar remittances to Sri Lanka, and people working
overseas are confused with the new practice because the new exchange management
regime has not shown that currencies, which remit to Sri Lanka other than US
dollars are eligible to claim additional local currency incentive in the new
regime. The other aspect is whether the Central Bank will charge rupees 10 more
than the official rate for the US dollars that going out for various payments. The
detailed information is required because of the way FEECS system implemented
between 1968 to 1978, new management regime insists in the country it will be
helpful Sri Lanka to adjust with a new regime.
Sri
Lanka had been maintained a dual exchange rate regime since 1968 until the
FEECS system was removed in 1978 by the changing economic policies starting for
a market economic system. After the independence in 1948, a significant
influence on the exchange rate regime of Sri Lanka was the situation experienced
after the Korean War in the early 1950s, which forced Sri Lanka to sign a
Rubber–Rice pact with China, and the official depreciation of the foreign value
of Sri Lanka rupee in 1967. The depreciation was essential part with the
depreciation of British Sterling pound. Sri Lanka Rupee was linked to the
British Sterling pound by the Currency Board System operated in the colonial
era.
Introducing
the FEECS system in 1968 (Foreign Exchange Entitlement System) for foreign
exchange buying and selling was a good policy decision on the advice of the
International Monetary Fund. It was a dual exchange rate regime and
successfully worked to control domestic inflation and foreign exchange outgoing.The
new regime introduced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka would be useful to manage foreign exchange coming in an outgoing,
however, many people in the country have no idea about dual exchange regime the
best example for this point was the views of Mr.Eran Wickramaratne, who participated
in a TV program, Pathikada.
From
1968 to 1978, the FEECS rate changed several instances, and despite the
criticism of many left political parties, when Dr.N. M. Perera become the
Minister of Finance after the 1970 Election, continued maintaining the dual
exchange rate regime, most probably understanding the significance of a dual
exchange regime for the country. When it independently analyses, it could see
that the foreign exchange demand for various purposes had been in slower growth
and people demanded foreign exchange for limited purposes. After 1978, foreign
exchange demand for various purposes has been increased by liberal economic policies.
The government policy has been supporting exchange demanding the import of
goods and services that were conceived in the country. For example, many retail
products and services could have originated domestically instead of importing,
and Sri Lanka could provide education services domestically rather than sending
kids overseas for education. Recent PANDORA papers disclosed that certain
officers who worked in the Government Treasury misused the new regime after
1978 for gaining undue enrichment.
A
dual exchange rate management despite the cry of many countries would be
suitable to main a balanced economy and to build foreign exchange reserves. To
stabilize the foreign value of the Sri Lanka rupee is a significant strategy
and the market process should be applied when the exchange reserve would
increase to the US $ 25 billion. If it analyses the way outgoing component of
exchange it could be found the way how wasted the reserve and workout a good
management regime.
Pension for Politicians in this
country? For what service they have done to the nation for the past 73 years
after 1948 (with the rare exception of 12 isolated cases) * Or for what they
are repeatedly doing even at present to this Paradise on earth, once hailed as
the Pearl of the Indian Ocean and the Granary of the East? Or is it for making it
second only to Afghanistan in the global poverty index and reducing it to a country
that is going round the world with a begging bowl on head?
Members of Parliament (MP) have to serve
10 years hereafter to qualify for pension as opposed to five years at present.
( A news item: 2022 Budget speech)
While welcoming that policy decision of
the Government who can say that this is not another election gundu to deceive
the people aimed at the proposed Provincial Council Elections?
If the Government was really honest
and concerned about public good what it should do is to abolished immediately, this
time bomb and the fatal noose imposed by India to divide and destroy this land
of the Sinhala nation, particularly in view of the present hard times the
country is going through at the moment, as Canada had done it in 1995, without robbing
the nation any more without continuing it as a
bonanza to trap politicians cunningly used as a bait by party leaders, that
bleed the nation.
The Mike Harris government eliminated
MPPs’ pension plans following the 1995 provincial election. Even it is allowed
in exceptional cases like in Canada, a pension to a politician should be paid
only after 65 years in recognition of his /her distinguished service to the
nation when they are disabled to earn a living.
Why pay pensions to politicians at
all who volunteer and swear to serve the people at elections and on the
contrary rob and destroy the entire nation after they come to power. It is to
hoodwink
The Government in its Budget speech
has proposed that MPP will be eligible for a pension only after completing 10
years continuous service” This too in my view is not warranted and justified
at all, particularly in this country where they come to politics for unusual
power and amaze wealth and rob public assets and moneys in unproper ways. They
don’t even declare their assets before nomination or even after deliberately to
make room to justify their illegal earnings if someone questions their assets
afterwards. What is more ludicrous is their claim for a pension also in spite
of the enormous financial benefits and privileges they get from the day the get
elected compared with what the politicians in pre 1970 period got. For example,
an MP those days got only an allowance of 5oo Rupees, a Junio Minister Rs 750
and a Minister Rs 1000 a month. They also did not get official vehicles or any
other allowance or duty-free vehicle permits or official residences in Colombo or
other payments like attendance and other extra packages like special
allocations for their seats (in spite of the fact none of these people have and
electorate as they are only District MPP which has made representative
democracy a big fast)
My question is under these
circumstances why pay a pension at all to any politician in this country
Because paying a pension to any politician is contrary to all basic principles
related to the principle of paying pensions accepted all over the world.
Because the origin of the idea of paying a pension has begun in the world first
for people over 70 years in old age for the continuous service, they have
rendered to the nation who are disabled to make their living, as a mark of
gratitude for the devoted service they have rendered to the nation or the
company for life. Those days it was
public service and not self -service as it has come to stay today.
The man behind the initiative called
The Old Age and Disability Bill” was Otto von Bismarck. of the German Empire. Germany was thus the
first European country to establish a fully-fledged pensions system for workers
aged 70 or more. The limit was lowered to 65 in 1916.June.
In 1875, The American Express Co.
created the first private pension plan in the U.S. for the elderly and workers
with disabilities. Early pension benefits were designed to pay out a relatively
low percentage of the employee’s pay at retirement and were not designed to
replace the employee’s full final income.
In this country it was started by the
colonial Government to make a payment to their employees in their old age for
the dedicated service they had rendered to the Empire. Subsequently it was
extended to retired public servants who had completed 35 years of satisfactory
service in the public service. As such there was full justification for a man or
a woman who has devoted his or her service to the nation in her or his whole
life while debarring any other job while one is in engaged in public service as
his or her only income for living comes to an end the day, he/she retires. But
it should be noted that to get that benefit they had also to contribute a certain
percentage monthly from their salary for which the Government contributed a
certain percentage. Therefore, in fact they are paid from a reserve fund
maintained by the Government out of funds they have contributed throughout
their service. What is more is they have to complete 35 years of service to get
qualified to get that pension. When someone retires prematurely the pension is feezed
until he.she reaches the age of 55. This clearly shows that there is a very
sound rationale for paying a pension to a retired public servant and it is
fully justified both rationally and ethically.
Now let us
examine the rationale of paying a pension to a politician in this country.
Paying pensions to politicians in this country was started in 1977 by the JR
Jayawardhana Government. Curiously it was the first legal enactment of that
so-called Democratic Socialist Government of JR. passed by Act No 1 of his government
as a priority, as if it was the most burning public issue” his government had
to solve. Doesn’t this show the degree of concern and commitment our
politicians have towards the welfare of the people who elevate them to high
position by electing them with a 5/6th majority in 1977 hoping to
get a better deal than from the previous Government of Mrs Bandaranayaka.
What is more hilarious and despicable is this piece of
legislation marked the turning point in Sri Lankan political culture where the
interests of the politicians overtook those of the people.
in a country
that inherited a rich legacy of public good enshrined in the concept of the
Buddhist teaching Bahujana hitaaya Bahujana sukhaaya” (for the good of the many
and for their happiness at large) for 2500 years.
What is even more despicable is that it was awarded to
all politicians who complete 5 years service” irrespective of whether they
served the people or not. The funniest part of it was the payment of that
pension to his /her spouse after the death of the MP. Further his family will
get another pension or even more if his or her son or daughter had been
appointed as the Private Secretary, Public Relation Officer etc which has now
become a rule of the day.
the day, a tradition that had come to stay as a
political privilege. Payment of pensions under this scheme was made with
retrospective effect and it was payable even to politicians who served in the
State Council, if they were living at that time with arrears.
Only one man refused to accept this blood money in the
history of Parliament. He returned it to Speaker. The man mentioned here was my
good friend M.S. Themis the 3rd MP for Colombo Central in 1956.He
was the first person and perhaps the only man to return it. I know it for
certain as I was the one who prepared the covering letter to the Speaker.
This piece of legislation was also a complete
violation of the Pension minute which
nobody dared to challenge or even question up to date either in a court of law
or Parliament that is said to be the Supreme lawmaking body in the country.
Isn’t it interesting to note how our Law makers make laws and for whose benefit
they make them in this so-called supreme legislature of the country expected to
make laws for good governance for the good of the people and the good of the
country at large?
JR did not stop at that. He did
everything to enhance the fabulous benefit package to MPP with immediate effect.
He dramatically increased salaries, increase payments for attending Parliament,
official vehicles with duty free vehicle permits were also provided, which they
could sell in the open market and make a fabulous fortune. Official quarters in
Colombo were also given where as they had to be in Colombo only for 8 days a
month. Unlimited job permits for MPP to give employment for their party
supporters only, monopoly of tavern license, business permits and government
contracts, LRC land nationalized by Mrs B for a song and government Import
permits. The sky was the limit to such
privileges. Here I stop the list for brevity and lack of space. All this was
done to buy over the MPP to maintain the majority in Parliament to embellish
and consolidate his dictatorial position as the Executive President which
perhaps he thought is a lifetime job, but unfortunately not.
The same corrupt and highway robbery situation
still continues in incremental scale without being openly questioned or
challenged by anyone in the ‘People’s Parliament. So much so today the whole
system of governance in this country has become a veritable national liability.
JR also increased the number of MPP in
Parliament from 196 to 225 by introducing a thing called a National list to
provide a place in Parliament for their kith and kin and family friends as
backdoor MPP bypassing the elections and thus making Representative Parliament
a ”Non-representative thereby making representative democracy a big fast and a hilarious
joke. Instead of reducing it to 165 the previous number that would have save
billions for national development and reduced IMF and other foreign loans
thereby reducing the annual budget deficits and avoiding bankruptcy.
On the top of this JR also signed an
Agreement with Rajiv Ghandi completely handing over the North and East
comprising 1/3 of the land of the country and 2/3rd of the coastal
belt together with the maritime territory adjacent to it as the Traditional
Historical Homeland of the Tamil people completely forgetting the fact that the
only Traditional Historical Homeland of Tamil people on earth exists only in Tamilnadu
South India. (See Rajiv /JR Indo Lanka Accord of 29th July 1987 for
a full list of JR’S betrayal ) Thereby he committed an unpardonable criminal
offence against the Sinhala Buddhist nation by selling 1/3 of the homeland of
the Sinhala nation that had been their motherland from the inception of known
human history and also thereby making the way for annihilating the Sinhala
nation and the Mother land of the
Sinhala nation as he had once predicted in his public speeches where he said
the Sinhala nation will be extinct in
another 25 years. This Accord that conceded 1/3 of the land and 2/3rd
of the coastal belt with all its marine resources as the Historical Traditional
Home land of the Tamils of South India who were the eternal enemies of this
Sinhala nation, in short was the biggest betrayal by any politician in the
entire history of this Island Nation from the beginning of history. The only
relief is that this Accord as well as the !3th Amendment were illegally entered
in to under emergency by the blessing of the Gods, fortunately that could be
annulled at any moment by a patriotic leader blessed with a strong spine and
the courage to do it as it was an absolute travesty of history.
What was even more traitorous was the
Agreement to establish 9 Provincial Councils co-terminus with the British made
Provinces to divide the country in to nine independent governing units making
the way for the establishment of Future EELAM -the dream land of Prabhaharan to
erase the 2500-year-old Sinhala Kingdom from the surface of this earth. If the provisions
of the Provincial council are implemented to the letter that will be the
death-knell of territorial integrity and the Ekathchatra status of this
land nation
Each of these Provinces to be
governed by a Governor, a board of 5 Ministers headed by a Chief Minister and
an army of Provincial councilors of about 700 low grade politicians supported
by a some 14,000 Pradesiya Sabha (double the number that was there before.
Politically this system lead to quasi-Federal status leading to a Federal state
to begin with, with (1) a Tamilnadu comprising the North, East, Central,
Sabaragamuwa and Uva only for Tamils,( as it was once stated by A.J. Wilson the
Son-in-Law of Chelvanaayagam),amalgamated under the provisions in the Rajiv/JR Accord
for amalgamation 2 or more
Provinces comprising 2/3 of the area of the Island, a mono Tamil state and the
balance 1/3 for a multi racial community including Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims
and all others, leading to a virtual pickle and an eternal battle ground of ethnic,
religious and social crises and a hotch-potch of International conflicts in
view of it’s strategic geo=political importance that will finally lead to the
extinction of the 2500 year old Sinhala
Buddhist civilization from the surface of this earth.
What is more depressing is already
this provincial council system has wasted trillions (Koti- Prakoti) of public
funds for the upkeep of these superfluous new political creations for nor
benefit to the country but benefited only the politicians, from 1987 to date .
It has been said that 85% of national tax collection is spent for the upkeep of
politicians and so-called public officials in this country leaving only 15 %
left for all other work concerning the country and 21millions citizens. I do
not propose to say a word about the lawlessness, corruption and international
debts to the tune of 56 billion US $ as at present dragging the country to the
bottom of abject poverty and bankruptcy converting this once proud nation and
second richest country in South East Asia second only to Japan by 1948, loans
even from Bangladesh and Maldives the latest.
This is the pathetic situation in to
which this proud and rich nation which gave Sterling loans even to the British
Empire in early 1950s has been put by our politicians who are supposed to have
ruled this Island nation from 1948 up to date and ruined by separatists Tamils
and Muslims with their Tamil and Muslim dream lands on this Land of the Sinhala
nation from the dawn of history.
And mind you it is to this kind of
politicians who have robbed the nation hook, line and sinker and also those who
continue to do the same game and jointly responsible for making this country a
debt ridden and begging country this peracetic and good for nothing governments
continue to give a fat pension extracting from the beggar’s bowl
In this back drop as for me, I
strongly oppose a single scent been given to any politician as a pension. In addition,
I also suggest that all extraordinary benefits like palatial official mansions
and all other benefits like official vehicles, security and all other extra benefits
be withdrawn forthwith before the masses march in thousands and forcibly take
over all these public assets as a protest against what they have done to this
country and the Sinhala nation over the past 73 years.
This includes all politicians including the
ex-Presidents and their rich widows. However, I am not against for paying a
pension to an honest politician like C W.W Kannangara who has devoted his
entire life for the service to the people and the country and who had done an
indelible and memorable service to the nation, after passing a resolution in
Parliament to that effect. That will definitely prevent self- seeking wealth
mongering people doing politics and limit it to men and women of outstanding character,
dignity and commitment to the service of people the noble wove of any honest
politician should be.
Finally I propose first, the immediate
abolition of the pension scheme to all politicians and second, appointment of a
powerful Presidential or a Public Commission to enquire in to the illicit and
illegitimate earnings of all politicians at all levels starting from 1977 up to
date and confiscate all illicitly earned assets proved, both at home and abroad
such as Pandora assets and credit all that wealth to the General Treasury
Account so that people will get back all their wealth robbed by politicians at
least from 1977 onwards so that all those who aspire to be politicians in
future in this country will begin with a new political vision opening the doors
to a new political culture setting a Sri Lankan model for the entire world and
once agai restore the ancient glory of the Sinhala nation.
Since 1999 Venerable Bhante Y. Wimala has been the head monk and the spiritual teacher of the Theravada Buddhist Center in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Center is located in a beautiful suburb of Nairobi called Loresho, just a few miles away from the city center. The center was built by the George Phylnormel Foundation in memory of Mr. George and Mrs. Norma Perera. The premises consist of a residence for monks, a Meditation hall and a traditional Stupa. The center is open every day from 8am to 6.30 pm for public. People of all faiths are welcome to use this peaceful sanctuary for self-reflection and meditation.
Ongoing programs include: Meditation sessions every Sunday at 3:00pm to 4:30pm. Beginners reading group at 2pm, Advanced Buddhist study group at 4.30pm. A stocked library is also open every day. Bhante Wimala travels to often and conducts classes and gives Dhamma talks.
Prime Minister
Mahinda Rajapaksa has conveyed his condolences to Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on the death of the Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed
Forces General Bipin Rawat.
It is with
profound sorrow that I convey my deepest condolences to the Government and the
people of India on the loss of a distinguished son of the nation, General Bipin
Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff of the Indian Armed Forces, his spouse Madhulika
Rawat and 11 staff members in a tragic aircraft crash yesterday,” Prime
Minister Rajapaksa said.
General Rawat, his
wife and the other staff members died after the helicopter they were traveling
in crashed in Tamil Nadu yesterday.
The Government and
the people of Sri Lanka join me in conveying our profound sympathy to the
bereaved families on their irreparable loss,” the Prime Minister further
stated. Gen. Rawat will be long remembered by Sri Lanka as an exceptional
friend who contributed immensely to the enhancement of Sri Lanka-India defence
cooperation.”
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord has entered into two
eras. The agreement was signed 24 years ago with the aim of ending the bloody
clashes between the Bengalis and the government forces and establishing peace
with the tribes and hills of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. After the agreement,
it was hoped that if implemented, the winds of peace would blow in the
mountains and the economy would gain momentum. In the last 24 years, this hope
has been fulfilled. The way of life of the locals has changed. Various
development projects undertaken by the government have changed the economic
condition of millions of people living in the area.
Before the agreement, tourists were afraid to go to the hill districts.
Tourists are now coming to the mountains without any hesitation as the security
situation has improved after the peace agreement. In the past, due to the
underdeveloped communication system, there was not much speed in trade and
commerce, but now that speed has increased several times. Before that, the
wheel of normal life was closed for two decades. With the signing of the peace
treaty, the hill country returns to its normal rhythm; In the contemporary regional
and international arena, the successful political end of the CHT problem is
considered a rare achievement for our country. For this reason, Sheikh Hasina’s
UNESCO award was a recognition of Bangladesh’s unique contribution to peace.
The then Awami League government tried to establish lasting peace in the hill
areas. This was followed by the surrender of arms in 1997, which later became
known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts Agreement or the Peace Accord. The
government claims that most of the clauses of the agreement have been
implemented. And the unrealized clauses will be implemented quickly and it
needs a conducive environment.
On the other hand, in the two eras after the peace
agreement, several schools and colleges have been established. Rangamati
University of Science and Technology and Rangamati Medical College. There has
been improvement in the communication sector. Sajeke in Baghaichhari has been
built for tourists in two-star quality hotels and a three-star quality tourist
complex.
Earlier, fishermen could not fish in Kaptai Lake but now
fishermen can fish as they wish. Fishing on Kaptai Lake has multiplied since
the peace agreement. Kaptai Lake is playing an important role in the economy.
Prior to the agreement, the government did not receive any revenue of Rs 1
crore from this lake. Now the government is collecting revenue of around Tk 10
crore every year. Thousands of families in Rangamati now depend on Kaptai Lake.
Zoom crop production has increased in the hills. Although it was difficult to
get the zoom crop to the market earlier, it has been alleviated a lot now. In
the past, most of the crops of Zum would have been ruined on the way, but now
there is not much of a search on the road, so hill farmers can easily sell Zum
crops in the market. The sector that has improved the most since the agreement
was the timber business.
The timber trade in the region has multiplied since the agreement. Although
they did not buy tree gardens in the hills before, now traders are buying
gardens. The gardeners are benefiting economically. With the improvement in
every aspect including education, communication and security, overall economic
development has taken place in all the districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts
including Rangamati. Laxmidhan Chakma, a resident of Rangamati, said government
jobs once seemed like golden deer to us. But as a result of the Hill Tracts
Peace Accord, now the educated and meritorious children of the Hill Tracts are
easily getting government jobs. It would never have been possible without the
agreement.
After the peace agreement, some incidents centered on conflict and hegemony
among the regional parties did not stop the wheel of the mountain economy.
Economic prosperity has been achieved in the same way that the living standards
of the people have improved due to various steps taken by the government after
the peace agreement. We can understand this by analyzing the times before and
after the peace agreement.
After the Hill Tracts Peace Accord, the hill people were able to trade easily.
The general public was intimidated by the obstruction of some regional
organizations. But as a result of the peace agreement, the people of the hills
are now breathing a sigh of relief. The people here are doing business
independently with the incomparable cooperation of the administration.
There was a stagnation in trade and commerce in the hill country before the
Hill Accords. Ordinary people could not move freely. But now that day is no
more. Now people are doing business freely. The increase in communication has
also given impetus to trade and commerce. The police administration is ready so
that the people here can perform all their duties independently.
Meanwhile, 10 new development projects have been undertaken for the development
of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts has sent a
proposal to the Planning Commission for inclusion in the Green Leaf in the
Annual Development Program (ADP) for the next 2021-22 Fiscal Year. At the same
time, the allocation has been sought for 19 ongoing projects.
Rural Road Development Project constructed by Chittagong
Hill Tracts Development Board in Rangamati Hill District, its duration is till
2021-2024. The construction period of rural infrastructure in Rangamati Hill
District has been fixed till 2024.
Construction of Master Drain in the development of water system in Bandarban
Municipality and Lama Municipality of Bandarban Hill District to remove water
blockage, it is aimed to be implemented by 2023. Besides, the development of various
rural roads constructed by the Board in Bandarban Hill District has been fixed
till 2023.
Construction of bridge with the connecting road from Upazila Sadar to remote
areas of Khagrachhari district for the purpose of socio-economic development of
the backward people of Chittagong Hill Tracts has been fixed till 2025.
Construction of road from Laxichhari Upazila Sadar to Barmachhari Bazar of
Khagrachhari district has been fixed till 2025. Construction of rural road
infrastructure in Khagrachhari Hill District with the aim of building a
communication network of Upazila Sadar with remote villages of different
Upazilas. Trending Inclusive Development in CHT Project. Providing sustainable
social services in the CHT area. Construction of rural road from Roangchhari
Upazila Sadar to Ruma Upazila of Bandarban Hill District. High-value spice
cultivation project in remote areas of Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Construction of Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council Complex. Construction
of two bridges over Sangu river and one over Sonakhali canal in Bandarban Hill
District. Construction of master drain for development of drainage system of
Khagrachhari district headquarters and removal of water blockage. Increase of
cotton cultivation in Chittagong Hill Tracts area and alleviation of poverty of
farmers. Power supply through installation of solar panels in remote areas of
Chittagong Hill Tracts (Phase II). Safe water supply and development in all
Upazilas including Rangamati municipality. Construction of irrigation drains in
different Upazilas of Bandarban Hill District. Construction of irrigation
drains in different Upazilas of Khagrachhari district of Chittagong Hill
Tracts. Supply of potable drinking water through GFS and deep Tube Well in all
areas in rocky areas in different Upazilas of Bandarban district.
Apart from this, poverty alleviation projects through coffee and cashew nut
cultivation in the CHT region and water supply and sanitation management
projects in markets and adjoining areas of the Khagrachhari district are also
in progress. Establishing and implementing the network, which is currently the
main hub for access to basic social services to the people of the three hill
districts of Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachari. The Chittagong Hill Tracts
Peace Accord recognized the special status and dignity of the hill people.
Under the peace agreement, a regional council comprising local government
councils of the three hill districts has been formed. The structure of the
Regional Council is as follows: Chairman 1, Member (Indigenous) 12, Member
(Indigenous) Female 2, Member (Non-Indigenous) Male 6, Member (Non-Indigenous)
Female 1. The agreement calls for the formation of a Ministry of Tribal Affairs
to oversee activities related to the Chittagong Hill Tracts, headed by one
tribe. If the land ownership rights of the tribes are determined then their
land will be returned. For this purpose, a land survey system will be conducted
in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to determine the ownership of land.
Today there are educated young people in every house of the tribal people. At
least one employee per household, Chakmas has an average literacy rate of 96%.
The quota system in all jobs including BCS, priority system, a quota system for
tribal students in all universities, medical colleges, scholarships in Europe,
America, Australia all together the development of tribal people in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts is much better than any remote region of Bangladesh.
Incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is always striving to fulfill the hopes
and aspirations of the people of Chittagong Hill Tracts. The present government
has not taken any undemocratic and anti-people initiatives in the hilly areas.
After the Awami League government came to power, the chairman of the Chittagong
Hill Tracts Development Board has been appointed. The formation of the Land
Commission and the ‘Minority Cultural Institutions Bill 2010’ has been passed
in the National Assembly. In the meantime, everyone has accepted the idea of
tribes, minorities, ethnic groups and communities to protect the integrity of
the country. We think that supporting and supporting Sheikh Hasina’s efforts to
establish peace is essential for development there.
The necessity of implementation of the Hill Tracts Peace Agreement can be seen
from the significant examples of successful conduct of various ongoing
socio-economic development activities. However, the joint efforts of the
hill-Bengalis are needed to implement the conviction to uphold the rights of
all citizens as enshrined in the peace agreement.
On Friday, a special prosecution team from Lahore will meet officials of the Sialkot police in the high-profile case of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara who was lynched by a mob.
However, the team will visit Rajco Industries and inspect the factory site. The police will provide the prosecution with 12-hour CCTV footage of the incident obtained from over 100 cameras.
Furthermore, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed the team to ensure that the trial of the suspects is completed as soon as possible and file the case challan in court within 14 days. The police have, so far, arrested 139 people of which 34 are main suspects.
Earlier, Gujranwala’s anti-terrorism court remanded the men into police custody for 15 days.
On Thursday, the prime suspects were brought to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for the photogrammetric test.
The forensic examination was conducted of the suspects’ faces from the videos obtained from the attack.
The authorities said that results will be available within a few days and will be used in investigations and challan (police investigation report).
Members of a civil society group participate in a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to the Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumara, who was lynched by a Muslim mob in Pakistan. AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary
A Sri Lankan working in Pakistan, Priyantha Kumara, was lynched by a mob of hundreds of people on Dec. 3, 2021, over allegations of blasphemy, or sacrilegious act. After being assaulted, he was dragged into the streets and set on fire, and the lynching was recorded and shared widely on social media.
In December 2019, Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court on the charge of insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.
Hafeez, whose death sentence is under appeal, is one of about 1,500 Pakistanis charged with blasphemy over the past three decades. No executions have ever taken place.
But since 1990, 70 people have been murdered by mobs and vigilantes over allegations of insulting Islam. Several people who defended the accused were killed, too, including one of Hafeez’s lawyers and two high-level politicians who publicly opposed the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted for verbally insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Though Bibi was acquitted in 2019, she fled Pakistan.
Blasphemy and apostasy
Of 71 countries that criminalize blasphemy, 32 are majority Muslim. Punishment and enforcement of these laws vary.
This class of religious laws is quite popular in some Muslim countries. According to a 2013 Pew survey, about 75% of respondents in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia favor making sharia, or Islamic law, the official law of the land.
Among those who support sharia, around 25% in Southeast Asia, 50% in the Middle East and North Africa, and 75% in South Asia say they support executing those who leave Islam” – that is, they support laws punishing apostasy with death.
Firefighters in a factory torched by an angry mob in Jhelum, Pakistan, after one of the factory’s employees was accused of desecrating the Quran, Nov. 21, 2015. STR/AFP via Getty Images
The ulema and the state
My 2019 book Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment” traces the root of blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world back to a historic alliance between Islamic scholars and government.
Starting around the year 1050, certain Sunni scholars of law and theology, called the ulema,” began working closely with political rulers to challenge what they considered to be the sacrilegious influence of Muslim philosophers on society.
Muslim philosophers had for three centuries been making major contributions to mathematics, physics and medicine. They developed the Arabic number system used across the West today and invented a forerunner of the modern camera.
The conservative ulema felt that these philosophers were inappropriately influenced by Greek philosophy and Shiite Islam against Sunni beliefs. The most prominent in consolidating Sunni orthodoxy was the respected Islamic scholar Ghazali, who died in the year 1111.
In several influential books still widely read today, Ghazali declared two long-dead leading Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, as apostates for their unorthodox views on God’s power and the nature of resurrection. Their followers, Ghazali wrote, could be punished with death.
As modern-day historians Omid Safi and Frank Griffel assert, Ghazali’s declaration provided justification to Muslim sultans from the 12th century onward who wished to persecute – even execute – thinkers seen as threats to conservative religious rule.
Parts of Western Europe were ruled by a similar alliance between the Catholic Church and monarchs. These governments assaulted free thinking, too. During the Spanish Inquisition, between the 16th and 18th centuries, thousands of people were tortured and killed for apostasy.
Blasphemy laws were also in place, if infrequently used, in various European countries until recently. Denmark, Ireland and Malta all recently repealed their laws.
But they persist in many parts of the Muslim world.
In Pakistan, the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled the country from 1978 to 1988, is responsible for its harsh blasphemy laws. An ally of the ulema, Zia updated blasphemy laws – written by British colonizers to avoid interreligious conflict – to defend specifically Sunni Islam and increased the maximum punishment to death.
From the 1920s until Zia, these laws had been applied only about a dozen times. Since then, they have become a powerful tool for crushing dissent.
Some dozen Muslim countries have undergone a similar process over the past four decades, including Iran and Egypt.
Dissenting voices in Islam
The conservative ulema base their case for blasphemy and apostasy laws on a few reported sayings of the Prophet, known as hadith, primarily: Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”
Nor is criminalizing sacrilege based on Islam’s main sacred text, the Quran. It contains over 100 verses encouraging peace, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance.
In chapter 2, verse 256, the Quran states, There is no coercion in religion.” Chapter 4, verse 140 urges Muslims to simply leave blasphemous conversations: When you hear the verses of God being rejected and mocked, do not sit with them.”
By using their political connections and historical authority to interpret Islam, however, the conservative ulema have marginalized more moderate voices.
Reaction to global Islamophobia
Debates about blasphemy and apostasy laws among Muslims are influenced by international affairs.
Across the globe, Muslim minorities – including the Palestinians, Chechens of Russia, Kashmiris of India, Rohingya of Myanmar and Uighurs of China – have experienced severe persecution. No other religion is so widely targeted in so many different countries.
The Rohingya of Myanmar are among several Muslim minorities facing persecution worldwide. Rakhine state, Myanmar, Jan. 13, 2020. STR/AFP via Getty Images
Such Islamophobic laws and policies can create the impression that Muslims are under siege and provide an excuse that punishing sacrilege is a defense of the faith.
Instead, I find, such harsh religious rules can contribute to anti-Muslim stereotypes. Some of my Turkish relatives even discourage my work on this topic, fearing it fuels Islamophobia.
But my research shows that criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy is more political than it is religious. The Quran does not require punishing sacrilege: authoritarian politics do.
Special cell to be set up by prosecution to monitor case trial
Members of the Human Rights Council of Pakistan place oil lamps to pay tribute beside a photograph of late Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara, in Karachi on December 5, 2021, after he was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob who accused him of blasphemy.Image Credit: AFP
Islamabad: The provincial government of Pakistan’s Punjab region has decided to conduct the trial pertaining to the mob lynching of Priyantha Kumara, a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot, on a daily basis.
This was decided in a meeting of the provincial cabinet committee on law and order presided over by Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja.
The committee directed the investigators to file the case challan in court within 14 days. The prosecution was also directed to set up a special cell to monitor the case trial. The meeting was attended by all the regional police officers (RPOs) and commissioners of the province via video link.
The Gujranwala RPO gave a detailed briefing on progress regarding the arrest of those still at large and assured the remaining accused would also be apprehended shortly.
The committee also considered holding the trial of the suspects inside jail.
A delegation of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (SCBAP)a day earlier visited the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Vice Admiral (R) Mohan Wijewickrama to pay condolences. The delegation was led by Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar.
Senator Zafar said the Pakistani people as well as the entire legal fraternity are deeply saddened and horrified and expressed solidarity with the Sri Lankan people and the family of deceased and strongly condemned the killing of Priyantha at the hands of the mob.
He also reiterated the unequivocal message of Prime Minister Imran Khan that there would be a zero tolerance policy for such incidents in Pakistan.
Ali Zafar said he had been contacted by the president of the Sri Lankan Bar and they agreed that there would be a contact person from the SCBAP, who would monitor the prosecution and keep the victim’s family as well as the Sri Lankan Bar informed about the prosecution.
On December 3, initial footage of a frenzied mob flocking around an individual on Wazirabad Road, Sialkot in Pakistan eventually beating him to death went viral on social media. The beating continued amidst chants of ‘kaafir ke bachche me Quran ki ayatein dustbin mein fainki hain’ which translates to ‘son of a Kaafir has thrown verses of Quran in the dustbin’. Video evidence thereafter showed how the mob resorted to burning the lifeless body while some spectators took selfies with burning corpse. The victim, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana has been accused of blasphemy, but there are several versions to the reason for this flare-up. However, the Pakistani Government is continuing to investigate the matter, while his remains are being brought down to Sri Lanka.
The mysterious killing
Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana has been an employee at RajCo Industries, one of the leading sportswear manufacturers in the country that even sponsors cricketing gear to the Pakistan cricket team. While the management has remained silent to date, the postmortem report revealed that all bones in his body were broken and 99% of the body was charred. Skull and jaw fractures were highlighted as the cause of death. But due to the attack his vital organs including stomach, liver and one of the kidneys were affected. Barring one foot, every part of his body sustained severe injuries. His spinal cord was also broken at three different points.
However, footage published two days after the incident shows how at least one person, identified as Malik Adnan, trying to save Priyantha’s life. Following the incident, several rights groups organised demonstrations in Karachi and Lahore holding placards that read ‘Sorry Sri Lanka’ and ‘Shame #Sialkot’.
Condolences and promises
At the onset of the incident Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan tweeted saying that it was a day of shame for Pakistan. I am overseeing the investigations and let there be no mistake. All those responsible will be punished with full severity of the law. Arrests are in progress,” the Tweet read. So far over 235 people have been arrested in relation to the incident and a First Information Report has been filed against 900 garment factory workers. Subsequently President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Namal Rajapaksa also issued statements condemning the incident and condoling with the family of the deceased. The Tweets read that they vest their confidence on the Pakistani Government and ensure that everybody involved will be brought to justice.
The matter was also discussed in Parliament and several Ministers in the ruling party and opposition also expressed sorrow.
Subsequently, special arrangements were made to bring down the remains of the deceased in a special SriLankan Airlines flight on Monday.
‘My brother is accused of blasphemy, so that culprits could escape the law’ : Kamalsiri Diyawadana
Priyantha’s house at Kandaliyadda Paluwa, Ganemulla is already a funeral house as crowds await the arrival of his remains. Politicians, clergy and prominent personalities continue to visit the house and express condolences and extend support to the family. But the family has lost its beloved ‘sudu mahaththaya’. His elder brother Kamalsiri Shantha Kumara Diyawadana told the Daily Mirror that the two governments should look at ensuring the safety of the rest of Sri Lankans and foreigners in Pakistan.
Excerpts of the interview with Kamalsiri:
QWhen did he leave for Pakistan?
He went to work at a factory in Faisalabad in 2010. After a year he was recruited at the factory he was working until present. He was handling the entire operation and worked as General Manager – Operations. He was the second-in-command after the owner. When he started working there this factory just had around 500 machines but now it has expanded its capacity with around 1500 machines.
It was Priyantha who developed it to this capacity with his knowledge in industrial engineering which he studied at Peradeniya University. These factories were operated using traditional methods and they were quite new to industrial engineering technologies. Even though Priyantha tried to return to be with his family, the owner kept him from doing so.
Q Are you his only sibling ?
No. My elder brother is in Karachi and we have two other elder sisters. I’m the fourth in the family and we have a younger sister and Priyantha is the youngest.
QWas he working at garment factories right throughout ?
Yes he was initially employed at Brandix and later left for Pakistan. From time to time he would return to see his family. His last trip to Sri Lanka was in 2019. Due to the pandemic he couldn’t return.
QDid the family visit him in Pakistan?
Myself and my elder brother have been working there for sometime. But his wife and children didn’t go since the children are schooling.
QWas he in contact with the family?
Yes, he used to take calls regularly.
Q Did he mention about any issues he was facing lately?
Not at all. In these factories they launch strikes all of a sudden. They have unions and other groups. But they don’t have any prior plan. They usually organise strikes on Fridays since almost everybody goes to the mosque. Eventually people on the road will also join the strike.
QDo you know the reason for this flare-up?
According to the details I have this incident occurred around the time people were going to the mosque. The employees had wanted to speak to the management regarding their wages, but the Managing Director had not been in the country. As a result the employees had started shouting outside the factory and he had been in his office. During the upheaval, somebody may have said that there’s no point in shouting and subsequently they have pulled him out of his office on to the street, taken off his cloths and hit him on his head. Thereafter they have burnt the body. Some even claim that the police had been watching, but we do not know if these facts are true.
QThen why do media reports claim that the incident occurred after he tore down a poster of a radical Islamic group?
That is a false allegation. If they kill someone who is a non-Muslim the reason is that he is accused of blasphemy. That excuse is used by perpetrators to escape the law. Because in those countries when a person is accused of blasphemy the courts and Police too remain silent. They won’t even question them if they have weapons either. Priyantha worked there for 10 years and was it only on that day that he wanted to tear a poster. Besides they write these posters in Arabic and who knows what they have written in them? People are not allowed to put up posters inside the factory as well. We know that we are in a Muslim country and why should we tear a poster? When we asked from our contacts they said that it was a wage issue that put the mob in a frenzy.
QDo you think they will punish culprits?
The President’s Media Division spoke to me recently and according to them the Pakistan Prime Minister has said that they have lost an exemplary professional. But they are trying to accuse him of blasphemy and escape the law. I would like to request the Sri Lankan Government to work with the Pakistani Government and ensure that another incident of a similar nature won’t be repeated. We lost our brother and he would never return. There are more foreigners working there and we urge the government to take serious action against the perpetrators. Other Sri Lankans in Pakistan are now living in fear.
QAre there many Sri Lankans working there?
Yes there are many working in Karachi. There are a few in Faisalabad, but Priyantha was the only Sri Lankan in Sialkot. They recruit Sri Lankans for higher positions and usually after the Chairman and Managing Director it is a Sri Lankan who leads an Executive position. In Karachi there are around 500 Sri Lankans there.
QAre you satisfied with the manner in which the media reported the incident?
I couldn’t watch the news, but I have urged all television stations to refrain from publishing footage related to the incident. People have started sending these videos to us and questioning us about the incident. This is not good for his family and even his children will be affected as they have to go to school.
QWhat was the reason for him to leave for Pakistan?
Mainly the salary. But now we are not sure if we would return because we are concerned about our security.
QDid the family receive threats after the incident?
We were told that the mob was looking for us as well. My elder brother had left to Sialkot, but he was stopped in Lahore as the authorities have said that the situation is out of control. Thereafter he has returned to Karachi, but has evacuated his previous place of residence and his factory management has provided him with security. He too would return in the same flight the remains are brought in. We are having second thoughts about returning.
QHow is the family reacting to the incident?
We are in shock. We still haven’t informed our mother regarding the incident as she would always inquire about her younger son. We told her that he had passed away after contracting COVID and that the body would be sealed when it’s being brought down to Sri Lanka. Priyantha would call her every two weeks and if he failed to call her she would inquire about her ‘sudu mahaththaya’.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been weaponised for political gains” : Pakistani activist
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, Usama Khilji, Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Systemic Inequality and Social Cohesion and columnist at The Dawn, Pakistan said that the Sialkot incident is a tragedy that is rooted in multiple layers of impunity for those who weaponise blasphemy for personal goals. Mob violence has been fanned up by radical groups that have managed to break the monopoly of violence by the state. Excerpts of the interview done with Usama Khilji.
QWhat sort of a relationship has successive governments had with radical Islamist groups?
Radical religious groups in Pakistan have always had massive street power, and the power to blackmail any government under the pretext of religion, often for political gains. In that vein, governments have often vowed down to such groups in order to not be seen as anti-Islam which is the tag such groups attempt to put on governments. It’s a classic example of pandering to the right-wing clergy for political survival.
It is unfortunate that successive governments have not been able to establish the writ of the state and have often forgiven violent groups for political expediency, but also to protect themselves from violent attacks. A Governor and federal minister have been assassinated in the past for supporting vulnerable accused in blasphemy cases, and another federal minister was shot and survived in the last government.
QSo far over 200 individuals have been arrested in relation to this incident. There’s video evidence as well. However there are opposing views with regards to how perpetrators are being punished. Some don’t serve a maximum jail term. Do you think they will be brought before the law and given strict punishments?
It is hoped that the perpetrators of this heinous crime will be brought before the law and punished accordingly. However, history shows that those accused of murder in blasphemy related cases get a lot of support from religious political parties, and are even celebrated as heroes. Radicalism has seeped into all segments of society, given the state’s constant pandering to them, and forgiving of violent groups that challenges the writ of the state such as the TLP that the murderers in this case sought to support, even though the party itself has distanced itself from the attack. Recently a mob burnt down a police station because the police was protecting a blasphemy accused.
QCould you shed some light on blasphemy laws in the country and how the laws have favoured the existence of these groups?
The blasphemy laws have been weaponised for political gain, and the passion people have for religion is often exploited through these laws with impunity. This has empowered people socially to demand excessive punishments for people that are accused of blasphemy often for personal vendettas, and when the state does not deliver justice” they expect, the law is often taken into the hands of angry vigilante mobs.
QEven though no law can bring back the dead, is there any sort of legal assistance that the victim’s family could seek? If so what are the approaches and procedures?
There are several non-profit organisations that help victims of such cases, such as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) that fights cases pro-Bono for victims and their families. The government also seems to be eager to help the family of the victim get justice, but that would also require public pressure that is visible in Pakistan right now. There is a huge segment of the population that opposes the exploitation of blasphemy laws and want justice for victims in such cases.
QWith the current trend, do you think Pakistan is a safe place for foreign employment?
The unfortunate truth is that nobody is safe from blasphemy laws and blasphemy allegations in Pakistan that are routinely exploited for personal goals with malicious intent. One has to steer clear from groups with such potential. There are several foreigners employed in Pakistan, but this case may have them reconsider their decision.
The victim, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana has been accused of blasphemy, but there are several versions to the reason for this flare-up
Following the incident, several rights groups organised demonstrations in Karachi and Lahore holding placards that read ‘Sorry Sri Lanka’ and ‘Shame #Sialkot’
So far over 235 people have been arrested in relation to the incident and a First Information Report has been filed against 900 garment factory workers
In countries like Pakistan when a person is accused of blasphemy the courts and Police too
remain silent
Rights groups demand justice
Several rights groups in Sri Lanka arrived at the Pakistan High Commission on Monday and handed over a letter to the Pakistan Ambassador to Sri Lanka urging the Pakistan government to carry out an impartial investigation on take perpetrators before the law. Furthermore the letter demanded the Pakistan government to pay compensation to the family of the deceased .
Speaking to the media, Nimal Tissa Wijetunga representing the Deshapremi Vidwath Sansadaya said that they received a positive response from the High Commission and that they have verbally promised to pay compensation to the family.
Several members of the clergy and other religious faiths also met with the Acting High Commissioner of Sri Lanka further discussing bilateral relations, the years long friendship the two countries have had and requested officials to serve justice to the victim’s family.
The passing away of a gentleman
Diyawadana was known to have shown exemplary leadership while working in various places of employment. Some of his previous colleagues who wished to remain anonymous told this paper how he was an inspiration and a mentor to them. Several of his Pakistani colleagues took to social media recalling how Diyawadana helped them out in the past. In a social media status one of his colleagues recalled how Diyawadana would give his official vehicle during an emergency. He has also provided financial support to employees at times of need.
Family members and relations preparing for the funeral arrangements of the late Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana
Justice will be served accordingly. We thank the Sri Lankan government for standing with us. We are in contact with the family and will look at how best we can support the familyTanveer Ahmad, Acting High Commissioner
Radical religious groups in Pakistan have always had massive street power, and the power to blackmail any government under the pretext of religion, often for political gains. In that vein, governments have often vowed down to such groups in order to not be seen as anti-Islam-Usama Khilji, Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Systemic Inequality and Social Cohesion
Perpetrators will be given maximum punishment : Pakistan Acting High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Demonstrations held in Pakistan Speaking to the media at a special press conference at the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka, Acting High Commissioner Tanveer Ahmad said that the whole Pakistan nation and leadership are sad and is in grief regarding this incident. What happened in Pakistan shouldn’t have happened. Our Prime Minister has taken stern action and he’s personally overseeing the whole investigation. So far over 250 individuals have been arrested and they are being taken up for trial at a special court in Pakistan. Justice will be served accordingly. We thank the Sri Lankan government for standing with us. We are in contact with the family and will look at how best we can support the family. Priyantha has been working in Pakistan for over 10 years and his two brothers are also working there. Pakistan will not give any excuse to those who have done this vigilante. PM Imran Khan has assured President Rajapaksa that maximum punishment will be given to the perpetrators. The relationship between the two countries shouldn’t be affected due to the actions of a few individuals.” said Ahmad. Responding to a query on whether the perpetrators have a chance of escaping the law as Priyantha has been accused of blasphemy, Ahmad said that investigations are underway and that there’s no possibility for the perpetrators to escape the law. The Daily Mirror also attempted to contact Ijaz Bhatti, Executive Director of RajCo Industries. However, sources told this paper that he is unable to speak to media until investigations conclude.
The United States imposed human right-related sanctions on two more Sri Lankan military officials under Section 7031(c), gross violation of human rights, the US State Department announced on Friday.
Those military personnel were: Chandana Hettiarachchi, a Sri Lankan naval intelligence officer, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely, the flagrant denial of the right to liberty of at least eight Trincomalee 11” victims, from 2008 to 2009.
The second person was Sunil Ratnayake, a former Staff Sergeant in the Sri Lanka Army, for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the extrajudicial killings of at least eight Tamil villagers in December 2000.They and their immediate family members are designated and are ineligible for entry into the United States,” the State Department statement said.
The designation of these two Sri Lankan individuals is not the only action we are taking in support of accountability for gross violations of human rights in Sri Lanka,” the statement said.
In further recognition of Human Rights Day 2021, the Department is designating 12 officials of foreign governments under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriation Act, 2021.
This law provides that in cases where there is credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in a gross violation of human rights or significant corruption, those individuals and their immediate family members are to be designated publicly or privately and are ineligible for entry into the United States, the State Department added.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has made two financial donations of Rs. 1 million each for the education of the two children of Priyantha Kumara, who was subject to a gruesome murder in Sialkot, Pakistan.
The Opposition Leader made this donation after visiting the victim’s house today.
In addition to the cash donations, Mr. Premadasa also donated a laptop computer to be used for education of one of Priyantha’s children.
Sri Lanka will stabilize its foreign reserves on its own and will not seek any assistance from anyone, Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa told Parliament today.
Winding up the committee stage debate of the budget in the House, Minister Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka will not seek IMF assistance if its conditions cannot be accepted. No one will seek a loan from a bank if the conditions it lays to lend is not favorable. Our stance is that we will stabilize our foreign reserves on our own,” he said.
IMF officials are already here and conferring with the Sri Lankan government and I have already met them. They come here annually, carry out a study on our economic situations and submit a report to us. We only implement recommendations which are realistic. We went to the IMF in 1961, as did I during the regime of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I listen to their talks. Our government is the only government which met their conditions effectively in the past,” he added.
We will not default any loans. Our intention is to settle all debts and tell the world that we will not borrow from any one anymore. We will make this nation a debt free one,” the Minister stressed.(Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)
The Special Committee on COVID-19 Control today decided to make the vaccination card mandatory when entering public places in the future,President’s Media Division(PMD) said.
Legal advice has been sought with regard to preventing those who have not obtained the vaccine from entering public places in order to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed the members of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control to take necessary steps to complete administering booster doses within the next two weeks to control the spread of COVID-19 during the upcoming festive season.
The President made these remarks during the meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control held at the Presidential Secretariat, today (10),
All those who have completed three months after receiving the second dose are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine as the booster dose. Accordingly, eligible persons have the opportunity to receive the Pfizer vaccine from tomorrow at any vaccination centre.
Observations have revealed that the vast majority of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported these days are from among those who have not been vaccinated and most of them are youngsters, the health officials said.
Vaccination is mandatory to minimize the number of Covid-19 patients in the intensive care as well as to reduce mortality rate. The President gave instructions to educate the youth on this and then to take steps to provide the vaccine as soon as possible.
The approval has been received to administer the second dose for children between the ages of 16 and 19 and the first dose for all children between the ages of 12 and 15. Accordingly, the President instructed to devise plans in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to immediately provide the vaccine.
Visits by foreign tourists have increased. The Airlines have increased the number of flight frequencies. The President also instructed to further relax the restrictions imposed on tourism, taking into account the development of the tourism sector.
