Sri Lanka today confirmed that the highly-contagious Delta variant of Covid-19, first identified in India, has been detected from community samples obtained in Colombo.
This was revealed by the Director of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Dr. Chandima Jeewandara.
He said the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant, also known as lineage B.1.617.2, has been detected from 5 samples which were all obtained from Dematagoda in Colombo.
Dr. Jeewandara said this is the first time that the Indian variant has been detected from community samples in Sri Lanka.
A strain believed to be more transmissible or cause more serious disease, the variant was first identified in India, decimating the nation’s health care system.
The Delta variant had also quickly become the dominant strain in the United Kingdom.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has endorsed the idea of Sri Lanka joining the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative – a new global infrastructure investment of USD 40 trillion undertaken by the G7 countries to challenge China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
In an exclusive interview with WION, the Opposition Leader said, Sri Lanka should benefit from such positive proposals which promote the country’s prosperity and development if obtaining such assistance improves Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic indicators such as employment, growth rate, balanced budgets and trade surplus.
Whatever economic, development and trade plans that are initiated and enunciated abroad, when Sri Lanka decides on embarking on a development voyage, we have to ensure that such development projects and programs promote efficiency and efficacious nature of such acts, the reduction of indebtedness and internal economic prosperity.”
He went on to say: Within the present context, where Sri Lanka is suffering economically, I think the infusion of capital investment, grant programs, loan programs that may be available from this initiative could be useful and utilized for the country’s development which would then promote Sri Lanka’s macroeconomic indicators which would lead to higher standard living and higher economic growth rates.”
Responding to a question if Sri Lanka is now headed towards bankruptcy, the Opposition Leader said, I would not like to think so, but when one examines the current trends and the economic trajectory, life does not look so rosy. It looks pretty alarming.”
He stressed that Sri Lanka needs to have more pragmatic, practical approach to economic management. I hope the relevant authorities have a change of course and try to think anew in a unique manner when it comes to economic management.”
When asked if Sri Lanka is sinking further into China’s grip, Premadasa said, We would never ever be keen on being subjugated to any other state or non-state actor.”
Sri Lanka does not prefer international interference whether it is from a political bloc or an individual nation state, the Opposition Leader said, adding, We sacredly protect our country’s political independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty and unitary character.”
Sri Lanka wants to stand up on its feet and Sri Lanka has the self-discipline, the capability and the strength to stand up on its feet, he stated further.
He said Sri Lanka has always strived to have very direct, productive, progressive and constructive relations with all countries. We are a non-aligned country. So, just as much as we value our relationship with India, we also value our relationship with China and the rest of the world. We would [always] like to have a productive relationship which is of mutual benefit. We see Sri Lanka’s internal national agenda being decided by external factors and as Sri Lankans we don’t like it.”
The Director General of Health Services has confirmed 51 more Covid-19 related deaths that occurred yesterday (16), according to the Government Information Department.
This pushes the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 2,425.
According to the data released by the department, the 51 deaths confirmed today includes 20 females and 31 males.
Meanwhile 14 are between 30-59 years while the other 37 are aged 60 and above.
Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila has dismissed the contents of the no-confidence motion signed by the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) against him over the recent hike in fuel prices as baseless.
Addressing a press conference earlier today (June 17), the energy minister said it was a childish move by the main Opposition.
Fuel prices can be increased upon receiving the nod from the finance minister, he explained, adding that the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers is not required for such move. I must remind the Samagi Jana Balawegaya that I was appointed to the post of energy minister in August 2020, not in January 2020 as mentioned in their no-confidence motion. The parliamentarians who signed the motion have shown the country that they know nothing about the law,” Minister Gammanpila continued.
On Wednesday (June 16), several Members of Parliament representing the SJB signed a 10-point motion of no confidence against Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila, citing the recent ‘arbitrary’ increase in fuel prices.
It alleged that the energy minister had proceeded to increase the fuel prices without the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and thereby violated a pledge under the Constitution.
A fundamental rights petition has been filed at the Supreme Court seeking a ruling that the government’s decision to import 227 luxury vehicles for Members of Parliament violates the Constitution.
The petition was filed by former Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Western Provincial Councilor Mahinda Jayasinghe.
Thirty-one persons including Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the staff of the Finance Ministry and its Secretary S. R. Attygalle, the Bank of Ceylon, Director General of Customs, Director General of Import and Export Control, and the Attorney General have been named respondents of the petition.
The petitioner states that the Cabinet has decided to import 227 luxury vehicles for Members of Parliament at a time when the Sri Lankan economy is in a severe recession due to the COVID epidemic.
The National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) has not granted approval for the sale of liquor online.
Head of NOCPCO, Army Commander General Shavendra Silva confirmed this decision today (June 17).
The Ministry of Finance yesterday (June 16) gave approval to the recommendation made by the Department of Excise to allow the public to purchase liquor through online procedures.
However, this decision was met with objections from several parties including the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA).
There was much speculation as to the number of
civilians killed in the last phase of the Eelam War IV, which ended in May
2009. In the absence of reliable statistics,
the Security Council and the Office of Secretary General had begun to
rely on reports from Human Rights Watch and other international NGOs during the
last phase of the war.
Persons who had some association with the war,
either as a UN worker or a journalist assigned to cover the war or some such
capacity put forward their estimates of civilians killed. The numbers they
provided ranged from 147,000 estimated by the journalist, Frances Harrison to 70,000 and 60,000. Finally the Eelamists
decided to settle on 40,000 as the figure for civilian deaths in the last phase
of the war. The Darusman Report quoted this figure. This became the accepted
number.
Eelamists
tried to find proof for these many deaths. They looked for satellite photographs that
indicated 40,000 bodies, but could not find any such satellite photos. 40,000 remained an arbitrary figure, with no
documents to support it.
The estimate of 40,000 civilian deaths at the
end of the war was howled down by anti-Eelamists. Criminal lawyers wanted to know where are
the bodies”. Any assertion that there were 40,000 deaths must be matched by
bodies, they said.
Others pointed out that it was impossible to
hide piles of skeletons or mountains of ashes derived from
40,000 bodies in an open area like Nandikadal, which was not heavily forested.
Also, if these bodies had indeed existed, then they would have been unearthed
by the teams involved in mine clearing operations in the North.
UN Crisis Operations Group (COG) based in Colombo,
had designed a rigorous methodology for collecting and verifying information on
civilian casualties, using multiple independent sources for each reported death
or injury, leading to a conservative list of civilian casualties. But as time went on, UN found it
increasingly difficult to obtain corroboration from the required three
independent sources.
The UN placed the number of dead and the
wounded, including LTTE combatants at 7,721 and 18,479, respectively. The
report dealt with the period August 2008 to May 13, 2009. The war ended a week
after the UN stopped collecting data. This UN report was not shown to the
government of Sri Lanka, but was given to the Darusman committee.
Lt. Col. Anton Gash was the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office defense attaché at the British Commission in Colombo during the closing
stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Gash
estimated the number of deaths at 7,000 to 8,000.
The Foreign
and Commonwealth Office had told Lord
Naseby when he asked for the Gash dispatches that Lt. Col. Gash was the FCO’s
defense attaché at the British Commission in Colombo during the closing stages
of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Many of his dispatches contain information provided
directly to him by his contacts in the Sri Lankan government, the Sri Lankan
Army or other military sources. His reports indicate, he had access to reports
on troop movements, Sri Lankan military strategic thinking, and the movements
of the LTTE and assessments of casualty figures.
However, after
Gash’s departure, the UK discontinued having a resident Defence Advisor in
Colombo. Instead, New Delhi-based Defence Advisor looked after matters
pertaining to Sri Lanka, for nearly a
decade.
During the
46th session of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). In March 2021, Sri Lanka belatedly, asked
UK for the wartime dispatches by Gash. UK
rejected the request, saying that such a disclosure would impede their
relations with Sri Lanka.
Responding
to Sri Lanka’s request, for the full disclosure of dispatches, the UK played
down the importance of Gash reports. Gash reports couldn’t be taken seriously,
UK said, as he merely reported irregular
information obtained from various parties at different times. The reports had
not been based on properly examined evidence and information. They lacked independent
confirmation.
Lord Naseby,
who took strong action on this matter some years ago, had continued his
interest in the matter. He had earlier estimated that the civilian deaths were
in the range of 7,000 to 8,000 deaths.
In 2020, Lord Naseby put forward another number. He stated, I have
spent 10 years looking at the reports by Gash, The University Teachers for
Human Rights Jaffna, the census and all other coverage I could find. The net
result is about 6,000 people killed, of which a quarter is Tamil Tigers.
Lt. Col. Anil Ameresekera stated that the
government conducted a very through Census after the end of the war using Tamil
enumerators and arrived at a figure of approximately 7000 deaths during the
last few months of the war. This figure included LTTE cadres killed as well as
the civilians killed by the LTTE (sic).
Not everybody was pleased about the reduced numbers. There is
nothing for Sri Lanka to crow about with regard to the figure of 5,000, as
against the figure of 40,000 in the Darusman report said Javid Yusuf. Five
thousand is a large enough figure to be concerned about. But the more important
point is to determine what happened to each and every civilian unaccounted for,
however big or small the numbers are. This can be done only after a proper
inquiry.
Are we seriously
saying that 7000 to 8000 is acceptable even though this number includes
combatants. The Gash report covers a
very small period of the 30 year war, what about the rest of the war, asked
Tony Witham. ( Continued)
Washington, June 16 (Agencies): US President Joe Biden has nominated foreign service woman diplomat Julie Chung to be the country’s next ambassador to Sri Lanka. Chung is of South Korean origin.
Currently serving as Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, 49-year-old Julie Jiyoon Chung, who was nominated on Tuesday, needs to be confirmed by the Senate before she can head to the island nation.
Fluent in Korean, Japanese, Spanish and Khmer, Seoul-born Chung was previously Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs at the State Department.
She has served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Economic Counsellor at the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.
Chung was also the Chief of Staff to the Transition Coordinator at the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. She has also served at the US embassies in Colombia, Vietnam and Japan, and the US Consulate General in Guangzhou, China. She is a Pickering Fellow.
Chung earned her Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of California-San Diego and her masters degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Secretary’s Distinguished Honour Award.
Biden announced a slate of ambassador nominations on Tuesday that included Morgan Stanley Vice Chairman Thomas Nides as the top diplomat to Israel and former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as envoy to Mexico.
Biden is also nominating C.B. Sully” Sullenberger — the retired pilot who safely landed a US Airways plane in the Hudson River — as an ambassador to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the White House said Tuesday.
With the nine nominations, Biden has now announced his choices for 18 ambassadorial nominations, all of which must be confirmed by the Senate. Thirteen of the selections are career diplomats, including his picks of Julie Chung to Sri Lanka, Sharon Cromer to Gambia, Troy Fitrell to Guinea and Marc Ostfield to Paraguay.
Julianne Smith, who served as Biden’s acting national security adviser when he was vice president, will be tapped as the top U.S. diplomat to NATO.
A few leaders would throw a wrecking ball into a big chunk of the economic machinery, worse still when it is stumbling under the weight of a coronavirus pandemic and a full-blown foreign exchange crisis. Alas, that is exactly what President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is doing to the country’s agricultural sector through his misplaced fertilizer ban.
The agricultural sector employs one-fourth of the Sri Lankan workforce (Central Bank Data 2018), and is still the largest sector of employment in sheer numbers. It suffers from a staggering level of low productivity, contributing less than 7.5% of the GDP.
Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) warns that the average yields from paddy would drop by 25% if chemical fertilizers are fully replaced by organic fertilizers.
President Rajapaksa’s fertilizer ban, not just lacking scientific logic, but was also announced out of blue, would simply decimate the income of struggling farming communities, who have enough everyday hazards to struggle with from draughts, an army of crop-eating caterpillars to loan sharks and predatory intermediaries – and now a President.
His demagogic policy would wreak havoc in Sri Lanka’s cashcrops, which are already suffering from low efficiency and competition from other emerging markets. The recent protests by farmers are only a storm in a teacup. This policy would leave a trail of destruction.
Policy underpinned by hearsay
As for the scientific basis of President Rajapaksa’s fertilizer ban, the closest equivalent you could find is his own government’s policy of compulsory cremation of Covid-dead bodies. A policy, devoid of scientific logic, that was decried locally and internationally for its specific race-baiting properties.
The defenders of the fertilizer ban have argued it would save lives, for that matter, surmising that heavy fertilizer use had been the primary cause of the prevalence of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the North Central Province. This is based on the findings of an equally half-baked research of which findings at best are disputed, at worst imaginary (No wonder when the lead researcher claimed a godly intervention of the Natha Deviyo in his dreams informed the research hypothesis). That research cannot explain why the tea-growing Upcountry areas which are also dependent on fertilizer or the country’s paddy growing Deep down South do not exhibit a similar prevalence of CKD.
President Rajapaksa should not have implemented a policy based on guess-work. He should have commissioned a proper study into the causes of CKD, including a possible causal effect from heavy fertilizing, and incorporate good practices adopted by the lead nations against such hazards.
Economically unviable
When no country in the world does that – surely there are plenty of nations with superior agricultural technology and equally tight health regulations – there is a reason. It does not work!
In the first place, it would significantly reduce the yield. For Instance, Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) warns that the average yields from paddy would drop by 25% if chemical fertilizers are fully replaced by organic fertilizers. This would effectively reduce the profitability of paddy farming by 33% and rice consumption by 27%. (In contrast, applying organic fertilizer with the recommended dosages of chemical fertilizers would improve the profitability of farming by 16%).
Similarly, SAEA calculates the absence of chemical fertilizer would reduce the productivity of the Vegetative Propagated Tea (VPT) by 35 %. As a result, the export volume of tea would go down from 279 to 181 million kg, causing an income loss of Rs. 84 billion. These losses could further be aggravated due to the increased cost of labour to apply bulky organic fertilizers. Elsewhere, coconut yields would go down by 30% if chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not applied. In a recent article to Sunday Times, Peradeniya University Professor of Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition, Saman Dharmakeerthi, debunked many myths that support the government’s fertilizer ban. He observed that the ‘results of rigorous meta-analyses of organic-conventional crop yield comparisons analyses indicate that across all crops, mean yield reductionin organic agriculture is in the magnitude of 19–25%.’ Nor can Sri Lanka produce enough organic fertilizer. The organic paddy cultivation alone would require nearly four million tons of compost at a very nominal rate of five tons per hectare. For tea plantations, it could be well over another three million tons. The country at best produces 2-3 million composts a year.
This is in addition to other maladies from deforestation to the introduction of new fungus to crop. The President should have listened to these saner voices.
Not the problem – Nor the Solution
The agriculture sector in Sri Lanka suffers from a myriad of maladies. It is low productivity is fostering a vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty. Though paddy yield has increased over time, it is still a fraction in international comparison (4,790 Kg per hectare against 6,830 Kg per hectare in Kenya or over 8,000 kg per hectare by high yielding countries such as Egypt and Australia.
Research cited by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) finds that Sri Lanka can double the paddy yield with improved farm management. Worst still, given the smaller plots of lands, an average output of a Sri Lankan farmer is barely 1% of an Australian farmer. Also, the use of technology in agriculture is limited, not just by the farmers, but also by agri-businesses, according to the Central Bank Annual Report 2019.
Sri Lanka does not need to reinvent the wheel. The progress and survival of nations are tied to the emulation and improvisation of successful strategies of lead nations. There are lead nations such as Israel and Australia which have excelled in farming in inhospitable conditions, and deployed technology and developed high yielding crop varieties. Sri Lanka can learn from these success stories, emulate them, build its own local capacities and cooperate with lead nations to that end. Instead, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has done this!
Govt. has created a needless crisis
Across the country, farmers are complaining about a shortage of fertilizer. Mass gathering due to rumours of fertilizer being distributed risk becoming super-spreaders of coronavirus. Tea smallholders who contribute 70% of production warn the Ceylon tea would be history if the crippling fertilizer ban persists.
The government had last month banned the import of fertilizer and turned away two shipments of fertilizer, triggering the fertilizer shortage. The loss of harvest would plunge hundreds of thousands of families who live on the fringes back into poverty. The government says it would compensate for the loss of income. However since President Rajapaksa does not bring that money from Medamulana, it would come from the public funds. That money could have better spent on the tablets and computers for the children of these communities so that they would be better equipped to leave the intergenerational poverty and underachievement. (As they leave for better-paying jobs, the farming plots get bigger).
Mao Zedong killed 30 million Chinese with his disastrous Great Leap Forward in 1958-60. Recently, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela de-industrialized his country, by waging war on the local industrialists who he suspected, probably rightly, were behind a failed coup against him. However, when the oil boom crashed, a few years later, Venezuelans, one of the richest nations in Latin America, were forced to eat from the bin or flee enmasse to neighbouring countries. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe took over white-owned farms and redistributed among his cronies, turning ‘Africa’s food basket’ into a basket case. All these countries have something in common: They lacked safeguards that stand against the irrationality and demagoguery of their leaders. Sri Lanka suffers from the same deficit. Thus the folly of this policy of a self-harming fertilizer ban would be known only when the damage was done.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 788 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,419.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 230,675.
As many as 194,145 recoveries and 2,315 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 34,215 active cases are currently under medical care.
ndia became the first country to partner with Sri Lanka in fulfilling the vision of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to ensure that 70% of Sri Lanka’s national power requirements are fulfilled by renewable energy sources by 2030, as reiterated during his address at the recently concluded Sri Lanka Investment Forum.
In this context, an agreement extending a USD 100 million Line of Credit (LOC) to Sri Lanka for projects in the Solar Energy Sector, signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Export-Import Bank of India, was exchanged by the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay and Secretary to the Treasury S.R. Attygalle, in the presence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, today (June 16).
This USD 100 million LOC will help finance various projects in the solar energy sector in Sri Lanka, including those announced during the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) held in March 2018, such as rooftop solar photovoltaic systems for households and government buildings.
A total of 89 countries, including Sri Lanka, have signed the Framework Agreement of the ISA, which was jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France, to bring together countries to promote the large-scale deployment of solar energy and overcome challenges related to technology, finance, and capacity.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the High Commissioner of India discussed the striking similarity in the national objectives outlined by India and Sri Lanka in connection with solar energy.
Over the past 7 years, solar power generation in India has increased significantly to reach 34.6 GW in 2021 from about 2.6GW in March 2014. The National Solar Mission of India aims to increase it further to 100 GW and beyond, the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka stated, issuing a press release.
The shared vision of the two countries in the renewable energy sector reflects their common national priorities and convergence of approaches for sustainable development, the High Commission stated.
Strengthening collaboration in this vital sector will help enhance the two countries’ overall energy partnership and contribute towards the global efforts to tackle climate change and reduce emissions, the press release further read.
Arjuna Hettiarachchi, the chairman of the local shipping agency representing the ‘X-Press Pearl’ vessel, has been granted bail by the Colombo High Court.
Chairman of Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Mr Hettiarachchi was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today after surrendering through his attorneys.
He was subsequently produced before the Colombo High Court Judge Damith Thotawatta, who ordered that the defendant be released on a cash bond of Rs 100,000 and two personal bonds of Rs 1 million each.
Informing of bail conditions, the court ordered that one of the bail bond co-signers should not be a close relative of the accused.
The judge also barred Mr Hettiarachchi from leaving the country and ordered him to handover his passport to the court. He ordered to inform the controller of immigration and emigration as well as all airports and ports of this decision.
The judge further ordered the controller of immigration and emigration to refrain from issuing a new passport to the accused.
Hettiarachchi is charged under the Marine Pollution Protection Act.
Investigations carried out by the CID with regard to the ‘X-Press Pearl’ incident had recently revealed that the local agent had deleted several e-mails exchanged with the vessel’s captain that are vital to the investigations.
Accordingly, it had been determined that the local agency had acted with negligence with regard to the incident, the Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana had said.
Following the arrest and subsequent release of the captain of the X-Press Pearl, Sri Lanka’s Attorney General yesterday advised police to also arrest the carrier’s agent in the country.
According to local press reports, Sri Lankan detectives visited the Sea Consortium Lanka offices, X-Press Feeders’ agency office in Colombo, and the home address of the agency’s MD and chairman, Arjuna Hettiarachchi, who is required to make a statement to the CID but failed to do so and has not been found.
Detectives have also recorded statements from medical examiners who conducted the autopsy on dead sea turtles and dolphins that washed up on Sri Lankan shores over the past three weeks,” according to Sri Lanka’s News First website. A police spokesperson said the death of the marine life would be investigated further when the results of the laboratory tests were available.
A sinking fire-damaged container ship could take months to salvage because of rough monsoon seas, Sri Lanka said Tuesday, as authorities investigated whether the deaths of dozens of turtles and dolphins were caused by the disaster.
Part of the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl submerged in early June after catching fire and burning for almost two weeks off the island nation’s coast, releasing tonnes of plastic raw materials that swamped local beaches.
Coast Conservation Minister Nalaka Godahewa said he wanted the vessel removed so it would not pose a further pollution risk.
“We want the wreck removed yesterday, but salvors can’t start their work in current conditions,” Godahewa told reporters in the capital Colombo.
The monsoon season started this month and usually ends in September.
Salvors believe the ship’s fuel oil burnt out during the blaze, but Godahewa said authorities remained on standby for potential leaks.
The island’s wildlife authorities are also investigating the deaths of a number of turtles and dolphins after dozens of carcasses washed ashore over the past few weeks.
Godahewa said autopsies were being conducted to determine if they died due to pollution from the ship.
The probe came ahead of the arrival of three United Nations Environment Programme experts on Wednesday to help the South Asian nation estimate the damage caused by the incident.
The vessel was known to be carrying 81 containers of hazardous chemicals, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, when it caught fire.
Sri Lanka is seeking $40 million in damages from the ship’s operators, X-Press Feeders, over what officials have described as the “worst marine disaster” in the country’s history.
Environmentalists are suing the government and X-Press Feeders for allegedly failing to prevent the disaster, while Sri Lankan police have also launched a criminal probe against the ship’s captain, chief engineer and chief officer.
Expressing his views regarding the recent resolution adopted by the European Parliament, requesting the EU Commission for a temporary withdrawal of the GSP+ status, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella highlighted that the Sri Lanka Constitution is the right of the citizens of Sri Lanka and the sovereignty lies within the people of Sri Lanka and not anybody else”.
He said this today (15) at the cabinet decision media briefing held at the Department of Government Information when a journalist asked about the Minister’s response regarding the above matter.
Minister Rambukwella stated that the GSP + status mainly relates to the garment industry, particularly the export of Sri Lankan goods. And he said, as far as the GSP + is concerned on certain issues that are directly related to the subject matter; for example, if the garment factories are violating any labour laws or if the facilities of the garments are not upto the standards of the European Union, the EU concerns regarding Sri Lanka can be justified and understood. But, the Minister pointed out that he does not perceive any justification for an international organization – a separate entity to bring in rules and regulations requesting our country to change its constitution, which is the right of the citizens of Sri Lanka.
He further added that the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka will deal with this matter whilst highlighting the rights of the citizens and the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
The Minister also mentioned that the provision of fuel concessions to several sectors like Fisheries is being discussed at the moment.
The salvor reports have confirmed that no bunker fuel remains onboard the X-Press Pearl, the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) announced today.
The Singapore-registered container ship was carrying 300 metric tons of bunker fuel at the time of the ill-fated incident.
We have given written instructions to both the vessel’s owners and the salvage company to investigate and report back to us whether there was bunker oil still remaining in its tanks,” MEPA Chairperson Darshani Lahandapura said.
Both the salvage master and international oil spill expert International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) have stated in their reports that according to factors such as the intensity, duration and temperature of the blaze, there may not be any bunker oil left onboard, she added.
Meanwhile, State Minister of Urban Development and Coast Conservation Dr. Nalaka Godahewa said the United Nations and the European Union experts are on their way to assist Sri Lanka in properly assessing the full extent of the environmental damages caused by the cargo ship fire.
Through discussions, we have understood that the expertise that we have within the country is not sufficient to accurately calculate the damage.”
Accordingly, the support of the United Nations and the European Union was sought through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the state minister explained.
Speaking on how Sri Lanka plans to prepare itself to prevent any future calamities of this nature, Dr. Godahewa said several countries have already volunteered to held the island nation to develop its own capabilities through material and technical assistance.
The Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government appears determined to bring about an immediate and drastic change in Sri Lankan agriculture by replacing the conventional chemicalsbased system to an organic-based one without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Adopting a carrot and stick policy, the import of chemical fertilisers has been banned and assistance to acquire organic fertilisers has been announced.
But this has been done totally disregarding the advice of experts, who had recommended a step by step change-over to avoid losses to the farmer and the country. The Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SLAEA) had warned that a complete switch-over will result in a 25 per cent fall in paddy yield and the profitability of paddy farming will be reduced by 33 per cent. On the other hand, a mixed conventional-organic system will increase paddy profitability by 16 per cent.
A switch-over will see also tea productivity going down by 35 per cent, and decrease the tea export volume from 279 million kg to 181 million creating a loss of Rs 84 billion. Coconut yield will be down by 30 per cent. The SLAEA recommend that Sri Lanka follow the world trend and opt for a gradual and carefully considered, market-led and voluntary switch-over in place of sudden one.
Global Scene
According to World of Organic Agriculture 2018 Summary, there were 57.8 million hectares of organic agricultural land in 2016, including in conversion areas. The regions with the largest areas of organic agricultural land were Oceania (27.3 million hectares, which is almost half the world’s organic agricultural land) and Europe (13.5 million hectares, 23 per cent ). Latin America had 7.1 million hectares (12 per cent) followed by Asia (4.9 million hectares, 9 per cent), North America (3.1 million hectares, 6 per cent), and Africa (1.8 million hectares, 3 per cent). The countries with the most organic agricultural land were Australia (27.4 million hectares), Argentina (3 million hectares), and China (2.3 million hectares). But globally, only 1.2 per cent of farmland was organic. This, despite the quadrupling of the global organic retail sales reaching US$ 82 billion in 2015.
Lower Yields
In their paper on the world organic farming scene in the journal Review of Resource Economics (October 2018), Eva-Marie Meemken and Matin Qaim of Gottingen University in Germany attributed the minuscule percentage under organic farming to lower yields. Across all crops, the gap in the yield of organic agriculture ranges between 19 and 25 per cent.
However, considerable differences can be observed between different crop species. Legumes (lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans, soybeans, and peanuts) and fruits, show smaller yield gaps than cereals and root and tuber crops.
Lack of Nutrients
Nutrient limitations are an important factor making organic agriculture show lower yields. Organic systems are often found to be limited in nitrogen and phosphorus. The release of plant-available nitrogen from organic sources is slow and can often not keep up with the nitrogen demand during peak crop growth periods, the authors point out. The amount of phosphorus provided in organic systems is also sometimes insufficient to replenish the quantities lost due to harvest.
Explaining the higher yields seen in legumes, Meemken and Qaim say that legumes can fix atmospheric nitrogen and are hence less dependent than other crops on externally added nitrogen. Fruits grow on trees that have longer growing seasons and extensive root systems and are hence better able to absorb nutrients in synchrony with crop demand, they add.
In terms of water availability and use, organic systems tend to have an advantage because soils managed with organic methods show better water-holding capacity and higher rates of water infiltration, the authors point out. This is also one reason why organic systems are often said to be more resilient and have higher yield stability, even under drought conditions,” the authors say.
But organic systems are more susceptible to pest outbreaks because of the ban on the use of chemical pesticides. And since chemical weedicide cannot be used in organic farming, weeding has to be done one manually and that is both labourintensive and expensive. And labour is indeed expensive in Sri Lanka.
Demands More Land
Meemken and Qaim point out that widespread increase or expansion of organic agriculture would need more land, which in turn, will lead to a loss of natural habitats. It is encroachment of forest lands and elephant habitats in Sri Lanka which has led to elephants straying into farm lands and the farmers in turn killing elephants in self-defence. Elephant killing is mounting in Sri Lanka.
Even though, one of the reasons for environmental degradation is chemicals-based agriculture (it causes land degradation, biodiversity loss, water pollution, and climate change), organic cultivation will demand, not just more land, but also more water and other natural resources. But these resources are becoming increasingly scarce, particularly in poorer countries which are going through unplanned and haphazard development.
Price Hikes
Production costs in organic farming being higher, there will be increases in consumer prices, making food less affordable for the poor in developing countries. On an average, organic products are 50 per cent more expensive than conventional products, the authors say. Therefore, the universal goal of giving the masses food security will not be achieved.
According to the FAO, there are still 800 million chronically undernourished people living mostly in Asia and Africa. To feed the hungry, global agricultural production will have to increase by at least 60 per cent and possibly up to 100 per cent by 2050, the authors say. A 100 per cent switch over to organic agriculture will retard progress towards the goal of ensuring food security for all.
Smart Combination
However, Meemken and Qaim recommend a ‘smart combination’ of organic and conventional agriculture. Organic farming could be practised where conditions are suitable and where there is a demand for organic products, which is typically among the health conscious and wealthy sections of society, they say. Further, they point out that the demand for organic products is set to grow. A survey in Germany in 2013 found that 50 per cent preferred organic products. And with world-wide economic advancement and resultant social mobility, the market for organic products will expand to sections of the world which are poor now. Expansion of the market will also make organic farming profitable.
Organic ‘Standards’
Meemken and Qaim recommend the adoption of ‘organic standards’ to ensure uniformity of quality. Today, more than 100 countries publicly support ‘organic standards’ developed by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). The cornerstones of organic production systems are: balanced crop rotations with legumes, recycling of nutrients (e.g., through mixed farming), and the use of organic fertilisers.
In the developed world, compliance with organic standards is verified on an annual basis through farm inspections undertaken by accredited certification agents. In most of the developing or poor countries, farming is still organic for want of resources to go in for high yielding varieties which need chemical fertilisers, chemical pesticides and a lot of water, which do not come cheap.
But the organic farming in the poor countries is not scientific and is not ‘certified’. Certified organic farming is the hallmark of the developed countries and there has been an increase in certified organic farming. Over 15 years, the global area under certified organic agriculture has increased substantially from 15 million hectares in 2000 to 51 million ha in 2015. But still, in 2016, organic agriculture accounted for only 1.2 per cent of the total agricultural land worldwide.
By Kamanthi Wickramasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Experts have opined that shifting to organic agriculture overnight isn’t a wise move
Just last October Sri Lanka imported around 180,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertilizer
In Sri Lanka, farmers utilize close to 300 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare
Since farmers don’t have adequate knowledge on the consumption they think much fertilizer needs to be used to increase the yield
Fertilizers have also contaminated most of the island’s waterways due to poor irrigation strategies
The old Sinhala adage, Mada sodagath kala goviya rajakamatath sudusui (when the mud is washed off, the farmer is fit to serve as king) has remained in the language used by the peasant. To date, no farmer has gotten an opportunity to be king; let alone washing off the mud. After a glorious period of agriculture attributed to the various kingdoms of yesteryear, colonial invaders made sure that they not only colonised our land, but our rich soil as well. With independence Sri Lanka thought she was bracing for an independent period to regain its lost heritage when in the 1960s she once again fell victim to the Green Revolution. This not only introduced farmers to chemical fertilisers, but along with it came many hazards, particularly regarding health due to the use of heavy metals. After all these years, the Government recently announced that it would not only ban the import of chemical fertilisers and agrochemicals, but is planning to shift to a 100% organic agriculture system in another 10 years. However, on a practical note, this seems to be something far from doable.
Fertiliser mafia : Farmers back to square one
Back in 1943 a research was done on seeds and the maize crop in Mexico doubled its yield. This is the first research of its kind and it was after that that hybrid seeds were introduced to the market. Along with hybrid seeds came chemical fertilizers. Sri Lanka became part of the Green Revolution after 1965 and while the soil and water got contaminated with the introduction of chemical fertilizers it also provided the environment for the growth of certain weeds,” recalled All Ceylon Farmers Association President Namal Karunaratne.
As a result, local farmers have developed the habit of utilising chemical fertilizer and this practice has passed down generations. Just last October Sri Lanka imported around 180,000 metric tonnes of chemical fertilizers and the Sri Lanka Standards Institution condemned them due to the presence of heavy metals such as Arsenic, Cadmium. But the farmers are currently utilising this condemned stock. Actually fertilizers should be utilised at the rate of one kilogram per hectare. But in Sri Lanka, farmers utilize close to 300 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare. One reason for this is due to poor quality. Since farmers don’t have adequate knowledge on the consumption they think much fertilizer needs to be used to increase the yield,” Karunaratne added.
With the heavy use of chemical fertilizer the texture of the soil and fertilizer use have changed. Fertilizers have also contaminated most of our waterways due to poor irrigation strategies. Karunaratne recalled how the present regime promised to provide organic fertilizers to farmers. Placing their trust on the promise, farmers went and cast their votes. But that was that. Now they have decided to move into organic farming without any proper plan and farmers don’t have access to either chemical fertilizers or organic,” he added.
The decision has now prompted fertiliser dealers to sell them at black market prices. Therefore a kilo of fertilizers that was priced at Rs. 1500 is now being sold at Rs. 3500 or even more. A farmer would buy it at any cost. Taking advantage of this situation a dealer would say that there are only 10 bags remaining and for them to purchase them quickly. This information spreads through word of mouth and more people come to buy from him even at a higher price. But that stock of 10 bags never finishes.
Imported organic fertilizers would introduce new pathogens to the soil along with invasive species such as giant mimosa and salvinia. These plant species will disrupt the entire ecosystem. Apart from pathogens, chemical, electronic and industrial waste has become another global menace”
Ceylon Farmers Association President Namal Karunaratne
Organic farming given a miss
Karunaratne further opined that shifting to organic farming is a huge process that needs proper planning. Our farmers have adapted to conventional farming methods. There are seven agriculture institutes and all of them teach how farming is done with the use of chemical fertilizers. By changing it overnight, it is going to ruin the entire agriculture system. In fact farmers are now starting to hate organic farming,” he added.
Organic farming also means lesser yields and more challenges with fungi that grow on soil. Scientists who have studied soil claim that crops need around 16 elements to grow and produce a good yield. Three fundamental elements include potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Sunlight is important for photosynthesis. Hydrogen and carbon are obtained from water. An important element is nitrogen. The air in earth’s atmosphere comprises 78% nitrogen. Leguminous crops such as Maa karal (long bean) grow in a symbiotic relationship with soil-dwelling bacteria. The role of bacteria is to take gaseous nitrogen from the air in the soil and feed it into the legumes. In exchange, the plant provides carbohydrates to the bacteria. But with chemical fertilizers this nitrogen is provided instantly. In the case of short-term plants the plants are ‘wounded’ from different sides, so that nitrogen will quickly be absorbed to the plant. However, prior to shifting to organic agriculture there’s a need to restore the soil which has been contaminated for over five decades.” he said.
One school of thought is that Sri Lanka can produce organic fertilizers while continuing practices such as using cow dung and glyricidia. When asked if Sri Lanka could produce organic fertilizers Karunaratne said that it would take between 3000-5000 kilograms of compost fertilizers per acre. Speaking about various pathogens on soil he said that many types of bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoan play a huge role on soil. Some viruses are also included. Their role is to loosen the soil thereby allowing soil to retain water. This produces humus and other different textures of soil which are essential for farming practices,” he said.
However the Government recently announced that it would import organic fertilizers. But this is a risky move. Imported organic fertilizers would introduce new pathogens to the soil along with invasive species such as giant mimosa and salvinia. These plant species will disrupt the entire ecosystem. Apart from pathogens, chemical, electronic and industrial waste has become another global menace. Since western countries don’t have adequate space to dump them, these materials are crushed and sent to other regions as it is a potential money spinner as well. These materials could be crushed and sprayed in the guise of urea,” Karunaratne warned.
An illegal process
Importing organic fertilizers violates the regulations of the Plant Protection Act imposed in 1981. This move also violates the National Environment Act since it can contaminate the soil,” opined Centre for Environmental Justice Executive Director Hemantha Withanage during a press briefing. You cannot grow hybrid seeds using organic fertilizers. In order to do that we firstly need to create a seed bank. We can locally produce organic fertilizers from cow dung. The huge number of fish thrown away could be used to replace the nitrogen component. But we can’t move into an entirely organic agriculture system. Introducing organic agriculture has to be a step-by-step process.” said Withanage.
Article 14 of the 1981 regulations states that a small amount of fertiliser could be imported for laboratory research. However, legal experts claim that this cannot be used on land.
Following the claims, Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage announced that foreign organic fertilizers would be disinfected prior to being imported. It’s not practical to disinfect so many containers of fertiliser,” opined Environmental Lawyer, Attorney-at-law Dr. Jagath Gunawardena.
In case if the Plant Protection Act is violated the fines and penalties should be decided by the magistrate.” said Dr. Gunawardena.
Subsequently the government decided against importing organic fertilizers and plans are afoot to empower local farmers and local authorities to produce organic fertilisers in the country itself.
Dr. Gunawardena however observes inherent shortcomings in the Act. There are some good clauses such as clauses 4, 7 and 12, but 20 years have passed since the Act was amended in 1999. Therefore it needs to be amended again to address challenges that the agriculture sector is likely to face in the future.” said Dr. Gunawardena.
We need to replace wheat with organic rice, Kurakkan and even jackfruit. Home- grown Engily ala, Rathu ala can easily be grown anywhere. For example these could be grown around all the decorative trees that line the roads for anybody to pick the produce free of charge”
Ranjit Seneviratne, former Food and Nutrition Specialist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
The biomass we burn could be exported
An ad hoc shift to organic farming also raises questions about food security, given yield losses and crop failures. Responding to a query on food security, Ranjit Seneviratne, former Food and Nutrition Specialist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said that if we truly want to help our people and our country we need EVERY DOCTOR in Sri Lanka to cooperate and tell everyone to eat healthy. We need to replace wheat with organic rice, Kurakkan and even jackfruit. Home- grown Engily ala, Rathu ala can easily be grown anywhere. For example these could be grown around all the decorative trees that line the roads for anybody to pick the produce free of charge. This is already being done at the Community Garden I grow by the entrance gate in addition to vegetables and spices like Murunga, Gotukola, Mukunuwenna, Curry leaf, Rampe, Sera etc. It is all so easy. No person in Sri Lanka needs to starve as food can be grown everywhere.” said Seneviratne.
He further said that Sri Lanka does not need to import organic fertilisers. We have so much biomass that people all over burn. For example, municipal workers burn leaves and other materials that they have collected, which we could export to countries that are reforesting.” he added.
Impact on export crops
When the Government announced its plan to ban the import of chemical fertilizers it wasn’t only a blow to paddy farmers, but also affected many crop cultivators in the island. For instance, the tea industry thrives on chemical fertiliser and tea planters complained that with organic fertilisers the yield is less and there would be a need to use double the amount of fertilizers. They point out that the texture of plants too have changed, compromising on the quality of the end product.
Organic fertiliser usage and organic tea cultivation are two different aspects,” a source at the Tea Research Institute said while speaking on terms of anonymity. It takes two to three years for a low-yielding tea estate to be converted into an organic tea estate. Around 30-50% yield could be obtained. The TRI has been recommending the use of compost fertilisers since the early ‘90s and it has been encouraging tea smallholders and large entities on integrated nutrient management. But the adaptation has been poor at the grassroots levels. In terms of productivity an average tea field produces around 3500 metric tones of tea per kilogram per hectare per year. But this is not the case in terms of organic tea and with yield losses it is not commercially profitable.
On the other hand stakeholders don’t tend to adapt valuable practices such as soil management, establishing shade trees and adapting to the climate situation. Tea fields are pruned and every three to five years around 12-18 metric tones of dry matter is collected. Back in the day the tea pluckers took them to be used as firewood, but now they have gas cylinders in their kitchens. If this dry matter is chopped and burnt it will provide carbon,” the source added.
The source further said that the Government is looking for a roadmap to move into organic agriculture, but added that it has to be designed properly. The source stated that the Government should consider streamlining the fertiliser subsidy; for instance rather than planning to shift to organic agriculture overnight.
When asked if organic fertilizers would be useful to grow export crops such as cinnamon, Department of Export Agriculture Director General Dr. A. P Heenkenda said that organic fertilisers are used to grow most spices including pepper, cloves and nutmeg. We make use of glyricidia, green leaf manure and these practices have continued since 1998. The plan is to expand them in future and research studies are underway. Already around 20% of our farmers are producing spices via organic methods. We have also established farmer organisations advocating producing organic pepper, cinnamon and other spices. This move by the Government is in fact a blessing in disguise.” said Heenkenda.
Organic agricultural practices improve biodiversity, improves soil and water quality and emit less greenhouse gases. Right now the main issue is whether the soil is ready to adapt organic fertilisers. For this there has to be sufficient microorganisms to change insoluble fertilisers to soluble form”
Prof. Gamini Senanayake, Chairman of Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy
Challenges in reversing a 60-year old practice
In a practical sense, shifting to organic agriculture overnight isn’t a wise move. We have used chemicals for almost 60 years and as a result the soil has become toxic, dead and we cannot get a live soil in most parts of the country,” opined Prof. Gamini Senanayake, Chairman of Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy. Organic agricultural practices improve biodiversity, improves soil and water quality and emit less greenhouse gases. Right now the main issue is whether the soil is ready to adapt organic fertilisers. For this there has to be sufficient microorganisms to change insoluble fertilisers to soluble form. But chemical fertilisers are already in the soluble form. Since we have continued to add chemical fertilisers, soil degradation has taken place and the earth has become unproductive. This is a golden opportunity, but whether it could be done in a short period of time remains a question.” said Prof.Senanayake.
When asked about producing organic fertilisers in the country Prof. Senanayake said that at present we don’t have the capacity to produce organic fertilisers. Most farmers are smallholders. If we educate them to prepare organic manure on the site most issues will be sorted out. But the problem is that almost all our farmers have a sound knowledge of the use of chemical fertilisers as they started farming after the Green Revolution. Therefore we need to change the mindsets of people as well.” he said.
Prof. Senanayake blamed certain political decisions that have hindered the agricultural process in the country. With decisions to establish the provincial council system all research stations related to agriculture are under the purview of the Central Government while extension services are under the provincial councils. Therefore continuity has broken. Therefore the link through which whatever technological developments were being taught to farmers was broken. Now there is no proper mechanism to disseminate new knowledge to farmers.” the professor said.
We can manage the Yala season with existing stocks of fertilisers, but we assure that we will provide organic fertilisers during the next Maha season,”
Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage
We will not import any waste:Minister
A series of changes has been made in response to the growing concerns of farmers as well as the agriculture fraternity. The Ministry of Agriculture has not only started registering all organic fertiliser producers, but arrangements have also been made to use modern technology in this process. We can manage the Yala season with existing stocks of fertilisers, but we assure that we will provide organic fertilisers during the next Maha season,” opined Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage.
Aluthgamage added that a single element liquid for Nitrogen will be brought apart from 70,000 metric tonnes of Potassium. The reason to import nitrogen is because right now the maximum amount in soil is only around 2% but we need to increase this to around 5%. We will also use new technology making use of microbes to create a live soil. This is being practiced in many countries.” the minister said.
Aluthgamage also refuted allegations about government plans to import waste from China in the guise of organic fertilisers. We will not import any waste. In fact there’s a committee of experts including the Vice chancellor of Wayamba University, microbiologists, soil scientists who will assess all products once they have been imported.” he said.
He assured that the organic fertilisers could be matched with existing requirements and that an agri-insurance policy is being designed in case farmers face certain hardships when shifting to organic fertilisers. But even in that case we are ready to purchase harvest at a higher price to reduce the economic burden. In terms of food security we are making arrangements to cultivate 150,000 acres of barren paddy fields with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Army. In the case of vegetables three million families with a 4-perch land will be chosen as beneficiaries to receive seeds. Already 15 government organisations have come forward to produce organic fertilisers. Therefore we won’t have any issue in making compost fertilisers and matching the existing requirements,” the Minister affirmed. In 2015, the Indian state of Sikkim declared itself as the first organic state in the world. But this was a 12-year long process. If Sri Lanka is to adapt organic agricultural practices, the wiser way to do it is perhaps implement a holistic, multi-dimensional approach in terms of research, policy decisions, trials and errors in the field, reviews from farmers, expertise from scientists, biologists, soil experts and various other stakeholders.
As per
the media reports, the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID), under a special team, has been tasked with
investigating those who are misleading the public by spreading false propaganda
on social media. Police Spokesman DIG Rohana has said it is an offence
punishable under Section 98 of the Police Ordinance, that if anyone disturbs
the public by publishing fake news. Minister of Public Security Rear Admiral
Sarath Weerasekara too confirmed this move in his recent speech in the
Parliament describing how false propagandists were misleading public against
him and his close relatives.
There
should not be any argument as to the existence of freedom of expression in a
democratic society. Although citizens have the freedom of expression, but they
also must have a responsibility and respect other people’s rights. The country
is facing a difficult situation due to Corona pandemic similar to all the other
countries in the rest of the World. Country needs the support of its people
more than anything else at this stage to get rid of this pandemic. The current
government was elected by the people just less than 2 years ago with nearly two
third majority and if a politician or an individual believes this is an
opportunity to mislead people to topple the government, that indicates nothing
but his/her extent of stupidity.
No government is perfect any ware in the
world, same as any human being. Every citizen has the right to criticize the
government and its activities, but it needs to be constructive and not
destructive. Law enforcement authorities, in any democracy, may restrict this right if they can show that
their action is lawful, necessary and proportionate in order to protect
national security, territorial integrity, public safety, health, the rights and
reputations of other people, prevent disorders or crimes etc.
Divaina
editorial dated 6th June 2021 under the title which roughly translated
in to English means ‘overthrowing governments and
overthrowing toilet buckets’ too, quite rightly exposed some of the individuals
(by name and giving examples) who are
responsible for spreading politically
motivated rumours, identifying the extent of harm done by them to the country
at large at this crucial stage . Some of these politically motivated mushroom
rumour-mongers are appearing in media as convenors of various citizens’
organisations and similar NGOs organisations which we have not heard before.
Some of them are appearing as so-called journalists, environmentalists,
academics and specialists representing various professions.
We
remember how similar
politically motivated movements with strong evidence having links to LTTE going under various
names, came out with their usual slogans of ‘free’, ‘fair’, ‘abduction’, ‘human
rights’, etc. which were useful to the terrorist outfit and risking the
security of the country and its leaders and attempted to manipulate the
situation to discredit the government during the three decades of war against
terrorism. We also remember how some politicians, parliamentarians, NGO
personal, academics, journalists and even some of the servicemen who were
serving the LTTE in various ways. Some of these personal were said to be in the
payroll of the LTTE. Thus this is not the first time that incidents of
treacherous acts of people were reported.
Unlike
those days, apart from television channels and websites, we have facebook,
various YouTube channels, WhatsApp etc providing information/ communication
which are helpful to the public in general.
Unfortunately, these developments appear to be providing more avenues
for the treacherous elements to enhance their activities via social and other
electronic media.
Thus the
obvious question, that arises after noticing the above activities identified in
the said editorial of the news paper, is, – are we expecting to compromise the future
of a nation, against those who call themselves journalists, environmentalists,
activists, convenors, specialists etc and manage
to get access to the media and engage in deliberately publishing fake news
which are harmful to maintain the public security, religious and communal
harmony, religious believes, public health
etc
causing inconvenience to the country and its people?
The main
charge against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC is that they deliberately killed
thousands of civilians in the last phase of Eelam War IV. Rajiva Wijesinha was
Secretary-General of the Sri Lankan Government Secretariat
for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) from
2007–2009. In that capacity Rajiva had access to war data.
Rajiva found that
very few allegations of civilian deaths were made to the Peace Secretariat until
the end of January 2009, when for the first time there was allegations of
hundreds killed. In 2008 when forces took Kilinochchi, the total civilian deaths
according to Tamilnet was only 78. It
was only on Jan 26th 2009 that a massive number of civilian deaths
were announced, just after the first No Fire Zone was declared. UN Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne said he
thought most of the firing in the NFZ came from LTTE, said Rajiva.
Analysts
observed that the government’s offensive in the Eastern Province had succeeded without civilian
casualties. The army would have followed
a similar policy in the North. Analysts noted that the international community has been closely watching the
conduct of the war. Had there been any loss of civilian lives the international community would have definitely tried to
stop the offensive.
The intelligentsia
in Sri Lanka took a similar position. If the army had targeted civilians
outside the conflict area, then we would have known, said Lalith de Mel, former
head of Reckitt and Colman. There would have been some information. But there was none. There can be no truth in
this story. (Lalith” p 151-2)
Rajiva
commented on the paucity of civilian casualties in the war. The reports of the
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission indicated
that there were hardly any civilian casualties. This is almost unique in the
history of this type of military operation. Western nations are much less cautious,
Rajiva observed. In Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004, the US army completely destroyed homes,
schools, hospitals and killed civilians in droves, said analysts.
I have been
able to establish that the armed forces have been concerned only with military
targets. There certainly had not been wanton attacks on civilians, said
Rajiva. Air Force gave me full accounts
of whatever they had targeted, and their record was impressive. In the period
preceding the last phase there has been allegations of just 76 civilian deaths arising
from over air force 500 sorties Air force had refused to take certain targets
saying it would lead to civilian casualties.
We took our
targets in the air force when we were 100 percent certain that they were solely LTTE targets, Air Force
said. We abandoned over 150 targets where we could inflict massive destruction
on LTTE as they were close to civilians. LTTE lasted two years and ten months
only because the Air Force had gone out of their way to avoid civilian
casualties.
IDAG-S [1]
in its book The Numbers Game” , stated that
high resolution satellite imagery of the
second and third No Fire Zones, showed that shells fired by the army, during
the months of February to May, 2009
avoided civilian settlements.
IDAG-S found that the aerial photographs of the zone confirmed this. The Tamil civilian camp,
their ‘tent city’, was vast and stretched for several hundreds of miles. The
tents were so densely packed together that if the area had been attacked by army
mortars, the resulting fires would have destroyed vast swathes of tents. But the photographs show the tents
practically untouched. The majority
of the permanent structures in this zone were also intact.
The majority of
the disappeared are those of combat age. There were very few children or adults
over 40. A very high percentage is in 20-30 age group. This suggests that deaths were due to combat,
said Rajiva. Statistics of the Census Department
also showed that hardly any children or old people were missing. Numbers were
highest at the age when they would have been with the LTTE.
Speaking of the rescue operation, Army Commander Daya Ratnayake
said, those working for the UN and several other international agencies
involved in humanitarian work, and also those who were used as human shields
during the final stages of the war, came safely to us. Hundreds of clerics from
all religions came out safely. There was not even a scratch on them. Some 4,000
government employees came out. The families of terrorist leaders too came out
safely. So what are these allegations, asked the Army Commander.
Hardly any public servants, school
teachers or principals were killed In Eelam War IV, observed Rajiva. Hardly any
public servants were missing either.
Most had got to government side with family intact during the war. Rajiva had wanted an audit done of all the
public servants in LTTE areas before 2009 and after.
The fact that all UN workers got out safe and sound makes it clear that the army did not engage
in indiscriminate attack on civilians.
All the local employees of NGOs too, had come through safely after the war. This included the ones the LTTE had kept
back. There were no casualties at all among the aid workers whom the LTTE held
back when the UN and NCOs left the Wanni in 2008. The only injury to UN local staff was from a
LTTE landmine, said Rajiva.
In the final
days of the ‘war’, the Government took steps to make the fighting, a war
without witnesses. The UN Agencies, international and local NGOs were ordered
to leave the area, in preparation for the final assault by the Armed Forces.
This
shortsighted policy provided the opportunity for those who wanted to give a
slant to figures of civilian casualties and Armed Forces’ atrocities, the
platform to do so. The absence of independent observers like the UN agencies,
NGOs and the media, prevented accurate and truthful narratives to filter
through, of what was happening on the battlefields, said analysts.
In many wars
fought in different parts of the world, the media and other independent
observers provide accounts of the fighting and suffering of the people in the
battlefield, enabling the public to form a balanced opinion of what was going
on. By removing all third parties from the scene of action, the story of
civilian casualties could be falsified or exaggerated.
Such a scenario
has also helped the pro LTTE sections of the Diaspora keep the issue alive, by
feeding the international community with figures of civilian casualties that
may not reflect the actual ground situation. Information from independent
observers and media would have helped counter the situation in no small measure,
said analysts. .
Though the
western media said that the last days of Eelam War IV was a war without
witnesses, commentators such as Rajiva Wijesinha, pointed out that ICRC had
remained in the conflict zone throughout the entire duration of the war, taking away those in need of medical
assistance until almost the last week of the war. ICRC brought several
shiploads of injured form conflict zone from February to May, 2009. The vast
majority of the wounded civilians were evacuated by the ICRC, starting on 10
February 2009.
According to
Navy Headquarters, the ICRC ship carried out the last evacuations on May 09,
2009, just 10 days before the successful conclusion of the war. The ICRC evacuated 14,000 wounded and their
relatives from Puthumattalan and also delivered 2,350metric tons of food to
Mullivaikkal between Feb 10, 2009 to May 09, 2009.
In total, 16
ICRC ships came to the conflict zone in the final months. The international
ICRC staff that had remained in Puthumattalan left on the first ship, but they
returned and stayed onshore for a few hours each time the ships came back. The
Government did not allow United Nations staff on the ships.”
‘Sri Lanka
Humanitarian Effort’ published by the Presidential Task Force for Resettlement,
Development and Security in the Northern Province (2011) gave the number of people evacuated
from Puthumattalan during Feb-May 2009 as 12,820. Of them only 4,740 were wounded.
An Indian medical team was deployed at Pulmoddai, to receive the
wounded, transferred from Puthumathalan, by the ICRC in via sea. This Indian team received several thousand
wounded civilians during February-May, 2009. The Indian team remained there until
the conclusion of the war, said Shamindra Ferdinando.
Shamindrawas among a small group of journalists
taken by the Navy in late April 2009 to the Chalai-Mullaitivu waters to observe
the ICRC operation and later to Pulmoddai, where the Indian medical team was at
work.
However, it
appears that the media were allowed in during the last phase of the war. Muralidhar
Reddy and Kanchan Prasad had been embedded in the Sri Lanka battlefront since
late 2008. They were taken to the battlefront (Last Redoubt”) every day from
the 14th-18th May, 2009, returning to the SL Army HQ area
by evening-night so that they could file their reports to their respective
Indian offices.
Reddy has
told the world that [t]here were no conditions spelled out on the coverage
from the war zone. We were allowed unfettered and unhindered movement up
to 400 meters from the zone, where pitched battles were fought between the
military and the remaining cadre and leaders of the LTTE . We sent our news
dispatches to our headquarters. No questions were asked” (Reddy, An
eye-witness account of the last 70 hours of Eelam War IV,” Frontline,
Volume 26-Issue 12: June 6-19, 2009).
Michael Roberts observed that While Prasad and Reddy may have been
given a privileged place among reporters in mid-May, they were among a number
of other foreign journalists airlifted to the front on other occasions in the
months January-April 2009. The full list is available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/185693507/SL-ARMY-Media-Accreditation-to-War-Zone-2007-2009
The media agencies allowed into the war zone
in from 2nd to 16th May 2009, included *Aften posten (Norway) *All
India Radio *BBC *BBC New Delhi *Christian Science Monitor *Daily Telegraph *
Danish Broadcasting *Financial times, Mumbai *France 24 *Hindu *Kayodo News Agency,
Japan*Liberation Paris *News X, India * Reuters * Russian Information Agency *ZDF/TV
Berlin. ( continued)
[1] Independent Diaspora Analyst
Group, Sri Lanka . IDAG-S is a think tank of academics,
professionals and analysts from the Sri Lankan diaspora in Europe, North
America and Australia. The lead author is an aerospace engineer who was able to
bring a wide range of multidisciplinary skills to the task. https://groundviews.org/2013/05/28/sri-lankas-numbers-game/
