{"id":96146,"date":"2019-12-08T17:15:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T00:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96146"},"modified":"2019-12-08T17:15:52","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T00:15:52","slug":"white-vans-white-lies-and-the-white-mans-burden-swiss-embassy-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/08\/white-vans-white-lies-and-the-white-mans-burden-swiss-embassy-fiasco\/","title":{"rendered":"White vans, white lies and the white man\u2019s burden Swiss embassy fiasco:"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Courtesy Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

\nDecember 8, 2019, 9:24 pm\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"article_image\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In what must surely be one of the strangest games of diplomatic brinkmanship to be played out in this country, the Swiss embassy in Colombo demands an investigation into an alleged \u2018abduction\u2019 of one of its local employees. However, it appears there is not a shred of evidence to support its case \u2013 not even a statement from the so called \u2018victim.\u2019 The new government of Sri Lanka \u2013 barely 10 days into office – having immediately ordered a probe into the incident, is in a quandary. Authorities find themselves at every turn obstructed by the very party that requested the probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Embassy refuses to divulge the identity of the \u2018victim.\u2019 It pre-empts the police from getting a statement from her saying that “Due to a deteriorating health condition” she is “currently not in a state to testify.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor will it allow a judicial medical officer to examine her and give a report on this \u2018deteriorating health condition.\u2019 An official statement on the Embassy website however claims that the mission is “fully cooperating with the Sri Lanka authorities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That statement, dated 29 Nov, says the mission had “immediately” lodged a formal complaint with the Lankan authorities. But the Sri Lanka Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its press release of 28 Nov. said, it was informed of the alleged abduction on the 27th. It is arguable whether two days late can be considered \u2018immediate.\u2019 In the interim, several news reports damaging to the image of the country and its new government appeared in the media, citing Swiss officials plus a lot of hearsay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The embassy statement says: “On 25 November 2019, a serious security incident involving a local employee of the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo occurred. The employee was detained against their will in the street, forced to get into a car, seriously threatened at length by unidentified men and forced in order to disclose embassy-related information.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CID investigation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CID investigation showed that there was little truth in the Swiss allegation. Briefing the media on 04 Dec. Minister of Foreign Affairs Dinesh Gunewardena said, “All the evidence shows the victim\u2019s position has no standing.” Asked what information the Ambassador had supplied, he said “A small note saying he has received this complaint from the victim. \u2026 There was no statement, no complaint.” Foreign Secretary Ravinath Ariyasinghe added, “He stated only that there was an abduction. Subsequently he presented a sequence of events.” Ariyasinghe said the ministry had informed the ambassador that his statement did not correspond with findings based on witness interviews and technical information including Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records and GPS data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The embassy has been pressing the government to allow the woman concerned to be flown out of the country in a special \u2018ambulance plane\u2019 in order to receive medical treatment. However, the court has issued an order preventing her from leaving the country till 09 Dec. and requiring a statement from her before that date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the Swiss genuinely want to cooperate with the investigation but are concerned about protecting their employee\u2019s rights, why don\u2019t they arrange for her to make a statement in the presence of her lawyer, at the embassy, where she would presumably feel safe \u2013 instead of trying to whisk her away and thereby preventing the law from taking its course?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged victim\u2019s absence at her residence as reported by the police, along with the embassy\u2019s attitude, has opened up speculation that she is being accommodated in the Swiss mission. On 04 Dec the Embassy issued a notice to its nationals saying, “The Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo herewith informs that due to the current situation in Sri Lanka, and until further notice, the operation of the Embassy has been reduced.” What is this \u2018situation\u2019 in Sri Lanka that the embassy refers to? Apart from adverse weather conditions in some parts of the country, there is no emergency \u2018situation\u2019 \u2013 unless it has become a \u2018situation\u2019 for the mission to keep a Sri Lankan citizen (who does not have diplomatic immunity) within its premises indefinitely?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will be the impression if the request to fly her out is granted without allowing access to law enforcement authorities? It\u2019s not difficult to imagine the kind of sensational headlines that would appear in the international press about an ambulance plane evacuating the victim. Such reports could potentially suggest that the government was in some way associated with the alleged abduction (reported in Swiss media as if it were a fact). The very day after the incident was alleged to have taken place, the Embassy\u2019s version was reported in Western media, embedded in a now-familiar anti-Rajapaksa Western narrative predicting doom and gloom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White vans and death threats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is intriguing how new information, the origins of which are not clear, have also got into circulation through media reports. Opposition politicians in Sri Lanka referred to the incident as a \u2019White Van\u2019 abduction. The \u2018White Van\u2019 has by now become a brand name, the mere mention of which conjures up a picture of lawlessness and rampant crime. Another assertion, nowhere made by Swiss authorities upto now, is that the abducted woman was forced to reveal cell phone data on Sri Lankans who had sought asylum in Switzerland – including CID inspector Nishantha Silva who had been investigating cases brought by the previous government against the Rajapaksas. Silva is said to have fled the country on 24 Nov following death threats, to seek asylum in Switzerland – \u2018according to reports\u2019 and unnamed \u2018sources.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An attempt to trace the provenance of these stories shows that the \u2018White Van\u2019 element was introduced on 26 Nov. by a pro-UNP website, which added that the abductee had been questioned on Nishantha Silva. Also on 26 Nov., the German-language Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ) citing \u2018Sri Lankan media reports\u2019 said Silva had received death threats after the change of government. But the local reports too cited unnamed \u2018sources.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So who was the original source of this information? What are the \u2018reports\u2019 that could have appeared just a day after the incident allegedly occurred, even before the foreign ministry had been informed? NZZ is “the most important and prestigious Swiss daily newspaper published in the German language” said a well informed source, adding that it was “highly influential also in Germany and Austria, indicating big time manipulation.” Information from NZZ and LNW was also picked up and circulated by swissinfo.ch website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would appear that CID inspector Nishantha Silva who, police confirmed, left the country, is in fact the main player in this drama, to which the abduction story is but a sequel. Local media reports (citing unnamed sources) say Silva and his family left the country three days after his boss, CID Director Shani Abeysekera, was transferred to a lesser post \u2013 suggesting that he lost protection as a result. However, it is unlikely that flights and visas to Switzerland could have been arranged in three days, and would more likely have been organized well ahead. MP and former minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe has pointed out that “high ranking military officers had been denied visas whereas relatively junior policeman and his family had received visas in record time.” He further alleged, in remarks to The Island 27.11.19 that Silva \u2018worked closely with the foreign missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Swiss Embassy has not denied that Silva has sought asylum. In its statement of 29 Nov. it only rebuts the allegation that the Swiss government “rejected a request for the extradition of an employee of the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Departmet (CID) and his family,” saying “No such request has been submitted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who scripted this drama, a CID inspector\u2019s unauthorised departure from Sri Lanka may not have constituted a story big enough to make international headlines. But the story of abduction of a Western embassy employee the following day, being forced to divulge details of his asylum application, has the potential to become a diplomatic scandal with serious repercussions. Readers need to ask themselves how likely it is that a local embassy employee would be entrusted with sensitive information of this nature in the first place, and still less, that she would be carrying it around on her cell phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming UNHRC session<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the UNHRC sessions in Geneva due in March, the possibility that there is mischief afoot cannot be discounted. This episode comes against the backdrop of President Gotabaya having publicly rejected Resolution 30\/1. It is likely that the new government will present Sri Lanka\u2019s case against the war crimes allegations targeting its security forces and wartime political leaders, using the considerable body of evidence contradicting these charges, that was ignored by the former regime. The \u2018war criminal\u2019 label may then get unstuck, and this will not be to the liking of Western powers that introduced the resolution. It is relevant to note here that the Swiss Federal Court very recently acquitted 12 suspects from charges of fundraising for the LTTE, and went on to declare that the LTTE is \u2018not a criminal organization.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka has caused ripples in the Western world, which appears to be in overdrive in its attempt to manage the new situation. Is there a tacit threat in recent moves, to warn the fledgling government that if it fails to fall in line with Western strategic objectives, it may have to face pressures from a newly unleashed pro-LTTE diaspora?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a state of \nchaos is required by those who seek to impose hegemony, then the \npromise of stability held out by the new government will not be to their\n liking. The president leading by his own example has set about \nchanging the political culture, shedding the vulgar trappings of power,\n trimming waste and mapping out plans for accelerated development. He \nhas reached out to the minorities in the North and East (who \u2018did not \nvote for him\u2019) with the promise of a better life. Once these \ncommunities begin to enjoy the fruits of development they may begin to \ncooperate with the government\u2019s efforts\u2013 if they are seen to be \ngenuine. This, in turn, would narrow the space for imperialist forces \nto use the age old ploy of \u2018divide and rule\u2019 in Sri Lanka, to secure \ncontrol in this strategically important region. No wonder the West is \nworried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Courtesy Island December 8, 2019, 9:24 pm In what must surely be one of the strangest games of diplomatic brinkmanship to be played out in this country, the Swiss embassy in Colombo demands an investigation into an alleged \u2018abduction\u2019 of one of its local employees. However, it appears there is not a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}