The week practically began with the shocking news of an attempt on the life of a senior judge in Jaffna. High Court Judge Manickavasagar Illancheliyan escaped the assassination bid on Saturday night in Jaffna after an unidentified man snatched the revolver of one of his personal protection officers and opened fire. The Police officer (SI Sarath Premachandra, a native of Chilaw) who was critically injured in the line of duty in the shooting incident in Nallur died at the Jaffna Hospital. The main suspect has now surrendered to Jaffna police.
Many websites and television stations carried the emotional video clip where Judge Illancheliyan was seen bowing to his bodyguard’s wife and then breaking down before being escorted away. Incidentally, many commented on websites that this was a fine example of unity and reconciliation in practice – his Sinhalese security officers were like brothers to him and had served loyally him for over 15 years, even during the height of the conflict.
Judge Illancheliyan is widely known as a fearless professional and has presided in many high profile cases. Currently, the highest profile case handled by him, as part of a three-judge Trial-at-Bar is the rape and murder case of Sivaloganathan Vithya, a young Jaffna student in May 2015. This is the first time that a Trial-at-Bar is being conducted in Jaffna, which saw much unrest after the case came to light.
In a rather curious turn of events, the abortive shooting came just days after the arrest of former Central Province DIG Lalith Jayasinghe in connection with the above case. Jayasinghe, who was SSP Jaffna when the incident took place in May 2015, is believed to have helped one of the main suspects to flee the country. The Trial-at-Bar is continuing in the meantime with enhanced security to the courtroom and the three judges.
The Judge and the Police differed in their accounts on the intended target of the shooter. The Judge said he was the target of the assailants, but the Police said the three men involved in the incident were intoxicated and grabbed the pistol on impulse. Police said their initial investigations had revealed that the shooting has not been pre-planned and they had apparently not known who was in the car. The shooting has thus left many unanswered questions which the investigators have to resolve swiftly.
President Maithripala Sirisena was the first to condemn the shooting, followed by the TNA. Although the motive was not exactly clear, the next person to comment on the incident was former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who said the Government should be extra careful because this is how the LTTE began in the 1970s.
Black July
President Sirisena instructed the IGP to fully investigate the incident. The Government was swift to contain any fallout from the incident, knowing that July 23 marked the 34th anniversary of the July 1983 communal riots that eventually led to a protracted conflict. The anniversary of the event drew international attention. Issuing a statement on the anniversary of Black July, the Canadian Prime Minister welcomed international efforts underway to achieve long term reconciliation and peace for all Sri Lankans. “As we pause to reflect on the dark days of the Sri Lankan War, we must continue to work to heal the wounds of all those who suffered. Canada welcomes international efforts underway to achieve long-term reconciliation and peace for all Sri Lankans, but we reiterate the need to establish a process of accountability that will have the trust and the confidence of the victims of this war,” the Canadian Premier said.
Sri Lanka has moved beyond these dark days and the conflict itself, but there are individuals in both the North and the South whose only salvation is ethnic disharmony and strife. They will leave no stone unturned to inflame ethnic passions and gain political mileage. The Government must keep an eye on these individuals and protect law and order in the North and elsewhere at all costs, especially at a time when concrete moves are being made to ensure reconciliation and lasting peace.
This is not the first time that judges have been attacked by gunmen. High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya was fatally shot by assassins on November 20, 2004, on the orders of a drug lord whose case he was hearing. In fact, this brutal murder of a judge led to the very establishment of the Judicial Security Division (JSD) of the Police in 2005. Quick thinking by the JSD officers assigned to protect Judge Illancheliyan helped save his life.
Former President Rajapaksa figured in another controversy over the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) which was signed into law by President Sirisena last week. The Parliament passed the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Bill in August 2016. The Act allows the Sri Lankan Government to set up an Office on Missing Persons to help several thousands of families of missing persons across Sri Lanka to discover the fate of their loved ones, and the circumstances under which they went missing.
The establishment of the OMP allows searching and tracing missing persons, identifying appropriate mechanisms, submission of recommendations to take measures on missing persons, protecting the rights of missing persons and relatives, identifying channels that missing persons and their relatives can collate data related to missing persons obtained by government institutions and centralize all available data.
Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake stated the Office will come under the purview of the President himself, pointing out that it was just a step in the process of transitional justice followed by the Government. MP Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose Joint Opposition has opposed the OMP on the basis that it would “hunt down” Security Forces members, wrote to the Mahanayake Theras on the OMP that it is one of the several institutions that the Government has agreed to set up to ‘deal with the past’ in terms of the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 of October 14, 2015, and its purpose is to feed information to other mechanisms. He says after the Government postponed the debate on the Bill to give effect to the International Convention against Enforced Disappearances, ministers of both the UNP and the SLFP were trying to justify that proposed law by saying that it will apply only to the future and not to the past. He said the enthusiasm of the UNP, the SLFP group in the Government, the TNA and the JVP to pass laws designed to punish members of the Armed Forces and the political authorities that gave leadership to the war are evident.
However, just over 25 years ago, it was Rajapaksa himself who sought foreign intervention to address human rights violations by the then Government at the height of the JVP insurgency. He was known as a passionate activist against enforced disappearances. He made several speeches on this topic in Parliament and sought to go to Geneva (to the UN Human Rights Commission) with supporting documents when he was stopped at the Colombo Airport.
On October 25, 1990, Rajapaksa told Parliament: “I took the wailings of this country’s mothers. Do I not have the freedom to speak about them? It was the wailing of those mothers which were heard by those 12 countries.”
On December 4, 1989, he thanked the Government for permitting the ICRC to enter the country, and asked that the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and Amnesty International be also allowed to visit Sri Lanka. On October 25, 1990, he said, “We asked the donor countries as to why conditions cannot be imposed when giving aid. That was the request we made. It is what has been fulfilled today. If the government is going to deny human rights, we should go not only to Geneva, but to any place in the world, or to hell if necessary, and act against the government. The lamentation of this country’s innocents should be raised anywhere.” On January 25, 1991, he said: “We went and told donor nations to cut these, and to tell this Government to protect human rights of the people of this country.” Today, Rajapaksa is one of the staunchest opponents of any kind of foreign intervention in matters pertaining to the conflict.
Foreign investments
The Joint Opposition has even opposed some foreign investments in Sri Lanka, the Hambantota Port among them. Ironically, it was the brainchild of former President Rajapaksa himself. But the JO had opposed China’s involvement in additional investments in the area. It was revealed yesterday that the Cabinet cleared a revised agreement for its Chinese-built southern port of Hambantota.
Hambantota is part of its modern-day “Silk Route” across Asia and the Chinese indicated the willingness to develop 15,000 acres (23 sq miles) to develop an industrial zone next to the Port. Under the revised agreement, two companies are being set up to split the operations of the port and allay concerns that the Port will not be used for military purposes. Hambantota which has oil bunkering facilities is already being used as vehicle transhipment port.
Incidentally, oil is one of the most precious commodities imported by Sri Lanka, whose refineries are not at their peak right now. Oil sales are handled by the duopoly of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Lanka Indian Oil Company (Lanka IOC). Long lines of vehicles were seen outside filling stations yesterday after CPC workers announced a strike. With motorists fearing that the fuel stocks would run out, queues were inevitable. Addressing a media briefing, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Trade Unions Collective said that the trade union action is taking place to win three basic demands. Among the major demands are the acquisition of Trincomalee Petroleum tanks complex to the Petroleum Corporation, acquisition of Hambantota Port Tanks Complex to the Petroleum Corporation and modernisation of the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery. The trade union collective earlier launched a strike on April 24 and the strike was called off after the government promised to meet their demands during discussions with the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The other trade union more well known for strikes, the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) also threatened to strike over what it called the attempted “white van abduction” of the Convener of the Medical Students Activists Committee, Ryan Jayalath. However, the GMOA decided to call off the planned strike after talks with Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka.
Attempted abduction
The GMOA presented eight demands: all details pertaining to white van used in the abduction attempt on Ryan Jayalath should be disclosed to the public, the authorities should reveal the identity of those who arrived in the van to abduct Ryan Jayalath, those that gave the order and any other connection between the police and those that came in the van, legal action should be taken against all those who arrived in the van, assurance from the Government that incidents such as the attempted Ryan Jayalath abduction will not be repeated in the future.
Police, however, said they came for a legitimate arrest. Since the officers were from the CID, they are not required to wear uniforms, Police said. The Colombo Crimes Division informed the Chief Magistrate of Colombo on Monday that they have been obstructed in their duty while attempting to arrest Convener of the Medical Students Activists Committee, Ryan Jayalath. Police have informed courts that steps will be taken to arrest those who obstructed them in carrying out their duties. Permission was also sought to obtain video footage of six media institutions to carry out the investigations. Members of the JVP, Front Line Socialist Party and representatives of the GMOA were present at the time of the incident.
While the Police may have had its reasons for coming in an unmarked van to arrest Jayalath, for many people it was a grim reminder of the infamous “white vans” of the previous regime. In fact, newspapers even coined a term for an abduction by a white van – white vanning. One of the main promises of this Government was ending that culture of white vanning and abduction. It is disappointing to see a repetition of such an incident under the present Government, however legitimate and correct the Police may be. It would not have been that difficult to find an official Police jeep, even if the officers were dressed in civvies. This type of incident can create a wrong impression about Sri Lanka in the eyes of the international community especially in the light of allegations of torture etc by sections of the law enforcement authorities. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, a staunch opponent of the white van culture, and many other Ministers have condemned this incident.
The GMOA had earlier given an assurance that it would not strike given the magnitude of the dengue crisis which has so far claimed around 300 lives. Meanwhile, the Government is using its good offices to get international help for the dengue eradication effort.
Australia has already come forward to help. Sri Lanka has partnered with Monash University and the Australian Government last week to breed mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia, a low risk naturally occurring bacteria, to control the spread of dengue.
JO politics
The project will be part of a comprehensive programme by Australia to assist Sri Lanka effectively to control the seasonal vector borne disease which has hit the country hard and gone out of control due to a combination of factors. This common bacterium prevents the dengue virus being replicated in mosquitoes and therefore transmitted between people.
The bacterium has a similar effect on other viruses such as Zika, Chikungunya and Yellow Fever. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was in the country to sign the agreement with Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake in this regard.
Amidst all these issues, the biggest battle yet to be faced by the Government concerns keeping the National Unity arrangement intact as there is speculation that some SLFP MPs are about to cross over to the Opposition. Joint Opposition National Organiser and MP Dullas Alahapperuma claimed that the Government will lose its two third majority of the Parliament within two weeks, without elaborating on how this would happen. He has urged SLFP and UPFA Ministers in the Government to resign and join the JO while admitting that not all ministers would pursue this option. Minister Nimal Siripala countered this claim, saying toppling the Government would only be a pipe dream. “Many people in the Joint Opposition have been dreaming of toppling the Unity Government and forming a new one. It will only remain a dream. They could dance in any which way they want to but, this government would continue till 2020. If there is to be a change there needs to be a two-thirds majority,” he said.
The JO saw trouble in its own camp after UPFA MP Roshan Ranasinghe distanced himself from JO politics.
This has led some to speculate that some JO members would join the Government, effectively nullifying any defections from the Government to that side. Meanwhile, former President Rajapaksa said no political party will contest the upcoming Local Government elections under his leadership. Speaking to journalists in Kandy, Rajapaksa said he had no intention of forming a separate party to face the polls but added that he will extend support on an individual basis for those whom he prefers, irrespective of which party they represent. It should be noted that Rajapaksa is not officially the leader of the Joint Opposition or the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Flower Bud party), but is recognised as their de-facto leader. The coming days will prove decisive for both the Government and the Joint Opposition, with plenty of manoeuvres under way in the political landscape.
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