By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Tackling a social calamity is not like fighting a war… Rather than muzzling the media and threatening dissenters with punitive measures (and remaining politically unchallenged), governance can be greatly helped by informed public discussion” – Amartya Sen (Listening as Governance)

A year has gone by since the Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka. Innocent blood was shed by a group of radicalised Lankan Muslims pledging allegiance to the IS. That barbaric bombing – and its fear-filled aftermath – shaped the year that followed. Arguably its most significant progeny was the landslide presidential victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The first anniversary of the massacre was commemorated in the midst of another calamity, a pandemic that has caused more deaths globally than any terrorist attack. The nature of the pandemic should have caused some papering over of the fissures in Lankan polity and society; after all, viruses are no respecters of ethno-religious or political affiliations. Yet the opposite has happened.

The pandemic, instead of uniting Lankans against a common threat, has heightened our divisions. The narrative of the pandemic has become interwoven with pre-existing narratives of ethno-religious fractions and enmities, creating a seamless whole of us vs. them, of innocent victims being targeted by evil carriers of the virus.

This divisive misrepresentation of a common and natural threat as ethno-religiously motivated enemy action is no accident. It is the result of a conscious effort by the ruling party to use the pandemic to advance its authoritarian political agenda via a parliamentary election that is fatally infected with the anti-democratic virus.

Continue reading ‘Conscious effort by the ruling party to use the pandemic to advance its authoritarian political agenda via a parliamentary election that is fatally infected with the anti-democratic virus.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

The SAARC Secretariat should play an active role in the region’s response to COVID-19, along with “someone in-charge”, according to Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“I don’t know if it can be handled from Kathmandu alone. If you can, well and good. But you may need another city. It can be Bengaluru, Colombo, any city,” he said on Friday.

“This is a good time for a regional cooperation programme. This is a global pandemic without a global leadership. Maybe the region can’t provide leadership for all. But the first virtual meeting of SAARC leaders was good, looking at the background and the problems that are there.”

Edited excerpts from an interview:

Well before the COVID-19 crisis hit us, you have been an advocate of greater regional cooperation. How can it help at such a time?

You see, this is a good time for a regional cooperation programme. This is a global pandemic without a global leadership. Maybe the region can’t provide leadership for all. But the first virtual meeting of SAARC leaders was good, looking at the background and the problems that are there.

We must treat this as a humanitarian issue and come up with a regional response. Maybe one or two countries, for instance India and one other, could put up a proposal, which then can be looked at by others, and possibly amended. Let us all work together. We [Sri Lanka], for instance have a good public health system. So has Kerala. We can work together on that.

Continue reading ‘“If life comes back to normal you can hold elections. Firstly, the economy must start.And with that people will then come for elections. People are not going to come running out and vote when they can’t eat. The economy must start.” -Ex-PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in Interview with “The Hindu”’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

The 20 June election may be the last chance to keep President Gotabaya Rajapaksa safely anchored to the Parliament and the SLPP; lodged within the electoral democratic mainstream, its institutional milieu, mechanisms, processes and political culture—and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa seems to know it.

Block that opening, kick the electoral can much further down the road and that last chance goes with it. This is not the time for prissy proceduralism and legalistic literalism, but for a sure grasp of the intersecting realities of politics, power and history, or liberal legalism will be brushed aside by executive ‘decisionism’.

All the legalistic-constitutionalist points made by liberal critics may be true and for the most part are, but these are also irrelevant, because the real-world question is what if the Executive ignores all the “simply can’t do” points they make and simply does them? It is not that his action will be cost-free over the longer term, but who or what is going to stop the directly-elected Executive and Commander-in Chief and the implementation of his decision, how, and with what?

Continue reading ‘It is a pity that the Gotabaya Government is on the verge of jeopardising at least some of its own positive achievement in retarding the rate of spread of the coronavirus.’ »

By

Gehan Gunatilleka

Once in a lifetime, a country faces a crisis so unique that the ordinary rules of politics should not apply. We expect politicians – political animals by nature – to act in ways that are antithetical to their interests. The COVID-19 pandemic is such a crisis, and Sri Lanka’s politicians have a choice: to opportunistically maximise political gains, or to selflessly put country before politics.

A unique dilemma

Sri Lanka’s elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a serious dilemma. On the one hand, his mandate is to achieve results. Yet his Government only has a minority share of the seats in Parliament.

The current Government cannot perpetually function on a limited budget. The Constitution clearly vests power over public finance in Parliament. Therefore, the Executive branch headed by the President would need a Legislature to authorise a new budget.

It seems politically acceptable for a president heading a minority government to call an election at the earliest given opportunity to form a stable government. President Rajapaksa has opted for this route, and many other politicians in his place would have done the same.

On the other hand, as the elected representative of the people, President Rajapaksa is bound by the provisions of Sri Lanka’s Constitution. His actions must always comply with the law.

Continue reading ‘Multi-party Memorandum of Understanding:Sri Lanka Facing a Unique Constitutional Dilemma Caused by a Unique Pandemic Emergency Requires A Unique Solution Outside the Path of Conventional Politics.’ »

By

Theodore Warnakulasuriya

(This article is summarized by Theodore Warnakulasuriya from Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks who served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. His latest book is Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times; Hodder & Stoughton. The main article was found in Tablet magazine from London.)

A former Chief Rabbi argues in his latest book that if we are to repair an aggressive society we have to restore the mutuality, compassion and grace that the Hebrew Bible sees as a lasting ideal. ‘The coronavirus is going to test all our capacity to work for the benefit of others,’ .‘Selfishness is not going to protect us’

‘ We will have to rebuild families and communities and voluntary organisations’. IT WOULD BE easy to be pessimistic about the future of Western liberal democracies. The loss of the idea of society as a moral community began as the rarefied vision of intellectuals in the second half of the nineteenth century, followed from the 1930s onward by existentialists and emotivists who denied that there was a morality beyond the self, leading the liberal revolution of the 1960s and the economic revolution of the 1980s. They were followed by the fragmentation of culture and communication brought about by computers, the internet, smartphones and social media.

That is where we are today: often lonely, confused, disillusioned and mistrustful, living in societies divided into non-communicating groups, each of which believes that it is exploited, abused or threatened by others. From this comes a politics of anger that can easily lead to populism and the search for the strong leader who will somehow make the problems go away, but often makes them worse.

Continue reading ‘Morality Matters………..Let’s Get Ethical At This Time Of Coronavirus.’ »

BY S.S. Selvanayagam

A former Member of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) as a public interest litigation filed a Fundamental Right violation petition contesting the Presidential clemency granted to the army officer who has been convicted for the massacre at Mirusuvil in the Jaffna Peninsula.

Relatives of the deceased also filed a Petition through their Attorney-at-Law Kesavan Sajanthan while the Centre for Policy Alternative and its Executive-Director Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu too have filed a separate petition.

Petitioner Ms Ambika Satkunanathan former commissioner of SLHRC filed her petition to ensure that the power of the Executive to pardon persons is done in a transparent and fair manner, according to objective standards, and the existing gaps and shortcomings are addressed. She states however that the moratorium on the death penalty in Sri Lanka should continue. She cited Attorney General, the convict Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Sunil Ratnayake, the Commissioner General of Prisons, Nimal Siripala de Silva who is the Minister of Justice, Human Rights & Legal Reforms, Secretary to the President and the National Authority for the Protection of Victims of Crimes and Witnesses as Respondents.

Continue reading ‘Presidential Clemency Granted by President Rajapaksa to Army Officer Convicted Over Mirusuvil Murders Challenged Through Three Fundamental Rights Petition Filed on Behalf of Relatives of Victims, Ex-Human Rights Commissioner and CPA Executive Director’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka’s Election Commission has set the country’s parliamentary election for June 20, after it postponed the April 25 polls in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka has reported 309 coronavirus cases and seven deaths so far. A total of 33 infections were detected on Monday, the highest number to be recorded on a single day, prompting authorities to move 1,010 people from a working class neighbourhood in Colombo to quarantine.

“We are controlling the spread of the virus and increasing testing rates too. But it’s difficult for anybody to say when the pandemic will end,” Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Director General of Public Health, told The Hindu on Tuesday.

According to him, Sri Lanka conducted 695 tests on Monday. “We want to increase it to 1,000 a day soon.”

Continue reading ‘Opposition Parties Protest Against Election Commission Fixing June 20 for Elections Without Consulting them but EC Chairman Deshapriya says new Election Date is “Subject to Revision”’ »

By

S. Venkat Narayan

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga has been named the greatest bowler in Indian Premier League (IPL) history by Star Sports experts Dean Jones, Mathew Hayden, Aakash Chopra, Graeme Smith, Simon Doull, Ian Bishop and Tom Moody.

They were part of a 50-member list including former cricketers, statisticians, analysts, senior sports journalists.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga Named the greatest bowler in Indian Premier League (IPL) history by Star Sports experts’ »

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) yesterday called upon the Sri Lankan authorities to respect human rights in the conduct of their investigation of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, including ensuring that investigations into the alleged involvement of Sri Lankan lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah are conducted in accordance with due process and fair trial guarantees under international law. Specifically, the authorities must specify the charges against him, grant him full and immediate access to a lawyer, and investigate the circumstances of his arrest for potential rights violations, they said in a statement.

Sri Lankan lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police (CID) on 14 April pursuant to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and has since been kept in detention. No reasons were provided at the time of the arrest. During a media briefing, a Police spokesperson stated that he was arrested as a result of the evidence found against him during investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. The ICJ understands that no remand or detention orders authorising his continued detention have been served, even after the lapse of 72 hours as required by Sections 7 and 9 of the PTA.

Continue reading ‘International Commission of Jurists Express Concern Over Arbitrary Arrest and Detention of Lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah and Urges Govt to Ensure that Investigations are Conducted According to Due Process and Fair Trial Guarantees Provided by International Law’ »

By Saman Indrajith and Ranil Dharmasena

The Election Commission (EC) had decided to hold the next general election, on June 20, Chairman of commission Mahinda Deshapriya said, yesterday.

The three-member EC met, last evening, to decide a date for the general election, which has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. A proposal for holding the election on 20 May was defeated. The second proposal for holding the election on 2 June faced a similar fate. Finally, the three members had agreed to hold the election on 20 June, sources said.

Continue reading ‘Elections Commission Announces Parliamentary Polls on June 20 After Consultations with district secretaries and top officials of the health sector, police, army, postal services& government printer; EC Decision to be Challenged in Courts by Political Parties and Civil Organizations’ »

The Sri Lankan Election Commission on Monday fixed June 20 as the date for the parliamentary elections. The new date was announced because the commission could not hold the polls as scheduled earlier on April 25 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Wanting a parliament in which his party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and its allies will have a majority, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on March 2, dissolved parliament and declared that polling for a new parliament will be held on April 25.

The new parliament was to meet within three months or before June 2.

However, the coronavirus intervened and the Election Commission postponed the elections indefinitely, though as per the parliamentary elections Act, it ought to have announced another date along with the announcement of postponement.

Even as the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakasa were keen on holding the elections fast to get a parliament in which they will have a majority, the Election Commission felt that the elections could not be held in the foreseeable future because of the continuing threat posed by the coronavirus.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Election Commission Comprising Mahinda Deshapriya, Nalin Abeyesekera and Ratnajeevan Hoole Fix June 20 as the new Date for Conducting the Postponed Parliamentary Elections’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has called on all citizens to remember the victims of the Easter terror blasts that shook Sri Lanka on April 21 last year, claiming over 270 lives and injuring more than 500 persons.

The serial blasts, which was carried out by an apparently IS-inspired squad of suicide bombers, targeted three churches in and near Colombo, and in the eastern Batticaloa district, and three luxury hotels in the capital. Coming exactly a decade after Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war ended, the ghastly Easter Sunday attacks delivered a major blow to the island’s hard-won, relative peace.

Continue reading ‘First Anniversary of Easter Sunday Terror in Sri Lanka; Though a Year has Passed Since Bombings, Batticaloa’s Affected Zion Church and Pastors Residence Yet to be Re-built.’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

As it swept the globe starting in 1918 through the end of 1919, the deadly virus afflicted 500 million people, and left 50 million dead. Among the dead were royalty and world leaders, like Louis Botha, the first Prime Minister of South Africa, Saudi Prince Tuki I bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Rose Cleveland, a First Lady of the United States, Brazilian President Rodrigues Alves and Prince Erik of Sweden. Another notable fatality was Bavarian businessman Frederick Trump, whose grandson Donald John Trump is today President of the United States. King Alfonso the 13th of Spain, Prime Minister Peter Fraser of New Zealand, Haile Selassie the 1st, Emperor of Ethiopia, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, German Chancellor Prince Maximillian of Baden, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark and American President Woodrow Wilson were all afflicted by the virus but recovered from their illness.

This virus was not the coronavirus that plagues us today, but the H1N1 avian virus that caused the pandemic of 1918, commonly known as the ‘Spanish Flu’. It is a strange artifact of history that while most of us are familiar with the great bubonic plagues of the 16th Century, modern society has little knowledge of the 1918 flu pandemic that infected a third of the world’s population and killed anywhere from 1% to 3% of all human life.

While the disease charged across the land and paralysed countries on both sides of the ‘Great War’, governments across the world forbid journalists from reporting the truth about its extent, censoring the press out of fear that knowledge of the pandemic would hurt the morale of troops fighting on the frontlines. Most of the reporting about the disease came from Spain, which remained neutral during World War I, and did not censor their press’ attempts to tell the truth about the virus. In a sinister turn of events, countries from Europe to the Americas capitalized on the Spanish transparency to play down the disease’s impact in their own countries, instead taking the opportunity to brand the pandemic the “Spanish Flu”.

One of the few detailed modern accounts of this era is “The Great Influenza”, a well-researched book by historian John M. Barry that was published in 2004. Today, experts have reached consensus that the 1918 flu originated somewhere in North America and spread rapidly across the world in large part due to the hectic pace of global activity that accompanied the first World War from 1914 to 1918. Thus, the disease that came to be known worldwide as the “Spanish flu” did not actually start in Spain. In Spain itself, the disease was blamed on the French and called the “French flu”.

Continue reading ‘The H1N1 Avian virus that caused the Pandemic of 1918 commonly known as the ‘Spanish Flu’ Infected One-third of the World then and Killed 1to 3 % of Humanity’ »

By

Dr.S.Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

(Text of a letter sent on April 16th 2020 by Elections Commission Member Prof. S. Ratnajeeva H.Hoole to fellow members of the Election Commission on the subject of gazetting a date for polls)

Two days ago, the Chairman telephoned me to confirm my attendance at the Commission meeting on 20.04.2020, and proposed that we gazette polls for 28.05.2020, suggesting that if the COVID Pandemic is not over we could postpone again. I disagreed. I am writing this note to the Commission to argue that we must not set a date until we are sure that we will not be jeopardizing the population’s health by doing so. Here are my seven reasons:

1. Credibility and Infeasibility:

Setting a new date would make us worse off than now. Once candidates commence campaigning in earnest, we would lose all credibility if we changed dates again. Close to 28.05.2020, we would have no feasible time to avert a constitutional crisis as the 02.06.2020 deadline for the new parliament to convene nears.

We must note that Dr. P.B. Jayasundara has already written in his letter to us, dated 06.04.2020, that after we announced the poll date, several independent candidates and several recognized Political Parties have accepted and acted in accordance with that announcement.

If we publish 28.05.2020 or thereabouts as the new date of election, Dr. Jayasundara will make the same argument that “several independent candidates and several recognized Political Parties have accepted and acted in accordance with” the new date. That is a strong reason why we must not get into the same predicament again. The first thing is to have a clear idea on where we stand.

Continue reading ‘EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya Proposes Gazetting of Elections for May 28 and Postponing Again if Necessary but Election Commission Member Ratnajeevan Hoole Disagrees and Writes Letter to EC Outlining Seven Reasons in Support of his Opinion’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former National List MP and ‘constitutional expert’ Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne, PC, said yesterday that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had no option but to withdraw proclamation, dissolving parliament, to prevent an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

Wickremaratne said that as President Rajapaksa, had, in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, called an early general election, the initiated process could be reversed by reconvening parliament by proper means. “Then parliament can go on until 01 September. Elections can be held in late November or before. But if the situation improves and a free and fair election is possible, then he can dissolve Parliament, before 01 September,” the former Lawmaker said.

The one-time LSSP stalwart played a significant role in introducing the 19th Amendment, enacted in 2015. The UNP accommodated him on its National List, following the last parliamentary election, conducted in Aug 2015.

Responding to another query, the former MP insisted that the President couldn’t be allowed to govern the country for more than three months, without being subjected to parliamentary oversight.

Continue reading ‘Ex- MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne, PC Says President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has no option but to withdraw proclamation dissolving parliament to prevent an unprecedented constitutional crisis.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Even as Sri Lanka’s health authorities continue fighting COVID-19, which has so far affected 269 persons, the government and Opposition parties have expressed conflicting views on holding poll during the raging global pandemic.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged the Election Commission to fix the date for the general election, after the poll scheduled for April 25 were postponed in the wake of the coronavirus. In a statement issued on Saturday, Mr. Rajapaksa said the Commission was “mandatorily required” to fix another day for the polls, when they cannot be held on the day fixed by the President. “Things have to come back to normal sooner or later,” he said.

The PM’s message comes at a time when Sri Lanka prepares to ease the curfew this week in select districts, after a near-total lockdown for a month. As of Sunday, as many as 96 persons have recovered, while over 100 others are being monitored under quarantine, according to Sri Lanka’s Health Promotion Bureau.

Continue reading ‘Almost all Opposition parties have sought the reconvening of Parliament using President Gotabaya’s executive powers, while urging the Election Commission to refrain from holding poll until the health risk is eliminated.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Twitter is rarely short of drama. Except that last week, Sri Lanka’s Twitter bubble saw some of it originate from an unlikely source — the official handle of the Chinese Embassy here.

It all began with a letter dated April 8, from the Embassy, addressed to the chairman of the privately-run Wijeya Newspapers group. In the letter, which was also released to the media, mission spokesperson Luo Chong took a strong objection to three pieces on COVID-19 published in two of the group’s publications — Daily Mirror and Sunday Times.

One of the articles was an interview, headlined “Sri Lanka must ensure China is held accountable”, with an American Lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against Chinese authorities, whom he blames for the global pandemic. The second, titled “China accused of negligence”, was an interview with the head of a local consumer rights organisation. The third, the Embassy’s letter said, was a column that referred to COVID-19 as “Wuhan COVID”.

Continue reading ‘Twitter Suspends and Restores Colombo Chinese Embassy’s Handle During the Undiplomatic Social Media War Between the Mission and Sri Lankan Tweeters’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

The anti-democracy virus infecting law enforcement officials in Sri Lanka today appears to have proceeded belligerently to the point that an attorney-at-law was arrested this week in circumstances so outrageous that it has drawn the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) out of hibernation to express its ‘concern.’

A manifestly curious arrest

Pointing out in wary tones that reasons for the arrest of this attorney of Muslim ethnicity, who is no stranger to Hulfsdorp’s legal circles, has not been made known up to now, the Bar has observed that his arrest appears to be based on ‘certain functions’ attended to by him ‘in his professional capacity as a member of the Bar.’ As other reports indicate and to all intents and purposes, this lawyer had advised his clients implicated in cases connected to last year’s Easter Sunday attacks by ‘home grown jihadists,’ had been speaking out in regard to the racial profiling of Muslims in Sri Lanka’s anti-covid drive and had been a strong advocate of exposing racial discrimination. But as to how and in what circumstances, these actions taken individually or indeed collectively, violated the law remains a singular puzzle.

While this sequence of events remains to be clarified in due course, what makes this ‘curioser and curioser’ is that the habeas corpus application filed by his father days after the arrest details that the first intimation to him and the members of his family by state officers that their home would be paid a visit, was by officials of the Ministry of Health regarding tracing of covid-19 infections. However, it was not Health Ministry officials who arrived at his residence but officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). If this version is to be believed absent an authoritative refutation, Sri Lanka has opened itself to joining the unsavoury grouping of states taking cover of the virus spread to tighten their authoritarian grip on their citizens.

Continue reading ‘Will all the good done by the nation’s health sector specialists in containing the spread of the covid virus be undone by politicians and their racist acolytes in law enforcement and media?’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Some 10,000 frontline health workers in Sri Lanka are working tirelessly to arrest the spread of COVID-19 that has affected 235 people and claimed seven lives until Wednesday. Partnering them in their response to the public health crisis is the Sri Lankan military, playing many roles from contact-tracing to running quarantine centres to distributing relief.

As soon as the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health hears from a designated laboratory of a positive case, its staff activate “case search” among the infected person’s close contacts, doctors attached to the unit said. The “activation” essentially involves informing the military and State Intelligence Service immediately, who then proceed to trace those who had been in contact with the patient, and direct them to quarantine, Dr. Deepa Gamage, Consultant Epidemiologist, told The Hindu.

Doctors underscore the military’s efforts in stepping up the national response to the pandemic. But they also point to the public health system’s track record — Sri Lanka was declared Malaria-free in 2016 — and its strengths particularly in preventive community medicine that are proving valuable at this time.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Army plays many roles from contact-tracing to running quarantine centres to distributing relief in the fight Against the Spread of Covid -19’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the Tamil National Alliance Media Office)

18th April 2020

The Chairman and Members of
The Election Commission of Sri Lanka,
Elections Secretariat,
Rajagiriya, 10107.

Dear Sirs,

Holding of General Election 2020

We write to express certain serious concerns regarding the above election, considering the prevailing situation in the country. The holding of periodic elections are indeed the cornerstone to upholding democracy. Any exception to this rule can only be in the most serious of circumstances. Unfortunately, however, Sri Lanka, like the rest of the world, today faces just such exceptional circumstances: a global pandemic posing grave threats not only to public health, safety and security, but to the national and global economy as well. Both local and global medical experts have clearly indicated that the key to containing the spread of this pandemic is to eliminate all public gatherings/movement, except for essential services, and those necessary to prevent economic collapse. Every effort must be made to contain the spread of the disease, in order to prevent further burdening an already severely overburdened public healthcare service, in order to ensure that Sri Lanka is equipped to continue to effectively deal with the health consequences of this pandemic.

Continue reading ‘Tamil National Alliance Urges Election Commission to Refrain From Announcing a Date for Parliamentary Elections Until Local and Global Health Experts Provide Assurances of Safety to Conduct Polls’ »

The nation-wide curfew will be eased from Monday as the month-long lock down measures reduced the spread of the Coronavirus which claimed at least seven lives, the government said yesterday.

The curfew will be lifted on Monday (20) at 5.00 am and re-imposed at 8.00 pm in all the districts, except Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Puttalam, Kandy, Kegalle and Ampara, the Presidential Secretariat said in a statement.

Thereafter a nine-hour night curfew will be in place until further notice.

Continue reading ‘Curfew will be lifted on Monday (20) at 5.00 am and re-imposed at 8.00 pm in all districts except Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Puttalam, Kandy, Kegalle and Amparai.’ »

By S.S. Selvanayagam

A Habeas Corpus application was filed yesterday before the Court of Appeal on behalf of senior lawyer Hejaz Hisbullah, who has been arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) over his alleged links to the Easter Sunday bombers.

The petition was filed by his father, Naina Hizbullah, through Attorney-at-Law Gowry Shangary Thavarasha, seeking the Court to direct the Respondents to release and discharge lawyer Hejaz Hisbullah from custody/detention.

The Petitioner cited Acting IGP and the CID Director as well as the Attorney General as Respondents.

Continue reading ‘Writ of Habeas corpus application filed before Appeal Court on behalf of prominent lawyer Hejaz Hisbullah arrested by CID for Suspected Links to Persons Allegedly Involved in Easter Sunday Attacks Last Year’ »

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday that if the Parliamentary Election could not be held on time, steps must be taken to avoid a constitutional crisis at all costs, warning such a crisis entails the risk of delegitimising and destabilising our country and could gravely impact Sri Lanka’s prospects of obtaining economic relief.

“Sri Lanka is the only democracy to face COVID-19 crisis without a Legislature to pass laws and financial appropriations to combat the pandemic and its economic consequences. It is my opinion that the Government and Opposition must engage with the Election Commission and with each other urgently and in good faith. If there are any precautions or new laws that the commission determines would allow it to safely hold elections in time, these must be explored immediately,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya Urges Govt. and Opposition to engage with Election Commission and each other urgently in good faith to Avoid Constitutional Crisis’ »

By
Theodore Warnakulasuriya

(Most of this article Summarized by Theodore Warnakulasuriya is adopted from the Daniel P. Sulmasy who is the André Hellegers Professor of Biomedical Ethics in the Departments of Medicine and Philosophy and Acting Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington)

As we know different countries have shown different responses to treating people who are affected by a monstrous coronavirus. I like to share the thoughts of a leading American philosopher and bioethicist and what he has to say about and how he looks at the unexamined assumptions that underlie different public policy approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is frightening to see that this monster infects young and old, rich and poor, politicians and labourers, the able-bodied and the disabled, people of every nation and race. According to the statistics given by World Meter, 210 Countries and Territories around the world have reported a total of the coronavirus COVID-19 that originated from Wuhan,China, and a death toll of 145,551 deaths. Latest figures show 146,841 people have died so far from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak as of April 17, 2020, 04:48 GMT. There are currently 2,183,148 confirmed cases in 210 countries and territories . The fatality rate is still being assessed.

It is well known that the Coronavirus have different effects on different people – older persons and those with diabetes or heart conditions fare worse. Mercifully, children do not seem to become so sick. But no one who has not been infected is immune.

Continue reading ‘Corona virus Pandemic and the Four Different Ways of Thinking About the Common Good.’ »

By
Arjuna Ranawana

Sri Lanka’s leading Roman Catholic Prelate says pogroms against Muslims three weeks after the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide attacks on Churches by Islamic extremists were carried out “by political elements who had nothing to do with the Christian community.”

Addressing a press conference today, Thursday, April 16, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said the attacks on Muslim-owned homes and businesses weeks after the suicide assaults were “by organized groups inspired by political elements wanting to create a rift between the Muslim and Christian minorities in Sri Lanka.”

Continue reading ‘Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith Wants Govt to Investigate the Attacks on Muslims Three Weeks After the Easter Bombings “by organized groups inspired by political elements wanting to create a rift between the Muslim and Christian minorities in Sri Lanka.”’ »

The Election Commission would consult political parties, doctors, epidemiologists, the armed forces and the Police and all others fighting the war against COVID-19, after April 20 in order to take a decision on conducting Parliamentary elections, member of the Elections Commission (EC) N. J. Abeysekara PC said yesterday.

However, Mr. Abeysekara reiterated that the conduct of the polls entirely depended on the situation of the viral infection in the country.

Continue reading ‘Election Commission Will Consult Political Parties, Doctors, Epideniologists, Armed Forces and Police Before Taking Decision on Conducting Postponed Elections says member of the Elections Commission (EC) N. J. Abeysekara PC’ »

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday expressed concern about the well-being of attorney-at-law Hejaz Hizbullah, who has been taken into custody by the CID, allegedly over his links to the Easter Sunday bombers.

“According to (the) information we have received, the reasons for his arrest have not been made known till now. We are informed the arrest was based on certain functions attended by Mr. Hizbullah in his professional capacity, as a member of the Bar,” BASL President Kalinga Indatisssa PC said in a letter he sent the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

Continue reading ‘Bar Association of Sri Lanka Writes to Acting IGP Expressing Concern Over the well-being of Attorney-at-law Hejaz Hizbullah Arrested by the CID;Requests IGP to Inform the BASL of Basis and Reasons for Arrest’ »

(Text of Letter Sent by former Colombo District MP and Leader of the Democratic Peoples Front/Tamil Progressive Alliance Mano Ganesan to the Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya Regarding the Holding of Parliamentary Elections while Sri Lanka coninues to face the Covid-19 Pandemic Threat)
·
The Chairman
Election Commission
Sarana Rd
Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

15-April-2020-Wedenesday-Colombo

Dear Mr. Chairman,

As you are aware as a nation, we are facing the Covid-19 crisis.

World Health Organization (WHO) characterized Covid-19 as ‘Pandemic’ on March 11th. Leader of the Opposition, speaking in the Parliament on-behalf of the majority of the Srilankan Parliamentarians, cautioned the government on Covid-19 twice; i.e., first on Jan 27 and later on Feb 5.

Hence, the civil and political society requested the present caretaker government to take appropriate actions to control the spread of the virus.

Despite all of the above, the present caretaker government prematurely dissolved the parliament on March 2nd and declared the dates for the nominations and elections.

Continue reading ‘TPA Leader Mano Ganesan Writes to Election Commission Chairman Urging the EC not to extend support to alleged attempts by the present caretaker government to hold parliamentary elections amidst the threats posed by the corona virus pandemic.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

On Sri Lanka’s Health Promotion Bureau portal, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases, updated in real time, was 219 on Tuesday evening. Of those, 151 are active.

Seven patients who contracted the virus have died, while 61 have recovered, according to the official bulletin. Compared to most other countries in the neighbourhood, the cases in Sri Lanka appear to be relatively under control, even as some within the medical community here call for more testing. How is Sri Lanka, with arguably the best public health system in the region, fighting the pandemic?

Sri Lanka reported the first case of coronavirus late January, when a visiting Chinese tourist tested positive. Weeks after the patient recovered and left the country, authorities reported the first confirmed case of a Sri Lankan national, a tour guide. He tested positive on March 10, after he came in contact with a group of Italian tourists.

Continue reading ‘How is Sri Lanka, with arguably the best public health system in the region, fighting the pandemic?’ »

By Vimukthi Vidarshana

Sri Lankan police have arrested more than seven individuals, including several university students, on allegations of publishing “false” information on their Facebook accounts and “maliciously” criticising public officials involved in COVID-19 prevention programs. Authorities claim that such news “impedes” the work of officials attempting to contain the pandemic.

The crackdown follows an April 1 directive by the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) ordering the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and all police stations to arrest accused individuals. Deputy Inspector General of Police Ajith Rohana later told the media that anyone sharing “false” information would also be charged.

It is yet another sign that President Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s government is preparing even more repressive attacks on freedom of expression in response to rising social discontent.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Police Arrest Seven Including Undergrads for Allegedly Posting On Social Media “False” Information and “Maliciously Criticising Officials Engaged in Combatting Covid-19 Pandemic’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

There are indications that the postponed Sri Lankan parliamentary elections will be held on May 27 or 28, so that the newly elected parliament meets before the set three-month deadline of June 2.

The government expects to control the spread of the novel coronavirus by the end of April 30 to allow parties to campaign for the polls. According to WHO, as on April 11, there were 200 cases of which 138 were “active”. 54 had recovered and seven had died.

The Sri Lankan President’s Secretary, Dr.P.B.Jayasundara, has clearly indicated that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is keen on holding the elections early, so that the new parliament meets, as scheduled, before June 2.

Following this, the Election Commissioner, Mahinda Deshapriya, reportedly said that the commission will meet on April 20 to decide on the revised date of the elections.

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is Reportedly Keen to Hold Parliamentary Elections on May 28; Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya Expected to Make Important Announcement on April 20:Curfews Likely to be Lifted Completely by April 30 to Enable Election Campaigning’ »

By
Dr. B. J. C. Perera
Specialist Consultant Paediatrician

There are heaps of different ideas, veiled innuendos, public inquiries, all kinds of varied recommendations and countless queries about the different types of tests that can be done to detect and diagnose SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19, the coronavirus pandemic. It is a deadly disease that is relentlessly sweeping through all areas of the planet earth.

Some of these enquiries regarding the tests seek information while some others are rather mischievously designed to find fault with someone or the other or to question as to why this test or that test is not being used in our country. It is obvious, especially from media reports and even social media pontifications that many persons of the lay-public ask numerous questions as to why this test or that test is either done or not done. This article is written in good faith to provide some scientific state-of-the-art information for digestion by the general public on the current status of these tests. It is hoped that it would clear the air, at least a little bit.

Continue reading ‘Details of the different types of tests that can be done to detect and diagnose SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease COVID-19 Leading to the coronavirus pandemic’ »

A group of Muslim organizations has requested Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratne to inquire into an alleged campaign against the Muslim community.

The following is the text of the letter:

“We, the undersigned Muslim organizations in Sri Lanka, respectfully lodge this complaint for your immediate investigation and urgent action on the continued hate mongering against the Muslim community.

“There are several clippings in circulation in the social media, including a video recording of the President of the Sri Lanka Health Officers Association.

“Please see attached an audio recording of an anonymous person that is already in public circulation containing material that violates several of the country’s laws, including section 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act No 56 of 2007, section 2(h) of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No 48 of 1979, section 120 of the Penal Code and other provisions. We believe that the originator of the voice recording of the social media post can be easily traced.

Continue reading ‘Group of Muslim Organizations Writes to Acting IGP Chandana Wickramaratne Urging an Investigation into an “Anonymous” Audio Recording in Public Circulation Via Social Media Targeting the Muslim Community That Violates Several Laws’ »

The Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) is calling on all political parties, civil society activists and the general public to strongly oppose the attempt by the government to create an autocratic, anti-democratic state in Sri Lanka.

In a statement issued today, April 11, the SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara said that in the guise of battling the spread of COVID 19 the government is “disregarding the role of the courts and the country’s Constitution.”

Continue reading ‘SJB Gen-Secy Ranjith Madduma Bandara Says President is interpreting the Constitution to “suit himself” and leading the country towards a dictatorship under the ” guise of battling the spread of COVID 19″ by “disregarding the role of the courts and the country’s Constitution.”’ »

The JVP yesterday called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to reconvene Parliament, without letting the country slide into a constitutional crisis.

Addressing the media online, from the party headquarters in Pelawatte, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said President Rajapaksa was vested with power to reconvene Parliament and he should do so.

Continue reading ‘Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Will Lead People in Protest Against Govt’s arbitrary Decision to Hold Elections for the Benefit of a Single Group Says JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.’ »

The Chairman of the All Ceylon Peasants Federation, Namal Karunaratne, yesterday called on government to get the services of the Railway Department to distribute the agriculture produce of the farmers who had been struck by a double whammy – due to the decision to shut down economic centres and the inability to sell produce at a good price.

The government closed down economic centres to prevent public gatherings and to curb the spread of COVID –19.

As a result, farmers who could sell their produce at economic centres, mainly targeting wholesalers, have resorted to selling their goods on road sides and at public playgrounds.

Continue reading ‘All Ceylon Peasants Federation Chairman Namal Karunaratne Wants Govt to Utilise Railway Dept to Distribute and Market Agricultural Products of Farmers who are Drastically Affected by Curfews and Closure of Economic Centres.’ »

By

Anna Fifield

It’s been less than two weeks since New Zealand imposed a coronavirus lockdown so strict that swimming at the beach and hunting in bushland were banned. They’re not essential activities, plus we’ve been told not to do anything that could divert emergency services’ resources.

People have been walking and biking strictly in their neighborhoods, lining up six feet apart while waiting to go one-in-one-out into grocery stores, and joining swaths of the world in discovering the vagaries of home schooling.
It took only 10 days for signs that the approach here — “elimination” rather than the “containment” goal of the United States and other Western countries — is working.

The number of new cases has fallen for two consecutive days, despite a huge increase in testing, with 54 confirmed or probable cases reported Tuesday. That means the number of people who have recovered, 65, exceeds the number of daily infections.

“The signs are promising,” Ashley Bloomfield, the director-general of health, said Tuesday.

Continue reading ‘New Zealand Under The Inspiring Leadership of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Seeks To Stamp Out Covid-19 Instead of Just Flattening the Curve.’ »

By Namal Rajapaksa

A little over a month ago, Sri Lanka detected its first local COVID-19 infected patient, leading to more cases eventually being reported from across the country.

Today, a month later, the country has detected over 200 COVID-19 infected patients while over 50 of them have been successfully treated and discharged. Over 100 are under medical observation in the designated hospitals while 7 deaths have been reported.

From the day the first case was detected in January, that of a Chinese national, immediate steps were taken by the government and authorities, to prevent a spread in the island nation. Today, under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and with the expertise and management of health workers, tri forces and all other leading personnel, Sri Lanka has to a great extent been able to limit the spread of the virus as only home transmissions are yet being detected. The work of our front line personnel in this battle is truly commendable.

Continue reading ‘“Sri Lanka has to a great extent been able to limit the spread of the virus as only home transmissions are yet being detected. The work of our front line personnel in this battle is truly commendable”- Namal Rajapaksa MP’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

In terror filled months which stretch endlessly into each other, the covid-19 pandemic has seen thousands die, obliterated assumptions of functional ‘First World’ health systems, stamped incredible images of shoppers fighting over toilet paper in Australia and the United States on our unwilling retinas and led to the best as well as the worst of humanity on display.

It is almost as if all our favorite ‘extinction-event’ movie blockbusters were stupendously combined into one long, persistent nightmare from which the world just does not seem to be able to wake.

Tilting at windmills of ‘criticism’

So if ever there was a time to put petty differences aside, that would be now. Yet, on the national stage as well as internationally, the contrary is true.

Did a China-centric policy on the part of WHO delay crucial warnings of human-to-human transmission of the virus with the declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern coming as late as 30th January 2020? The jury is (definitively) out on that question. But as the WHO and US President Donald Trump trade barbs on that score, global statistics of the dead and dying increase by the hour.

Continue reading ‘With curfew violators numbering nineteen thousand reported to be in police custody,are social distancing rules being practised in cramped and foul police cells?’ »

By

S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

I refer to the Daily Mirror article, of today’s date, on the date for summoning the new Parliament after elections, and The Island’s two pieces yesterday on the same topic. I am in “Lockdown” in Jaffna and write on my own as a Member of the Election Commission in response to Dr. P.B. Jayasundara’s letter.

Dr. Jayasundara wrongly starts the Daily Mirror interview: “President’s Secretary P.B.Jayasundara in a reply to the Chairman of Election Commission said that the date for fixing the poll is the responsibility of the Election Commission and therefore the question of reference to the Supreme Court in terms of Article 129 of the Constitution does not arise.” He is missing the point. Reference is urgent.

Yes, fixing the date for polls is the EC’s responsibility. But averting a constitutional crisis is the President’s more than anybody else’s, and only he can seek the constitutional advice of the Supreme Court.

We have clearly stated that we cannot fix a date to conform to the constitutional requirement of Constitution’s Article 70(5)(a) that the date of summoning the new Parliament has to be within 3 months of the date of the Gazette for the dissolution of Parliament – which was 2 March – making June 2 the last date the new Parliament must meet.

Perhaps most importantly, as in yesterday’s Island’s headline, “Dr. P. B. Jayasundara, Secretary to the President, has written to Mahinda Deshapriya, Chairman of the Election Commission, pointing out that the latter has failed to act according to the full provisions of Section 24 of the Parliamentary Elections Act and should have published another date for the general election as per Section 24 (3) of the Act.

Continue reading ‘“I believe the President is duty-bound to heed our advice as contained in our letters of 31 March and 1 April 2020” – Elections Commissioner Dr. Ratnajeevan Hoole Responds to President’s Secretary Dr. P.B.Jayasundara’ »

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressing his concern that the country could be headed for a public health disaster and economic catastrophe unless it adapts to the new ground realities as it battles the COVID-19 crisis.

In the letter titled ‘COVID- 19 Crisis: A Need to Change Direction,’ the former Speaker said while the restrictions on public movement imposed by the Government had helped to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and the health services, Armed Forces and Police had performed admirably in providing essential services to the people, there was the need for the country to adapt to the new ground realities. Towards this end he has made several observations and recommendations that have been placed before him by public health experts and other professionals.

Jayasuriya pointed out six areas on which the authorities would need to focus on in their coronavirus control programs. These include dealing with criminalisation and stigmatisation of victims, eradication versus containment, testing, employment, economic recovery and curfew mitigation.

Following is the full text of the letter:

While the restrictions on public movement imposed by the Government have helped to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and the health services, Armed Forces and Police have performed admirably in providing essential services to the people, I am increasingly concerned that a public health disaster and economic catastrophe will ensue unless the country adapts to the new ground realities.

With a view to minimising loss of life and damage to the economy, it is my duty to bring to your urgent attention the following observations and recommendations placed before me by public health experts and other professionals.

Continue reading ‘Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya writes to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Expressing Concern that the country could be headed for a public health disaster and economic catastrophe unless it adapts to the new ground realities in battling the COVID-19 crisis.’ »

Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera issued the following statement yesterday in response to a recent statement by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He also holds the vital portfolio of Finance, Economic and Policy Development. He was President of Sri Lanka for two terms and held many ministries during that time. And he has been a Member of Parliament since 1970.

Therefore, he has no excuse whatsoever for the grossly irresponsible and misleading statement he made yesterday. It is a base political statement, dressed up to conceal its mendacity, using the official letterhead of the Prime Minister.

In the interests of brevity, I will not respond to the entire statement. However, the claims made in relation to Parliament’s role in our Republic and its public finance function have a direct bearing on the health crisis, economic crisis, debt-crisis and looming constitutional crisis facing our nation today.

Continue reading ‘Govt Creating a Constitutional Crisis at a Time When Sri Lanka is Facing the Covid-19 Threat would be the most callous case of placing a family’s private political interest over the interests of the entire country-Mangala Samaraweera’ »

By

Ameer Faaiz and Nizam Kariapper

Sri Lanka is fighting hard, to the best of all its citizens’ abilities, to deal with the current global pandemic caused by the coronavirus. To its credit, Sri Lanka seems to be comparatively doing well. Let us hope that we in Sri Lanka could ensure a speedy end to the threat posed by the said Covid-19. However, there is a growing acceptance that Sri Lanka was tragically still late in focusing its full attention on the prevention and management of this pandemic. It is apparent that priorities were divided within the government vis-à-vis ensuring democratic governance and dealing with the health situation of the country caused by the pandemic. The President appears to have made decisions on the basis of political advise rather than public health advise. Despite introducing a wide range of severe social distancing measures, he did not take measures to prevent public servants from organising the election campaign or nominations on March 19,2020 for parliamentary elections.

Introduction

At this time of crisis, it is imperative that the government takes all necessary action. But that action must be on the basis of the rule-of-law. Otherwise, inadvertently, the public health response and economic relief may be delayed or affected. Second, as Asia’s oldest democracy, we have proved that we can meet any challenge – from natural disasters like the tsunami, insurgencies or terrorism – within the framework of a constitutional democracy.

When this unprecedented health and economic crisis is upon us, we must ensure that all arms of the government are fully operational to meet any eventuality. This is certainly no time for a constitutional crisis. There should not be any backsliding of democracy. Unfortunately, unless the President takes immediate corrective action, a constitutional crisis – the second in two years – will be added to these extremely grave health and economic crises.

Continue reading ‘If the Elections Commission fails to publish a new date for the poll falling between May 14, and June 1, then the Proclamation of the President Dissolving Parliament will become Void.’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

Take a moment to reflect on how your life has changed since the covid-19 virus brought our world to a standstill. Our income and economic future have become uncertain. Those of us with children must look after them at home due to school closures. Food, medicine and basic supplies are scarce as we remain cloistered in our homes. The only solace we can find is in the fact that if we stay at home and take the precautions prescribed by public health officials, we can keep our households safe from this deadly virus.

But there is a section of our society who has no such sense of security. The nearly 20,000 doctors and over 30,000 nurses of Sri Lanka have all the same problems we do in their households. It is in addition to these day to day challenges that we have called upon them to be our soldiers on the frontlines of a new kind of war. These medical professionals do not have the luxury of hiding from the virus as we must.

Instead, their job is to risk exposure to this new threat as they diagnose and treat their patients, knowing full well that around the world over 160 doctors, nurses, medical technicians and other healthcare workers have already been killed by standing in harm’s way to combat covid-19. Several times that number have been infected and had to worry about the risk their job was causing to their families.

Continue reading ‘Our Large Luxury Hotels Owned By Conglomerates Could Provide a Sanctuary to Our Over-worked Frontline Medical Personnel By Letting Them Stay In Rooms and Have Meals While the Fight Against the Covid-19 Threat Continues’ »

Dr. P. B. Jayasundara, Secretary to the President, has written to Mahinda Deshapriya, Chairman of the Election Commission, pointing out that the latter has failed to act according to the full provisions of Section 24 of the Parliamentary Election Act and should have published another date for the general election as per Section 24 (3) of the Act. In the circumstances, Dr. Jayasundera has informed Deshapriya, as instructed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, that there is no need for the matter to be referred to the Supreme Court.

Dr. P.B. Jayasundara sent the aforesaid letter, on 6 April, 2020, to Deshapriya in response to the letters sent by the Chairman of Election Commission, under the title ‘Parliamentary Election 2020 and Date of Summoning of the New Parliament’, dated 31.3.2020 and 01.04.2020.

Following is the full text of the letter sent by the Secretary to the President

Continue reading ‘President Rajapaksa Will Not Refer Matter Regarding Elections to the Supreme Court States Presidents Secretary PB Jayasundara in Strong Letter To Mahinda Deshapriya Reprimanding Election Commission Chairman For Failing to Act Fully Under Sec 24 of Parliamentary Elections Act’ »

A Lenten reflection by Bishop Duleep de Chickera

“Try again; fail again. Fail better” – Samuel Beckett

Last year at Easter, sudden acts of violence spread immense fear, injury and death, within a matter of moments. A small group of extremists was to become the face behind the horror. Some admirable interventions to prevent communal disintegration, were overshadowed by a rise of racism, overnight. When it was most necessary to do so, we failed to hold the country together.

Human security

Prominent among this mix of sane and shocking reactions, was the demand for physical security. This trend influenced the Presidential election that followed soon afterwards. While extremist violence appears to have been contained since then, little else has happened for the common good. Other urgent challenges and needs, down-played around election time, are now surfacing to convey that important as it is, physical security mostly, is far from adequate to bring fulfilment to the people of a modern state.

As the gap between those who clamoured for a leadership of physical security, and those who did not, narrows, the common yearning for a better and more integrated quality of life increases. The frustrations encountered by a minority government, repeatedly replayed as the cause of this hiatus, is not convincing. A political will strong enough to get some things done which should not have been done; such as several arbitrary appointments to high office, or leave some things undone, that should not have been left undone; such as the unresolved layers of corruption and the continuing vulnerability of the daily wage earner, tells a different story.

A few days from now another Easter Sunday will return, to be followed by a General Election. But between now and then and thereafter, a threat to human security, far more elusive and feared than the threat of terrorism, that has the whole world groping for solutions, must dominate our attention and make demands on our collective wisdom, energy and resources.

Continue reading ‘What the country needs just now is a national government. Such a move will announce that this is not the time to play party politics.’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

The COVID-19 coronavirus is a mutation of all hitherto known coronaviruses. It poses the greatest threat to those who are older; those who have lasted longest. Similarly, in the realm of ideas and ideology, many long-standing negative ideas in sections of Sri Lankan society seem to be mutating into something new and more virulently dangerous.

This mutating ideological coronavirus in Sri Lanka threatens our oldest political survivor: Democracy, that has struck deep roots and lasted on our island through a World War, civil wars, revolutions and counterrevolutions, assassinations, terrorism and foreign intervention, from 1931, the year of the exercise of universal adult suffrage a mere four years after its introduction in Britain.

Let us start with the least obviously deadly of the virus of ideas and ideology in circulation, the policy of strictly curbing imports on the officially stated grounds that local agriculture and industry must be encouraged. In the contemporary social context, local demand, however shrunken by the fall in purchasing power due to the corona crisis, cannot be met by strictly domestic production and supply of goods effected by a policy guillotine on imports.

Local production must be strengthened and expanded at an accelerated pace, not only because it is intrinsically positive to have a more balanced economy but because it is imperative in the current context of a global pandemic. But local production be it agrarian or industrial, requires imported inputs, while a middle-class society in an MDG country, cannot sustain itself without imported consumer goods including essentials. The 5% growth rate that we sustained throughout the wars years was possible only because of the resilience and dynamism of the Open Economy.

Why this tectonic shift? There could be one of two reasons, or both. The first is there’s a looming foreign exchange crunch. If this is the reason, just say it, instead of hailing the virtues of boosting local production through an imports quasi-lockdown.

Continue reading ‘If the Country Abandons the Democratic Path it will lose International Legitimacy and be an Easy Target of Universal Jurisdiction and Unilateral Snctions.’ »

By

Amartya Sen

(The writer, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and professor of economics and philosophy at Harvard University)

We have reason to take pride in the fact that India is the largest democracy in the world, and also the oldest in the developing world. Aside from giving everyone a voice, democracy provides many practical benefits for us. We can, however, ask whether we are making good use of it now when the country, facing a gigantic health crisis, needs it most.

Amartya Sen

First a bit of history. As the British Raj ended, the newly established democracy in India started bearing practical fruits straightway. Famines, which were a persistent occurrence throughout the history of authoritarian British rule, stopped abruptly with the establishment of a democratic India. The last famine, the Bengal famine of 1943, which I witnessed as a child just before Independence, marked the end of colonial rule. India has had no famine since then, and the ones that threatened to emerge in the early decades after Independence were firmly quashed.

How did this happen? Democracy gives very strong incentives to the government to work hard to prevent famines. The government has to respond promptly to people’s needs because of a combination of public discussion and elections. However, elections alone could not do it. Indeed, democracy is never understandable only as a system of free elections, which are intermittent, often with a big gap between one and the next, and which can be swayed by the excitement that the immediate political context generates. For example, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was trailing badly in the polls before the Falklands War in 1982, got a huge bump from the war (as ruling governments often do) and comfortably won the general elections that followed, in 1983.

Continue reading ‘Overcoming a Pandemic may look like Fighting a war, but the real need is far from that’ »

By Asanga Welikala and Suren Fernando

When a grave crisis like the coronavirus pandemic occurs, citizens expect the Government to respond swiftly, effectively, and efficiently to protect the public and mitigate the consequences. For this, they also readily recognise that the Government will need greater powers than in normal times. In a constitutional democracy like Sri Lanka, however, there is a further expectation that the cure must not be worse than the complaint.

The Governmental response itself must not have the effect of eroding fundamental freedoms any more than is necessary, proportionate, and permitted by law. This is why our Constitution, like the constitutions of other democracies, anticipates the occurrence of public emergencies and lays down legal rules to govern those exceptional situations. The Government therefore has a constitutional obligation of the highest order that it will act according to, and within the authority of, the applicable law in every one of its actions in dealing with the crisis. Our Constitution does not give any excuse for any Executive act that is without a legal basis.

It is because these matters are comprehensively provided for in the supreme law of the land that citizens can insist that the Government must act within the Constitution when dealing with the crisis. While the Constitution is certainly not a suicide pact that cripples the Government from doing what it must to protect the public, it is also not a blank cheque that gives the Government untrammelled power.

The Constitution, rather, provides for a careful balance between the competing aims of security and freedom. It does so by setting out a legal framework that meets the requirements of efficiency (by equipping the Government with additional powers), as well as the requirements of democracy (by expressly setting out how, and to what extent, democratic freedoms can be restricted under the law).

It is this idea of balance that is crucial to any discussion about security and freedom in a democracy. It is what protects both our short-term physical wellbeing and safety, and the long-term quality of our life based on the values of democracy. It is also the means by which we, as rational citizens, can assess the performance of our Government during this crisis.

In short, the extent to which we can see the Government acting efficiently while remaining within the clear authority and rules established by the Constitution and other relevant laws, is the measure of success. If the appropriate balance is not struck, then we risk harming our democracy and encouraging authoritarianism. Several weeks into the coronavirus crisis, it does not appear that the Government is getting this balance right.

Continue reading ‘If Govt Does Not Strike Correct Balance Between Acting Efficiently and Abiding by Constitutional Norms in Coping With Coronavirus Crisis, Country May Backslide From Democracy to Authoritarianism’ »

(Text of Statement by the Former Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera)

For the period of January 01, 2020 to April 02, 2020, the Government has borrowed Rs. 650.15 billion through Sri Lanka Development Bonds, a dollar-loan from the China Development Bank and primary auctions of Treasury bills and Treasury bonds. Furthermore, Central Bank holdings of Government securities and other data on Central Bank open-market-operations suggest significant direct monetary financing of the deficit. This will add to the sum of government borrowings.

The borrowing limit, approved by a resolution of Parliament on 23 October 2019 for the period 1 January 2020 to 30 April 2020, is Rs. 721 billion. Last year, the Treasury issued Rs. 194 billion in bills and bonds between 3 April 2019 and 30 April 2019. Therefore, it is almost certain that a breach of the borrowing limit is imminent.

Continue reading ‘Ex-Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera Urges Govt to Immediately Move a Resolution in Parliament to Responsibly Increase the Borrowing Limit and Assures the Entire Parliament will Support such a Resolution.’ »

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday appealed to Sri Lankans to put aside their differences and come together to fight the common enemy of COVID-19 and insisted that even though public finance was “unfavourable”, the Government will continue to support businesses and vulnerable communities.

Addressing the nation, the Prime Minister appealed to the masses not to see the virus and the situation it has created from an ethnic perspective, and to refrain from creating further divisions.

“This is not the time to think on ethnic or religious lines. This is not the time to fulfill the special wants or traditional practices of a specific ethnicity or religion. We should have only one enemy at this time, and that enemy is known as the coronavirus. Whatever race or religion we belong to, this is the reality we all have to come to terms with,” Rajapaksa said.

The Government has not taken any decision, at any time, on political, ethnic, or religious lines, and all political party leaders have come forward enthusiastically to support the Government in its fight against COVID-19, he insisted.

Continue reading ‘“People lived in refugee camps for 20-30 years due to the war. Staying inside your home for the sake of the country is not that difficult” – Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Addresses Nation.’ »

Six Chair Professors of Medicine (and specialist physicians) have expressed their opinion on an exit strategy from the current Covid-19 lockdown, recommending the current level of restriction should continue for now and be reviewed after the New Year among others.

Prof. Janaka de Silva (University of Kelaniya), Prof. Sarath Lekamwasam(University of Ruhuna) Prof. SAM Kularatne (University of Peradeniya), Prof. Sisira Siribaddana (Rajarata University ), Prof Saroj Jayasinghe (University of Colombo), Prof. Kamani Wanigasuriya (University of Sri Jayewardenepura) have written a letter to Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, Chairman of the Covid-19 National Task Force and Dr Anil Jasinghe, Director General of Health Services, expressing their opinion with some recommendations.

“The current level of restriction should continue for now and be reviewed after the [Sinahala and Tamil] New Year. If the level of transmission is not high as evidenced by the daily number of new cases and a slow doubling time of cumulative cases, the curfew can be relaxed in stages, district-wise (e.g. one district per province on given days of the week). The chaos that occurred on Tuesday 24 March, when curfew was lifted for just a few hours, should not be allowed to recur. However, areas with high numbers of patients could be cordoned off and kept under stricter control measures or lockdowns,” says the letter.

Full text of the letter:

Continue reading ‘Six Professors of Medicine at Six Sri Lankan Universities Propose Phased-out Strategy from Lockdown Curfews Following Review of Prevailing Situation After the Traditional April New Year.’ »

Vishvanath

Death has been dubbed ‘the great leveller’. This sobriquet fits, in that the Grim Reaper does not discriminate against anyone.

Coronavirus may also be considered a great leveller of sorts, for it infects all humans indiscriminately and instils fear in rulers and plebs alike. Prince Albert II of Monaco has been afflicted with coronavirus. Queen Elizabeth has rushed to her Windsor Castle for self-isolation on account of the COVID-19 spread in Britain. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie, has tested positive for coronavirus, which has also not spared the glitterati; Hollywood superstar, Tom Hanks, and his wife are also down with the virus. So has British Health Minister Nadine Dories. Whether British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, too, has contracted the diseases, is not yet known, as he has not been tested.

The continent-hopping coronavirus has rendered manmade, frantically guarded geographical boundaries meaningless. It has already spread to about 169 countries, in the Global North and the Global South alike, afflicted about 309,000 people and left more than 13,000 dead. In Sri Lanka, the number of infections is 80, and counting. A curfew has been imposed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Continue reading ‘One Virus vs The Whole World: Socio-economic Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

When Sri Lanka’s acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) instructed all police officers to ‘take legal action against those who publish posts on social media criticising government officials and obstructing their duties’ as reported on 1st April 2020, one might have been forgiven for speculating that this was grim humor befitting the day of all fools in question.

Losing our liberties along with covid-19?

But that fleeting impression was soon dispelled with. It appeared that the police was deadly serious. And so, in midst of the unprecedented covid-19 health emergency gripping the nation, it seems as if we are fairly and squarely on the path of losing our liberties as well, in the process. Of course, this advice by the acting IGP flies in the face of established judicial precedents for the past three decades or more. Even at the worst of conflict which plagued this country, such casual and vague directions ‘not to criticise’ were abstained from by state officers.

There was good reason for doing so. As the Supreme Court has warned umpteen times, ‘ Freedom of speech and expression includes the right to fairly and within reasonable limits criticise a Government. This has been widely recognised in civilized jurisdictions as a natural right inherent in the status of a free citizen. The people have a right to be informed of public issues through sources outside and independent of the Government’ (Mohottige and others v Gunatilleke and others, 1992).

The Court, in this case, as well as several others which are immediately familiar to constitutional law practitioners, however cautioned that this freedom ‘can be restrained where its exercise is intended to or has a tendency to undermine the security of the state or public order, or incite feelings of disaffection or ill will against the State or bring the Government into hatred or ridicule, etc.’ Put in another way, as was observed in the popularly known Jana Ghosha case (1993), “the right to support or to criticize Governments and political parties, policies and programmes is fundamental to the democratic way of life, and…cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all civil and political institutions.”

Continue reading ‘Are these Viyath Maga ‘Technocrats’ Advising the ‘Technocratic’ Presidency of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa On Tackling the Covid-19 Pandemic Living in a Parallel Universe?’ »

By

Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Head of the Special Presidential Task Force on Essential Services, Basil Rajapaksa said that today we are at the most critical and decisive juncture compared to the challenges we faced in the past. If we don’t successfully launch our battle to combat the coronavirus, we would have to face serious repercussions.

Rajapaksa in a recent interview with the Derana360 program said that at this juncture, the great challenge before us is to protect the senior citizens and the children. He said when we look at history, we have been able to overcome various challenges faced by us from time to time.

However, the present challenge is different from all those past challenges. The Task Force Head said he believes the President, Prime Minister and the Government in collaboration with the people and all sectors would be able to accomplish this task.

“Even I got the opportunity to participate in this program due to the sacrifice and joint effort made by all those who have engaged in the health sector, the tri-forces and the Police to combat the coronavirus pandemic. When even world super powers have failed to combat this disease, I would like to extend my gratitude to the health sector and the tri- forces in their immense sacrifice. That is why the President set up the Presidential Task Force and appointed me as the Head to coordinate these activities.”

Earlier, the tri-forces, Police and the Civil Defence Force launched a humanitarian operation to rescue the country from the clutches of terrorism.

As a result, several issues arose. For example, when the A9 Road was closed and no permission granted to transport goods via sea, the people in the Jaffna peninsula were trapped there. At that time too, special intervention was made by us to reduce the pressure exerted on the security forces.

Continue reading ‘“I Have Temporarily Closed my Political Office and Suspended my Political Activities. Now, as The President’s Special Envoy and Head of the Presidential task Force, I act as a Non-political Person” – Basil Rajapaksa’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka has been under curfew for over a fortnight. The near-total lockdown and the over 10,000 violators that police have arrested have ensured that almost everyone stays indoors.

Depending on the cash left in hand or their bank balance — in case of those making card payments — and social networks, some have been managing — either by buying from the trucks sporadically selling essentials in different neighbourhoods, or placing online orders, or tapping friends with curfew passes.

For many of them, especially families with children, older people and pets, the insecurity about diminishing supplies is real. As is their general anxiety about a once-distant virus now having become a threat right outside their doorsteps. The risk is here and now.

Continue reading ‘“There are Trucks Going Around with some Supplies but most Estate Worker Families Don’t have cash to buy Essentials”’ »

By

Nimal Sanderatne

There are increasing concerns in food security during this prolonged period of an economic shutdown and island-wide curfew. Ensuring the availability and accessibility of at least minimum food requirements is of utmost importance during these days of battling the coronavirus.

Formidable task

To the credit of the Government, many efforts are being made to ensure people’s basic food requirements. Nevertheless, a proportion of the population would not have had adequate minimum food owing to the curfew, panic buying, demand for food exceeding the available food stocks and inadequate income to obtain food. Meeting the necessary food requirements is a formidable task during the current economic disruption and shutdown and prolonged island-wide curfew.

Food security

Ensuring the availability and accessibility of at least the minimum food requirements of people is crucial during this period. Inevitably, the current economic conditions and the continuation of the curfew are increasing food security concerns. Increasing unemployment, low income and the inaccessibility to available food supplies could increase the number of people with inadequate basic food requirements.

Continue reading ‘Ensuring Availability and Accessibility to Minimum Food Requirements During Economic Lockdown and Prolonged Curfew is of the Utmost Importance’ »

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake

From history, literature, nursery rhymes, and religious tales we are used to various trios who have brought good memories.

The Three Musketeers is an unforgettable cinematic tale. We also know of the Three Stooges, the Three Amigos and the Three Blind Mice. When Christmas draws near we are reminded of the ‘Raja Thun Kattiya’ the three kings who came to worship the Child Jesus in Bethlehem.

There is a new trio in Sri Lanka that has all the promise of standing out in the political saga that will be written once this epidemic crisis is over. This is the ‘Corona Bala Kattiya’ that is born amidst the fight against the coronavirus.

Continue reading ‘“Raja Thun Kattiya” Consisting of Mahinda,Gotabaya and Basil Fast Making Progress During the Coronavirus Pandemic Phase as the “Corona Bala Kattiya” Combatting Covid-19 Threat’ »

By

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

The world has been attacked by the most widely spread pandemic the world has ever experienced. It has had seismic effects on the entire world – almost no country has been spared from its terrifying repercussions.

Via: Facebook/Discovery

We humans prided ourselves that we had conquered Mother Nature. We indiscriminately destroyed her bountiful forests, thereby destroying large numbers of wildlife or creating unnatural conditions in which humans were called upon to live in close proximity with wild animals. We heartlessly polluted her rivers. Lakes and seas and the air that we breathe in the name of increased GDP and economic growth rates, regardless of the long-term dangers of all living beings.

We now find that we are knocked senseless by one single virus carried to us by a humble bat. The entire world has been forced into lockdown. We are only beginning to comprehend the possible outcome of this global viral attack on the national and global economy. Not only would we have to re-think the whole paradigm of development, our concept of life and how we live it will change radically.

Continue reading ‘A Single Virus and a Humble Animal Send the Whole World Into Lockdown’ »

By

Col R Hariharan

The COVID-19 pandemic has derailed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s carefully crafted plan to hold the parliamentary elections on April 25 to win two-thirds majority in parliament elections to repeal 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution which curbed presidential powers. In the face of the pandemic threat, the Election Commission (EC) was left with no other option but to indefinitely postpone the election, though it took the decision only on March 19 after deadline for filing nominations ended. The government which had ordered the closure of the schools a week earlier, considered it politically expedient to go ahead with the election and did not agree to postpone it.

The President and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had repeatedly vowed to do away with the 19A. After President Gotabaya’s victory, the chances of the SLPP and its allies winning two-thirds majority brightened after power struggle between the main opposition United National Party (UNP)-leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Deputy leader Sajith Premadasa wrecked the UNP-led coalition. After peace parleys failed, Premadasa broke ranks and filed his nomination on the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) front ticket. He is supported by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Jathika Hela Urumaya and the National Democratic Front.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has grown into a major existential threat has played havoc with the peoples’ normal life. So fighting the pandemic has become the urgent national priority for the President. The virus threat has skewed President Gotabaya’s political pitch. Moreover, its fall out has become a major challenge for him. The voters are more likely to judge President Gotabaya and SLPP upon how effectively the government handles the virus threat, rather than the past record of Rajapaksas in eliminating the LTTE threat.

Continue reading ‘What Gotabaya Rajapaksa Proposes, Coronavirus Pandemic Disposes’ »

By

Gehan Gunatilleke

Sri Lanka’s police has just announced that it would arrest those who disseminate false or disparaging statements about government officials.
Why is this announcement incredibly dangerous?

In the midst of the current Covid19 crisis, governments will ask individuals to make great sacrifices to prevent, detect, contain, and cure the deadly virus. While the crisis continues, and the threat of a truly catastrophic pandemic increases with each day, the temptation and pressure to surrender more of our freedom in exchange for protection, stability and care is inevitable. But where this exchange may leave liberal democratic societies in the aftermath of the crisis may not be fully grasped as yet.

The post-Covid19 world we inherit may be profoundly different in many ways, including in the way it views and values liberty. In this short reflection, I focus on the conceptual features of individual liberty, and the risk this pandemic poses to it.

I propose that in order to avoid governmental overreach, the current negotiation between individuals and their governments must carefully differentiate between the types of liberties that may be limited and those that may not.

Continue reading ‘An Individual owes no Conceivable Duty to Others to Refrain from Criticising a Government During this “Corona” Crisis Even if such Criticism Undermines Confidence in the Government.’ »

By

Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

This space is named the ‘Lanka Guardian column’. The title Lanka Guardian is from the two-decades-defunct magazine of which my father was Founder-Editor. I was Assistant Editor, Associate Editor and (for two years) Editor of that once-celebrated fortnightly journal.

I realised that the conjuncture in which I was commencing this new column in February 2020 upon (collective) recall from Moscow where I served as Ambassador, is rather reminiscent of that in which Mervyn de Silva chose to launch the Lanka Guardian on 1 May 1978, and especially evocative of what Kumari Jayawardena judged “the best…the first ten years of the LG” (as it was dubbed by readers).

Last week, an Army Staff Sergeant found guilty by the Colombo High Court and the Supreme Court (in a unanimous verdict by a five-judge bench headed by the CJ), of the evil atrocity of murdering unarmed civilians in captivity including three boys aged 15, 13, and most cruel of all, five, by slitting their throats after torture (some bodies were dismembered), was pardoned by the President in the midst of the COVID-19 lockdown. The move was hailed by those including a religious figure (on video) who had long campaigned for his release as a “war hero”.

In a colourful set of slides dated 30 March 2020, Gevindu Cumaratunga, longstanding Alt-Right ideologue, Chairman of the Yuthukama national organisation, Editor, ‘Yuthukama’, and SLPP National List nominee whose allegedly vanguard, catalytic ideological contribution to the MR Movement’s speedy revival in 2015 was publicly felicitated by the SLPP chairperson recently, poses the questions:

“Mass murderers? Barbaric child killers? Mass murder by the courts?” and follows up with “Barbaric child slayers? When little children are used for war, intelligence gathering and covering up intelligence gathering and are slain as a result, who are the real child-slayers?… Mass murder by the courts? Who can say that the court verdicts of the past five years were not political ones? Who can say that these verdicts saying our Army committed war crimes were not delivered in accordance with the Geneva betrayal? Were the honourable courts a weapon of mass murderers?… Who can say that the previous wicked government did not tempt the honourable judges into becoming mass murderers?” (www.yuthukama.com, 30 March 2020)

Continue reading ‘What could possibly exonerate or extenuate the quite deliberate cutting of the throat of a five-year-old child? If there is to remain even the most basic sense of right and wrong, good and evil, in State, society and leadership, should the Supreme Court’s unanimous verdict have been overthrown?’ »

By Wasantha Rupasinghe

The sudden, disorganized nationwide three-week shutdown announced by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi starting at midnight March 24 is causing immense hardship, especially for hundreds of millions of workers and rural toilers, manifestly undermining efforts to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

For weeks, Indian authorities, including Modi himself, had boasted that India had the coronavirus pandemic firmly under control. They based this claim on the relatively small number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, blithely ignoring medical experts who warned that the small infection rate was in all likelihood a function of the tiny number of tests administered.

Then last Tuesday evening, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government abruptly shifted gears. Having wasted two precious months, during which they had focused India’s anti-coronavirus efforts almost entirely on bans on entrants from foreign countries, Modi announced an unprecedented shutdown.

Continue reading ‘Nation-wide Shutdown and Curfew For Three Weeks Announced Sudenly By Indian Premier Narendra Modi Causes Immense Hardship to Millions of Urban Workers, Rural Toilers, Migrants and Poorer Sections of Society’ »

The United National Party (UNP) and key Officials of the Government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had cordial discussions on measures taken to counter the COVID-19 crisis yesterday, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said in a statement.

The meeting, which lasted about two hours, was held at the Presidential Secretariat and was presided over by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The President had explained extensively the steps the Government had taken to identify COVID-19 patients, and expressed optimism that the situation had been kept under control due to the bulk of those diagnosed being Sri Lankans who had returned from a different country and had been sent to quarantine centres, or who had been identified as having close contact with those diagnosed and promptly isolated.

During the discussion, Presidential Task Force on Continuous Supply, Operation and Coordination of Essential Services head Basil Rajapaksa had explained in detail the multiple steps taken by the Government to counter COVID-19 and provide support to the public. The need to keep disruption to everyday life to a minimum was touched upon by him. Basil Rajapaksa spoke of steps taken to provide assistance to Samurdhi beneficiaries and public servants, as well as other vulnerable communities, the statement said.

Continue reading ‘United National Party Leaders and key Ministers of the Govt led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Hold cordial discussions on measures taken to counter the COVID-19 crisis’ »

(Text of a Letter Sent by the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa)

H.E. Gotabaya Rajapaksa
President of the Republic of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1

Your Excellency,

Granting of a Presidential Pardon to Former Army Corporal Sunil Ratnayake

The Human Rights Commissions of Sri Lanka expresses its deep concern on the reported grant of a Presidential Pardon to Corporal Sunil Ratnayake who was convicted of eight counts of murder by a Trialat-Bar and which conviction was subsequently confirmed by a unanimous judgment of a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on 24 April 2019 (SC TAB 1/2016).

We are deeply concerned due both to the serious nature of the charges brought by the Hon. Attorney – General against Mr. Ratnayaka, which included the killing of three children, and the strength of the Supreme Court judgment which upheld the conviction.

Continue reading ‘“Granting of a presidential pardon to a person convicted of such a heinous offence and whose conviction was upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court sends a negative message that reinforces allegations of impunity and lack of justice for victims of violations in Sri Lanka”- Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka’ »

Transparency International Sri Lanka has called upon the government to make public the following documents as regards the presidential pardon granted to the convict in the case of the Mirusuvil massacre.

Presidential Secretariat must make the following documents public –

Report of the Trial Judge
Advice of the Attorney General
Recommendation of the Justice Minister

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) calls on the Presidential Secretariat to publicly disclose all relevant documents in the case of the presidential pardon afforded to the convict in the case of the Mirusuvil Massacre of December 2000.

Continue reading ‘Transparency International of Sri Lanka Wants Presidential Secretariat to Disclose the TrialJudge Report, Attorney -General Advice and Justice Ministry Recommendation Pertaining to the Presidential Pardon Afforded to The Mirusuvil Massacre Convict’ »

Former Western Province Governor and leader of the National Unity Alliance, Azath S Salley, has requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to inquire into the circumstances under which a Muslim victim of coronavirus was cremated,contrary to specific instructions issued by the government.

The following is the text of Salley’s letter to the President:

“The second death in Sri Lanka, from Covid-19, was a Sri Lanka Muslim patient. According to the circular that was amended and approved by the President of Sri Lanka, with the recommendation of WHO and other health organizations, it was recommended that in-line with the religious and cultural sentiments of the Muslim people, any victim who adheres to such a belief will be provided with the right of burial, instead of cremation; with certain guidelines.

Continue reading ‘Ex-Western Province Governor Azath Salley Writes to President Rajapaksa Urging Inquiry Into Incident Where Muslim Victim of Covid-19 Was Cremated Instead of Burial Accirding to Islamic Religious Sentiments’ »

By

S.Ratnajeevan H.Hoole

The President on March 2, 2020 by Gazette Extraordinary No. 2165/8 legitimately dissolved Parliament from midnight and fixed April 25, 2020 as the date for the General Election.

While the proclamation was legal, it was poorly thought out because it was made well after the COVID-19 outbreak had begun. Passengers at many international airports like Kuwait were being tested for fever before letting them enter, but our government seemed hell-bent on holding elections.

Our Senior Regional Management Staff met the Commission at our Secretariat on March 11 and told us that April 25 was just too soon. There was insufficient slack time to recover from problems. They said that while our staff would come, other government staff cannot be prevented from taking leave during the local New Year and Vesak. They pleaded with us to advise the government to move the election date back. But Chairman Deshapriya, who has many conversations with the government in the absence of the other two members, was adamant.

On March 16 our Senior Staff returned. Many people whose services are usually commandeered by us for election work had not turned up on Monday (March 16) after the government declared it a holiday because of COVID-19. They pleaded with us to tell the government to move the dates back. Commission Member Nalin Abeysekere and I agreed, but Member/Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya refused. He argued that if we postponed elections the people would panic just as they had panicked when that day, Monday, had been declared a holiday for COVID-19.

After much argument on March 16, it was agreed that April 25 for the poll was impossible, but that the Commission had no power to postpone nominations. Only the President could do that by cancelling his own gazette announcement, but Mr. Deshapriya was insisting that April 25 is possible. It seemed that he was afraid to disagree with the President.

Continue reading ‘Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya was Adamant That Elections Should be Held on April 25th Without Being Put Off Because He Seemed Afraid to Disagree With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’ »

By Asanga Welikala and Suren Fernando

The potentially major economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic the world over reminds us that, even in more normal times, the raising and spending of public money is a matter that has serious constitutional implications in democracies. Every constitutional democracy recognises that the Executive leads in a time of crisis, but every constitutional democracy also steadfastly holds that it is the Legislature that controls public money.

There are two central principles that ensure the accountability at the heart of the democratic ideal. The first is that the Executive cannot raise or spend a cent of public money without the prior approval of the Legislature. Thus, both the policies of the Government that involve the expenditure of public funds, and the plans and laws for imposing the taxes through which those moneys are raised, must first be approved by Parliament.

Parliamentary approval is usually signified by the annual Appropriation Act, although other legislation and procedures also provide a legal basis for Government expenditure. The second principle, which flows from the first, is that the Legislature must have the power to oversee public spending, and to ensure that the Executive adheres to the taxing and spending plans that the Legislature has approved.

Both these critical principles are clearly reflected in the Constitution of Sri Lanka (see Articles 148-152), underpinning the whole framework of the relationship between the Executive and Parliament in ensuring our system of democratic accountability. There are, however, limited exceptions.

Continue reading ‘Public finance in times of crisis: The constitutional functions of President and Parliament’ »

The Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) yesterday said it would challenge the President’s decision to release a convicted murderer by way of a Presidential pardon in the Supreme Court and said such actions called into question the manner in which 34 (1) of the Constitution was being used by an individual arbitrarily without proper review.

CPRP Chairman Attorney-at- Law Senaka Perera said the ad hoc manner in which Presidential pardons were granted in the country without any form of transparency undermined the Judiciary as well as people’s faith in the judicial system.

Former Army Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake, who was sentenced to death for the murder of eight Tamil Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in December 2000, was granted a Presidential pardon on Thursday.

Continue reading ‘Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) to Challenge in the Supreme Court the Arbitrary Decision by President Gotabaya to Release Convicted Murderer Sunil Ratnayake by way of a Presidential Pardon’ »

By Dr Ravi P. Rannan-Eliya

The current lock-down – not only here but affecting two billion people around the world – should make it clear to everyone how serious COVID-19 is. What many still do not appreciate is that closing our ports and even a one month lockdown will not make the problem go away.

Let me be clear first about the good news – we appear on track to control the current surge in cases. So far almost all cases are linked to foreign arrivals, and there is little or no community transmission in Sri Lanka.

When we get through this lockdown, life will not return to normal for at least the next 12 months. Our political leaders need to explain this, to prepare everyone for a long slog. To adapt the words of Winston Churchill at a similar moment, defeating the current surge would not be the end. It would not even be the beginning of the end. But it might be, perhaps, the end of the beginning. In the absence of any effort to trust the public with what the long term strategy is, I provide an expert assessment of prospects.

There are five key facts you need to know to understand the future.

Continue reading ‘The COVID -19 Crisis Will Not Be Over Soon: Sri Lankan Political Leaders Need to Explain This to Our People and Prepare Every One For the Long Haul.’ »

(Text of statement signed by 22 organisations across the country, condemning the release of convicted death row prisoner and mass murderer, former Army Staff Sergeant R. M. Sunil Rathnayake, by way of a Presidential Pardon)

On March 26, 2020, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa granted a presidential pardon and released convicted death row prisoner and mass murderer, former Army Staff Sergeant R. M. Sunil Rathnayake. While the country is on lockdown due to COVID-19, the President has seized this opportunity to deal a lethal blow to the rule of law to show that military perpetrators of heinous crimes will be given cover at the highest level despite the rulings of the Supreme Court the highest court in our land. In pardoning Ratnayake, the President has given his blessing to a cold-blooded killer who murdered a five-year-old child and seven other innocent civilians.

The story of the civilian murders in Mirusuvil goes back to twenty years – on December 19 2000, nine Tamils civilians – including three teenagers and a five-year old child – travelled from Udipiddy to Mirusuvil, a village 16 miles from Jaffna town, in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. These persons were among those displaced from Mirusuvil due to the civil war who were resettled in a camp at Udupitty. Displaced family members used to obtain permission from the Sri Lankan Army to visit their homes. But on this day, those who visited their village never returned. It soon emerged that eight of the nine were killed by the Sri Lankan Army.

Continue reading ‘Text of statement signed by 22 organisations across the country, condemning the release of convicted death row prisoner and mass murderer, former Army Staff Sergeant R. M. Sunil Rathnayake, by way of a Presidential Pardon.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

“How did you Kashmiris survive the lockdown for six months?” Almost everyone who met or called Nurat Maqbool after the ‘Janata Curfew’ last Sunday asked her, according to an account she wrote in the ‘Lockdown Journal’, an online platform launched by a Colombo-based editor-writer to record stories of the lockdown worldwide in the time of the COVID-19 crisis.

Kashmiris have seen lockdowns “every other week for the last three decades”. But this one, which she experienced in Bengaluru, was not the same. “The lockdown was there [in Kashmir] but it was for a small area and the rest of the world was happy and thriving. Sometimes all of that gives you hope that things will be better for you as well. But in the lockdown of the world, there is no escape,” she wrote on March 22 in the journal.

The journal [lockdownjournal.com], launched by Sunila Galappatti, went live on March 20, and has over 30 entries so far, including from the U.K., India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Portugal, Germany, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Author Sunila Galappati Launches an Online Journal to Collate Stories about Life During the “Coronavirus” Lockdown; Over 30 Entries so Far From Many Countries Including U.K., India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Portugal, Germany, Sri Lanka and Australia.’ »

(Text of Editorial Appearing in “The Hindu” of March 30 2020 Under the Heading “Political pardon: On Sri Lankan soldier’s release”)

The grant of presidential pardon, on Thursday, to a Sri Lankan soldier on death row for murdering eight Tamil villagers has sparked justified outrage among those who have been demanding justice from the state for past crimes.

Far from helping the cause of accountability for war-time atrocities, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has gone the other way to nullify a rare instance of justice being ensured by Sri Lanka’s judicial system.

Continue reading ‘“Freeing a soldier convicted for massacre dashes hopes for accountability in Sri Lanka” – The Hindu’ »

The body of Sri Lanka’s first coronavirus victim, Elangampedige Dharmasiri Janananda, was cremated at the Kotikawatta crematorium yesterday afternoon. The 60-year-old man was a resident of Marawila. He was undergoing treatment at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, at the time of his death.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s First Coronavirus Victim’s Body Cremated at Kotikawatte Crematorium Under Supervision of Judicial Medical Officer and Public Health Inspectors in Accordance with International Health Requirements’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

Nations are best tested in times of crisis. This is when our humanity should rise over self-interest and when all differences should be put aside. This is when intellect, indefatigable energy, absolute resoluteness and the courage and conviction to stand up and be counted all come together. This is when populations are united into nations. This is when an aggregate of individuals become a community. This is the moment of the team.

In other words, Covid-19 has created a crisis which has to be dealt with collectively or not at all. When an infected person conceals the fact, it is criminal. When individuals act on their own steam, even with the best of intentions, it can make matters worse. Needless to say when anyone tries to make capital out of a crisis it is absolutely disgraceful, whether it is someone trying to exploit vulnerability to make a quick buck or a politician trying to get an edge over rivals.

At times like this it is tempting for the Opposition to complain that what needs to be done is not being done, go into a prescriptive mode and even rant and rave. But this is not the time to quibble over trivialities. There’s a difference between politically motivated tirades and constructive criticism. The opposition needs to remain supportive of the government until the crisis has passed.

Continue reading ‘Covid-19 does not recognize party color, ethnicity, race, ideology, age, gender, sexual preferences or religious faith.Covid-19 is our COMMON ENEMY.’ »

By

Darini Rajasingham Senanayake

Them belly full but we hungry
A hungry mob is an angry mob
A rain a-fall but the dirt, it tough
A pot a-cook but the food no ‘nough

— Bob Marley and the Wailers

The Government of Sri Lanka has yet to respond effectively, rationally, and in a manner that balances the physical and mental well-being of citizens, their livelihoods, and the economy, as well as, democratic rights such as to information, with available in-country data on Covid 19.

An indefinite and economically crippling curfew, now in its 8th day, has been imposed on the entire country and citizenry, indiscriminately, with little information provided and less logic, if the data and numbers of Covid 19 cases in the island nation are an indication.

In a country of 22 million, there have been 109 cases with many recoveries and NO deaths – so far – due to the superb efforts of frontline health workers. Many of the Covid 19 cases in Sri Lanka were tourists and those returned from abroad. Yet unlike in badly Covid 19 hit UK or the US where despite the crisis, food and grocery stores were open and people encouraged and able to go out for daily exercise, Sri Lankan citizens are under continuous curfew.

The softer notion of “social distance” is less used. Those who venture out for food or exercise – which may also boost their immune systems to withstand the virus- risk arrest and/ or their vehicles being confiscated in Sri Lanka. Super markets and corner shops where people may buy food have been shut indefinitely, with many unsure where their next meal may come from. Only the State Pharmacies, Osu Salas, are open at this time, although transmission of the Covid 19 virus appears relatively low and the illness appears to mutate to relatively mild in hot and humid Sri Lanka, similar to data from other tropical regions of the world. Those who may have colds and coughs meanwhile fear stigma

Continue reading ‘After Corona and Curfew: A Soft Landing, ‘Herd Immunity’ and an Easter Memorial’ »

By Maria Abi-Habib and Dharisha Bastians

Sri Lanka’s president has pardoned a soldier who was sentenced to death for killing eight civilians during the country’s civil war, leading to accusations that the government was taking advantage of the chaos from the coronavirus pandemic to free a wartime ally accused of atrocities.

The pardon reverses one of the very few convictions from the 26-year civil war, during which dozens of militants and military officers were accused of war crimes. The pardoned soldier, former Staff Sgt. Sunil Ratnayake, was sentenced in 2015 for blindfolding eight civilians from the Tamil ethnic group, slitting their throats and dumping their bodies into a sewer in 2000. Three of the victims were children.

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Who is Himself Accused of Ordering Alleged War Crimes Instructs Justice Ministry To Release Soldier Convicted Over Murder of Eight Tamil Civilians’ »

By

Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

A global health pandemic is not the time for political upmanship. It is also the worst time to engage in fragrant violations of justice in the exploitative belief that the uproar therein would be muted when the citizenry is in survivalist mode. At any point, this would be abhorrent but to do so during a pandemic speaks to a special kind of contempt towards the Rule of Law.

Classic examples of criminal foolishness

On both these counts, this Presidency and this Government needs to be held to account by the nation even as Sri Lanka faces an unprecedented public health emergency. In fact, on the first count, there are uncanny similarities between the United States’s bellicose President Donald Trump bellowing abuse at beleagured Governors requesting urgent federal support for hospitals and hospital staff under siege by the surging number of covid-19 cases and our own Ministers whose trumpted claims that Sri Lanka is poised to be a role model for tackling this pandemic is a classic example of criminal foolishness.

Let us be clear about this. If election priorities had not dominated the mindset of this Government earlier in the month, preventative measures would have been taken much earlier. This is amply borne out by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s proclaimation during the recent teleconference with SAARC leaders, that there will be no postponement of the national polls from its due date (25th April) which position was then reversed scarcely a week later by the Elections Commission as the covid-19 virus took its hold on the population.

Continue reading ‘Government persistence to downplay the severity of the Coronavirus crisis to presidential pardons of those convicted for cold blooded murder.does not bode well for the future’ »

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi, Ruqyyaha Deane & Meleeza Rathnayake

Sri Lanka reported its first death from COVID-19 at around 8 p.m. yesterday Mar 28), the victim being a 60-year-old male who had other complications.

The patient from Marawila was among three who were on ventilators at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Angoda, and Health Services Director-General Dr. Anil Jasinghe said that this patient who had undergone a kidney transplant a few years ago, was also suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.

Continue reading ‘First Death From COVID -19 Reported in Sri Lanka as 60 Year Old Male From Marawila Placed Under Ventilator at NIID in Angoda Passes Away on Mar 28; Another 59 Year Old Male From Punkudutheevu Succumbs to Corona Virus in Switzerland on Mar 25’ »

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned Former Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake who was convicted in 2015 for the murder of eight Tamil civilians, including three children, in Mirusuvil in April 2000. The conviction and death sentence was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2019.

The International Commission of Jurists(ICJ) said that the pardon cast serious doubt upon the Government’s commitment to accountability and the rule of law in Sri Lanka.

While the ICJ welcomes the lifting of the death sentence, the full pardon and extinguishment of serious punishment constitutes a blow to the victims of these violations.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Presidential pardon of former Army officer for killing of Tamil civilians is unacceptable -International Commission of Jurists’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

Italy has been identified as the predominant source of COVID-19 infection in Sri Lanka. No wonder then that the Lankan government has imposed an indefinite curfew in the districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara where most returnees from Italy reside.
🇮🇹 🇱🇰
Italy is one of three countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 24, Italy reported 602 new deaths from the coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 6,077 with the tally of cases rising to 63,928.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

Italy has been home to a large number of immigrants from Sri Lanka, both legal and illegal, since the 1980s. Many of the returnees in recent weeks could be illegal migrants on whom the State does not have adequate records. Identifying them, tracing them and examining them for the symptoms of the virus and treating or quarantining them pose a major challenge to the authorities.

On Wednesday the police sought public support to identify at least 12 persons who had failed to undergo quarantine on their arrival from Italy recently. There are reasons to suspect that the arrivals who have played truant are illegal migrants who had come back.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan Returnees From Italy Pose Huge Problems For Authorities Battling to Combat COVID -19 Pandemic Threat’ »

Press briefing note on Sri Lanka

Subject: Sri Lanka

We are troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week.

Former Army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015 for the murder in 2000 of eight civilians, including a five-year-old child, after more than a decade long trial. Five defendants were brought to trial but only Sgt Ratnayake was convicted. The conviction was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in May 2019.

Continue reading ‘UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week.’ »

By

Aneetha Warusavitarana

On 12 March the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the new coronavirus, COVID-19, to be a pandemic. With cases in Sri Lanka reaching over 100, the Government of Sri Lanka has taken several measures to prevent the spread of this disease. One such measure was enforcing an island-wide curfew.

The risks posed by COVID-19 to the health and safety of our population is considerable, and measures to prevent the congregation of people and the spread of the disease are commendable. A lockdown may certainly be warranted, yet a highly restrictive and prolonged curfew may prove to be counterproductive.

As witnessed on Tuesday 24 March, the short window given for basic necessities such as groceries, medicine, and other supplies proved to be not only inadequate but counterproductive to the objective of imposing a curfew in the first place.

Continue reading ‘Govt Must Consider Enforcing a Lockdown Without a Curfew Where People Can Go Out Of Their Homes For Essential Services and to Purchase Basic Necessities Observing Strict Health Guidelines and Social Distancing’ »

By
Lakmal Sooriyagoda

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking an Interim Order preventing former Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and Ranjith Maddumabandara from holding out to the general public that they are the Chairman and Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party.

Oshala Herath who is contesting in the upcoming General Election under the UNP ticket (Colombo District) has filed this writ petition through Attorney-at-law Manjula Balasuriya.

Continue reading ‘UNP Colombo District Candidate Oshala Herath Files Writ Petition in Supreme Court Seeking Interim Order Against Sajith Pemadasa and Ranjith Maddumabandara Telling General Public That They are the Chairman and Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’ »

Where accountability is so rare for serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka, the government’s arbitrary decision to release Sergeant Rathnayaka sends an extremely worrying message said Amnesty International’s Regional Director for South Asia, Biraj Patnaik,Responding to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to release Sergeant Sunil Rathnayaka.

The pardon comes at a time when there are public calls to ease prison crowding by releasing prisoners held for, amongst others, petty crimes and those who are unable to meet bail conditions, to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Sgt. Sunil Rathnayaka

Amnesty International is also concerned by any further decisions along the same lines as pledged by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his election campaign.

Continue reading ‘Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Arbitrary Act Conveys “Extremely worrying Message that military Perpetrators of Horrific Crimes, Even if Convicted Through a Court of Law, Will be Pardoned and Released” Says Amnesty International’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday pardoned and released an Army man who was on death row for killing eight Tamil civilians, including a five-year-old and two teenagers, in 2000 during the civil war.

“The President has instructed the Ministry of Justice to release Sgt Ratnayake from prison,” a spokeswoman at the Presidential Media Division said.

In 2015, Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was convicted for the killings in Mirusuvil, Jaffna Peninsula, and sentenced to death.

In 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and sentence.

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Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance condemns pardon of murder convict

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka’s main party representing Tamils of the north and east, condemned President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon and release an Army officer who was on death row for killing eight Tamil civilians — including a 5-year-old and two teenagers— in 2000 during the civil war.

“If true, we condemn the opportunistic action of Prez @GotabayaR under guise of dealing with the issue of prisoners at a time like this. This is one case in which a person was actually convicted. Other cases weren’t even prosecuted or were acquitted,” the TNA tweeted.

Sri Lanka has been on a near-total lockdown and enforced curfew for a week now, with a total of 104 COVID-19 patients reported so far.

In 2015, Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was tried before a three-member bench at the Colombo High Court. He was convicted for the murder in Mirusuvil, Jaffna Peninsula, and sentenced to death. In 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and the sentence.

Rare instance

The case is widely cited as a rare instance of accountability, amid lingering concerns over impunity for war-crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s three-decade civil war.

Issuing a statement, rights watchdog Amnesty International said using the pandemic as an opportunity to release those convicted for heinous crimes is reprehensible. “Victims have a right to justice, and Sri Lanka has an obligation to ensure that justice is done.

Semblance of justice

After many long years, the victims of the Mirusuvil massacre from 2000 finally got a semblance of justice in 2015. It is despicable to have that justice reversed through an arbitrary executive decision,” Amnesty regional director Biraj Patnaik said.

Asked to comment on the Presidential pardon, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Legal Reforms, said a report had been called from his Ministry. “The final decision is with the President. He can overrule anything. He has the absolute power to grant pardon, no one can question him,” he told The Hindu, adding that the constitutionally mandated procedure for the pardon was followed.

M.A. Sumanthiran, former Jaffna MP and a senior lawyer, said the executive pardon in the “rarest of rare cases” that ended in a conviction confirms that the Sri Lankan state “will never” exercise accountability for war-time atrocities.

“All the institutions of the state will eventually conspire together and let the offenders go free,” he told The Hindu.

Courtesy:The Hindu

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesperson and former MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, has reacted sharply to the Presidential pardon given on Thursday to Sri Lankan Army Sergeant R M Sunil Rathnayake, who was sentenced to death for killing in cold blood, eight Tamil captives including a child at Mirusuvil in Tamil-speaking North Lanka in 2000.

Sumanthiran pointed out that it was only in May 2017 that a five-member bench of the Supreme Court had confirmed the death sentence passed against Rathnayake by a three-member bench of the Colombo High Court in 2015.

MA Sumanthiran

“If there had been no case against Rathnayake two courts of such strength would not have passed the death sentence against him,” Sumanthiran pointed out. “It was a clear case of cold-blooded murder,” he asserted.

However, the pardon was expected, Sumanthiran said.

Continue reading ‘TNA Spokesperson M. A. Sumanthiran Strongly Condemns the Presidential Pardon Given to Ex-Army Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake Who was Sentenced to Death for Killing in Cold Blood Eight Tamil Civilians Including a Child at Mirusuvil in the Northern Province’ »

Lakmal Sooriyagoda

Former Army Staff Sergeant R.M. Sunil Ratnayake who was convicted and sentenced to death for the Mirusuvil murder case of 2000 has been released from Welikada Prison after he received a Presidential Clemency.

R.M. Sunil Ratnayake, a staff sergeant attached to Sri Lanka Army was sentenced to death by Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar bench on June 25, 2015 after he was found guilty of murdering eight civilians at Mirusuvil in Jaffna on December 19, 2000.

Continue reading ‘Ex – Army Staff Sgt Sunil Ratnayake Who was Sentenced to Death for Murdering Eight Tamil Civilians in Mirusuvil in 2000 and Whose Conviction was Upheld by the Supreme Court is Released From Prison on Presidential Clemency Issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the President’s Media Division)

In order to prevent uncontrolled gathering of people at market places amidst effort to combat COVID – 19, a special mechanism has been established to deliver essential food items to homes. This will be implemented through a local system in collaboration with Cooperative Societies and super market chains, Head of the Presidential Task on Continuous Supply, Operation and Coordination of Services that are essential to maintain the day to day life in the battle against COVID- 19, Basil Rajapaksa said.

The entire process should be in line with the Corona control initiatives carried out by the health sector. It is imperative to maintain the day to day life of the public. Steps have been taken to distribute food items while protecting domestic farmers and the national economy.

Continue reading ‘Farmers to be Encouraged to cultivate vegetables as well as paddy, maize, undu, green gram, cowpea and kurakkan in a bid to Boost Stable Food Production’ »

In a statement issued yesterday, former Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera criticised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the present Government for failing to postpone the upcoming General Election until after nominations had been submitted, calling the nominations process and associated activity “a great public health hazard” that went ahead despite the rest of the nation being advised to stay at home. He also took the present administration to task for failing to reconvene Parliament, terming this “the gravest error of all.”

The full text of Samaraweera’s statement is reproduced below:

Sri Lankans have lived through countless crises. Civil wars, insurgencies, constitutional coups droughts and famines are but a few examples. Yet, even for the most seasoned among us, these are testing times. The entire nation – now in lockdown – is anxious. We are worried for our loved ones. We stress that our provisions will not last till the next time curfew is lifted. We fear that we will contract the virus when we set out. Day-earners, in particular, dread that their money will run out before the crisis ends.

Continue reading ‘Former Minister Mangala Samataweera Issues Hard-hitting Statement Flaying President Gotabaya and Rajapaksa Govt for Delaying Postponement of Elections Until After the Nomination Process was Over and For Not Re-convening Parliament’ »

(Text of a Press Release Issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa”s Media Division)

Districts of Colombo, Gampaha and Kaluthara have been identified as high risk zones in view of the spread of COVID-19.

Large crowds in shops had been observed after curfew was lifted this morning in three districts. Health officials fear that this in turn could lead to a wider and faster spread of the virus.

Therefore, the Government has directed wholesale dealers to deliver essential consumer goods to the doorstep of each household until the situation is brought under control.

Continue reading ‘Rajapaksa Govt Sets Up Special Task Force Headed by Basil Rajapaksa to Coordinate and Supervise Scheme to Deliver Essential Consumer Items Directly to Households in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara Districts’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Coronavirus aka Covid-19 has delivered a deadly blow to the high profile Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s (SLPP) bid to secure a parliamentary majority required to repeal the controversial 19th Amendment or bring in far reaching amendments to it. Throughout the 2019 presidential campaign and after, the SLPP, and those aligned with it, repeatedly vowed to either do away or amend the 19th Amendment.

The SLPP needs a staggering two-thirds majority, at the next parliamentary poll, to achieve its primary objective.

The UNP enacted the 19th Amendment, with the overwhelming backing of the SLFP, in early 2015. Addressing constitutional problems caused by the 19th Amendment had been the SLPP’s top priority though its members voted for it at the behest of the then President Maithripala Sirisena. But, the postponement of the parliamentary election appeared to have caused quite a setback.

Election Commission (EC) Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya, on Thursday, March 19, blamed Covid-19 for indefinite postponement of the parliamentary election, originally scheduled for April 25th.

Continue reading ‘Influx of Coronavirus Disrupts SLPP Plans to Secure a Two-thirds Majority in 2020 Parliamentary Elections But Divided UNP Wont Be Able to Benefit Either’ »

By Saman Gunadasa and K.Ratnayake

Two prisoners were killed and six more injured on Saturday when guards opened fire during unrest at Anuradhapura Prison in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province. One of those shot died at the prison, which is about 200 kilometres from Colombo, while the other died in hospital.

Citing the coronavirus threat, Sri Lankan prison authorities imposed a ban on all visitors on March 18. Committee for the Protection of Prisoners President Senaka Perera told the media that the Anuradhapura prisoners were angry over the poor-quality food supplied by the authorities since the bans.

Perera said that Sri Lankan prisons are so congested that, in some cases, 5,000 inmates are crammed into facilities meant to accommodate 800 people.

According to brief media reports, tensions also rose last week inside Kegalle jail after rumours spread that a coronavirus-infected individual had been brought to the prison.

Anuradhapura prisoners began protesting on Saturday morning after they heard that four inmates had been infected with coronavirus. Authorities claimed they opened fire when some prisoners tried to escape. It is not yet clear whether prison guards or Special Task Force police fired on the unarmed inmates. Army personnel have been deployed near the prison since Saturday night.

Continue reading ‘Callous and Irresponsible Attitude of the Rajapaksa Government was Reflected in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s National Address on the COVID-19 Pandemic’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Media Division Under the Heading “Special Fund to combat COVID – 19 established by President”)

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had set up a special fund to strengthen the mitigation activities aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 virus in the country and related social welfare programmes.

The Fund is named “COVID – 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund”.
President Rajapaksa has instructed to donate Rs. 100 million from the President’s Fund for this purpose.

A special account had been opened at the Corporate Branch of the Bank of Ceylon under the account number of 85737373.

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Sets Up Special Fund to Strengthen Efforts in Combatting the Coronavirus Threat Under the Name “COVID – 19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund” With Bank of Ceylon Acct No 85737373.’ »

(Text of a Media Release Issued by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Under the Heading ” A dastardly attempt to use legal arguments to block government finances and sabotage the anti-Coronavirus campaign”)

On the day that a countrywide curfew was declared to prevent the spread of Coronavirus – Friday the 20th March 2020 – UNP Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe issued a media release stating that the previous government led by him had not passed a Budget for 2020 but that they had passed only a Vote on Account which would last till the 30th April 2020. He contends that therefore, after the 30th of April 2020, the present government would not have the legal right to allocate funds for any purpose whatsoever. Former opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has also been repeatedly making the same assertion via the social media.

Continue reading ‘Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa Accuses Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa of Trying to Sabotage the Campaign Against Spread of Coronavirus by Raising Legal Arguments Aimed at Blocking Fund Allocations by Govt’ »

The Sri Lankan government is looking for persons in the Northern Province who may have interacted with a coronavirus infected pastor who had come from Switzerland and toured the province.

Until everyone who had interacted with the said pastor has been identified and tested, people from the districts of Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Jaffna will not be allowed to leave their districts, the Presidential Media Division said in a press release on Sunday.

Continue reading ‘Corona Virus Threat Spreads to Northern Sri Lanka Due to Visit by COVID 19 Infected Pastor From Switzerland:Govt Imposes Curfew on All Five Districts in Province To Trace Persons Who Face Potential Health Risk Due to Interaction with Swiss Pastor’ »

By Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri

Overview

It is a clarion call for all communities to collaborate in the name of humanity. It is needless to stress the mature adult response we need to demonstrate in taking care of ourselves and others with sound hygienic practices. We need to be socially conscious about the dire economic downturn globally, regionally and locally. Let us endeavour to empathise with suffering thousands around the globe and energise ourselves to sustain our spirit during a challenging era of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity). Perhaps, as Bill George suggests, it’s high time we embraced VUCA 2.0 (Vision, Understanding, Compassion and Agility).

A commandment can be viewed as an authoritative direction or instruction to do something. In the context of COVID-19, this direction may come from leaders of an organisation or a nation. Also, in a broader sense, it can be viewed as a set of guidelines for effectively tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. In essence, it is a managerial perspective with regard to leadership actions much needed to ensure solid performance towards protecting the masses. Let’s look at what they possibly are.

One: Thou Shalt Be Positive

The biggest causality in the face of a pandemic is the positivity. Fear engulfs human hearts and minds. Instead of being fearful, what is needed is to be faithful to our valued spiritual traditions. As Spenser Johnson says in his much famous fable, ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’, when you go through and overcome fear, you feel free. Being positive does not mean that you undermine the dangers of a disastrous pandemic. It is to have a determined mindset seeing the light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Being positive invites us to be purposeful. Committing ourselves cheerfully what needs to be done even in the face of a gruesome disaster is what it requires. There is a whole heap of knowledge available in the area of positive psychology. It is not a pleasurable life that we strive to have but a purposeful life. Aristotle affirmed it in stating that what we need to focus should be on eudaimonia (flourishing) rather than hedonia (pleasure).

Continue reading ‘The Ten Commandments (Beginning With “P”) For Tackling The COVID-19 Pandemic’ »

Visu ~ (Jul 1, 1945 – March 22, 2020)

Tamil actor, writer, and director Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan, popularly known as Visu, passed away in Chennai on Sunday. He was 75. The actor had reportedly been suffering from age-related health issues.

Visu started his career on the stage, working with theatre artiste YG Parathasarathy’s drama troupe. He began writing scripts for stage, before shifting to the film industry as an assistant director to K Balachandar. Visu wrote scripts and dialogues for the director’s films. This period of collaboration saw Visu writing the script for the Rajinikanth-starrer Thillu Mullu, in which he also has a cameo.

Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathanl – Visu

Continue reading ‘Popular Tamil Film Actor, Script Writer, Director and TV Talk Show Host MR Viswanathan Known as Visu Passes Away age of 75 in Chennai’ »

By Skandha Gunasekara

Two inmates were killed and several others hospitalised after Police opened fire to control a riot within the Anuradhapura Prison yesterday (21), with unconfirmed reports indicating that the prisoners were protesting the housing of an inmate who was infected with Covid-19.

Police Spokesman SP Jaliya Seneratne told The Sunday Morning that inmates had staged a riot by starting a fire within the prison.

He said that as the situation had spiralled out of control, authorities had been compelled to open fire to regain control.

“The inmates were wreaking havoc within the prison to the point they attempted to escape. Prison officers were forced to shoot and there was one casualty,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Two Killed and Several Injured in Firing by Police Special Task Force Riot Control Unit on Inmates of Anuradhapura Jail as Protest by Prisoners Allegedky Spirals Out of Control Leading to Attempted Escape’ »

By

Carol Goonaratne

You must be experiencing intense emotions of anxiety over the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Don’t overestimate the dangers or underestimate your ability to protect yourself. People of all ages are concerned about the spread and the younger generation is especially feeling anxious about it.

Here are some things you can do:

Normalise anxiety

Anxiety can be healthy, but not all of us know that it can act as a useful and protective emotion. Most kids sometimes fear their heightened nerves signal. They become worried about the fact that they are worried. Being anxious, it alerts us to potential threats and helps us move towards safety. If you are feeling some anxiety due to the virus, you are having the right reaction. What is important is putting that discomfort into useful action. Learning about the virus and following the recommended guidelines is an apt way to start.

Continue reading ‘Coping With Worry and Anxiety Over the Threat Posed by the Spread of The Coronavirus’ »

by

Vishvanath

What was being speculated, in political circles, for two weeks or so, has come to pass. The general election, scheduled for 25 April, 2020, has been put off indefinitely, on account of the spread of COVID-19, and the attendant problems.

It is a supreme irony that the SLPP, which used to flay the UNP-led yahapalana government for postponing local government and Provincial Council elections, has had to put of a general election, albeit under different circumstances. It was the UNP-led Opposition that asked for the polls postponement in question, but the irony of it may not be lost on the discerning public.

Legal opinion was divided on the powers of the Election Commission (EC) as regards polls postponements. There were three schools of thought about postponing parliamentary polls. One was that the dissolved Parliament had to be re-convened to resolve that the general election be postponed until the COVID-19 threat was over. A prominent proponent of this view was former Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa, PC, who said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa could facilitate a polls postponement by causing Parliament to meet again by invoking constitutional provisions in respect of Public Security. It was only Parliament that could decide to put off a scheduled general election, he argued.

Continue reading ‘Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s SLPP govt’s Success at the Postponed Parliamentary Election Hinges on its Ability to Overcome Coronavirus Threat to Country’ »

By Wasantha Rupasingha

At the urging of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the heads of government of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) held a video-conference Sunday with the ostensible aim of developing a “joint strategy” for “combating COVID-19.”

The video-conference, the first time the SAARC leaders have met since 2014, was a sham, a sham made all the more deplorable because the poverty and squalor to which capitalism has condemned the vast majority of South Asia’s 1.9 billion people makes the region exceptionally vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modi and his BJP government had two main goals at Sunday’s hastily organized video-conference: to use the pandemic to assert the Indian ruling elite’s claim to “regional leadership,” and second, and even more importantly, to distract attention away from their manifest failure to fund and mount a systematic nationwide effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

Continue reading ‘Indian PM Narendra Modi’s “Concern” Over Regional Cooperation to Fight Coronavirus, as Pandemic Spreads Across South Asia’ »

By Saman Gunadasa

As Sri Lanka’s confirmed coronavirus cases rapidly increase, anxiety is growing amongst the population about the lack of proper healthcare and the impact on jobs and livelihoods.

On Monday evening, government authorities announced that 43 people have been identified as coronavirus infected. Some 212 are currently under observation at several hospitals and more than 4,000 are in quarantine.

Sri Lanka now confronts a situation similar to a partial lock-down. The government of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse announced a four-day holiday this week, beginning Monday, throughout the public sector, with the exception of health and state administrative services. It called on private sector businesses to follow suit. All education institutions will also be closed for more than a month.

A ban was imposed on all in-bound flights yesterday, expanding an earlier decision to cancel flights from 13 European countries and some Asian countries, including South Korea. About 80 short-distance train services have been stopped and yesterday the Colombo Municipal Council closed parks, clinics, sports grounds and libraries for two weeks.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lankan government responds to COVID-19 by mobilising the military and helping the financial elite’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

China will extend financial assistance amounting to $500 million to Sri Lanka to help the island nation combat COVID19 that has affected 50 persons so far. One patient has recovered, authorities said.

According to a press statement from the Chinese Embassy here, the Finance Ministry of Sri Lanka and the China Development Bank (CDB) on Wednesday signed the agreement, with “big concessional terms on both interest and tenure”, at Temple Trees, the official residence of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Continue reading ‘China Extends $ 500 Million Financial Assistance to Sri Lanka For Combatting COVID 19 Threat ; Sri Lankan Finance Ministry and China Development Bank Sign Agreement with “big concessional terms on both interest and tenure” at “Temple Trees”.’ »

By Chandani Kirinde

Handing over of nominations for the Parliamentary Poll closes at noon today(Mar 19) and the country is preparing to hold an election in five weeks despite the unpredictability and scale of the public health crisis the country could be faced with in the coming days.

When President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament on 3 March, there was no warning that COVID-19 would become a global pandemic, but less than three weeks later, it is clear that Sri Lanka’s in the fight against an unlikely enemy for the long run along with the rest of the world.

Except for the ruling party, most other parties are questioning the rationale behind holding an election at a time when medical experts and others in the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 have warned large gatherings of people is the one thing that has to be avoided if the spread of the virus is to be curtailed.

We have already seen that it is politicians who have broken this rule the most so far, because without their supporters surrounding them and cheering them on, politicians become insecure. So, unless all campaigning is strictly restricted, only to be done through social media, newspapers, radio or television, there is little that would dissuade politicians and their supporters from gathering in large numbers.

Continue reading ‘Parliamentary Elections Should Be Postponed Instead Of Being Held In Five weeks Amidst The On Going Fight Against The COVID -19 Pandemic’ »