By Dr.Janaka Ratnasiri

The Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) is the premier organisation of Sri Lankan scientists covering all scientific disciplines. It holds its annual sessions where members present the results of their research for review by their peers. It is generally held in December each year and the venue is rotated among the university campuses. In the past, the sessions were held in Peradeniya, Colombo, Kelaniya, Gangodawila, Moratuwa, Nawala and Matara.

The incumbent General President Prof. Sarath Kotagama upon his election at the last annual session announced that he would have this year’s annual session at Jaffna University and his proposal was accepted by the house with acclaim. Arrangements were made to hold all the activities within the university campus during the week beginning December 10. Members from the South wishing to attend session made their hotel reservations and the necessary travel arrangements too. Those who have not been to Jaffna before, I am sure, were looking forward to this event with much enthusiasm. In between academic activities, I am certain the organisers would have arranged tours to places of interest around the city.

Then, just a few days ago, I received a telephone call from the SLAAS office saying that the venue has been shifted to Colombo University. When inquired for the reason, I was told that there is much tension among the students and the atmosphere at the Jaffna campus was not conducive to hold the session. I was sad to hear that because it would have been a disappointment to many of us, and particularly to the General President Prof. Kotagama who organized this event in Jaffna against many odds with the hope of bringing closer collaboration between the South and the North as a step towards reconciliation which the government is talking much about.

Though it was not mentioned specifically, every one of us could guess that this is an outcome of the recent attack by the armed forces on the university students, particularly the Tamil students. The stupidity of this action by the armed forces is well described in the article on Reconciliation by Shanie appearing in ‘The Island’ of Dec.8, and therefore I am not going to elaborate more on it. It is certainly an action that will cause embarrassment to the government as it is totally against the principle of reconciliation and freedom of speech within the university campus. The armed forces were only sowing seeds of dissent among the students which was quite unnecessary. It is an attempt to repeat the history that every one now wants to forget. The government should hold a full investigation on this incident and punish those who have acted in an excessive manner.

Now the damage has been done, the next step that the government should take is to see its impacts are minimised. Those who have been taken into custody with no charges framed against them should be immediately released. The government should also ensure that the armed forces do not repeat such behaviour in the future, intimidating the students and harassing them unnecessarily. They should stop looking at them as potential terrorists. Their action will only turn the innocents into terrorists. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that normalcy returns to the Jaffna campus and maintain it without disruption. We could then look forward to having the annual session in Jaffna at least next year.

Dr Janaka Ratnasiri
Past General President, SLAAS, Nawala