{"id":64412,"date":"2019-06-02T23:58:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T03:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=64412"},"modified":"2019-06-02T23:59:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T03:59:30","slug":"deeper-impact-of-easter-sunday-bombings-sweeps-aside-or-marginalise-the-on-goingstruggles-for-justice-in-sri-lanka-and-inflict-serious-blows-to-accountability-and-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=64412","title":{"rendered":"Deeper Impact of Easter Sunday Bombings ” Sweeps Aside or Marginalises” the On Going”Struggles for Justice ” in Sri Lanka and Inflict “Serious Blows” to Accountability and Rule of Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The enormity of Sri Lanka\u2019s Easter bombings was pretty clear by the end of day, April 21. At least 250 lives had been lost and the island was jolted into realising that its relative post-war peace was far from secure.<\/p>\n

Over a month since, as Sri Lankans grapple with lingering fear and get used to heightened security all around, some worry that the attacks could have had an impact deeper than apparent.<\/p>\n

For those pushing for accountability in cases of war-time disappearances and murders, the prospect of justice has further paled.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

According to Sandya Eknaligoda, wife of dissident cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was forcibly disappeared about a decade ago, many struggles for justice have been \u201cswept aside or marginalised\u201d after the Easter Sunday bombings.<\/p>\n

Imminent change<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pointing to an \u201cimminent political change\u201d, she said: \u201cGotabaya [former Defence Secretary] is planning to contest presidential elections. Some military personnel accused of crimes may want to hinder progress in those cases [linked to military] as they feel they can enjoy impunity. Rule of law and justice will be even more uncertain in future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent reinstatement of military intelligence officer Prabath Bulathwatte, accused of carrying out targeted attacks against high-profile journalists, has amplified apprehensions. Named as a key suspect, Mr. Bulathwatte, arrested in 2017, was out on bail before he was re-inducted into a team probing the Easter bombings.<\/p>\n

The apparent impunity, activists fear, is not confined to war-era military officers linked to the high-profile cases. The presidential pardon for reactionary monk Gnanasara Thero, weeks after the Easter attacks, sparked similar concern.<\/p>\n

Last summer, the controversial monk \u2014 accused of instigating anti-Muslim violence in the past \u2014 was convicted for contempt of court. He had stormed the courtroom and openly threatened Ms. Eknaligoda in January 2016, when a magistrate court was hearing a case of her disappeared husband.<\/p>\n

In her view, the pardon is a \u201cserious blow\u201d to the judiciary and the administration of justice. \u201cIt is a rejection of rule of law and not what we expected when we advocated for \u2018good governance\u2019,\u201d she said, referring to the central promise made by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, before their coalition rose to power, unseating Mahinda Rajapaksa from office in 2015. The other key promise was their pledge to probe high-profile murders and disappearances during the Rajapaksa regime.<\/p>\n

On its part, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) made \u201csignificant progress\u201d in many of the cases, said a top official source familiar with the investigations. The \u201ccomplete\u201d file on the 2008 abduction of investigative journalist Keith Noyahr was submitted to the Attorney General\u2019s department almost a year ago. More recently, the probe findings of the abduction of 11 youth in 2008-09 were handed over to the AG\u2019s department.<\/p>\n

\u2018No progress\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSo much [of evidence] came out in the investigation, but nothing progressed beyond a point,\u201d said Ayesha Thajudeen, sister of rugby star Wasim Thajudeen whose body was found in his car in 2012, fully charred. The case drew much attention, especially since the probe pointed to Mr. Rajapaksa\u2019s family members having had an alleged role in the murder \u2014 a charge they squarely denied.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Colombo High Court issued issued summons on former Senior DIG Anura Senanayake linked to the case. Ms. Thajudeen said: \u201cI don\u2019t know what will come of it. The CID has worked very hard on this case. Our family went through a lot… dealing with our brother\u2019s body being exhumed, for the sake of justice. They say justice delayed is justice denied,\u201d adding that the current situation gave little hope. \u201cElections are due this year. Maybe leaders will yet again promise justice for my brother\u2019s murder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Meera Srinivasan The enormity of Sri Lanka\u2019s Easter bombings was pretty clear by the end of day, April 21. At least 250 lives had been lost and the island was jolted into realising that its relative post-war peace was far from secure. Over a month since, as Sri Lankans grapple with lingering fear and …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Deeper Impact of Easter Sunday Bombings ” Sweeps Aside or Marginalises” the On Going”Struggles for Justice ” in Sri Lanka and Inflict “Serious Blows” to Accountability and Rule of Law’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64414,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64412\/revisions\/64414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}