Author: Branita

Nearly three years have passed since the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. While failing to prosecute the actual perpetrators, the state has single-handedly used the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979 (PTA) as a cudgel to persecute the entire Muslim minority. As was experienced by Tamils during the civil war; women are uniquely victimised by the state’s overreach – either as collateral damage of arrests under the PTA, or targeted themselves because of family ties with detained men.

The vast majority of recent PTA detainees are Muslim men from Batticaloa and Mawanella, arrested for dubious links to the suicide bombers or to the banned National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group. In Kattankudy, one three-wheeler driver was arrested for delivering food once for NTJ leader and suicide bomber Zahran Hashim’s class, another man for having booked bus seats for the bombers, and still another for fixing a television antenna in one of the suicide bombers neighbourhoods. A man who bought a motorcycle belonging to Zahran’s brother has been arrested, as has a person whose van was suspected of being used for unspecified “extremist activities” – when the insurance company tried to seize that detainee’s van due to the non-payment of instalments, the brother-in-law who helped the family salvage the van was also arrested. Some have been arrested for unwittingly attending Zahran’s training in Nuwara Eliya and Hambantota, when they believed that they were simply going for a trip. Many were daily wage labourers in shoe making shops, small restaurants, and roadside boutiques. They have been swept up in mass arrests and have been locked up for over 34 months, longer than the 18 months allowed under the PTA. One wonders whether the amendments proposed to the PTA to reduce detention from 18 months to 12 makes any sense to these detainees. And whenever they are finally released, they will have lost their livelihoods and suffered reputational damage and psychological trauma because of their prolonged arbitrary detention under the PTA.

Now the PTA advisory board is releasing some of those wrongfully detained; but interestingly, the terms and conditions of cancelling their detention orders are very harsh. For the rest of their lives, these men and their families will be under the grip of the state intelligence apparatus, similar to Tamil “rehabilitated” men and women. The conditions of the suspension of the detention order include informing the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division (TID) of a change of residence, any plans for local travel with requirements to report back on return, monthly reporting to its Colombo office, reporting to the OIC within 72 hours of notification, and obtaining prior written approval from the Director of Counter Terrorism for any travel abroad.

Mohamed was arrested for allegedly having connections with local and foreign Muslim extremists and sharing extremist videos while he was just a school student. Mohamed’s mother Ismiya was happy to see her son who has been detained for almost 11 months returning home unexpectedly. Now, on his return, he should abide by the above conditions. Ismiya is a single mother who has three girls and lives in a rented house. She hoped to send Mohamed to the Middle East once he finished his General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A/L) examination so that she could build a house and give her daughters in marriage. Mohamed now cannot even travel to other districts without the TID knowing, let alone go abroad.

What often goes unnoticed is that women bear the brunt of these mass arbitrary detentions. The cost they pay is heavy in a patriarchal society when their breadwinners are detained by the state. Often, arrest receipts are not promptly issued, leaving spouses unaware for days (and in some cases, weeks) of where their loved ones are detained. Most families are too poor to travel to detention centres outside their districts and are able to visit their loved ones only when the International Committee of the Red Cross provides a travel allowance. Many lawyers are reluctant to offer counsel, afraid of facing surveillance and harassment themselves. Filling this void, some unscrupulous lawyers swoop in and extort vulnerable families, promising to secure bail without explaining that bail is only available to pre-trial PTA detainees with the Attorney General’s consent. Desperate to secure the release of their primary breadwinners and unaware of the legal landscape, many poor families fell into this trap, and some also sold jewellery – the only asset they had. One young lady sold her house to pay the legal fee and settle a loan since her husband’s business collapsed after his arrest.

When a primary breadwinner is detained, those left behind have to pick up the pieces. Some women in conservative households have ventured out to work for the first time. A woman named Jaziya started weaving fishing nets after her husband was detained. She makes just Rs. 300-350 per day – not enough to send her teenage son to a different school after his school was closed. Other women have reported selling household items, valuables, and land to survive.

As they struggle to keep their households running, wives of detainees are visited by security agencies and summoned to the police stations. Security personnel obtain information from the families and then write statements in Sinhala that they cannot understand. Women report feeling unsafe with these frequent visits by male security forces, and fearful of the community censure these visits bring. Just last month, a TID officer went into the home of one PTA detainee and confiscated the sewing machine belonging to his wife, claiming that her husband had used this sewing machine to stitch clothes for suicide bombers and thereby stripping her of her sole source of income to look after her three children. That woman filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, but many are afraid to travel alone to seek assistance from different entities.

Detention of a loved one brings community censure, further isolating already marginalised women. For example, one woman named Fathima explained how the detention of her brother had affected not only her family’s income – forcing her and her mother to weave mats for subsistence – it also affected her marriage prospects and ended her engagement. Although she is married now, she keeps her husband separate from anything connected with her brother, fearing that even accompanying her during prison visits could result in her husband being detained.

Those who assist families of detained persons are likewise placed under surveillance and interrogated, further isolating affected families from social support. For example, one woman who distributed food rations from a civil society organisation came under surveillance. Well-wishers and local charities are harassed when they offer support, and are called in for questioning by intelligence officers as to their connections with the detainees or on made up accusations that they are part of the banned NTJ. On top of this, the society permanently ostracises the relatives of detainees for being “menaces”. Thus, although the state might detain only the head of the household, women who are left behind are themselves treated as security threats and denied the care and services they need to sustain basic family life.

Resisting global calls to repeal the PTA, the Government has tried to strengthen it with proposed “deradicalisation” regulations while recently proposing mere window dressing reforms. Concerned that the deradicalisation proposal mirrored China’s Uyghur policies, the European Parliament recommended suspending the General Scheme of Preferences-Plus (GSP+) trade status with Sri Lanka last June. The Supreme Court has stayed the operation of the deradicalisation regulations pending the conclusion of fundamental rights petitions, and additional challenges may be raised against the half-hearted PTA reforms recently proposed. Last year, we heard many desperate families being pressured to sign statements agreeing to send their loved ones to rehabilitation. These families fear that unless they agree to rehabilitation, their loved ones could be placed in remand custody for several years. Rehabilitation thus seems to be the only way to limit arbitrary detention to two years and a secure release.

The problems are only compounded where women are the ones detained. In Batticaloa, 16 “B” reports have been filed against 66 persons, of whom six are women. The state has successfully kept these individuals in remand custody without any mention of the charges, saying simply that investigations into the Easter attacks are ongoing. Most of the women in custody are detained for being related to the Easter bombing suspects or for listening to a sermon of the now-banned NTJ. Hailing from poor, religiously-conservative backgrounds, these women barely stepped outside their homes, much less kept abreast of what their male relatives did. One 57-year-old woman is detained because her daughter is married to a suspect who allegedly gave technical support to the Easter Sunday bombers. Suffering from breast cancer for the last 10 years, she has not received adequate medical care. A 22-year-old was arrested in December 2021 because she was married to a bombing suspect – her one-year-old baby is now growing up without a mother. The same is true for two other mothers, aged 38 and 25, who were arrested under the PTA purely because of their marital ties to the alleged Easter Sunday attack suspects. In both cases, the children are staying with frail and elderly grandmothers, who struggle on a subsistence wage to raise the children.

Like their Muslim sisters, Tamil women continue to be arrested under the PTA, based on nothing more than their contact with male suspects. One middle aged housewife was detained by the TID after unwittingly paying Rs. 300,000 to an agent with hopes of going to New Zealand, not knowing that the “agent” was wanted in connection with terrorism-related money laundering. Three years after her arrest, she still remains in remand custody. Due to financial difficulties, her teenage daughter was forced to wed. Another Tamil woman was arrested on suspicion of being in contact with a wanted suspect. She was forced to sign a document without knowing its contents and has been separated for three years from her 10-year-old daughter, who has had to grow up in a children’s home.  Another woman was arrested after trying to visit her younger brother in police custody; she remains in remand custody almost for three years now, leaving her feeble mother-in-law to look after her disabled husband and two children.

Over 25 women are currently detained under the PTA. These women all come from poor families and are being held almost entirely due to their relationships or contact with male suspects. Because of their poverty, they lack access to effective legal representation. They all have children or dependents who rely on them for subsistence and support. After years in jail without access to each other, family bonds are shattered, and new traumas are formed. One detainee has reported being tortured to sign a confession while in remand custody. While many of these women languish in detention for almost three years, no charges are brought nor clear reasons given for their arrest.

Ultimately, the same story repeats. Having failed to stop the Easter attacks or deliver justice to its victims, the state has committed to persecuting an entire community to show the Sinhala majority that it is taking action. Trampled in this tough guy approach of mass arrests and prolonged arbitrary detention are women from poor communities who are either collateral damage or face arrest themselves based purely on whom they know. The stark reality of these increasingly isolated women receives scant attention as the state consciously destroys their lives and families with no due process nor reparation in sight.

Chief Opposition Whip and former Minister Lakshman Kiriella is one of the most senior politicians in the House with a vast knowledge on Standing Orders and Parliamentary etiquette. He is an authority on Parliamentary law. Mr. Kiriella, a lawyer by profession, has been elected as an MP uninterrupted for 32 years since 1989 and was the Leader of the House under the Yahapalana government. The Daily Mirror sat with him to discuss the current political situation of the country and the future of the Samagi Jans Balawegaya (SJB).

EXCERPTS:

Q     The public anger against the SLPP government and its hierarchy from all quarters of the country is mounting steadily by the day. What is the strategy of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) as the next-in-line to power and the strongest political party in the opposition to save the nation from this predicament?

Well, we have given time to the SLPP government to fulfill their pledges given in two elections during the Presidential election in 2019 and Parliamentary election in 2020. But unfortunately, in the last two years since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP government were elected to power, they have failed miserably in all aspects, I mean in the economy, the rule of law, human rights and living standards of the people and general prosperity of the country in a dismal manner. They are failed in all aspects. They must look at their manifesto. If you look carefully at their manifesto, the so-called ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’, you can see that not a single promise given in two polls has been met and the country at the moment goes down a precipice of no return.

Q     But you are still to come up with your game plan to grab power at the upcoming elections?

You must realise that any political party comes with its manifesto or the game plan in the election year. No party is expected to release its election strategy or the policies of their government once they are elected to power in mid term.  No political party discloses its manifesto, three to four years before the election. If you take President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he gave an interview after he was nominated as the candidate of the SLPP. He was asked ‘how he was going to settle the massive debt of the government. He could not answer. He paused for about a minute and looked at Mahinda Rajapaksa who was seated next to him.  Gotabaya was one of the front runners to the Presidency but he did not know how to repay the government debts.

Obviously, the SJB will have a broad alliance to contest the forthcoming polls. Sajith Premadasa will be the leader of the alliance. We consult all constituent partners of the SJB on the policies, programmes and on decision making of the alliance and the style of the government to be formed.  As I said earlier, no party publishes its manifesto years before the election.

Q     You are one of the most senior and experienced politicians in the SJB. Do you think that the SJB is capable of convincing the electorate that an SJB led government is the best answer to the disaster the country has fallen into right now?

Yes, indeed. The UNP is not in existence now.  We are the successors to the UNP. If you look at the period we ruled the country from 2015 to 2019, we controlled the food prices, we gave the biggest pay hike in history to public servants and pensioners, incurring Rs. 270 billion annually to the Treasury.  We stabilised the food prices and brought the prices of gas and kerosene down. The people enjoyed a good standard of living under our government. You must realise that when we came to power in 2015, our annual income was Rs. 1000 billion. When we left in late 2019, it was Rs. 2000 billion and we had foreign reserves of US$ 8 billion. Today, government’s income is Rs. 1,300 billion and foreign reserves are about US$ 1 billion.  We doubled the government’s income during our time. Not only that. We gave each and every demand made by the trade unions, be they public servants, pensioners or teachers. We can run the economy well under a presidency of Sajith Premadasa. You must not have any doubt about it because we can get the support of the international community. You may have seen diplomats, foreign leaders and delegates of many countries come to meet the Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa regularly. We have a good rapport with them. The most crucial factor is that we have won the confidence of the international community and the global lending agencies. We will tax those who have money to increase the government revenue. When we came to power in 2015, the state revenue stood at Rs. 1000 billion. When we left in 2019, it was Rs. 2,000 billion. We doubled the government income by taxing big companies. What did Gotabaya Rajapaksa do? He cut tax in his first budget and lost 800 billion rupees of government revenue. That is what the global financial agencies want. This government does not increase the state revenue but loses it while giving huge tax relief to rich and powerful people and companies. Their recipe is to get loans as much as possible to fill the government coffers. Our strategy is to increase government revenue through taxing the corporate sector and those capable of paying. The government is under obligation to the companies as they sponsored Gota. Therefore, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is obliged to pay back these companies and people who funded his election campaign. At the very first cabinet meeting of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime held on November 27th of 2019, it was decided to remove PAYEE tax, Nation Building Tax, Capital Gains Tax imposed on CSE, Debt Services Tax, withholding tax, Debit Tax and VAT reduced, cutting state revenue by Rs. 800 billion annually.

Q     Sri Lanka has become a geo-political playground for super powers like the US and China and the regional power India. It is no doubt that a future SJB government will have to handle this highly sensitive issue in an extremely careful and pragmatic manner not to offend any of them. How are you going to do this?

You must realise that once you give something, you can never take it back. In that case, this government is putting future governments in jeopardy. They don’t have any foreign reserves. When we handed over the government in 2019, we had US$ 8 billion in foreign reserves. Now, they have brought it down to a little over one billion. The Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour pledged not to hand over the assets of the country to foreigners. China has been given a part of the Port City, Yugadanavi power generation plant to the US, Trincomalee oil tank farm to India. Yes, as you said, Sri Lanka has become a playground to super powers as well as to the regional powers putting the country in danger.

Government must increase production to fatten foreign reserves and state revenue. The only answer for economic prosperity is to increase export revenue. There are no short cuts to economic development other than increasing production for the global market as well as for the domestic market. A future SJB government will lay full emphasis on exports.  For example, last year there was a good rate for paddy. If the government gave the fertiliser subsidy to the entire agriculture sector, you would have increased the output by 30% because the weather was so good, it was raining round the year. What happened as a result was that the agricultural production came down by 30%.
We must have a special arrangement with India’s vast market. Don’t forget the fact that India being a huge market is next door to us. The Yahapalana government had plans to develop a major export processing zone at Hambantota with Hambantota International Port as the main export terminal with emphasis on Indian, Chinese and European markets.

Q     How do you manage to entertain Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from both power blocks by a future SJB administration?

I have been telling the government in the last two years that the main criteria to attract FDI is to maintain the rule of law, respect for democracy and human rights. Those are the cardinal principles for foreign investment. When we were there, we introduced the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Under 19A, all the institutions in the country were free and free to take decisions. We gave the opportunity to the Supreme Court, the Public Service Commission and all independent commissions to work independently and take decisions free of political influence. The Executive President did not have power over the legislature or the independent commissions. Executive President had power only to nominate members to independent commissions and the Constitutional Council had the power to reject the President’s nomination. For an example, under 19A, if the President recommended a person to the Supreme Court, Army Commander or the IGP, the council could say ‘we don’t accept your nomination and send another name’. Today, under 20A, the President’s nominee has to be accepted with no holds barred. All the institutions are under the executive and therefore, the rule of law is under question. So, investors will not come.  Then we have a UNHRC resolution against us on the dismal record. The European Parliament has passed a resolution to withdraw the GSP+ facility from Sri Lanka.  I don’t know what will happen at the March sessions of the UNHRC. Definitely, they will penalise us. There will be a penalty on Sri Lanka. The EU or the UNHRC will not pass resolutions to please us.

We are confident that our policy though non-aligned would keep close and cordial relations with the West and East and North and South. We ensure the strict adherence to the rule of law, human rights, fundamental rights, labour rights and to protect all democratic establishments in the country. We also uphold all international covenants, conventions, protocol and guidelines while treating all citizens of Sri Lanka as equal. There will be no discriminations against any community or group.
We also have highly qualified professionals like Dr. Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickremeratne and Kabir Hashim to handle the economy and investments under an SJB administration.

Q     You were one of the senior party stalwarts of the UNP before the formation of the SJB. I have no doubt that you all never expected the electoral setback and humiliation the grand old party was subjected to at the 2020 general election. What actually happened and who was responsible?

The main reason for the break up was the lack of internal democracy in the UNP. For a political party to go forward there must be internal democracy. Once when I went to India, I asked one of the senior politicians as to what had happened to the Congress Party – a super power of Indian politics.

He said there was no democracy in the Congress Party. All the political parties in India are massive and all the states are also very big. But for regional political parties there was no opportunity to produce national leaders. The Congress is dominated by Gandhis. All the regional leaders thought why they should back the Congress if they don’t have an opportunity to become national leaders. If and when there is internal democracy in a political party, then only regional leaders can become national leaders. All the regional parties in India have massive voter bases. They thought, if we don’t have a place in the Congress why should we support it to become the rulers of India and they backed away. That is what happened to the Congress party. The regional parties contested state elections under a different symbol and won without the help of the Congress and assembled to form alliances and grab power in the Central Government. That was how alliance politics started to dominate Indian politics. In the past, it was only the Indian Congress that ruled the roosts in Indian politics. Once, Deve Gowda of Janata Dal became the Prime Minister of India, but he lasted only ten months from June 1996 to April 1997. Now the status quo has been restored and BJP has become extremely powerful all over India.

The UNP must have internal democracy and no party can go forward without internal democracy. Those young leaders who aspire to become party leaders must be given the opportunity to meet their goals if the party is to survive.            .

Q     If a UNP-SJB amalgamation takes place as an alliance to confront the SLPP, what would be the position of the young and upcoming UNP leaders in the alliance who have the national leadership potentials, like Ruwan Wijewardene and Navin Dissanayaka?

The SJB is the most powerful political party in the opposition and a major political force right now across the country. So, we have the right to dominate domestic politics and we are capable of doing that. We are inviting all other political parties and politicians without naming them to join the SJB led by Sajith Premadasa. Under the SJB alliance, there are 11 political parties representing different ethnic groups and ideologies as constituent partners. There is not a single elected member of the UNP in Parliament.

During the uncertainty that dominated the UNP before the polls, I was also in a state of confusion. I summoned all the zonal leaders and candidates of the UNP in the Kandy District and consulted them as to what we should  do. In one voice they asked us to go ahead with Sajith and ensure the victory of the SJB. You must understand that political alliances are formed within three or six months before an election. Even in 2015 this was what happened. At the same time, we must develop and strengthen our individual political parties throughout.

When we went to the electorate in 2020, the only manthra was Sajith and no one else. When we went to the villages, they asked ‘Sir, which side are you? We said “We are with Sajith’. Delighted, they voted for Sajith and the SJB, notwithstanding the fact that the President was from a different political alliance. In rural areas, ‘Sajith’ was the magic word in the 2020 general election campaign  and you can see the massive popularity and respect he commands today not only in the periphery but in urban areas as well.

This must be because his late father, President Premadasa lived with the ordinary people during his entire political career. There was a conception among Sri Lankans that President Premadasa was the one and only President who had a soft spot always for the poorest of poor and the down trodden. He was the politician who did most for the poor in this country. His son cannot be an exception and Sajith has shown that he has the ability and concerns his father had, to serve the less privileged sections of the society. They have the confidence that Sajith would never let them down when he is given the opportunity.

The biggest advantage for Sajith is that he has the trust and the support of the International community. They treat him as the alternative leader of Sri Lanka. That is why the foreign diplomats and visiting leaders pay courtesy calls on him constantly. He also cuts a good figure in Parliament with his speeches and behaviour as an intelligent and respected political leader who upholds democratic, social and religious values and inter-communal harmony. He has the passion and the desire to work.
Ruwan, Navin and other young and upcoming leaders are welcome and accepted to the SJB with both hands if they are willing to do so.

I believe that Ruwan and Navin in particular have a place in national politics and serve the country blessed with the legacy of their ancestors.
Ruwan’s maternal and paternal grandfathers are national leaders. The late D.R.Wijewardene, the father of print media, and the father of the nation and first Prime Minister of independent Ceylon, D.S.Senanayake. Both fought for national independence and won.
Ruwan also comes from a family that continues to struggle vehemently to protect democracy and for the freedom of independent media for decades.

Imagine the fate of Sri Lanka if there was no accelerated Mahaweli Development Project, Navin’s father late Gamini Dissanayake gave to the nation as the Minister of Mahaweli Development under the J.R. Jayewardene regime that produces 40% of rice, many other commercial crops and 30% of hydro power of the national requirement today. It was he who pioneered to raise Sri Lanka’s cricket to the global level by taking the lead to obtain the membership of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and test status to Sri Lanka.
Therefore, these young leaders with unblemished track records in politics have a place in the SJB alliance if they wish so.

Q     You have served as the Minister of Higher Education and Highways under the Yahapalana regime. Current Highways Minister Johnston Fernando alleges you at every opportunity saying that you misused funds allocated for road development and for the Central Express Way (CEW) in particular and failed to meet development targets. Your comments?

Those are political canards. The COPE went through my ministry’s work and they found nothing to that effect. Johnston makes these utterances in bad faith and to achieve credit he does not deserve.
When the infamous and unconstitutional overthrow of the Yahapalana government took place in October 2018, the construction of 37 kilometres of the 41 kilometres in the Meerigama-Kurunegala stretch had already been completed.

After I was appointed as the Minister of Higher Education and Highways in 2015, the blueprint of the CEW was still on the drawing table. It was I who started the survey of the stretch, took over 20,000 plots of land, paid compensation to land owners and commenced construction in October 2016. I did not obtain foreign loans and selected 16 local contractors for the job after calling open tenders. The project was funded by the Treasury.
By the time of the regime change in 2020, the SLPP government had only 4 kilometres to complete of the Meerigama -Kurunegala section of the CEW but they took more than two years to construct this short distance of road but did not have the decency to tell the truth to the country. The plagiarism they have shown on this matter displays their inferior behaviour and political bankruptcy. The SLPP government opened the Meerigama-Kurunegala stretch of the CEW with much publicity and pompous ceremony last month but people of this country should know who and where the credit must go for this development project.

Q     Is Sajith the undisputed leader of the SJB and Presidential candidate in 2024?

Absolutely! He is the Presidential candidate of the SJB at the next Presidential election and all the constituent parties of the alliance led by the SJB will fully back him. As I told you earlier, ‘Sajith’ is the magic word in the rural areas in particular and that is why we demand an election for Pradeshiya Sabha, Provincial Councils or even a general election to test the water.

In a participatory democracy, it is a norm that an election is held once in two years that would reflect the public opinion. It will help the government to review its policies and take corrective measures and go for a policy change if and when the populace is unhappy on the performance of the government and the public opinion goes against it at the polls. In Sri Lanka, it is high time for the government to hold an election. I don’t think they will hold any election in the foreseeable future as the SLPP government and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa are extremely unpopular and detested by all.

Q     But India urges the Sri Lanka government to hold PC polls as early as possible?

Don’t worry about that. Take my word. When India gets the Trincomalee oil tanks, they will conveniently give up the hegemony on Sri Lanka.

Q     President Rajapaksa made an emotional appeal to the opposition for help to come out of the current apocalyptic scenario facing the country during the address to the nation he delivered at the opening of Parliament and on the Independence Day. Are you ready to extend a hand of friendship to the government?

Yes and no. The main opposition party, the SJB and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa is more than ready to assist the government in whatever way possible to help to liberate millions of our people from this sorry state of affairs. But the government must set the stage for us to do that because all the disasters are self-inflicted by the government except the COVID-19 pandemic. The huge tax cuts introduced to satisfy friends, ordering farmers to shift to organic fertiliser from chemical fertiliser overnight, food shortage, domestic gas cylinder explosions, skyrocketing food prices and scarcity of all the essential food commodities, sharp increase of cost of living and inflation, job losses, power outages, collapse of the rule of law and continuous violation of the fundamental rights and the weakening of democratic institutions and many other blunders and failures are a clear indication of Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration’s mismanagement, shortsightedness and inefficiency.

The opposition’s help must come as a team work. To do that the government must facilitate the process. When COVID-19 struck the nation in early 2020, we requested the government to pass the Disaster Management Bill and appoint the National Disaster Management Council headed by the President himself. If this highly influential national council was appointed, we could have addressed all the issues related to the pandemic successfully in a bipartisan approach. But the President is still to do that and appointed a task force led by Army commander. The pandemic continues devastating the country unchallenged, victimising thousands per day at the moment. Targeting opposition members with trumped up charges while discharging of government politicians and friends from all court cases, is a hindrance to offer any help to the government. Despite popular demand across the country for a presidential pardon, Ranjan Ramanayake is still in jail. He is not a criminal, thief, bribe taker, rapist or a murderer, but a representative of the common man. Under this extremely unhealthy and aggressive attitude, how can we  extend the hand of friendship to this government?