Category: Breaking News

Sri Lanka on Friday reversed its controversial order banning the burial of bodies of those who died of Covid-19.

The reversal has come in the same week when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Sri Lanka on a two-day visit on 23-24 February, and after months of international pressure and protests by Muslim groups.

The order, which had been in force since April last year, had been criticised for targeting minorities.

The controversial burial ban

Soon after the coronavirus pandemic spread across continents, the Sri Lankan government in April passed an order that banned burials of Covid-19 victims in the country. It came amid concerns by influential Buddhist monks that burials could contaminate groundwater– claims that several experts dismissed as baseless. Under the order, burials were strictly not allowed, and all bodies were to be cremated.

The move was criticised by rights groups, including the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), as well as by Muslim, Catholic and some Buddhist community leaders. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also said that there was no risk of contamination, and recommended both the burial and cremation of those who died of Covid-19.

The Islamic world was appalled, as Muslims traditionally bury their dead facing the holy city of Mecca. Community leaders in Sri Lanka accused the move as being an extension of the state’s persecution of Muslims. The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation also expressed concern.

The order was criticised globally in December when Sri Lankan authorities ordered the forced cremation of at least 19 Muslim victims of the virus, including a baby, after families did not claim their bodies from the morgue, an AFP news report said.

The Muslim community, whose numbers are about 11 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 2.1 crore population, has had tense relations with the state and with the Sinhala Buddhist majority for much of the last decade, with riots shattering the calm once every few years. But the tensions have spiked after the synchronised Easter suicide bombings by a group of men and women who proclaimed themselves to be members of ISIS.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s visit

When Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa indicated in Parliament recently that Muslim burials would be allowed, Imran Khan tweeted his praise. “We welcome Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s assurance given in Sri Lankan Parliament today allowing Muslims to bury those who died from COVID-19,” Khan tweeted, although the government was yet to act upon that assurance.

International Human Rights watchdog Amnesty International had also urged Khan to take up the issue with Sri Lanka during his visit to the country this week. Sri Lankan media reports speculated that this could have been one reason why the visiting Prime Minister’s planned Parliament address was cancelled by the hosts.

On Tuesday, the first day of Khan’s visit, Muslim protesters in capital Colombo carried a mock jenazah, or coffin, criticising the government’s burial policy. A day later, Muslim parliamentarians asked Khan to take up the issue with Sri Lanka’s leaders. On Friday, the Sri Lankan government lifted the ban.

According to the BBC, Sri Lanka now expects Pakistan’s support at the 46th regular session of the UNHRC, which is currently taking place virtually and lasts until March 23. Five years ago, Sri Lanka had committed at the UNHRC to conduct a time-bound investigation of war crimes that took place during the military campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Sri Lanka now faces another resolution at the current session.

The draft resolution is based on a damning report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) that was submitted to the Human Rights Council on January 27.

Source:The Indian Express

The European Union (EU) is concerned over intensified surveillance in Sri Lanka.

The EU also said that it attaches great importance to the assessment by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on possible avenues for advancing accountability and to end impunity in Sri Lanka.

In a statement made at the UN Human Rights Council during the ongoing 46th Session, the EU reaffirmed its commitment to Human Rights, reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka.

“We regret that the Government of Sri Lanka no longer supports the comprehensive HRC process after 2015. We are concerned about a set back of the important gains made in recent years,” the EU said.

The EU noted that it is key to preserve achievements like the Office of Missing Persons and the Office for Reparation, safeguard their independence and provide them with sufficient resources.

“We share the concern of the High Commissioner about the warning signs of a deteriorating human rights situation, mainly the erosion of democratic checks and balances and the rise of exclusionary rhetoric. We are particularly worried about intensified surveillance and intimidation of CSOs, human rights defenders and victims,” the EU said.

The EU said it was also concerned about the ongoing impunity for past gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including torture and ill-treatment.

“Though the HRC has for many years stressed the need for accountability, domestic processes did not deliver. We therefore attach great importance to the High Commissioner’s assessments on possible avenues for advancing accountability and end impunity,” the EU said.

The EU hopes that the Government of Sri Lanka will remain committed to promoting reconciliation and accountability in the country.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is to implement recommendations in a report tabled at the UN Human Rights Council, despite objections raised by Sri Lanka.

The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-nashif said that the report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, which was formally tabled at the Council on Wednesday, was amended to include changes after talks with the Sri Lankan Government.

She said that the final document was delayed by three weeks after Sri Lanka had raised some concerns and proposed changes.

Nada Al-nashif said that several models will be looked at to implement some of the mechanisms proposed in the report on Sri Lanka.

She said that existing systems like those implemented on Syria, Myanmar or North Korea or an entirely new configuration can be considered when dealing with Sri Lanka.

“This is entirely up to the Council to see what is the best fit for the discharge of specific accountability functions,” she said.

Nada Al-nashif said that the OHCHR has huge amount of material and evidence collected over the years.

The Deputy High Commissioner said the OHCHR enjoys a very open and frank relationship with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL).

She also expressed hope that Sri Lanka will continue to engage with the UN Human Rights Council.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told the Council on Wednesday that Sri Lanka rejects the recommendations made by Bachelet in her report.

He said the call for asset freezes, travel bans, references to the ICC and the exercise of universal jurisdiction by individual States points to a distinct and imminent danger which the international community as a whole need to take note of.

It is 11 years since tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Both parties to the conflict committed war crimes and other abuses for which no one has been held to account.

For nearly a decade this Council has engaged Sri Lanka, including landmark consensus resolutions since 2015 to support a national process of accountability and reconciliation. Last year, soon after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president, the Sri Lankan government renounced those commitments. It has repeatedly shown bad faith, appointing those implicated in war crimes to positions of authority. It has pardoned one of the only few soldiers ever convicted by a national court for the massacre of civilians. It has denied security force intimidation of victim groups and activists bravely engaging with this Council, and adopted discriminatory policies against the Tamil and Muslim minority communities. Among those are the cruel and medically unjustified policy of forced cremation of Muslims, contrary to their religious practice, who die with Covid-19.

Sri Lanka has announced yet another commission of inquiry in an apparent attempt to mislead the Council that a viable domestic process exists. Seventeen Special Procedures recently pointed out that Sri Lanka has a long history of commissions of inquiry “established to deflect international pressure, …[which] have been strongly criticized for their weak mandates, lack of independence, lack of resources, procedural opacity, poor collaboration from the government, … and the overall lack of implementation of their recommendations.”

Just this week, the Foreign Minister addressed the Council, denying international crimes, rejecting the Council’s resolutions, and dismissing the High Commissioner’s report as a “propaganda campaign.” No-one can seriously believe the government has any intention of pursuing justice.

The High Commissioner, in her devastating report, rightly characterized Sri Lanka as being “in a state of denial,” unable and unwilling to address its past, with direct impact on its present and future.

Now activists, victim families, even those Sri Lankan officials who have sought justice, are at risk. Lawyers have been arbitrarily detained. Protesters calling for this Council to take action have been summoned by the police.

The Council should give effect to the High Commissioner’s recommendations by advancing international accountability for grave crimes and acting to prevent further abuses. As the High Commissioner states, the international community failed the people of Sri Lanka in the past; it cannot afford to do so again.

Sri Lanka is seeking $2.2 billion from Chinese banks, the government said Thursday, in echoes of a borrowing binge more than a decade ago that resulted in the country having to give up a strategic port to China.

Money and capital markets minister Nivard Cabraal said the government was hopeful of finalising a $1.5-billion swap facility with China’s central bank.

“Within the next two weeks we should be able to finalise it,” Cabraal told reporters in Colombo while maintaining that the funds would be used as a “buffer” to meet the government’s foreign currency needs.

Official figures show Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves plummeted to $4.8 billion at the end of January, the lowest since September 2009 when they fell to $4.2 billion.

Officials said Sri Lanka was also in talks with China Development Bank for a $700-million loan that would include the equivalent of $200 million being drawn in Chinese currency.

Under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2005-15, Colombo borrowed billions from China, accumulating a mountain of debt for expensive infrastructure projects.

This sparked Western and Indian concerns that the strategically located Indian Ocean nation was falling victim to a Chinese debt trap.

Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to power as prime minister in 2019 after his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa as elected president.

Sri Lanka was forced to hand over its strategic Hambantota port on a 99-year lease to a Chinese company in 2017 after Colombo said it was unable to service the $1.4-billion debt from Beijing used to build it.

Three top international rating agencies downgraded Sri Lanka’s creditworthiness late last year after raising doubts over Colombo’s ability to service its foreign debt.

The South Asian nation’s economy is reeling from the twin impacts of the deadly 2019 Easter bombings that killed 279 and devastated the tourism sector as well as the fallout from the pandemic.

Cabraal insisted Thursday that Sri Lanka would maintain its record of repaying debt on time and said the credit downgrades by international agencies were “unwarranted.”

He said Sri Lanka had already repaid $500 million this year out of its $3.7 billion debt servicing commitment for calendar 2021.

He said the government imposed a ban on luxury imports and several other commodities in a bid to conserve foreign exchange so that the country could have sufficient foreign currency to repay its debt.

Sri Lanka’s economy contracted by a record 3.9 percent last year.

However, Cabraal said economic activity was picking up and the country estimated foreign inflows of $32 billion against outflows of $27.6 billion this year leaving a surplus of $4.4 billion.

Source – AFP

Pro-government monks have stressed the need to consolidate political power around President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Maha Sangha reiterated this stance at a meeting held with a group of party leaders led by Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa. The party leaders were summoned for a meeting at the Abhayarama Temple on Wednesday (24).

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said that political analysts have revealed how certain external elements have created challenges pertaining to the internal affairs of the government.

He said that the President should be supported at all times to ensure that the government can face these challenges head on.

“Leaders of 8 parties convened at the Abhayarama Temple under the patronage of Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thero together with a group of Nayaka Theros. They discussed the challenges the current government is facing. It was an open dialogue where we discussed our future course of action. These are internal matters,” he said.

Minister Wimal Weerawansa said that the Maha Sangha had pointed out the importance of politically empowering the President as the Head of State.

Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara speaking to reporters after the meeting said: “the Chief Incumbent of the Abhayarama Temple Venerable Muruththettuwe Ananda Thero sent me a message asking me to come to the temple in the evening. I didn’t ask why. After we arrived, he inquired about the current state of affairs of the government. It was just a query.”