Category: News

At a time when parent JVP is running high in opinion polls month after month in the post-Aragalaya period, NFF founder Wimal Weerawansa has been beating what seems to be a dead electoral horse that his one-time SLPP alliance leader has supposedly become.

His recent ‘revelation’ that Namal Rajapaksa was a political burden (to put it mildly) and inducting into politics was his father Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first blunder, to say the least, is crying over spilt milk. Rather, it is milk that the likes of him had spilt and spoilt (or spoilt first and then spilled) in the first place.

The reasons are not far to seek. Ever since he walked out of the JVP when it quit the first Mahinda government (2005-10) with 10 of the party’s 39 MPs in the 225-member Parliament, he was among the greatest of Rajapaksa defenders. He was the JVP’s spokesperson and the best of public speakers when the party walked out the Rajapaksa government.

In a way, the JVP had set the process in motion after contesting the 2006 local government elections independent of the then SLFP-led UPA combine under President Mahinda – and losing miserably, nation-wide. In just six months, Mahinda had simply devoured the JVP’s purported 10-plus per cent vote-share, which had earlier tempted him to continue the inherited alliance, which the Rajapaksas otherwise reportedly felt uncomfortable with.

In the years that followed and given the party’s hugely accepted clean image, the JVP was also finding itself increasingly embarrassed by corruption charges against the ruling Rajapaksa clan, whose ministries controlled nearly 80 per cent of all annual budgetary allocations. Yet, when he walked out of the JVP, Weerawansa had no qualms defending the Rajapaksas inside and outside Parliament, whatever the truth behind those allegations.

Weerawansa could now argue that he had backed Mahinda and other Rajapaksas at the time only in larger national interest, as the armed forces under their collective leadership was tasting victory after victory against the dreaded LTTE. Yet, for more than 10 years after the conclusive and victorious war, he and others were in the very same Rajapaksas, company, whether or not the latter were in power or out of it. In the second Mahinda term and the more recent failed and aborted presidency of younger brother Gotabaya Rasjapaksa, Namal was a Cabinet minister, with Wimal sitting in his company.

Dual citizenship

The truth is that the likes of Weerawansa and also Udaya Gammanpilla, founder of the centre-right PHU, the breakaway faction in turn of the JHU, had had the best of all worlds in the company of the Rajapaksas. Their electoral acumen should still be appreciated, but they are all in the past. They were among the first in the Rajapajksas’ company to turn against the family when continuing in President Gota’s Cabinet with Mahinda as Prime Minister, another brother Basil as Finance Minister later on, not to leave out Chamal, Namal and the former’s son Shasheendra, who was only a junior minister.

Yet, when the two of them began targeting Basil and the Finance Ministry under their care, only the traditional critics of the Rajapaksas, smiled. Others began wondering what had piqued them both, after decades of association. During that period, they along with other SLPP partners had taken orders from the very same man, who was the party’s national organiser.

At no point then or later did any of them question the ‘nationalist’ credentials of Gota and Bail, as they wanted to have the best of dual citizenship, in Sri Lanka and the US. Gota at least reluctantly gave up his American citizenship after he became convinced that he would after all be Mahinda’s (equally reluctant) choice as the SLPP presidential candidate in 2019, with realistic hopes of victory.

Basil, instead, would want to be Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister and also a dual citizen, something that the Supreme Court had ruled out in the ‘Geetha Kumarasinghe case’ as far back as 2017. For Basil, the Gota-Mahinda duo got Parliament to amend the law, rather than asking their dear brother to make his choice. It was incidental that Wimal, Udaya and the traditional Left, or whatever was left of it, had begun turning against Basil.

Credibility and consistency

One does not look for credibility and consistency from politicians, anywhere. It is worse in Sri Lanka, and more so in recent years. Mahinda and his 40-plus MPs had no problem serving in Parliament on the pre-split SLFP ticket, with estranged President Maithripala Sirisena as party chief – and criticising the government, both within and outside the House. Maithiri, for his part, when relationship with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe became too hot to handle, had no hesitation in making Mahinda PM – only to be over-ruled by the Supreme Court, and thankfully so.

Sajith Premadasa and his present-day SJB colleagues were all praise for Ranil when he was their leader, and are now critical of all wrong things from the past, when they were all his comrades-in-arms, or were eating their political meal out of his arms. Ranil and Mahinda, who were always civil to each other but still came from ideologically and socially different backgrounds, are today the best political buddies in the country.

Yet, Wimal and the like should realise, at least now, that their game is up and they all too might have been rendered irrelevant in the politics of the future – possibly more than the Rajapaksas themselves. They wanted to be seen as rebelling against the Rajapaksas and steal their thunder in future elections. Thus, they waited until Gota sacked them from the ministry after Wimal, Udaya and fellow Cabinet Minister Vasudeva Nanayakara went to court against letting an American firm, New Fortress Energy to purchase 40-per cent stake in the Kerawalapitya / Yugadanavi power station in 2021.

If any or all of them thought that such antics would help them in their political future, they too were short-sighted enough not to foresee President Gota’s ability to wreck the boat from within, more than the rest combined. Yes, the Aragalaya protests were unprecedented and thus they too could not have foreseen it – But they, it may have also washed away their individual political future as it might have done it to the Rajapaksas as a clan.

(The writer is a policy analyst & political commentator, based in Chennai, India. Email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com)

The Freedom of the World Report 2023 has downgraded Sri Lanka in terms of democratic hallmarks. Sri Lanka has got an overall score of 53/100. Last year’s overall score was 55/100. But this year, as well as last year, its status is the same, namely, “Partly Free”.

In 2023, in terms of “political rights” it has got 22/40, and in terms of “civil liberties”, it has got 31/60.

Here are the main observations:

A culture of impunity regarding official corruption appears to exist in Sri Lanka, in which politicians do not prosecute political opponents on corruption allegations lest they risk scrutiny in the future. Corruption has also impacted the delivery of vital goods; a former chief executive of state-owned Litro Gas noted that corruption was rampant in that sector. In May 2022, Australian and Indian news outlets reported that Namal Rajapaksa, a scion of the Rajapaksa family, was linked to a money laundering scheme along with an Australian company and a Sri Lankan firm owned by a family associate.

In 2020, Gotabaya Rajapaksa established the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Allegations of Political Victimization, which opposition leaders and rights groups said helped the Rajapaksa family and their associates evade criminal investigations and prosecution. In an October 2022 report, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that the inquiry had “actively intervened in police investigations and court proceedings in several high-profile human rights cases.”

Transparency is lacking in procurement and contracting decisions, including for large contracts with Chinese and other foreign companies. The auditor general in recent years has also noted major discrepancies in the government’s assessments of public debt.

Following the end of the civil war in 2009, the military presence in the Tamil-populated areas of the north and east increased. The creation of the Presidential Task Force for Archeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province in 2020 led to concerns that the government would employ the military to back claims pertaining to Buddhist heritage, to further change the region’s demographics.

Civil Liberties

Media were critical when reporting on the 2022 anti-government protests, but journalists faced arrest and physical assault while covering them. In March, police and security forces arrested journalists who covered a protest near Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s home. On July 9, paramilitary forces attacked a team of reporters near the then prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s home. Later that month, security forces assaulted journalists who were covering a raid on a Colombo protest site.

The Roman Catholic clergy has criticized the government for perceived faults in the official investigation into the 2019 Easter terrorist bombings, which had targeted three Christian churches.

Academic freedom is generally respected, but students and faculty feel pressure to avoid discussing sensitive topics, including alleged war crimes, human rights for marginalized groups, Islamophobia, or extremist activities by Buddhist clergy.

The civil war remains a sensitive topic. Awareness of state officials’ harassment of civil society activists working on human rights issues in the north and east has deterred open discussion of such subjects among ordinary citizens. Even anti-government protesters active in 2022 reportedly avoided those issues and discouraged discourse on those subjects.

In April, an activist who administered a Facebook group called “Go Home Gota” was arrested. The Aragalaya protests, which were prompted by the country’s severe economic difficulties, government mismanagement, and corruption, were held for much of 2022. The protests escalated on March 31, when protesters set fire to an army vehicle near Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence and authorities responded with force. Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew days later.

On May 9, the day Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister, SLPP supporters attacked antigovernment demonstrators in Colombo, injuring at least 20 people. Anti-government protesters also targeted Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) members, with several lawmakers’ homes and vehicles being destroyed. In total, 5 people were reportedly killed from clashes on May 9, while 150 were injured.

On July 9, protesters occupied the presidential mansion forcing Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. Wickremesinghe’s home and several other buildings were destroyed by protesters that day.

The government maintained a crackdown on the Aragalaya evenafter Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation. Soldiers dismantled a Colombo protest camp on July 21; over 50 people were reportedly injured during the operation. Authorities also targeted perceived Aragalaya participants, with over 100 people being arrested by early August. Also in August, three student activists were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). In September, the government used the Official Secrets Act to briefly restrict assembly rights in parts of Colombo, which were declared “high security zones.”

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are generally free to operate without interference, but some NGOs and activists—particularly those in the north and east that focus on sensitive topics such as military impunity—have been subjected to denial of registration, surveillance, harassment, and assaults. Intelligence personnel have attended civil society meetings and questioned NGOs about their personnel and funding sources. Trade unions protested the government’s handling of the country’s economic crisis throughout much of 2021 and 2022.

Due process rights are undermined by the PTA, which was expanded in 2021 to allow suspects to be detained for up to two years without trial. The law has been used to hold perceived enemies of the government, particularly Tamils. Many detained under the PTA’s provisions have been kept in custody for longer than the law allows. Following the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, hundreds of Muslim suspects were arrested under the act, while Sinhalese anti-Muslim rioters were charged under standard civilian statutes that allowed bail.

The government amended the PTA in March 2022 through an accelerated parliamentary process. But UN human rights experts warned that the legislation’s most severe provisions remained. The PTA has since been used against antigovernment protesters, with three student activists being detained under the law in August.

Military personnel accused of committing war crimes during the civil war later held prominent government roles, while others remain in senior military posts. Police and security forces have engaged in extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, custodial rape, and torture, all of which disproportionately affect Tamils. Aragalaya protesters who were arrested were reportedly tortured while in custody.

Tamils report systematic discrimination in areas including government employment, university education, and access to justice. Ethnic and religious minorities are vulnerable to violence and mistreatment by security forces and Sinhalese Buddhist extremists.

Ongoing occupations and other forms of land grabbing remain serious problems, especially for Tamils in the northeast. Members of minority groups have been targeted by criminals using forged land deeds in Colombo, leading to an investigation in October 2022.

Rape of women and children and domestic violence remain serious problems, and perpetrators often act with impunity. Some very young girls are forced into marriages under Islamic personal law, which the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government sought to change by altering the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). However, the government was criticized for attempting to revise the MMDA without adequate input from the Muslim community. In 2021, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama objected to the cabinet’s decision to amend the MMDA, in part because it would ban polygamous marriages for Muslims.

While most of the mainly Tamil workers on tea plantations are unionized, employers routinely violate their rights.