Ceylon Today Editorial

Geneva, new Tamil ethos

03 March 2017

'Economynext,' a website, on its Wednesday's edition, quoting TNA spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran, had said: "We have requested the member countries and the High Commissioner for Human Rights that although the 18 months time has lapsed...Sri Lanka must be encouraged and made to accomplish every one of those undertakings that they agreed to. To that extent, Sri Lanka has to be given further time...."

...."With the help of all...with patience, understanding, and constant and consistent effort and perseverance, we strongly believe that we can make the reconciliation process a success," he added....
TNA heads the Opposition in Parliament. It's their community, the Jaffna Tamils, which suffered in particular during the closing stages of the government's war against the LTTE which ended on 18 May, 2009. TNA has been vociferous about the prosecution of alleged war criminals.

Meanwhile, the '18 months', which Sumanthiran referred to in his speech was the time given for Sri Lanka by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in October 2015 to set-up a mechanism with the participation of foreign jurists to investigate into those alleged war crimes.

Sumanthiran's speech coincides with a statement made by USA's Deputy Assistant State Secretary Erin M. Barclay at the ongoing UNHRC sessions in Geneva on the island where she had said: "Sri Lanka was an example of a country in which the UNHRC had catalyzed progress for reform and provided assistance to improve accountability for past violations....
....When the Council works as it should; its successes are victories for human rights. For example, UNHRC's action catalyzed progress for reform and provided technical assistance to improve accountability for past violations in Sri Lanka....'(Yesterday's Daily FT)

It was the USA, which, together with Sri Lanka, co-sponsored the seemingly controversial October resolution which allowed foreign jurists to meddle in the internal affairs of the country. Nonetheless, despite Sri Lanka not keeping to its full part of its pledge; that is for the allowing of foreign jurists to stand in judgment over the island's affairs, what is of significance in Barclay's speech was that UNHRC's actions had helped the island to improve accountability for past violations.

She has also not castigated Colombo for not inveigling in foreign jurists, into the bargain, as promised by it, 18 months ago at Geneva. It's however left to be seen whether the USA would be satisfied with a domestic mechanism only to investigate alleged war crimes. USA is a current member of the UNHRC.

Post October 2015, both President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, at one time or the other, had been saying that there is no need for foreign jurists to be involved in Sri Lanka's affairs, though, at the beginning, i.e. post October 2015, the Premier had said that foreign jurists involved in Sri Lanka's affairs was not something new.

It's however seemingly obvious that the October resolution would have had the blessings of both Wickremesinghe and Sirisena, though, now, for political reasons, they are having second thoughts, particularly in regard to the clause of having foreign jurists being involved in the local investigative process.

If Sumanthiran's and Barclay's conciliatory statements were not enough, the third, similar complementary statement was made by no less than Sri Lanka's former colonial power the UK, which is also a member country of the current UNHRC.

UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Asia and Pacific Minister Alok Sharma speaking at the ongoing Geneva sessions had said: "I welcome the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister's constructive engagement here,....We must give Sri Lanka time to fully implement the October 2015 resolution and post conflict measures required to embed stability, reconciliation and justice."(yesterday's 'Ceylon Today')

However, neither Sumanthiran nor Sharma have spelt out the additional timeframe that would be required for Sri Lanka to fulfil its UNHRC obligations, though there are alleged reports to say that Sri Lanka will be asking for a further 24 months.

'Further 24 months' i.e. in 2019, is on the eve of the parliamentary election set for 2020 according to the 19th Amendment (19A) which limited the life of Parliament from six to five years in April 2015, i.e. on the eve of the August 2015 parliamentary election.

19A also limited the presidential term from six to five years, though from a legalistic pointof view, whether this new term limit is applicable to the current incumbent is contentious as he was elected to power pre-19A.

Nonetheless, if Sri Lanka will, in fact, ask time till 2019, it is however, doubtful that it will fufil its international obligations by then, in particular of allowing for foreign jurists to investigate alleged war crimes,especially on the eve of at least one crucial general election, which fulfillment of such obligations, may go against the incumbent government, vis-à-vis the island's 70% Sinhala Buddhist majority vote.

What, however, is of significance is the conciliatory term adopted by the TNA and the international community led by the USA and the UK within Geneva 2017 and without, giving time, as yet unspecified to settle the war crimes issue, even at the possibility of the TNA's vote base in the North being eroded and the rise of a new branch of Jaffna Tamil extremist force once more.

Daily News Editorial

A commendable act

03 March 2017

The government should be commended for handing out one of the largest, if not the largest, monetary compensation on behalf of a civilian who had died at the hands of a state organ. The next of kin of each prison inmate killed during the police shooting in the prison breakout on November, 2012 is to receive Rs. 2 million and those of each injured victim Rs.500,000.

True, no value can be attached to a life, a prisoner or otherwise, and it will be small consolation to the relatives and loved ones of the victims. But given the dire circumstances of the families of the prisoners who perished, the substantial compensation indeed would be like a god send to them. These prisoners had their own families, children etc. who obviously were being maintained by illegally earned money such as through drugs and extortion. It is hoped that their children, at least, would be put on the correct path with the aid of the substantial compensation, if not already gone astray themselves. If this could be achieved, the compensation would have been put to productive use and, what is more, would have prevented the progeny of the victims going the way of their fathers and ending up in prison.

It would better if the prison authorities take some measure to ensure that the compensation money is put to right use. Rs. 2 million would no doubt be a mind boggling sum to these folk who belong to the lumpen strata who have never dreamed of setting eyes on such an amount, let alone possessing same. The tendency would be to spend this money on the same nefarious activities engaged in by the departed victim. If so, the money would not only be a waste but also recipe for disaster, in that it would spawn another breed of lawbreakers and perhaps criminals.

The aftermath of the horrendous prisons massacre was laid out in all its gory details that saw adults and children weeping and wailing at the scene.The incident was the blackest episode in the country's prisons history, perhaps second only to the Black July prison massacre that brought international condemnation on the country. Both chapters were closed, with no one brought to justice or held accountable. Both attacks had the makings of having been orchestrated.

In the Black July incident, Sinhala convicts were provided with knives, katties and other blunt weapons to get about their business, that saw a gory ending, with over 50 Tamil inmates butchered to death. Nobody took responsibility or was held accountable. In the recent incident too no heads rolled. On the contrary there were attempts to justify the massacre, with a Senior DIG, close to the Rajapaksas, eagerly giving out a list of the inmates killed, which included the names of notorious criminals, as if to justify the sordid operation. Both episodes are only distant memories today, what with the feeling conveyed to the public that it was good riddance.

The government should strive to get to the bottom of the 2012 prison massacre because there were rumours that were then in circulation that the breakout was stage managed in order to get at some selected inmates who knew too much of the doings of a powerful bureaucrat.

Be that as it may, our prisons need a complete overhaul and badly so. The whole system is corrupt and rotten to the core. It is no secret that there is subterranean world within the prison walls akin to the underworld outside. Prison officers, from top to bottom, too have become an integral part of this subterranean world catering to the needs of selected inmates.

What is therefore needed is wholesale reform. There is talk that our prisons are to be made more congenial correction centres like those in the developed countries. Already, one such cantonment, on these lines, have already been completed in Angonapelessa in the deep south and was slated to have been opened by the President, who however had demurred and instead said he would rather open schools than prisons.

A case against Big Matches? Leading prelate of the Jathika Hela Urumuya and Founder of the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation, the Ven Omalpe Sobitha Thera has taken his campaign to extremes and threatened to go court to halt Big Matches which he claimed was the platform for youth to get inducted to alcohol and tobacco. The Ven. Thera said he would move court against the police and school authorities for not banning Big Matches. It is not clear when the Ven. Thera is planning to file his court case, because, the Big Match season is already in full swing and the Battle of the Maroons, which was the bone of contention, due to the recent clash between groups of students of the two schools, is set to begin tomorrow. Besides courts cannot rule on moral issues and could intervene only if there could be a breach of the peace. Big Matches, though, have come to stay, with even some of our Lord Justices, enthusiastic participants in the fun.

The Island Editorial

President, jails and schools

03 March 2017

 

President Maithripala Sirisena has said he turned down an invitation to declare open the Angunukolapalessa prison complex, as we reported yesterday. But, he is ready to attend the opening of a school anytime, he has said. His aversion to penal institutions is understandable. Nobody likes pens, the mere sight of which is depressing.

Luckily for President Sirisena, the Joint Opposition has already said the leaders of the previous government should be given the credit for building the Angunukolapaless prison. Else, he would have been accused of setting up a jail in Hambantota, the stronghold of the Rajapaksas, with an ulterior motive. Had he lost the last presidential election the new prison would have been opened with him as the first inmate!

President Sirisena’s refusal to open jails should be appreciated. Similarly, it does not make any sense for either him or the Prime Minister to expend their time and energy and, above all, public funds to attend most other opening ceremonies as well. There are many pressing national issues for them to contend with and it is baffling how on earth they find time to travel all over the country to grace so many functions. The same goes for ministers who chase their tails and waste colossal amounts of taxpayers’ money to be seen at inauguration ceremonies and other such events which serve no purpose. True, they may get some political mileage from such functions, but they will surely gain much more politically if they devote their time and energy to their work and make a serious effort to solve the burning problems such as the high cost of living, the deterioration of the law and order situation, the shocking depreciation of the rupee, lack of foreign investment, dwindling foreign reserves and the ever worsening balance of payment woes.

The opening of a school is tantamount to the closing down of a jail, as a local saying goes. One may ask whether it is the closure of so many schools during the last several decades which has led to the setting up of new prisons. The last ten years or so have seen the closure of as many as 220 underprivileged schools in all parts of the country, according to teachers’ trade unions. Interestingly, towards the tail end of the Rajapaksa government, the number of schools suddenly rose from 9,661 to 10,220. This was due to a sleight of hand rather than the construction of new schools. Primary sections were separated from many schools and this jilmaat (trick) was used to dupe the public. The Education Ministry website has since chosen to black out the data that can be used to find out the number of schools already closed or earmarked for closure, trade unionists say.

Jails are a necessary evil. Lawbreakers who are a threat to society have to be kept somewhere. (Police may be convinced otherwise as could be seen from the manner in which they eliminate criminals instead of crime!) The existing prisons are bursting at the seams and the need for new spacious ones with modern facilities cannot be overemphasised. There should be separate pens for young offenders. At present, a youth who serves a sentence for a minor offence in a prison graduates to serious crime upon being released thanks to his association with underworld figures behind bars.

Public schools are as overcrowded as prisons and concentrated in urban areas. Sadly, no government has cared to address this problem; the private sector has moved in to make a killing as evident from the mushrooming of the so-called international schools to cater to the increasing demand for schools. Let President Sirisena be urged to build more schools and develop the existing ones as a national priority so as to obviate the need for more prisons.