Ceylon Today Editorial

Admission by Admiral Sunil Lanba

03 April 2017

It is for the first time Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has admitted the violation of the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) between Sri Lanka and India by the Indian fishermen.

Admiral Sunil Lanba addressing a press conference in Vellore last Friday (31) while admitting the violation of the IMBL by the South Indian fishermen had also pointed out the importance of settling the issue through amicable discussions between the fishing associations of India and Sri Lanka.

The State of Tamil Nadu has blown up the South Indian fishermen's issue out of proportion by accusing the Sri Lanka Navy of attacking the Indian fishermen in the Northern waters. However, the Tamil Nadu State Government or the fishermen associations in the State had never admitted the Indian fishermen violating the IMBL and infiltrating deep into the territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

Two years ago former Navy Chief of Sri Lanka Admiral Jayanath Colombage in an interview with Ceylon Today clearly outlined how the Indian fishermen were infiltrating into the Sri Lankan waters and harming the livelihood of the Northern fishermen.

Admiral Colombage also pointed out the destruction caused to the marine ecology by the Indian vessels.

The South Indian State politicians often express their concerns over the political and the humanitarian issues of the war devastated people in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

However, they never take into consideration the plight of the Sri Lanka's Northern fishermen who were terribly affected by the war for nearly three decades.

Soon after the war came to an end the Sri Lankan Government gave priority to revamping the fishing activities by accelerating the removal of restrictions for fishing in the Northern waters.

Thousands of fishermen in the Northern Province had suffered immensely due to restricted fishing activities in the North due to clashes between the Navy and the LTTE in the Northern waters.

Katchatheevu islet being the focal point in the tussle between the Sri Lankan and the Indian fishermen, South Indian fishermen continue to violate the IMBL between India and Sri Lanka despite the preventive measures taken by the Sri Lanka Navy.

As for the first time India's Navy Chief has admitted the violation of the IMBL by the Indian fishermen it is important for the Tamil Nadu State Government to take appropriate action to prevent the State's fishermen infiltrating into the Sri Lankan waters.

Fisherfolk in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka have already extended their unwavering support to the Sri Lanka Navy to take stringent measures to keep the Indian fishermen away from the territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

Apart from the Indian fishermen being nabbed by the SL Navy for violating the IMBL, there were instances where vessels infiltrating into the Sri Lankan waters being seized with narcotics such as Kerala cannabis aboard. According to the Navy nearly 20 Indians have been nabbed with narcotics so far.

As a prelude to the talks to be held between Sri Lanka and India over the fishermen issue, next Thursday (6) in Colombo, nearly 30 Indian fishermen who were arrested for violating the IMBL have been released from detention in Sri Lanka last week.

President Maithripala Sirisena held brief talks in Indonesia a month ago with Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari on the problems between Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen following the death of Rameswaram fisherman Britjo after an alleged shooting incident near Katchatheevu.

The talks meant to solve the problems between the Indian and the Sri Lankan fishermen should not deprive the livelihood of the Northern fishermen of Sri Lanka at any cost.

As the Chief of the 'blue water' Navy Admiral Sunil Lanba has clearly admitted the Indian fishermen violating the IMBL and infiltrating into Sri Lankan waters, the ball is now in the Indian court to ensure the country's fisherfolk not cruising into the Sri Lankan territorial waters any more.

Daily News Editorial

Vasu’s trial balloon

02 April 2017

Joint Opposition firebrand Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s call to President Maithripala Sirisena, that, should the latter ditch the UNP, they, of the JO, would be willing to form a government with the SLFP component of the current regime, should be viewed as yet another attempt to get those currently being investigated for mega scams and other crimes off the hook. Vasu’s, of course, is the latest voice in this regard. There have also been others, too, of the JO, who make the same suggestion from time to time, notably Messrs. Kumara Welgama and Prasanna Ranatunga both of whom have cases pending against them. MP Dullas Alahapperuma too has been a vociferous advocate for such a course. Such an arrangement would not only stand the JO in good stead from the point of view having the cases against their stalwarts dropped but would also open up other possibilities.

Many of the JO members were once Cabinet Ministers and a new government formed with their former SLFP colleagues, will, no doubt, present them the opportunity to be Ministers once again. Not only that. A realignment of forces would necessarily make Mahinda Rajapaksa the Prime Minister while investigations currently being made against the numerous felonies of JO stalwarts would come to an abrupt end.

However Vasu’s suggestion coming to fruition has the chance of a snowball in hell. To begin with, the UNP still commands a majority in parliament and a minority government, as suggested by the MP, would be a non-starter. There is also good reasons for the President not to be enamoured by such a suggestion. Having queered the pitch of MR becoming PM at the last general election it is next to impossible that President Sirisena will have a change of heart in this regard. One recalls the statement made by the President that had Rajapaksa won the election he (President) would have been six feet below terra firma.

Those advocating a realignment should also factor in the ground realities. Joint Opposition members have been vociferous critics of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government on almost all fronts and accused it carrying out a witch-hunt against the war heroes. It has also taken to the streets decrying the many agreements signed by government and those that are in the pipeline. Does the likes of Vasudeva Nanayakkara expect a government formed with the JO to jettison the Hambantota port development agreement signed with the Chinese or the Public Private partnership to be shortly entered into bailout the national carrier? Will the new government, formed with the JO component, do away with ECTA and abolish SAITM, two issues it obviously cannot compromise on, after going to town attacking the government. Can Nanayakkara explain how a government devoid of the UNP can suddenly become the best thing that has happened to this country, with members in its fold having the most regressive and obsolete ideas, not in tune with the modern world?

Does a government that includes the JO, to the exclusion of the UNP, drop the constitution making exercise, now in an advanced stage, with people like Udaya Gammanpila and Wimal Weerawansa protesting furiously that it contained clauses that will divide the country? What will become of the agreement signed between the SLFP and UNP to continue the alliance for the duration of the unity government? What will become of the newly formed Pohottuwa party led by the Prof. G.L. Peiris as the fall back option for the JO? Will the party be disbanded if the JO is accommodated in the government?

It is not known if Nanayakkara is flying a trial balloon at the behest of his leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. For MR has so far not come out in the open advocating such a course but has been a vocal critic of the government, vowing to have nothing to do with it.

Be that as it may, President Sirisena will be the last person to accommodate the Joint Opposition in the government, and for good reasons. He is well aware of the viscous attacks made against him, even at a personal level, by the personages in Joint Opposition who are today clamouring to work with him by forming a government. He also cannot be unaware that there are scores to settle with him by the Rajapaksas, not just for his “betrayal” in decamping at the eleventh hour to take on MR but also having the spunk to throw some of the Rajapaksa family members behind bars. Besides, President Sirisena cannot let down the civil society groups, the Good Governance advocates and the combined forces who put their shoulders to the wheel to ensure his victory and rid the country of a corrupt regime, with former President Chandrika Kumaratunga in the vanguard of the campaign. Most of all, he cannot be ungrateful to the UNP through whose votes he rode to power and whose members made tremendous sacrifices to install him in office. Besides, the unity government is too far gone down the road for a turnaround at this juncture.

The Island Editorial

Burning down a parliament

03 April 2017

 

Guy Fawkes must be spinning, nay doing backflips, in his grave. He made an abortive attempt to destroy the Parliament of England in 1605. He got hanged and quartered, and his body parts were dispatched to the four corners of the kingdom for his role in the Gunpowder Plot as a warning to others of his ilk. A little over four centuries on, Paraguayans have emulated him successfully albeit without gunpowder and a religious agenda; they set their parliament on fire the other day to ‘save democracy’!

What provoked Paraguayans into taking to the streets in their thousands and carrying out that arson attack was an attempt by their incumbent president to change the country’s Constitution to lift the presidential term limit. Paraguay has wisely banned the heads of state seeking re-election after serving a five-year term. Once bitten twice shy, as they say. This constitutional restriction has been in force since 1992, when that country managed to restore democracy after a 40-year military rule, to prevent the emergence of dictatorships. Current President Horacio Cartes sought to run for President again and had a constitutional amendment to that effect approved by the Senate. And, all hell broke loose on Saturday.

In a sharp contrast to the Paraguayans’ reaction to their leader’s attempt at self-aggrandisement, the introduction of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution here to do away with the presidential term limit did not trigger any protests as such. Even the present-day, big-mouthed champions of good governance meekly voted for it in Parliament, enabling its passage with a two-thirds majority. Not even the Supreme Court, then headed by Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, who became a heroine after falling from grace and being ousted, took exception to that seriously flawed constitutional amendment, which would later prove to be President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s undoing. The rest is history.

President Cartes apparently took a leaf out of Rajapaksa’s book, but the intrepid Paraguayans aborted his plan. However, the fact remains that they took their protest to an extreme. The controversial bill, which was to be passed by the Congress on Saturday has been put on hold indefinitely in view of violent protests which have left a couple of persons dead and many others injured. It is not likely to see the light of day, according to political observers.

The second terms of all presidents have been disasters in this country. Perhaps, Sri Lanka should follow the Paraguayan example and bar presidents from seeking re-election. What the situation would have been if President Rajapaksa had succeeded in his attempt to secure a third term is not difficult to imagine; given the high incidence of corruption, arrogance of power, cronyism, nepotism, abuse of public property and the culture of impunity which became manifestly evident during his second term, people would have taken to the streets, to bring about a regime change. Perhaps, that was why incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena, upon being inducted in 2015, publicly declared that he would not seek re-election though his hangers-on now tell us he is the best candidate the SLFP can think of fielding at the next presidential election.

Likewise, it is a mistake for any political party or a coalition to be allowed to serve two or more terms consecutively in a country like ours. The biggest ever financial crime was committed within the first few weeks of the present government coming to power. There have been endless probes into the Treasury bond scams and nobody has been arrested so far. One way of making rogues in the garb of parliamentarians, provincial councillors and local government members behave is to instil into them the fear of being defeated at the next election and made to face the consequences of their actions.

Meanwhile, let the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government be warned that denying people their right to exercise their franchise and elect their representative is to invite disaster. It was the replacement of a general election with a heavily rigged referendum in 1982 that plunged the country into a bloodbath and several years of near anarchy. The JVP tapped public resentment to fuel its macabre project and wreak havoc.

The yahapalana government had better overcome its ‘pollsphobia’ and hold the local government elections without further delay. Its efforts to avoid an electoral defeat by postponing mini polls are as futile as an attempt to ‘control dysentery with a loincloth’ as a local saying goes.