38 years on - Remembering the burning of the Jaffna Public Library

jaffna library saygi.jpg

Cover art by Sagi Thilipkumar

 31 May 2019

On midnight 31st May 1981, the Jaffna Public Library, famous for being the crucible of Tamil literature and heritage, was set ablaze by Sri Lankan security forces and state-sponsored mobs. The burning has since been marked by Eelam Tamils as an act of genocide.

Over 95,000 unique and irreplaceable Tamil palm leaves (ola), manuscripts, parchments, books, magazines and newspapers, housed within an impressive building inspired by ancient Dravidian architecture, were destroyed during the burning. Some texts that were kept in the library, such as the Yalpanam Vaipavama (a history of Jaffna), were literally irreplaceable, being the only copies in existence. It was one of the largest libraries in Asia.

The destruction took place under the rule of the UNP at a time when District Development Council elections were underway, and two notorious Sinhala chauvinist cabinet ministers - Cyril Mathew and Gamini Dissanayake - were in Jaffna. Earlier on in the day, three Sinhalese police officers were killed during a rally by the TULF (Tamil United Liberation Front).

Nancy Murray, a western author, wrote at the time ''uniformed security men and plainclothes thugs carried out some well organised acts of destruction”.

"They burned to the ground certain chosen targets - including the Jaffna Public Library, with its 95,000 volumes and priceless manuscripts…no mention of this appeared in the national newspapers, not even the burning of the library, the symbol of Tamils' cultural identity. The government delayed bringing in emergency rule until 2 June, by which time the key targets had been destroyed."

The burning continued unchecked for two nights.

Homes and shops across Jaffna town were also set alight by the mob, including the TULF headquarters and the offices of the Ealanadu newspaper.

Virginia Leary wrote in Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka - Report of a Mission to Sri Lanka on behalf of the International Commission of Jurists, July/August 1981, that “the destruction of the Jaffna Public Library was the incident, which appeared to cause the most distress to the people of Jaffna."

The Movement for Inter-racial Justice and Equality said in a report, after sending a delegation to Jaffna,

"If the Delegation were asked which act of destruction had the greatest impact on the people of Jaffna, the answer would be the savage attack on this monument to the learning and culture and the desire for learning and culture of the people of Jaffna... There is no doubt that the destruction of the Library will leave bitter memories behind for many years."

The scholar and community leader, Reverend Father David reportedly died from shock days after the incineration of his beloved institution. While his statue in the library courtyard is surrounded now by the spirit-soothing greens of local flora, his demise epitomises the loss suffered by every member of the Tamil nation alive on that day, and each generation born afterwards: the irrevocable loss of memories, of the lives and deaths of our predecessors, of the beauty they created as well as of the destruction they may have wreaked.

In 2001, then mayor of Jaffna Nadarajah Raviraj stated that the burning “is in my memory”.''Still I feel like crying after 20 years,'' he said.

Mr Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo in November 2006. Still no-one has been held accountable for his murder.

Despite Tamil attempts to memorialise the catastrophic event, by keeping part of the burnt wreckage preserved, the Sri Lankan government allegedly insisted on ensuring all areas of the building were completely rebuilt, leaving no signs of the damage done.

Yet, in 2010 the library was once again vandalised by a group of Sinhalese tourists. The Sinhalese group had attempted to gain access to the library whilst it was closed for an All Ceylon Medical Association seminar that weekend. Denied entry the “tourists reacted by running amok” said the BBC, “breaking some of the shelves and throwing books on the ground”.

They also went on to vandalise a statue of veteran Tamil politician S J V Chelvanayagam, remembered across the Tamil nation for spear heading the Vaddukoddai resolution.

In December 2016, an ‘apology’ for the burning, by current Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was criticised - after initially receiving praise as a step towards reconciliation; the offhand manner in which it was delivered revealing a marked disregard for how deeply Tamils on the island continue to mourn the burning.

Racism, media terrorism and ISIS poachers

Sri Lanka’s security forces are doing a commendable job, cracking down on extremist elements to bring about normalcy. - AFP

31 May 2019 

It goes without saying that there is an urgent and existential need to eradicate terrorism in whatever form it exists. By and large, the security forces are doing a commendable job, arresting suspects from various parts of the country to ensure that the terror cells linked to the Easter Sunday attacks are completely wiped out. 
Commenting on the security situation, government leaders have said that the new terror war the country is facing is different from the 30-year separatist terror campaign of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE). They acknowledged that the new terrorism threat, with a global reach and an Islamic label, needs to be dealt with cautiously, carefully and differently. 
It is not clear whether the government and the security authorities have adopted a strategy taking into consideration the sensitivity involved -- the claims about international agendas and the warnings that the measures being taken should not lead to more radicalisation of the youth or create more terrorists.   

This is where the government needs a vision. The situation demands that the government should rise to the occasion and take full charge of the security operation. The people yearn for a strong government, as they believe that a weak government’s writ lacks the authority or the command of enforcement.
Given the antagonism between the President and the Prime Minister, the people expect, at least on security matters, that they should speak with one voice. With the president pulling in one direction and the prime minister in another direction, one wonders whether the armed forces and the Police are getting the right guidance, while the ensuing confusion has only given a freehand to racist elements to promote their ugly agendas.

"The situation demands that the government should rise to the occasion and take full charge of the security operation"

As the French Statesman Georges Clemenceau said ‘war is too important a matter to be left to the military’, the government needs to guide the security forces as they set about the task of eliminating the threat of terrorism. This, the government must do, while being alert to the danger that the measures it takes should not lead to further radicalisation of misguided Muslims.
Thankfully, the military top brass seem to be aware of this danger and are treading the course carefully, not to give room for more Zaharans to surface.
But this cannot be said of the government. Take for instance, the Presidential pardon granted to the Bodu Bala Sena Secretary, the Ven. Gnanasara Thera. It came at a time when the country was fast hurtling towards the abyss of racism’s hell. Either the president does not understand the gravity of the situation being made worse, with each day passing, by racist forces, or he deliberately wants to aggravate the situation to achieve his political goals.

The government action in stemming the rising racism is woefully wanting. It watches helplessly, as certain sections of the media, probably in cahoots with the main opposition elements, spew out venomous racism with their coverage of the security situation in a deliberate attempt to build anti-Muslim hatred in the Sinhalese minds and divide the people of this country along religious or ethnic lines. With little or no countermeasures coming from the government to arrest this dangerous trend where fake news is repeated with such Goebellesian frequency as to give them more than a veneer of authenticity, Sri Lanka’s Muslims have become collective target of hate crime.  Is the government waiting till the hate campaign grows into a critical mass and explodes in a 1983-like pogrom?

"Educated and jobless and in the prime of their lives, these youths could become vulnerable to terrorist poachers"

Then take the controversy created by the irresponsible news coverage on the arrest of a Muslim gynaecologist. Without realising that what they are practising is not journalism but media terrorism that has killed the industry’s ethics, the so-called pro-opposition media outlets give undue air time and space for rabblerousing politicians and supremacist monks, to condemn and convict the doctor in what is seen as a trial by the media. What they are trying to harp on their viewers and readers is that Muslims, on the one hand, breed like rabbits and, on the other, they implement a secret plan to sterilize Sinhala women so that they could make this country a Muslim majority nation in decades to come. The reportage is triggering a feticidal war. 

What is worrying is that, with the type of ugly journalism they practise, even those who, only a little over a month ago, had liberal views on race relations, have become suspicious of Muslims. Probably the so-called media terrorism is aimed at bringing the Joint Opposition back to power on the strength of Sinhala votes alone. But they do not realise the harm they are doing to the country by dividing the people. 
If immediate action is not taken to expose the racism-breeding media, what guarantees can government leaders give that the country we all love would not be dragged into another civil war? Mind you, big powers, having their eyes fixed on Sri Lanka, are waiting for an excuse to send in their militaries under the cover of the responsibility-to-protect principle or some other pretext. We cannot overlook the reality that this country has already become embroiled in big power politics, with China’s large foothold in the south and in Colombo being a security concern to other big powers. 

"Either the president does not understand the gravity of the situation being made worse, with each day passing, by racist forces, or he deliberately wants to aggravate the situation to achieve his political goals"

This column, last week highlighted that the global Islamophobia industry, backed by the war lobby, neoconservatives and the Zionists, has an agenda for Sri Lanka, too. We raised the question whether the racist elements, in cahoots with international Islamophobes, were working overtime to create more terrorists for ISIS, a creation of some powerful countries. 
We need to also raise the question whether the government has worked out a plan to rehabilitate those who are in custody and those who may be taken in on suspicion in the future.  The fear is that the current Islamophobia that is being allowed to grow unchecked like a secondary-stage cancer due to government inaction has its toll on the Muslim community. A clear victim is a Muslim woman who wore a kaftan with a picture of a ship’s steering wheel. She has been taken into custody and remanded. The Attorney General’s Department’s lack of intervention in this case is also questionable.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslim youths have lost their jobs. In several private companies which are struggling to cope with the current situation, Muslims are the first to be retrenched. Then there is a Boycott-Muslim-shops campaign. A popular restaurant owned by a Muslim had a work force of 60 in one of its outlets. Now it operates with 25 employees. Muslim tuk-tuk drivers complain of some customers refusing to get in because they are Muslims. 
Unemployed Muslim youths fear that they will not be hired by private companies in the future. Educated and jobless and in the prime of their lives, these youths could become vulnerable to terrorist poachers. Some may be forced into criminal activities. 
Government leaders, if they are true statesmen, need to step up measures to eliminate racism and avert a situation where jobless Muslims youths could be drawn into criminalisation or terrorism. 

Sri Lanka civil war: Victim's father vows to fight for justice

The father of a boy who was executed during the civil war wants to seek justice from the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands.

31 May 2019

It has been 10 years since the end of Sri Lanka's devastating civil war.

Around 100,000 civilians and fighters from both sides were killed. Among them, a group of Tamil students was allegedly executed on a beach.

The case of the 'Trinco five' is one of the most widely known of the war, and is still being heard in court.

A father of one of the victims is vowing to continue the fight for justice.

Dr. Upul Wijewardena’s diatribe

The Yahapalanaya project begun by Ven. Sobitha has its problems; the chief among the problems being the President, who has backed out of it – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Upul’s politics

Saturday, 1 June 2019 

Dr. Upul Wijewardena has been in the habit of making interventions with wrong speech on politics. While his occasional deliberations on Buddhist philosophy may be regarded as sincere articulations, irrespective of concerns of worth, his political comments are never driven by the desire to awaken peoples’ minds with truth and wisdom in times of serious crisis.

It is important that persons who have reached the heights of their profession and earned the community’s respect do their best to offer guidance towards a path that is socially sustainable. This is because people are ready to listen to the latter. Leadership from civil society is as important as leadership from the arena of politics.

Unfortunately, Sri Lanka desperately lacks proper civil society leadership. Everyone seems caught up –directly and indirectly – in the network of narrow political greed. Look at Professor G.L. Peiris! Such an eminent intellectual, on par with the best in his field in the world. GL is ready to bend and twist, cringe and recoil, according to the dictates of opportunism. He cuts a pathetic figure going behind Mahinda Rajapaksa – such an incorrigibly amoral leader.

Dr. Upul Wijewardena trades on his still-glowing fame as a once-successful surgeon who has served the community with distinction. But one cannot for long keep diluting one’s laurels in the way he does.

Just take a look at the recent piece he wrote for one of our national dailies (The Island 29/05/19). His writing has a distinct pro-Rajapaksa tilt, and his reasoning is skewed to that end. The Island has an ownership burden, and I don’t blame the editor.

We have observed many a celebrity doing marketing (kade yanawa) for the Rajapaksa return. There is evidence that the latter have been beneficiaries in one way or another from the Mahinda Rajapaksa largesse. Hence, I would regard these guys as merely singing for their supper. I haven’t done research on Upul, but his manifestations are suggestive. His distortions of truth are irresponsible; the selectiveness in presentation is offensively and odiously obvious.

‘Yahapalanaya is a curse’?

I wonder if Upul has adopted GMOA President Anuruddha Padeniya’s alleged psychiatric formula to assess that the Yahapalanaya Government is treacherous. The point is, I challenged Padeniya to produce that formula, but he didn’t. Upul Wijewardena adds that the current Yahapalanaya Government is a curse.

I recall Anuruddha Padeniya making the astounding claim that the science of psychiatry has a methodology to identify treasonous behaviour. Padeniya, now in a hot spot, having had to face court over charges of defamation, took off the cap of the man of science when he uttered that. He has also been named by many as a professional doing marketing for Yahapalanaya. His GMOA became such a nuisance when they kept challenging the Government’s right to develop trading policy by entering into international trading arrangements. At that time, it seemed that the GMOA was doing anything but looking after the sick.

Two years have elapsed, but Padeniya has not come out with his model. Propagandists need no proof. They prefer just making one-liner attacks and going silent, imagining that the nation is in shock over their charges.

This is exactly what Upul has done in the article under reference. He bursts out with a damning verdict but gives no build-up of any argument to establish his allegations. Such assertions are known as ‘diatribes.’ The Cambridge Dictionary defines diatribe thus: ‘an angry speech or piece of writing that severely criticises something or someone.’ In other words, it is the attack that matters and not the substantiation of that. It is a rant bordering on abuse.

Instead of furnishing an argument, Upul Wijewardena cites an editorial in the Island, which states: “Worse, the President stands accused of having acted in violation of the Constitution. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet allegedly enter into international agreements without the President’s knowledge. Vital pacts the Government signs with foreign powers are not presented to Parliament, and thus the people in whom sovereignty is said to reside are kept in the dark.”

Who acted in violation of the Constitution, Upul? Yes, it’s the President. However, President Sirisena is no longer in the Yahapalanaya camp; he sabotages it. Besides, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his party men participated in that shockingly disgusting constitutional coup. This cabal ran a fake Government with a fake Cabinet for 52 days, thus causing damage to all Yahapalanaya programs.

Silence over constitutional coup

The question arises here as to why Upul, who is fond of poking his mouth in politics, did not utter a single word of opposition to this dastardly bad move? Wasn’t it such a serious violation that demanded an Upul Wijewardena intervention? The problem is that Upul is selective in his attention.

Thanks to Parliament’s determination to protect the people’s sovereignty, the disgraceful conspiracy was defeated thrice in succession, and the Sirisena-Mahinda cohort had to fold up.

Next, what are the ‘vital pacts signed with foreign powers,’ that aren’t presented to Parliament? Nothing. Can Upul point any out?

Mahinda’s peace

Suffice it to say, asserts Upul, “That Perapalanaya (era before Yahapalanaya), though corrupt, handed over a country at peace to a ‘Yahapalanaya’ that sleep-walked into a terrorist disaster, on top of breaking records for corruption and cover-ups, as well as destroying the image of the country. I am sure Arjun Mahendran is the happiest man on earth today, as the bond scam has got submerged in the torrent of terrorism!”

Okay, let’s take up the question of peace. For four years, this Government brought peace to the country and that was a genuine peace, where freedom-loving persons and trade unions could protest without getting attacked by goons, or without the fear of being bundled up into white vans. That assurance of protection is still prevailing, and nobody need fear hit squads. Journalists, like those in Derana and Hiru, can present any hate news they want, without being butchered to death as Lasantha Wickrematunge was. Had Upul Wijewardena criticised Mahinda or Gota in their time, he, himself, would have been a missing person.

Easter terror

The terror strike that occurred after four years of peace was distinctly different from the LTTE version of terror that Mahinda faced. ISIS terror is being unleashed all over the world, and no country can be at peace as long as this extremism is dealt with internationally. Here, in Australia, we avoid busy places and are very cautious in our daily existence.

Sri Lankan security forces have been very quick in getting to the bottom of this, and hundreds have been arrested. What is more, investigations have revealed that these extremist groups have been in action from the Rajapaksa days, but never caught in radar. Worse still, it is also revealed that under the previous regime, Thowheed Jama’ath had been funded along with the BBS, Mahason Balakaya and Ravana Balaya.

It is also well-known that the counter-attack by Sinhala goons on innocent Muslims had been associated with Pohottuwa politicians. A Pohottuwa man had also laid hand grenades in a school to frighten kids away from coming to school. The sudden and unwarranted release of the BBS goon monk, Gnanasara, by the President sounds nothing but eerie.

Why did Dr. Wijewardena’s focus get away from all these considerations?

Rishad Bathiudeen and the sterilisation doctor

Dr. Upul Wijewardena further says, “Interestingly, the latest gambit of the Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is to throw down the gauntlet to the President and the Prime Minister: he will resign if either of them requests him to do so. Otherwise, support him, or the Government will lose the vital support of him and his henchmen.”

This is a lie. What Minister Rishad Bathiudeen has stated officially is that he wants a fair investigation into the allegations against him. That is what the UNP Government also requests.

These are times when all sorts of false allegations are being flung. The latest to create an uproar was about the Muslim doctor in Kurunegala who is said to have done 8,000 sterilisation operations on Sinhalese women. The Island’s sister paper, Divaina, is guilty of presenting this without proper investigation. The Opposition’s own Kurunegala MP and SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera has publicly expressed his doubts over these charges as, he says, he knows the doctor too well for that. There is a prima facie argument against the charge that it is logistically impossible to carry out such a large number of surgeries without any staff of the hospital being unaware. An investigation has to be done about all these.

The sterilisation canard is something well used by Sinhala extremists – monks and others. Remember when the last riots in Kandy were organised? The narrative about a Muslim hotel serving customers with a sterilisation pill?

As a doctor in medicine, Upul should have referred to this dangerous trend among monk-led Sinhala Buddhist extremists in his political comment. Yet, he refrains from doing so, and even sobs for Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara in the Island piece. Surely, this is relevant to the doctor’s concerns over peace in the island!

The poor Kurunegala doctor has been arrested on other grounds, namely about allegations of “earning excessive money”!

Bond case

Upul says that the Government is ‘on top of breaking records for corruption and cover-ups as well as destroying the image of the country.’ He refers to the Bond case. A Presidential Commission into this case has identified the ‘culprits,’ and a single UNP Minister is not among them. The adverse reference to Ravi Karunanayake is over an ancillary issue. The Commission also did mention that these kinds of transactions had been going on during the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government, too.

Furthermore, the true determination of guilt over this episode has to be done in court and that hasn’t yet been done. Upul knows this. Then why does he distort?

The positive achievements of Yahapalanaya

Dr. Upul Wijewardena’s diatribe remains distinctly so when he totally ignores the positive achievements of the current regime, despite President Sirisena. Our Judiciary is largely a free institution after Yahapalanaya that we can now be proud of. Judges give verdicts without reference to Temple Trees. A Constitutional Council is in force, which assures independence in the appointment of judges and some other key officers. No longer can a Chief Justice be illegally removed in the way done to Shirani Bandaranayake. Accountability and transparency is improving by the day. The latest proposal is to introduce digital procurement procedures. We have the Freedom of Information Act that also confirms accountability.

Next, a considered and professional economic policy framework is in operation to boost entrepreneurial energy and direct foreign investment. The objective is to transform an import-dependent debt economy to an export one. Year 2018 saw the highest recorded exports in the country. Gamperaliya and Private Enterprise Sri Lanka are very good projects now in force. The huge debt repayments necessitated by Rajapaksa spending are under control.

Conclusion

The Yahapalanaya project begun by Ven. Sobitha has its problems; the chief among the problems being the President, who has backed out of it. Other problems are sourced in low Government numbers in Parliament. If the forthcoming elections can help clear these issues, our campaign for Yahapalanaya will be a complete success and we would achieve systemic change in Government, which after all is the purpose of Yahapalanaya.
(The writer can be reached via sjturaus@optusnet.com.au.)

Wilpattu Recuse & Caesarean Silence

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake –MAY 31, 2019

Lucien Rajakarunanayake

“Recuse” is a word that is getting all too familiar today. There has been one more recusal in the case involving the Wilpattu Forest Reserve and allegations of serious violations of the provisions and legal requirements for forest protection.

“Recuse” is fast becoming part of our vocabulary of court proceedings with increasing recusals in many cases involving alleged bribery and corruption under the Rajapaksa Regime, especially the Gotabaya related cases on alleged corruption.

‘Recuse’ is to disqualify or excuse (oneself) as a judge from a case because of a potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality. We must respect the judges prepared to display this situation in case proceedings.

Another important meaning of ‘recuse’ is to challenge (a judge or juror) as unqualified to perform legal duties because of a potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

What we have to consider today is whether Justice itself has been recused from the Wilpattu Forest Reserve. How many more times will the petition on the alleged violations of the law on Wilpattu have to be studied in a court of law, with the threat of recusal hanging over judgment? Are we ready to recuse or challenge the judicial system?

This is a country and society used to the long delays in the legal process, which means extended delays in the enforcement of justice. The politicians are talking big today of bringing new legislation to stop the spread of terrorism, prevent of control hate speech, and the many other issues that face the public. But, little is ever said of bringing the necessary amending or new legislation to end delays in the entire process of Justice and the functioning of the judiciary in Sri Lanka.

Time and again we read and hear how the politicians involved in corrupt practices keep getting postponements of cases, involving even very simple matters such as the issue of a false or illegal passport, or huge public monies used illegally to build monuments to one’s parents. The postponements are now so lengthy and regular that they will transcend the period of a government that promised to fight corruption, to possibly move to that of a government re-elected with a policy of encouraging family and public corruption.

What do the repeated recusals mean for Wilpattu? It is the continuing destruction of a much needed forest reserve, so necessary for the spread and protection of the natural habitat in this country, so essential for the protection of the environment, a must for the survival of the species of animals, birds, fish and insects that thrive and breed here, and giving more valuable time for the politically and business backed destroyers of all these assets of nature

This repeated Wilpattu Recusal is a mirror of the overall political recusals or disqualifications on conflicts of interest and lack of impartiality that pervades our entire system of politics and governance. The destruction of Nature and Wildlife in Wilpattu is an extension of the overall destruction of the systems of good governance, proper administration, and efficient financial investment and performance this country and its people face, irrespective of the ethnic and religious differences that are highlighted to suit the manipulators of political, social and legal recusal.

There are many who are objecting to the latest recusal or holdup on Wilpattu see it as a manipulative benefit to the Muslim politicians – of course Rishard Bathiudeen and people of his ethnicity or community that have been settled in the questionable areas. There is overall silence from those in yellow robes and lay attire, about the Sinhala Buddhist persons who have also been granted or somehow obtained land in this Reserve of Nature, through their own political manipulators, from Ministers to MPs – from the days of Basil Power. This is the increasing duality of political and social handling and propaganda that is heating the political debates in the post-Easter Tragedy situation.

From the Wilpattu Recusal one moves to the Kurunegala Gyn. Surgical alarm. The media, both formal and social, give increasing reports of the involvement of a gynaecological surgeon of Muslim ethnicity in what is a gravely criminal act, and if proved to be so deserving of the gravest punishment. There is a strange twist in the Police Performance in this matter. The surgeon was initially questioned on how he allegedly obtained a huge amount of undeclared wealth. If this is a justified Police Performance, why confine such a probe to a doctor of a particular ethnicity? Why not begin to question all those Members of Parliament about all their increasing and overflowing wealth? Will that be a breach of Parliamentary Privilege? Is the probe on such wealth not the field of the Bribery and Corruption Commission – with all its delays and escape games? What would the Police Spokesman tell about this?

More importantly, why do not the Police tell the public what aspect of this surgeon’s activities, apart from wealth accumulation, the CID is probing; whether it is under Emergency Regulations or Prevention of Terrorism Laws, or the larger issue of unauthorized birth prevention after Caesarean surgery?

Read More

A history of civilisational conflict: Part II

 31 May 2019

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks the US invented a term that has stuck on since and will stick on for as long as chaos reigns in the Middle East: the “War on Terror”. Those who were with Uncle Sam were part of the “Coalition of the Willing” and those who were not were part of the “Axis of Evil”, never mind that no one really questioned the right of one country to come up with these terms and divide the world along their lines. In any case the War turned out to be a re-enactment of the Crusades, and a continuation of a conflict the Cold War had concealed for eight decades.   

Samuel Huntington wrote on the possibility of such a conflict arising again, and he is considered today as the foremost expert on the subject, but he wasn’t the first one. At a time when it was more or less taken for granted that the Soviet Union needed to be pushed back, if not pushed down, US Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, in an editorial in the New York Times published on December 21, 1986, clearly and concisely attacked what was referred to as the “Reagan Doctrine”, which envisaged a policy of rollback (i.e. full military confrontation if necessary) with the Soviets. It was, as the editorial termed it, a “contentious doctrine” which, taken to its logical extreme, would replace ideological conflict (singular) with ethno-religious conflicts (plural).   
The problem with the Cold War was that it propped up a form of ethnic nationalism that was hardly inclusive or accommodative. On neither side of the divide were there forces which were sympathetic or alert to rising ethnic and secessionist sentiments. In Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev, for instance, the Soviet Union had its chance at reconciling the aspirations of the Islamic community with the ideology of the Party. And yet, he was put down, jailed, released, jailed again, and during the Stalinist years, executed. With that the Soviets permanently alienated their Muslims. 

"To dispel such a belief requires more than the usual campaigns on sanhindiyawa in our schools, universities, and offices"

This does not mean that Western governments were more receptive to these ethnic aspirations. Their actions led to the deposal of democratically elected leaders in favour of unelected, fanatical, and erratic cranks: Ayub Khan for Iskander Mirza in Pakistan; a line of satraps of the Shah for Mosaddegh in Iran; Suharto for Sukarno in Indonesia; and Zia Ul-Haq for Bhutto in Pakistan. If these leaders did not encourage fanaticism, they created by their ineffectiveness an oppositional space that did: the Shah’s lack of sympathy for Shias, for instance, led to the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini.   

This is hardly the only reason why extreme Islamism arose, and it doesn’t seem to be the main one either. Like all forms of ethno-religious-cultural extremism its ascent can be attributed to both internal and external causes; it is by understanding these causes, and giving them their due weight, that we can think of understanding the ISIS menace and build up a defence policy and discourse around it. Until then, all other points will remain peripheral to the main debate. 
The problem, however, is that Sri Lankans are battling Islamism in pretty much the same way Bush’s War on Terror did: by tackling the cosmetics of the issue. In other words, we are being distracted by things which shouldn’t distract us. 

I’m not talking merely of mob attacks on Muslim shops, houses, and mosques. These have been disproportionate and they have compelled disgust. Nor am I talking about the anger of the people against Rishad Bathiudeen and Azath Salley, even though their anger is justified. I am talking instead of our inability – Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, basically non-Muslims – to rationalise the opposition to Islamic extremism in terms of a criterion or an agenda that does not smack of Islamophobia.   
Let me be clear here. Halal is not the issue. The burqa is not the issue. They are issues that encompass wide, general questions about the nature of citizenry in a secular State, and the role of the State in implementing one law for all, and so on. They certainly do have a bearing on the immediate priority – clamping down on extremist Islamism. But they have, at best, a cursory bearing. No one linked halal or the veil with Wahhabism, although there may be connections between the three. Even if there are, we are taking the wrong road to combating it.   
An effective onslaught on Islamism (extremist Islam) requires a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, national security has to be given top priority, which means that the armed forces and defence establishment have to be, for better or worse, given carte blanche within the confines of constitutional limits. This is not a very popular option, and commentators are predicting the resurgence of a defence discourse which may well trump other considerations, but to those who are raising such concerns the ideal response would be what that most radical-liberal of Western politicians, Pierre Trudeau, said when a reporter asked about the ramifications of heightening security in Canada: “It is more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don’t like the looks of a helmet.”   

"Terrorism does not fall from the sky – it is born from and bred by forces which have interpreted a faith in the most fundamental, purist way possible – but we shouldn’t take this as an excuse to admonish every member of a community"

That’s just one side to it though. The other point, which also requires top priority, is a laborious, comprehensive discourse on Islamism and Islam (the one extremist, the other a product of history). It is important at the outset to divide the one from the other, because if there’s a fallacy almost every Sri Lankan is subscribing to right now, it’s the generalisation that all Muslims are complicit in what transpired in April. To dispel such a belief requires more than the usual campaigns on sanhindiyawa in our schools, universities, and offices: it requires a meticulously planned, organised, and implemented programme in which myth is separated from history, lie from truth, so that the whole country – Muslim and non-Muslim – become aware of the intricacies that distinguish extremists from non-extremists. 

The urgency of such a programme cannot be overstated. There’s a reason for that: more than any other community, the Muslims of the country, and the world, have faced opprobrium from the non-Muslim communities for what is (wrongly) felt to be their involvement in the rise of fanaticism. Terrorism does not fall from the sky – it is born from and bred by forces which have interpreted a faith in the most fundamental, purist way possible – but we shouldn’t take this as an excuse to admonish every member of a community. To do so would be to consider all Sinhala Buddhists as BBS supporters, or all Tamils as LTTE supporters.   
The Muslim community has been the hardest hit, globally, from the onslaughts of Western imperialism – yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Middle-East is the most ravaged place in the world (second to Africa), and the attacks there have mostly been on Muslims. It’s not a coincidence that these attacks have been made by the West – the US and Russia; the Palestinian death toll from the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict alone, to give just one statistic, stands at 2,251.   

"The Muslim community has been the hardest hit, globally, from the onslaughts of Western imperialism – yesterday, today, and tomorrow"

The tragedy is that it just didn’t have to be this way. But it is how it stands, might is right, and surviving victims, naturally, are getting more and more hardened with each drone strike. You do not have to read Noam Chomsky to understand this.   
We cannot do anything about this. But there’s something we can do.   
The history of Islam is richer than anything that Islamophobic commentators – whether here, in India, or in the US and Europe – can come up with. It remains one of the biggest ironies that while Western physicians were banned from dissecting bodies due to injunctions set down by the Church, the likes of Averroes and Avicenna – the two most brilliant minds to emerge from the Islamic world at the time – were writing down exhaustive treatises on medicine, translating Aristotle, and coming up with the number system, “including the all-important zero.” 
In the awful though at times meaningless civilisational battle between Christianity and Islam, it was the latter that bestowed on the world a spirit of rationality and scepticism that the West would take three more centuries to imbibe. “Al-Farabi did not believe in the immortality of the soul. Avicenna did: but he did not believe in the resurrection of the body,” the great historian Fernand Braudel once noted, arguing that Islam created quite possibly “the most brilliant civilisation in the Old World.”   

We need to revisit the history of that civilisation, or else we very likely will turn out to be participants in a conflict devoid of meaning, reason, and humanity. That history should be taught in our schools, but our schools are not the only place where it needs to be taught. Let me put that in another way: we need to read more. And empathise. Otherwise, we are doomed to exacerbate an already tense situation.   

Fear haunts refugees in Sri Lanka in wake of attacks

UNHCR is working closely with authorities to find solutions for around 1,000 refugees forced to leave their homes after the April 21 bombings.

Refugees and asylum seekers live in temporary accommodation at the Amadiyya community centre in Pasyala, Sri Lanka. © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

By Caroline Gluck in Negombo, Sri Lanka  |  30 May 2019

Thirteen-year-old Bariea, a Pakistani asylum seeker in Sri Lanka, is taking shelter at a mosque in the city of Negombo, where an uneasy mix of high anxiety and extreme boredom hover over the room.

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“We just have a few small bags, mostly clothes,” said Bariea. “We thought we would only be here for a few days. But now it’s been weeks.”

“We want to leave. We don’t feel safe. Pakistan wasn’t safe either .... I know many people were killed and injured. But it was not our fault.”

Around 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers like Bariea, most from Pakistan, some from Afghanistan, have sought shelter in mosques and police stations in Negombo and Pasyala, near the capital Colombo, for the past month.

“We thought we would only be here for a few days. But now it’s been weeks.”

While many from the local community stepped in to try and help, they were driven out of their rented homes by others who accused them of being connected to bomb attacks on churches and hotels around the country on April 21 that killed 250 people and injured many more.

As they shelter in the city, which was the site of one of the church attacks, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is working closely with Sri Lankan authorities to find more suitable, temporary places to move the families so they can live in dignity and safety during this difficult time. But in the climate of fear following the attacks, it has not been easy.

Some of the people displaced from their homes in Negombo have already moved to safer areas. More will be relocated in the coming days.


The Amadiyya community centre in Pasyala hosts refugees and asylum seekers forced to leave their homes since the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka.  © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

Afghan families in temporary accommodation at the police station in Negombo, Sri Lanka. © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

Family’s like Bariea’s, who sought safety in Sri Lanka after fleeing violence, persecution, and extremism in their own countries, say they were made scapegoats. Bariea has not only had to leave her home with her family to shelter in the crowded mosque but, with her two brothers, forced to drop out of class.

“I really miss school; I worry about getting behind in class. Education is my future. I don’t think I can go to school now,” she says.

Her mother, Sehrish, 34, has many other worries. Her children have all been sick with coughs and fevers, and she is six months’ pregnant, like several women in the mosque and she is unable to sleep properly in the confined space.

She said she was grateful for the help they have received from UNHCR, its partners and local Sri Lankan groups, but also worried about what will happen next. “We are getting assistance but we cannot live here for much longer,” she says.

“People have been generous. Some groups have come and provided us with food and clothes.”

UNHCR’s head of office in Sri Lanka, Menique Amarasinghe, said: “Our top priority is to make sure these people are safe and well-protected, and to ensure they can access basic services.

“We’ve been extremely grateful to the Sri Lankan government who have acknowledged their responsibility to care for these people and havie been doing everything they can in really very difficult circumstances.”

UNHCR has reinforced its staffing in Sri Lanka to respond to the emergency. It is working with the authorities and partner agencies to provide food, medicine, hygiene material, water and sanitation, and other basic support to refugees and asylum-seekers.

A short drive away from the Amadiyya mosque, around 100 Pakistanis and Afghans are sheltering in the semi open-air car park at Negombo’s police station. The police have provided security and assistance, but facilities are inadequate, with just a handful of toilets shared by the police and new arrivals. It is so hot, that most people have broken out in skin rashes and their arms and legs covered in infected mosquito bites.

While some in the local community reacted in anger after the attacks, other Sri Lankans have rallied round the refugees and asylum seekers who they counted as neighbours.

Afghan mother Anisa and family shelter with over 100 other refugees and asylum seekers at the police station in Negombo, Sri Lanka.   © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck

“People have been generous. Some groups have come and provided us with food and clothes. Sri Lankan people have helped us,” said Anisa, an ethnic Hazara from Afghanistan, nursing her six month old daughter.

She has lived in Sri Lanka for four years and says people were friendly – but the attacks changed everything. “The owner of our house told us we could stay, but the neighbours said no. He said he wouldn’t be able to protect us, so we came here, a safe place.”

Her niece, a confident English-speaker, 12-year-old Sadaf, chimes in.

“After the blast, people blamed us and hated us. It made us really upset.”

Sadaf used to study at a school supported by UNHCR. But right now she cannot go back to class. “I learnt lots of things. I need school for a better future and now I can’t go … it makes me sad. I think I won’t have a good future. Children like me are worried.”

Sri Lanka-SCO partnership: The relevance a decade after the conflict

The lesson to be learnt a decade later is that while terrorism can be quelled, as proved by Sri Lanka in 2009, extremism is much harder to fight – Pic by Chamila Karunarathne 

Thursday, 30 May 2019 


In 2009 Sri Lanka defeated terrorism on its soil, ending the terrorist conflict that claimed thousands of lives, destroyed the Sri Lankan economy and set the country back by several decades. In the same year the country entered into partnership with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was a milestone for the grouping as it welcomed its first Dialogue Partner.

For Sri Lanka, having ended a ruthless conflict, it was an opportunity to share the experience and enhance cooperation with a vital region of the world. A decade later an assessment of this relationship indicates the vast potential, untapped areas and hitherto unexplored prospects, for both the SCO and Sri Lanka, especially in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks and the rise of extremism on the island. It questions the original rationale for gaining partnership and denotes the inherent need for strategising foreign policy, on the part of Sri Lanka, if the relationship is to be strengthened and a mutually-beneficial bond nurtured.

When the Council of Heads of State met in Yekaterinburg in June 2009, it was to implement a decision taken the year before, wherein the SCO was creating Dialogue Partner status for ‘a state or an organisation (that) shares the goals and principles of the SCO and wishes to establish relations of equal mutually beneficial partnership with the Organisation’ and to accord such status ‘to a state or an organisation who cooperates with the SCO in specific areas of activity envisaged by the Charter and other treaty documents in the framework of the Organisation.’

Pursuant to the signing of the Memorandum granting Sri Lanka Dialogue Partner status in May 2010, Russia observed that its implementation would lead to a strengthening of international connectivity and expand spheres of interaction between the SCO member states and Sri Lanka. This, Russia believed, would be mainly in the areas of ‘ensuring security and stability, combating terrorism and developing economic, trade and investment cooperation.’

A founder member of the Organisation, with whom bilateral ties have grown since such connectivity was embarked upon in 1957, Russia has remained an unwavering ally of Sri Lanka. The degree of cordiality, even during the Cold War and thereafter, is evidence of the strength of the foundation, and bodes well for the decades ahead.

China has consistently called for ‘upholding the ‘Shanghai Spirit’ of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for cultural diversity and pursuit of common development, in a bid to build a community of shared destiny in the region’. President Xi Jinping highlighted the relevance of the ‘Shanghai Spirit’ as “a guide to safeguard international fairness and justice, advocate multilateralism and the ideal of opening, respect each other’s interests, oppose interference in other countries’ internal affairs, solve disputes through peaceful means, and boost common development with the win-win ideal.”

Collaboration through other mechanisms including the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as well as direct economic partnerships have seen the building of a relationship based on history, but one that is directly relatable to the Rubber-Rice Pact of 1952 and the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1957.

Although Russia and China remain the key guiders of the SCO, the role played by the four Central Asian countries, notably Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan cannot be discounted. Identified as critical for the achievement of the Asian Century, these four countries have experienced improving economies and thereby growing prosperity. The inclusion of India and Pakistan as the newest Members in 2017 reinvigorated the SCO, as its geography, population, economic potential and overall power grew in leaps and bounds, making it the largest regional organisation.

Although disturbing activities, in early 2019, raised the propensity for doubt to rise over the decision of including these two countries, it is in the long term, that the fruit of such action would be truly understood. The need for all members to engage in joint all-SCO military exercises, partake in military cooperation, as well as share intelligence, would, in hindsight be a realisation of the sentiments expressed by President Xi at the Summit in Ufa in 2015. He called for members “to increase the action ability, create a strong security wall in the region”. The espousal of collective action included Xi’s emphasis on members being “more proactive in political contacts and coordination, work out response measures and together defend the security as well as stability in all member states of our organisation.”

Though apparent that collective action would bode well for SCO members, it is the impact that such action would have elsewhere, that is significant. India and Pakistan, as members of the SCO, would be called upon to engage at varied levels and on numerous occasions. Given that all member states must uphold the core principle of non-aggression and non-interference in internal affairs, in addition to conformity to the origin objective of creating a confidence-building forum to demilitarise borders, India and Pakistan would recognise the potential for themselves, of working together, for the realisation of the Asian Century in the long term, and the need to counter terror in all its forms in the immediate to medium term. The results would be seen in their bilateral interactions and equally importantly in the South Asian region, in a decade and a half.

Whilst countering terrorism, extremism and separatism within its region became the raison d’être of the SCO, it didn’t limit itself to these three ‘evils’ but explored economic connectivity and the promise of closer cooperation to enhance trade and prosperity among its member states.

In 2015, Sri Lanka sought to upgrade the relationship to Observer Status, during the presidency of the Russian Federation, at the High Level Conference on ‘Security and Stability in the Region of SCO’ in Moscow. Noting the new security challenges, including ‘illegal migration, human trafficking, drug trafficking, trans-national organised crime and cyber-terrorism,’ all of which constitute serious threats to regional and global security, Sri Lanka highlighted the efforts being taken to combat this menace, as the representative informed the gathering of how the island was being used by drug syndicates as a destination as well as a transit point.  A call that was made then, that remains relevant to date is the need for cooperation with SCO member states to overcome and thwart such attempts.

In January 2017, it was reported that the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) and the defence establishment ‘will in the near future finish the preparation of the legal base for cooperation’. Auguring well for the future, it needs to be operationalised through a process of institutionalisation through which accredited legal departments, specific arms of the military and law enforcement agencies would commence activities of cooperation, on basis of priority and with much urgency.

A decade after Sri Lanka became a Dialogue Partner it is prudent to reflect upon that which has been, and comprehend the diverse, in-depth role that the country can play in and through the SCO. It must be a decision within the foreign policy establishment to enhance relations with the SCO, specifically in areas of countering terrorism, extremism, drug smuggling and transnational organised crime. The role that the Foreign Ministry could play in bridging the divide between and among law enforcement agencies and the military of Sri Lanka, with those of the SCO member states would augur well to consolidate a strong and timely deterrent to those engaging in such illegal activities, and more importantly improve standards at the national level. The mutual benefit that could be accrued to Sri Lanka remains vast.

The Easter Sunday attacks saw the island gripped once again with violence and mayhem, as extremists resorted to the usage of the most blatant form of terrorism – suicide bombers. They claimed 253 lives, attempted to destroy revered shrines and dealt a blow to the tourism industry. Three weeks later other extremist elements resorted to rioting in parts of the island, in a bid to gain political mileage. These are unfortunate occurrences on such a significant anniversary, as the programmes of reconciliation had begun to bear fruit, the communities on the island were looking ahead and the characteristics of democracy were clearly evident.

Yet the lesson to be learnt a decade later is that while terrorism can be quelled, as proved by Sri Lanka in 2009, extremism is much harder to fight, owing to the ingrained nature of this phenomenon which results in the radicalisation of individuals over and beyond the dogma of religious belief. Amidst the pain, anguish and fear that grips society at large, Sri Lanka stands at a cross road where a concerted effort would need to be made to abandon the far right. These attacks will enter the annals of history not just on the island but across the international domain as a day on which extremist elements used terror to wreak havoc, bring death to hundreds, injure hundreds more and instil a fear psychosis in society that will be felt for a considerable period of time.

The impact is manifold. While the grief stricken mourn those whose lives were ruthlessly sacrificed, the injured face the daunting task of recovery and moving on with life amidst recollections of that bloody day, and society at large copes with the stress and strain, it is the divisions caused that would be the hardest to heal.

The military’s success in curbing further attacks, identifying networks and rapid counter action proves, once again, its ability and capacity. It is at this juncture that Sri Lanka should be focused on building an image based on counter terrorism expertise that may be shared within the region and beyond. With the natural terrain within the country, the troops having first-hand experience in battling terrorism, the military hierarchy possessing the expertise of thwarting terror in all its forms and manifestations, contribute to a collective process wherein Sri Lanka has much to offer. The ideal platform for such an exercise is the SCO.

Although still a Dialogue Partner, Sri Lanka does possess the ability to play a greater role of engagement than it does at present. A precedent was set in 2017 when Turkey another Dialogue Partner, was unanimously elected to preside over the SCO Energy Club, after a proposal was made to permit all members having varied degrees of partnership to chair the Club for a year.  While Sri Lanka is also a member of the Energy Club and would, in due course, be able to preside over its deliberations, it is noteworthy that initiative could be taken in proposing similar arrangements in the fields of increased military and counter-terrorism cooperation, and intelligence sharing.

If the main rationale for including Dialogue Partners is to be realised wherein an ‘equal mutually beneficial partnership’ is built and cooperation engaged upon by such countries and the ‘SCO in specific areas of activity’, it is important that Dialogue Partners, particularly Sri Lanka, avail the opportunity of not only contributing towards the sustenance of the SCO but also comprehend the unique platform the SCO provides.

Validating the partnership must not be a process left to the SCO to embark upon solely, but one that is enthusiastically sought by Sri Lanka. In strategising Foreign Policy for the next decade, it is the understanding of the importance of the Sri Lanka – SCO partnership that requires immediate attention. While the goal should be the attainment of full membership and the prospect of closer cooperation in the future, it is to the present that Sri Lanka must look in emphasising the contribution that she can make to the SCO.

The SCO has emerged as a powerful entity within less than two decades since its formation in 2001. Starting off as the Shanghai Five in 1996, including Kazakhstan in 2001, and then India and Pakistan in 2017, it has evolved into a force that is yet to exercise its muscle but one which possesses immense potential on the world stage, and an entity to which Sri Lanka can contribute and from which the country could gain in the years ahead, This would be possible only if foreign policy was strategised to include the SCO as an integral organisation and not one in which Sri Lanka maintains token partnership.