Sri Lanka Mirror: the newest victim of news web site blocking

Sri Lanka Mirror web site site is blocked by local internet service providers

Sun, 08 December 2013 

(NIDAHASA News) Popular news website Sri Lanka Mirror says that the site has been blocked by local internet service providers. The site is not accessible to the internet users in Sri Lanka.

Many news web sites which are critical toward ruling regime have been blocked in Sri Lanka during last few years. Authorities accused those web sites of spreading false news and anti-government propagandas. Later government asked all local news web sites to be register under News Department.

"Sri Lanka Mirror is one of first sites registered under the News Department. But their office has been raided and they faced indictments in court due to their relatively independent reporting." Professional Web Journalists' Association (PWJA) said.

"[However] there is absolutely no such legal binding for web news as there is for print and electronic media." PWJA said.

Sri Lanka agreed to respect freedom of media in the commonwealth summit held in last month, but do not adhere those agreements, PWJA convener Freddy Gamage said in the statement.

The Association added, "In a media culture that had been coerced to follow the leader where occasionally and ethically editors and journalists feel reluctant to fall in line with the regime, the growing internet culture is seen as a new threat to its continued rule of the land with massive corruption, fraud, money laundering and nepotism."

Sri Lanka is indexed as one of worst countries for journalists with several journalists murdered or "disappeared" within last decade.

South African assistance is best alternative to international investigation

By Jehan Perera-December 9, 2013,

There has been speculation that the government will soon be setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on the lines of the one made famous by South Africa after its transition from apartheid to democratic governance. Government sources have disclosed that the possibility of South African assistance to Sri Lanka was discussed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and South African President Jacob Zuma on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last month in Colombo. This bilateral meeting was preceded by several visits to South Africa by members of the Sri Lankan government and opposition. There was also a major South Africa- Sri Lanka joint conference on reconciliation that took place just prior to CHOGM in which South African experts on participated. President Rajapaksa’s visit to South Africa to attend the funeral of the iconic peacemaker Nelson Mandela will provide yet another opportunity for possible collaboration to be discussed.

South African Assistance is Best Alternative to International Investigation by nelvely

Torture Probe Postponed 

By Waruni Karunarathne-Monday, December 09, 2013

The National Inquiry on Torture, which was expected to be set in Sri Lanka with the help of the Commonwealth Secretariat, has been postponed indefinitely, sources at the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission revealed. The National Inquiry on Torture was expected to conduct investigations into allegations of torture committed by the government or the armed forces since the final stage of war to the present day.

The inquiry was to be set under the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission with the assistance and observation of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
However, according to sources at the Human Rights Commission, the National Inquiry on Torture has been postponed indefinitely upon request by several civil society organisations.

“This decision was taken by the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, together with the Commonwealth Secretariat Human Rights Unit, responding to a request made by several civil society organisations who had sought a postponement of the investigations,” sources said.

According to sources, the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission was concerned about the amount of investigations that are currently underway in the country and asserted that this was not the correct time to launch another investigation.

The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission and several civil societies have expressed their concern about the possibility that these investigations and processes may overlap each other.

North PC Minister snubs lion flag

December 9, 2013

Northern Provincial Council Minister P. Ingaranesan has decided to snub the National flag saying it does not represent the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.

At a function held over the weekend the Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Water Supply, who was the chief guest, refused to raise the National flag.

Ingaranesan was invited by the organisers of the event at a school in Mannar to raise the lion flag before the rest of the events continued.

However, according to the Jaffna media, the Provincial Minister refused to do so and also objected to the failure by the organisers to have the Provincial flag.

Speaking at the event later Ingaranesan said that there must be a separate post for the Provincial flag at all events.

He also said that as long as the lion with a sword in its hand remains on the National flag it will not be accepted by the Tamils. (Colombo Gazette)

President to meet Kenyan leader

December 8, 2013

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will head to Kenya for talks, at a time the Kenyan leadership is facing a trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

President’s spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said that President Rajapaksa will first travel to South Africa to pay his respects to the late South African President Nelson Mandela.

From there he is scheduled to head to Kenya and is likely to meet Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta who has been charged by the ICC of orchestrating deadly violence in Kenya in 2007.

President Kenyatta did not attend the Commonwealth summit in Sri-Lanka last month, becoming the first Kenyan President not to attend the event since Kenyan independence.

Kenya was represented by the country’s Foreign Minister and President Rajapaksa’s visit to Kenya, not just as the President of Sri Lanka but also as the Commonwealth chair in office, comes amidst reports Kenya was not happy with the Commonwealth Secretariat over its failure to back Kenya against the ICC trial.

The trial against the Kenyan President before the ICC will begin next February. (Colombo Gazette)

CHOGM mooted TRC, ill-fit for Sri Lanka, say ANU fellow, legal scholar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 December 2013, 17:54 GMT]
Establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) modeled on the South Africa (SA) experience, viewed by Sri Lanka backers as an urgent need to mitigate possible strong actions by the International Community against Sri Lanka over its rights violations, appears as an imminent outcome from the recently concluded Commonwealth Meeting [CHOGM]. But a Sri Lanka journalist who is a visiting Australian National University fellow, says whereas in the post-apartheid South Africa context and under the leadership of Mandela, TRC was made to work in SA, in Sri Lanka proposing a TRC without defining what it means, makes the effort appear only as "another procrastinating tactic." The scholar cautions, in Sri Lanka, no credible investigations into rights violations are likely to happen, and the consequences for Sri Lanka, in terms of being outlawed from the community of nations, are dire.

Ms. Kishali Jeyawardena writes, TRC "was meticulously planned and carefully executed by the country’s leading clergy, judicial figures and public personalities of unimpeachable integrity. Importantly this was accompanied by a gradual crafting of workable democratic structures, an advanced Bill of Rights and a proudly independent South African judiciary. "The TRC was not conceived out of the blue as it were and dropped down into the country as an excuse to avoid dealing with the general democratic process of government while everything remained dysfunctional elsewhere. It was peculiar to South Africa. Similar models have not worked elsewhere, even in the African region as we have well seen. Where Sri Lanka is concerned, suggesting a TRC without any conception of what this actually means but as another procrastinating tactic seems so childishly simplistic that it truly beggars belief," Ms Jeyawardena adds.

While the political and social context in post-war Sri Lanka and those of the post-apartheid SA differ markedly in the required fundamental aspects to make a TRC viable and a useful instrument to provide transitional justice, Sri Lanka will likely embrace TRC as an exercise to delay international action, political observers said. 

Sri Lanka has routinely created several "sham" Commissions to forestall punitive actions from the IC over rights violations. 

Experts have pointed out that the nearly twenty Truth Commissions have been active during the past 25 years and the general consensus of practitions of transnational justice is that the political and social context should drive, first whether a TRC is applicable to the prevailing environment, and if so, secondly, should the formation and sponsorship of the TRC.

A spokesperson for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist organization, commented, "Functionally, a truth commission, in general, substitutes for the retributive accountability that is provided by a criminal justice tribunal, a non-punitive forum where reconciliation between the victim and victimizer is achieved through truth-telling. This model of transitional justice is unresponsive to a post-conflict scenario where the victimizer, such as the Rajapakse administration, denies wrongdoing, and where the alleged perpetrator gets to choose the form and membership, and generally control the outcome of the Commission.

"Denial of wrongdoing logically obviates the reasonable possibility of meaningful truth-telling, and by extension, reconciliation flowing from such truth-telling, which a truth commission is instituted to deliver. If implemented in such a scenario, a truth commission will not deter but rather will encourage the recurrence of wrongful conduct by signifying that the international community is willing to tolerate gross violations of international criminal law perpetrated by the GoSL without consequences," TAG said.

TRCs are set up in response to specific human rights abuses, which in turn are an outgrowth of the particular history, political culture, and institutional structure of a country. Experts acknowledge that any given political context provides both enabling and constraining forces, and provide five specific areas of importance, and the following highlights the unsuitability of a TRC for Sri Lanka.

• Nature of violence and human rights abuses to be investigated: The crimes to be investigated will likely point to command responsibility to high officials in the Government, (see Ambassador Butenis memo exposed by Wikileaks) including Sri Lanka's President, and one could see the futility of the local TRC officials allowing "their" President to be incriminated.
• Nature of political transition: Unlike in SA where the regime change involved the victims gaining power, in Sri Lanka, there was no change in power that would enable the victims to rightly expect justice. The perpetrators, the victors, and the rulers before and after the war are all Sinhalese.
• Extent of dominance and power of perpetrators after transition: While the victims, black africans, gained power under Mandela in SA, in Sri Lanka, the Rajapakse family rule was further consolidated after the war. UN High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, cautioned that Sri Lanka is moving towards an authoritarian state.
• Prevailing focus on healing or justice: In SA, the victims under the visionary leadership of Mandela pursued reconciliation with the perpetrators of the crime, and sought political accommodation in a democratic setup. In Sri Lanka, during the four years after the war, and years before, under Rajapakses, NGOs have documented sham commissions created by the ruling family to divert focus and as a delaying tactic.
• Public support for a truth commission: In Sri Lanka the support and opposition to TRC will likely be in the ethnic lines. TRC will unlikely to be accepted by the Tamils.

Sri Lanka legal scholar, Niran Anketell, concludes in a fitting article presented at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in May 2013: "...any attempt to mimic a SA TRC process unless accompanied by a genuine and concrete change of behaviour and strategy on the part of government—including a demonstrable willingness to investigate and prosecute crimes, as well as securing a full and final political deal on restructuring the nature of the state through power sharing—will not succeed. The Sri Lankan government’s unwillingness to consider criminal investigation and prosecutions of those responsible for atrocities committed during and after the war forecloses the prospect of hidden truths being unearthed through a TRC. Further, with or without a political deal, a TRC that offers any amnesty to perpetrators will be perceived as illegitimate by Tamils and illegal by the international community, and will exacerbate divisions between the state and victims."

Japanese Envoy Yasushi Akashi calls on President Rajapaksa

December 10, 2013

Senior Japanese diplomat Yasushi Akashi called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday at President’s House.
The President and Akashi discussed a number of matters including progress on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the overall reconciliation process and general bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Japan.

The last time Akashi met President Rajapaksa was in Japan during the President’s official visit to the East Asian country earlier this year. Following that meeting, Akashi said that “the post-conflict development in Sri Lanka was phenomenal.”
“I think everyone tends to judge situation from his or her own background,” Akashi further commented while in Japan. “That is why I feel that it is rather unfair for some developed countries who have much more resources than Sri Lanka, to express impatience with Sri Lanka and its development. This is not fair, and this is not objective. Certainly, I am sure that the Government and people of Sri Lanka would wish to move much more rapidly, but with Sri Lanka’s limited resources, what it has done by itself is amazing.”
Ambassador of Japan in Sri Lanka Nobuhito Hobo accompanied Akashi. Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Karunatilaka Amunugama and Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Japan Admiral (Rtd.) Wasantha Karannagoda were also present for the meeting.

Mandela The Madiba!

‘By Lionel Bopage -December 9, 2013

The master of fate,

the commander of soul

who inspired the world

Mandela the Madiba!

The Light of South Africa

resting in peace tonight!

Though branded a terrorist

caged like an animal,

raising the hopes of a better world

of freedom, democracy and peace

You met brutality with morality

ignominy and insult with dignity

What determines a life’s significance

is not that we have just lived

but the difference we make in others’

You practised what you preached

Madiba!

To inspire our future generations

deserving a decent and better world

free of discrimination and exploitation

today we need many more Madibas!

Condolence Messages for Nelson Mandela

• by cyberviews
• - on 12/09/2013 

In the aftermath of the passing away of one of the world’s greatest statesmen and Nobel laureate, Nelson Mandela, it was most intriguing to read the condolence messages that came out from  the leaders of the different  countries. This includes of course, our own President’s message.Still, in order to get  a sense of the genuineness of these messages, it was necessary to relate what was being said, to who was saying it. Therefore, when Pope Francis, a modest and pro people’s pope stated that Mr Mandela had forged “a new South Africa built on the firm foundations of non-violence, reconciliation and truth”, there was no reason to doubt the sentiment expressed. Similarly, why should one doubt Ban Ki-moon whose message read: “Let us continue each day to be inspired by Nelson Mandela’s lifelong example”. He also described him as “a giant for justice and a down-to-earth human inspiration”. Other messages that one  would not have difficulty in accepting as genuine were:

Condolence Messages for Nelson Mandela by nelvely

Freedom Fighters Or Terrorists?

by  Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

( December 9, 2013, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I write in response to the Sri Lanka Guardian article ‘Mandela: Saint Or Sinner?’.

To me the parallel of this in the Sri Lankan context is ‘Are the Tamil Tigers Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?’

On a personal basis – some would wonder whether I am a ‘democracy crusader or a nuisance?’

Freedom Fighters or Terrorists by nelvely

Good Governance – In Crisis

By Lal Wijenayake -December 9, 2013 

Lal Wijenayake

‘Good Governance’ is respect and adherence to the basic law of the country, the constitution of the country. Our constitution envisages a democratic form of government and the basic structure of our constitution is governance based on democratic values.

Democracy entails:

(1)           The right to elect your rulers at free and fair election held from time to time.

(2)           Rule of Law.

(3)           Independence of the Judiciary.

(4)           Respect for human rights.

(5)           Separation of powers with checks and balances.

Sri Lanka has a long history of democratic governance though there has been incidents which are deviations from the norm.

But what is witnessed during the last decade is a sustained effort to challenge the basic principles of democratic rule.

The introduction of the Executive Presidential system in 1977 has shifted the center of power from Parliament to an Executive President, with no significant checks on the exercise of the enormous powers vested on the President.

The elimination of the traditional left from Parliament at the Parliamentary elections in 1977 had a significant impact on respect for democratic values and good governance.

From the 1930’s the traditional left, was in the forefront of the struggle to protect and advance liberal values with the backing the left had from local political organizations at village level and the powerful trade union movement that emerged during that period.

This led to the acceptance of ‘democracy’ and the ‘welfare state’ based on social justice as the basic norm in governance.  Any deviation was challenged in the legislature as well as outside on the streets with the trade union movement playing a major role.  This was the barrier that protected and fostered democratic rule and social justice from attacks on the system.

The elimination of the left from the legislature and the breakdown of the powerful trade union movement (as seen from the failure of the general strike of 1980, which turned out to be the turning point in the disintegration of the trade union movement) removed the barrier that defended democracy, liberal values and social justice.  Since then no movement of any significance has emerged to fill this space.

In fact, what we have seen during the last decade, is the use by governments the support of the traditional left (which has ceased to be powerful) and the trade union movement in the attack on democracy, liberal values and social justice.

The depths to which the traditional left and the movements that stood for democracy, liberal values and social justice has sunk, was seen from the support that was extended to enact the 18^th amendment to the constitution and the impeachment of the Chief Justice.

The political movements and/ or civil society movements of any significance and the lack of political activism among the masses against the erosion of democratic values and social justice has brought about the present challenge to good governance.  It has reached a stage where we are heading towards authoritarian rule.  The 2/3^rd majority that the government claims to enjoy in Parliament has gone a long way to justify the authoritarian rule.  The 2/3^rd majority is made up of a large number of members of Parliament from other parties, specially the UNP, who has crossed over to accept Ministries or Deputy Ministries.Read More

A case of homes, schools and livelihoods sacrificed in the name of security

A case of homes, schools and livelihoods sacrificed in the name of security

Monday, December 9, 2013

Meera SrinivasanIt has been a long while since the Jaffna school lost its building to the Sri Lankan army — which uses it for its High Security Zone (HSZ) — in 1990.

The Hindu TRADING SCHOOLING FOR SECURITY? Nadeswara College, Jaffna, whose old building was reportedly demolished to make way for the Sri Lankan army’s High Security Zone. — PHOTO: MEERA SRINIVASAN

Between classes on Friday, their last working day before Christmas break, a few children at one of the oldest public schools in Jaffna were running about, giggling and chasing one another. The name plate outside had in bold letters its name: ‘Nadeswara College, Kanakesanthurai’

A Case of Homes, Schools and Livelihoods Sacrificed in the Name of Security by nelvely

The niqab and the University of Moratuwa

• by Fathima Sahar
• - on 12/09/2013

My name is Fathima Sahar, a first year student at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Moratuwa. I am one of three students who are affected by the ban on the niqab by the University.

The Niqab and the University of Moratuwa by nelvely

On The Plight Of Evicted Muslims At Slave Island

By Latheef Farook -December 9, 2013

Latheef Farook

On Saturday 8 May 2010 afternoon the Urban Development Authority, UDA,  under the Defense Ministry, deployed police and special forces  to destroy  number of houses at  Mews Street in Slave Island in the heart of Colombo.

All except one house, owned by a Tamil, are Muslim owned. Those who lived there were forced out of their homes with their belongings thrown into streets.

The evicted people said that they have title deeds of ownership of the land, documents to prove the houses are legal and were living there for decades. They worked in and around there and earned their livelihood. Their children too went to schools in the area.

However their lives were shattered overnight when their houses were destroyed without any human consideration and dumped in temporary wooden structures Mattakkuliya. They said the authorities were ruthless in driving them out of their houses.

Justifying the demolition of these buildings in a statement the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) stated that;

“The removal of unauthorized dwellers, formerly residing in a land adjoining the Defense Services School at Mews Street, Slave Island, was done in a very fair and humane manner, consistent with applicable legal procedures,

The land which the dwellers were residing after building unauthorized structures belonged to the Urban Development Authority (UDA). Although the dwellers were residing without proper authority, considering the humane nature of the matter, they were provided with compensation and alternative residences with UDA intervention.

As the illegal dwellers had failed to adhere to repeated reminders to vacate their unauthorized structures they were evicted on 7 Friday May 2010 after providing adequate compensation and alternative houses.

The MCNS also stated that the Defense Services School was established several years back with the intention of providing viable education facilities to the children of war heroes of the Security Forces and Police who acted with selfless determination and sacrifice to save the country from terrorism. As it was a necessity to acquire the land to further upgrade and develop the existing facilities of the School, the Government had to take the decision, which was carried out in a very fair manner, the release said”.

As expected a tense situation arose during demolition of the houses and in the clash between the residents and the police one police officer was injured.                                    Read More

The floating armory not regulated internationally a threat to India : Indian Navy commander hints at Gota’s armory
(Lanka-e-News- 09.Dec.2013, 10.00PM) The Indian Navy Commander Admiral D. K. Joshi had said , the armory located outside the legal territorial limits of Sri Lanka purportedly to ward off sea pirates and in the Indian sea territory is a threat to the security of India. He made this revelation to the Times of India newspaper.

The International Maritime Organization ( I M O) should introduce a regulating mechanism in regard to this armory , otherwise this is a serious unlawful operation in the Indian ocean , and is posing grave threats to the Indian security , Joshi added.

Recently , a shipping craft ‘MV Seaman Guard Ohio’ was taken into custody. In it there were 25 armed security personnel of 4 nationalities. They were taking a load of weapons and bullets unlawfully to Tuticorin . They belong to a private Co. which is providing security to commercial ships of sea pirates. There are a number of such companies operating in the Indian sea territory. In them there are also personal security details. They climb on to ships and climb down claiming that they are providing security to vessels which is part of their duty. Yet they do not state which country their vessels belong; no are there reports. This state of clandestine operations provide the best environment conducive to a terrorist who wants to cause a bomb attack.

How many of such vessels are there in this special security zone? What are the weapons that are there ? How many security soldiers are there ? In this connection an international regulatory mechanism must be put in place. Following the sinking of 4 parent ships of pirates in the vicinity of the Lakshadveepaya sea and Minicoy islands, within 450 nautical miles of the Indian territorial sea , there had been no piracy attacks for the last two years.

Hence this controversial floating armory is unnecessary, Indian Navy Commander had pinpointed. The latter who visited SL last month had echoed the same view when he was here too.

It is to be noted that it is the SL defense secretary who is the main person who is responsible for the maintenance of the floating armory off the seas of Galle citing the ground it is to safeguard commercial vessels from pirates of Somalia. It is noteworthy that this is run by a private security company belonging to the SL defense secretary.

Though Gotabaya is a defense secretary and a government servant and he cannot legally run such companies , yet since he belongs to the country’s ruling (rather country’s routing) Rajapakse family who think they are above the law , this defense secretary is running multiple private security firms under his security Organization illegally . 

It was revealed in the British Parliament recently , that a British Co. had sold arms to this floating armory. Previously ,the United Arab emirates government impounded a ship loaded with arms headed for SL , but after the intervention of the SL Navy , the ship was released after the SL Navy claimed that they were consigned to SL . Intriguingly however this consignment of weapons never arrived in SL.

In truth this consignment of weapons were headed for Gotabaya’s floating armory. There is no report at all on the quantity of these weapons; out of whose funds? ; what are the weapons; what are they for? If a private Co. has imported them the details should be made known to the government. That procedure had also not been followed. It has also not been probed why a private Co. is in need of such a large consignment of weapons?

During the period of the LTTE terrorism , their main business apart from heroin was arms deals. At that time they imported 5000 tons of TNT explosives though that amount was not used during the war. After the war concluded too, that large amount of explosives was not retrieved which implies that the LTTE had sold the TNT to another terrorist organization. SL in fact received assistance internationally to crush the LTTE based on the grounds that the LTTE is not a rebel organization , and it is an organization that is a threat to the security of the entire zone .

Now the LTTE no longer exists . Yet there are demands for illicit arms. In India alone there are 35 terrorist organizations which are proscribed. Though the LTTE is not there its illicit arms dealing father is still there . His name is K.P. who is under the care ,protection and affection of Gotabaya . Even the wife of LTTE sea tiger leader Soosai who knows all the secrets is with Gotabaya . In addition Gotabaya had met with another LTTE leader in Italy and had discussions . The same defense secretary Gotabaya also has a floating armory and it is this armory that had received consignments of illicit arms from many countries without any records. 

Don’t all the above data and details prove that SL defense secretary certainly has a very proud record to boast of ?

Sri Lanka oil bill: 'We need an alternative'

Hard hit by the sanctions on Iran, Sri Lanka hopes the nuclear deal will save its deteriorating economy.

Ameen Izzadeen

- 09 Dec 2013 A jubilant Petroleum Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa told a local radio station that Sri Lanka would have a huge advantage if the sanctions on Tehran were eventually lifted. Responding to a question by an opposition member about the government's seeming inability to bring down petrol prices, Yapa told parliament it was due to the fact that the country's petroleum sector has been badly hit by the sanctions on Iran.

The nuclear accord between Iran and the six world powers was, therefore, not only good news for Tehran, but also Sri Lanka, a country severely affected by international sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic. Iran accounted for almost 93 percent of the country's oil needs and had even offered a seven-month credit to Sri Lanka to settle the oil bill. 

Prior to the sanctions, which severely affected Iran's ability to export its oil, Sri Lanka had been importing 39,000 barrelsa day. After the sanctions were placed, the country's oil import bill shot up. Sri Lanka's search for an alternative source of oil, when supplies ran thin, was costly.

Sanctions' effect

Sri Lanka's only oil refinery at Sapugaskanda, a half-a-century old national asset, had been fine-tuned largely to handle light crude from Iran. Before the crippling sanctions started to bite, Iran, which also provided military aid to Sri Lanka during the civil war, had pledged more than $1bn in aid to modernise and expand the refinery's capacity.

Susantha Silva, Managing Director of the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) told Al Jazeera, "We have been kind of under US sanctions. Since the sanctions on Iran came into effect, we could not buy oil from Iran. We imported 13 cargoes every year from Iran. But once imposed, we were compelled to reduce the quantity to 9 in keeping with the US sanctions."

He said Sri Lanka was also hit by the sanction-driven oil price increase in the world market. Oil imports constituted 25 percent of Sri Lanka's $20bn import bill last year. The oil bill, more or less, was equal to the foreign exchange Sri Lanka earned through remittances from expatriate workers in the Middle East and elsewhere, last year.

Given Sri Lanka's widening trade deficit, any increase in the oil bill was a blow to the economy. It was under such circumstances that the US sanctions hit Sri Lanka like a bolt from the sky, sending the fuel sector into disarray. The US and European Union sanctions also effected Sri Lanka, a country which is trying to rebuild its economy after three decades of civil war.

Silva said that apart from the global price hike, the CPC also faced numerous problems: "The banking sector refused to open letters of credit. To circumvent this problem, the Iranians agreed to give us loans to buy their oil. But ships, including Sri Lankan vessels, to Iran could not get P&I (protection and indemnity) insurance cover. Iran offered to send crude in its vessels, but our ports were not geared to handle Iran's large carriers."

No substitute for Iranian crude

Sri Lanka now buys crude and refined products from countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Vietnam at a much higher price. But it has not found the right replacement for the Iranian crude, which is low in sulphur. In desperation, the CPC tried Arabian light, but the refinery encountered technical glitches because of the crude's high sulphur content. Then it tried Oman crude, but the refinery produced more residue than oil. The CPC now runs the refinery with crude from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company but in this instance too, the CPC has to blend it with other crude to obtain the right final product.

This week the Sapugaskanda oil refinery was functioning smoothly, but no one knows for how long.

According to Silva, the Sapugaskanda refinery has been closed twice last year and twice this year for want of crude. The last shut down was a month ago. Days before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was opened in Colombo, the government had to issue a statement to allay fears of a fuel shortage. The rumours about the fuel shortage spread after the government, acting on US complaints, turned away a ship carrying Iranian oil from a third party source. The US complained during a meeting between its ambassador, Michele Sisson, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa in October.

Rajapaksa has been a critic of the US sanctions. In February 2012, he told Sri Lanka-based foreign correspondents that the sanctions hit largely small nations like Sri Lanka . "We need an alternative. In the end, they [the U.S. and the West] are not punishing Iran. They are punishing us, small countries," said Rajapaksa.

The CPC's Silva could not agree more. He said his corporation was happy to hear that Iran and world powers had reached an interim deal that might lead to a situation where restrictions on Iran would be lifted and countries like Sri Lanka could find some relief.

Ameen Izzadeen is the deputy editor of the Sunday Times, and the international editor at the Wijeya Newspaper Group, Sri Lanka. 

We have been kind of under US sanctions. Since the sanctions on Iran came into effect, we could not buy oil from Iran.

-Susantha Silva, Managing Director of the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation