Where Lies The Conspiracy?
By Jehan Perera-Sunday, May 26, 2013
Attack on Uthayan newspaper office… ‘If the government believes that its allegations of conspiracies can suppress the spread of awareness of the general population, it is bound to fail.’
The long standing head of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) in Sri Lanka, Sagarica Delgoda, was summoned last week by the CID for questioning regarding the activities of her organization. FNF is a German political foundation which has its branch offices in many countries, including India and Sri Lanka. The police reportedly kept Ms Delgoda for more than 8 hours at their headquarters and interrogated her on her work. Being taken to the Fourth Floor of the CID headquarters is an alarming prospect for anyone, especially since 1966 when Dodampe Mudalali fell to his death from that height while in police custody for allegedly plotting a coup against the then government. However, the number of hours spent with the police on the Fourth Floor may sound more frightening than it really is, for some at least.
Two years ago, I too was asked to report to the CID for questioning regarding the work of the National Peace Council (NPC) for which I work. My office received a phone call from the police saying I was to report to them. As there was nothing extraordinary that either NPC or I had done at that time, beyond doing what we had been doing for the previous fifteen years, we even thought it might be a prank. So just to make sure we called back the telephone number from which the phone call had originated using the caller identification facility and found out that the call had indeed originated from the CID.
Needless to say, with the memories coming from my youth of what had happened to Dodampe Mudalali in mind, I was quite alarmed. So were my family and colleagues. The arbitrary power of the police to arrest or not to arrest, to question and not to question, has grown to such an extent that anything seemed possible. However, the next day I went to the police headquarters and came out without any problem. I spent about six hours inside, but my fears did not come true. In fact to this day, I have a pleasant memory of the police woman who took down my statement and of her superior who argued with me that I was really engaged in brainwashing the people through NPC seminars.
Attack on TNA offices in Kilinochchi… government’s readiness to see conspiracies extends in a much more systematic manner to the former conflict zones of the north and east.
But the message also came through that we were under surveillance and the worst might still be to come. One of our partner organizations, a big one with which we were doing a joint project, decided to stop working with us, as they feared that working with us would endanger all the other good work they were doing. The CID never got back to us with their findings nor informed us of the status of the investigation. A few months later, however, I was informally told by a government official that the investigation had been called off due to orders from higher up as nothing adverse had been found during the preliminary investigation. This is what has given us the confidence to continue to do our work relatively freely and without much fear.
The government has now claimed that it is investigating FNF as it is concerned about a conspiracy against the government. This follows a seminar that FNF had organized for some parliamentarians and other elected officials from the main opposition party. The theme of the seminar was on improving the opposition’s ability to win elections by better campaign methods. It appears that even strengthening the democratic opposition to use the electoral system in a more effective manner is seen as an unacceptable international intervention by the government and that it is part of a larger international conspiracy. There was even a rumour that some of the opposition parliamentarians might be arrested, which led the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to warn the government that this time it was going too far.
The government’s readiness to see conspiracies extends in a much more systematic manner to the former conflict zones of the north and east. What has happened to FNF last week, and what happened to NPC two years ago are still not the rule where Colombo-based organizations are concerned. In most of the country, there is still freedom for political parties and civic organizations to work with the people, to create awareness amongst them and to mobilize them on issues as befits a functioning democracy. However, in the north and east of the country there is an entirely different system of control and surveillance at work. There is a need for civic organizations and NGOs to get permission from special government bodies and even the military of the area, before they can do their work. This is justified by government spokespersons on the basis that the LTTE, or its rump, and the Tamil Diaspora and others are still intent on dividing the country.
Last week I was in Mannar in the north to speak at an awareness creation programme on the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and what civil society could do to implement at least some of its recommendations. After the self-introduction of the participants had taken place a young man entered the seminar hall and sat down with the rest of the participants. He did not introduce himself. One of the organizers whispered to me that he was from police intelligence. He sometimes took notes and frequently looked at his mobile phone. I wondered whether he was checking that its voice recorder was on. Just as I was on guard and careful in what I said, I am sure the rest of the participants were also on guard. This is how the spirit of free democratic discussion is chilled. It is clear that there is little trust between the people and the government
Subsequently I was told by the organizers that any meeting with more than 10 persons attending it had to be notified to the security authorities. The increase in the size of the security forces and their budgets has been one of the most unexpected outcomes following the end of the war. Instead of a demilitarization of society there has been an expansion of the security forces and their methods of surveillance. Sometimes they have also acted violently, as when political meetings of the opposition parties have been held in the north, and it is alleged that the mobs that attack them include those from the security forces in civilian attire.
One outcome of the government’s allegations of conspiracies against the unity of the country is that it gives it the green light to further utilize the security forces to quell the strengthening of democratic opposition. On the other hand, this type of surveillance and restrictions of freedom of association go counter to the democratic traditions that Sri Lanka has long enjoyed. If the government believes that its allegations of conspiracies can suppress the spread of awareness of the general population, it is bound to fail. In addition, it is also likely to increase the tensions with the international community. Sri Lanka is already under international scrutiny on account of what happened in the past. Its repressive acts in the present that do not accord with democratic norms will only add to the international pressure.
