SRI LANKA: JUSTICE MINISTER’S STATEMENT UTTERLY REPREHENSIBLE, UNPRECEDENTED AND A SERIOUS THREAT

Lakshan Dias .-18/06/2017

Mr. Wijayadasa Rajapakse – Justice Minister of Sri Lanka has threatened to ‘remove’ me as an Attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court unless I apologies from the nation within 24 hours; I believe that the response of the legal profession must be swift and uncompromising.

This is utterly reprehensible, unprecedented and a serious threat to me as a professional and unilateral order . It is also potentially in contempt of court, as only the Supreme Court can remove lawyers.

I as a member of Bar Association of Sri Lanka urgently seek BASL response this , as it’s an intimidation, threatening and damaging my practice and my existence as a human being.
Lakshan Dias  is a Attorney at Law and the  Convener /Secretary Christian Rights Front .

Lakshan Dias Associates works on  Legal Consultants of Refugees, Human Rights, Religious Rights & Civil & Criminal Cases.

Meanwhile Gehana Gunathilaka, (Attorney at Law ) writes:

If indeed the Justice Minister of this country has threatened to ‘remove’ an attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court, the response of the legal profession must be swift and uncompromising. This is utterly reprehensible – not to forget unprecedented. It is also potentially in contempt of court, as only the Supreme Court can remove lawyers. We must stand in support of Lakshan Dias for speaking out against ethno-religious violence, and presenting statistics meticulously recorded by NCEASL.

The NCEASL statement of 27 May 2017 is clear: “Since the current government took office in 2015, over 190 incidents of religious violence against churches, clergy, and Christians have been recorded by the NCEASL.

– Gehana Gunathilaka face book.
The relevant NCEASL statement follows:
National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

Established 1952.

Increase in Attacks on Religious Minorities in Sri Lanka

The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) notes with concern the recent wave of attacks against religious minorities, which has rapidly escalated over the past few months. Since the beginning of this year, the NCEASL has documented over 20 incidents of violence and intimidation against Christian places of worship across the country. During this period, there has also been an alarming increase in the number of incidents led against Muslims, with the latest occurring on 21st May when a mob attack was launched on the Mawalapitiya mosque following a procession in the area by the Bodu Bala Sena.

Since the current government took office in 2015, over 190 incidents of religious violence against churches, clergy, and Christians have been recorded by the NCEASL. In one such incident, on 18th May 2017, a large protest against a Christian place of worship was staged in Devinuwara (Matara District), with the participation of approximately 30 Buddhist monks and a mob comprising around 2000 people. The freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of Sri Lanka. As such, the NCEASL is saddened that such protests continue to occur unrestrained against minority places of worship in the country.

While attacks and protests of this nature have occurred in the past as well, the increase in the intensity of incidents and the active involvement of local government officials has been a growing cause for concern. Moreover, in addition to attacks, intimidation, and protests, legal restrictions imposed on Christian places of worship have also continued unabated. For instance, the circular issued in 2008 by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, requiring new constructions of places of worship to register with the government, continues to be misapplied by local authorities to close down churches and threaten Christian clergy to discontinue their religious activities. The circular, however, is not in accordance with Sri Lankan legislation, as there is no legal requirement to register places of worship with the State.

In an attempt to foster reconciliation and healing following the three-decade long war, the present government has committed itself to ensure transitional justice in Sri Lanka. In keeping with its commitments, it is vital, therefore, for the government to speedily arrest the current situation and effectively address attacks on religious minorities in order to ensure the integrity of its reconciliation efforts.

The NCEASL, as such, strongly condemns the recent attacks on Christians and Muslims and calls on the government to ensure the protection of minorities and their places of worship. Moreover, in the light of numerous statements made by the State claiming improved human rights standards in the country, the NCEASL also calls on the government to take effective measures to prosecute perpetrators of violence and uphold the freedom of religion or belief in Sri Lanka.


ENDS.
27/5/2017

Mistake in ministry allocations – Jacksonm’s Helanka to Mangala

Jun 18, 2017

Political circles are surprised by the inclusion of the private company Creative Helanka, owned by artiste Jackson Anthony, in the list of state institutions that comes under finance and media minister Mangala Samaraweera. The gazette notification mentions it in the 31st position among state departments, statutory boards and corporations. Previously, neither the finance ministry nor the media ministry had such an institution coming under it.

When contacted, Anthony said Creative Helanka is fully owned by him. Started in 2010 it produced ‘Maha Sancharaya’ and other documentaries, ‘Daskon’ and ‘Sri Raja’ and other tele dramas. He said he was surprised to find his company mentioned in a government gazette. Recently, an investigation was carried out into a Rs. 18 million payment to this company for having organized ‘Karadiyawara Mangalyaya’ at the launch of Hambantota port. It was just one of the events it had organized during the previous regime. 

 

When contacted, a media ministry spokesman said the private company has been brought under the ministry, but that nothing had been known about it. The presidential secretariat, under the signature of its secretary P.B. Abeykoon, has issued the relevant gazette. Attempts to reach Abeykoon for a comment failed, with his private secretary saying he was at a meeting with the president.

 

Shalika Wimalasena

Buddhism & Good Governance: The Case For A Sangha Rebellion By H L Seneviratne – A  Review

By Siri Gamage –JUNE 18, 2017

Dr. Siri Gamage

Writing about the mal governance in Sri Lanka since independence by both major parties, H L Seneviratne, my former teacher in Sociology and anthropology at Peradeniya university, has compiled an erudite two part essay that includes a critique, diagnosis as well as a solution by way of a Sangha rebellion – bringing distant memories about a few failed rebellions in the country against the political establishment (Colombo Telegraph 15–16 June 2017).  Seneviratne has however kept away from commenting on these politically motivated rebellions of the past. Instead he focuses on a religious rebellion of a sort to be led by more educated and cosmopolitan Buddhist monks while citing examples of past activist Buddhist monks and Anagarika Dharmapala –though the name of Maduluwave Sobhita is absent in his articulation. His reasoning is based on an argument that he has espoused through his own writings for sometime but the idea of Sangha rebellion seems to be a recent addition perhaps due to the dire situation in the country resulting from the crisis in value system, which has been politicised.

He claims that the mal governance has ‘infected the society’s underlying value system’ to the extent of the society becoming disintegrated and calls on the more progressive and ethically sensitive sections of the Sangha to help the society to regain its health.  To do so, in his view they have to renounce the Sinhala Buddhist World View – root of the problem. To avoid confusion and wasted counter arguments, readers need to understand the features and boundaries of this World View in terms of Seneviratne’s articulations. He makes a distinction between Buddhism as a set of philosophical and ethical ideas on one hand and Buddhism as it is popularly understood and practiced by the adherents on the other. The latter he labels as ‘a cultural Buddhism’ similar to Burmese or Thai Buddhism all of which have received notoriety due to the violence enacted toward ethnic minorities instead of non-violence.

In Seneviratne’s view, for good governance and the rule of law what is helpful is philosophical Buddhism’s universal ethical system. Philosophical Buddhism includes a general outlook of urbanity, civility and modernity. He argues that ‘it is unfortunately the worldview of Sinhala cultural Buddhism that has overwhelmingly taken hold over the society’. As in the past, such an argument is bound to generate reactions from those who follow ritualistically oriented popular Buddhism rather than Philosophical Buddhism. However, given the nature of critical commentary about what is wrong with Sri Lanka’s governance, political system, ruling class behavior, hierarchical arrogance, failure of institutions that had been put in place around the time of independence to maintain liberal democracy and indeed the potential for inter ethnic violence led by radicalised religious figures, it is important to understand Seneviratne’s argument, articulation and the deep meaning. To do so, we have to dissect his economic and political arguments also, which are found in the latter parts of his essay.

Seneviratne shows how the consumerist oriented open economic system and changes in the political culture affected the value system culminating in corruption, suppression of dissent, black money, the mafia etc. He argues ‘that the crisis in governance in Sri Lanka is a symptom of a malaise that has infected the underlying system of values that a healthy society needs as its moral anchor’. According to Seneviratne, contemporary Sangha activism in lay society was born in ethno nationalist sentiment – an essential part of Sinhala Buddhist worldview.  He argues that ‘To make the civility and urbanity of Buddhism an integral part of the innermost thought processes of the individual’ ethics need to be elevated over the ritual. He advocates an ethos of tolerance, inclusivity,urbanity,civility and modernity. To achieve this transformation and to reverse the society’s inner degeneration, a Buddhist reformation is necessary. The author highlights the importance of a reformed educational program to achieve these goals and the necessary shift or transformation and create equilibrium in society.  I might add that it is also necessary to further examine what these inclusive values and ethics are, how the ritualistic popular Buddhism and its corresponding World View have undermined them, and how Educated and cosmopolitan Buddhist monks can advance the cause that Seneviratne maps out with lay support?

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Sri Lanka has no choice but to grow with giants
Sri Lanka has no choice but to adopt a development strategy that helps it to grow with giants – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

Nature while creating giants has empowered dwarfs with overpowering cunningness

Monday, 19 June 2017

One can accuse that nature has been unkind to small nations in the world. It has made the world with a few giants and a large number of dwarfs. Giants are said to be dictating terms to dwarfs making them gullible and vulnerable and finally an easy prey. Yet, a forgotten fact is that nature has given an unusual cunningness to dwarfs to outwit giants. Take for example, the case of the rabbit. It has been programmed to make a zigzag run when it is chased by its arch enemy, the fox. The rationale? To make the game longer, exhaust the pursuer and allow time for the rabbit to find a suitable hiding place.

Sri Lanka has no choice but to grow with giants.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Police investigations on hate crimes led to arrest of Buddhist monk and police officer 


Sun, Jun 18, 2017

June 18, Colombo: Sri Lanka Police media Spokesman Deputy Inspector General Priyantha Jayakody says that investigations on communal disturbances in various places of the island have been successful leading to the arrests of few individuals including a Buddhist monk and a police officer.

The police today have arrested a police officer and a Buddhist monk accused of leading an arson attack against a mosque and a Muslim business.

Few suspects have been taken into custody from the Eluvil area in Panadura and have been produced before the courts and they have been remanded until the end of the month, the police said.

Jayakody said the policeman, a monk and two others were caught on camera torching the buildings in Panadura just outside the capital Colombo.

"They were taken after analyzing CCTV footage which showed them setting fire to a mosque and a Muslim-owned book shop at Panadura last month," AFP quoted DIG Jayakody.

A number of people have been taken into custody From Kurunegala also, the Police said.

DIG Jayakody said the investigations conducted so far, have revealed these incidents and people are connected with the extremist group Bodu Bala Sena Organization.

He said the four accused are close associates of the leader of the Bodu bala Sena, extremist Buddhist monk Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera.

An arrest warrant has been issued for the arrest of Gnanasara Thera, who is hiding in a safe location, after police linked him to dozens of hate crimes against Muslims establishments since April
The spokesman said the Police will take stern action against the elements disrupting communal harmony using social media.


Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers last week directed the law enforcement authorities and the Attorney General to take immediate action against instigators and perpetrators of violence and hate speech against religious and ethnic groups.

Sri Lanka: A Betrayal, Repugnant and Lethal

Now the government seems to be committing another betrayal, the worst so far – succumbing to Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism.

by Tisaranee Gunasekara-Jun 18, 2017

Jun 18, 2017

“I will fight until such time that a leader can say that this is a country of Sinhala-Buddhist.”

Bhikku Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara (Japan Times – 17.6.2017)[i]

( June 18, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The presidential election of 2015 was more than an electoral contest. It was a political war between two opposing worldviews, a contestation for the soul and future of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka A Betrayal, Repugnant and Lethal.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Looking At Realities Beyond The ‘BBS’ Illusion!

By Lukman Harees –JUNE 19, 2017

Lukman Harees

‘Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within’-Arthur Erickson

Ratana Thero, who took time off his earlier strong nationalist (anti-Muslim) stance during the last presidential campaign, has woken up once again from his deep slumber while Champika has re-started talking about ‘hidden threats’ Meanwhile, BBS appear to have found new patrons in the MS-RW government with GST gone into sham hiding, with hypocritical official statements being made about the need for communal harmony and taking ‘stern’ action against the perpetrators. Groups such as Mahason Balakaya, Sinha-ley and other mini groups are exposing each other while dubiously living off the earnings of the Diaspora by relating pack of proven lies and woven tales about the ‘threat from the Muslims’. Not just Muslims, even the voice of Christians are being suppressed under Yahapalanaya preventing activists like Lakshan Dias for example from highlighting harassment of Christians.   

In a recent TV interview, Ratana Thero lamented that Islamic Extremism is being forgotten while Sinhala Buddhist extremism is being  repeatedly stressed in public discourses. He was in fact comparing the incomparable by equating fundamentalism but non-violent (per his own version) seen among the Muslims to the violent Islamophobic Sinhala Buddhist nationalism of these fringe groups. BBS ironically in a recent interview blamed Ratana Thero for Gnanasara Thero (GST)’s violent actions and for egging him towards prachandathwaya (violence). According to Vithanage , ‘Upasaka Mahaththaya’ Champika apparently used GST as ‘his personal hitman. GST further  claimed that Ratana Thero even tried to use him for some ‘illegal’ un-Buddhist assignments during CBK days too.

True! The majority community has voiced concerns about some recent practices and attire of the Muslim community for good reasons, which has led to an engaged discourse among the Muslim intelligentsia whether the community is becoming divorced from the traditional Sri Lankan Muslim culture, their predecessors adopted. It is however clear that Muslims have generally been peaceful and in fact showing an admirable level of restraint and patience especially in recent times amidst high levels of provocation.

In the light of these Post-war anti-Muslim developments, the question arises : is there more to what meets the eye, are they mere flashes in the pan or are we as a nation missing the wood for the trees? In Buddhism Betrayed, Stanley J. Tambiah argues that the political activities of the bhikkus promoted a narrow and exclusive ethno religious, nationalist ideology. Nineteenth and twentieth century Buddhist nationalists deftly used the Mahawamsa and Duthagamani myths to institute Sinhalese Buddhist domination. Political leaders, Maha Sangha and their acolytes regurgitate these accounts to justify policy prescriptions, including ethnocentric practices, and legitimize their standing as good and valiant Sinhalese Buddhists. Myths clearly have been used, especially since the nineteenth century, for politicking purposes and have been deleterious to the fashioning of a peaceful poly-ethnic society with a common Sri Lankan identity.

Social scientist Jayadeva Uyangoda too says ‘the involvement of Buddhist monks in politics following independence in 1948, in effect, transformed Buddhism into a highly politicised religion. Since independence, Buddhist interest lobbies have been active in politics’ and that “Sinhalese Buddhism has made no significant contribution to the evolution of a non-violent social ideology. On the contrary, the Sinhalese Buddhist historiographical tradition and ideology inherent in it supports ethnic political violence”. Events that transpired in post-independence Sri Lanka when Buddhist leaders and Buddhist monks campaigned for policies that exacerbated ethnoreligious violence highlight Uyangoda’s argument.

Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne in  ‘Nation, Constitutionalism and Buddhism in Sri Lanka’ argues that Sinhalese nationalists have invoked a centralizing cosmic order which with  many of its’ metaphors emanate from a deep sense of faith and belief, and not as a consequence of any scientific inquiry as such. What this implies is that no amount of historical analysis or critical re-interpretation of historical evidence can challenge or change a belief; for beliefs defy any such attempt at ‘rationalizing’ the debate.

Further,  as Kalana Senaratna says in an ‘Island’ article (2014):  the more fundamental reason for the emergence of Sinhala-Buddhism, as well as groups such as BBS, has to do with the inadequacy of the true Buddha-teaching for contemporary political engagement, especially in an identity-seeking, identity-promoting multi-ethnic and pluri-national political setting. The Buddha-teaching is unhelpful in political struggle. Thus, there is a yawning and enduring gap between precept and practice. And it is this vacuum of a solid political ideology which is sought to be filled through the adoption of a culturally-constructed form of Buddhism. In Sri Lanka, this comes to be called Sinhala-Buddhism.

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SRI LANKA: CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS STAGNATING LIKE GARBAGE

Image: White flag being hoisted on the top on the Meetotamulla Garbage dump after the tragedy in April 2017.

Kishali Pinto Jayawaradene.-18/06/2017

It is a typical incongruity of these times that constitutional reforms promising protection of civil liberties are discussed in tight-lipped seriousness in Colombo even while the police seem unable to arrest the hate mongering leader of the Bodu Bala Sena, Galaboda Gnanasara despite two arrest warrants being issued by the courts.

Business establishments of the Muslim community are subjected to one arson attack after another in a carefully targeted strategy. Meanwhile the leadership of the unity alliance holds forth in stern pronouncements on hate speech, exhorting the police to do their job properly.

Hallucinatory wanderings of apreposterous nightmare

In that most peculiar of ironies, Sri Lankans are also promised more law to tackle the problem of unrestrained hate speech while the law already on the statute books is not being properly implemented, as would be evident to a wide-eyed child.

All these comprise the sum of hallucinatory wanderings of a preposterous nightmare. In what sense can complicated constitutional rights be presented for discussion with any measure of credibility when the miserable basics of a Rule of Law system are not evidenced in the first place? This question well reflects the predicament in which this country finds itself today.

There are more contrasts at play. Affording a right of legal counsel to a suspect upon being detained by the police appears to be anathema to some. They gasp and they stutter as if the vilest of suggestions was being made. One embarrassment upon another follows the drafting sequence of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, culminating most recently in the red-faced withdrawal of the latest Bill. This unacceptably vested police officers with the discretion to prevent or allow the right to legal counsel depending on if it would prejudice the investigation.

Silly and cursory ‘safeguards’ are not sufficient

The same question is applicable to the fiasco of a legally flawed draft Counter–Terrorism policy framework. This was permitted to be drafted in secret for well over a year in a hushed and tightly screened process without significant protest from any source. Disquietingly this included those who would have screamed literally from the rooftops in Geneva and New York if such a dastardly proposal had emerged from the Rajapaksa Presidency. That point bears repeating. The ready propensity to churn out papers and engage in a plethora of conferences on the comforting albeit illusionary topic of transitional justice in Colombo was starkly absent here. And therein the hypocrisy of the process is thoroughly exposed.

Suffice it to be said that the main distinction between counter terror law and the criminal justice law is that the first caters for extraordinary situations even while not abandoning fundamental civil liberties. The second deals with the ordinary process of bringing criminal offenders to book with well defined safeguards against abuse. But the extraordinary cannot be allowed to become the ordinary through bad law reform. Slapping a silly and cursory provision exhorting that a counter–terror law is not meant to be used other than for combating terror, as the draft CTA attempts to do, will not suffice. That flowery injunction will merely be a disregarded footnote in the abuse of power by law enforcement agencies. That profound danger can only be prevented by narrowly and tightly drawn offences. But what we have on the table as draft counter-terror legislation illustrates the very opposite of that caution.

Sri Lankans do not need to be taught the perils of superimposing emergency law on ordinary law. Our entire unhappy history bears testimony to that fact. Emergency law had de facto replaced the normal law of the land for decades, starting from the first southern insurrection in the seventies, leading through to a brutal ethnic war in the North and East and swallowing up also a second catastrophic wave of disappearances and killings in the South in the eighties. This column has repeatedly made the point that ordinary people of all ethnicities are the first victims of the abuse of emergency law. Its impact is not limited to one race or one community. That point remains true then as it does now.

Restoring the Rule of law at a mundane level

Moreover it beggars belief that a counter-terror draft which gives enormous powers to the police can be presented when the lack of public respect in the institution of the police has fallen to an extreme low. Just this week, enraged villagers in Nanu-Oya protesting over the death of a child by a speeding driver of a tipper who then sought shelter in the police station, compelled a senior police officer to write an affirmation on a sheet of paper that the police will take action according to law and prosecute the responsible individual. What absurdity is this? It is at such a mundane level that the Rule of Law must be restored.

The questions are simple. Could not these embarrassments of a thwarted CCP amendment and a grossly problematic CTA have been prevented in the first place by more farsighted strategy or in the minimum, by adherence to accepted legal norms? Who exactly is driving such subverted law reform policies? Why is it that at the very mention of contemplated law reform, the more sensible among us cannot but flinch, uncertain of what monstrosity may now be inflicted on the people?

Certainly the reluctance to allow full blooded rights to the unfortunate denizens of this land is a peculiarity of this country. Across the Palk Strait, India allowed the right to life to its citizens at the very dawn of independence and the drafting of a new Constitution. This has, by and large stood the rigorous test of time and served the people well. Here, in contrast, the inventiveness with which rights have been denied by the political and legal elite is something to marvel at. As a matter of established history, resistance to framing the law in a way that actually protects the vulnerable has certainly stemmed not only from the political establishment.

Unpalatable realities of garbage in more ways than one

This same dysfunction is present today in all its distressing features. This is why discussions on constitutional reforms are perceived by citizens as an isolated, cosmetic and political exercise in which they play no part. Indeed, as garbage piles up on their doorsteps, victims affected by natural disasters complain of no redress and parliamentarians are seen as increasing their luxuries while the people languish in misery, the Constitution has become of pitiable, negligible value. Its value stagnates, almost like garbage itself.

This perception is unfortunate. Yet it is increasingly becoming an unpalatable truth.

Courtesy The Sunday Times.

Avoiding Superstitious Cures, Defeating Dictatorial Solutions

Image courtesy University of Sri Jayawardenepura

TISARANEE GUNASEKARA on 06/18/2017

Sri Lanka, despite her soaring developmental ambitions, spends less than 1% of her national budget on research and development, an anomaly which was highlighted at the recently concluded symposium, Science and Technology for Society Sri Lanka 2016. Addressing the gathering, Prof. Ajith de Alwis, warned that “Sri Lanka is paying a heavy price in overlooking science in decision making.”[i]

And this symposium on science began with a two minute video on religious observances, a piece of tragicomedy symbolic and symbiotic of Sri Lanka’s dangerous romance with politicised religion and her willing embrace of superstition.

The Buddha in Samaññaphala Sutta categorised astrology, demonology et al as ‘animal arts’[ii] (The extensive list mentioned in the Sutta includes palmistry, reading omens and signs, interpreting celestial events and dreams, making predictions for state officials, chasing demons, casting auspicious times, predicting life spans, forecasting political or natural events and casting horoscopes). But in Sri Lanka, said to be repository of the Buddha’s teachings in their purest form, Sinhala-Buddhists treat astrological predictions with the reverence that adherents of theistic faiths accord to the words of their particular god or prophet.

In the second decade of the twenty first century, it is not uncommon to hear of pious Sinhala-Buddhists dying because they threw ordinary commonsense to the four winds and obeyed the orders of an astrologer, an exorcist or some other practitioner of ‘animal arts’. The latest such example comes not from a rural backwater, but from the urbanised Piliyandala, a town close to Colombo. An artist died after drinking a concoction given to him by an exorcist as a cure for a skin ailment[iii].

The exorcist has been arrested. It is to be hoped that he will be charged formally and tried in a court of law. Perhaps the publicity garnered by such a trial would make at least some Lankans – including the country’s current leaders – understand the idiocy of trusting one’s future and one’s life to dabblers in ‘animal arts’.

Most Lankan leaders were slavish believers of stars and their untutored interpreters; but none of them went as far to use state power and resources to reward or persecute astrologers as the Rajapaksas did. Astrology always played a prominent role in the private lives of most people including most politicians. But under Rajapaksa rule, astrology was accorded a prominent place in the public sphere as well.

Not only did astrology play a prominent role in persuading Mahinda Rajapaksa to hold a presidential election two years ahead of time. Everything he did during that election, from the moment he handed over his nomination papers to the Election Commissioner from an auspicious side, was dictated to a large extent on the advice of astrologers. During the election campaign, astrologers played the part which is accorded to opinion polling and statistical analyses in less superstitious countries. The state television, for instance, aired many election forecast programmes featuring astrologers, an execrable practice the private TV stations were quick to follow.

One of the most satisfactory outcomes of the defeat of the Rajapaksas was the relegation of astrology from the public to the private sphere.

Recent media reports indicate that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration might have taken a step back to that silly past.

Past in the Present

The Rajapaksas made history when they got an astrologer arrested for making a prediction which did not fit in with their agenda. Chandrasiri Bandara, an astrologer known for his pro-opposition views, made an unfavourable prediction, the regime reacted with ferocity. Mr. Bandara was arrested, taken to the CID and grilled.

This unprecedented act of repression had its desired effect, in the short term. Mr. Bandara came out of custody in the safe guise of a born-again Rajapaksa man. During the run up to 2015 Presidential election Mr. Bandara predicted a resounding Rajapaksa victory and pledged to shoot himself if proven wrong – on live TV.

Vijitha Rohana Wijemuni, an astrologer known for his anti-government views, has been summoned to the CID over a prediction he made about the future of President Maithripala Sirisena. (According to his Wikipedia page, Mr. Wijemuni rose to national prominence as the naval rating who hit Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with his bayonet. He subsequently contested elections from Sihala Urumaya)[iv].

While violent crimes are rampant, the Criminal Investigations Department is busy chasing astrologers – because political leaders still regard the prattling of astrologers as truth and nothing but the truth.

Fortunately 2016 is not 2009. The current government is not immune to superstitious cures or dictatorial solutions. But thanks to changes of post-January 2015, the space for such cures and solutions has shrunk.

In 2009, the astrologer was arrested and grilled. In 2016, the astrologer informed the CID that he has already given one statement, has no intention of giving another and will complain to the Human Rights Commission if harassed any further.

In 2009, the astrologer came out of custody with his political sympathies changed from anti-Rajapaksa to slavishly pro-Rajapaksa. In 2016, the astrologer has not changed his political colour or deleted the video which drove the CID out of its collective senses.

That difference is due to the democratic transformation brought about by the regime change of January 2015.

Sri Lanka is not a paradise of good governance. But it is indubitably a better place for its people today than it was under the Rajapaksas.

In 2013, Sri Lanka was one of the saddest places on earth, according to the (UN-sponsored) World Happiness Report. Of the 156 countries rated, Sri Lanka ranks 137.

By 2016, Sri Lanka’s rank has improved to 117[v].

A long way more to go, but the direction is the right one; more advances are possible, unless economics intervene.

The Rajapaksas placed absolute faith on superstition and none on science. That is why they paid no attention to one of the earliest warning signs about growing discontent in their own electoral base.

As the CPA’s Top line survey revealed, in 2011, a mammoth 70% of Sinhalese thought that the general economic situation will get better in the next two years. In 2013 only 38.5% of Sinhalese thought that the general economic situation will improve in the next two years – a decrease of 45%, in just two years.

Had the Rajapaksas heeded such findings instead of clinging to astrological predictions, they may not have lost in 2015.

The current government can launch any amount of propaganda blitzes about the necessity of the VAT bill; it can scream to high heavens declaring that the VAT increases will not affect ordinary people. But people will feel the pinch, when they make a purchase, take a call or channel a doctor.

And they will begin to lose hope, as they did between 2011 and 2013.

This government can make its share of mistake and survive. But if it repeats the mistakes of the Rajapaksas as well, the future will be like the past we escaped from in January 2015.

Take two steps forward and one step back, you can still head to the future. Take one step forward and two steps back, the past will be the unavoidable destination.

Staying the Course

In the same week pollster Nate Silver warned about a dangerous decline in Hillary Clinton’s once massive lead against Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders started to campaign in earnest for his recent rival. Mr. Sanders is no more a fan of Hillary Clinton now than he was during the democratic primaries, but he knows that ensuring a Clinton victory is the only way to ensure a Trump defeat. This is not the election to waste one’s vote on a third party candidate or stay at home, Mr. Sanders told his sceptical supporters; the only option is to mobilise, to defeat Donald Trump and push Hillary Clinton into becoming the best president she can[vi].

In 2015, we in Sri Lanka defeated our version of the Trump clan.

We didn’t get rid of corruption and nepotism and all the other horrendous practices which flourished under the Rajapaksas. But we have better governance than we did during the Rajapaksa years.

Take the constitutional making process, which is more open and more inclusive than anything Sri Lanka has previously experienced. Be it new constitutions or amendments to existing one, every past effort had been top-down ones where leaders decided what should be done and imposed their decisions on the people. In stark and commendable contrast, the new government is encouraging a broad public discussion about the nature of the new constitution.

This new openness has brought into the open issues which had languished in the outer darkness despite their seminal importance. One such case is secularism. The arguments made by Ceylon Rationalist Association in its 1970 memorandum to Minister Colvin R de Silva for a secular democratic constitution are even more relevant today than they were then[vii]. Incidentally, the provision giving Buddhism the preeminent place was a fairly recent addition, introduced in 1972 and reinforced in 1978. There was no such provision in the constitution until then, and Buddhism not just survived but also thrived despite the absence. In this context, it is apposite to remember that state patronage or special protection by rulers figure nowhere in the conditions mentioned by the Buddha in the Maha-parinibbana Sutta as necessary for the welfare and growth of the sasana[viii].

Another encouraging instance of hitherto taboo issues coming into the open in the new enabling environment is that of the campaign wages by progressive groups such as the Women’s Action Network (WAN) against Article 16.

Article 16 of the 1978 Constitution upholds, in its entirety, the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act of 1951. One of the many egregious results of this is that Muslim women and girl children are, denied by the constitution, several key constitutional rights and protections enjoyed by non-Muslim women and girl children. For instance, though the minimum age of marriage for Lankan girls is 16, a girl child from a Muslim family can be married at 12, or even below with consent from the Quazi courts[ix].

According to media reports, traditional Muslim political and religious leaders are opposed to any change in the Article 16 even though many Muslims countries have enacted laws criminalising child marriage (according to UN sources, in Algeria, Bangladesh, Jordan, Iraq, Malaysia and Morocco, the legal marriageable age for a female is 18; in Tunisia it is 20[x].). This issue has now been placed on the public stage, not as a divisive slogan or a racist slur, but as a serious topic of discussion, thanks to the open and inclusive nature of the constitution-making process.

This week Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa met the Chief Incumbent of the Malwatte Chapter with a tale of horror about a new constitution. The Mahanayake reportedly advised the parliamentarian not to succumb to paranoia or propagate phobia since the constitution-making process has been open and transparent so far.

Mr. Weerawansa cannot heed the advice. He and his Rajapaksa masters have a future only if Sri Lanka succumbs to the ills of the past. It is only if Lankan people return to the mire of paranoia and phobia and Lankan leaders ignore science, abandon sense and embrace superstitious cures and dictatorial solutions, the Rajapaksa dream of regaining power can become reality.

###

[i] http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160918/news/dream-big-major-science-forum-urges-govt-209002.html

[ii] http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.02.0.than.html

[iii][iii] Lankadeepa – 14.9.2016

[iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijitha_Rohana

[v] http://worldhappiness.report/http://worldhappiness.report/

http://issuu.com/earthinstitute/docs/worldhappinessreport2013_online

[vi] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/16/bernie-sanders-this-is-not-the-time-for-a-protest-vote/

[vii] http://groundviews.org/2013/06/14/ceylon-rationalist-association-1970-memorandum-on-a-new-constitution-for-sri-lanka/

[viii] http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.16.1-6.vaji.html

[ix] http://adaderana.lk/news/36624/wan-seeks-repeal-of-article-16-of-lankan-constitution-as-it-hurts-muslim-women

[x] http://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/MarryingTooYoung.pdf

Mel Gunasekera murder trial: A case of killing a journalist 

After three years of court hearings the concluding arguments for Mel Gunasekera’s murder case were heard by Colombo High Court Judge Piyasena Ranasinghe on May 31, 2017. Senior State Counsel Shanil Kularatne, who led the prosecution case gave the opening address by summarizing the evidence brought to light by
the prosecution.   

2017-06-19

Who was Mel Gunasekera?

Melicia Gunasekera was 40 years at the time of her death. She was a graduate of the University of East London. A journalist for the Sunday Times, an editor for Lanka Business Online and Agence France Presse (AFP)as its first full-time female correspondent in Colombo. At the time of her death, she was the Assistant Vice-President of Fitch Ratings.
According to what transpired during the concluding statements, on February 2, 2014, while her parents and younger brother, Dayan Gunasekera, had left for church to attend the Sunday mass that morning as per their usual schedule, Melicia Gunasekera, more commonly known as Mel, stayed at home as she had attended a school event the previous night and had gone to bed late.
On returning home, her family noticed the dogs, that are normally kept caged, were let loose. Mel’s mother, Manel Gunasekera, hurried into the house, not expecting the horrifying sight that she was about to see before her. Mel was lying lifelessly on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood. Dayan Gunasekera who was parking the car, while his parents entered the house, heard them shouting and rushed inside to find his sister on the pantry floor, blood everywhere.The police emergency hotline was called and a team from the Thalangama Police emergency division led by Sub Inspector, Prasanna Atapattu, arrived at the crime scene to conduct preliminary investigations.   

• The accused is alleged to have entered the house by removing the iron grills

• The sniffer dogs were given the screwdriver and the betel pack to identify

• In two of the CCTV footages the accused had been spotted

• Anthony Ramson George walked towards the house with a plastic bag in hand when the police ambushed him

Since the crime was a brutal killing of a journalist, the Mirihana Special Investigation Unit was also asked to immediately start looking for the perpetrator. Consequently, a police kennel division arrived to the crime scene with sniffer dogs. The police saw that the cupboards were open and outside the house a screwdriver had fallen on the ground. The Gunasekera family confirmed that the screwdriver did not belong to them.
The accused is alleged to have entered the house by removing the iron grills of a window in the drawing room using a screw driver.There was also a knife found on the pantry sink which was identified to be one used by the family to cut vegetables and a knife which had been separated from its handle found in the drawing room. A folded betel pack stained with blood was found on the kitchen sink.
The sniffer dogs were given the screwdriver and the betel pack to identify the smell and they proceeded on the road for about 200m from the house followed by the police. On this trail the police spotted a house with a CCTV camera focused on the road. Incidentally the owner of the house was former Chairman of the Ports Authority, Priyath Bandu Wickrama, where CCTV cameras have been installed which captures road images. Having obtained the CCTV footage with permission, the footages were observed by the police and Dayan Gunasekare.
At 7:28 am a man dressed in a yellow shirt and a pair of blue denims was seen roaming in the area with a betel pack in his hand. At 7.36 am he was seen walking towards the main road away from the Gunasekera’s house. At 7:39 am the same person was still seen roaming in the area. At 8:04 am, the man was still caught on surveillance but this time, he was dressed in a short sleeved blue shirt and a pair of black trousers which were identified to be Dayan Gunasekera’s clothes. In two of the CCTV footages the accused had been spotted with a betel pack. Dayan immediately identified the man as Annie Rose’s brother, Anthony Ramson George, who had come to their house last December to colourwash it.   
The police then spoke to Mel’s father, Marcus Gunasekera as Annie Rose was employed by him, in order to get her contact information. The police got the father to contact her and asked about the whereabouts of her brother. Annie Rose then gave them his telephone number which was an Etisalat number. The police then contacted the company and got the NIC number of the accused as well as the address given to the mobile phone company. Immediately they went in search of the accused and when they arrived at the house, the neighbours told the police that they were not there. The police then contacted the Election Commissioner’s Office, which was operating as it was the election period and using the NIC number they were able to find out the present address of the accused and details with regard to the Grama Seva division. Then IP Nimal Karunaratne of the Mirihara Special Division Unit who was heading the investigation immediately mobilized a group of officers and went to Dompe. While the Mirihara Special Division was entrusted with finding out the perpetrator, the crime investigation was taken care of by the Thalangama Police.   
At the accused’s house Police Inspector, Nimal Perera, was asked to go up to the house and to ask whether the accused was at home under the pretence of seeking his services. The wife and mother had then said that he had gone in the morning and had not yet returned. Then the police organised an ambush.   

Around 8.30 pm Anthony Ramson George walked towards the house with a plastic bag in hand when the police ambushed him. He was wearing the same short sleeved blue shirt and the black colour trouser as shown in the CCTV footage earlier that day, which reassured the fact that the man had been identified properly.   
Inside the plastic bag he had the trouser and the yellow colour  tee shirt that he was wearing at 7.36 am and 7. 39 am footages. Police realized that the clothes were wet. And he would have washed it because the blood would have splattered onto the clothes, which was a reason for him to wear Mel’s brother’s clothes. Along with this he had a Black Berry cell phone which had belonged to Mel, who used it to send and receive emails. The police wanted to take the clothes as production. The accused was asked to hand over the clothes. When he was removing the clothes he was wearing a vest. IP Nimal Karunaratne, an officer with a wealth of experience in the criminal investigation noticed six small patches on the vest. After examining these patches he told the accused to hand over the vest as well. At that time the accused ran out of the house from the kitchen to the place where the kitchen water was being discharged and rolled on to the water.   

"Appearing on behalf of the accused, the counsel took up the position that the accused went up to the house, knocked on the main door, rang the bell twice and then phoned the house since there was no response"

His vest was then marked as a production and it was obvious that there was mud on it. Then IP Nimal Karunaratne along with the accused and the other prosecutors went to the Mirihara Special Investigation Unit. By the time they reached the station it was 1.30 am on the February 3, 2014. He marked the particular areas where he identified the patches which he thought was human blood. Later on the productions were referred to the Head of the Molecular Division of Kelaniya Medical Faculty, Dr. Menaka Hapugoda, who confirmed, though a DNA analysis that the patches were in fact blood patches that tallies with the blood of the deceased. Furthermore it was confirmed that Ramson George was wearing Dayan Gunasekera’s clothes through Sunshine Laundry, where the family are regular customers. In the morning itself the police reported the facts to the courts with regard to the arrest of the accused, which was done by the Mirihara Special Investigation Unit. And took the accused to the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) for a medical examination. Dr. K. G Dasanayake had examined the accused and he found out in the examination that there were certain nail marks on the outside of the palm of the hand. The doctor was of the view that when he tried to cover the mouth of the deceased, she would have probably tried to take his hand away and that would have been the reason for nail marks to be on the outer palm area of the accused. There were also two small cut injuries near the fingers, that is because the deceased would have probably resisted and in the process the accused would have sustained a small injury.   
In the postmortem conducted by Dr. Raveendra Fernando it was found that there were 54 injuries on the body of the deceased and he also said that there was a huge injury near the neck, where the blood vessel has got cut. When the blood vessel has got cut the blood that is pumped from the heart is pumped outside. Which allegedly was the reason as to how the accused got blood splattered on to his vest.   

What happened in court?   

In the concluding arguments the prosecution summarized all the evidence that was brought to light. Mr. Kularatne further went on to explain to court at what time the incident took place, then explained the place where the incident took place, then how information with regard to the accused was found out by the police, how police went in search of the accused and what made them to go in search of the accused. The prosecution explained the productions that were taken into custody during the course of the investigation. And it is the prosecution’s position that due to the 54 injuries that were found on the deceased, the accused had the murderous intention to assassinate the deceased. Since the Blackberry phone belonging to Mel was found on the accused, it was confirmed that there was a robbery. The prosecution case was based on circumstantial evidence.   
In the indictment filed by the Attorney General, the first count is under 436 of the Penal Code. The second count is under 383 of the Penal Code and the third count is under section 296 of the Penal Code.   
The key witnesses in the case were Dayan Gunasekera - the brother of the deceased, Nuwan Amarasinghe, Dr. Menaka Hapugoda who testified with regard to the analysis of evidence, Ravindra Fernando with regard to the post mortem, Inspector Nimal Karunaratna regarding investigation and conduction of the arrest of the accused. S.I. Atapattu from Thalangama Police with regard to visit the crime scene and handling of production from the crime scene. I.P. Nimal Perera with regard to assistance given to Nimal Karunaratna, Hemantha Perera with regard to handling of production for DNA analysis.   
Appearing on behalf of the accused, the assigned counsel Soumya Hettiarachchi, took up the position that the accused went up to the house, knocked on the main door, rang the bell twice and then phoned the house since there was no response.   
The judgement of the case is to be delivered on July 5, 2017.