My Brother, the Other

Featured image courtesy Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatta

HARINDRINI COREA- 03/19/2018

In the aftermath of further ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka, stories are shared and explanations attempted, with each person trying to make sense of what is happening around them. People dwell on how ‘in the good old days’ everyone lived together peacefully. The meme ‘Keep Calm We are all Sri Lankan”[1] is shared on social media in the hopes of reminding each other that we are united. That what has happened has been a sort of nightmare we can all wake up from. There is general discourse on how Sri Lanka is a multicultural nation, with many different people living together in peace, and how ultimately we are all one Sri Lankan family.


 
Infographic by Sakeena Razick

This idea of a united ‘Sri Lankan’ identity is presented as the central narrative of relations between different identity groups within the country, particularly, as is the focus of this article, between Sinhalese Buddhists and Muslims. Yet, Sinhala-Muslim tensions outside of the North and East[2] and particularly on recent incidents of anti-Muslim violence contribute to a counter-narrative that contradicts this.

These opposing narratives of Sinhala-Muslim relations are reflected in conversations in everyday life. On the one hand, it is said ‘I have many Muslim friends. At Avurudu I share food with them and then at Ramazan they share food with me. We always celebrate our different festivals’. On the other hand, it is also quite normal to hear ‘Sinhalese Buddhists have been pushed to the limit. Why are these Muslims being treated differently?’ or ‘Why should we have to pay extra to buy products that are Halal certified?’

The claim that all individuals in Sri Lanka live together in harmony, despite their differences, is shattered, when in reality, differences between Sinhala and Muslim identity groups have become a focal point. It is in this context that it becomes necessary to investigate how and when such differences between identity groups are viewed. This involves questioning the setting in which a dominant ‘norm’ identity is revered as opposed to an ‘other’ identity. The latter is perceived as inferior to the former, and one that must therefore be subject to control.

Perry, in her criminological theory looks at ‘doing difference’ appropriately and inappropriately and analyses how this is linked to the perpetration of hate crime. According to Perry, ‘doing difference’ appropriately occurs when an individual or group performs their identity in conformity with the dominant norm identity. This ensures that the differences of a particular group, the ‘other’ identity, does not infringe upon the dominant ‘norm’ identity and upholds the existing social hierarchy. Where an individual or group performs their identity by crossing the boundaries that exist to uphold the dominant norm identity there is then ‘doing difference’ inappropriately and existing power relations are threatened. In this situation the differences of the ‘other’ identity infringe upon the dominant ‘norm’ identity.

Where there is ‘doing difference’ inappropriately there is thus a threat to the norm and fear of loss of dominance by the dominant identity group. This threat to dominance may then lead to the necessity for action to reinforce previous power relations that existed. It is in this context that there is the perpetration of violence by the dominant identity group which targets the ‘other’ identity group as a response to fear of loss of supremacy.

It may be proposed that on the assumption that the dominant ‘norm’ identity in Sri Lanka is that of being Sinhalese Buddhist, it is apparent that numerically minority communities, such as the Muslims, are thus placed in the position of ‘the other’ and then expected to perform their identity[3] in a manner that preserves existing relations of power which ensure that Sri Lanka continues as a Sinhala Buddhist nation. However, where the performance of Muslim identity threatens the norm of the ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ identity in instances of ‘doing difference’ inappropriately, it is then that the vulnerability of the Muslim community to violence and loss of life and damage to property[4] is exacerbated. It is in those circumstances that there is perpetration of hate crime against Muslims with the aim of reminding such community of their ‘place’ within the nation.

On the one hand, conformity with the general law of the country and its general banking standards and general standards for certification of food by the Muslim community may be viewed by the Sinhalese Buddhists as ‘doing difference’ appropriately. On the other hand, one of the instances of ‘doing difference’ inappropriately may be interpreted by the Sinhalese Buddhists as Muslim insistence on Halal certification of products. While Halal certification is upheld as a necessity for the Muslim community; it has been argued that this imposes a heavier financial burden on the consumer and as the general consumer is a Sinhalese, for whom it is not a necessity to have a Halal certified product, the Halal certification should be banned completely. The continuation of the Halal certification process, is perceived as an impediment[5] to the way things ought to be in a typically Sinhala Buddhist nation where no Halal certification would be necessary.

Where it is argued that the series of acts of ethno-religious violence against Muslims is the result of non-compliance by the Muslim community with the Sinhala Buddhist norm it may be suggested that these acts cannot be viewed as isolated, extremist acts that do not reflect the will of most of the Sinhala Buddhists. On the contrary it may be argued that the majority of the Sinhala Buddhist identity group may approve of these acts of violence and hate against Muslims who do not comply with the Sinhala Buddhist norm. It is this interpretation that may then explain the silence of the majority of Sinhala Buddhists over acts of violence and hate. This silence is often explained as apathy; the unfortunate result of decades of war and yet when it relates to issues of the economy or corruption, members of the general public may be quite vociferous. The silence of the majority of Sinhala Buddhists may thus be seen as implied approval of the reassertion of the dominance of the Sinhala Buddhists in a Sinhala Buddhist nation.

The inability and unwillingness by the Sinhalese Buddhist, as the dominant identity group, to tolerate differences that challenge the norm, will continue to cause tension and violence, unless differences are perceived not as a threat but as an opportunity to question and redefine the norm. Is Sri Lanka actually a multi-religious and multicultural nation or a Sinhala Buddhist nation? If it is a Sinhala Buddhist nation then what are the principles of such a nation with regard to the relationship between the Sinhala Buddhist identity group and other identity groups? Where other identity groups seek to challenge the Sinhala Buddhist norm what is the response of the Sinhala Buddhists? Is it one rooted in dialogue and collaboration or in violence?

Ultimately, Sri Lanka is faced with several choices. Do we continue to wear our ‘Sri Lanka tinted spectacles’ and live together with our brother as our enemy? Or do we recognise our brother’s role within our family, while questioning, what it really means to be a family?

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Footnotes:
[1] Roar life, ‘We are all Sri Lankan’ meme, 7^th March 2018.
[2] Vijay Nagaraj and Farzana Haniffa, An ICES publication, Towards Recovering Histories of Anti-Muslim Violence in the Context of Sinhala Muslim Tensions in Sri Lanka, 2017, as accessible at: http://ices.lk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ICES-Toward-Recoverig-Histories-Book-WEB-2.pdf.
[3] Mark Walters, A General Theories of Hate Crime? Strain, Doing Difference and Self Control, 2010; as accessible at: www.academia.edu/4948229/A_general_theories_of_hate_crime_Strain_doing_difference_and_self_control
[4] Gulf News, Tariq A.Al Maeena, Neo-fascism on the rise in Sri Lanka, 23^rd February 2013, as accessible at: http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/neo-fascism-on-the-rise-in-sri-lanka-1.1150052
[5] Sri Lanka Mirror, Bodu Bala Sena gives ultimatum to ban Halal certification, 18^th February 2013, as accessible at: https://web.archive.org/web/20130222051222/http://www.mirror.lk/news/5366-bodu-bala-sena-gives-ultimatum-to-ban-halal-certification.
[6]. Daily FT, Dharisha Bastians, Bodu Bala Sena anti-Halal agitation to begin in Maharagama tomorrow, 16^th February 2013, as accessible at: http://www.ft.lk/article/136214/Bodu-Bala-Sena-anti-Halal-agitation-to-begin-in-Maharagama-tomorrow.
[7]. Barbara Perry, Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader, 2003.

Anti-Muslim violence: an inevitable outcome of Sinhala military triumphalism

Dr. Jude Lal Fernando-16 MARCH 2018

It was just a road rage!  Two vehicles end up at a petrol station after one was prevented from overtaking the other on a narrow road in the Central Province of Sri Lanka.  Soon, a verbal dispute escalates into a physical altercation. Many such disputes end peacefully and some others with verbal abuse of each other. A few end up in physical attack of each other. This particular road rage fell into the last category in which one person succumbed to serious wounds after a week in the Teaching Hospital in Kandy. Four were arrested and remanded by the police.

This ordinary, but tragic incident gained a massive racial and religious overtone no sooner the death of the injured person was announced. He happened to be a Sinhala Buddhist and the four other men happened to be Muslims. Their religious backgrounds fitted the Sinhala supremacist narrative neatly; ‘Muslims have killed a Sinhala Buddhist’. This news spread like wildfire across the region and far beyond where Muslims live as a numerical minority amongst the majority Sinhala Buddhists.

As part of funeral arrangements up to several kilometres of the road leading to the small village of the deceased person were decorated with white flags by the villagers in the area. Multiple Sinhala ultra-nationalist groups across the country led by the Buddhist monks flocked to the region and went on looting and then burning Muslim houses, shops and mosques, and vandalized public roads whilst looking for Muslims travelling on vehicles. One person was killed after been trapped in a shop that was set on fire and another died of a heart attack caused by the trauma. All these happened in the presence of the Sri Lanka's elite police commandos and armed forces. The government declared a state of emergency all throughout the country, imposed curfew in the particular region, deployed military in thousands and blocked social media.  Yet the reports, including footages of CCTV cameras installed at houses and shops, from the region revealed that the Sinhala gangs mostly led by the Buddhist monks roamed openly day and night whilst expanding their attacks from Muslim village to village. Many, including the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, accused the current Maithripala-Ranil regime of inaction or not implementing law and order promptly. The Sinhala liberal intelligentsia blamed the government of not curbing the 'extremists'. It has also being portrayed as communal violence; a Muslim-Sinhala riot as anti-Tamil pogroms were coded as Sinhala-Tamil riots.

MONKS INCITING VIOLENCE IN THELDENIYA, KANDY, SRI LANKA - MARCH 05, 2018

Would proper implementation of law and order have stopped another episode of anti-Muslim attacks on the island?  If so, how come the Sinhala gangs could engage in their violence in the presence of police and military amidst curfew? Does this happen simply because of some extremists who are disconnected from an 'inefficient', but 'neutral' state?

Institutionalised racism

The most gruesome and wide spread pogrom against a non-Sinhala national community in the history of the island took place in July 1983 against the Tamils with the overt and covert support of both the then government politicians and law enforcement institutions. According to widely accepted figures over 3000 Tamils were killed and half a million were displaced within a week. Up until today not a single person has been charged.  The end of the 35 year war was marked by the  Sri Lankan state’s (led by the former president Rajapaksa) military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that became a formidable political force amongst the Eelam Tamils in the North and East particularly after 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom.  This military victory was heavily backed by the UK, USA and India. It claimed, according to the UN reports, lives of over 70,000 Tamils and asserted Sinhala supremacist politics in an unprecedented way throughout the entire island. The need of the global and regional powers who aided the war was to secure the unitary Sri Lankan state against the LTTE who led the sub-state of Tamil Eelam. Both the leaders of the former and the present regimes have been competing with each other in promising the Sinhala masses that they would not betray the security forces to any tribunal that would investigate the mass atrocities committed against the Tamils. The US-led UNHRC Resolutions openly upheld the unitary state structure by endorsing the article 2 of the Sri Lankan constitution which calls to safeguard 'independence, sovereignty, unity and the territorial integrity' while failing even to mention that the 'Tamils' were the victims. John Kerry, the former US Secretary of State, went even further when he stated that transitional justice has to be sought whilst safeguarding ‘heroism and professionalism’ of the Sri Lankan security forces. 

It is against this background that one has to understand the current phase of anti-Muslim attacks on the island. Attacking non Sinhala - Buddhist communities is not a crime, but an act of Sinhala heroism! This mindset is not an extremist position, but an institutionalized one. Without this supremacist ideology the institution of unitary state cannot be maintained. In such a setting, law and order are on the side of the Sinhala supremacists and not on the side of the Tamil and Muslim victims. The hollow slogan  ‘we are all Sri Lankans’ is simply a political rhetoric which is meant to conceal the true character of the Sri Lankan state.

BBS & Islamophobia

The recent anti-Muslim violence is the third major attack that has taken place in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan state’s military victory over the Tamil Tigers in 2009. The Muslims had been  already vilified during the military campaign against the Tamils (2005-2009) by the Sinhala ultra-nationalist political party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), who accused the Muslims of ‘occupying’ and ‘defiling’ the Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the Eastern Province. The JHU has been a coalition partner of both the previous and the present regimes. However, when the war unfolded the main enemies were the Eelam Tamil people. Muslims were not specifically targeted due to tactical caluclations.

In the aftermath of the war, another racist Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) was formed - with the covert support of the regime – which developed close ties with similar ultra-nationalist Buddhist groups in Burma and Thailand. The BBS embraced the Western Islamophobia immensely and followed the same fascist arguments of the far right groups in Europe and USA against Islam and refugees. The group led a massive island-wide anti-Muslim campaign mobilizing the Sinhalese against Halal and to boycott Muslim-run business. Whilst large scale land grab, militarization and Sinhala Buddhicisation of the North and East were being sponsored by the state as part of the military victory over the Eelam Tamils, Islamophobia made its way deep into the Sinhala psyche in the South. This made the Sri Lankan state further glued to the Western imperialist complex which has found a new enemy in Islam, replacing the 'Communist Evil'.

A MOSQUE VANDALISED BY MOBS, DIGANA, KANDY - MARCH 06, 2018

The current phase of violence against the Muslims is part of the logic of Sinhala supremacist politics upon which the Sri Lankan state has been built since the British colonial times; reinforced after so-called Independence in 1948 and further consolidated through the military victory over the LTTE in 2009 which was called Second Independence. In the 16th century, the Buddhists and Muslims fought together against the Portuguese, the first Western colonizer of the island. In the beginning of the British colonial period in the early 19th century, the Sinhalese and Tamils resisted their coloniser together and also independently from one another in their two distinct regions. However, later on as the British constructed a single unitary political structure on the island, the numerically majority Sinhalese were treated as a 'chosen race' and the Tamils and Muslims were portrayed as invaders. It is this colonially constructed supremacist mindset which has become the hallmark of the Sri Lankan state.

'Unruly mobs' V 'disciplined troops'

In conclusion, the attacks on Muslims cannot be termed as part of communal violence. Nor can these be simply a result of breakdown of law and order or actions of extremist groups. ‘The Eelam Tamils who demanded self-determination have been militarily defeated. Let us teach a lesson to the Muslims now’ - This is not the mindset of a few extremist Sinhala Buddhists. It is solely a reflection of the way which the Sri Lankan state has been structured; its unitary character, exclusivist nationalist ideology and the support it gets from global powers. These are the constitunet elements that form the power base of the state and condition the the Sinhala mindest. In return, the Sinhalese expect the state to be on their side against the non-Sinhalese. That is why the Sinhala ultra-nationalist groups demand the regime to release those who were arrested for attacking the Muslims in the Central Province just as they claim the right to colonize the North and East.

The same monks who are engaged in land grab from the Tamils and Muslims in the Eastern Province were involved in leading the anti-Muslim attacks in the Central Province. The Tamils have been subjugated militarily and denied of their nationhood. Total impunity has been granted to the direct perpetrators. Now the Muslims have been despised, attacked and left without any justice. This common fate of  oppression creates a common ground between the Tamils and Muslims to resist the state. Such resistance carries a potential even to unshackle the Sinhalese from their house of bondage which has been created for them by their Slave Masters.

Regimes can be changed, but all new regimes will continue to stand by violent perpetrators to protect the Sinhala-dominated unitary state as long as the racial hierarchies and oppressive structures remain intact. Therefore, the active participation of STF commandosin perpetrating violence against hill country Muslims is neither an aberration nor a failure to uphold law and order, but a routine brutal reflection of an institutionalised racist mindset which gained a new momentum in the aftermath of crushing the Tamil resistance. The 'unruly mob' vs. 'disciplined troops' is a false binary. Both are bound by a common ideological thread that legitimises the violent subjugation of non-Sinhala Buddhists.

The Sri Lankan state is Sinhala by language, Buddhist by religion and colonial in its political structure and ideology. It is this state which has been ‘saved’ from the LTTE by a global alliance, which revitalised the Sinhala Buddhist belief in their ethno-religious superiority over the others living in the island. Following the military victory in 2009 unitary state has been consolidated as never before and Sinhala supremacism has reached its peak.

Hence, anti-Muslim attacks are not a betrayal of the so-called war victory or a 'hard-won peace'. It is an inevitable outcome of that genocidal military triumph.

© JDS

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Dr. Jude Lal Fernando, Assitant Professor in Intercultural Theology and Inter-religious Studies  is the Director of the Centre for Post-Conflict Justice in the University of Dublin. He served as the Coordinator of the Peoples' Tribunal on Sri Lanka.

Anti-Muslim Violence: Through The Scorched Frames

By Afrah Niwas –MARCH 20, 2018

An attempt to flesh out and give voice to the numbers and figures we have at hand of the recent anti-Muslim violence unleashed in the Hill Capital; through a collection of narratives and images of the affected Welekade area of Kandy district.

Flowers made of cloth that had survived the fires which consumed a house

I walked into a pocket of Muslim houses in a village in the district of Kandy with a tiny voice in my head seeking for splinters of something to hold on to as hope; amid the burnt homes and livelihoods. It seemed almost unnatural and unforgivable that I had sought so. For what I encountered, beyond the scenes of destruction, was a bitter cry far more critical and sad. It was evident we have, as a community and as a country, passed the threshold to yet another mayhem of misery and impending bloodbath – if matters are left unchecked. It felt as if a finite period of “state of emergency” had dawned among the Muslims and the other communities in this country, who wish to live in peace.

“After burning the vehicle parked in the front, they burnt the small children’s bicycle. They even broke the children’s toys…what kind of beings were they?” A resident of the affected area wondered in dismay.

“Only our clothes are different, everything else is the same….,” the first woman I spoke to from the affected area began the conversation thus. The Temple and the Mosque lay within a 100 odd meters’ distance on either side of the main road. My first instinct as we entered the area was to think like the many reports I read online, perhaps this community too had worked together to prevent the violence. However, when we had spoken to some of the residents it became clear that the attacks on this community was very much unexpected. It happened on the morning of 7th of March, almost two days after the initial attacks in the Teldeniya and Digana areas. The elderly woman I first spoke to continued to provide her own account of the attacks. She also stated that a Sinhala woman took so many of these women into her house and sheltered them during the attacks. However it was sad to see that a shadow had fallen on the state of ‘normalcy’ that these communities experienced and their relations with each other. “There were no issues between us previous to this. But nobody came to us to at least to say a word of consolation. We are yet to meet them face to face. I do not know what they will say now. But before, whenever we see each other we speak referring to one another “akka”.” , her voice trailed on with hurt and acknowledgement of the more than physical damage this violence has brought on.

A burnt car under a burnt Katu Anodha tree

A recurring image in my thoughts are the words and the sight of a small school boy whose house was completely brought down by the arson attacks. When they had heard the on-coming mobs, he said he fled the house with his elder sister and their younger brother; their mother had passed away some time ago and their father was at the hospital undergoing a major surgery at the time of the attacks. Standing on the wreckage, fighting the brimming tears while trying to be the ‘man’ of  what was now the skeleton of a house; he related using the past form “Dhatha da kalyaanatha next month wechirunthom – we had planned to have our elder sister’s wedding next month”. It took me some effort to descend those broken steps and leave him alone there; in the backdrop of his devastated house.

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Most Sinhalese are happy about recent attacks on Muslims — Sri Lankan Election Commissioner

Deshapriya urged the Muslims to assimilate themselves into a Sri Lankan nation and reminded the Sinhalese that there is no unmixed community in the country or in the world.

(March 20, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Dismissing the popular view on the attitude of a majority of Sinhalese towards the attacks on Muslim-owned properties and mosques during the recent riots in Ampara town and the Kandy District, Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya claimed they seemed happy about what happened.

“The claim that a majority of Sinhalese were against the recent attacks on Muslims is wrong,” he said.

At a workshop on ethnic harmony on the theme, “building Bridges” held on Saturday at SLIDA, Mr. Deshapriya was quick to observe that a majority of Sinhalese were happy to see the Tamils too being attacked in 1983, only to regret it a few years later.

He said embracing some aspects of Arab culture by Muslims in Sri Lanka is fanning fires of distrust while Muslim girls were being further and further pushed into an insulated society since they had been compelled to go to the mushrooming small international schools run by Muslims, as they have no schools to attend.

Mr. Deshapriya urged the Muslims to assimilate themselves into a Sri Lankan nation and reminded the Sinhalese that there is no unmixed community in the country or in the world.

“Didn’t the 14,000 people brought by King Gajaba from India father anyone here,” he asked.

Mr. Deshapriya said the word “Marakkalaya” and “Hambaya” were derived from the names of the vessels that were used by the early Muslims to come to Sri Lanka and added that in that sense, even King Vijaya was also Marakkala, as he too used that vessel to come to Sri Lanka.

He threw a challenge to the Muslims with a question whether they would invite a Buddhist monk for a lecture in a totally Muslim institution.

(M.S.M. Ayub — Courtesy: Daily Mirror, Colombo )

Something radically wrong

The debate on the ban on social media is not so black and white. The ban itself was not black or white. Our reactions to it, however, was where we showed the least degree of humanity

The ban on social media was not the enemy. The enemy is the racism that we allow to remain on the streets, burning one shop after the other

2018-03-21

It is not limited to the systematic racism and sexism that we unwittingly engage in on a daily basis. It is not even limited to the lack of substantive education, the reasoning expected of people beyond the achievement of literacy.

The wrongs of our country were instead brazenly laid bare in our collective reactions to the ban on social media, in the wake of the events in Digana and Teldeniya.
I need to dispel any  misrepresentations of my opinion, at this juncture. I am a millennial, who was able to exercise the right to franchise for the first time on the 10th of February. I say this because there is an oversimplification of the arguments for and against the ban; in that its proponents are labelled as relics of a bygone era clinging to the values of an old society, who do not understand the need for social media in a modern democracy, and its opponents, the liberal academics of a Western-leaning Colombo, who focus on the normative over the positive.

The debate on the ban on social media is not so black and white. The ban itself was not black or white. Our reactions to it, however, was where we showed the least degree of humanity.

What needs to be realized is that the ban was the need of the hour. Anyone who spends any substantial amount of time on Facebook knows just how many pages dedicated to nationalism and religious supremacism exist.

What this further indicates is the often implicit approval of such material in Sri Lanka. Any person’s social circle will have at least a single individual who either subscribes to this ideology or does not outright condemn the racist agenda that gripped the country in a vice on March 5

That is not a subjective observation. That is a fact. Any individual newsfeed will have, whether by actual association or a friend’s like/react/comment/share, the content of such pages. What this indicates is the scale to which social media is saturated with the inflammatory material in Sri Lanka, at the very least on Facebook.
What this further indicates is the often implicit approval of such material in Sri Lanka. Any person’s social circle will have at least a single individual who either subscribes to this ideology or does not outright condemn the racist agenda that gripped the country in a vice on March 5.

The ban on social media was not an attack on the freedom of expression. It was in its action, if not the intention, the preservation of the right to life. In a day and age where information goes viral in moments, without any confirmation of its veracity, how much misinformation would have been spread around the country? Ampara’s embers were not even put out before events unfolded in the Hill Country. We would have seen emboldened rioters in all corners of the island.

At the least, the political discussion of whether the ban was legitimate or not was still built on the bedrock of calling out the rioters for what they were: racists proliferating and acting on hate speech in the country. What makes the worst of us seem real, however, is that a great many people were more concerned about their inability to access social media, over the events in Kandy.

People have had their livelihoods, their memories, their very way of life, burnt to ashes. If not for the ban, a great many of those people may have burnt to ash themselves. And yet the fury of many people was directed at the perceived threat to their Instagram stories, their Snapstreaks, and their meme pages.
When did we foster such apathy in our country? How could we begin to care so little for people who are conceivably only a three-hour car drive away from us? How could anyone who has ever made friends with a Muslim, studied with a Muslim, or taken the time to not eat in front of a Muslim who is fasting, not find the courage and the integrity to stand up for them, when their world seems to be catching fire?

The Muslims have lived in our country for longer than racism has been institutionalized in our culture.

Yet, what is seen is a desire to sweep everything that has happened under the rug, and continue on with our lives in the ‘normalcy’ we were in before the ban was put in place.

People have had their livelihoods, their memories, their very way of life, burnt to ashes. If not for the ban, a great many of those people may have burnt to ash themselves

The ban on social media was not the enemy. The enemy is the racism that we allow to remain on the streets, burning one shop after the other.

We cannot begin to make a single thing different if we do not try to act against those root causes of extremism in our country. Racism does nothing for us. It simply provides an inexhaustible outlet for our frustration, again and again. We cannot give into a herd mentality, and that begins with each of us. If social media is the price of self-awareness, then please, charge its taxes. Maybe that will make us notice.

Welikada prison riot suspects flee

By Ashanthi Warunasuriya- Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Suspects in the Welikada prison riot are leaving the country, sources revealed.

The Sunday Leader newspaper had earlier published reports related to the progress of the investigations into the incident that was widely talked about at the time.

Four years have lapsed since a writ of habeas corpus was sought and accordingly, investigations were resumed to deliver justice to those who were massacred in the riot and their loved ones.

Ensuring justice for the victims of the 2012 Welikada prison riot was one of the pledges given by the present Government as well but with time, it became just a political gimmick and the investigations into the incident eventually lost its momentum.

Evidence given by the witnesses in the case brought to fore names such as Emil Ranjan, former Prisons Commissioner General Dhanasinghe, and Prison Official Indika Sampath. Of them, the latter had left the country. The Sunday Leader contacted Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D. M. Swaminathan to inquire about the latest development in this regard and he said the investigations were continuing.

“The CID is continuing the investigations and they brief Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the latest situation of the investigations. In fact, the investigations show results. The person in question has reportedly left the country. But steps will be taken against him and others according to the law,” the Minister said.

Commenting about former Prisons Commissioner Dhanasinghe, the Minister said he discussed the issue with the former commissioner and he accepted certain facts. “I asked the police to act upon the evidence,” the Minister said.

However, no one has been arrested so far based on the evidence given by the witnesses in the case. The CID said former Magazine Prison Superintendent Emil Ranjan will be arrested very soon.

The Attorney General’s Department says about 80 per cent of the investigation in this regard are now complete and the progress of the investigation have been reported to the Magistrate’s Court. Despite eye witnesses’ evidence that what happened at the prison on the day was a mass murder, not a single perpetrator has been taken into custody to date thus making the incident yet another political drama.

The weapons used to annihilate the detainees have been forwarded to the Government Analyst’s Department but what would happen to the related evidence with the time is yet to be seen. Could a gun barrel be there without corrosion for five years?

Attorney Senaka Perera, who appears for the case, said that the Government has no interest in finding and punishing the culprits of the case.

“Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is also responsible for the incident. So he should be questioned but that did not happen to date. No point of catching small fish. The whales should be caught. But the government does not take action but uses the case for their political advantage,” he said.

“You cannot just use tear gas. There is an international standard to follow in this regard. Detainees in shells cannot be tear-gassed since they may die. Everyone exits when they feel threats to their lives. It is natural. Those who attempted to escape in this notion were shot dead. The families of eleven people who were shot dead in this way were not provided with compensation. It is unfair. They would not attempt to flee the prison after being there for years. They attempted to get away from the location since it became a death trap for them,” he said.

The Army and the Police have not been given training to handle prison matters. Unlike them, prison officials undergo special training in issues relating to control of prisons. Therefore, it is questionable as to why prison officials acted in this way or under whose orders they handled the situation.

People in numerous levels languish in prisons undergoing many hardships. They should not be subjected to torture, teargas, and finally death. The latest UN report on the subject has pointed out many such incidents. They want the hearing of this case continue. Besides those who were killed in their attempt to flee and those who were unable to fill the documents claiming compensation, the others have already been paid compensations.

2017 sinks to slowest economic growth in 16 years

• Department of Census and Statistics releases official GDP data for 2017
• Economy grew by 3.1%; agriculture down by 0.8%; industry grows by 3.9%, services by 3.2%

Wednesday, 21 March 2018 

The country’s economy in 2017 had grown by only 3.1%, the slowest rate in 16 years and lower than the 4.4% achieved in 2016, as per data released yesterday by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS).

The Gross Domestic Product for Sri Lanka for 2017 (January to December) at constant (2010) price has reached Rs. 9,315,488 million while GDP value reported for 2016 was Rs. 9,034,290 million.

The four major components of the economy - agriculture, industry, services and taxes – less subsidies on products have contributed their share to the GDP at a current price by 7.7%, 27.2%, 55.8% and 9.3% respectively for 2017.

DCS said Sri Lanka had experienced inclement weather since 2016. The agriculture sector of the economy has been badly affected mainly due to the unfavourable weather conditions, severe drought as well as heavy rainfall, which prevailed during the last two years in many districts of the country, and as a result the agriculture sector has reported negative quarterly growth rates in all quarters other than the fourth quarter of 2017.

As a result, the agriculture sector has reported a 0.8% negative growth rate for 2017. During 2017, the highest growth rate of 3.9% was reported for overall industrial activities. Services activities have grown by 3.2%, compared to the previous year.

 Performance in agriculture activities

Overall agricultural activities reported a negative growth rate of 0.8% in 2017. Among the sub-activities of agriculture, some of the agricultural activities have reported negative growth rates during 2017, compared to the previous year. ‘Growing of oleaginous fruits; Coconut’, ‘Growing of vegetables’, ‘Growing of cereals’, ‘Growing of rice’ and ‘Marine fishing’ reported negative growth rates of 19.5%, 16.2%, 10.3%, 4.0% and 2.0% respectively.

However, a number of key agricultural activities have reported positive growth rates. Among them ‘Forestry and logging’,’ ‘Fresh water fishing’, ‘Growing of fruits’, ‘Growing of rubber’, ‘Growing of tea’ , ‘Animal production’ and ‘Growing of Spices’ have recorded positive growth rates of 22.0%, 10.7%, 7.4%, 4.9%, 4.8%, 3.9% and 0.5% respectively.

Performance in industrial activities

Industrial activities have recorded a moderate growth rate of 3.9% in 2017. Among the industrial activities, the Construction activity, which corresponds to a considerably higher share for the industrial activities, increased by 3.1%.

In addition, the sub-activity of ‘Mining and quarrying’ recorded 5.9% of the growth rate. During 2017, manufacturing activities which come under industrial activities had grown by 3.9%. The major proportion of the generated gross value added of this sector is shared by the two activities of the ‘Manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco products’ and ‘Manufacture of textile and wearing apparel’ which have reported significant growth of 1.5% and 5.7% respectively during 2017.

In addition, the ‘Manufacture of rubber and plastic products’, ‘Manufacture of basic metal and fabricated metal products’ and ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment’ have grown by 8.7%,

8.6% and 6.7% respectively when compared with the previous year. The value added amount of ‘Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply’ has increased by 2.7% over the period under consideration.

Performance of service activities

Among the three major activities (agriculture, industries and services), the services activities which correspond to the highest contribution (55.8%) to the GDP, recorded a positive growth rate of 3.2% during 2017, when compared to the previous year.

The performance of the services sector was underpinned especially by the sub-activities of ‘Programming and broadcasting activities’,

‘Telecommunication’, ‘Financial service activities’, ‘Human health activities’, ‘Insurance activities’ and

‘Wholesale and retail trade’ reported significantly higher growth rates of 13.2%, 12.0%, 9.4%, 7.2%, 5.7% and 3.8% respectively compared to the previous year.

The DCS also revealed that the GDP at a constant price for the fourth quarter of 2017 has been estimated at Rs. 2,623,541 million, registering a 3.2% growth rate compared to the fourth quarter of 2016.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, ‘Industrial activities’ have reported 2.7% expansion and ‘Services activities’ have recorded a positive growth rate of 3.2%. However, during the last quarter of 2017, ‘Agricultural activities’ have reported a positive growth rate of 7.1%.

On Friday, the DCS briefly released the 2017 GDP data only to be withdraw it soon after.

“We got the last set of data at the last minute. We released the GDP data but since this is the last quarter we need to calculate the full year data and revisions,” A.J. Satharasinghe, Director General at the State-run Department of Census and Statistics, told Reuters.

“It’s a long process so we withdrew the data as we can’t allow even a slight mistake in the data. We are recalculating and compiling everything. We will release the data in one or two days.”

How an international hero became a taxi driver in UAE

Despite the fame, life for Lalith Prasanna Galappaththi has been a race to nowhere.-Photo by Juidin Bernarrd/Khaleej Times

Coming on a visit visa in 2012, the former athlete found a bellboy's job with a hotel apartment in Bur Dubai.

 

 February 9, 2018

When I flagged down a cab in the mad morning rush to keep a medical appointment, little did I know it would be a journey into the plebeian life of a forgotten national hero. Buckling up in the front seat of the Emirates Taxi cab, my prowess to identify different races seems to have worked.

"Which place in Sri Lanka are you from?"

The driver, a middle-aged Sinhalese, was taken aback by the quick-shot query. "Kandy, sir. Why?"
"Where exactly in Kandy?"

"Nawalapitiya, sir. And you are from?"

"From Kerala, India."

"So, you know PT Usha and Shiny Wilson?"

"Of course, they were newsmakers of yesteryear, but I never got a chance to meet them. Why?"
"I knew them in their prime, sir. I also knew Bahadur Prasad Singh, former Indian middle distance runner. He was a good friend."

"Wow! But how? Did you chauffeur them around?"

"Sir, I too was an international athlete. Sri Lanka's middle distance runner, with international gold and silver medals under my belt."

The exchange happened in less than a minute. Then there was silence. Except for our long sighs rising over the vroom of the engine. My destination and hospital appointment suddenly took a back seat. I'm sitting next to a person who once upon a time, was the pride of a nation. The journalist within me wanted to ask, 'What on earth are you doing here?' If life is a tragicomic musical, here is a living protagonist who would fit the bill of the tragic hero. Something in my gut told me I had no reason to disbelieve him. Innocence was writ large on his face. The story of Lalith Prasanna Galappaththi, odd man in the family of two sets of twins, reeks of the neglect and indifference that retired heroes typically face in the cruel world of sports in the subcontinent. He is a decorated athlete who brought laurels to the island nation and is still running the marathon of his life. One that brought him no rewards. No miles to conquer, no medals to win, no records to break, Lalith - married with two children aged 16 and 14 - still has the passion burning inside him.

For the next couple of hours, I was like a kid listening to a bedtime story. Eyes wide open.
Lalith had just finished his A Levels from Anuruddha College, when the desire to shape up kicked in. One fine morning in 1991, dressed in a Sri Lankan jersey gifted by athlete Ajith Dharmasena, he set out on a jogging routine. An acquaintance quizzed him about the ethics of wearing the national colours. "The day will come when I will wear the colours for the nation." He fought back the tears of embarrassment with the pledge, and never looked back. Training under coach Norbert Perera and later under Janze Dissanayake, Lalith tasted his first win when he took home gold in a 20-km cross country run in his village. A couple of district-level honours later, Lalith won his first national-level title  - he placed third in the 3,000 metre steeplechase. That's when Dissanayake realised his middle distance potential and made him concentrate on the 1,500- and 800-metre races. The turning point came in 1995 when he set a 1,500 metre national record with 3 minutes and 46.2 seconds in the South Asian Federation Games selection meet.

The son of a grocer, and training under veteran national coach Dervin Perera, Lalith made his international debut by winning gold in the 1995 and 1996 Malaysian Open Championship. The same year, he won another gold in the Indonesian Open Championships and a bronze in the South Asian Federation Games in Madras. What followed was a relentless rain of titles and medals in 14 international meets till he pulled out injured from the Sri Lankan Olympic squad in 2002. Lalith said he is thankful to his sponsor Deshamanya Lalith Kotelawala, founder of Ceylinco Insurance, who was magnanimous enough to give him cash rewards every time he brought in a medal.

Despite the fame, life for Lalith has been a race to nowhere. During the competition period he was offered a job with the Sri Lankan Air Force where he was employed from 1993 to 1998 without taking part in any action. The year 1999 witnessed two milestones - a  job as middle distance coach with the Ministry of Sports and wedding to his childhood heartthrob. Life only got harder with a paltry pay of 20,000 SL rupees. Living in Colombo as part of the job - with no facilities such as housing, insurance, transportation etc - made life more miserable which forced Lalith to quit the pensionable job to seek out greener pastures. He bears no ill-will, but the thought that life would have been rosier had he chosen a different path crosses his mind when he sits behind the wheel in the UAE. Lalith is grateful to the Emirates Cab management for his present job.

Coming on a visit visa in 2012, the former athlete found a bellboy's job with a hotel apartment in Bur Dubai where he worked till 2014. "My life is a sum of simple math and a little logic. There is no space for big dreams in it. In Colombo, I was getting 20,000 rupees. With the UAE job, I send home around 100,000 rupees. Period." Taking a break for one year, Lalith was back in 2015, this time as an Emirates Taxi driver in Abu Dhabi. With a college-going daughter and son to take care of, fate has not given him a choice except to slog over 15 hours a day. "I love my country. It's a paradise. But politicians are not interested in taking good care of sportsmen who are the ambassadors of the nation. Heroes are at the end of the day conveniently dumped into oblivion."

Lalith, whose favourite athlete is former American sprinter Carl Lewis, doesn't think he is a spent force. He runs at least twice a week to keep himself fit. "I still have a burning desire to go back to the field in different roles. I have the knowledge which I had acquired as a middle distance coach in Sri Lanka. I wish I could land the job of a coach with one of the clubs or schools in the UAE. That's my ambition. This county is now a global educational and sports hub which, I am sure, could have some space for me as a coach. I can deliver," says Lalith.

Moment that haunts him forever

Looking back, Lalith Galappaththi feels that all the memorable moments from his 11-year-long running career were shattered by a single tragic incident. Famed Sri Lankan Olympic marathoner KA Karunaratne was killed along with Highways and Road Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and 12 others when an  LTTE suicide bomber attacked a marathon opening at the western district of Grampaha, about 25km from Colombo.

"It was the saddest moment in my life. I had been associated with him for over 20 years. It was shocking that one of our best sporting talents was lost to a mindless act of terror," says Lalith.
He says making friends with Indian runner Bahadur Prasad and receiving a medal from the then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa are some of the memorable takeaways from his sporting days. "I met Bahadur at various meets. He was working for the Indian Railways and I with the Sri Lankan Air Force. He won a bronze at the Bangkok Asian Games while I lost in the second round. We got along well. I also had the opportunity to interact with PT Usha and Shiny Wilson."

Training under veteran coach Dervin Perera, who was also former president of the Athletic Association of Sri Lanka, was a great achievement.  "He was one of the most successful athletics coaches in Sri Lanka. Both Olympian Susanthika Jayasinghe and I trained under him. That's when I made friends with Susanthika."

He holds close the friendship with Sugath Thilakaratne, Olympian and the 1998 Asian record holder in 400 metres. "He is one of my best friends. We both come from the same village area in Kandy. Sugath is also former president of the Sri Lanka Athletic Association."

"Had I got a chance to train under Dervin in my initial days instead of the divisional coaches made available to me, the story of Lalith Galappaththi would have been different."

Who is the Indian politician Lalith likes the most? "Former prime minister AB Vajpayee and former president APJ Abdul Kalam. Among Sri Lankan politicians, former president Mahendra Rajapaksa is his hero.
- suresh@khaleejtimes.com

Killing of Israelis met with calls for war crimes

Maureen Clare Murphy-20 March 2018

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces near the entrance to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday after he allegedly stabbed an Israeli man who died of his injuries that same day.

The deadly incident came two days after two Israeli soldiers were killed by a Palestinian driver in the occupied West Bank, in what Israel says was a deliberate attack.

The alleged Palestinian assailant killed on Sunday was identified as Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel, 28, from the northern West Bank village of Aqraba.

The Ma’an News Agency reported that Bani Fadel was shot more than 10 times, according to witnesses.

Bani Fadel held a five-day work permit approved by the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence apparatus, to enter Israel, beginning on Sunday.

In only a couple of other cases since October 2015 – when a new wave of confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli forces began – has a Palestinian with a work permit allegedly attacked an Israeli.

Temple movement activist slain

The Israeli slain on Sunday was identified as Adiel Coleman, a resident of the Kochav Hashachar settlement in the occupied West Bank.

During Coleman’s funeral in Kochav Hashachar on Monday, Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, “highlighted Coleman’s work at the City of David archaeological site in East Jerusalem,” the Times of Israel reported.

Friends of Coleman told the publication that he had worked for City of David for several years. Built on land seized from Palestinians, City of David is an archaeological theme park run by Elad, an Israeli settler organization.

Coleman’s mother told Israel Army Radio that her son was building scaffolding at the City of David site “for the purpose of preparing the Temple” – referring to the right-wing movement that seeks the destruction of Islamic holy sites at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound and the building of a Jewish temple in their place.

That movement has been tacitly backed by Israeli leaders like public security minister Gilad Erdan, who on Sunday praised “the police officer who reacted swiftly and killed the terrorist and prevented further injuries.”

The slaying of the alleged assailant was also commended by Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay.

Israeli lawmaker Uri Ariel, of the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi party, called for increased settlement building at Coleman’s funeral, stating “there will be only one sovereign state, the State of Israel, this land of ours, we received from the Holy One.”

Collective punishment

Israel has already carried out collective punishment measures following Coleman’s slaying.

Occupation forces raided Aqraba village before dawn on Monday and took measurements of Bani Fadel’s family home in preparation for its demolition.

The homes of many alleged Palestinian assailants have been destroyed as a form of reprisal since October 2015. Such collective punishment measures are illegal under international law.

The father of Netanel Kahalani, one of two Israeli soldiers killed by Palestinian motorist Ala Qabha on Friday, joined Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman in calling for Qabha’s death.

Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party is pushing legislation that would allow for Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks on Israelis to be punished by death. The bill passed a preliminary reading in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in January.

“Demolishing houses will not help. When they decide to impose the death penalty, it will stop. They should throw their families into the sea,” the Israeli sargeant’s father told Haaretz.

Israel’s science minister Ofir Akunis, speaking at the funeral of Ziv Daos, the other soldier killed on Friday, also called for Qabha to be put to death.

“He who takes the lives of others should know his life will be taken right back – death penalty for terrorists is the present need,” Akunis said.

Israel has already ordered the immediate revocation of around 100 work permits for Qabha’s relatives.

The military is also mulling a change to the route of Israel’s wall in Qabha’s hometown of Bartaa, which straddles the boundary between Israel and the occupied West Bank, so that it would partition the village.

The past week’s slayings brings the number of Israelis killed by Palestinians so far this year to five.
On Sunday Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian who they say fatally stabbed settler Itamar Ben Gal early last month.

Defense minister Lieberman welcomed the arrest of Abd al-Hakim Asi, 19, along with several others in the West Bank city of Nablus, stating, “Let any murderous terrorist know, we will get our hands on him and settle the score.”

Ben Gal’s wife stated in response to Asi’s arrest that “Our only consolation, the only thing that will prevent another murder like this is building (in the West Bank).”

She called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to approve the construction of 800 housing units in Har Bracha settlement.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population to the territory it occupies is a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The settlement of the West Bank is the raison d’etre of Israel’s brutal military occupation, now in its fifth decade.

Nineteen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces so far this year.