Syndrome without a name: The boy who baffles doctors

Charlie Parkes has autism, sensory processing issues, hypermobility, allergies, digestive problems, anxiety and attachment disorder

By Charlie Jones-26 April 2019

When five-year-old Charlie Parkes was in the womb, a scan revealed a problem with his brain. He spent his first two years of life in hospital having tests. His parents were desperate for answers - but they never came.

"We have lots of little pieces of a puzzle, but they don't quite fit together. We haven't completed the picture yet," says his mother Laura.

Charlie is one of about 6,000 children born every year with a genetic condition so rare that doctors can't identify it and instead classify it as a Swan (Syndrome Without a Name).

Each case is thought to be one of a kind. Without a diagnosis, families can feel isolated and face a battle for treatment, Mrs Parkes said.

Laura and Steve Parkes say they are "unbelievably proud" of their children Charlie and Chloe

Alongside sensory processing issues, hypermobility, allergies, a weakened immune system, digestive and bowel problems, anxiety and attachment disorder, Charlie is on the autism pathway and doctors are looking into a possible connective tissue condition.

"We were suddenly thrust into this world of tube feeding and medicine schedules. We felt very alone. At one point we were under 20 different doctors for different issues.

"Not having a diagnosis very often means you don't tick boxes. We've had to fight for everything, every service, every bit of extra support and equipment."

Charlie, who lives in Corby, Northamptonshire, did not babble or sit up like other babies. But florist Mrs Parkes and her husband Steve were not worried about him missing milestones - they were too busy keeping him alive.

"It was terrifying how quickly he could deteriorate as a baby, suddenly we'd be searching for the oxygen and calling the ambulance," she said.

Charlie spent the first two years of his life in hospital as doctors tried to work out what was wrong with him

The tractor-loving boy seems like any other young child on the surface, but that is part of the problem, according to his mother.

"We've been made to feel like it was our fault, even by medical professionals.

"We've lost family and friends and have been accused of making up Charlie's problems because we don't have a diagnosis people can just 'Google'.

"I particularly have struggled with my mental health as a result."

Charlie attends a mainstream school and Mrs Parkes said she was so proud of her "unbelievably cheeky" little boy, who has recently learnt to hold a pencil.

Charlie has to take multiple medicines every day, for the various conditions he suffers from

"We were told he might not walk or talk and it's mind-blowing how far he has come.

"We're always learning how we can help him calm down, whether that's having multiple baths as he finds water really relaxing or letting him outside to dig in the mud or his sandpit."

Charlie's family, including his seven-year-old sister Chloe, who is "fiercely protective" of her little brother, have found support from the Swan UK organisation.

It holds an awareness day on the last Friday of April each year, calling it Undiagnosed Children's Day.

Charlie has a passion for tractors and digging in his sandpit, which helps to calm him down when has an emotional outburst

Lauren Roberts, national coordinator for Swan UK, said it was a chance for these families, who were often "invisible" and "living in a limbo land", to come together.

"Although most families understand a diagnosis is not a magic wand, they live in hope that it might provide answers and relieve some of their fears - fears about what the future holds for their child, fears about whether future children might be affected and fear that it was something they did," she said.

You may also be interested in:

• Parents' fight for NHS cannabis oil
• How buses helped boy with autism

If people doubt Charlie is ill, Mrs Parkes said she now directed them to the Swan UK website, meaning she could prove he was poorly and that she was not making it up.

Charlie will probably never get a formal diagnosis, but the family has started to accept that. As for the future, Mrs Parkes hopes her son can stay as "happy and resilient" as he is and learn to "embrace his quirks."

"He has smashed every goal and expectation anyone has ever had about him, he has ripped up the medical textbook and rewritten his own, like many of our Swans.

"He has been through more tests, procedures and surgeries in his short life than anyone should ever have to, but all with a cheeky smile and has made many people giggle along the way."

Canadian city of Brampton recognises May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day

 25 April 2019

The city of Brampton, passed a motion on Wednesday recognising that the atrocities perpetrated by Sri Lanka against the Tamil nation constituted genocide, and recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

The motion entitled ‘proclamation declaring Tamil genocide’ and moved by Mayor Patrick Brown, was passed unanimously by the council of the city, which is home to a significant Tamil population.

The full motion stated:

WHEREAS, The Tamil people, living in their traditional homeland in North-East Sri Lanka, were subjected to severe persecution and injustice by the rulers of the Government of Sri Lanka after the independence Granted by British in 1948, including widespread massacres, usurpation of land and property, and acts of wanton destruction; and

WHEREAS, the horrible experience of the Tamils at the hands of their oppressors culminated in 2009 what is known as the Genocide of the Twenty first Century; and

WHEREAS, The Tamil Genocide began with the arrest, exile, and murder of thousands of Tamil intellectuals, and political, religious leaders; and

WHEREAS, the regime in control of Sri Lanka planned and executed the unspeakable atrocities committed against the Tamil people from 1958 through 2009, which included the torture, starvation, and murder of more than 100,000 Tamils; and

WHEREAS, newspapers in Canada commonly carried headlines such as "Toronto's Hidden Genocide" "Thousands protest Tamil Genocide", and "How the world should react to Sri Lanka's Killing Fields"; and

WHEREAS, Unlike other peoples and governments that have admitted and denounced the abuses and crimes of predecessor regimes, and despite the overwhelming weight of evidence, adamantly denied the occurrence of the crimes against humanity and genocide, and those denials compound the grief of the remaining survivors of the atrocities, desecrate the memory of the victims, and cause continuing trauma and pain to the descendants of the victims; and

WHEREAS, the passage of time and the fact that few survivors remain who serve as reminders of indescribable brutality and torment, compel a sense of urgency in efforts to solidify recognition and reaffirmation of historical truth; and

WHEREAS, Canada has become home to one of the largest population of Tamils from Sri Lanka, and those citizens have enriched our country through leadership in the fields of academia, medicine, business, agriculture, government, and the arts and are proud and patriotic practitioners of Canadian citizenship;

Therefore Be It Resolved That the City of Brampton:

(a) Endorse the United Nations Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) findings on Sri Lanka's crimes against humanity and UNHRC HighCommissioner's recent call for Sri Lanka to enact legislation to criminalize war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide; and

(b) Recognize that these crimes against the Tamil Nation in Sri Lanka constitute a genocide; and

(c) Recognize that May 18th as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day as commemorated by Tamil Canadians every year for the last 9 years; and to educate others about the tragic loss of life, land, and human rights of the Tamil Nation and the crimes of genocide committed against them; and

(d) Send a copy of this Resolution to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), and Brampton Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs).

Related Articles: 

05 February 2019 : Barcelona calls for investigation into genocide of Tamils and recognition of Tamil Eelam

07 October 2016 : Canadian Parliament declares ‘Tamil Heritage Month ‘

The Constitutional Implications of the Easter Sunday Terror Attack

Featured image: St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Negombo, remains closed off under heavy military watch as clearance operations continue. The blue tarpaulin has been placed over the section of the roof damaged in the blast. Photo by Amalini De Sayrah.

ASANGA WELIKALA-04/23/2019

Sri Lanka experienced its worst terrorist attack since the end of the war on 21 April 2019. The country is still reeling from the scale and lethality of the multiple explosions, and there is no clarity yet as to the perpetrators and their aims. But what is emerging piecemeal in the aftermath of the attack is a picture of quite incredible incompetence and negligence on the part of those vested with the responsibility for the safety and security of citizens (and indeed, our guests) at the highest levels of the state. The questions that arise inevitably as to who is responsible and accountable, in turn raise some major constitutional issues.

Security is the first and foremost responsibility of the state, the basis on which it is given the monopoly of legitimate violence within its territory. When it comes to the accretion of discretionary powers and the evasion of scrutiny – not to mention self-aggrandising security measures for themselves – Sri Lankan politicians are unusually adept at invoking national security as a blanket justification. By the same token, then, when a serious lapse of security has taken place as it did last Sunday, we are entitled to use the same standard of importance given to national security in order to hold those responsible for the lapse accountable.

Accountability is most central value in a constitutional democracy, the feature that distinguishes it from every other model of government. Accountability not only requires that power is limited, confined, structured, and that its exercise is checked and balanced, but also that both governors and governed subscribe to a shared understanding that power is legitimately exercised only when it is exercised legally with reason, caution, responsibility, deliberation, prudence, restraint, tolerance, and proportion. A state that is – or aspires to be – a constitutional democracy designs all its institutions and procedures in order to ensure that those who are temporarily entrusted with the powers of the state to be used for the furtherance of the public good are accountable. The government is accountable on a daily basis to a legislature of elected representatives, to the courts, and periodically to the people themselves at elections.

In Sri Lanka, we have not always succeeded in designing institutions that meet these ideals of constitutional democracy, and even more frequently, we elect political representatives who display little understanding of these values and even less commitment to their observance. Nevertheless, on occasion we do succeed in sending a message to the political class and ensuring some reforms to meet our demand for accountable and constitutional government. One such occasion was in 2015, when an administration more than usually contemptuous of constitutional democracy was sent home by the electorate, which also simultaneously mandated fundamental constitutional reforms to ensure the realisation of democratic values. The result was the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution (2015), which substantially reconfigured the political executive of the state.

The new structure of the political executive requires a directly elected fixed term President to work with a Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers chosen from and responsible to Parliament. The logic of the system is rooted in a model of executive power in which power is shared between the President and the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It follows that the Constitution expects these two centres of power to work in unity, even when the electoral basis of the President’s and the Prime Minister’s powers derive from rival sources. Individuals elected to these two offices therefore must be capable of working together regardless of personal, party, or ideological differences. If it is not to become a source of conflict and dysfunction, this model demands maturity, intelligence, and a deep understanding of constitutional democracy on the part of the President and Prime Minister, so as to be able to work together in the public interest and not use their offices to indulge in personal rivalries.

This is the model, but the practice departed from it spectacularly in October 2018, when the President launched what is known in Latin America and Africa as an autogolpe, or self-coup. By trying to subvert his own government and attempting to dissolve Parliament illegally, the President betrayed his mandate and the trust of his electorate, and undid a great deal of the constitutional progress made since his election. Fortunately, the very egregiousness of his actions acted as the impetus for a legislative, judicial, and popular fightback that saw the defeat of the coup attempt in December. However, while the institutional checks during the coup proved resilient enough after the reinforcements introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment, and citizens showed an unprecedented willingness to stand up for democracy, the unreformed political culture of the power elites demonstrated its weakness when the President was allowed to completely escape political and legal accountability for his otherwise impeachable actions.

The President, ex officio the Commander-in-Chief, thus remains the Minister of Defence as well as the Minister of Law and Order. The latter ministry was in fact brought under the presidency after the coup crisis in December 2018. Even though the Prime Minister apparently acquiesced in the allocation of the Ministry of Law and Order to the President, this has been legally questionable given that the Constitution by express words only contemplates ministries falling under the subjects of Defence, Mahaweli Development, and the Environment as being assignable to the President. Notwithstanding that, the President was the minister in charge of both defence as well as law and order on Easter Sunday, and as such, all the armed forces, auxiliary forces, civil and military intelligence services, and the Police Department came within his purview. The President also chairs the National Security Council (NSC). On Sunday morning when the attack took place, the President was overseas on what appears to be a private visit.

In a press conference on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister noted that while there was prior information about the attacks, he and other relevant Ministers had not been made officially aware of it. In a Cabinet press briefing on Monday afternoon, the Cabinet spokesman and other Ministers were more detailed and explicit. The gist of the information at the briefing telecast live was that there had been several intelligence warnings about the high possibility of an attack of a very similar nature, that these warnings had come in days and even hours prior to the attacks, and that the Inspector General of Police had been specifically informed of the threat. It was moreover revealed that military and civil security command and coordination through and outwith the NSC had been monopolised by the President through the two relevant ministries. The President had not deigned to appoint an acting Minister for either of the portfolios before he travelled overseas, and neither had he appointed an Officer Administering the Government, usually and logically the Prime Minister in the framework of the 1978 Constitution, for the duration of his absence from the country. Shockingly, it also emerged that the Prime Minister and the Minister of State for Defence had been excluded from meetings of the NSC since October, with even the times and dates of meetings held secret to prevent them from attending. In short, the entire set of governmental levers we have to detect, apprehend, prevent, or combat the threat of terrorism is in the jealously guarded hands of the President, and shared with no other senior member of the political executive.

Individuals hold ministerial office not merely to carry out the executive functions of a ministry but also to be accountable for all the activities of that ministry, including acts and omissions of officials and agents that the minister may not have personally undertaken. A minister is accordingly entitled to take credit for the achievements of a ministry, but the inescapable flip side of this coin is that the minister is there to carry the can when things go wrong. In the face of parliamentary or judicial scrutiny, the minister takes official responsibility and is required to resign when the lapse or mistake or wrongdoing is especially serious. The President is subject to all these conventions of constitutional democracy when he assigns ministries to himself, and all the more so when he has chosen to run those ministries as if they were his personal fiefdom and deliberately excluded the involvement of the Cabinet.

From such facts as are available in the public domain, it seems reasonably clear that there was enough evidence and information to have done something about the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday attacks before they could inflict their diabolical carnage on the country. That such action was not taken means there was a security breach. In a constitutional democracy, there must be accountability for such lapses. In the light of the circumstances outlined above, it is clear that it is the President who is responsible and who must take responsibility. If he does not, as is likely given the man’s track record, then he must be made to take responsibility. This task lies firmly in the hands of Parliament. From questioning the President, to a Select Committee inquiry, and all way through to a formal process of impeachment, our Constitution entrusts Parliament with holding the executive to account. Parliament did not fail the people during the coup crisis of 2018 and it must not do so now.

While the President’s conduct is both lamentable and culpable, it does not exonerate the Cabinet, and in particular the Prime Minister, from blame. If the Prime Minister pressed home the principle of the primacy of office over personality and understood the dangers of not doing so in matters relating to national security, there were steps that could have been taken to ensure participation in the NSC, and going public if that was thwarted. There was no need whatsoever to submit to the President’s demand for the Law and Order Ministry, especially when he had attracted such widespread opprobrium for undermining the Constitution and the Rule of Law by instigating a constitutional coup. By complacently going along with the President’s unreasonable and irresponsible behaviour – when citizens who had fought for the preservation of constitutional democracy instead demanded accountability – the Prime Minister cannot escape the taint of incompetence and negligence after hundreds of people have been killed and maimed. The Prime Minister was conspicuous in the lack of interest he showed in pressing for the constitutional accountability of the President following the 2018 crisis. In choosing this path, presumably in the pursuit of some other strategic or tactical political advantage, the Prime Minister cannot now hope to pin the blame exclusively on the President.

The upshot is an unsavoury situation in which a besieged country imploring statesmanship from its political elite is saddled with a weak and divided leadership that has no understanding of the constitutional tenets underpinning the republic. It is to be hoped that the law enforcement machinery will prove robust enough to withstand the strains of the attack and its aftershocks. But the events of Easter Sunday 2019 will not go down as a moment in which Sri Lanka showcased the vigour of its constitutional democracy in the face of adversity.

A COCK-UP: UNLAWFUL LAW AND ORDER PRESIDENT

Sumanthiran says President 100 per cent responsible for attacks

M. A. Sumanthiran a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament from the TNA, speaking at the Easter Sunday bomb blast emergency debate yesterday said that President Maithripala Sirisena has unconstitutionally has taken over the Ministry of Law and Order.

Sumanthiran

 APRIL 24, 2019

“According to the 19th amendment the President can keep only three Ministries (Defense, Mahaweli Development and Environment) and keeping the Ministry of Law and Order under his control is unconstitutional. 

“He (President) must give back the Ministry of Law and Order soon.

Since President is keeping Ministry of Law and Order Ministry under him he is 100% responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks,’ Sumantniran said.

Here is the full text of the speech:

Hon Presiding Member,

I rise with a heavy heart to say a few words at this time. Firstly, I wish to convey our deepest condolences to all the relatives and friends of those who were killed on Easter Sunday and we also pray for speedy recovery of those who were injured.

I am a Christian and I share in the sorrow of the Christian church in Sri Lanka at this time. We believe in Jesus Christ, who came into this world, suffered as we do and took the worst of evil onto himself and was crucified unjustly. But he defeated all evil through self-sacrificial love, which is what we celebrate on Easter – Resurrection day. We are grieving – but yet we will not allow hate and revenge to overtake us. I can only quote Rev Fr Jude Fernando, who was celebrating the Easter Mass at Kochchikade St Anthony’s Church when the explosion took place. I quote:

“We love peace. We forgive. Our God is a God of peace, he is not a God of revenge. We love each other, we forgive.”

This does not mean that those who are responsible for this carnage can go scot free. It does however, mean that we do not respond to perpetrators, who acted out of hate, with hatred ourselves. The objective should not be revenge, but seeking truth, accountability and justice. It is the duty of the State to vigorously pursue them and bring them to justice in accordance with the law. Very serious questions have arisen as to the why preventive action was not taken when information was available. Those responsible for this – from the very top – must at the very least resign. I raised the issue of the President keeping the Police Department under his charge, during the Budget debate. This is clearly unconstitutional. The Police came under a separate Ministry called Law and Order when the 19^th Amendment was passed. The Constitution identifies only three subjects that the President can hold: Defence, Mahaweli and Environment. Law and Order is NOT one of those. By unlawfully holding on to this portfolio, the President has now become the first person who should take responsibility for these attacks that could have been prevented.

I attended the funerals of some of the victims in Batticaloa on Monday. Our party called for a day mourning – not a hartal – to be observed in the North and East today. I visited the Catholic Bishop of Batticaloa and the Governor of the Eastern Province and conveyed this message. Unfortunately, the Governor has stated that it was a hartal that was called for. This is despite very clearly saying that it is NOT a hartal. There are many serious questions that are being asked about the Governor and his connections to National ThowheedJamaath. This must be investigated. So must all connections this group has had with various other politicians and previous defence officials be investigated. The Muslim people, to their credit, have repeatedly complained about these miscreants. Years ago, Muslim groups raised the issue of radicalization with government intelligence officials, and appealed that steps be taken to halt this process. Further, in 2017 itself they even held a demonstration in Kattankudy and asked that Zaharan be arrested. I must, in this respect, commend the brave conduct of Hon. Kabir Hashim, who has set a great example for all of us.

Finally, I appeal to all – politicians in particular – not to blame this tragedy on any particular community. The Muslims of this country have never reacted with violence even when violence was thrust upon them. We value that very much and we will march towards a better tomorrow for all of us – Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others – hand in hand.

Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings: Peaceful Coexistence Under Attack

Alan Keenan-Project Director, Sri Lanka-23 APRIL 2019

 

The lethal Easter bombings in Sri Lanka have stunned a country still recovering from decades of internal war. Political and religious leaders alike should reject the rhetoric of collective blame and reaffirm the island’s strained but living tradition of intercommunal amity.

Sri Lankans from all ethnic and religious groups – Sinhalese and Tamil, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian and Hindu – lived through terrible violence during the decades of war and terrorism that ended ten years ago. Still, no one was prepared for Easter Sunday’s atrocities, whose death toll – now over 300, with more than 500 injured – and degree of organisation make them Sri Lanka’s worst-ever terror attack. The damage to the country’s already torn social fabric is likely to be immense.

Amid the shock, grief and anger, there is also bewilderment. For many, the attacks seem to have come from nowhere. The government has arrested twenty-four Sri Lankan Muslim suspects, allegedly part of a hitherto little-known Islamist militant group, National Towheed Jamaat (NTJ), which government officials have said carried out the attacks with foreign support.

Sri Lanka has a long and complex history of inter-ethnic and inter-religious violence. Political struggles between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese and mostly Buddhist majority and the mostly Hindu Tamil minority, who make up about 15 per cent of the population and are concentrated in the north and east of the island, eventually led to a three-decade civil war, which left some 150,000 dead (a small minority of both Sinhalese and Tamils are Christians). Soon after the government crushed the Tamil Tigers’ separatist struggle in May 2009, Sri Lanka’s Muslim community – about 10 per cent of the population – became the target of violence, hate speech and economic boycotts by groups of Sinhalese Buddhists who claimed that Muslims threatened the island’s stability and Buddhist character. (Historically, Sri Lankan Muslims have been considered and considered themselves a separate ethnic group, but increasingly their identity is defined in religious terms as well.) Nearly a week of anti-Muslim rioting by Sinhalese mobs in March 2018 was contained only after the government declared a state of emergency and deployed the army.

In the face of years of sustained attack, Sri Lanka’s Muslims have displayed calm and restraint, with not a single act of retaliation against Sinhalese. Nor is there any history of serious tension between Muslims and Christians. Indeed, recent years have seen unusual joint advocacy campaigns by Muslim and evangelical Christian groups, as the latter have also suffered violent attacks by militant Buddhists angered by what they see as “unethical conversions”.

Extremist voices have emerged in recent decades among Sri Lankan Muslims, but the limited violence such groups have committed has hitherto been against other Muslims, not Christians or Buddhists. NTJ, for instance, was one of a number of Salafi groups known and criticised for its violent rhetoric and occasional physical attacks on Sufi Muslims, whom it considers not to be true Muslims. Until very recently, however, there were never attacks against Sri Lankans of other faiths. In part for this reason, the police and Sinhala political leadership largely deferred to Muslim political and religious leaders, who did little to challenge such groups.

The first sign that NTJ’s targets might be changing came in December 2018 when Buddhist and Christian statues were vandalised in the central town of Mawanella. Police quickly arrested a group of young Muslim men who reportedly had attended Quran classes taught by the NTJ leader and Salafi preacher M. T. M. Zahran. Worries grew among Muslim community leaders, who were struggling to keep the peace, when police investigations into the statue attacks led to the discovery in January of a weapons cache hidden on a farm in north-western Sri Lanka.

The Easter attacks appear principally to be the fruit of seeds planted by transnational jihadists, which responsible local Muslim leaders failed to effectively uproot. A small number of Sri Lankan Muslims are known to have travelled to Syria to fight with the Islamic State (ISIS). The scale and complexity of the attacks suggest that a small number of local radicals received outside guidance. ISIS has now laid claim online to what it calls Sunday’s “blessed raid”. In statements released over social media, it has celebrated the killing of Christians and “subjects of the countries of the Crusader Coalition” that has combated the group globally. ISIS aims to eliminate any space for tolerance and coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims, and to draw Muslims everywhere into the group’s cataclysmic battle with “infidel” and “apostate” enemies.

Sunday’s atrocities thus do not appear to grow directly from Sri Lanka’s previous complicated history of intercommunal tensions and political violence, though years of pressure on Muslims from Sinhala Buddhist militants have increased the alienation and anger felt by many young Muslims. Now, however, the attacks will likely become an essential part of Sri Lankan conflict dynamics and – as interpreted from within that history and made use of by multiple political actors – could go on to have lasting and destabilising effects. The bombings, shocking in their large number, brutality and high death toll, will now be cited as evidence of the violent Muslim extremism of which militant Buddhists have long warned. The anger felt by Christians – both ethnic Tamil and Sinhalese – at the massacre of their brothers and sisters threatens to strengthen already powerful anti-Muslim sentiments across society.

The attacks will also strengthen the hand of the Sinhala nationalist opposition, led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, and would-be presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during whose government militant Buddhist organisations such as Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) were allowed to incite violence against Muslims with impunity. Already the front runners in the presidential and parliamentary elections due over the next year or so, the Rajapaksas and their party supporters are certain to argue that during their government, terrorism – in the form of the Tamil Tigers – was defeated, and that only they can save Sri Lanka from the latest brand of terror that the divided government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has failed to prevent. The government’s apparent failure to act on intelligence reports warning of the suicide attacks seems to have been at least in part a product of the bitter political infighting between the president and prime minister and the former’s refusal to share police warnings with the cabinet. It has deepened the widespread sense that the government is weak and the country at risk.

Should the Rajapaksas return to power, the current government’s modest efforts at post-war reconciliation and strengthening the rule of law will almost certainly end. Already, in response to the attacks, the president has declared an emergency that provides broad powers of arrest and detention to the security forces, and plans to replace the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act – long criticized by the UN and others for facilitating torture of Tamil detainees – are likely to be scrapped.

Thorough investigations and tightened security measures are essential to reassure a frightened public. The capital Colombo in particular remains tense, with reports of rising anger toward Muslims, particularly after ISIS’s claim of responsibility and police warnings of possible further bombings. A serious and independent inquiry into the failure to act on intelligence warnings must lead to reform of Sri Lanka’s dysfunctional system of intelligence sharing.

Muslim leaders, in turn, need to speak out much more forcefully against the forces of hate within their own community that they have until now been reluctant to challenge. The fear of giving ammunition to their antagonists in other communities, which is one reason they have held back, can no longer be accepted. Continued silence, instead, is the greater danger.

Yet at the same time, efforts are needed to avoid demonising Sri Lanka’s overwhelmingly peaceful Muslim community. The alternative would be to erode the authority of Muslim leaders who themselves are horrified by the violence, and wish to contain it, and deepen the sense of alienation that some young Muslims already feel. Intercommunal conflict and schism is precisely what ISIS hopes to provoke. Instead, leaders from all ethnic and religious communities must speak out against holding Muslims as a whole responsible for atrocities that a very small number of their community may have committed. All must work to protect Muslims from reprisals that could eventually set off a deadly cycle of intercommunal conflict. In addition to the Christian community that was the direct target of the bombings, what was attacked was Sri Lanka’s strained but still living tradition of inter-religious and inter-ethnic cooperation and friendship. This tradition must be defended in every way possible by Sri Lanka’s political, national security and religious leadership.

Forces Of Sin And Death Striking At Those Celebrating Victory Over Them

A Question of conscience to followers of all religions

by Father S.J.Emmanuel-2019-04-23

Today Tuesday 23rd. April 2019 is a day of national mourning in honor of all the victims of the evil forces let loose last Easter Sunday when Christians proclaimed and celebrated victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ.

All Sri Lankans mourn & reflect

We as a whole nation of many ethnicities and religions are one in observing this national mourning in sympathy with the victims of this horror but also as a protest against the forces of evil against humanity. Although the horrific incidents occurred in particular places chosen by the evil-doers according to their intent and convenience, it’s a wake up call to all Sri Lankans, especially as followers of all four religions.

Let’s look into our own religions and surroundings

As one belonging to the Christian religion, I like to invite the faithful and leaders of all four religions in Sri Lanka, to go deeper into their own faiths, not only to identify any weakness for evil to thrive even within the sanctum of their religions and weed out those evils but also to fight against these evils present outside the walls of religion in our societies.

How did these religions appear on earth

In looking within our own religions let us first weed out our misunderstandings about religion. No religion, as religion, is formulated and founded by God. God remains a nameless, formless, super-human power (Albert Einstein) behind all the wonders of creation we see and explore. But to man, helplessly wondering and searching for the power-beyond, God has revealed himself to all mankind in various ways and in various times. These revelations to mankind have given birth to various religions among all people originating from all corners of the earth.

No religion can claim exclusivity of any kind.

All religions have taken their origins from some form of revelation and been built up by men with formulas of faith, rituals and morals. All religions have grown among men to help man recognize his nature and end, and to help him struggle against the forces of evil and death and live a morally good life. In short, religions are at the service of men, not vice versa.

Christianity proclaims & celebrate Easter

My own religion is one of these – taking its origin in God’s revelation to the Israelites in their history where Jesus born a Jew, reveals himself as the Messiah or Redeemer of humanity, announces the coming of God’s Kingdom, suffers death in the hands of the Jewish & Roman authorities, and rises from death as Risen Christ, establishing victory over sin & death. It is this faith in Risen Christ conquering sin and death, that we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

All religions struggle against evil hoping in the victory of Good

Though religions started from divine revelations, yet the growth and formation of these religions are mostly the work of man, who believes and guided by super-natural divine or super human forces but remaining subject to evil forces of the world. Followers of all religions undertake a continuous struggle believing in the ultimate victory of good against the evil forces of sin in this world. Hence the commonality of all religions to struggle against surrounding evil forces believing and hoping in the triumph and liberation of the good.

Adam’s Peak – a standing reminder to all Sri Lankans

In Sri Lanka we have Adam’s Peak, visited by followers of all four religions, and claiming to recognize the feet of Buddha, Siva, Mohamed and Adam. Prof. Hans Kueng of Tubingen, a world renowned theologian, in studying the religions of the world, has opened his film with a scene at Adam’s Peak pointing out the potentialities for common understanding among religions.

We Sri Lankans after a long period of ethnic conflict and civil war, are struggling to rebuild Sri Lanka, a multi ethnic multi religious communities, a united island of peaceful coexistence for all. Though politicians and governments make blunders in handling our situation and not at all cooperating with those inside and outside the country to rebuilding, true followers and leaders of all religions must respond to the wake up call on Easter Sunday:-

1. Do not allow any room for evil to thrive even within the walls of your religion.Within a man-made religion, it is natural for humans to descend into extremism and fundamentalism which ignites hate and anger against other faiths.

2. In combating evil forces in our society, do not stop with mere armchair condemnations, but come out of your religious houses, join hands with other civic and political leaders to cry halt to evil.

More harm is done by the passivity of good people than by the activity of the evil.

A secular public space is essential for the safety and wellbeing of all

 Recent attacks have manifested the ability of Islamic extremists to invade the public sphere to kill and maim – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

 Friday, 26 April 2019

The heart is heavy and the pen is slow. The environment is thick with the shared sorrow of many. Pain and suffering caused by deaths of hundreds and maiming of more on Easter of 2019 will linger for the rest of our lives. But life must go on and we must take back our public spaces from religious extremists. How do we do that without infringing on our collective rights is the question.

Strengthening anti-terrorist laws is on the agenda. I won’t comment on those at this point. A bill to ban the full face covering burkha or the niqab is also proposed and that interests me. However, I would not advocate the banning of a particular garment, but argue for the forbidding the regular practice of covering one’s face in public places. In fact, we should not be targeting specific issues or specific communities – though the effect can be such – but look at the whole issue of safety and well-being of citizens in public space and their ability to participate in democracy.

I define public spaces not only as physical spaces but laws, regulations, customs, etc. that affect each of us with no ability on our part to control them. It would be both imprudent and impractical to exclude religion from public spaces. But I would argue we should aim at making public spaces as secular as possible if we are to keep them safe and welcoming for all citizens and to ensure democracy in our country.

Recent attacks have manifested the ability of Islamic extremists to invade the public sphere to kill and maim. With religious texts subject to interpretation, it is difficult to judge where religious fundamentalism ends and extremism begins. Therefore, it is in our common interest to deter fundamentalist practices in the public sphere while recognising that individuals are free to practice their religion as they see fit in their private spaces.

I would start with issues of child marriage and the face-covering burkha or the niqab garments. I will also look at the noise pollution of airwaves with religious chanting, a malpractice common to all religions. I would argue for legislation to counter these within a broader framework secularity in the public space as being essential to reduce fundamentalist tendencies in society and their threat to democracy.

One law for all

Recent attempts to enforce the marriage age to all communities including Muslims met with resistance from some Muslims led by the terror group National Thowheed Jamaath which has now claimed responsibility for Easter attacks.

The present tragedy presents an opportunity to bring legislation to bring Sri Lankans under the same marriage law, abolishing all other marriage laws including Muslim, Tamil Thesavalame or Up-country laws. Underage marriages will not be allowed for any religious community. This is an essential first step in recognising that we are all equal under the law and in the public space of which the legal framework is a part.

Right to see and responsibility to be seen in public places

I personally find the sight of women in burkha or niqab offensive. While I admire the elegance of the hijab or the veil covering the hair and the flowing garments that accompany the veil, the black ghosts with covered faces bring up a fury inside me which I have been struggling to control. These women have a right to choose their clothing my logical mind would tell me, but unconsciously the anger rises.

A lot has been written about face covering garments in regard to rights of women vs. community standards and so on. However, I am yet to see an argument based on the right to see and judge a person in a public space. Overtime, we have evolved the ability to gauge a situation by a simple gesture or demeanour of another. It is essential for the survival of the species I am sure. A deeper discourse in this regard is need, but I feel we need legislation to assure the rights of citizens to receive sufficient information to judge the safety of a particular space including the demeanour of fellow occupants of that space.

Special permission for public chanting

One phenomenon that signifies the harmful invasion of public spaces by religions is the battle over airwaves in Central Colombo. Having moved to the city a decade ago, initially I enjoyed rising in the morning to the call to prayer from mosques. Irrespective of the religious difference, I found the melodic call to prayer a soothing reminder of the spiritual side of life. But, over the years the sound got louder and it got to be a disturbance.

Not to be outdone, the Buddhist temples in the vicinity started responding with louder chants and tom-tom beating katina processions on workdays starting at 4 a.m. or before. Visiting Kattankudy in the Eastern Province once I was awakened in disbelief by a duel over the airwaves between a kovil and a mosque. Now my response is ‘tone it down, all of you’.

We already have laws to curtail noise disturbances after a certain time in the evening. Those need to be strengthened to include the use of loudspeakers for religious events including the daily chanting of pirith or call to prayers. A circular defining decibel levels has to be resent to all police stations so that only those attending an event are able to hear a pirith chanting. Calls to prayers should be limited to what each mosque can achieve with human vocal chords.

Religious processions and festivities add to our urban life, but there should be a public calendar in each local authority area marking those events. Anything outside those should be conducted under license. Poya days and Ramadan, Shiva Rathri and other numerous special days can be included, but only at specific times at specific locations.

Nudging not sufficient, legislation needed

In a previous column I argued that “our leaders and civil society should keep nudging each community one small step at a time while giving all parties the signal that the concerns of each are valid,” but times have changed. The difference between fundamentalism and extremism is a thin line. We should do everything possible to discourage fundamentalism in our society and bring all citizens together as Sri Lankans first.

Public discourse takes time. Nudging too takes time. Legislation has to be enacted now. We don’t need a law to ban the burkha, but an anti-terrorist law perhaps could include a clause to require that anybody occupying a public space (or a space outside private ownership) makes his/her face open for observation so that law enforcement officials as well as ordinary citizens are able to judge dangerousness or the hostility level of a given environment.

Government crippled when responding to terror strike

25 April 2019 

Sri Lanka was so accustomed to the peace that dawned after the end of the war on May 19, 2009 that it relaxed security measures.  The country, under two successive Governments, dispensed with all wartime restrictions and relaxed security measures during the past ten years. However, the peace it enjoyed was punctured by the serial bombings targeting three high-end hotels and three places of Catholic or Christian worship on Easter Sunday (April 21). It happened when the country was about to celebrate its tenth anniversary after defeating tiger rebels.

Only after three days did the ISIS or the Islamic State claim responsibility for the attack. It has been carried out in cohort with its local affiliate National Thowheeth Jamaath. Even before, people had a forgone conclusion that it could be the work of the Islamic State since the spate of bombings bore the hallmarks of such similar attacks executed by it elsewhere in the world. 

Be that as it may, bewildered by the bombings that killed as many as 359 persons, the country was at a loss to understand as to why the Christian community was targeted in Sri Lanka.  People were perplexed because the country never witnessed any communal clash involving local Christians and Muslims.

But, the Islamic State’s attack on Christianity is not something new or coincidental. In fact, the Islamic State has waged a global war against Christianity.  Christians have been the target of their bombings and ambush attacks in many countries.  In recent years, they have carried out a slew of such attacks targeting Christians in different countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia. In Iraq, Christians are a religious minority often persecuted or killed by the ISIS in senseless violence.

After beheading 21 Coptic Christians of Egypt in a beach in Libya in February, 2015, the ISIS released a video titled ‘A Message of Blood to the Nation of the Cross’. It speaks volumes about their hostility towards Christianity which is seen as the cornerstone of the western world’s ideology.

Confusion reigns in Govt after attack 

In the immediate aftermath of the bombings in Sri Lanka, confusion reigned not only in the minds of people, but also within the Government riddled with differences.  President Maithripala Sirisena, who also holds the defence portfolio, was on an overseas visit, and his absence was a hindrance to convene a meeting of the National Security Council.   

In the absence of the President, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called for a meeting of the Cabinet Ministers at 3.00pm on Sunday to discuss the measures to be taken to restore normalcy. Around 15-20 Ministers attended it.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera was concerned about economic consequences of the terror strike. He said this would discourage investors from coming to Sri Lanka. 

PM bemoans not being invited 

The Prime Minister informed the meeting that specific intelligence on the attack had been conveyed to the Sri Lankan intelligence authorities    by two foreign authorities. He said that he was not informed of such warnings, though.

“I have not been invited to the meetings of the    National Security Council since October 26, 2018,” he said.

Champika requests for coordinated mechanism 

Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka quipped in at this point. He suggested that everyone should cast aside differences at the moment and work out a coordinated mechanism involving all stakeholders to crush the newly emerged terrorism in all its   manifestations.

He asked for the execution of such a plan forthwith before the perpetrators of Sunday’s bombings flee.  For that purpose, he asked for cordoning off of the entire city including the airport, but with specific safety arrangements for inbound and outbound foreign nationals. 

However, his call for the declaration of State of Emergency was rebuffed by Minister Mangala Samaraweera who saw it as a move that would infringe the democratic rights of people and signal a negative message on Sri Lanka to the international community at this hour.

The Prime Minister, however,   informed that President Sirisena had given permission only for police curfew to be clamped in the country.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister arrived at the Defence Ministry to have a meeting regarding the measures to be taken in the wake of this crisis.   However, the commanders of the three forces snubbed him making it unable for him to chair a high profile defence meeting sans the President.

On Monday, the Ministers sought a meeting with the President who had arrived in the country by the time. The meeting started at the Presidential Secretariat accordingly at 6.00 pm with the President in the chair. At the very onset, the President remarked, “You all only wanted to meet me. What have you got to discuss with me?

Public Enterprise Development Minister Lakshman Kiriella, who is also    the Leader of the House, started speaking first. He said that the foreign intelligence authorities had tipped off Sri Lanka on two occasions- April 4 and 11 – on planned attacks by terrorists, but no tangible action was taken to avert them. 

He asked as to why people were not alerted appropriately.

The President replied that he was not aware of such an attack. Also, he said that the warning letter that was circulated within the police circle had not been referred to his office.  To drive home his point more effectively, he presented a diagram depicting the command structure of the defence establishment.

Then, Minister Samaraweera expressed his concern about the Prime Minister not being invited to the meetings of the National Security Council. The President spelled out his reason.  He referred to an instance in which the need to ban the use of Burka worn by Muslim women as a safety measure was taken up for discussion by the National Security Council.

The President said what transpired at that meeting appeared in an English daily (Newspaper), and the contents suggested that the proposed ban on Burka was shelved due to objections by the Prime Minister. The President said that the news story had been planted in the paper with the intention of earning sympathy of the Muslim community for the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister sounded unhappy over such remarks. He said he had no healthy ties with the particular English daily, and therefore he could not expect it to publish news stories aimed at propping up his image.

“The whole country knows the kind of relations I have with that newspaper,” he said.
Also, he said he used to attend the meetings of the National Security Council even after that was discussed.

All in all, it is clear again that policy clashes within the top brass of the Government has hamstrung decision making even in the event of a national calamity. The Ministers always differ from each other on every single issue, and it has made consensual approach next to impossible.

For example, Minister Ranawaka asked for the recall of battle hardened military officers in retirement to deal with the present crisis.  But, his request was trashed by Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Dr. Rajitha Senaratne.

“We cannot recall murderers to service,” they said in chorus.


Sunday’s bombings caused immense quality damage to the country in addition to the quantities damage.  Tourism industry suffered immeasurable damage. The general public is greatly perturbed since the government is compelled to re-introduce wartime restrictions to ensure national security.

The terror strike is also bound to deliver a heavy political blow on the Government. On the one hand, the Government failed to act upon specific intelligence to counter terrorism emanating fresh quarters.  On the other hand, the Government did not pay due attention to the signs and reports about radicalisation of some local Muslims, particularly in the eastern province- that is in spite of the warnings.   On several occasions, questions were raised in Parliament on the possible threat to Sri Lanka from Islamic terrorism.   Every time, the Government ministers either dodged the answers or belittled the threat, ostensibly fearing that any exposure would hurt the sentiments of local Muslims.
Whenever any mention was made about the ISIS   links in Sri Lanka, the Muslim politicians and organisations were quick to deny it.

In November, 2016, then Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaskhe revealed that 32 Sri Lankans had been trained by the ISIS.  Afterwards, he was only scorned by some Government ministers. Colombo district UNP MP Mujibur Rahaman slandered Rajapakshe for it. 

World powers trying to use situation to gain foothold in SL?

Unlike countering LTTE terrorism, Sri Lanka will get international support in quelling a threat from the ISIS. Already, the major world powers- China, Russia, the United States and India- have agreed to provide every possible form of assistance to eliminate ISIS threats. 

Sri Lanka is strategically positioned in the Indian Ocean with the world’s main trade arteries that run pass it. As such, a safe and peaceful atmosphere in Sri Lanka is important to the world powers for their own interests.  Accordingly, these countries will not tolerate terrorism disturbing the peaceful order here.

Alongside, some western countries will try to make use of this opportunity to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka to serve their strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region.  

Easter Sunday Carnage & Abdication Of Responsibility By PM & State Minister

By Amrit Muttukumaru –APRIL 24, 2019

Amrit Muttukumaru

The greater tragedy is that the unspeakable carnage on Easter Sunday (21 April) in three churches and three luxury hotels which so far has led to 359 persons needlessly losing their lives and 500 persons seriously injured could have either been prevented or drastically mitigated. This was only if the political triumvirate responsible for national security (i) President Sirisena – Minister of Defence and Minister of Law & Order (ii) Ranil Wickremesinghe – Prime Minister (iii) Ruwan Wijewardene – Minister of State for Defence had heeded intelligence reports originating from India and the US conveyed to some Sri Lankan government agencies as early as 4 April. This was confirmed to the media by government spokesman and Minister of Health – Dr. Rajitha Senaratne as follows:

(1) Intelligence agencies from India and US had “alerted the Government about threats on possible suicide bombing by Islamic extremists on 4 April”

(2)“first memo was issued on 9 April by Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) including all details of the terrorist group with the names”.

(3) “On 11 April Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Priyalal Dassanayake had written again to all Directors of Ministerial Security Division, Judicial Security Division, Retired Presidents Security Division, Acting Directors of Diplomatic Security Division and Acting Directors of Retired Presidents Security Division to tighten the security of the above mentioned” 

To bolster the UNP inspired fairy tale that PM Wickremesinghe and Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of State for Defence were not in the loop and were ignorant of these intelligence reports and tacitly place the entire political responsibility on President Sirisena, Dr. Senaratne for good measure stated: 

i) “failing to alert the Prime Minister’s Security Division was a huge lapse on the part of State intelligence agencies”

ii) “neither Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe nor State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene had been summoned for any of the National Security Council (NSC) meetings held after the Constitutional Crisis on 26 October last year”

Ranil & Ruwan in Blissful Ignorance?

Although President Sirisena as Minister of Defence and Minister of Law & Order has to shoulder the MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY for preventing the carnage, it is ABSURD to claim that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of State for Defence were IGNORANT of these intelligence reports for the following reasons:

(1) It is said that PM Wickremesinghe is an inveterate ‘micro-manager’. Hence is it not unlikely that these intelligence reports made available also to (i) Chief of National Intelligence (ii) IGP (iii) Directors of Ministerial Security Division would have escaped his notice? 

(2) When Harin Fernando CABINET MINISTER for Digital Infrastructure and Information Technology himself discloses that even his father in hospital was AWARE of some of these intelligence reports, are not PM Wickremesinghe and Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of State for Defence being ECONOMICAL WITH THE TRUTH by claiming in parliament they were oblivious to these intelligence reports? Have they not misled parliament? Could not the cabinet minister for Digital Infrastructure have sent a WhatsApp message to the Prime Minister conveying the information received from his father? Surely he could have done so with ease from the hospital itself!

(3) Ruwan Wijewardene is also Minister of Mass Media and the son of the country’s largest print media owner. We are expected to believe that he has no sources in either the state or private media who can convey such information to him. His father’s media organization has very skilled investigative reporters who are up-to-date on matters of national security and who pride themselves in having their ear to the ground. They have not tipped him off even to the extent of Harin Fernando’s hospitalized father!

(4) Is it not SHAMEFUL for PM Wickremesinghe and Ruwan Wijewardene, Minister of State for Defence to claim ignorance on the basis they were kept away from meetings of the ‘National Security Council’ for the past 6 months? Why did not these gentlemen who LEGITIMATELY made such a nationwide din in the aftermath of the October 2018 constitutional coup bring the CRUCIAL issue of being kept away from NSC meetings to the attention of Parliament and the people through the media? Is this not a DERELICTION of their national security duties?  Could we have a CREDIBLEresponse from the PM and the Minister? This has even escaped the very knowledgeable political column of the ‘Sunday Times’ owned by his father.

Former Presidents

The belief that no matter who is in political power this country will continue to bleed is apparent when although the security chiefs of former Presidents Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa were privy to the intelligence reports of an imminent terrorist strike through suicide bombing, the former Presidents have not made this information available in the public domain.  Are we to believe that in this instance too the former Presidents were kept in the dark by their respective security chiefs?  

Read More