A rational approach to countering extremist violence is needed

President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa with the service commanders and the IGP and public officials, attending a ceremony, at the War Heroes’ memorial, Battaramulla, yesterday, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of defeating LTTE terrorism.(Pic by Nimal Dayaratne)

By Jehan Perera-May 20, 2019, 8:23 pm 

The 10th anniversary of the end of the three- decade long war that pitted the Sri Lankan state against the LTTE passed by uneventfully and without mass mobilization of people to mark the day. The period of May 18 and 19 in which the final battles of the war were fought has been one of contestation within the country. There are those who would celebrate the war victory and those who would mourn the heavy human toll that occurred at the war’s end. Since the change of government in 2015 the middle path of marking the day as one of remembrance was adopted in which both aspects were taken into account.

In the past two years, however, with relations within the government souring between the President and Prime Minister and their associated political parties, the trend was to give more emphasis to celebrate the war victory. If the war victory had been over a foreign country then a celebration would be appropriate.  But Sri Lanka’s was a civil war, an internal one within the country, in which those who fought and died lived in the same geographical space. There has always been a political motivation to celebrate the war victory.  This is to highlight the achievements of the political leaders who were in power at the time the war was won.  

There is no question that to the vast majority of Sri Lankans the end of the war was the best thing that happened despite the heavy price extracted from a minority of people. This year at the 10th anniversary, this triumphalist tendency would have gained in strength for the reason that decisive presidential elections are around the corner. Now as the time for elections comes, those in the forefront of saying that the country is in danger of being divided through constitutional reform of all things, and their services are needed again are on the ascendant.  The recent Easter Sunday bombings and the sense of uncertainty that grips the country, has given a boost to this sentiment. But if this focuses only on security issues and not on political reform it will be counterproductive to the interests of national unity and reconciliation.

MAJOR SETBACK

Prior to the Easter Sunday bombings the government was dealing with the problems of political grievances and human rights violations that came from the period of the three -decade long war. But now it has to contend with a problem that is unfolding and its ability to engage in political reform is likely to be limited. The most important challenge is to ensure that in dealing with the present problem of Muslim extremist violence that the larger Muslim population is not alienated. The actions of the anti-Muslim rioters who killed one person and burnt down 500 or more properties could drive disaffected members of the Muslim community to the extremist camp. This is also what happened in the post-July 1983 period when there were large scale anti- Tamil riots in many parts of the country, including the capital city of Colombo.

The Easter Sunday bombings will make the challenge of addressing post-war reconciliation issues more difficult. In the aftermath of the bombings the priority is to ensure that further attacks do not take place. There is now heightened prejudice and uncertainty is all sections of the population and in all parts of the country. There is a build-up of anti-Muslim sentiment due to the bombings and to political rivalries in the face of upcoming presidential elections at the end of the year. Ethnic and religious polarization is likely to escalate in this context and efforts to engage in political reform that promote ethnic, religious and minority rights will become more difficult to sustain.

There is a widespread belief fed by mostly by the electronic and social media that the Easter Sunday bombers are not a fringe group of Muslim extremists but have significant support from the larger Muslim community. There is misinformation that large stocks of swords have been recovered from several mosques. But in reality there were swords found in only two mosques as stated by President’s Counsel Ali Sabry speaking to the media along with other prominent Muslim leaders including former minister Mrs Ferial Ashraff. The suicide bombers themselves came from only three families. This suggests that those who planned the bombings and carried them out were few in number and the whole of the Muslim community cannot be blamed for the acts of a few.

STRICT ACTION

The No-Confidence Motion in parliament against Minister Rishard Bathiuddin is another example of a partisan political action. The selective use of the No-Confidence Motion against some Muslim politicians who side with the government as against other Muslim politicians who might be friends of the opposition only serves to create further polarization and mistrust amongst the communities. The tendency is for most people to look at one-sided accusations and to believe them wholesale. It is unjust to accuse people about charges without having sufficient evidence to back them.

Amidst these uncertainties parents countrywide are still weighing the wisdom of sending their children to school for fear of attack by suicide bombers. There is a need for rational thinking. The army commander has epitomized this good sense. He has asked the President to caution the media not to be alarmist and given specific examples where they exaggerated incidents and gave them a twist. This is a time of introspection for all Sri Lankans and especially for the political leaders on both sides of the divide, who failed to see the signs of things to come, and for whom ethnic and religious identity, money and votes matter more than protecting the national interest and the human rights of all the people.

Those who organized the anti-Muslim riots were especially oblivious of the larger national interest and humanitarian considerations. People living in the vicinity of the riots have confirmed that outsiders led the attack. The victims have also stated that some of the mob attacks were reported after curfew was imposed. The police have arrested many suspects. The truth about the organization of the riots can be ascertained from them. For Sri Lanka’s future stability to be ensured there is a need to ensure that the culprits and masterminds behind the recent riots be apprehended, exposed and held to account swiftly by applying the Rule of Law without any political or other influence.

The Men Now Patrolling: Joint Report By ITJP And JDS

MAY 20, 2019

On Easter Sunday 2019, a series of coordinated bomb blasts struck hotels and churches in Sri Lanka killing more than 250 people, including many tourists. The targets were churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa and five star hotels in the capital. The attacks are thought to have been suicide bombings carried out by a local Islamist group Lanka but Amaq News Agency, a propaganda outlet for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), later claimed responsibility. Following the attacks there was considerable fear and panic about whether all the perpetrators had been apprehended and the possibility of further bombings. As a result security was stepped up considerably.

The army is quoted by media sources as saying 10,000 troops were deployed in the wake of the tragic Easter Sunday bombings[1]. As in the war period, these troops enjoy extraordinary powers to detain any suspect. The re-imposition of the Emergency Regulations confer on the army and police sweeping powers of search and seizure, detention or arrest of any person without a warrant or court approval[2]. The Emergency Regulations are in addition to existing counter-terrorism legislation, overdue to be reformed to bring it in line with international standards[3]. Worryingly, there has already been a proposal for an immunity provision from prosecution for the Sri Lankan military and especially intelligence services[4]. Shockingly, this call comes from a number of senior military figures who were involved in the 2009 war and who have yet to be held accountable for the alleged war crimes they committed then.

This is a short dossier examining the background of the army commanders currently in control of the deployment of thousands troops in Sri Lanka engaged in the search and seizure of homes and buildings, enforcing curfew and patrolling civilian areas. While the situation in Sri Lanka after the Easter bombings is extremely tense and more security is needed to prevent any further attacks, there is also a need to ensure that the Rule of Law is maintained and that the human rights of all are secured. This question is relevant because the current legal framework in Sri Lanka and the heightened security environment creates a situation where abuses of human rights may occur if there is not careful oversight and control of those who are responsible for the protection of civilians.

Several of the army generals now in charge of deployments played a pivotal role as commanders in the final phase of the civil war in the north of the island when there were grave violations of international humanitarian law and human rights.  Two are even named in the 2015 investigation report of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights[5]. One was in charge of the “rehabilitation programme” for Tamil suspected ex combatants, which the UN subsequently said constituted arbitrary detention. Two others were present as commanders in Haiti during the years when there was systematic child sexual exploitation by Sri Lankan peacekeepers there.

DEPLOYMENTS

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Testing Muslims in the Month of Patience

Featured image courtesy Reuters

RIZA YEHIYA-05/20/2019

Ramadan, the month of abstinence is when Muslims observe fast, voluntarily depriving themselves from all that are permitted to them on ordinary days. These abstentions are replaced with worship and acts that uplift the spirit like charity, forgiveness, patience and magnanimity.

In Islam, the institution of fasting has been designed to provide a yearlong spiritual training. Therefore, in addition to Ramadan, there is provision for a Muslim to fast voluntarily for three days every month, ten days in the month of Hajj and so on.  This practice can be correlated with the five times daily prayer and other optional prayers. The purpose of these worships is to guide the Muslims towards righteousness and to keep away from evil. Thus developing the spiritual mind focussed on equity, justice and uprightness. Woven into this practice is the inculcation of the positive quality of patience. The Quran exhorts the believers as follows: ‘ O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint’ (Qur’an 2:183).

By the exercise of fasting, a Muslim is moulded both in his inner self and his external disposition. The inner self would reflect on his ability to practice patience, tolerance, forgiveness and accommodation. While the external consequences could be seen in his acts of charity, benevolence etc.  The key to a Muslim being patient on the face of trials, tribulations and afflictions lies in this combined practice of prayers and fasting. The clear injunction stated in the Qur’an is what is manifested in the conduct of a Muslim.  “And We shall try you until We test those among you who strive their utmost and persevere in patience.” (Qur’an 47:31)   “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere” (Qur’an 2:155)

A true Muslim is a product of this belief and training. A Muslim’s belief is that everything in the universe belongs to God and that any gain or loss in life is a determinant of God’s plan. For Muslims, life on this earth is a temporary sojourn. Therefore, they are grateful to God for what they enjoy and resign themselves to the will of God at times of calamity. Thus fear or despondency is a far cry from the psyche of a practicing Muslim.

Sri Lankan society has a socio-economic and political fault-lines in its communal relations since colonial times. Muslims have suffered in anti-Muslim riots since 1915 in the past. Then they suffered as collaterals every time there was a Sinhalese –Tamil race riot. Then a series of anti-Muslim riots took place since 2009 in Aluthgama, Ampara and Digana. In May 2019,anti-Muslim riots have again engulfed the country. In all these riots, the patience of the Muslims have been tested to the hilt. They lost lives, livelihood, properties, rights, and mosques, shops and houses have been torched. Evidently, successive governments failed to protect them and arrest the rioters or compensate their losses adequately. It was the victims who by their dint of hard labour, patience and perseverance rebuilt their lives. Their resilience underpinned by their faith withstood testing times. They need not, and should never resort to terrorism or riot against the Sinhalese or Tamils to succeed in life as such deeds are evil and not in keeping with their religious belief. Instead every time they were put down by racist riots, they recover better since they are patient, perseverant and put their trust in God as their sustainer.

Muslims have been in the receiving end for no reason of theirs. They proudly celebrated themselves as an exemplary minority community living in a pluralistic society for more than 1200 years, coexisting with other communities peacefully. However, every time anti-Muslim attacks took place since 2009,  it was the hate speech by Buddhist extremists that mobilized mobs to attack Muslims based on false accusations of introduction of ‘wanda pethi’ or infertility drugs to Sinhalese customers, charges of increase of Muslim population and a host of other charges. Muslims did not respond by hate speech or tit for tat attacks on others. Instead, Muslim religious and civil leadership pressed hard on the ordinary Muslims to bear with patience in spite of the grievances of the direct victims who lost their dignity, rights, livelihood and wealth. Muslims pleaded with the government to strengthen law and order and arrest the provocateurs but nothing seriously happened to arrest the situation.  Up to date the government has failed to take adequate steps to maintain law and order  and the Sri Lankan economy and society is suffering as a consequence.

Muslims have consistently proven by their very acts on the ground by being patient, peaceful and as ‘non hate mongering’ in spite of heavy losses to them in terms of lives, property and dignity at the hands of the anti-Muslim rioters and state inaction. The state’s failure to address these by strengthening law and order to protect the interest of all citizens is a disservice they did to the country. Instead, after April 21^st, they are moving on a discriminatory selective mode of asking mosques through the Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs Ministry (MRCA) to submit recordings of Friday sermon on the presumption that mosques are spewing hate speech. They are asking this from an institution which successfully prevented hate speech from amongst the Muslims. Had it been to the contrary, there would have been backlash every time anti-Muslims riot takes place. By this discriminatory action the government is creating a two-tier citizenship which can open the road for radicalisation in Muslim society. Radicalisation of any community would be to the detriment of peaceful coexistence in Sri Lanka.

This is an affront on citizens’ civic rights. If the government wanted to monitor extremism they should codify non-discriminatory laws that cover all citizens equally. Why can’t the government be non-discriminatory and request all religious institutions to submit their speech recordings or proof of their responsible actions? As a solution to prevent hate speech.

Leaving the April 21^st terror attack apart, in which case the evidences points to state failure to act diligently and geopolitics using local collaborators in the guise of ISIS as mentioned by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. Notwithstanding these, the reality in a socially polarised society where there is untrammelled one sided hate speech spewed by anti-Muslim groups have caused major losses to the country by the spate of riots up to May 2019. The Muslim victims, their properties and places of worship had nothing to do with acts of terror either prior to Easter Sunday or thereafter. These attacks are based on trumped up charges as before unconnected with Muslims. The Muslims, consistently have proven them to be law abiding peaceful citizens seeking the state to act with responsibility to protect the community and national interest. Peacefulness and patience of the Muslims in spite of consistent attacks on them is to ensure a peaceful future to all in the country and failing to appreciate their positive contribution would be a miscalculation. As marginalization and oppressions may drive anyone to radicalisation. The Sri Lankan civil society, policy makers and political parties have a responsibility to urge the government to establish rule of law and bring necessary instruments to establish good governance.

The consistent anti-Muslim attacks and de-facto hate speech spewed by Buddhist extremists since 2009 is a clear indication of the presence of radicalization in Buddhist society which they have to respond introspectively as a responsible community. History has time and again proven that it was the Buddhist extremist mobs that are torching Muslims properties and destroying the socio-economic fabric of the country. Therefore it is pertinent here that there is an urgent necessity to create legal instruments and institutions to de-radicalize the society from extremism. Such a bill will help to de-radicalise and rehabilitate the rioters and their inspirers rampaging the streets every then and now in the name of Buddhism. The true virtues of Buddhism, a vastly peaceful faith that is underpinned by Metta, Karuna, Mudhitha and Upekkha, is being used as a front to promote violence and mistrust in the most non-Buddhist of ways. These left unchecked would tarnish the image of the Buddhist society and make this country a cauldron in the Indian Ocean as opposed to being called a pearl.

SRI LANKA: FAILED PLEDGES MAR 10 YEARS SINCE WAR’S END

19/05/2019

(New York) – Ten years since the end of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war, the government has failed to provide justice for the conflict’s many victims, Human Rights Watch said today. The conflict ended on May 18, 2009, with the total defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Sri Lankan government pledged to provide justice for wartime abuses and to take other measures to promote respect for human rights in a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution adopted in October 2015. While there has been some progress to address these commitments, there has been none to provide justice and accountability.

“The end of Sri Lanka’s long civil war in May 2009 provided an opportunity not only to rebuild shattered lives and society, but also to restore respect for rights and the rule of law,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “Yet successive Sri Lankan administrations have frittered away this opportunity, failing to investigate atrocities by both sides, hold those responsible for the worst crimes accountable, or provide truth and reparations to the victims.”

Under Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1, Sri Lanka committed to 25 key undertakings across a range of human rights issues. A core pledge was to set up four transitional justice mechanisms to promote “reconciliation, accountability and human rights” in the country. These included an accountability mechanism involving international judges, prosecutors, investigators, and defense lawyers; a truth and reconciliation mechanism; an office on missing persons; and an office for reparations.

The Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations overcame delays and were established, but neither is fully functioning. There has been no progress on establishing a war crimes tribunal with international involvement. Instead, Sri Lankan political leaders have repeatedly opposed using foreign judges, who would be less vulnerable to threats, and said that “war heroes” will be protected from prosecution.

In March 2019, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, told the Human Rights Council that in  justice, is necessary to restore the confidence of victims from all communities.”

Numerous UN experts and treaty bodies since 2015 have highlighted the marginalization and misrepresentation faced by minority communities, as well as a trust-deficit between these communities and the government that has been due in significant part to a culture of impunity.

One month gone: No charge on over 200 Catholics murdered

Two hours before the Easter attack, NIA warned Sri Lanka 

A mother asks, ‘Why did you do this to my family?’

• India knew six months ago of the attacks 
• Muslim votes or focus on tourism development 
• People have lost faith in Government 
• Sri Lanka’s GDP will hit 0 to -1% in Q2, 2019 for which the Government must take responsibility 

  Wednesday, 22 May 2019 


It’s been one month since the murder of around 300 innocent Catholic children and parents but no has yet been charged for the biggest negligence of duty that Sri Lanka has seen in recent history.

The President and Prime Minister have both denied any knowledge of the impending attacks when the Indian Intelligence report states that way back on 4 April the Government of Sri Lanka was informed. Then again on 9 and 16 April, and finally just two hours before the attack on Easter Sunday, but the warning was not heeded. It is a gross negligence of duty that stems from inadequate experience and low knowledge of the policymakers.

Committee Report?

The President appointed a high-powered Committee just one week into the deadly attack on Easter Sunday. Headed by Supreme Court Judge Vijith Malalgoda, PC, it includes N.K. Illangakoon and Padmasiri Jayamanne, a former Secretary to key ministries. The Interim Report was presented to the President within two weeks but there was no disclosure made.

The committee had apparently sought an extension of its term until 31 May to complete the final report. Media reported that the final report was handed over to the Attorney General’s Department for action. There was a news report that appeared over the weekend that the former Defence Secretary and Inspector General Police would be charged but, as Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith mentioned, “God will get the people who rule this country to pay for this manmade sin rather than passing the blame down the line.” As we speak now, the only people that the masses have some confidence are Malcom Cardinal Ranjith and Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake.

Cardinal becomes tough

Let’s accept it, Sri Lanka is witnessing one of the most inefficient political hierarchies governing the country, from passing the buck to politicking with the Muslim politicos who are allegedly involved with the Zaharan group and for the release of the key suspects from the copper factory in Wellampitiya just to name a few. Before this incident we saw the Central Bank bond scam and the country facing a power crisis which exposed the grim reality of the Government’s ability to manage the country.

Whilst Sri Lanka has recovered from the initial shock of the Easter attack, the real impact to the survivors is just hitting Sri Lanka. Sadun (not his real name) was a seven-year-old boy who went to church with his parents to celebrate Easter Sunday. When the bomb ripped through St. Sebastian’s Church, he found his father on his right on the ground, face down, whilst his mother who was on his left was not to be seen. His first reaction was, ‘How do I go home?’ Then, there was another young girl of 11 who has shrapnel embedded inside her head and neck that cannot be removed but somehow she made it to Sunday mass last week with the hope that “God will cure me,” as voiced to a TV reporter.

I wish the President and Prime Minister who are playing Muslim leaders for votes at the next election can meet these two children to know what the people who voted for them are going through. This is why the Cardinal mentioned “God will make the leaders of this country see the reality one day”.

 India knew six months ago

What the specialists are saying is that before Sri Lanka announces that “the country is safe for tourists,” they must first understand the global thinking of this group ISIS based on the extensive research they have done.

What specialists state is that a typical country’s intelligence mechanism will never know every detail of these new-age terrorists. They must integrate with the global agencies who do this research and it is only then that ‘the total jigsaw puzzle’ can be put together for the picture to be seen.

For instance, it was way back in November 2018 that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of India was on a case of a group of people wanting to kill two eminent leaders in South India. It was then that they stumbled on the video where Zaharan was seen radicalising youth in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka to set up Islamic rule in the region.

NIA then went onto research the Zaharan group and discovered the cell phone numbers and bank account details linked to the global organisation ‘Islamic State’ which trained core staff members in places like Syria.

With this data, NIA had informed the Sri Lankan Government about the impending attacks but sadly the people who received this data did not have the skillset to properly action the Government machinery. This led to the brutal killing of the 350 odd people who were essentially Catholic women and children and top personalities like the ASOS owner’s own children that shattered the peaceful image of Sri Lanka globally. The ramifications will now be seen in the two million odd people whose livelihood is from the tourism industry. My estimate is that Sri Lanka’s GDP will hit zero to -1% in the Q2, 2019.

People lost faith in Govt.

The above revelation and the manner in which the Government is going about solving the issue have resulted in the people losing faith in the Government. This is why there is a low turnout of children in schools. It will be interesting to see how Parliament reacts to the two no confidence motions that are in play.

Whilst the tourism industry is wanting a clear strategy to show the world that Sri Lanka is safe but then the media reports how Muslim politicos are calling top military people asking for the release/details of arrested people, and top IT companies’ staff members allegedly linked the ISIS movement that include being trained in Syria are yet in the process of being arrested.

This includes offices from the Hansard Department of the Parliament of Sri Lanka which justifies the thinking that Professor Rohan Gunaratne said, “Arresting the core 200 hardliners is only the first phase of the operation. The more difficult part is the dismantling the infrastructure and social network that is almost 90% of the entity.” Sadly, the Government leaders are not sensitive to the advice of the experts.
Second wave of attacks?
If one takes time to understand the inner workings of an ISIS-related entity in an organisation, the process is as follows:

Just like Zaharan, typically individual families initially become radicalised and tend to operate as units. At this stage, they tend to keep their intentions and movements among themselves only. Thereafter each unit liaises with other radicalised family groups, forming larger networks which is what we saw happening in Sri Lanka in the last four years and the intelligence units of the Government were not able to pick up this development even though the Buddhist clergy gave a heads-up almost two years back.

A point to note is that information at this stage is tightly protected within networks to elucidate loyalty that transcends to ideology. Research reveals that encrypted social media networks and messaging apps are believed to be used to facilitate communication and planning. We saw this in action on 21 April where coordinated attacks were executed with a clear plan in place. A clear differentiation point of ISIS-related behaviour is using families to achieve their aim seems to be part of a trend which is very different to terror organisations like the LTTE.

It is believed that in Sri Lanka around 150 people are linked to the movement whilst 89 have been arrested. However, there is a second line that is working at the strategic end that needs to be combed out too. For instance the person working at an IT company, the person in the Hansard unit of Parliament, and the number three spice exporter in the net have been picked up but it is believed there are more in this eco system. According to the theory of conventional terrorism, every suicide bomber needs at least five handlers. If you go by this theory there are 30 guys [for the six bombers]. Has the core been arrested and if so what action can be taken against them is what many are asking in Sri Lanka.

This is the reason why foreign embassies are not relaxing their advisories. Hence, until this second line is identified and dismantled, there is always a possibility of a second wave of attacks. The sad reality that many senior people in the Government are not aware of this insight or are blind to this reality given the election year ahead.

Next steps

It’s time that the Government gets serious and either does what is right to tell the world that Sri Lanka is safe for tourists to visit our country or continues to play the political game and takes the country to the wire. As at now there is no single voice to the world.

(The writer is a Roman Catholic and can be contacted on rohantha.athukorala1@gmail.com. The thoughts are strictly Dr. Athukorala’s personal views and not related to any organisation he serves in Sri Lanka or internally.)

In Sri Lanka, Muslims say Sinhala neighbours turned against them

Muslims live in fear after wave of attacks is blamed on Buddhist hardliners in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings.
The central market in Minuwangoda in western Sri Lanka following the riots on May 13 [Rukshana Rizwie/Al Jazeera]

by Lisa Fuller & Rukshana Rizwie-Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Kottaramulla, Sri Lanka - The stench of turpentine overpowered Jiffriya Ameer as she cradled her husband's head on her lap on the front porch of her home and watched the blood drain from the gaping wound on his head and neck. Her three children watched in horror as their father gasped for breath.

She screamed for help, but three police officers stood, looking on in disbelief, she said. The only vehicle which could take 49-year old Saleem Ameer to the hospital was engulfed in flames.

Minutes earlier, a Sinhalese mob had attacked Ameer with swords, fatally wounding him before pouring turpentine on his face.

"It was hard for me to believe the mob could commit such a heinous crime," she said.

In spite of a state of emergency being in place following the deadly Easter Sunday bombings, on May 12 and 13, Sinhala mobs rampaged through at least 24 towns in western Sri Lanka, looting and attacking Muslim properties with stones, swords and petrol bombs.

In addition to killing Ameer, the mobs wounded at least 14 other Muslims and destroyed over 540 Muslim-owned houses, shops, and mosques as well as nearly 100 vehicles, according to an assessment by local charities.

Authorities said that Buddhist hardline groups were likely to blame for the wave of anti-Muslim riots that swept the island in apparent retaliation for last month's bombings claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group.

Armed navy personnel stood guard on a narrow dirt track that leads to Ameer's home in Kottaramulla, about 60km north of Colombo in western Sri Lanka. They are among hundreds of military and additional police who have been deployed in the region since the anti-Muslim riots.

Tainted peace

A month earlier, such a nightmarish scenario would have hardly seemed imaginable in Sri Lanka's northwest province, which had been largely unaffected by the sporadic ethnic violence seen in other parts of the country in the decade since Sri Lanka's civil war ended.

This week, Sri Lanka marked the 10th anniversary of the end of its 26-year civil war between the government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE), who fought for autonomy for the country's minority Tamil population.

Since the end of the war, tensions have increased between the majority Sinhala community, which constitute 75 percent of Sri Lanka's population, and Muslims, who at 9.7 percent consider themselves to be a distinct ethnic group in the country.

The mosque in Minuwangoda following riots on May 13 [Rukshana Rizwie/Al Jazeera]

Last year, Muslim mosques and business were burned in an arson attack carried out by Buddhist mobs.

But the South Asian island nation has seen more violence in the last month than it had in the past decade.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said he could not verify the number of properties that were damaged until their investigation was complete. However, he insisted that "no deaths were reported", although the local hospital and police in Kottaramulla confirmed Ameer's death.

Last month's deadly bombings, which killed over 250 people, ignited anti-Muslim sentiments and eventually sparked full-scale riots.

A local Muslim hardline group, the National Thowheed Jamath, was blamed for the coordinated attacks on three churches and three hotels on April 21, the worst attack in a decade.

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Sri Lanka unrest: Violence against Muslims increases

Insecurity continues

In the towns hit by violence, both Muslims and Sinhalese said they still felt unsafe, despite the increased presence of the armed forces in the region.

Jiffriya's Sinhalese neighbour said he feared reprisal attacks, and pointed to the presence of naval officers as evidence of such a threat.

Meanwhile, many Muslims said they fear they could be attacked again.

In Thummadora, another affected town about 40km east of Colombo, Abdul Wahid Mohamed Risvi, a 44-year-old father of three, is terrified about the possibility of more violence.

"I haven't gone to work in a week because I cannot leave my children alone. I cannot sleep well either," he said.

Many Muslims also said they no longer trust the police or the military to protect them.


"Before the incident took place, we asked for protection from the local monks and the police," Aboo Haneefa Mohammed Ahsan, 26, told Al Jazeera in Thummadora. "They promised to provide security. But we were attacked anyway."

Gunasekara admitted that "some incidents were reported in some areas after curfew", but added that the "situation was brought under control" after the military was deployed.

The army investigated accusations of its complicity in the attacks after a video emergedon social media purportedly showing a soldier in Thummadora gesturing to a mob to attack a mosque. The army concluded that the soldier was merely adjusting an arm strap.

Acting army spokesman General Roshan Seneviratne told Al Jazeera that "no incidents took place wherever the army was deployed".

'We can't look at each other's faces'

Meanwhile, residents in the affected towns report their long-existing relationships with their neighbours have deteriorated.

"We maintained a good relationship with the Sinhala community before the incident. Now we can't even look at each other's faces," Ahsan said.

Victims have said people from their own neighbourhoods were also involved in some of the attacks.

Mohammed Thowfeek Abdul Kamil at his shop in Nikaweratiya that was attacked during the riots [Al Jazeera]

Mohammed Thowfeek Abdul Kamil, 39, said the CCTV footage of a mob attacking his electronics store in Nikerapitiya revealed that most of the perpetrators were local men.

"I recognised them when I watched the video," he said.

However, Risvi said while some of the local Sinhala population in Thummadora joined in the attacks, there were others who tried to protect their Muslim neighbours, sometimes at great personal risk.

"When two elderly Muslim women walked into the town, a Sinhalese family came to the road and brought them into their home to protect them. Some Sinhalese also tried to dissuade the mobs from attacking," he said.

One Sinhalese women in Thummadora, who requested anonymity, warned three Muslim families of the impending attacks and hid them in her home. She said she was terrified for her own family's safety but saw it as her duty to protect her neighbours.

"As a Buddhist, I must do my best to protect other people, regardless of their religion," she said.

UNP’s gaping leadership vacuum Is there anyone ready to fill it?

“There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.’’ ~ Arthur C. Clarke


22 May 2019

They say crises are challenges clothed in hard choices. The current crisis in the country, the lack of clear, decisive and unfaltering leadership, more generally in the country and specifically in the United National Party (UNP), is one such challenge clothed in hard choices. That challenge is more to the younger and up and coming second-tier leaders than to the one who is at the helm at this moment in time. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s tenure has been under the microscope for a long time and what appears at the end of the tube does not augur well for a leader of a leading political party that has had more than an average existence among some of the worst political scoundrels in the country.

United National Party’s history shows no dearth of replacement leaders as and when the need arose. Those leaders of yesteryear may have had many deficiencies and may have been found fault in making timely planning and execution of government policies; but they all had tremendous character and poise and unwavering inner strength. That character is usually attributed to many dimensions of human element. Stern upbringing or what one might call breed, formal education which leads to logical reasoning and sound judgment, self-evaluation which is a hard discipline one could ever possess and, of course, inherent strength of self-confidence. When all these elements come together – barring many a psychiatrist’s arguments – a fairly reasonable leader comes into being.

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• UNP’s history shows no dearth of replacement leaders as and when the need arose
• The political party that swept the country in 1977 has withered away and is looking for coalition candidates to assure its power within governing ranks
• Grassroots supporters now talk about SF as a late entry into the second-tier of UNP

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Let us begin at the beginning; When D.S. Senanayake died, as per his wishes, the Governor General at the time, Herwald Ramsbotham, 1st Viscount Soulbury called Dudley Senanayake, DS’ son, to form a new government. However, history has shown us that naming his son as his successor was not only nepotistic, in the context of politics, it was an immoral and a tremendously ill-conceived decision. It was immoral because there were more competent and deserving men around him who had served the UNP in a much more meaningful way. Secondly, it was ill-conceived because Dudley himself was an unwilling player in the game of power politics. By showing sometime before his death that DS wanted his son to succeed him, DS made S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, one of the most consequential leaders of our country, leave the UNP and form the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). That SLFP became the main antagonist of the UNP and Bandaranaike nearly killed it for good in the 1956 general elections.
Yet, the writer’s argument is that the UNP, even after the departure of SWRD, had within itself, in the wake of the demise of DS, inarguably first-rate talent and those who possessed that talent were not second-tier, but first-tier men. J.R. Jayewardene and Sir John Kotelawala were amongst these men who had enormous inner strength and especially in regard to JR, a vision for the country. Nevertheless, DS was known to be a fair-minded leader. But family hegemony overtakes everything and DS was not spared of this evil human folly.

After the defeat of the UNP in ’56, with the virtual departure of Sir John, JR as Sir John’s second-in-command, galvanised the UNP once again. JR as a man-of-the-UNP, until his peaceful death, dominated not only his UNP, but the country’s destiny, right throughout its history. There was no gaping hole in the UNP leadership then.

After JR became the first President of the country, the survival of R. Premadasa and the immediate entry of bright stars like Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali and Nissanka Wijeratne ensured that the party men and women need not fear of an oncoming vacuum in the event of the departure of the prevailing leader. Gamini and Lalith proved beyond doubt that they were not second-tier but first-rate talent to lead any political party to success.

When JR, just before the ’77 general elections, unofficially made it clear that R. Premadasa was the deputy leader of the party, the UNP once again showed that there did not exist any vacuum of leadership. Not only Ranasinghe Premadasa, both Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali were immensely qualified and ready to take over the leadership of the party. No gaping hole, no dearth of talent, period.

Alas, the death of all three gentlemen. The leadership of the United National Party passed over by default to Ranil Wickremesinghe. For twenty five years, after being at the helm of this political party that brought independence to the country, the party that introduced the process of free schoolbooks to our children, the party that conceptualised, planned and executed the most stupendous irrigation programme – Accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme – the party that initiated the Mahapola Scholarship Scheme for our undergraduates, the party that built the Gam Udawa Housing Programme, is yet to field a candidate of its own for presidential elections, except in 2005.

What is the second tier of the UNP today? It consists of Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa, Navin Dissanayake and perhaps, Harin Fernando. As at present, Karu Jayasuriya is the Speaker of Parliament; Sajith Premadasa is the deputy leader; Navin, National Organiser and Harin Fernando, a Cabinet Minister

The political party that swept the country in 1977 on its own merits and credentials has withered away and is looking for coalition candidates to assure its power within governing ranks. Something has gone wrong somewhere and nobody in the party seems to have realised its gravity and consequently nobody is prepared to address this issue of the ‘gaping vacuum’ inside the party.

What is the second tier of the UNP today? It consists of Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa, Navin Dissanayake and perhaps, Harin Fernando. As at present, Karu Jayasuriya is the Speaker of Parliament; Sajith Premadasa is the deputy leader; Navin, National Organiser and Harin Fernando, a Cabinet Minister. Some of the grassroots supporters of the UNP now talk about Sarath Fonseka as a late entry into the second-tier of their beloved party. But they remain essentially second-tier, thanks to the sole occupant of the first-tier, Ranil Wickremesinghe. The vacuum, the hole is gaping; its emptiness is calling for a straight, steadfast and a winning candidate and who amongst the aforementioned second-tier leaders could fill that?

The writer in his previous columns has gone to a fair extent to grade these second-tier leaders; ranking these second-tier leaders is of no use unless it is supported by empirical evidence justifying the different assessment each of these gentlemen is placed in. How each of these candidates fared in the last few election cycles, both presidential and general, is of unique value; its significance cannot be disregarded as non-consequential. A candidate who could not win his electorate, leave alone a district, when the party suffered loss after loss prior to 2015, cannot be trusted as a winner at the next presidential elections. Why? Because he or she has not been able to convert the non-UNP voter to vote for the UNP solely because of his or her stature of candidature. The most glaring example was the 1994 general elections. When the UNP lost the elections, it lost all districts and provinces except the Kandy District and the Central Province. Why, because of Gamini Dissanayake. When the non-UNP voter could not gather strength to vote UNP in other districts and provinces, the Kandy voter viewed through in a different prism; they wanted to vote for Gamini Dissanayake first and the UNP second. Gamini Dissanayake was a winner all the way. Gamini Dissanayake and many enemies, both within and without, but equals none.

Maybe, voters are looking at his son through the same prism. One has to look at the election results and results alone justify the survival of politicians. Which electorate, district and province the UNP won and lost in the last Provincial Council elections will be a reasonable and justifiable guideline.

The ‘gaping vacuum’can be filled with the necessary talent and foresight. The writing is on the wall. Yet, those who refuse to see it, don’t see it. That is the real tragedy of the ‘gaping vacuum.’
The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com 

Moderate Muslims Must Make Moral Intervention & Push For Reforms Against Radicalization

By Rasika Jayakody –

Rasika Jayakody

The Muslim community of Sri Lanka, unintended victims of the Easter Sunday explosions, is currently facing steep challenges on many fronts.

Almost every Muslim household in Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny by security forces that are tasked with stamping out nascent Islamist terrorism in Sri Lanka. Reports of swords, machetes and other suspicious items being recovered from some Muslim places of worships and households have further complicated the situation and drawn the ire of other communities — particularly the majority Sinhalese.

There is also a vibrant and well-organized social media campaign currently underway calling for the boycott of Muslim-owned businesses in Sri Lanka. Many sources confirmed that a number of Muslim businesses in predominantly Sinhala areas are experiencing a dismaying drop in sales. This is a cause for concern not just for the Muslims who own the businesses but those from other ethnicities who work for them.

The racial violence that broke out in many parts of the country targeting Muslims has damaged hundreds of homes and businesses. While some of these attacks appear to be politically orchestrated and conducted by organized mobs, most were carried out by incensed village youth, driven by long-harboured hatred for Muslims. These sentiments are fueled by extreme right-wing populism and the constant vilification of Muslims by ultra-nationalist Sinhala-Buddhist organizations. Although the situation has returned to normalcy, for now, the country is resting on the crest of a volcano.

Aside from the hatred and mob violence, there is a strong mistrust between the Muslim community and other communities in Sri Lanka.  Corrupt and power-hungry Muslim political leaders—most of whom are affiliated with the government—have not demonstrated a genuine will to bridge the trust gap between these communities.

Some Muslim political leaders including All Ceylon Makhal Congress (ACMC) Leader Rishard Bathiudeen and Eastern Province Governor M. L. A. M. Hizbullah have already come under fire for maintaining close links with extremist militants. Mounting calls for investigations into their involvement with the extremist militants have fallen on deaf ears. And even though Army Commander Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake went on public record saying that Bathiudeen spoke to him thrice about a suspect arrested in Dehiwala, no action has thus far been taken against the Minister.

While the Muslim political leadership has let its own people down, religious leaders too have failed to act as a unifying factor within the community against the growing wave of extremism. The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) made certain interventions to diffuse tensions in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Sunday explosions, but other communities are reluctant to accept the ACJU as the unequivocal voice against extremism.

What the Muslim community requires at this point is strong community leadership that can drive internal reforms, bridging the trust gap between Muslims and other communities. The community leadership must transcend political and other internal divisions while driving important reforms that will deter radicalization.

It is against this backdrop that four Muslim representatives—namely Imthiaz Bakeer Markar, Ferial Ashraff, President’s Counsel Ali Sabry and Minister Kabir Hashim—came forward last week to conduct a press conference on solutions to the current situation in the country. At the well-attended presser, the four representatives made it clear that the Muslim community must look inwards to seek sustainable solutions without pursuing mere cosmetic changes.

The speakers expressed progressive views on regulating madrasas and doing away with cultural practices that alienate Muslims from other communities. They also reminded those present of the marked difference between the large majority of Sri Lankan Muslims and a handful of extremist militants who have espoused violence.

The press conference was widely appreciated by moderate Muslims who feel the intervention is timely. It has also demonstrated a semblance of the leadership from the Muslim community, sorely needed to navigate current tensions. The initiative now requires the wider support of Muslim business leaders and other sensible voices in the community.

A press conference alone will not bring about solutions to the issue of radicalization the Muslims in Sri Lanka are now grappling with. The community leadership must steer its people in the direction of making decisions they’ve hesitated to make before. They must engage with their own community—in the strongest of terms—and communicate the importance of making themselves acceptable to an angry majority community.

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Has Sri Lanka Ended Up Doing A Favor To The Islamic State?

Ultimately, politics and public humiliation, particularly in this manner by a bigger neighbour, does not play out well within an establishment. 

 

by Vijaya Laxmi Tripura-2019-05-21

Courtesy: The Blitz

 

After the Easter Sunday jihadist attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed more than 250 people, making it one of the most successful pro-ISIS attacks anywhere in the world, information was leaked out to the Indian press that New Delhi shared intelligence with Colombo of an impending attack of similar nature. An article by Kabir Taneja, published by the Observer Research Foundation has claimed, by ignoring the intelligence feed-back, Sri Lankan authorities actually had done a favor to ISIS. Here is the article:

 

 

The Easter weekend terror strikes, targeting hotels and churches across the island of Sri Lanka brought forth what many had feared for a while, a large scale pro-ISIS attack in the South Asian region. While the 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery act of terrorism in Bangladesh announced the arrival of the ISIS ideology in the region, the Sri Lanka attacks cemented a whole different ballgame, that of do-it-yourself terror.

 

The internet’s convergence with terrorism is a new theatre of war, and in the aftermath of the Easter attacks, both New Delhi and Colombo failed to engage with each other in order to manage the situation. The failures were not only of policing and intelligence, but also of managing narratives.

 

After the attacks, which killed more than 250 people, making it one of the most successful pro-ISIS attacks anywhere, information was leaked out to the Indian press that New Delhi shared intelligence with Colombo of an impending attack of similar nature. In fact, certain reports also suggested that three intelligence inputs warning Sri Lankan authorities of a possible terror attack, the last one delivered mere hours before the suicide bombers struck.

 

Ultimately, while it is commendable that India shared intelligence with its neighbour, what ultimately reports of the intelligence leaks did was to undermine an already struggling, internationally embarrassed and fractured political class in Colombo. Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, along with President Maithripala Sirisena, has gone on record to say that they were not told about the intelligence that India shared, puncturing holes in both the Lankan security and political establishments.

 

Ultimately, politics and public humiliation, particularly in this manner by a bigger neighbour, does not play out well within an establishment. The pushback was coming as Colombo’s police and military establishments tried to protect their own ecosystems against overnight changes by the government.

 

The reaction from Sri Lanka was at some level expected, as their own political and bureaucratic cliques looked to save face, and perhaps react against Indian leaks showing them in bad light. The country’s army chief, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanyake, in an interview to the BBC said that the Sri Lankan attackers had visited Kashmir and Kerala in India for “some sort of training”, or to “make more links” with other outfits. The claims made by Senanyake were offered to the press without any basis or proof, and created a flurry of activity in India, particularly in Kerala.

 

The Kashmir curve ball thrown in by the army chief in all possibility was just to counter India’s leaks, and propping up his own offices and institutions.

 

The support of this hypothesis lies in the reportage that followed after he gave the interview. Reports in Sri Lankan media suggested that intelligence agencies were still doubtful whether the chief of the National Thawheed Jamat (NTJ), the small group behind the attacks, Zahran Hashim, had actually died in the bombings himself or not.

 

This made Senanyake’s claims of travels by Hashim and others to Kerala, and specifically Kashmir, questionable considering they were still trying to figure out whether the NTJ chief was even alive or not. The police chief of Jammu & Kashmir, Dilbag Singh, said that no records exist of any of the attackers visiting Kashmir.

 

To counter a group such as ISIS, and its influence often distributed using the online world, today is more about countering narratives rather than trying to destroy it by bullets. ISIS caliphate is no more, and today it runs its affairs as a traditional insurgency instead of the proto-state it had setup that operated between 2014 and 2018. Despite the loss of geography, ISIS has continuously put weight behind smaller groups that support it around the world.

 

ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in his first video appearance this month since 2014, accepted the allegiance of groups operating under the ISIS banner in places such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Afghanistan, officially expanding his organisational footprint.

 

How to fight ISIS, and how to approach the issue of weaponisation of the internet is still a much discussed topic.

 

Policies of counter-terrorism (CT) and countering violent extremism (CVE) are still playing catch up to the evolutionary changes ISIS has orchestrated on how modern-terror groups operate. Researchers Alastair G Reed and Haroro J Ingram have highlighted in a new research published by Europol that a critical juncture of narratives that CT and CVE policy makers need to apply within themselves, before advocating policies to governments and others alike, highlighting the need of active counter-messaging to tackle these new threats rather than the traditional defensive approaches.

 

In the case of the Sri Lanka attacks, the counter-narrative designs were neither defensive nor active, but largely self-defeating for both Colombo and New Delhi’s interests.

 

“The largely defensive measures (of CT and CVE) are reflective of (as well as contributed to) a culture of “do no harm” in the departments responsible for these efforts. While a philosophy of “do no harm” is understandable, we argue that the golden rule of CT-CVE messaging should be to do violent extremists no favours because it contributes to a more assertive, less defensive, and competitively-oriented posture,” Reed and Ingram highlight. Both India and Sri Lanka ended up doing favours to ISIS, and the NTJ by not showing joint, and strengthened regional resolve to combat the same.

 

It is imperative for South Asian countries to understand and recognise the ways in which ISIS has changed the very modus operandi of Islamist terrorism. Adaptation of counter-narratives at the forefront of CT and CVE is an approach that needs to be institutionalized in the region’s security thinking.

Govt's economic diplomacy put to test amid exporters' battle to keep orders

Representatives of the private sector take the pledge for unity at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel yesterday exactly after a month since the Hotel came under attack by extremist Jihadi suicide bombers who were responsible for a series of lethal explosions on the same day.Pix by Jude Denzil Pathiraja

by Sanath Nanayakkare-May 21, 2019, 7:44 pm 

Finding foreign export buyers for their products and services – an arduous task for exporters - has been accomplished by many Sri Lankan companies but today they are facing a new challenge. That is, how to keep their hard won export orders not because of external challenges but because of internal developments.

Sri Lankan exporters who added US 5.1 billion to the GDP last year, today remain not too sure whether they can retain their existing export orders as their foreign buyers may shy away from visiting Sri Lanka in furtherance of their business negotiations and trade deals for the forthcoming season, The Island Financial Review learnt.

Ramya Weerakoon, president, National Chamber of Exporters (NCE), who is also the chairperson of Ramya Holdings which has Trendywear (Pvt) Ltd, Ramya Horticulture (Pvt) Ltd, The Plains - A Green Bungalow and Adity Infinity (Pvt) Ltd in its portfolio, puts the onus on the government to get its foreign missions to restore international business confidence after the tragic incidents on April 21, 2019 which put the country's security arrangements and standards under a cloud.

"The government should be able to get its foreign diplomatic missions to effectively spread the word that Sri Lanka is a safe destination to visit and freely talk business. This has to happen before our regional competitors could grab our share of the international market. In fact, we haven't had fierce competition from them up to now because Sri Lankan products are way ahead of those of our competitors in terms of quality and value. However, the foreign buyers wouldn't want to compromise that single fact with the security concerns they may have when they need to visit the country for product inspection and one-to-one talks, which are crucial before placing their export orders.. Some apparel buyers should be here by now to talk business for Summer 2019 fashion collections, but unfavourable travel advisories and having to travel here without insurance has prevented them from coming. The negative effect of the situation will be felt in the third quarter of the year, not in a week or two, she said.

"I recently gave an audio recording to a foreign diplomatic mission to boost international business confidence in Sri Lanka, but that won't suffice in the face of the massive promotional and confidence building exercise we are confronted with. The government has to convey the message internationally through the diplomats that Sri Lanka is back on its track with peace, political stability and national security in their right place, she added.

Shiham Marikar, Secretary General/CEO of NCE said that reviving international business confidence is an important responsibility of the government on behalf of the export sector. "In fact, we have proposed doing this through a cohesive public-private exercise which would be more robust and credible".

Weerakoon and Marikar spoke to The Island Financial Review when representatives of the business community took a solemn pledge to work towards a united Sri Lanka, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel Colombo yesterday.