Sri Lanka Perspectives – February 2014

Col R Hariharan

Highlights

• UN Rights Commissioner’s report: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Navneetham Pillay in a draft report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has recommended an "independent, international inquiry mechanism, which would contribute to establishing the truth where domestic inquiry mechanisms have failed" to investigate the allegations of war crimes and human rights excesses in Sri Lanka.

• Skeletons from the past: Skeletal remains of nearly 80 people have been unearthed at Manthai near Mannar. The first skeletal remains were spotted by workers while digging at a construction site. The forensic excavations have continued as efforts are underway to establish the identity and period of death. The government has claimed that they probably belonged to the victims of LTTE killings or those killed during IPKF’s occupation of the area from 1987-90.

• Norochcholai power plant’s woes: The continued failure of the $450 million Chinese aided Norochcholai power plant to generate to its slated capacity of 300 MW and frequent breakdowns have become a major source of embarrassment for China. The Chinese company responsible has refuted allegations that it was due to  corruption in securing the contract. 

UN Human Rights Commissioner’s report

In a scathing report submitted to the UNHRC, the UN Human Rights Commissioner Mrs Navneetham Pillay has recommended an "independent, international inquiry mechanism, which would contribute to establishing the truth where [Sri Lanka’s] domestic inquiry mechanisms have failed" to carry out a credible investigation into war crimes and human rights abuses by both sides during the Eelam War. Her report would be discussed at the 25^th session of the UNHRC scheduled to meet in March 2014.

The Report has reinforced the US bid to push through a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHCR meeting. Explaining the rationale for the US move, the US Secretary of State John Kerry said“…the [Sri Lanka] government still has not answered basic demands for accountability and reconciliation, where attacks on civil society activists, journalists, and religious minorities, sadly, still continue. Our concern about this ongoing situation has led the United States to support another UN Human Rights Council resolution at the March session. We will do so because we know countries that deny human rights and human dignity challenge our interests as well as human interests.”  

Mrs Pillay’s report quoted specific instances of lack of progress in establishing accountability  for crimes including the killing of five innocent students in January 2006 in Trincomalee by suspect Special Task Force’s paramilitary personnel. The judicial process has been stalled in this case. She has also cited the failure of the government to investigate the August 2006 execution of 17 persons belonging to French INGO at Muthur.

She criticised the Sri Lanka government’s failure to implement the recommendations of the LLRC saying they they have been either rejected or ignored as they found that the army was responsible for shelling civilian areas.  Mrs Pillay also expressed her concern that legal proceedings have not begun against any LTTE cadre or leader suspected of involved in war crimes or other human rights abuses.

The report also said the government did not publish the results of any investigations into disappearances, nor did it publish information on any investigations, indictments, or convictions of anyone involved in cases related to disappearances.

Sri Lanka’s permanent representative has out rightly rejected the Human Rights Commissioner’s report and recommendations in his 18-page point-by- points rejoinder sent to the UNHCR. It said the report “gives scant or no regard to the domestic processes ongoing in Sri Lanka within the framework” of the LLRC’s action plan. As expected, President Rajapaksa has not taken kindly or to the role of the US in bringing a resolution before the UNHRC. He tried to trivialise it as of no consequence citing the examples of Cuba and Israel which had been facing such resolutions many times in the UNHCR.       

With the US leading the protagonists of international inquiry, and as India is unlikely to help out Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka will face an uphill task in preventing a vote for the US draft. At best it can hope to tinker with the wording to make it milder. However, national interest of nations plays a big part in international diplomacy which could persuade some of America’s close allies like Japan and Australia to abstain from voting. Japan has said it would like to help Sri Lanka’s domestic process rather than an international inquiry. Australia would probably factor the close cooperation extended by Sri Lanka in preventing illicit immigration from the island while deciding its vote. Much of Sri Lanka’s problem in the UHCR is its failure to hone its strategy in tune with developments in accountability of nations particularly in respect of human rights.  

Skeletons from the past

Skeletal remains of nearly 80 people have been found in forensic excavations carried out in Manthai near Mannar in Northern Province. The skeletal remains were first spotted by construction workers at Thirukatheeswaram, Mannar in December 2013. This has sparked speculations that these could be the remains of persons disposed of in mass graves by the LTTE or Sri Lanka army. The government has said that they were the remains of civilians killed when the LTTE controlled the area or when it was under the IPKF from 1987 to 90 as Sri Lanka army never occupied the area. Attributing it to the IPKF is a probably a canard as Mannar never saw high intensity operations when Indian troops were present. IPKF operations mainly focused on LTTE strongholds located in Wanni area east of A-9 Highway.

China and Norochcholai power plant’s woes

China is facing an embarrassing situation with the continued failure of 300 MW Norochcholai (Lakvijaya) coal power plant constructed by Chinese engineers with loans from Export-Import Bank of China in 2012 at a cost of $ 435 million. The plant has been dogged by breakdowns and failure to achieve optimal efficiency amidst speculation that the state-owned Chinese company had made illegal payments to secure the contract which affected the quality of the plant's performance.

Rejecting the allegations,  Li Chaoyang, Vice President of China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) in a letter to the Power and Energy Ministry Secretary, said the negotiations and signing of the agreement were done “strictly as per the official procedures.” He termed the reports of corruption as “completely baseless, severely distorted and totally irresponsible and nonsense.” Li said the report had “ruthlessly insulted all of the staff” involved who have devoted “their hearts and exerted their utmost efforts to this project for so many years, and it is just a deliberate sabotage and attempt to destructing of long-history friendship (sic) between the two countries.”

The allegation of corruption and continued poor performance of the plant are interesting as a Sunday Leader report in July 2013 quoting unnamed source had hinted at “a sinister plan in motion to hand over the entire operations of the Norochcholai coal power plant to a Chinese company”, claiming that the local engineers were incapable of handling the operations efficiently. The report said that Sri Lanka would lose the entire coal power plant to the Chinese.

In this context the opposition United National Party (UNP) said the government had recently awarded a contract to the state-owned China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) for a new port city in the capital Colombo although the company was debarred by the World Bank, is interesting.  

Written on February 28, 2014

Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, Volume 8, No.1, February 2014

URL: www.security-risks.com

(Col R Hariharan, a retired Military Intelligence specialist on South Asia, served with the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka as Head of Intelligence. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia Analysis Group. E-Mail: colhari@yahoo.com   Blog: www.colhariharan.org)