Friday, 4 July 2014

Sri Lanka Perspectives – June 2014

Col R Hariharan

Highlights

Muslims losing faith in Rajapaksa:  The Buddhist fringe group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) rally organised in Aluthgama near Colombo on June 12 to protest against alleged assault on a Buddhist monk and his driver by Muslim youth turned violent. A group of Sinhala youth inflamed by anti-Muslim speeches against Muslims marched towards a mosque in the area which was resisted by Muslims. In the melee thereafter, Muslim businesses, and properties were set on fire. The police at the location could not control the violence which spread to Beruwala another Muslim dominant area. While an inquiry commission has been constituted Rajapaksa government seems to have lost the confidence of Muslims as such attacks have continued since 2012.   


UNHRC probe panel: Mrs Navneetham Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has constituted a 3-member expert panel consisting of Martti Ahthisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms Silvia Cartwright, former governor general and judge of New Zealand High Court and Ms Asma Jehangir, former present of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. They will carry out an investigation into alleged gross human rights violations and war crimes in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2009 as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March 2014.  


Muslims losing faith in Rajapaksa


Sri Lanka Muslims, who form about 10 percent of Island’s 20-million population, appear to be losing faith in President Rajapaksa after his failure to prevent increasingly worsening anti-Muslim activities of Buddhist fringe groups. The latest Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) led anti-Muslim riot in Alutgama that quickly spread to Beruwala (close to Colombo) on June 15, 2014 only reinforced their suspicion.


Three people were killed and over 80 injured in the riots and nearly 200 houses and property of Muslims were set on fire and destroyed. Over 2000 people have been rendered homeless. The BBS had called for a rally in the Dharga Town in Alutgama, ostensibly to protest against an alleged attack by Muslim youths on a Buddhist monk and his driver in the area on the Buddhist holy day of Posan Poya. A section of those attending the rally inflamed by the virulent anti-Muslim speech of the BBS founder and Buddhist monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara marched towards a mosque in the locality. They damaged Muslim houses and shops on their way resulting in skirmishes with Muslims trying to prevent them.


There are clear indications that the police were reluctant to either prevent the rally or act effectively when riots broke out. When the BBS announced the protest rally, apprehending violence, Muslim leaders had requested the police not to permit it. But the police permitted the rally and nearly 900 policemen were deployed at the location.  When the trouble started police took five hours to take decisive action to curb it. Even after imposition of curfew, the riots spread to Beruwala area.  Government blacked out the news of the riot till it appeared in social media. Fifteen days after the riot the police spokesman said it was yet to be established that the BBS chief had made provocative remarks at the meeting in Aluthgama, even though CCTV coverage of the riots was available in public domain.


So it was not surprising police dragged their feet till the President called for decisive action. Although 55 people including Muslims were arrested, it took 15 days to arrest eight looters and recover some of the stolen property.  There are allegations of tampering of the post mortem reports of the three persons who were shot publicly to show knife wounds as the cause of death. A UNP MP who tried to evacuate the Muslims has said his car was attacked by Sinhala mob even as paramilitary elements and policemen watched. 


A day after the riot a Muslim owned apparel factory was destroyed. The owner estimated the losses at Rs 50 million. He said he was warned about the impending attack by a priest of the same area and later the same priest led a mob to stone the factory and set fire to it.  


President Rajapaksa has ordered a commission of inquiry to investigate the causes for the riot asked the people and called for strict action against those who tried to disrupt communal harmony. He has also approved Rs 200 million for the rebuilding of the property damaged from June 15 to 17. The Defence Secretary has put the army to immediately take up the reconstruction work. But there is little credibility in their actions as Gnanasara continues to spout venom against Muslim community and their socio-cultural and religious practices since 2012 with impunity. And both the President and his brother have harped on “foreign elements,” vested interests among opposition and NGOs being responsible to disrupt peace and harmony without addressing the fundamental causes.


However, international reaction to the attacks had been swift. The US has cancelled the five-year visa granted to the BBS chief Gnanasara. Muslim nations are watching with concern at the continuing acts of violence against Sri Lanka Muslims. There are comments about cutting down the recruitment of Sri Lankans in Gulf countries, which would deal a heavy blow to Sri Lanka economy which gets a sizeable amount by remittances from expatriates. So we can expect the scaling down of the acts of violence though fringe elements’ anti-Muslim propaganda is likely to continue.


UNHRC probe panel


The outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs Navneetham Pillay, has announced has names of an unusually strong panel of  three members  to carry out an investigation into alleged gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2009 as mandated by the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in March 2014.

The members Martti Ahthisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dame Silvia Cartwright, former governor general and judge of New Zealand High Court and Ms Asma Jehangir, former president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.


As UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari organised negotiations to resolve Kosovo’s dispute with Serbia after it declared independence in 2008. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 “for his efforts on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts” including Nambia, Acheh (Indonesia) and Iraq.  South Africa awarded him the Oliver Tambo Prize for his “outstanding achievement as a diplomat and commitment to the cause of freedom in Africa and peace in the world.”


A mudslinging campaign has already started in Sri Lanka against individual members of the panel despite the high international reputation they enjoy for their work related to human rights. For instance, they have focused on the massive fraud that took place when Ahtisaari was the Under Secretary Administration at the UN Headquarters from 1987 to 91. They chose to ignore that three years later he was elected President of Finland because of his politically untarnished image and active participation in international affairs. 


Mrs Silvia Cartwright is known for her forthright and clear views on women and children issues and criminal justice systems. Her contrarian public stand on official policy  on a number of issues during her term as the Governor General caused strong reaction in New Zealand. She served a tenure as an international judge in the Trial Chamber of the Cambodia Tribunal inquiring into the Khmer Rouge genocide of nearly two million people by Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 79.


The third member Ms Asma Jahangir’s legal career as Supreme Court lawyer has been spent mostly defending cases on human and women rights, rights of religious minorities and children. She has been a strong critic of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and discriminatory laws against women introduced under the Hudood Ordinance. Ms Jahangir is a founder of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission.


Her experience twice as the UN Special Rapporteur - first on Extrajudicial Executions from 1988 to 2004 and a second time on Freedom of Religion and Belief for six years from 2004 - make her eminently suited for the Sri Lanka investigation panel.  


Sri Lanka government has reiterated that it would not change in its decision not to cooperate with the UN panel’s investigation. President Rajapaksa gave the decision a democratic veneer by getting the parliament to pass a resolution on the same lines. The President is convening a meeting of the government parliamentary group to deliberate upon the proposed government action plan on handling the issue of UN investigative panel on alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.  But it is going to be tough for Sri Lanka to ride through the international opposition it is likely to face at the forthcoming UNHRC session.    

 (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: http://col.hariharan.info)  

Written on June 30, 2014
Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, July 2014 www.security-risks.com




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