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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