Col R
Hariharan
Sri Lanka Perspectives September 2022| South Asia Security Trends, October 2022 www.security-risk.com
Overview
During the month, Sri
Lanka government made some progress in the measures it had initiated earlier
for economic recovery. After holding the staff level meetings with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government is hopeful signs of $2.9 bn
loan materialising. However, some other measures it has taken like the
formation of a bloated cabinet for political reasons, declaring focus areas
of Aragalaya protests as high security zones (HSZ) and the use
of draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to arrest some of the protest
leaders have drawn flak both at home and abroad. These negative aspects have
provided a rallying point for opposition political parties to come together and
articulate their stand against the Wickremesinghe government.
Actions of the government to
suppress public protests found a place in the report on Sri Lanka by the
outgoing High Commissioner of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet made at the 51st session
of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) at Geneva. The session slated
to end on October 7, is likely to extend the time given Sri Lanka to fulfil its
commitments to the international body on the accountability for its human
rights aberrations during the Eelam war. At the same time, it is likely to add
negative riders in the resolution on the way the government has been handling
public protests.
Former president Gotabaya
Rajapaksa who fled the country for his safety on July 13, returned home to a
warm official welcome on September 2. Though he had been keeping a low profile,
his return has reinforced the belief that the Rajapaksas will continue to call
the shots in the Wickremesinghe government.
Politics of protests
The Aragalaya public protests
that had dethroned the Rajapaksas from power have shaken up the political
parties of all shades as much as the government. Recovering from the shock
effect of four-month long socio-political protests, political leaders seem to
have realised the Aragalaya phenomenon as the expression of the unheard,
unheralded and deprived citizens who are fed up with the existing political
order.
Prof GL Peiris, Chairman of
the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), in an interview in the Daily
Mirror aptly described the Aragalaya as the alternative of ideas, of
policies of freshness. “A new departure. The Aragalaya had a visionary aspect
to it. Later it degenerated into violence. That is not to be condoned in any
manner.” He found “a kind of renaissance about it.” The SLPP leader, who has
chosen to sit separately in parliament from most of the SLPP members supporting
the government, saw in the creations of protestors as “an expression of
creativity and deep desire for a system change. To reorganise the system.” Prof
Peiris, while acknowledging that some of the measures taken by the government
to revamp the economy and ease the fuel and food shortages have yielded
results, said a bloated cabinet cannot bring a systemic
change.
There were fewer public
protests during the month. However, the ultraleft elements of the JVP and its
student body seem to be using the Aragalaya to rekindle the embers of the
protest movement to expand their political influence.
In June 2022, before
Wickremesinghe was elected president, the Sri Lanka government had told the
members at the UNHRC in Geneva that it was imposing a moratorium on the use of
the PTA. Even a month later when protestors were forcibly evicted from
“sensitive areas,” the newly elected president assured foreign diplomats in
Colombo that the government will uphold both Article 21 of International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 14 (1) (b) of the Sri Lanka
Constitution which govern the right to peaceful assembly. However, these
promises seem to have been forgotten by President Wickremesinghe after his
election. The President who had once called the Aragalaya protestors as fascists,
seems to be trying to weed out their influence, using teleological methods.
This was evident from the mass arrest of protestors under the PTA.
The detention of several
activists of Aragalaya under the PTA including the convenor of the Inter
University Students Federation (IUSF) Wasantha Mudalige was condemned by many
political parties across the ethnic spectrum. This may be considered a positive
outcome of the protests. This was seen in the participation of many
leaders of the opposition parties, civil society and trade union activists and
retired public servants, in the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK)’s mobile
signature campaign against the PTA. When the protest launched in
Jaffna reached Galle Facethe presence of former defence secretary Austin Fernando
and trade union activist Joseph Stalin, apart from leaders from political
parties like the ITAK, SJB and SLMC like Sumanthiran, Rasamanickam, Hirunika
Premachandra and Rauf Hakeem, underscored its relevance in the present
political environment.
Similarly, the government
notification of several areas around key government buildings and their
adjoining roads in Colombo as High Security Zone to prevent holding of public
meetings and protest marches has also been condemned by large sections of society.
SJB leader Sajith Premadasa called the setting up of HSZ as “acts of a
dictatorship.” He said the cabinet had recently given the nod for setting up a
committee to regulate and control media. Premadasa said it was a
dictatorial move and warned the party “will take to the streets against all
these moves in the future.”
President Wickremesinghe has
sworn in a jumbo cabinet to satisfy the members from assorted parties, who
support him. Apparently, he considers it only as a political exercise and not
an effort to revamp the system in keeping with public sensitivities over the
style of governance. Perhaps, conscious of this shortcoming, Prime Minister
Dinesh Gunawardena successfully moved a unanimous resolution in parliament to
constitute a ‘National Council’ (NC) after three rounds of talks with all
parties.
The NC will be chaired by the
Speaker with the PM, leader of the opposition, Chief government whip and not
more than 35 MPs representing all parties as members. According to a statement
the NC will determine the priorities for the formulation of national policies,
agree on short and medium term common minimum programmes to stabilise the
economy. It will also organise special meetings with cabinet ministers, the NC,
the chairpersons of special committees and observers from youth organisations.
However, for the present the
public is likely to view the formation of the NC as a political expediency. JVP
leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaking in the parliament said the JVP will
not support the NC project. He called the NC as “a facade. It is another
attempt to dupe the people and the rest of the world.” He said the NC would not
help solve problems. Few would dispute the JVP leader’s description of the
prevailing political culture as “tainted by corruption, no respect for the rule
of law and politicians enjoying perks and benefits and placing themselves above
the law.” Unless the NC can address these issues, it is likely to end up as
yet another glorified commission, whose findings are confined to the
archives.
Sri Lanka’s problems are not
merely economic or political but much more organic, reflecting the disconnect
between the polluted political system of governance and the ordinary people.
Aragalaya is a manifestation of this disconnect. Unless the President and the
political parties are able to rework their equation with the people, politics
of protests is likely to continue as the norm.
Tailpiece: Visiting
BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy called upon Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after the
former president returned home. In fact, Swamy was the first foreign visitor to
call upon him. Swamy, a close friend of the Rajapaksas, was in Colombo to
attend a conference on national security at the Kotelewala Defence University.
He also met with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and attended the Navratri
pooja at his residence. The Indian leader is well known for making shocking
one-liners. In his twitter on July 11, he said the Sri Lanka crisis was
engineered and India should ensure that later ‘this mob’ does not become
refugees of India. What was he up to in Colombo? That is a question for
twitterati and WhatsApp university to debate. [Written on September 30, 2022.]
[Col
R Hariharan, a retired MI specialist on South Asia and terrorism, served as the
head of intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka 1987-90. He
is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. Email: haridirect@gmail.com Website: https://col.hariharan.info]
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