Sri Lanka: Three things for NPP to ‘Come of Age’

 Col R Hariharan

Sri Lanka Perspectives June 2025 | South Asia Security Trends, July 2025 | https://www.security-risks.com

For the ruling National Peoples Power (NPP) group led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayaka (AKD), the local government (LG) elections held during May 2025 was one of the coming-of-age tests at national level. By the third week of June, NPP managed to gain control of 192 LG councils although it had secured majority only in 151 of them. According to media reports, though the NPP had no majority in 40 councils, it managed to take control with the support of local coalition partners or post-election agreements. In one council the NPP managed to take charge of the administration with some understanding of the opposition. No doubt, NPP’s political success in this manoeuvre would increase its confidence to face mainstream political parties led by veteran leaders.

But for JVP-led NPP to sustain its quest for national status as a matured group, success in national elections is not enough. Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) founded by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a very good example of the fleeting nature of public adulation. It suffered  drubbings in both the presidential and parliamentary elections. Even in the LG elections it could secure majority only three councils, underlining that the Rajapaksas are yet to regain public trust. 

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) performed a little better, capturing the administration in 21 local bodies. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) with a score of 13 local bodies, seems to have regained some of its support base. The Ceylon Workers Congress emerged successful only in three councils. Other parties/groups have taken control of 13 councils. The NPP will have to look hard at 22 local councils where it where it could not form the administration although it had the highest number of seats.

But electoral success in three national elections is only the first step for NPP’s sustainability in the national political mainstream. It has to make a difference by delivering clean administration because It is a long time since Sri Lanka had one. National political parties had accepted political corruption as the done thing. The Aragalaya agitation had shown that people are not prepared to accept it and, in the rebound, elected the NPP conglomerate in three successive elections. They expect it to deliver a corruption free administration.

 AKD has realised this as early as December 2024.  The President addressing the heads of government departments thundered “The confidence of citizens in institutional systems has been shattered, and institutions themselves have lost faith in their own authority. This deterioration is due to the corrosive effects of this political culture….While we may not reverse this situation entirely in a year or two, we are committed to making a meaningful effort.”

However, as Lord Acton’s cliché goes "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," AKD should worry about the after effects of NPP gaining power at the local level, particularly in large municipal councils like Colombo, Galle, Kurunegala, Puttalam and Nuwara Eliya. It is not going to be an easy task for AKD because the Local government system corroded by corrupt practices offer easy pickings for NPP’s neophyte members. The NPP would do well to educate the first-time members on their conduct and accountability to the public.

Systemic challenges

For too long, governance in Sri Lanka has been affected by systemic aberrations. AKD’s good intentions are not enough to improve governance due to systemic challenges. During the month, there were two examples of systemic aberrations right under the “nose” of the President. The first related to the release of convicted bank fraudster Athula Thilakaratne under the Presidential Pardon on Vesak Poya Day, on May 12, though he did not figure in the President’s list of pardoned prisoners. News reports of the incident triggered widespread public outcry and questions in Parliament from the Opposition.

Although the Prisons Department justified the release the convict was eligible for release under general guidelines and it was nor politically motivated, the incident dented AKD’s credibility. The President’s Media Division (PMD) had to issue a statement clarifying that Thilakaratne’s name was not on the official list of inmates approved for pardon by the President. It explained that the President can grant pardon only upon receiving a vetted list of eligible inmates from the Ministry of Justice, based on recommendations from the Department of Prisons.

Preliminary investigations by the CID have indicated that some more convicts were also released after they were falsely classified as recipients of the Presidential Pardon. After this, the CID questioned the Commissioner General of Prisons and widened the scope of investigations to include prison officers involved in the process, as part of an ongoing official inquiry.

The second instance pertains to the appointment of Tysers Insurance Brokers Ltd (TIBL) — a UK-based firm with questionable reputation —as the broker of record by the National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) operating under the Ministry of Finance. In February 2024, Fraud Section of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Criminal Division is said to have filed a case against TIBL under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The TIBL reportedly entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, agreeing to pay a substantial fine and forfeit assets to resolve the charges. According to the DOJ, TIBL was also engaged in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme to influence Ecuadorian Government officials.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) is probing the case based on a formal complaint from an advocate. It will be interesting to know how the foreign brokerage managed to overcome the government’s strict vetting process as required by the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRCSL)

Bringing a closure on genocide allegations

Even as POTUS Trump was making the UN largely irrelevant, Sri Lanka Government rolled out the red carpet for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Volker Türk’s visit to the country from June 23 to 26. Sri Lanka had made human rights commitments at the UNHRC to investigate allegations of war crimes and human rights violations. However, they have been on the backburner in the past few years. However, Sri Lanka’s commitments will come up once again during the September session of the UNHRC. At the session, when the High Commissioner Turk will submit his findings on Sri Lanka during his visit, along with reports from key members of the Core Group on Sri Lanka – the UK, Canada, and Germany.

During his visit, the UN High Commissioner met with not only the President and PM but with opposition leaders and religious heads as well. He visited the mass grave at Chemmani, near Jaffna. His statement thereafter says it all: “My visit yesterday to the recently re-opened mass grave at Chemmani was a compelling reminder that the past haunts the lives of many in Sri Lanka…I heard from many mothers during my visit to Jaffna and Trincomalee, as well as victims of enforced disappearances in the south. A woman from a southern province, whose husband disappeared in 1989, for example, she still goes from town to town searching, and that the tears of Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslims are the same… Acknowledgement and truth-telling are important steps towards healing and closure, as are justice, reparation and non-recurrence.”

We do not know what AKD had promised the UN High Commissioner or what stand Sri Lanka will take in UNHRC session in September. But his own JVP party had lost 10,000 to 20,000 people suspected of being JVP sympathizers in 1971 insurrection. In the second JVP insurrection between 1987and 1989, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 young people suspected of JVP sympathies were killed by the State. Over 20,000 people disappeared after being taken into custody. Of course, Eelam Wars had left its own mass graves and forced disappearances.

How can AKD and NPP afford to ignore this gory history? NPP/JVP will never come of age unless they make accountability for war crimes and human rights articles of faith. Firstly, they can take follow up action on the data already collected on enforced disappearances. Secondly, resurrect prosecuted during the wars/insurrections but abandoned thereafter. For instance, the Chemmani mass grave came to light during the 1998 trial of Sri Lanka soldiers for the rape and murder of Krishanthi Kumaraswamy. One of the convicted soldier Somaratne Rajapakse testified 300-400 Tamil civilians were executed and buried in Chemmani after the military recaptured Jaffna in 1995-96. There one too many such abandoned/pardoned cases.

Tailpiece – Bringing back the Super Cop: Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shani Abeysekara has been reappointed as the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) with the approval of the National Police Commission (NPC). Abeysekera’s return to the helm of the CID comes after nearly five years, shows the government is serious about independent investigations. His initial stint as Director of CID (2017-19) was characterised by several high-profile probes that drew both praise and criticism. Among the most notable investigations under his leadership were the murder of journalist and Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, the disappearance of cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, and probes into the controversial Avant-Garde maritime arms scandal and the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks. He earned accolades for investigating these cases as they involved several influential figures.

[Col R Hariharan VSM, 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]