Features

Violence in Jaffna and my departure from government service

Published

3 years ago

2023/04/9

by Sarath Amunugama
Excerpted from volume ii of his autobiography

With the TULF losing support of the youth, politics in the northern peninsula took a violent turn. Frustrated by educational policies of the Government and no longer dependent on the South for employment they looked to militant activity in the Palestine Liberation Organisation as a model for a new phase of anti-Sinhala agitatation. Many years later, Douglas Devananda told me that expatriate Tamils had contacted PLO representatives in London on their behalf and arranged military training in Lebanon.

By this time Indira Gandhi had staged a comeback and was using RAW to make contact with the leaders of the Tamil Militants like Uma Maheshwaran and Pathmanathan. Our intelligence gathering was poor and the Foreign Office under Hameed would not hear of offending his Middle Eastern ‘brothers’ as he called them. All this was compounded by stupid decisions of the JRJ Government.

As mentioned in an earlier chapter several young Sinhala officials posted to Jaffna had won the hearts of Tamil people. Lionel Fernando was a popular Government Agent. When his mother who lived in Jaffna with her son, died the whole city was decked in white and the public gave an emotional farewell. With a network of Peradeniya Tamil graduates and the multi-ethnic composition of the staff and students of Jaffna University Lionel was able to create an ambience of goodwill.

I remember teachers like Regi Siriwardene undertaking weekly train rides to Jaffna in order to promote goodwill even though he was badly ill. The best of Sinhala teachers were attached to the Oriental Faculty of Jaffna – Sucharitha Gamlath, Dharmasena Pathiraja and Sunil Ariyaratne among them. Pathiraja made a feature film entitled ‘Ponmani’ with Tamil actors and actresses. I reviewed for the English newspapers a Sinhala magazine which devoted a whole number to ‘Jaffna Literature’ which carried poems in all three languages.

Then without any explanation Lionel was transferred, overruling the objections of the Tamil MPs. All this was done to accommodate Doraisamy, a son of a former Speaker of the State Council. He was a retired officer of the Foreign Service and an inflexible and inefficient administrator who alienated the Jaffna public with his haughty ‘Diplomatic’ airs.

Even during the regime of Mrs. Bandaranike the popular G.A. Wimal Amarasekere was replaced by a nincompoop who planned to get back to Colombo every weekend to the bosom of his family. As his colleagues in the CAS we watched with mounting horror as he dismantled all the good work done by Wimal his predecessor.

In Trincomalee there was a GA, native to Galle district, who was a captive of the Sinhala mudalalis there. He was determined to sabotage every development project of the Tamil MPs. It came to such a pass that President JRJ had to send me as Ministry Secretary to survey and reserve the lands needed by the Tourist Board for future development and release lands for fisheries development which the GA had sabotaged. Later he was replaced by a more mature GA – Tissa Devendra – who with his long experience in land administration and genial personality managed to win the confidence of all the communities there.

The Home ministry did not appreciate the strategic importance of Trinco and looked on it as just another out station and sent juniors like the aforementioned GA. The country had to pay a heavy price for the negligence of the Secretary DBIPS Siriwardhana for whom these decisions were purely of a bureaucratic nature.

During the civil war the LTTE, conscious of the key strategic value of Trinco, wanted even to make it their capital. With the escalation of the fratricidal war Trincomalee became a garrison town. All the tourist development in Trinco that we had encouraged was washed out and later when on visiting Nilaveli I found only the charred shells of those beautiful hotels. In fact the army bundled us out fast because the LTTE guerillas were operating in the environs of Nilaveli and Uppaveli.

\Jaffna Library May 1981

The burning down of the Jaffna library is an ugly blot in the modern history of our country. It became a milestone in the deteriorating ethnic scenario. In a way, it became a powerful symbol of the irrationality that gripped both sides. Its long term disastrous effects on the image of the Sinhalese was incalculable. If the world opinion was to be turned against a Government no image could be more forceful than that of burning books and libraries.

It was to become a big minus in the propaganda war. I have always been a lover of books and have been lucky to have used several libraries during my life. In Kandy there was the famous Kandy Municipal library under its strict librarian Mr. Bhai. The Peradeniya University library under its librarians Somadasa and Ian Goonetileke was another refuge for us. In Colombo I frequented the Museum Library and Colombo Public Library which was managed by Ishwari Corea.

In Singapore I used the Singapore Museum Library with its collection of Colonial era documents. In Thailand I have researched Thai-Kandyan Kingdom relations in the well run Asia Society Library. I have used the British Museum Library and when in Harvard spent time regularly at the Widener library and the Peabody Museum. Thus the destruction of the Jaffna Library caused me and many of my like minded friends much grief and anguish. My Minister Anandatissa was also quite disturbed though many other so called intellectuals in the Cabinet did not protest. They were too engrossed in teaching the Tamils, with whom they socialized during the day, a lesson.

Why did this happen? For a long time poor Gamini Dissanayake was blamed for this debacle till a senior Police officer Edward Gunawardene gave the correct version in a newspaper article. At a political rally held in Jaffna by the TULF Tamil youth, three Sinhala Police constables who were sent to cover the event were manhandled and killed. Policemen who anyway had a fraught relationship in the peninsula had then gone on the rampage killing and assaulting people at random.

Then in a typical show of frustration they burnt down the Jaffna Library. We knew that the Jaffna Police were a disgruntled lot, many of them being sent to the north on punishment transfer. The Police had targeted the youth even during the time of Mrs. Bandaranaike. When a Tamil solidarity Conference was held the Police shut it down and pulled down a statue erected for ‘martyrs’. Thus Police–public relations had reached its nadir and the disastrous rampage was its result.

It gave a fillip to the armed youth who began by killing Tamil politicians associated with the UNP and the SUP. Even the supporters of the LSSP and the CP were not spared. The left had a strong organization in the peninsula and had contested elections there. P. Kandiah of the CP was returned and became the lone Tamil leftist in the 1956 Parliament. But with the SLFP-LSSP-CP coalition of 1970 the left lost its appeal among the Tamils. The only Tamil in the Cabinet was a nominated MP Kumarasuriyar who was a Colombo based engineer.

From then on things went from bad to worse. We were all shocked when the Sarvodaya leader for the North who tried to bring communities together was brutally killed. JRJ’s response to all this mayhem was to mobilize the army, under his relative ‘Bull’ Weeratunga, with a Churchillian written command to eliminate terrorism from the North at any cost. Cyril Mathew and his followers now brought a new dimension to the conflict by alleging that the Colombo Tamil businessmen in particular were supporting the militants either out of fear for their relatives who lived in the North or because they were sympathetic to their creed. Even when we talked to our Tamil friends they would occasionally refer to `our boys’. Looking back we see that all the ingredients for a conflagration were building up one by one.

The security forces and the Tamil youth were on a collision course. Tamil Parliamentarians were marginalized. Among the members of the TULF leadership, power was shifting to the radicals. Non-national players, particularly India, were being dragged into the fray. Our Foreign Ministry did not read the India factor correctly and were pursuing an anti-Indian approach, even going to the extent of lobbying Prime Minister Premadasa over the head of the President.

Very importantly militant youth in the North were being trained in India in the use of weapons though the Government did not know about it or could not do anything about it. All this came into the open when the reputed Indian Magazine ‘India Today’ broke the news that the Tamil militants were being trained in RAW in camps in Dehra Dun. In addition to the news they also published photographs of young Tamils undergoing weapons training.

All these elements came together in 1983 and with the blowing up of a military and police convoy by a landmine by the militants and the bringing of the bodies of the dead to Kanatte. Unprecedented violence directed at the Tamils erupted in July that year. Even JRJ biographers Wriggins and De Silva are unsure as to who ordered the taking of the bodies to Kanatte and the cause of the delay in dispatching them to the gravesite. The killings in the North and in Colombo marked a watershed in the ethnic conflict. The war that began in earnest lasted for nearly 30 years and blasted the future of the UNP regimes that followed and retarded all chances of spectacular economic growth which earlier seemed to be a distinct possibility.

Cultural Developments

One of the immediate consequences of the ethnic violence was the destruction by the Tamil insurgents of the TV and Radio transmission towers in Kokavil. This meant that we had to strengthen the signal from Colombo which was a second best choice. Equally during both LTTE and JVP insurrections our announcers and popular artistes were threatened and some were killed. But there were strong radio personalities like Mrs. Ratnam and Mrs. Ponmani Kulasingham who defied the terrorists and continued with their professional duties. Mrs. Kulasingham was later killed by the Tigers and Mrs. Ratnam migrated to Malaysia.

The SLBC still remained an important medium because TV was in its infancy. The Minister and I were keen to make it a more attractive medium by introducing new programmes. We made Amaradeva the head of the SLBC oriental music orchestra. New programmes bringing in literati like J.B. Dissanayake, Hemapala Wijewardene, Bandula Jayawardene and Tennekoon Vimalananda were greatly appreciated by the listening public.

We made arrangements to invite famous musicians like Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakkha, Nikhil Bannerjee and Vishnu Govind Jog to SLBC studios for performances. I had listened entranced by Ravi Shankar as a student at Peradeniya when he had a long music session together with Alla Rakkha on the tabla, at Hilda Obeyesekere Hall and was delighted to interact with him again. He had many friends in our country.

Very poignantly I had the opportunity to hear the maestro’s last performance. I was in Washington for an IMF meeting when I read of his farewell concert to be held in the Kennedy Centre. Tickets were sold out but our Ambassador in Washington Jaliya Wickremasuriya managed to get two tickets and we were part of the packed audience which heard Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka play. It was a moving ceremony. He died a few months later but he remains in my memory as a fantastic musician and charming personality.

I had some difficulty with a Director of the SLBC that I had appointed. He was D. Rajendra, a senior SLAS officer who had retired as a Secretary. He was the son of Sir Waitialingam Doraisamy, a member the State Council who had been elected its Speaker. Rajendra was the brother of Doraisamy Junior who was GA Jaffna as I had mentioned earlier. He wanted total control of the Tamil Service of the SLBC much to the resentment of the professionals in the vision who were media specialists.

When as Secretary I warned him to be more conciliatory with the professional staff, he took it amiss and started quoting the SLBC Act to me. D. Rajendra was an argumentative type and was creating difficulties with the staff. I spoke to my Minister and had him removed from the Board. He appealed to the President but JRJ was not willing to interfere on his behalf. Rajendra left for Jaffna in a huff where he met a tragic end. During the Indian occupation of the North to battle the LTTE, he started arguing in his usual cantankerous manner with an Indian Jawan who shot him dead near the Jaffna Hospital. Tamil political leaders who depended on the IPKF for their own safety did not even attend his funeral. His death is only one of the hidden tales of the IPKF operation.

Family Matters

By 1982 I had completed five years as a Secretary. During this period our Ministry had undertaken many new projects including our successful introduction of television to the country. During this busy time I could not give my family the attention they deserved. My elder daughter Ramanika was 17-years old and was a good student in the science stream of Bishop’s College. I remember one prize giving at Bishop’s where she received her prize from Mrs. Elina Jayewardene.

The chief guest was JRJ who had started his schooling at Bishop’s. He introduced himself as the oldest old boy of Bishop’s. My younger daughter Varuni was 15-years old and the winner of the all island oratorical contest organized by the British College of Speech. They were both at an age when they could benefit from foreign schooling which was very much in vogue then as there were no International schools. Their richer classmates had been sent abroad by their parents who could spend lavishly on their progeny.

That option was not open to us public servants in those days. Today corruption is so rampant that politicians and public servants use their ill gotten gains to finance their children’s education abroad. In our time the only possibility was for us to find employment abroad, particularly in an International Agency which paid handsomely, for the education of children. I therefore thought it prudent to think of a spell abroad though I never contemplated the possibility of settling down in another country, as some of my colleagues had done.

Fortunately my parents were fit and healthy and well looked after in our ‘Mul Gedera’ in Nugawela by my sister and younger brother and their spouses. So the chances of a ‘soft landing’ abroad were good in my case. Fortunately two job offers were clearly in my horizon. One was the Secretary-Generalship of AMIC. The other was the post of Director of the newly created International Programme for the Development of Communication [IPDC] in UNESCO headquarters in Paris. I opted for the AMIC job.

I heard later that DBIPS Siriwardhana had been unhappy that I had written direct to the President (about my quitting government service). But since I was appointed Secretary by the President I did not see anything remiss in my sending my resignation letter direct to him. The President agreed and only requested me to see him at home before I left for Singapore. Once my appointment as Secretary General of AMIC was announced many of my friends wrote to congratulate me.

The most heartfelt farewell came from the tough and militant print workers. As I had mentioned earlier in this book, several pressing problems of the working men were solved by me with my Minister’s blessings. They had responded magnificently to the President’s call to print school text books which were issued free to all the school children in the country. The workers had gone all out to print these books on schedule even foregoing their overtime payments.

When following the general strike a large number of printing workers were dismissed I persuaded my Minister to take them back on the argument that we could not get trained workers to replace them. Their leader Wimalasena of the LSSP was very grateful as many other unionists not only lost their jobs but also could not face their members who were left with no income. Many such poor strikers committed suicide. Others lived for the rest of their lives in utter poverty.

When I became Finance Minister many years later I gave them a compensatory payment. But by that time many of them were dead. Colvin and Bernard Soysa visited me and Anandatissa in our office to thank us personally for our humanitarian gesture.

When Lalith Athulathmudali heard of my new assignment he very kindly undertook to write to some Singaporean Ministers who were his students in the Law faculty of Singapore University when he taught there. At this time I had many friends near Flower Road who were neighbours of Lalith.

The Abeywardenes, Lakshman Jayakody and ‘Bull’ Weeratunga’s family lived close to each other. Lalith was a frequent visitor and we got to know each other well. He had respect for CCS officers of my vintage and brought many of them, particularly old Royalists, into his Ministry.

Dharmasiri Pieris, an old Thurstanite and my contemporary at Peradeniya, was his efficient Permanent Secretary. As Secretary of Tourism I was an ex-officio board member of the Lanka Oberoi hotel which had been built by the State Trading Corporation which came under the purview of Lalith who was the Trade Minister. The Chairman of the Hotel Company – Asia Hotels Ltd – Ranjan Wijemanna and Deputy Chairman Razik Zarook were his close confidants.

So I had good relations with Lalith who was considered a stickler for protocol, but was good enough to write on my behalf to his student, Professor Jayakumar – a powerful Singaporean Minister. Lalith’s name opened many doors for me in Singapore. Jayakumar was very helpful and reminded me that we had met earlier in Lalith’s house in Flower Road when he had called on his former teacher. Lalith had impeccable academic qualifications having won degrees in law from Oxford and Harvard. He taught law in Israel and Singapore.

All News Advertisement

Features

Trade preferences to support post-Ditwah reconstruction

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Ditwah disaster

The manner in which the government succeeded in mobilising support from the international community, immediately after the devastating impact of Cyclone Ditwah, may have surprised many people of this country, particularly because our Opposition politicians were ridiculing our “inexperienced” government, in the recent past, for its inability to deal with the international community effectively. However, by now it is evident that the government, with the assistance of the international community and local nongovernmental actors, like major media organisations, has successfully managed the recovery efforts. So, let me begin by thanking them for what they have done so far.

Yet, some may argue that it is not difficult to mobilise the support for recovery efforts from the international community, immediately after any major disaster, and the real challenge is to sustain that support through the next few weeks, months and years. Because the recovery process, more specifically the post-recovery reconstruction process, requires long-term support. So, the government agencies should start immediately to focus on, in addition to initial disaster relief, a longer-term strategy for reconstruction. This is important because in a few weeks’ time, the focus of the global community may shift elsewhere … to another crisis in another corner of the world. Before that happens, the government should take initiatives to get the support from development partners on appropriate policy measures, including exceptional trade preferences, to help Sri Lanka in the recovery efforts through the medium and the long term.

Use of Trade Preferences to support recovery and reconstruction

In the past, the United States and the European Union used exceptional enhanced trade preferences as part of the assistance packages when countries were devastated by natural disasters, similar to Cyclone Ditwah. For example:

After the devastating floods in Pakistan, in July 2010, the EU granted temporary, exceptional trade preferences to Pakistan (autonomous trade preferences) to aid economic recovery. This measure was a de facto waiver on the standard EU GSP (Generalised Scheme of Preferences) rules. The preferences, which were proposed in October 2010 and were applied until the end of 2013, effectively suspended import duties on 75 types of goods, including textiles and apparel items. The available studies on this waiver indicate that though a significant export hike occurred within a few months after the waiver became effective it did not significantly depress exports by competing countries. Subsequently, Pakistan was granted GSP+ status in 2014.
Similarly, after the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, the United States supported Nepal through an extension of unilateral additional preferences, the Nepal Trade Preferences Programme (NTPP). This was a 10-year initiative to grant duty-free access for up to 77 specific Nepali products to aid economic recovery after the 2015 earthquakes. This was also a de facto waiver on the standard US GSP rules.
Earlier, after Hurricanes Mitch and Georges caused massive devastation across the Caribbean Basin nations, in 1998, severely impacting their economies, the United States proposed a long-term strategy for rebuilding the region that focused on trade enhancement. This resulted in the establishment of the US Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), which was signed into law on 05 October, 2000, as Title II of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. This was a more comprehensive facility than those which were granted to Pakistan and Nepal.

What type of concession should Sri Lanka request from our development partners?

Given these precedents, it is appropriate for Sri Lanka to seek specific trade concessions from the European Union and the United States.

In the European Union, Sri Lanka already benefits from the GSP+ scheme. Under this arrangement Sri Lanka’s exports (theoretically) receive duty-free access into the EU markets. However, in 2023, Sri Lanka’s preference utilisation rate, that is, the ratio of preferential imports to GSP+ eligible imports, stood at 59%. This was significantly below the average utilisation of other GSP beneficiary countries. For example, in 2023, preference utilisation rates for Bangladesh and Pakistan were 90% and 88%, respectively. The main reason for the low utilisation rate of GSP by Sri Lanka is the very strict Rules of Origin requirements for the apparel exports from Sri Lanka. For example, to get GSP benefits, a woven garment from Sri Lanka must be made from fabric that itself had undergone a transformation from yarn to fabric in Sri Lanka or in another qualifying country. However, a similar garment from Bangladesh only requires a single-stage processing (that is, fabric to garment) qualifies for GSP. As a result, less than half of Sri Lanka’s apparel exports to the EU were ineligible for the preferences in 2023.

Sri Lanka should request a relaxation of this strict rule of origin to help economic recovery. As such a concession only covers GSP Rules of Origin only it would impact multilateral trade rules and would not require WTO approval. Hence could be granted immediately by the EU.

United States

Sri Lanka should submit a request to the United States for (a) temporary suspension of the recently introduced 20% additional ad valorem duty and (b) for a programme similar to the Nepal Trade Preferences Programme (NTPP), but designed specifically for Sri Lanka’s needs. As NTPP didn’t require WTO approval, similar concessions also can be granted without difficulty.

Similarly, country-specific requests should be carefully designed and submitted to Japan and other major trading partners.

(The writer is a retired public servant and can be reached at senadhiragomi@gmail.com)

by Gomi Senadhira

Features

Lasting power and beauty of words

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/15

Sahan Weerasooriya

Novelists, poets, short story writers, lyricists, politicians and columnists use words for different purposes. While some of them use words to inform and elevate us, others use them to bolster their ego. If there was no such thing called words, we cannot even imagine what will happen to us. Whether you like it or not everything rests on words. If the Penal Code does not define a crime and prescribe a punishment, judges will not be able to convict criminals. Even the Constitution of our country is a printed document.

A mother’s lullaby contains snatches of sweet and healing words. The effect is immediate. The baby falls asleep within seconds. A lover’s soft and alluring words go right into his or her beloved. An army commander’s words encourage soldiers to go forward without fear. The British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s words still ring in our ears: “… we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender …”

Writers wax eloquent on love. English novelist John Galsworthy wrote: “Love is no hot-house flower, but a wild plant, born of a wet night, born of an hour of sunshine; sprung from wild seed, blown along the road by a wild wind. A wild plant that, when it blooms by chance within the hedge of our gardens, we call a flower; and when it blooms outside we call a weed; but flower or weed, whose scent and colour are always wild.” While living in a world dominated by technology, we often hear a bunch of words that is colourless and often cut to verbal ribbons – “How R U” or “Luv U.” Such words seem to squeeze the life out of language.

Changing medium

Language is a constantly changing medium. New words and forms arrive and old ones die out. Whoever thought that the following Sinhala words would find a place in the Oxford English Dictionary? “Asweddumize, Avurudu, Baila, Kiribath, Kottu Roti, Mallung, Osari, Papare, Walawwa and Watalappan.” With all such borrowed words the English language is expanding and remains beautiful. The language helps us to express subtle ideas clearly and convincingly.

You are judged by the words you use. If you constantly use meaningless little phrases, you will be considered a worthless person. When you read a well-written piece of writing you will note how words jump and laugh on the paper or screen. Some of them wag their tails while others stand back like shy village belles. However, they serve a useful purpose. Words help us to write essays, poems, short stories and novels. If not for the beauty of the language, nobody will read what you write.

If you look at the words meaningfully, you will see some of them tap dancing while others stand to rigid attention. Big or small, all the words you pen form part of the action or part of the narrative. The words you write make your writing readable and exciting. That is why we read our favourite authors again and again.

Editorials

If a marriage is to succeed, partners should respect and love each other. Similarly, if you love words, they will help you to use them intelligently and forcefully. A recent survey in the United States has revealed that only eight per cent of people read the editorial. This is because most editorials are not readable. However, there are some editorials which compel us to read them. Some readers collect such editorials to be read later.

Only a lover of words would notice how some words run smoothly without making a noise. Other words appear to be dancing on the floor. Some words of certain writers are soothing while others set your blood pounding. There is a young monk who is preaching using simple words very effectively. He has a large following of young people addicted to drugs. After listening to his preaching, most of them have given up using illegal drugs. The message is loud and clear. If there is no demand for drugs, nobody will smuggle them into the country.

Some politicians use words so rounded at the edges and softened by wear that they are no longer interesting. The sounds they make are meaningless and listeners get more and more confused. Their expressions are full of expletives the meaning of which is often soiled with careless use of words.

Weather-making

Some words, whether written or spoken, stick like superglue. You will never forget them. William Vergara in his short essay on weather-making says, “Cloud-seeding has touched off one of the most baffling controversies in meteorological history. It has been blamed for or credited with practically all kinds of weather. Some scientists claim seeding can produce floods and hail. Others insist it creates droughts and dissipates clouds. Still others staunchly maintain it has no effect at all. The battle is far from over, but at last one clear conclusion is beginning to emerge: man can change the weather, and he is getting better at it.”

There are words that nurse the ego and heal the heart. The following short paragraph is a good example. S. Radhakrishnan says, “In every religion today we have small minorities who see beyond the horizon of their particular faith, not through religious fellowship is possible, not through the imposition of any one way on the whole but through an all-inclusive recognition that we are all searchers for the truth, pilgrims on the road, that we all aim at the same ethical and spiritual standard.”

There are some words joined together in common phrases. They are so beautiful that they elevate the human race. In the phrase ‘beyond a shadow of doubt’, ‘a shadow’ connotes a dark area covering light. ‘A doubt’ refers to hesitancy in belief. We use such phrases blithely because they are exquisitely beautiful in their structure. The English language is a repository of such miracles of expression that lead to deeper understanding or emphasis.

Social media

Social media use words powerfully. Sometimes they invent new words. Through the social media you can reach millions of viewers without the intervention of the government. Their opinion can stop wars and destroy tyrants. If you use the right words, you can even eliminate poverty to a great extent.

The choice of using powerful words is yours. However, before opening your mouth, tap the computer, unclip a pen, write a lyric or poem, think twice of the effect of your writing. When you talk with a purpose or write with pleasure, you enrich listeners and readers with your marvellous language skills. If you have a command of the language, you will put across your point of view that counts. Always try to find the right words and change the world for a better place for us to live.

By R. S. Karunaratne
karunaratners@gmail.com

Features

Why Sri Lanka Still Has No Doppler Radar – and Who Should Be Held Accountable

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/14

Thilina Walpola

Eighteen Years of Delay:

Cyclone Ditwah has come and gone, leaving a trail of extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure, including buildings, roads, bridges, and 70% of the railway network. Thousands of hectares of farming land have been destroyed. Last but not least, nearly 1,000 people have lost their lives, and more than two million people have been displaced. The visuals uploaded to social media platforms graphically convey the widespread destruction Cyclone Ditwah has caused in our country.

The purpose of my article is to highlight, for the benefit of readers and the general public, how a project to establish a Doppler Weather Radar system, conceived in 2007, remains incomplete after 18 years. Despite multiple governments, shifting national priorities, and repeated natural disasters, the project remains incomplete.

Over the years, the National Audit Office, the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), and several print and electronic media outlets have highlighted this failure. The last was an excellent five-minute broadcast by Maharaja Television Network on their News First broadcast in October 2024 under a series “What Happened to Sri Lanka”

The Agreement Between the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Meteorological Organisation in 2007.

The first formal attempt to establish a Doppler Radar system dates back to a Trust Fund agreement signed on 24 May 2007 between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This agreement intended to modernize Sri Lanka’s meteorological infrastructure and bring the country on par with global early-warning standards.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on March 23, 1950. There are 193 member countries of the WMO, including Sri Lanka. Its primary role is to promote the establishment of a worldwide meteorological observation system and to serve as the authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, and the resulting climate and water resources.

According to the 2018 Performance Audit Report compiled by the National Audit Office, the GoSL entered into a trust fund agreement with the WMO to install a Doppler Radar System. The report states that USD 2,884,274 was deposited into the WMO bank account in Geneva, from which the Department of Metrology received USD 95,108 and an additional USD 113,046 in deposit interest. There is no mention as to who actually provided the funds. Based on available information, WMO does not fund projects of this magnitude.

The WMO was responsible for procuring the radar equipment, which it awarded on 18^th June 2009 to an American company for USD 1,681,017. According to the audit report, a copy of the purchase contract was not available.

Monitoring the agreement’s implementation was assigned to the Ministry of Disaster Management, a signatory to the trust fund agreement. The audit report details the members of the steering committee appointed by designation to oversee the project. It consisted of personnel from the Ministry of Disaster Management, the Departments of Metrology, National Budget, External Resources and the Disaster Management Centre.

The Audit Report highlights failures in the core responsibilities that can be summarized as follows:

· Procurement irregularities—including flawed tender processes and inadequate technical evaluations.

· Poor site selection

—proposed radar sites did not meet elevation or clearance requirements.

· Civil works delays

—towers were incomplete or structurally unsuitable.

· Equipment left unused

—in some cases for years, exposing sensitive components to deterioration.

· Lack of inter-agency coordination

—between the Meteorology Department, Disaster Management Centre, and line ministries.

Some of the mistakes highlighted are incomprehensible. There is a mention that no soil test was carried out before the commencement of the construction of the tower. This led to construction halting after poor soil conditions were identified, requiring a shift of 10 to 15 meters from the original site. This resulted in further delays and cost overruns.

The equipment supplier had identified that construction work undertaken by a local contractor was not of acceptable quality for housing sensitive electronic equipment. No action had been taken to rectify these deficiencies. The audit report states, “It was observed that the delay in constructing the tower and the lack of proper quality were one of the main reasons for the failure of the project”.

In October 2012, when the supplier commenced installation, the work was soon abandoned after the vehicle carrying the heavy crane required to lift the radar equipment crashed down the mountain. The next attempt was made in October 2013, one year later. Although the equipment was installed, the system could not be operationalised because electronic connectivity was not provided (as stated in the audit report).

In 2015, following a UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) inspection, it was determined that the equipment needed to be returned to the supplier because some sensitive electronic devices had been damaged due to long-term disuse, and a further 1.5 years had elapsed by 2017, when the equipment was finally returned to the supplier. In March 2018, the estimated repair cost was USD 1,095,935, which was deemed excessive, and the project was abandoned.

COPA proceedings

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) discussed the radar project on August 10, 2023, and several press reports state that the GOSL incurred a loss of Rs. 78 million due to the project’s failure. This, I believe, is the cost of constructing the Tower. It is mentioned that Rs. 402 million had been spent on the radar system, of which Rs. 323 million was drawn from the trust fund established with WMO. It was also highlighted that approximately Rs. 8 million worth of equipment had been stolen and that the Police and the Bribery and Corruption Commission were investigating the matter.

JICA support and project stagnation

Despite the project’s failure with WMO, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) entered into an agreement with GOSL on June 30, 2017 to install two Doppler Radar Systems in Puttalam and Pottuvil. JICA has pledged 2.5 billion Japanese yen (LKR 3.4 billion at the time) as a grant. It was envisaged that the project would be completed in 2021.

Once again, the perennial delays that afflict the GOSL and bureaucracy have resulted in the groundbreaking ceremony being held only in December 2024. The delay is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.

The seven-year delay between the signing of the agreement and project commencement has led to significant cost increases, forcing JICA to limit the project to installing only one Doppler Radar system in Puttalam.

Impact of the missing radar during Ditwah

As I am not a meteorologist and do not wish to make a judgment on this, I have decided to include the statement issued by JICA after the groundbreaking ceremony on December 24, 2024.

“In partnership with the Department of Meteorology (DoM), JICA is spearheading the establishment of the Doppler Weather Radar Network in the Puttalam district, which can realize accurate weather observation and weather prediction based on the collected data by the radar. This initiative is a significant step in strengthening Sri Lanka’s improving its climate resilience including not only reducing risks of floods, landslides, and drought but also agriculture and fishery“.

Based on online research, a Doppler Weather Radar system is designed to observe weather systems in real time. While the technical details are complex, the system essentially provides localized, uptotheminute information on rainfall patterns, storm movements, and approaching severe weather. Countries worldwide rely on such systems to issue timely alerts for monsoons, tropical depressions, and cyclones. It is reported that India has invested in 30 Doppler radar systems, which have helped minimize the loss of life.

Without radar, Sri Lanka must rely primarily on satellite imagery and foreign meteorological centres, which cannot capture the finescale, rapidly changing weather patterns that often cause localized disasters here.

The general consensus is that, while no single system can prevent natural disasters, an operational Doppler Radar almost certainly would have strengthened Sri Lanka’s preparedness and reduced the extent of damage and loss.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s inability to commission a Doppler Radar system, despite nearly two decades of attempts, represents one of the most significant governance failures in the country’s disastermanagement history.

Audit findings, parliamentary oversight proceedings, and donor records all confirm the same troubling truth: Sri Lanka has spent public money, signed international agreements, received foreign assistance, and still has no operational radar. This raises a critical question: should those responsible for this prolonged failure be held legally accountable?

Now may not be the time to determine the extent to which the current government and bureaucrats failed the people. I believe an independent commission comprising foreign experts in disaster management from India and Japan should be appointed, maybe in six months, to identify failures in managing Cyclone Ditwah.

However, those who governed the country from 2007 to 2024 should be held accountable for their failures, and legal action should be pursued against the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for disaster management for their failure to implement the 2007 project with the WMO successfully.

Sri Lanka cannot afford another 18 years of delay. The time for action, transparency, and responsibility has arrived.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of any organization or institution with which the author is affiliated).

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera