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Midweek Review

Death of a Patriot

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The late Gomin Dayasri declared he didn’t want to be a President’s Counsel. Appearing on Sirasa Pathikada, the outspoken lawyer said that there was no point in requesting such a title. Dayasri said so during a conversation with the late Bandula Jayasekera, who invited him on several occasions. Dayasri pointed out the absurdity in the process of appointing President’s Counsel.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The much respected senior Attorney-at-Law Gomin Dayasri, 77, is no more, but his voice carried such weight that he had the opportunity to advise the Mahinda Rajapaksa government (2005-2015) at the highest level, in his heyday, despite not fearing to admonish them whenever it was deserved. The final rites were conducted on July 02 at the Borella Cemetery.

A true patriot, Gomin had been among those who stood for Sri Lanka’s unitary status whatever the consequences. During the war, and after, Gomin, always mindful of the interests of the armed forces and the police, which was not a popular thing to do among those who had the ear and patronage of the self-appointed international community of the West and was among those few civil society activists who valiantly threw their weight behind the campaign against separatist terrorists as it was treated like heresy by those same elements who worshipped the West.

Sirasa and MTV/TV 1, although being constantly accused of undermining the war effort, earned the respect of the nationalists for the coverage given to the late lawyer. The writer received opportunities to participate in Sirasa and MTV/TV 1 programmes, sometimes, with the late Dayasiri who strongly opposed federalism, separatism and foreign interference.

Top lawyer, Gomin Dayasiri, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, Dew Gunasekera, declared that Sangakkara couldn’t have made that statement in the UK at a better time.

The late Dayasri never hesitated to take on the Rajapaksa government if he felt it was on the wrong path.

A case in point is Kumar Sangakkara’s controversial hour-long Sir Colin Cowdrey lecture delivered in July 2011, at Lords. A section of the then government depicted the lecture as a frontal attack on them. Those who resented Sangakkara for exposing their wrongs, cleverly deceived then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. They propagated the lie that the cricketer was challenging the government and was working with the Opposition. Sangakkara earned the wrath of the then government though he paid a glowing tribute to the war winning armed forces at such a prestigious forum at a time a section of the international community, including the UK, was and is literally hounding Sri Lanka’s valiant fighting units for bringing on an implausible victory against all odds, wherever possible.

He was neither a blind worshipper of patriots, the late Dayasri was among the few who dared to stand by Sangakkara. When the writer sought his response to the threats on Sangakkara, Dayasri was prompt and strongly supported Sangakkara’s demand to tackle waste, corruption and irregularities in the game, Dayasri declared that a cohesive strategy was required to stamp out corruption in both public and private sectors. Sangakkara’s speech couldn’t have come at a better time, Dayasri said, adding: “The dashing batsman’s eloquent presentation was very pro-Sri Lanka as against the LTTE terrorism and cricket terrorism. If any politician, or the government, decides to take action against the player, there’ll be a public outcry because the sports personality has courageously exposed the insider dealings in Sri Lanka Cricket. More of Sangakkara’s kind should come to the forefront.” (“The day Kumar Sangakkara felt humbled’, with strapline ‘Unpardonable failure to capitalize on ‘Spirit of Cricket’” lecture, on January 25, 2017 issue of The Island). Michael Roberts posted in The Island Midweek column article under the headline ‘Sangakkara’s MCC lecture and the Rajapaksa/ Wickemesinghe governments’ failures,’ in his Thuppahi blog.

Sangakkara became the first speaker to receive a standing ovation at Lords since Bishop Desmond Tutu in 2008. Both the UK-based, and Sri Lankan media focused on Sangakkara’s assault on the politically influential cricket administration and the criminal waste of funds, as well as resources belonging to Sri Lanka Cricket. The Sinhala print and electronic media completely ignored Sangakkara’s speech.

Dayasri asserted that the only shortcoming in Sangakkara’s superb speech was the absence of a reference to the Indian factor in Sri Lanka terrorism. Dayasri suggested that the writer left that out as Sangakkara must have had reason to be silent on the Indian factor.

The following post by Janaka Perera “Gomin did not confuse patriotism with loyalty to any political party or consider it the monopoly of any group” in the US-based Gamini Edirisinghe’s e-mail thread, explained the late lawyer’s response to the situation.

Daya Gamage posted: “I have been following Gomin Dayasiri’s trajectory for the past 30 to 40 years, his struggle to keep Sri Lanka undivided”.

Nimal Fernando posted: “A true son of the soil, whose fierce patriotism was a source of solace for Mother Lanka.”

Dr. Anula Wijesundere declared in her post that Gomin was a true patriot and a great lawyer who spoke fearlessly and eloquently against LTTE terrorism. Like the other great patriotic lawyer, the late S.L. Gunasekera, Gomin, too, appeared free of charge and defended the armed forces and the police.

Lt. Col. Anil Amarasekera recalled the services rendered by Gomin Dayasri and the late S.L. Gunasekara.

The retired officer posted the following: “… during their lifetime, they worked tirelessly to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our motherland for posterity”.

Gomin even appeared for me free of charge when I filed a case against the then Commander of the Army for violating my fundamental rights by not allowing me to enter the Sinhalese villages in the Weli Oya region to work against the devolution proposals of the then Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga government. The Commander of the Army withdrew the order preventing me from entering Weli Oya after a fundamental rights petition was filed in the Supreme Court. Therefore we withdrew our fundamental rights case.

Asoka Bandarage: “Sri Lanka has lost a beloved patriot. Gomin Dayasiri was a brilliant, courageous and interesting individual. I communicated with him a number of times on matters pertaining to peace and sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Gomin gave advice freely when H.L.D. Mahindapala and I were faced with legal charges over our writings on Sri Lanka. I also had the opportunity to visit and enjoy lunch at Gomin’s home in the tranquil village setting off Thalawathugoda.”

Sudharshan Seneviratne: “I do remember Gomin very well at Ananda. We admired him for his oratory skills and his sharp rebukes levelled at the opposing debating team!

In a limed way though, he did give his valued opinion on the College English Union magazine, the Spark, edited by Deva Rodrigo.

After he left college Gomin took time off while he was doing his Law exams to tutor me on the AL Government paper.

Later we met, not frequently though, at Anuradhapura when I was excavating at the citadel and Jetavanaramaya where he did have pointed questions on culture, identity and training of the next generation.”

Gamini Edirisinghe posted the News First video clip of Dayasri’s funeral.

Oct 2006 triumph

The judgment on the high profile case, filed by the JVP seeking de-merger of the Eastern Province, comprising Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee Districts from the Northern Province, was delivered on Oct 16, 2006, the day an LTTE suicide attack on a Navy land convoy claimed the lives of nearly 100 of its personnel at Digampathaha (not Digampathana) between Habarana and Dambulla. Digampathaha attack was the single worst directed at a military convoy during the entire war whereas the judgment could be considered the most important as regards Sri Lanka’s unitary status.

The Supreme Court on Oct 16, 2006 declared the merger of the northern and eastern provinces, implemented in terms of the controversial 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, ‘null and void and illegal’. The Court declared that material provided by the petitioners resulted in “volumes of material to establish the divisions that existed in historic times and that the eastern province was part of the Kandyan Kingdom at the time of the British conquest”.

The ruling was given in spite of heavy international pressure against de-merging the East from the North. It would be pertinent to mention that at the time of the SC judgment and Digampathaha suicide attack, the LTTE’s conventional military capacity was considered inviolable, especially by the West. In fact, the armed forces hadn’t been able to seriously challenge the LTTE, at least in the Eastern Province, at the time of the historic judgment.

In Sept. 2006, Co-Chairs backing the peace process – the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway – cautioned Sri Lanka against the move. Co-Chairs warned: “There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the North and East which could endanger the achievement of peace. The legitimate interests and aspirations of all communities, including the Tamil, Muslims and Sinhala communities, must be accommodated as part of a political settlement.”

Prominent lawyers H.L. de Silva, S.L. Gunasekera and Gomin Dayasri appeared for the petitioners. Prof. Nalin de Silva, who served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Myanmar (Sept 2020-Sept 2021), recalled in a piece on Gomin Dayasri, written in Sinhala, the role played by the three lawyers in the triumphant case.

Son of fearless N.Q. Dias, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, during Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s first term (1960-65) as Prime Minister, has been given a new name. Showing his disdain for the colonial past his father, ditching the Portuguese derived last name Dias, still carried by many Sri Lankans, proudly and simply named him Gomin Dayasri and sent him to Ananda College though his mother very much preferred Anglican S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia. But, N.Q. Dias, who had studied at an equally elitist Trinity College, Kandy, desired his son to receive an education at Ananda College for obvious reasons.

Prof. de Silva played a glowing tribute to Gomin’s father, legendary civil servant N.Q. Dias, for facilitating the recruitment of Sinhala Buddhists to the armed forces’ officer corps, which, along with top echelons of the police, was till then an almost exclusive club of Christians. Had that not happened, the armed forces couldn’t have brought the war to an end on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in May 2009, Prof. de Silva asserted.

Declaring that the case against the merger of the Eastern Province from the Northern had been the most important one the late Dayasri appeared, Prof. de Silva declared that if not for lawyers H.L. de Silva, S.L. Gunasekera and Gomin Dayasri, Sri Lanka’s history could have been different. Pointing out that except Dayasri, other lawyers weren’t Sinhala Buddhists, Prof. de Silva emphasized the need to de-link the East from the North through the passage of a Parliament act. That should be done in honour of those lawyers who rendered great service to the motherland. We would however like to differ with Prof. Nalin de Silva on late S.L. de Silva, though born into a Christian family, he was a life-long agnostic.

Accountability issues

The late Dayasri had been seriously disappointed with the way Sri Lanka handled accountability issues both during the conflict and after. The Island reportage on the conflict and related matters certainly received a big boost, thanks to advice and suggestions the writer received from the late lawyer. Dayasri was always accessible and never declined to comment on contentious issues. Twice he visited The Island editorial after the conclusion of the sittings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) at the BMICH, into the killing of 17 persons employed by the Action Contra La Faim (ACF) to provide the writer a briefing of what was going on. The CoI also inquired into the killing of five youth in Trincomlee in January 2006.

On one occasion, Dayasri provided the writer several photographs of civil society representatives with foreigners involved in the process. With a mischievous grin, Dayasri said the role played by most foreign-funded NGOs here was quite treacherous. The lawyer asserted that successive governments pathetically failed to meet the challenge posed by those who represented the interests of separatists.

The ACF case took an unprecedented turn in late March 2008, when the late Dayasri challenged the right of one-time Government Agent Dr. Devanesan Nesiah to be Commissioner due to his close relationship with the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). S.L. Gunasekera, who also appeared for the military, demanded Dr. Nesiah’s removal.

Appearing for the then Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s Army, free of charge, Dayasri opposed Dr. Nesiah’s role against the backdrop of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) being made party to the high profile case. Dayasri targeted Dr. Nesiah after the Presidential Commission accepted CPA and several other civil society groups, party to the inquiry on the basis of an application submitted by President’s Counsel and one-time President of Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) the late Desmond Fernando. Justice N.K. Udalagama headed the Commission. The proceedings were held under the scrutiny of International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP).

Dayasri didn’t mince his words when he questioned the failure on the part of Dr Nesiah to disclose his close relationship with the CPA at an earlier stage. Alleging that it had been a serious lapse on the part of the Commissioner, Dayasri bluntly told the former Jaffna Government Agent Nesiah: “You cannot be a judge in your own case because not only justice must be done, but it must be seen to be so done, otherwise there’ll be the likelihood of bias.”

Dayasri and Desmond Fernando clashed at the inquiry over the latter’s claim that a minister confided in him that he (minister) knew the perpetrators of the Muttur massacre. Dayasri demanded that Fernando should get into the witness box. Fernando skipped the proceedings the following day (Probe into Muttur massacre takes a dramatic turn: Commissioner’s right to hear case challenged due to NGO link, The Island, March 27, 2008 edition).

As a result of the stand taken by Dayasri and Gunasekera, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had no option but to intervene. In a letter dated June 06, 2008, Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga asked Dr. Nesiah to explain his relationship with the CPA and the payments received from the CPA. In spite of the presidential directive for him to step down, Dr. Nesiah joined the proceedings on June 10, 2008. Dayasri’s protests compelled the CoI to ask Dr. Nesiah to leave (Commission probing human rights violations: Nesiah dropped after President’s intervention, The Island, June 11, 2008)

Dayasri also argued against the 19th Amendment in a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court in 2015. Many an eyebrow was raised when Dayasri petitioned against President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to dissolve Parliament in Oct 2018. Dayasiri told the Supreme Court though he opposed the 19A, since its passage in Parliament, yet the President was duty-bound to act in accordance with it, and the dissolution in less than four and a half years without a Parliament resolution was unconstitutional.

Dayasri simply ignored the fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa had received the premiership as a result of Maithripala Sirisena’s constitutional coup.

In conversation with the writer, Dayasri, lecturer in law and respected commentator on matters of national importance, expressed serious concerns over the failure on the part of the government to address the Geneva challenge. The absence of a clear action plan to use disclosures made by Lord Naseby offended Dayasri, who felt those who exercised political authority quite conveniently failed to exploit the advantage given by Lord Naseby. The cancellation of the Victory Day parade by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government in 2015 angered the lawyer. Calling the decision a disgrace, Dayasri explained that the President and the Premier should be ashamed of themselves.

Dayasri earned the respect of the armed forces and the vast majority of people. His contribution and influence would remain as the country struggles to cope up with an extremely difficult situation caused by waste, corruption, irregularities, mismanagement and, most of all, simple political incompetence at the highest level, being the prime cause of it.



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Midweek Review

Impact of Ukraine war on Sri Lanka and other matters

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Russian Cruiser Varyag entering Colombo port on March 1

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Russian Pacific Fleet’s missile cruiser Varyag was here recently. The Fleet’s press office reported on March 1: “Today, the Pacific Fleet’s flagship, Guards Order of Nakhimov missile cruiser Varyag has made a business call at Colombo, the largest port of the Republic of Sri Lanka.”

According to the Russian Defence Ministry website one of the four primary tasks of the Pacific Fleet is (verbatim) execution of foreign policy actions of the Government in economically important areas of the oceans (visits, routine entries, joint exercises, activities as a part of peacekeeping forces, etc.).

Cruiser Varyag arrived here from Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh, where the vessel participated in Milan 2024, Indian biennial multinational naval exercise (Feb 19-27). The 12th edition of the exercise involved INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant. SLNS Sayurala, an Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV), represented Sri Lanka.

In spite of the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government’s obvious tilt towards the West against the backdrop of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster in July 2022 by unprecedented violent protests targeting a President elected with a record majority, Russia and Sri Lanka seem to be keen to maintain ties.

Two weeks before Varyag’s arrival, two Iranian Navy vessels IRINS Bushehr and Tonb visited Colombo. Their arrival coincided with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian’s rare, but high profile visit here at a time of grave crisis in the Red Sea region, in particular with Houthi attacks on ships taking supplies to/from Israel to force a halt to Israeli genocide in Palestine.

Russian and Iranian visits should be examined against the backdrop of the costly Ukrainian conflict where Russia is battling the combined West in their proxy war directed at an ultimate regime change in Moscow, and Yemen’s Houthis, widely believed to be backed by Iran, targeted Red Sea shipping demanding an immediate end to Israeli military onslaught on Gaza.

A Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile hit the Belize-flagged Rubymar on Feb 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The vessel carrying fertiliser sank on March 02.

President of the Sri Lanka Business and Professional Forum in Moscow, Jagath Chandrawansa, pointed out that for want of sufficient media coverage of the conflict in Ukraine, in the right context, Sri Lanka is in the dark as to what was going on.

Political parties represented in Parliament, too, seemed to be largely unaware, uninterested or negligent, Chandrawansa said.

In a wide ranging interview with The Island, Moscow-based Chandrawansa discussed the origins of the conflict and the circumstances leading to a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, in late February 2022, though they had been fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine since 2014, the year the coup staged by the US to topple the duly elected President of Ukraine, though dubbed by the West as the Maidan Revolution.

“Basically, the Russian invasion/current conflict should be examined, taking into consideration repeated US and Western interventions in Ukraine that declared independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union and efforts to integrate Ukraine with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” Chandrawansa said.

Chandrawansa compared the Western backed protest campaign (March 31-July 09, 2022) that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office with the removal of Ukrainian President Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych in 2014. The conflict in Donbas erupted in the wake of Yanukovych’s removal.

Chandrawansa, who had studied in the then Soviet Georgia before moving into Moscow where he has been working during the past three decades, sought to press home Moscow’s narrative that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was really a defensive action against a proxy war carried out by the West. The recent disclosure of Germany planning to supply long-range Taurus missiles, manufactured jointly by Germany and Sweden, underscored the efforts to further escalate the conflict, Chandrawansa said.

Earlier, the UK declared that it provided ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine. Reference was made to the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev in April 2022, less than seven weeks after Russia launched its offensive. Johnson, in his capacity as the former UK Premier, again flew into Ukraine in January 2023 soon after his successor Rishi Sunak visited Kiev to sign an expanded security agreement.

Responding to another query, Chandrawansa asserted that the West was trying to deliver a knock-out blow to Russia in Ukraine. The reportage of massive US funding is evidence of the overall Western strategy, Chandrawansa said, pointing out that in the run-up to the US presidential election, nine months away, the country is divided over its funding of Ukraine as well as the Israeli campaign. “In other words, the West has cleverly transformed Ukraine into a battleground where attempts are being made to weaken Russia. Of course, Ukraine is paying a huge price for the miscalculated Western strategy.”

The Biden administration’s efforts to secure approval for a new military aid package worth billions of USD hadn’t been successful due to strong opposition from the pro-Donald Trump far right Republicans, whereas a new controversy over German missiles for Ukraine dominated the international media as well as the sudden death of key Opposition figure Alexei Navalny, 47.

Russia owed an explanation to the world over the still unexplained death of Navalny at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence. It is also true the Western media pays hardly any attention to the plight of Julian Assange a beacon for the worldwide independent media, who is being persecuted by the West for publishing the truth about various excesses and atrocities committed by them around the world, through his WikiLeaks site. Their behaviour is even worse when covering up the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank as they mostly pretend not to see violence that is ravaging mainly innocent Palestinian civilians, who are also deprived of basic food and medicine.

Navalny’s death dominated international media for several days and still continues to draw attention amidst the war in Ukraine, Gaza and Houthi challenge to Red Sea shipping.

UN vote on Ukraine

Chandrawansa discussed how the West relentlessly put pressure on Sri Lanka over resolutions that were moved against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Having ruthlessly pursued Sri Lanka at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council where the Western group, in agreement with the treacherous Yahapalana administration (2015-2019), passed an accountability resolution in Oct 2015, they demanded Colombo adhered to their dictates.

In Feb 2022 and Feb 2023, Sri Lanka abstained from voting on resolutions against Russia. At the Feb 2023 vote, in addition to Sri Lanka, India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan Iran and South Africa abstained. The media here reported in February 2023 German MP Dr. Peter Ramsauer requested President Ranil Wickremesinghe to back the UN resolution against Russia. Dr. Ramsauer, the Rapporteur for Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag (Parliament) said so at the end of his visit here.

Chandrawansa recalled similar heavy pressure exerted on India by the West, particularly the US and Germany, to take a firm stand against Russia, though Quad member India continued to resist such interventions.

Responding to another query, Chandrawansa explained how the West ceaselessly pushed Ukraine to harden its anti-Russia stand over the years, after having forced its duly elected President Yanukovych out of office in 2014.

Referring to the recent announcement made in Washington that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland would retire this month, Chandrawansa said that her role in the regime change project in Ukraine, as well as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster, had been well documented. “What we must realize is regardless of Nuland’s retirement, the US would pursue her hardline neo-conservative policies in Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, our leaders embroiled in local politics and developing economic uncertainties haven’t been much interested in learning what is happening in the region or outside.”

Commenting on the threat posed by Houthis to Red Sea commercial shipping, Chandrawansa said that the Yemen-based group’s actions were being exploited by the US to expand its sphere of influence in the region. Interested parties have conveniently forgotten that Houthis launched Rea Sea operations demanding that Israel halt the war on Gaza, Chandrawansa said, adding that the much touted US led operation ‘Prosperity Guardian’ seemed to have failed to thwart the launch of missiles and drones from Yemen.

Sri Lanka should be wary of getting involved in US projects though the government seemed to be under heavy US prodding, Chandrawansa said.

There were a spate of conflicting reports of Sri Lanka deploying a vessel (formerly of the US Coast Guard) in support of ‘Prosperity Guardian,’ and plans to send a second ship. It would be pertinent to ask whether any of the AOPVs or OPVs in case they are deployed in the Red Sea, were equipped to counter cruise missile or drone strikes directed from Yemen or whether the bankrupt country could sustain such a long term operational deployment and for what purpose?

President Wickremesinghe’s late wily uncle JRJ, widely dubbed the 20th Century Fox and Yankee Dicky because of his overt pro-US stand, which even led to him offering the strategic Trincomalee Harbour to base the US Sixth Fleet and ended up antagonising the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and exacerbating our ethnic conflict when New Delhi retaliated by giving succor to separatist groups here. And unlike JRJ, President Ranil Wickremesinghe does not even have a people’s mandate, being only a caretaker President appointed by Parliament to complete the balance term of ousted President Gotabaya Rajapkasa. Therefore Wickremesinghe has no business to drag us into a conflict which we can ill afford just to please his masters in Washington as we already have enough problems.

Referring to the Houthi ballistic missile attack on Liberian-owned, Barbados-flagged ship ‘True Confidence’ south west of Yemen’s port of Aden on March 06, Chandrawansa asserted that the Red Sea crisis has taken a turn for the worse. The attack claimed the lives of three seafarers, first fatalities since Houthis began targeting ships last October in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes to pressure the US to rein in Israel.

Swift intervention by the Indian Navy saved the lives of 21 members of the stricken ship’s crew. Those who had been saved included two Sri Lankans. Indian Navy released the video footage of Destroyer INS Kolkata deployed in the Gulf of Aden deploying its helicopter and small boats to carry out the rescue operation.

Aeroflot incident at BIA

Recalling the circumstances Sri Lanka detained an Aeroflot flight at the Bandaranaike International Airport in early June 2022, at the height of economic, political and social turmoil, Chandrawansa asked whether President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government at least bothered to conduct a proper inquiry into the incident.

Chandrawansa, in his capacity as the President of Sri Lanka Business and Professional Forum in Moscow, in a letter dated June 05, 2022, requested the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to probe attempts to jeopardise Sri Lanka’s relations with Russia at a time the country was in unprecedented turmoil. The letter was copied to Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, PC and the then Russian Ambassador in Colombo.

The whole thing could have been orchestrated by those hell-bent on destabilizing Sri Lanka’s relations with countries considered a challenge to the West, Chandrawansa said, pointing out that it could have had a catastrophic impact on Sri Lanka-Russia relations.

Aeroflot flight SU 289 was preparing to take off from the BIA, on June 02, 2022, when a fiscal officer, from the Commercial High Court of the Western Province, walked in around 12.15 pm to the airport. He was there soon after the end of day’s proceedings of the Commercial HC of the Western Province. The official was accompanied by Attorney-at-Law Aruna de Silva, who appeared for the plaintiff, along with Avindra Rodrigo, PC. They were instructed by F.J. & G. de Saram, the leading law firm from the colonial times.

The fiscal officer delivered a copy of the order issued by High Court judge S.M.H.S.P. Sethunge. The recipient of the court order was Acting Head of Air Navigational Services N.C. Abeywardena. The BIA was ordered to detain the aircraft, pending a case filed by Ireland-based Celestial Aviation Trading 10 Ltd., against the Russian State-owned Public Joint Stock Company Aeroflot.

At the time the court officer delivered the warning, 191 passengers and 13 crew of the Airbus A 330-300 were on board. They were asked to get off the plane. The Aeroflot drama transpired in the Commercial High Court of the Western Province on June 03. The airline’s regional manager, for India and Sri Lanka, Sergey Evgenievich, was present in court.

Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera is one of the few lawmakers to publicly challenge the detention of the Aeroflot flight in spite of Sri Lanka’s written assurance to Russia that Aeroflot was free to operate to and from the BIA without hindrance. The retired Navy Chief of Staff warned that Sri Lanka shouldn’t be surprised if Russia felt that the government guaranteed Aeroflot freedom to operate to and from the BIA just to lure them.

Lawmaker Weerasekera strongly disputed Premier Wickremsinghe’s assertion that the issue was a matter between two private parties. How could that be when all know Aeroflot operated flights to the BIA on written assurance given by the government? MP Weerasekera told the writer when his opinion was sought on this issue.

The Federation of National Organisation, comprising the Patriotic National Movement (Dr. Wasantha Bandara), Patriotic National Front (Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bellanthudawa), People’s Responsibility Centre (Wasantha Alwis) and People’s Voice for Justice and Sovereignty (Attorney-at-Law Madhaumali Alwis), in a joint letter, dated June 04, sought President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s intervention in this regard.

Lawmaker Vasudeva Nanayakkara speculated about the possibility of the US being behind the Aeroflot affair while Wimal Weerawansa alleged that the government was busy jeopardizing the country’s relations with India, having antagonized China.

Former General Secretary of the Communist Party Dew Gunasekera demanded an explanation from Premier Wickremesinghe over his alleged bid to downplay the incident. Gunasekera asserted that Sri Lanka was experiencing an extraordinary threat. The incident involving the Aeroflot flight underscored our vulnerability, Gunasekera declared.

Chandrawansa said that the release of the Aeroflot flight a few days later following a court ruling settled the matter though the government should be ashamed of itself over its failure to conduct a no holds barred investigation. If such an incident happened in any other country, it would have been scrutinized at the highest level with the participation of intelligence services, Chandrawansa said, finding fault with what he called a pathetic political party system that habitually failed to address vital issues.

Chandrawansa compared the BIA incident that dealt a deadly blow to Sri Lanka-Russia relations and the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government’s equally damaging declaration that foreign research vessels wouldn’t be allowed into Sri Lankan ports during 2024, a decision particularly meant to bar Chinese vessels.

Foreign relations at a critical juncture

Responding to questions regarding foreign relations in the wake of Sri Lanka’s post-bankruptcy status, Chandrawansa emphasized the daunting challenge in navigating choppy waters.

“We are in an extremely complex and uncomfortable situation, politically, economically and socially,” Chandrawansa said, warning of dire consequences unless the government sensibly balanced the relations.

“Of course, we have to acknowledge our dependence on exports to the West, GSP plus concessions and other opportunities. But, we have to be equally responsive to other friendly powers and countries who stood by Sri Lanka during the war against separatist Tamil terrorism (1983-2009) and after,” Chandrawansa said, recalling the Russian, Chinese, Pakistan and Cuban interventions at the Geneva-based UNHRC, out to get us at the behest of the West.

Chandrawansa explained the challenge bankrupt Sri Lanka faced due to US led ‘Quad’ arranged against China, Western efforts to force countries to take sides in the Ukraine conflict and how proposed BRICS currency could undermine the US once mighty dollar hegemony and the possible weakening of US sanctions imposed on Russia and China.

Although the launch of BRICS currency seems unlikely in the near future, Sri Lanka should be mindful of the developments as it would be a grave mistake on our part to put all eggs in one basket.

The continuing corrupt political party system has allowed all powers to exploit the country. The 99-year leasing of the strategically located Hambantota port for USD 1.1 billion to China in 2017 by the Yahapalana government under controversial circumstances can be cited as a case in point. As to what happened to that money and billions of dollars borrowed at high interest rates without that government undertaking any massive development works remains a mystery. It certainly had a big hand in the creation of the unprecedented debt crisis, from which we are still trying to extricate ourselves. The dispute during President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency over a ship load of toxic Chinese fertiliser underscored how a single incident, if not properly handled could jeopardize relations with a particular country. An angry Chinese reaction that led to the blacklisting of a State Bank here emphasized our vulnerability. That is the undeniable truth.

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Midweek Review

Where social media and mainstream media can be complementary

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Image courtesy Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/special_ report/what-is-mainstream-media.php

“If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

–– John Stuart Mill

by Susantha Hewa

Politicians in power often tend to suppress people’s freedoms when they feel that they can no longer use rhetoric to persuade the disillusioned masses to trust them. And, throughout our history, they have used mass media, specially, TV after its advent in Sri Lanka in 1979, to manipulate people effectively. It’s not surprising that many people, who have been feeling frustrated being destined to be passive television audiences to politicians who have enjoyed the privilege of talking on TV to the citizens through who cannot fittingly respond to them in real time, avidly embraced social media to share their bottled-up views, feelings, praises or criticisms with their fellow citizens. If politicians and elites can use electronic media to reach vast swaths of society and engage in manipulative talk with no inhibitions or fear of punishment, it is natural that the citizens who have been reduced to be unwilling takers of all the rhetoric of the former for decades, treat social media as their best means of communicating with large numbers of fellow citizens and end their imposed muteness to some extent. We have little evidence to show that our strongmen have used TV all these years in all honesty to inform, elucidate or educate. One need not go far to find how politicians have spoken arrogantly, flippantly and dishonestly to people, which is a gross abuse of mass media.

Admittedly, the abuse of social media should be punished, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason why the same abuses in any other media including electronic media should go unheeded. Paradoxically, in mass media, it is the politicians who become actors and doers, the “masses” being largely passive. It is in social media that masses break their long silence and become active and interactive, which is more contributory to democracy; of course, with due checks and balances. One-way communication made possible by standard media, i.e. TV, can hardly satisfy the human urge for two-way natural communication, which is constructive and egalitarian. Thus, electronic media would hardly avoid the never-ending frustration of the subdued masses until there is another platform for them, which is social media.

Manipulation has been defined as “behaviour that controls or influences somebody/something, often in a dishonest way so that they do not realise it”. Although, this definition does not specify the nature of the manipulator and the manipulated, almost all the words, specially, “behaviour”, “controls”, “influences” and the last few words “often in a dishonest way so that they do not realise it” leave no room for any doubt about the relative positions of the influencer and the influenced. If the vast majority were the decision-makers of any system, such a system would be akin to what is universally known as direct democracy, where the people collectively decide how they should be ruled. Of course, such a system would need a lot of innovative thinking and sweeping changes. However, what is important is, such a system would depend much more on communication, education, discussion, debate and consensus than on propaganda. Therefore, it is clear that manipulation would fit more naturally in a system where the power is concentrated in the hands of a few powerful, who constantly feel the need to protect their power and privileges by any means, correctly or mistakenly accepted as democratic. Technically, a system of governance “of the people, by the people, for the people”, has the underlying feeling of a common bond, which implies that the individual destiny is the collective destiny and vice versa. In such a setting, manipulation, in its widely perceived derogatory sense emphasized in the above definition in the phrase, “often in a dishonest way so that they do not realize it” – would only amount to a sort of collective self-deceit.

Of course, the average person at times gets an opportunity to appear on TV screen at the discretion of the TV channel, not from a position of strength, but almost always as victim, to air his grievances or vent their anger at inept and insensitive rulers who can just ignore them or mock them with no fear of being opposed or retorted at. TV is, so to speak, more the official voice and the face of the ruler rather than the voice and the face of the ruled. Of course, the common people can show their faces on TV but not from the comfort of their home or office; electronic media don’t work that way. They have to come to the streets to earn their visibility on TV and ‘pay’ dearly for it. Paradoxically, mass media is at the service of the privileged few, not at the service of the unprivileged masses. If you like, it’s a speaker; not a telephone. If you want any brand of media to work both ways, it’s social media.

However, the whole world saw one striking example of “manipulation” for the good of the “one and all” during those dark days of the Covid pandemic. The persistent appeal for the people to wear a mask and keep a distance of one metre with others was a classic example of using propaganda for the safety of all. It was an instance where people were made to realise that nobody is safe until everybody else in society is safe. And, everybody in her desire to protect herself, inevitably ensured the safety of all. Thus, where propaganda is used for the good of all, rather than for the advantage of a few, propaganda will lose its derogatory sense and be aligned with positive acts such as education, discussion, clarification, communication, and enhancing of awareness and understanding.

In such a system of social organisation, it would hardly be necessary to bring in suppressive laws to curb social media. In the collective awareness that it is only by ensuring the wellbeing of all that each one of us can ensure our individual wellbeing, mass media – which is now patently used for safeguarding the power and the privileges of those who stand above the masses – that we would be able to look at social media without undue suspicion. In a truly democratic society where mass media is used to educate people instead of keeping them in the dark, there will be no need for anyone to look at social media with any more suspicion than they view electronic media. If our politicians had used mass media to inform and educate the masses rather than to manipulate them, there wouldn’t have been any need to look askance at social media. In a society which is constantly trying to learn from mistakes and promote the collective good, mass media and social media will only complement each other.

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Midweek Review

By the Sweat of Her Brow

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By Lynn Ockersz

From the seed bed of Her womb,

Did He join the human family,

And by the love in Her heart,

Was He selflessly nourished,

And shaped into manhood,

But in an act of gross treachery,

He turned His back on Her,

And made Her His bonded slave,

So much so, all these millennia,

It’s His Story that’s at centre,

But if the truth be told,

It’s the Sweat of Her Brow,

Mingling with Her hot tears,

That’s kept hearths blazing,

Placed some food on tables,

And kept at bay universal wailing,

Making Her ordeal of living,

The greatest story never narrated.

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